Background: Long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) play critical roles in many respiratory diseases. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a destructive clinical syndrome of respiratory diseases. However, the potential mechanism of LncRNAs on ARDS remains largely unknown. Methods: To identify the profiles of LncRNAs and mRNAs in the LPS-induced ARDS mouse model, the microarray analyses were hired to detect the expression of LncRNAs and mRNAs in present study. Subsequently, microarray data were verified by quantitative qRT-PCR. Functional annotation on DE mRNAs and LncRNAs were carried out by bioinformatics analysis. Furthermore, the role of selected DE LncRNAs on correlated genes was confirmed by si-RNA and Western blot. Results: The expression of 2110 LncRNAs and 2690 mRNAs were significantly changed, which were further confirmed by qRT-PCR. GO and KEGG analysis indicated that the up-regulated mRNAs were mainly related to a defense response and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway, respectively. LncRNA-mRNA co-expression analyses showed that LncRNAs NR_003508, ENSMUST00000131638, ENSMUST00000119467, and ENSMUST00000124853 may correlate to MLKL, RIPK3, RIPK1, Caspase1, and NLRP3, respectively, or cooperatively, which were highly involved in the cell necroptosis process. Furthermore, siRNA for NR_003508 confirmed the co-expression analyses results. Conclusion: To summarize, this study implied that the DE LncRNAs could be potent regulators and target genes of ARDS and will provide a novel insight into the regulation of the pathogenesis of ARDS.

BACKGROUND: Recently, hoarseness affecting the supraglottic structure has been reported in Kawasaki Disease. The objective of this study was to characterize the frequency of hoarseness in acute KD patients in Latin America. METHODS: We used prospective data from the multinational REKAMLATINA Network (Red de Enfermedad de Kawasaki en America Latina) a total of 865 patients from 20 countries were enrolled during the 3-year study period. Data on hoarseness was available in 858 (99.2%) patients. The clinical and laboratory characteristics between hoarse and non-hoarse KD were compared. RESULTS: Hoarseness was documented in 100 (11.6%) patients. Hoarse patients were younger compared to KD without hoarseness (median age 18 vs. 26 months; p=0.002) and presented with a lower hemoglobin (10.7g/dL vs 11.3g/dL; p= 0.040) and hematocrit levels (32% vs 33%, p=0.048) . CONCLUSIONS: Hoarseness was found to be prevalent as a presenting sign of acute KD in younger children. Anemia may indicate the presence of active inflammation.

Background: Antiviral activity of natural compounds from Tinospora cordifolia (Amritaballi) were evaluated for their efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 targets involved in virus attachment and replication. Materials: and Methods : The binding efficacy (binding affinity, K i and IC 50 values) of natural compounds from Tinospora cordifolia were tested using Insilco tools against four key SARS-CoV-2 targets i.e., 1) surface glycoprotein (6VSB) and 2) Receptor binding domain (6M0J) both responsible for attachment of the virus to host cell, 3) RNA dependent RNA polymerase (6M71) and 4) main protease (6Y84) responsible for replication of the virus in the host cell. Results: Berberine, Isocolumbin, Magnoflorine and Tinocordiside showed high binding efficacy against all the four key SARS-CoV-2 targets. Tinocordiside and Isocolumbin showed IC 50 value of < 1 M against both 6Y84 and 6VSB. Conclusion: At least four natural compounds from Tinospora cordifolia showed high binding efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 targets involved in attachment and replication of the virus. Hence validating the merit of using Tinospora cordifolia in the clinical management of infection caused by SARS-CoV-2.

