Portable nanopore-sequencing technology: Trends in development and applications.

Sequencing technology is the most commonly used technology in molecular biology research and an essential pillar for the development and applications of molecular biology. Since 1977, when the first generation of sequencing technology opened the door to interpreting the genetic code, sequencing technology has been developing for three generations. It has applications in all aspects of life and scientific research, such as disease diagnosis, drug target discovery, pathological research, species protection, and SARS-CoV-2 detection. However, the first- and second-generation sequencing technology relied on fluorescence detection systems and DNA polymerization enzyme systems, which increased the cost of sequencing technology and limited its scope of applications. The third-generation sequencing technology performs PCR-free and single-molecule sequencing, but it still depends on the fluorescence detection device. To break through these limitations, researchers have made arduous efforts to develop a new advanced portable sequencing technology represented by nanopore sequencing. Nanopore technology has the advantages of small size and convenient portability, independent of biochemical reagents, and direct reading using physical methods. This paper reviews the research and development process of nanopore sequencing technology (NST) from the laboratory to commercially viable tools; discusses the main types of nanopore sequencing technologies and their various applications in solving a wide range of real-world problems. In addition, the paper collates the analysis tools necessary for performing different processing tasks in nanopore sequencing. Finally, we highlight the challenges of NST and its future research and application directions.

Heath management app use in Parkinson's disease and quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic affected follow-up visits and medication availability for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). As a promising strategy to deal with these challenges, the implementation of health management smartphone apps was accelerated. However, whether more intense use of such apps could improve the quality of life (QoL) for PD patients during the COVID-19 pandemic was unknown. METHODS: Using a PD management app, this observational study assessed changes in QoL, as determined by PD Questionnaire 8 (PDQ-8), among PD patients before (Jan 20, 2019 to Oct 6, 2019) and after the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown (Jan 20, 2020 to Oct 6, 2020). According to adherence to use of the app, participants were divided into low adherence, moderate adherence, and high adherence groups. A total of 4979 PD patients registered in the app, and 226 PD patients were enrolled, including 57 patients with low adherence, 112 with moderate adherence and 57 with high adherence. A generalized linear model was used to evaluate the change of PDQ-8 scores across these three different adherence groups. RESULTS: After the COVID-19 lockdown (1-year follow-up), the PDQ-8 scores are reduced by 0.8 (95% CI, 0.3-1.4) in all participants (P = 0.004). After adjustment for age, gender, education, disease duration and levodopa equivalent dose, PDQ-8 scores significantly less reduced in the high adherence group (0.3; 95% CI, 0.6-1.2) compared to the low adherence (1.9; 95% CI, 0.7-3.1) (P = 0.040) and moderate adherence groups (0.6; 95% CI, 0.2-1.3) (P = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: A health management smartphone-based app might be a way to both measure and improve QoL among PD patients, provided that sufficient adherence is achieved.

The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on the lives of people living with Parkinson's disease (PD), given social distancing measures, and reduced access to healthcare. As a way to mitigate this, the use of health management apps was accelerated. However, there is a lack of studies on whether the use of such apps could over time affect the quality of life of people living with PD. Here, we analyzed changes in the quality of life of people living with PD using a health management app, before and after social distancing. We found that patients with high adherence to use of the app experienced a lower reduction of their quality of life. Using a health management smartphone app represents a novel approach that might help patients with PD improve their quality of life.

Elevated ubiquitination contributes to protective immunity against severe SARS-CoV-2 infection.

BACKGROUND: The crosstalk between the ubiquitin-proteasome and the immune system plays an important role in the health and pathogenesis of viral infection. However, there have been few studies of ubiquitin activation in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. METHODS: We investigated the effect of ubiquitination on SARS-CoV-2 infection and patient prognosis by integrating published coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) multi-transcriptome data and bioinformatics methods. RESULTS: The differential expression of COVID-19 samples revealed changed ubiquitination in most solid and hollow organs, and it was activated in lymphatic and other immune tissues. In addition, in the respiratory system of COVID-19 patients, the immune response was mainly focused on the alveoli, and the expression of ubiquitination reflected increasing immune infiltration. Ubiquitination stratification could significantly differentiate patients' prognosis and inflammation levels through the general transcriptional analysis of the peripheral blood of patients with COVID-19. Moreover, high ubiquitination levels were associated with a favourable prognosis, low inflammatory response, and reduced mechanical ventilation and intensive care unit. Moreover, high ubiquitination promoted a beneficial immune response while inhibiting immune damage. Finally, prognostic stratification and biomarker screening based on ubiquitination traits played an important role in clinical management and drug development. CONCLUSION: Ubiquitination characteristics provides new ideas for clinical intervention and prognostic guidance for COVID-19 patients.

