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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was detected in China during the 2019–2020 seasonal influenza epidemic. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and behavioral changes to mitigate COVID-19 could have affected transmission dynamics of influenza and other respiratory diseases. By comparing 2019–2020 seasonal influenza activity through March 29, 2020 with the 2011–2019 seasons, we found that COVID-19 outbreaks and related NPIs may have reduced influenza in Southern and Northern China and the United States by 79.2% (lower and upper bounds: 48.8%–87.2%), 79.4% (44.9%–87.4%) and 67.2% (11.5%–80.5%). Decreases in influenza virus infection were also associated with the timing of NPIs. Without COVID-19 NPIs, influenza activity in China and the United States would likely have remained high during the 2019–2020 season. Our findings provide evidence that NPIs can partially mitigate seasonal and, potentially, pandemic influenza. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented to interrupt COVID-19 transmission may also impact the spread of other infectious diseases. Here, the authors estimate that influenza activity in China and the United States reduced by up to 80% when NPIs were in place in the 2019–2020 season.

Previous studies have examined WATER metaphors in different discourses, yet there has been limited focus on understanding the functions of these metaphors in constructing discourses. To address this research gap, the present paper utilised the metaphor identification procedure developed by the Pragglejaz Group and the Weak Differentiating Model to investigate WATER metaphors in the Coronavirus Corpus. The study reveals that WATER metaphors can be used flexibly for multiple purposes. These include explaining the many pandemic stages, describing the occurrence and performance of the pandemic, explaining how COVID-19 affects human life, rallying the public to take precautions against contagion, and communicating risk. This research highlights the diverse functions that WATER metaphors served in conveying intricate information and influencing public perceptions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Transmission of the novel avian influenza A H7N9 virus seems to be predominantly between poultry and people. In the major Chinese cities of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Huzhou, and Nanjing—where most human cases of infection have occurred—live poultry markets (LPMs) were closed in April, 2013, soon after the initial outbreak, as a precautionary public health measure. Our objective was to quantify the effect of LPM closure in these cities on poultry-to-person transmission of avian influenza A H7N9 virus. We obtained information about every laboratory-confirmed human case of avian influenza A H7N9 virus infection reported in the four cities by June 7, 2013, from a database built by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. We used data for age, sex, location, residence type (rural or urban area), and dates of illness onset. We obtained information about LPMs from official sources. We constructed a statistical model to explain the patterns in incidence of cases reported in each city on the basis of the assumption of a constant force of infection before LPM closure, and a different constant force of infection after closure. We fitted the model with Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. 85 human cases of avian influenza A H7N9 virus infection were reported in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Huzhou, and Nanjing by June 7, 2013, of which 60 were included in our main analysis. Closure of LPMs reduced the mean daily number of infections by 99% (95% credibility interval 93–100%) in Shanghai, by 99% (92–100%) in Hangzhou, by 97% (68–100%) in Huzhou, and by 97% (81–100%) in Nanjing. Because LPMs were the predominant source of exposure to avian influenza A H7N9 virus for confirmed cases in these cities, we estimated that the mean incubation period was 3·3 days (1·4–5·7). LPM closures were effective in the control of human risk of avian influenza A H7N9 virus infection in the spring of 2013. In the short term, LPM closure should be rapidly implemented in areas where the virus is identified in live poultry or people. In the long term, evidence-based discussions and deliberations about the role of market rest days and central slaughtering of all live poultry should be renewed. Ministry of Science and Technology, China; Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Disease; Hong Kong University Grants Committee; China–US Collaborative Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases; Harvard Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics; and the US National Institutes of Health.