The ReLU activation function (AF) has been extensively applied in deep neural networks, in particular Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), for image classification despite its unresolved dying ReLU problem, which poses challenges to reliable applications. This issue has obvious important implications for critical applications, such as those in healthcare. Recent approaches are just proposing variations of the activation function within the same unresolved dying ReLU challenge. This contribution reports a different research direction by investigating the development of an innovative quantum approach to the ReLU AF that avoids the dying ReLU problem by disruptive design. The Leaky ReLU was leveraged as a baseline on which the two quantum principles of entanglement and superposition were applied to derive the proposed Quantum ReLU (QReLU) and the modified-QReLU (m-QReLU) activation functions. Both QReLU and m-QReLU are implemented and made freely available in TensorFlow and Keras. This original approach is effective and validated extensively in case studies that facilitate the detection of COVID-19 and Parkinson Disease (PD) from medical images. The two novel AFs were evaluated in a two-layered CNN against nine ReLU-based AFs on seven benchmark datasets, including images of spiral drawings taken via graphic tablets from patients with Parkinson Disease and healthy subjects, and point-of-care ultrasound images on the lungs of patients with COVID-19, those with pneumonia and healthy controls. Despite a higher computational cost, results indicated an overall higher classification accuracy, precision, recall and F1-score brought about by either quantum AFs on five of the seven bench-mark datasets, thus demonstrating its potential to be the new benchmark or gold standard AF in CNNs and aid image classification tasks involved in critical applications, such as medical diagnoses of COVID-19 and PD.

During recent decades West Nile Virus (WNV) outbreaks have continuously occurred in the Mediterranean area. In August 2020 a new WNV outbreak affected 71 people with meningoencephalitis in Andalusia and six more cases were detected in Extremadura (south-west of Spain), causing a total of eight deaths. The whole genomes of four viruses were obtained and phylogenetically analyzed in the context of recent outbreaks. The Andalusian viral samples belonged to lineage 1 and were relatively similar to those of previous outbreaks which occurred in the Mediterranean region. Here we present a detailed analysis of the outbreak, including an extensive phylogenetic study. As part on this effort, we implemented a local Nextstrain server, which has become a constituent piece of regional epidemiological surveillance, wherein forthcoming genomes of environmental samples or, eventually, future outbreaks, will be included.

This study brings together and analyses the norms enacted as well as the practices followed by the Spanish Government and the institutions of the European Union in relation to air transport, from February 14, the date of declaration of the state of alarm, until April 30, when plans for lifting the containment measures in force were put on the table The restrictions of flights imposed by the authorities has caused a severe crisis in air transport, whose actors are demanding public aid from States However, air transport has also contributed to mitigating the social and economic consequences of the pandemic, facilitating the repatriation of Spanish nationals, and allowing the distribution of goods and medical supplies The European Union, with a belated reaction compared to that of States, directed its first measures to protect the internal market and only subsequently worried about offering public aid and solidarity

Global temperature rises in response to accumulating greenhouse gases is a well-debated issue in the present time. Historical records show that greenhouse gases positively influence temperature. Lockdown incident has brought an opportunity to justify the relation between greenhouse gas centric air pollutants and climatic variables considering a concise period. The present work has intended to explore the trend of air quality parameters, and air quality induced risk state since pre to during the lockdown period in reference to India and justifies the influence of pollutant parameters on climatic variables. Results showed that after implementation of lockdown, about 70% area experienced air quality improvement during the lockdown. The hazardous area was reduced from 7.52% to 5.17%. The spatial association between air quality components and climatic variables were not found very strong in all the cases. Still, statistically, a significant relation was observed in the case of surface pressure and moisture. From this, it can be stated that pollutant components can control the climatic components. This study recommends that pollution source management could be a partially good step for bringing climatic resilience of a region.