The relationship between loneliness and consumer shopping channel choice: Evidence from China

Loneliness has spread globally and the COVID-19 outbreak has boosted the number of lonely consumers. The retail industry and its consumptions channels have changed dramatically since the pandemic and helped consumers resist loneliness. Faced by multiple channel choices, how consumers' loneliness affects their channel preferences is a contemporary issue that needs to be addressed. By introducing protection motivation theory, logit model, and maximum likelihood estimation, we find that consumers' perceived vulnerability to loneliness and their self-efficacy towards online shopping are the main factors influencing channel preference. Additionally, their negative attitude towards online shopping mediates the effect of perceived vulnerability on channel preference. Simultaneously, the perceived vulnerability and severity caused by loneliness improve consumers' negative attitudes towards online shopping. The results show that retailers need to pay attention to the differentiated layouts of diverse shopping channels, improve the communication skills of retail service personnel, strengthen the integration of online and offline channels, and pay more attention to the treatment and compensation of bad online shopping experience.

Chinese Commodity Price Evidence Study for COVID-19 Shock and Price Stickiness Model Design

Based on the high-frequency price data, this article estimates the extent of price stickiness, identifies the pricing model, and applies the micro-results to analyze the dynamic characteristics of inflation. The results show that the price moves downward steadily during the COVID-19 epidemic. Secondly, the commodity price displays low stickiness, and the pricing model shows the time-dependent pricing (TDP) model in general. Finally, the inflation inertia is negative, indicating the macro-control is effective on COVID-19 epidemic and has the feature of contradiction to the economic cycle. And inflation inertia mainly comes from food commodities, which means that the anchoring object of the policy should be food commodities during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Scientific Programming is the property of Hindawi Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

AT1 Receptors: Their Actions from Hypertension to Cognitive Impairment.

Hypertension is one of the most prevalent cardiovascular disorders worldwide, affecting 1.13 billion people, or 14% of the global population. Hypertension is the single biggest risk factor for cerebrovascular dysfunction. According to the American Heart Association, high blood pressure (BP), especially in middle-aged individuals (~ 40 to 60 years old), is associated with an increased risk of dementia, later in life. Alzheimer's disease and cerebrovascular disease are the two leading causes of dementia, accounting for around 80% of the total cases and usually combining mixed pathologies from both. Little is known regarding how hypertension affects cognitive function, so the impact of its treatment on cognitive impairment has been difficult to assess. The brain renin-angiotensin system (RAS) is essential for BP regulation and overactivity of this system has been established to precede the development and maintenance of hypertension. Angiotensin II (Ang-II), the main peptide within this system, induces vasoconstriction and impairs neuro-vascular coupling by acting on brain Ang-II type 1 receptors (AT1R). In this review, we systemically analyzed the association between RAS and biological mechanisms of cognitive impairment, from the perspective of AT1R located in the central nervous system. Additionally, the possible contribution of brain AT1R to global cognition decline in COVID-19 cases will be discussed as well.

Prevalence and Correlates of Alexithymia and Its Relationship With Life Events in Chinese Adolescents With Depression During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: The incidence of psychological and behavioral problems and depression among adolescents is increasing year by year, which has become an important public health problem. Alexithymia, as an important susceptible factor of adolescent depression, may continue to develop and strengthen under the stimulation of COVID-19-related stressors. However, no studies have focused on alexithymia in adolescent depression during the pandemic in China. This study aims to investigate the incidence and related factors of alexithymia in adolescent depression during the pandemic. Methods: Three hundred adolescent patients were enrolled from October 2020 to May 2021. The general demographic information of all participants was collected, and the clinical characteristics were assessed by the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check (ASLEC) List, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and the Positive and Negative Suicide Ideation (PANSI) Inventory. Results: The incidence of alexithymia was significantly higher among adolescents with depression (76.45%) during the pandemic. There were significant differences in school bullying, disease severity, ASLEC score, CTQ score and PANSI score between adolescents with and without alexithymia. In addition, learning stress, health and adaptation problems during the pandemic may be influential factors in alexithymia of adolescent depression (P < 0.05). Conclusions: According to the results, we found a high incidence of alexithymia in adolescent depression during the pandemic. More support and attention from families, schools and society is needed to develop preventive and targeted psychological interventions as early as possible.

