Sleep and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from an online questionnaire survey in China

IntroductionThe online study investigated the sleep, psychological conditions, and risk factors during the wave of transmission of COVID-19 since December 7, 2022.MethodsWe distributed questionnaires through networking mediums to residents to gather information about COVID-19 infection, sleep, and mental status.ResultsDuring the extraordinary period in China, 91.9% of 1094 participants claimed to be infected with COVID-19, 36.8% reported poor sleep quality, 75.9% reported anxiety, and 65.5% reported depression. In retrospect, people have experienced lower sleep quality, longer sleep latency, enhanced rising time, and decreased sleep efficiency after the infection wave. After adjusting confounding factors, the elderly, women, urban residents, people with comorbidity, anxiety, depression, stress state, and COVID-19 infection have high risks for sleep disorders during the period.DiscussionThe survey indicates that sleep disturbance caused by COVID-19 involves multiple dimensions, such as physiology, psychology, and society. The COVID-19 infection-related sleep problem should be taken seriously. Apart from conventional treatment, psychological issues of insomnia can not be ignored

Molecular characterization of methicillin-resistant and -susceptible Staphylococcus aureus recovered from hospital personnel

Introduction Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the major causes of hospital acquired infections. Over the past two decades MRSA has become ‘epidemic’ in many hospitals worldwide. However, little is known about the genetic background of S. aureus recovered from hospital personnel in China. Aim The aim of this study was to determine the genetic diversity of MRSA and methicillin susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) recovered from hospital personnel in Tianjin, North China. Methodology Three hundred and sixty-eight hand or nasal swabs were collected from 276 hospital personnel in four tertiary hospitals in Tianjin, North China between November 2017 and March 2019. In total, 535 gram-positive bacteria were isolated, of which 59 were identified as S. aureus. Staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing, multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) and spa typing were performed to determine molecular characteristics of S. aureus. Results Thirty-one out of 276 (11%) hospital personnel were S. aureus carriers, whereas 11/276 (4%) carried MRSA. Fifty out of 59 (85%) of S. aureus isolates were resistant or intermediate resistant to erythromycin. The dominant genotypes of MRSA recovered from hospital personnel were ST398-t034-SCCmecIV/V, and ST630-t084/t2196, whereas major genotypes of MSSA included ST15-t078/t084/t346/t796/t8862/ t8945/t11653 and ST398-t189/t034/ t078/t084/t14014. Conclusion Although, the predominant genotypes of MRSA recovered from hospital personnel in this study were different from those main genotypes that have previously been reported to cause infections in Tianjin and in other geographic areas of China, the MRSA ST398-t034 genotype has previously been reported to be associated with livestock globally. The dominant MSSA genotypes recovered from hospital personnel were consistent with those previously reported MSSA genotypes recovered from the clinic. The diversity of S. aureus genotypes warrantee further surveillance and genomic studies to better understand the relatedness of these bacteria with those recovered from patients and community

Genomic heterogeneity of multiple synchronous lung cancer

Multiple synchronous lung cancers (MSLCs) present a clinical dilemma as to whether individual tumours represent intrapulmonary metastases or independent tumours. In this study we analyse genomic profiles of 15 lung adenocarcinomas and one regional lymph node metastasis from 6 patients with MSLC. All 15 lung tumours demonstrate distinct genomic profiles, suggesting all are independent primary tumours, which are consistent with comprehensive histopathological assessment in 5 of the 6 patients. Lung tumours of the same individuals are no more similar to each other than are lung adenocarcinomas of different patients from TCGA cohort matched for tumour size and smoking status. Several known cancer-associated genes have different mutations in different tumours from the same patients. These findings suggest that in the context of identical constitutional genetic background and environmental exposure, different lung cancers in the same individual may have distinct genomic profiles and can be driven by distinct molecular events

Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and Mortality Due to Cardiovascular Disease and Cerebrovascular Disease in Shenyang, China

BACKGROUND: The relationship between ambient air pollution exposure and mortality of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in human is controversial, and there is little information about how exposures to ambient air pollution contribution to the mortality of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases among Chinese. The aim of the present study was to examine whether exposure to ambient-air pollution increases the risk for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among humans to examine the association between compound-air pollutants [particulate matter <10 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM(10)), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)) and nitrogen dioxide (NO(2))] and mortality in Shenyang, China, using 12 years of data (1998-2009). Also, stratified analysis by sex, age, education, and income was conducted for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular mortality. The results showed that an increase of 10 µg/m(3) in a year average concentration of PM(10) corresponds to 55% increase in the risk of a death cardiovascular disease (hazard ratio [HR], 1.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.51 to 1.60) and 49% increase in cerebrovascular disease (HR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.45 to 1.53), respectively. The corresponding figures of adjusted HR (95%CI) for a 10 µg/m(3) increase in NO(2) was 2.46 (2.31 to 2.63) for cardiovascular mortality and 2.44 (2.27 to 2.62) for cerebrovascular mortality, respectively. The effects of air pollution were more evident in female that in male, and nonsmokers and residents with BMI<18.5 were more vulnerable to outdoor air pollution. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with the death of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases among Chinese populations

On Parameter Inference for Step-Stress Accelerated Life Test with Geometric Distribution

In this article, we present the parameter inference in step-stress accelerated life tests under the tampered failure rate model with geometric distribution. We deal with Type-II censoring scheme involved in experimental data, and provide the maximum likelihood estimate and confidence interval of the parameters of interest. With the help of the Monte-Carlo simulation technique, a comparison of precision of the confidence limits is demonstrated for our method, the Bootstrap method, and the large-sample based procedure. The application of two industrial real datasets shows the proposed method efficiency and feasibility

model checking conditional csl for continuous-time markov chains

In this paper, we consider the model-checking problem of continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) with respect to conditional logic. To the end, we extend Continuous Stochastic Logic introduced in Aziz et al. (2000) [1] to Conditional Continuous Stochastic Logic (CCSL) by introducing a conditional probabilistic operator. CCSL allows us to express a richer class of properties for CTMCs. Based on a parameterized product obtained from the CTMC and an automaton extracted from a given CCSL formula, we propose an approximate model checking algorithm and analyse its complexity. Crown Copyright &copy; 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.In this paper, we consider the model-checking problem of continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) with respect to conditional logic. To the end, we extend Continuous Stochastic Logic introduced in Aziz et al. (2000) [1] to Conditional Continuous Stochastic Logic (CCSL) by introducing a conditional probabilistic operator. CCSL allows us to express a richer class of properties for CTMCs. Based on a parameterized product obtained from the CTMC and an automaton extracted from a given CCSL formula, we propose an approximate model checking algorithm and analyse its complexity. Crown Copyright &copy; 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A Formal Proof of the Rate Monotonic Scheduler

We formally prove Liu and Layland&apos;s classic theorem on the Rate Monotonic Scheduler in Duration Calculus, a real time interval temporal logic. We describe the assumption of the system, the scheduling policy, the requirement, i.e., service is met for the processes before their deadlines, all by Duration Calculus formulae. That a feasibility condition is sufficient is formalised as logical implication. By using the proof system of Duration Calculus, we formally prove that the feasibility condition due to Liu and Layland is sufficient. Dong Shuzhen was a fellow of UNU/IIST between February 1999 and July 1999. Xu Qiwen is a Research Fellow of UNU/IIST. His research interest is in Formal Techniques of Programming, including concurrency, verification, and design calculi. E-mail: [email protected] Zhan Naijun was a fellow of UNU/IIST between July 1998 and August 1999, on leave from Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he is a PhD student. Email: [email protected] Copyrigh..