Background: The relationship between Length Of Stay (LOS) and Metres Above Sea Level (MASL) of Climate Therapy Stays (CTSs) and their therapeutic effectiveness and efficiency has been under-researched in the last four decades. As a consequence, the potentials of short-term and low-altitude CTSs remain unknown. Objectives: The purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, it aims to ascertain whether LOS and MASL are related to the percentage change of Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second (FEV1) and the percentage change of FEV1 Compound Daily Improvement Rate (FEV1 CDIR % Change). Secondly, it aims to provide an evidence-based positioning of CTSs by considering the same specific variables. Methods/Analysis: The study focuses on young people (age ?18) who have asthma problems. The Resource-Based Theory, postulating the valuability of natural resources generating above-average benefits, has been adopted as a conceptual lens. Primary studies carried out in eastern and western European countries and separately reviewed have been considered jointly. Spearmans rank correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between LOS and MASL of CTSs with FEV1Change (%) and FEV1Change CDIR (%) as indicators of health improvements. The descriptive statistics were implemented in calculating standardized and aggregated values. Findings: Negative and significant relationships have been highlighted between FEV1 Change (%) and MASL and between FEV1 Change CDIR % and LOS. In other words, subjects can achieve significant health improvements even by experiencing very short climate therapy stays at very low altitude mountain centres. Considering the FEV1Change (%) and the FEV1 Change CDIR (%) of climate stays by duration and elevation, the evidence-based knowledge platform has been established as a possible framework for developing an evidence-based marketing strategy for new health tourism products. Novelty/Improvement: Notwithstanding the need for further research, the metrics facilitating interdisciplinary, human health and economic studies have been devised. Further research on the effects of low altitude climate therapy stays could help define the healing potentials of macro and microclimatic conditions as potentially valuable health devices for those suffering from respiratory diseases living in the COVID-19 era. Quantifying these effects through further studies, an evidence-based approach to formulating marketing strategies may be devised, useful both for supporting public health provision and policies, and for facilitating practitioners in health tourism interested in offering nature-based activities for their clients. ? 2022 by the authors. Licensee ESJ, Italy.

Purpose: Because of the rapid increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19, in particular those with severe or critical status, overwhelming of health systems is a worldwide concern. Therefore, identifying high-risk COVID-19 patients, can help service providers for priority setting and hospital resource allocation. Methods: : 4542 adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 admitted in 15 hospitals in Tehran, Iran, from Feb 20 to April 18, 2020 were included in this retrospective cohort study with final outcomes of survived and died patients. Demographic features including age and sex, and laboratory data measured at admission were extracted and compared between recovered and died patients. Data analysis was performed applying SPSS modeler software using a logistic regression method. Results: : Of 4542 hospitalized adult patients, 822 patients (18.09%) died during hospitalization, and 3720 (81.90%) recovered and discharged. Based on logistic regression model, older age, 40-49 (RR= 1.80, CI: 1.13-2.87), 50-59 (RR=2.63, CI: 1.71-4.02), 60-69 (RR= 4.40, CI: 2.92-6.63), 70-79 (RR=7.49, CI: 5.01-11.19), Above 80 (RR=13.85, CI: 9.23-2.77), ALT 55 IU/ (RR=2.20, CI: 1.69-2.86), AST 100 IU/L (RR=5.93, CI: 4.75-7.39), ALP 200 IU/L (RR=2.46, CI: 1.80-3.37), sodium < 135 mEq/l (RR=1.69, CI: 1.35-2.11) or more than 145 mEq/l (RR=7.24, CI: 5.07-10.33), potassium > 5.50 mEq/l (RR=7.53, CI: 4.15-13.64), and calcium < 8.50 mEq/l (RR=3.39, CI: 2.81-4.09), CPK between 