Pain during and after coronavirus disease 2019: Chinese perspectives.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic poses a major threat to human health and health care systems. Urgent prevention and control measures have obstructed patients' access to pain treatment, and many patients with pain have been unable to receive adequate and timely medical services. Many patients with COVID-19 report painful symptoms including headache, muscle pain, and chest pain during the initial phase of the disease. Persistent pain sequela in patients with COVID-19 has a physical or mental impact and may also affect the immune, endocrine, and other systems. However, the management and treatment of neurological symptoms such as pain are often neglected for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Based on the China's early experience in the management of COVID-19 symptoms, the possible negative effects of pre-existing chronic pain in patients with COVID-19 and the challenges of COVID-19 prevention and control bring to the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain are discussed. This review calls to attention the need to optimize pain management during and after COVID-19.

Human urinary kallidinogenase in acute ischemic stroke: A single-arm, multicenter, phase IV study (RESK study).

AIMS: Human urinary kallidinogenase (HUK) has shown favorable efficacies in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) treatment. We sought confirmation of the safety and efficacy of HUK for AIS in a large population. METHODS: RESK study enrolled patients with AIS of anterior circulation to receive HUK infusion. The primary endpoint was the incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs). Secondary endpoints assessed neurological and functional improvements and stroke recurrent rate. RESULTS: Of 1206 eligible patients, 1202 patients received at least one dose of HUK infusion and 983 (81.5%) completed the study. The incidence of treatment-emergent AEs and serious AEs were 55.99% and 2.41%, respectively. Pre-specified AEs of special interest occurred in 21.71% of patients, but the majority were mild and unrelated to therapy. Hypertension, age, treatment time, and drug combination were identified to be associated with drug-related blood pressure reduction. Neurological and functional evaluations revealed favorable outcomes from baseline to post-treatment assessment. The cumulative recurrence rate of stroke was 2.50% during the 90-day assessment. CONCLUSION: HUK had an acceptable safety and tolerability profile in AIS patients. Besides, HUK demonstrated the neurological and functional improvements in AIS, further confirming its clinical efficacy in a real-world large population.

Sludge Disinfection, Reduction and Energy Recovery by Anaerobic Digestion with Thermal Hydrolysis Pretreatment

The disinfection of sewage sludge has become a hot focus due to the outbreak of COVID-19, which belongs to one aspect of sludge harmless treatment. However, the threat of sludge to the environment is not only caused by harmful microbes. It is necessary to explore energy recovery and resource utilization of sludge treatment that is based on harmlessness, volume reduction and stabilization. Various advanced technologies were integrated to build an advanced anaerobic digestion system in Beijing urban area, which has achieved a good sludge treatment effect in the past three years since its construction and operation. Thermal hydrolysis can effectively inactivate harmful microorganisms, the hygienic properties of advanced anaerobic digestion products can meet the standard, and its heavy metals contents are significantly lower than the related standard limit, which have changed to more stable forms. The unit treatment capacity of digester increased to 3.6 times that of conventional anaerobic digestion due to the modification effect of thermal hydrolysis on sludge properties, saving about 68% investment in digester construction. The degradation rate of organics increased from 40% to 52%, indicating that the stability of the digestion products was further improved, the residual solids were further reduced with the volume reduction rate of sludge increased from 28% to 66%. The biogas production rate was greatly increased with the improvement of organic conversion efficiency. Even operated below capacity, the advanced anaerobic digestion system still had the capacity to output 4 089×10~4 kW·h power under the condition that deducting the heat and power consumption of the system itself from the energy recovered. The treatment and disposal process of sludge were successfully connected by the resource utilization of advanced anaerobic digestion products. The large-scale production application in Beijing has created a successful and mature engineering reference for sludge advanced anaerobic digestion.