Characterisation of the severity profile of human infections with influenza viruses of animal origin is a part of pandemic risk assessment, and an important part of the assessment of disease epidemiology. Our objective was to assess the clinical severity of human infections with avian influenza A H7N9 virus, which emerged in China in early 2013. We obtained information about laboratory-confirmed cases of avian influenza A H7N9 virus infection reported as of May 28, 2013, from an integrated database built by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. We estimated the risk of fatality, mechanical ventilation, and admission to the intensive care unit for patients who required hospital admission for medical reasons. We also used information about laboratory-confirmed cases detected through sentinel influenza-like illness surveillance to estimate the symptomatic case fatality risk. Of 123 patients with laboratory-confirmed avian influenza A H7N9 virus infection who were admitted to hospital, 37 (30%) had died and 69 (56%) had recovered by May 28, 2013. After we accounted for incomplete data for 17 patients who were still in hospital, we estimated the fatality risk for all ages to be 36% (95% CI 26–45) on admission to hospital. Risks of mechanical ventilation or fatality (69%, 95% CI 60–77) and of admission to an intensive care unit, mechanical ventilation, or fatality (83%, 76–90) were high. With assumptions about coverage of the sentinel surveillance network and health-care-seeking behaviour for patients with influenza-like illness associated with influenza A H7N9 virus infection, and pro-rata extrapolation, we estimated that the symptomatic case fatality risk could be between 160 (63–460) and 2800 (1000–9400) per 100 000 symptomatic cases. Human infections with avian influenza A H7N9 virus seem to be less serious than has been previously reported. Many mild cases might already have occurred. Continued vigilance and sustained intensive control efforts are needed to minimise the risk of human infection. Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology; Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Disease; Hong Kong University Grants Committee; China–US Collaborative Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases; Harvard Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics; US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease; and the US National Institutes of Health.

BackgroundSkin injury is a kind of common tissue damage in daily life and war. Silk fibroin (SF) is becoming an engineered material for skin wound repair due to its superior unique physical and chemical properties. The present study aimed to illustrate mechanism of SF hydrogel promoting skin repair in the second degree burn mice.MethodsHeat shock models were established. In vitro, cells were culture for 50 min at 44 °C water bath; while in vivo, the skin of anesthetic mice were treat with soldering iron at 90 °C. Then, they divided into silk fibroin gel group, purilon gel group and control (blank) group. The cellular activity of proliferation and apoptosis was detected by Kit-8, flow cytometry and HE-staining, and the migration and adhesion were detected by scratch test. qRT-PCR and WB were employed to detected adhesion and migration related genes and proteins expression. TLN1 siRNA and overexpression technologies were also employed to illustrate the potential mechanism of SF effects.ResultsCompared with the purilon gel group and control group, SF hydrogel could enhance cell proliferation, migration and adhesion and increase the expression of adhesion and migration related proteins (P < 0.05), which promote burn wound healing.ConclusionsThrough the inhibition, overexpression and rescue experiments of Talin1, we proved that silk fibroin hydrogel promote burn wound healing through regulating TLN1 expression and affecting cell adhesion and migration.

Glycolysis and cholesterol synthesis are crucial in cancer metabolic reprogramming. The aim of this study was to identify a glycolysis and cholesterol synthesis-related genes (GCSRGs) signature for effective prognostic assessments of osteosarcoma patients. Gene expression data and clinical information were obtained from GSE21257 and TARGET-OS datasets. Consistent clustering method was used to identify the GCSRGs-related subtypes. Univariate Cox regression and LASSO Cox regression analyses were used to construct the GCSRGs signature. The ssGSEA method was used to analyze the differences in immune cells infiltration. The pRRophetic R package was utilized to assess the drug sensitivity of different groups. Western blotting, cell viability assay, scratch assay and Transwell assay were used to perform cytological validation. Through bioinformatics analysis, patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma were classified into one of 4 subtypes (quiescent, glycolysis, cholesterol, and mixed subtypes), which differed significantly in terms of prognosis and tumor microenvironment. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis revealed that the modules strongly correlated with glycolysis and cholesterol synthesis were the midnight blue and the yellow modules, respectively. Both univariate and LASSO Cox regression analyses were conducted on screened module genes to identify 5 GCSRGs (RPS28, MCAM, EN1, TRAM2, and VEGFA) constituting a prognostic signature for osteosarcoma patients. The signature was an effective prognostic predictor, independent of clinical characteristics, as verified further via Kaplan-Meier analysis, ROC curve analysis, univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. Additionally, GCSRGs signature had strong correlation with drug sensitivity, immune checkpoints and immune cells infiltration. In cytological experiments, we selected TRAM2 as a representative gene to validate the validity of GCSRGs signature, which found that TRAM2 promoted the progression of osteosarcoma cells. Finally, at the pan-cancer level, TRAM2 had been correlated with overall survival, progression free survival, disease specific survival, tumor mutational burden, microsatellite instability, immune checkpoints and immune cells infiltration. Therefore, we constructed a GCSRGs signature that efficiently predicted osteosarcoma patient prognosis and guided therapy.