307-600 IU/L (RR=2.73, CI: 2.12-3.53) and above 600 IU/L (RR=4.41, CI: 3.40-5.71) in men, and 192-400 IU/L (RR=2.73, CI: 2.12-3.53), and above 400 (RR=4.41, CI: 3.40-5.71) in women, CRP > 3 mg/l (RR=3.22, CI: 1.99-5.20), and creatinine > 1.5 mg/l (RR=6.37, CI: 5.30-7.66) were significantly associated with COVID-19 mortality. Conclusion: Our findings suggested less than one in five hospitalized patients with COVID-19 die mostly due to electrolyte disbalance, liver, and renal dysfunctions. Better supportive care is needed to improve outcomes for patients with COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION: Infectious mononucleosis (IM) is a common viral infection that typically causes fever, pharyngitis, and lymphadenopathy in young patients. The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the most common cause of IM, followed by cytomegalovirus (CMV). Given that serological testing is associated with limitations regarding its accuracy, availability, and time to receive results, clinical differentiation based on symptoms, signs, and basic tests would be useful. We evaluated whether clinical findings could be used to differentiate EBV-IM from CMV-IM. METHODS: In this single-center retrospective case-control study, we evaluated >14-year-old patients with serologically confirmed EBV-IM or CMV-IM during 2006C2017. We compared the patients symptoms, physical findings, blood counts, and serum biomarkers to create three regression models: model 1 (symptoms and signs), model 2 (model 1 plus sonographic hepatosplenomegaly and blood counts), and model 3 (model 2 plus hepatobiliary biomarkers). RESULTS: Among the 122 patients (72.6%) with EBV-IM and 46 patients (27.4%) with CMV-IM, the median age was 25 years and 82 patients (48.8%) were male. The median age was 10 years older in the CMV-IM group (p < 0.001) and the median interval from onset to visit was 5 days longer in the CMV-IM group (p < 0.001). Logistic regression revealed that EBV-IM was predicted by younger age, short onset-to-visit interval, lymphadenopathy, tonsillar white coat, hepatosplenomegaly, atypical lymphocytosis, and elevations of lactate dehydrogenase and gamma-glutamyl transferase. All regression models had areas under the curve of >0.9. CONCLUSION: History and physical findings, especially when used with atypical lymphocytosis and sonographic hepatosplenomegaly, can help physicians differentiate EBV-IM from CMV-IM.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are well-documented as high-impact practices that can broaden participation and success in STEM. Drawing primarily from a community of practice theoretical framework, we previously developed an interdisciplinary CURE course (Science Bootcamp) for STEM majors focused entirely on the scientific process. Among first-year students, Science Bootcamp leads to psychosocial gains and increased retention. In the current study, we test whether an online Science Bootcamp also improved outcomes for STEM transfer studentsa group that faces transfer shock, which can negatively impact GPA, psychosocial outcomes, and retention. To this end, we redesigned Science Bootcamp to a 2-week course for STEM transfer students to complete prior to beginning the fall semester at our 4-year institution. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the course was conducted in an entirely virtual format, using primarily synchronous instruction. Despite the course being virtual, the diverse group of STEM majors worked in small groups to conduct rigorous, novel empirical research projects from start to finish, even presenting their results in a poster symposium. Assessment data confirmed the compressed, online Science Bootcamp contained key CURE componentsopportunities for collaboration, discovery and relevance, and iterationand that students were highly satisfied with the course. Moreover, in line with our hypothesis, STEM transfer students who participated in the online Science Bootcamp experienced a range of psychosocial gains (e.g., belonging to STEM). In sum, these findings suggest our online Science Bootcamp promotes positive STEM outcomes, representing a highly flexible and affordable CURE that can be scaled for use at institutions of any size.

