Related factors of negative conversion time of nucleic acid in children with COVID-19 / 中华儿科杂志

Objective: To explore the related factors of negative conversion time (NCT) of nucleic acid in children with COVID-19. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted. A total of 225 children who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to Changxing Branch of Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from April 3rd to May 31st 2022 were enrolled in the study. The infection age, gender, viral load, basic disease, clinical symptoms and information of accompanying caregivers were retrospectively analyzed. According to age, the children were divided into<3 years of age group and 3-<18 years of age group. According to the viral nucleic acid test results, the children were divided into positive accompanying caregiver group and negative accompanying caregiver group. Comparisons between groups were performed using Mann-Whitney U test or Chi-square test. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the related factors of NCT of nucleic acid in children with COVID-19. Results: Among the 225 patients (120 boys and 105 girls) of age 2.8 (1.3, 6.2) years, 119 children <3 years and 106 children 3-<18 years of age, 19 cases were diagnosed with moderate COVID-19, and the other 206 cases were diagnosed with mild COVID-19. There were 141 patients in the positive accompanying caregiver group and 84 patients in the negative accompanying caregiver group.Patients 3-<18 years of age had a shorter NCT (5 (3, 7) vs.7 (4, 9) d, Z=-4.17, P<0.001) compared with patients <3 years of age. Patients in the negative accompanying caregiver group had a shorter NCT (5 (3, 7) vs.6 (4, 9) d,Z=-2.89,P=0.004) compared with patients in the positive accompanying caregiver group. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that anorexia was associated with NCT of nucleic acid (OR=3.74,95%CI 1.69-8.31, P=0.001). Conclusion: Accompanying caregiver with positive nucleic acid test may prolong NCT of nucleic acid, and decreased appetite may be associated with prolonged NCT of nucleic acid in children with COVID-19.

Infodemic and fake news - A comprehensive overview of its global magnitude during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021: A scoping review.

The spread of fake news increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. This study aims to synthesize the extant literature to understand the magnitude of this phenomenon in the wake of the pandemic in 2021, focusing on the motives and sociodemographic profiles, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools developed, and the top trending topics related to fake news. A scoping review was adopted targeting articles published in five academic databases (January 2021-November 2021), resulting in 97 papers. Most of the studies were empirical in nature (N = 69) targeting the general population (N = 26) and social media users (N = 13), followed by AI-based detection tools (N = 27). Top motives for fake news sharing include low awareness, knowledge, and health/media literacy, Entertainment/Pass Time/Socialization, Altruism, and low trust in government/news media, whilst the phenomenon was more prominent among those with low education, males and younger. Machine and deep learning emerged to be the widely explored techniques in detecting fake news, whereas top topics were related to vaccine, virus, cures/remedies, treatment, and prevention. Immediate intervention and prevention efforts are needed to curb this anti-social behavior considering the world is still struggling to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

LPS induces cardiomyocyte injury through calcium-sensing receptor.

Calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) belongs to the family C of G-protein coupled receptors. We have previously demonstrated that CaSR could induce apoptosis of cultured neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes in simulated ischemia/reperfusion. It remains unknown whether the CaSR has function in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced myocardial injure. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the CaSR plays a role in LPS-induced myocardial injury. Cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were treated with LPS, with or without pretreatment with the CaSR-specific agonist gadolinium chloride (GdCl3) or the CaSR-specific antagonist NPS2390. Release of TNF-α and IL-6 from cardiomyocytes was observed. Levels of malonaldehyde (MDA), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured. In addition, apoptosis of the cardiomyocytes, [Ca(2+)]i and level of CaSR expression were determined. The results showed that LPS increased cardiomyocytes apoptosis, [Ca(2+)]i, MDA, LDH, TNF-α, IL-6 release, and CaSR protein expression. Compared with LPS treatment alone, pretreatment with GdCl3 further increased apoptosis of cardiomyocytes, MDA, LDH, TNF-α, IL-6 release, [Ca(2+)]i, and the expression of the CaSR protein. Conversely, pretreatment with NPS2390 decreased apoptosis of cardiomyocytes, MDA, LDH, TNF-α, IL-6 release, [Ca(2+)]i and the expression of the CaSR protein. These results demonstrate that LPS could induce cardiomyocyte injury. Moreover, LPS-induced cardiomyocyte injury was related to CaSR-mediated cardiomyocytes apoptosis, TNF-α, IL-6 release, and increase of intracellular calcium.