Metaphor processing has been the subject of extensive research over the past five decades. A systematic review of metaphor processing publications through bibliometric tools can provide a clear overview of research on metaphor processing. In this study, we used the CiteSpace bibliometric tool to conduct a systematic review of publications related to metaphor processing. A total of 3271 works published and indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) were gathered. These works had been published between 1970 and 2022. We analyzed the co-citations of these works by CiteSpace to identify the most influential publications in metaphor processing research. A co-occurrence term analysis was done to identify dominant topics in this area of research. The results of this analysis showed that Language, comprehension, metaphor, figurative language , and context were the most frequent keywords. The most prominent clusters were students, figurative language, right hemisphere, embodied cognition, comprehension, N400 , and anger . Based on the results of this analysis, we suggest that task properties such as response format and linguistic features should be carefully taken into account in future studies on metaphor processing.

Avian influenza A H5N1 viruses have caused many, typically severe, human infections since the first human case was reported in 1997. However, no comprehensive epidemiological analysis of global human cases of H5N1 from 1997 to 2015 exists. Moreover, few studies have examined in detail the changing epidemiology of human H5N1 cases in Egypt, especially given the outbreaks since November, 2014, which have the highest number of cases ever reported worldwide in a similar period. Data on individual patients were collated from different sources using a systematic approach to describe the global epidemiology of 907 human H5N1 cases between May, 1997, and April, 2015. The number of affected countries rose between 2003 and 2008, with expansion from east and southeast Asia, then to west Asia and Africa. Most cases (67·2%) occurred from December to March, and the overall case-fatality risk was 483 (53·5%) of 903 cases which varied across geographical regions. Although the incidence in Egypt has increased dramatically since November, 2014, compared with the cases beforehand, there were no significant differences in the fatality risk, history of exposure to poultry, history of patient contact, and time from onset to hospital admission in the recent cases.

Background: Influenza is a major health threat to the elderly in China. Despite this, influenza vaccination rates still remain low and vary across regions that have different funding policies. In this study, we compare the vaccination status and influencing factors among older adults under the free, partial reimbursement, and self-paid vaccination strategies. Methods: Three cities with free, partial reimbursement, and self-paid influenza vaccination policies were selected. A cross-sectional, anonymous survey was then conducted. A total of 2265 elderly individuals aged 60 years and above were recruited using probability proportionate to size sampling. A standardized questionnaire was used during face-to-face interviews to collect data regarding the influenza vaccination status and influencing factors. The statistical analyses included chi-square tests, a multivariate logistic regression, and random forest models. Results: Among the 2265 participants (free policy region: n = 426; partial reimbursement region: n = 633; self-paid region: n = 1206), vaccination rates during the 2023–2024 season were significantly higher in the free policy region (53.29%) than in the partial reimbursement (20.85%) and self-paid (13.60%) regions (p < 0.001). The intention to vaccinate for the 2024–2025 season was also highest in the free policy region (68.78%), followed by partial reimbursement (47.71%) and self-paid (37.15%) regions (p < 0.001). This result demonstrated the same trend as the vaccination behavior. Cues to action (e.g., healthcare worker or family member recommendations) positively influenced vaccinations across all of the regions. In the self-paid region, perceived barriers, such as vaccine cost and side effect concerns, significantly reduced both behaviors and the next-season intention to vaccinate. Healthcare worker recommendations were key positive factors, while misconceptions and costs were major barriers to vaccination. Conclusions: Vaccination rates varied significantly across regions with different influenza vaccine subsidy policies. The free policy region demonstrated the highest coverage rate, while the self-paid region exhibited the lowest, suggesting that financial policies are a key determinant of vaccination uptake. Furthermore, free vaccination policies were associated with improved influenza vaccine knowledge among the elderly. Analysis of other influencing factors revealed that healthcare workers’ recommendations played a crucial role across all policy regions, though their impact on current-season vaccination behavior and next-season vaccination intention differed by subsidy context. Further studies are needed to explore the best approaches for optimizing region-specific subsidy strategies for promoting influenza vaccination among the elderly in China.