In this paper are presented predictions on the evolution in time of the number of positive cases in Italy of the Covid-19 pandemic based on official data and on the use of a function of the type of a Gauss Error Function as a Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF). We have analyzed the available data for China and Italy. The evolution in time of the number of cumulative diagnosed positive cases of Covid-19 in China very well approximates a distribution of the type of the Error Function, that is, the integral of a normal, Gaussian distribution. We have then used such a function to study the potential evolution in time of the number of positive cases in Italy by performing a number of fits of the official data so far available. We then found a statistical prediction for the day in which the peak of the number of daily positive cases in Italy occurs, corresponding to the flex of the fit, i.e., to the change in sign of its second derivative (that is the change from acceleration to deceleration) as well as of the day in which a substantial attenuation of such number of daily cases is reached. We have then performed 150 Monte Carlo simulations in the attempt to have a more robust prediction of the day of the above-mentioned peak and of the day of the substantial decrease of the number of daily positive cases. Although, official data have been used, these predictions are obtained with a heuristic approach, since those predictions are based on statistical approach and do not take into account either a number of relevant issues (such as medical, social distancing, virologic, epidemiological, etc.) or models of contamination diffusion.

Anti-Asian racism and violence dramatically increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, recent studies and reports are showing that the health and well-being of Asian Americans are negatively affected. To address this urgent problem, the field of health education and public health must be equipped with the critical frameworks and concepts to analyze racism and White supremacy and how it affects the health and well-being of Asian Americans. We argue that using an ethnic studies lens in health education can help educators, researchers, and practitioners teach and train health educators to address racism experienced by Asian Americans during COVID-19 in relation to their health. We will discuss the elements of ethnic studies and demonstrate how to use it as a lens in understanding health disparities in the Asian American population influenced and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amplification-based nucleic acid detection is widely employed in food safety, medical diagnosis and environment monitoring. However, conventional nucleic acid analysis has to be carried out in laboratories because of requiring expensive instruments and trained personnel. If people could do nucleic acid detection at home by themselves, the application of nucleic acid detection would be greatly accelerated. We herein reported a polypropylene (PP) bag-based method for convenient detection of nucleic acids in the oil-sealed space. The PP bag has three chambers which are responsible for lysis, washing and amplification/detection, respectively. After adding sample, nucleic acids are adsorbed on magnetic particles (MPs) and moved into these three chambers successively through immiscible oil channel by an external magnet. Combined with isothermal amplification, the PP bag can be incubated in a water bath or milk warmer and acted as a reaction tube. With highly specific CRISPR technology, Salmonella typhimurium (St) and SARS-CoV-2 can be visually detected in these PP bags within 1 h, indicating its potential household application. To further improve the reliability of nucleic acid testing at home, a logic decision method is introduced by detecting both target and endogenous reference gene. Positive/negative/invalid detection result can be obtained by chronologically adding the CRISPR reagents of target and endogenous reference gene. We anticipate that this PP bag can provide a novel toolkit for nucleic acid detection in people's daily life.

Introduccin El sndrome de dificultad respiratoria agudo (SDRA) es actualmente el principal diagnstico en las unidades de cuidado intensivo (UCI), el cual est relacionado con la pandemia del SARS-CoV-2. Este sndrome aumenta la estancia, los costos hospitalarios y tiene alta mortalidad. La radiografa de trax es un mtodo imprescindible en estos pacientes para el diagnstico y seguimiento clnico, por ser econmico y de uso rutinario en UCI. El puntaje RALE (evaluacin radiogrfica del edema pulmonar) permite la estimacin de la extensin y densidad de las opacidades alveolares en la radiografa torcica y se ha asociado con diferentes desenlaces clnicos como la oxigenacin, mortalidad a los 28 das, das libres de ventilador, estancia hospitalaria y severidad del SDRA. El objetivo de este trabajo es establecer la asociacin del RALE con desenlaces clnicos de los pacientes con SDRA de nuestra institucin. Materiales y mtodos Estudio de cohorte ambispectiva, monocntrico. Se incluyeron adultos mayores de 18 a?os con diagnstico de SDRA hospitalizados en las UCI del Hospital Santa Clara, de Bogot, Colombia, de enero a diciembre de 2020. Resultados El estudio incluy 100 pacientes, el 93% con diagnstico de SARS-CoV-2; se encontr asociacin entre el RALE del primer da y la oxigenacin del primer da de ingreso, pero no se hall relacin estadsticamente significativa del RALE con los otros desenlaces. Conclusin El puntaje RALE no se asoci con los desenlaces clnicos relevantes en los pacientes con SDRA. Esto se puede explicar por los diferentes mecanismos de hipoxemia de estos pacientes. Se sugiere realizar otros estudios para confirmar estos hallazgos. Introduction Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is currently the main diagnosis in intensive care units (ICU) and is related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This syndrome increases hospital stay and costs, and has high mortality. Chest radiography is essential in these patients for diagnosis and clinical follow-up, as it is inexpensive and routinely used in the ICU. The RALE score (Radiographic assessment of lung edema) allows the estimation of the extension and density of alveolar opacities in chest radiography and has been associated with different clinical outcomes such as oxygenation, mortality at 28 days, ventilator-free days, hospital stay, and severity of ARDS. The objective of this work is to establish the association of RALE with clinical outcomes in patients with ARDS in our institution. Materials and methods Ambispective, monocentric cohort study. Adults older than 18 years with a diagnosis of ARDS hospitalized in the ICUs of Hospital Santa Clara, Bogot, Colombia, from January to December 2020, were included. Results The study included 100 patients, 93% with a diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, an association with RALE on the first day was found with oxygenation on the first day of admission, but without finding a statistically significant relationship between RALE and the other outcomes. Conclusion The RALE score was not associated with relevant clinical outcomes in patients with ARDS. This can be explained by the different mechanisms of hypoxaemia in these patients. Further studies are suggested to confirm these findings.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the Australian medical landscape, especially in relation to how we need to provide clinical care in general practice.

