Causal Associations Between Ulcerative Colitis and COVID-19: A Bidirectional Mendelian Randomization Study (preprint)

Background Corona Virus Disease 2019(COVID-19) has put human health and medical resources under strain since 2019. However, it’s still equivocal whether ulcerative colitis (UC) and COVID-19 have a bidirectional causal relationship, so we attempted to clarify this issue using two-sample mendelian randomization (two-sample MR) analysis.Methods To explore the relationship between ulcerative colitis and COVID-19, we obtained summary statistics from the GWAS database and used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as a genetic tool. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was chosen as the primary analytical method for two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis, complemented by a combination of MR-egger. Further validation using sensitivity analysis such as Q-test, MR-PRESSO, MR-Egger intercepts method.Result All forward MR analyses demonstrated that UC has a significant susceptibility and severity to COVID-19, 1. COVID-19 vs population: IVW (OR = 1.053; CI, 1.012–1.096; P = 0.009) and MR Egger (OR = 1.015; CI, 0.946–1.089; P = 0.672). 2.hospitalized vs population: IVW (OR = 1.080; CI, 1.004–1.162; P = 0.037) and MR Egger (OR = 1.009; CI, 0.882–1.153; P = 0.898). 3. very severe respiratory confirmed vs population: IVW (OR = 1.187; CI, 1.018–1.384; P = 0.027) and MR Egger (OR = 1.104; CI, 0.801–1.521; P = 0.554). In the bidirectional MR study, the P values (P > 0.05) obtained by several methods were not statistically significant.Conclusion There is significant evidence that UC is both a risk factor for COVID-19 and may increase the risk of COVID-19. However, there is no reverse causal relationship between the two diseases.

Advances in the use of nighttime light data to monitor and assess coastal fisheries under the impacts of human activities and climate and environmental changes: A case study in the Beibu Gulf

Nighttime light remote sensing has attracted increasing attention in fishery management due to its unique advantages in observing light fisheries. NASA's Black Marble product suite (VNP46A1) and Luojia 1–01 images are the latest nighttime light data with improved spatial and temporal resolutions. This paper developed an effective night-light fishing boat (NLFB) dataset to monitor and assess the coastal light fisheries in the Beibu Gulf. Daily NLFB data from 2018 to 2020 were used to map the spatiotemporal variations in fishing intensity, number of fishing boats and locations of core fishing areas. The influencing mechanisms of climate and environmental changes, fishery closures, COVID-19 and typhoons on the temporal and spatial variations in light fisheries were evaluated and discussed. Combined with the fishery boundaries defined by the China-Vietnam bilateral agreements, nighttime light remote sensing revealed the effective management of and restrictions on (such as fishery closures and lockdowns) fishing activities in the Chinese fishery area. The Vietnamese fishery area was under higher fishing pressure, especially in densely populated estuaries where the fish spawn and feed. Therefore, a cross-regional marine protected area (MPA) is recommended as a realistic strategy for the sustainable management of light fisheries in the Beibu Gulf. Nighttime light remote sensing provides a useful opportunity to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the future.

Comparative study on ventilation and air conditioning system schemes based on virus pollution control in hospital infusion room (preprint)

Covid-19 is transmitted through droplets containing the virus and very small particles exhaled by infected people. These droplets and particles may be inhaled by others, or fall into their eyes, mouth and nose. In some cases, they may contaminate the contact surface. It is most likely to be infected if they are less than 1m away from the infected person. To evaluate the effects of different air conditioning systems on the spread of human exhaled pollutants, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to study the movement and diffusion of exhaled air from two rows of 12 sitting adults in a hospital's closed transfusion room. In this paper, a closed transfusion room with 12 human models was established firstly, and the mathematical model verified by experimental test results was used to study the propagation of viral aerosol particles in the enclosed space under different air conditioning systems. The result showed that when the transverse strong air flow is generated in the room, the concentration distribution of virus particles will show a roll like distribution, and the personnel inside the roll will cause new infection. The air flow generated by the air conditioning system will affect the dispersion of droplets in the air. Evaluating and guiding the air flow to avoid blowing air from one person to another may reduce the risk.

Insights Into Amentoflavone: A Natural Multifunctional Biflavonoid

Amentoflavone is an active phenolic compound isolated from Selaginella tamariscina over 40 years. Amentoflavone has been extensively recorded as a molecule which displays multifunctional biological activities. Especially, amentoflavone involves in anti-cancer activity by mediating various signaling pathways such as extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt), and emerges anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect via binding towards the main protease (Mpro/3CLpro), spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, amentoflavone is considered to be a promising therapeutic agent for clinical research. Considering the multifunction of amentoflavone, the current review comprehensively discuss the chemistry, the progress in its diverse biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation, anti-microorganism, metabolism regulation, neuroprotection, radioprotection, musculoskeletal protection and antidepressant, specially the fascinating role against various types of cancers. In addition, the bioavailability and drug delivery of amentoflavone, the molecular mechanisms underlying the activities of amentoflavone, the molecular docking simulation of amentoflavone through in silico approach and anti-SARS-CoV-2 effect of amentoflavone are discussed.