The pandemic of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) took the world by surprise. Following the first outbreak of COVID-19 in December 2019, several models have been developed to study and understand its transmission dynamics. Although the spread of COVID-19 is being slowed down by vaccination and other interventions, there is still a need to have a clear understanding of the evolution of the pandemic across countries, states and communities. To this end, there is a need to have a clearer picture of the initial spread of the disease in different regions. In this project, we used a simple SEIR model and a Bayesian inference framework to estimate the basic reproduction number of COVID-19 across Africa. Our estimates vary between 1.98 (Sudan) and 9.66 (Mauritius), with a median of 3.67 (90% CrI: 3.31 - 4.12). The estimates provided in this paper will help to inform COVID-19 modeling in the respective countries/regions.

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 survivors are at risk of functional decline. To address the current gap in knowledge about post-acute needs of those infected by COVID-19, we examined discharge function data to better prepare patients, providers, and health systems to return patients to optimal levels of functioning. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the prevalence of functional decline and related rehabilitation needs at hospital discharge. DESIGN: Prospective chart review. SETTING: Academic tertiary care hospital PARTICIPANTS: Hospitalized adults with a laboratory confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis, with admission dates between March 4, 2020 and May 1, 2020 INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Discharge location;need for outpatient physical, occupational, or speech therapy;need for durable medical equipment at discharge;presence of dysphagia at discharge;functional decline. RESULTS: Three hundred eleven potential cases were reviewed. The final number of cases included in analysis was N=288, ranging in age from 20-95 years old (mean 66.80+/-15.31 years). Nearly twenty percent of COVID-19 survivors discharged to a location other than their home. Forty-five percent of survivors experienced functional decline impacting their discharge. Eighty-seven (80.6%) of survivors who showed functional change during hospitalization were referred for additional therapy at discharge. At least 73 (67.6%) of these patients required DME at discharge (in 12 cases this was not clearly documented). Twenty-nine (26.7%) of the survivors who showed functional changes had ongoing dysphagia at the time of hospital discharge. Ninety-seven of the survivors (40.6%) were never assessed by a PM&R physician, physical therapist, occupational therapist, or speech language pathologist during their hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 mortality rates are frequently reported in the media, while the effects on function are not as well described. The information provided here highlights the need for rehabilitative services during and after hospitalization for COVID-19. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This study compared the accuracy of a new MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry system, ASTA MicroIDSys system, with that of MALDI Biotyper system for the identification of reference and clinical bacterial and yeast strains. The identification accuracy of the 2 systems was compared using a total of 406 strains comprising 142 aerobic and 180 anaerobic bacterial strains and 84 yeast strains. The genus and species identification rates were 98.0% and 89.4% using MicroIDSys and 96.1% and 89.4% using Biotyper, respectively. The species identification rates of MicroIDSys and Biotyper for aerobic bacteria were 93.0% and 97.2%, respectively, and those for anaerobic bacteria were 85.6% and 81.7%, respectively. The accuracy of yeast identification at the species level was 91.7% using MicroIDSys and 92.9% using Biotyper. These findings indicate that MicroIDSys could be useful for the accurate identification of bacteria and yeast in clinical microbiology laboratories.

Lung ultrasound has been described for over a decade and international protocols exist for its application. It is a controversial area among pulmonologists and has had more uptake with emergency as well as intensive care physicians. We discuss the basics and evidence behind the use of lung ultrasound in respiratory failure, and what role we see it playing in the current 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic.