Data-driven decision-making in COVID-19 response : a survey

COVID-19 has spread all over the world, having an enormous effect on our daily life and work. In response to the epidemic, a lot of important decisions need to be taken to save communities and economies worldwide. Data clearly play a vital role in effective decision-making. Data-driven decision-making uses data-related evidence and insights to guide the decision-making process and verify the plan of action before it is committed. To better handle the epidemic, governments and policy-making institutes have investigated abundant data originating from COVID-19. These data include those related to medicine, knowledge, media, and so on. Based on these data, many prevention and control policies are made. In this survey article, we summarize the progress of data-driven decision-making in the response to COVID-19, including COVID-19 prevention and control, psychological counseling, financial aid, work resumption, and school reopening. We also propose some current challenges and open issues in data-driven decision-making, including data collection and quality, complex data analysis, and fairness in decision-making. This survey article sheds light on current policy-making driven by data, which also provides a feasible direction for further scientific research. © 2014 IEEE

Synthesis of chiral α-hydroxy acids via palladium-catalyzed C(sp^3)–H alkylation of lactic acid

Herein we report a Pd-catalyzed alkylation of lactic acid with the assistance of 8-aminoquinoline auxiliary. A wide range of alkyl iodides bearing β-hydrogen atoms are compatible with the reaction conditions, providing a practical and straightforward alternative to access chiral α-hydroxy acids (AHAs). The new reactions have been applied for the synthesis of isotope-labeled AHAs and a sugar-containing complex AHA

Bright 22 μ\mum Excess Candidates from WISE All-Sky Catalog and Hipparcos Main Catalog

In this paper we present a catalog which includes 141 bright candidates ($\leq10.27$ mag, V band) showing the infrared (IR) excess at 22 $\mu$m. Of which, 38 stars are known IR excess stars or disk, 23 stars are double or multiple stars and 4 are Be stars. While the remaining more than 70 stars are identified as the 22 $\mu$m excess candidates in our work. The criterion of selecting candidates is $K_s-[22]_{\mu m}$. All these candidates are selected from \emph{WISE} All-sky data cross-correlated with \emph{Hipparcos} Main Catalog and the likelihood-ratio technique is employed. Considering the effect of background, we introduce the \emph{IRAS} 100 $\mu$m level to exclude the high background. We also estimated the coincidence probability of these sources. In addition, we presented the optical to mid-infrared SEDs and optical images of all the candidates, and gave the observed optical spectra of 6 stars with NAOC's 2.16-m telescope. To measure for the dust amount around each star, the fractional luminosity is also provided. We also test whether our method of selecting IR excess stars can be used to search for extra-solar planets, we cross-matched our catalog with known IR-excess stars having planets but none is matched. Finally, we give the fraction of stars showing IR-excess for different spectral type of main-sequence stars.Comment: 45 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Stereoselective alkoxycarbonylation of unactivated C(sp^3)–H bonds with alkyl chloroformates via Pd(II)/Pd(IV) catalysis

Several examples on Pd-catalysed carbonylation of methyl C(sp^3)–H bonds with gaseous CO via Pd(II)/Pd(0) catalysis have been reported. However, methylene C(sp^3)–H carbonylation remains a great challenge, largely due to the lack of reactivity of C–H bonds and the difficulty in CO migratory insertion. Herein, we report the stereoselective alkoxycarbonylation of both methyl and methylene C(sp^3)–H bonds with alkyl chloroformates through a Pd(II)/Pd(IV) catalytic cycle. A broad range of aliphatic carboxamides and alkyl chloroformates are compatible with this protocol. In addition, this process is scalable and the directing group could be easily removed under mild conditions with complete retention of configuration

Biological Effects of Black Phosphorus Nanomaterials on Mammalian Cells and Animals

The remarkable progress of applied black phosphorus nanomaterials (BPNMs) is attributed to BP's outstanding properties. Due to its potential for applications, environmental release and subsequent human exposure are virtually inevitable. Therefore, how BPNMs impact biological systems and human health needs to be considered. In this comprehensive Minireview, the most recent advancements in understanding the mechanisms and regulation factors of BPNMs’ endogenous toxicity to mammalian systems are presented. These achievements lay the groundwork for an understanding of its biological effects, aimed towards establishing regulatory principles to minimize the adverse health impacts

Chuanxiong Formulae for Migraine: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of High-Quality Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective: Migraine is a complex, prevalent and disabling neurological disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of headache without ideal treatment. We aim to assess the current available evidence of herbal Chuanxiong (Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. root) formulae for the treatment of migraine according to the high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs).Methods: English and Chinese electronic databases were searched from their inceptions until March 2017. The methodological quality of included study was assessed by the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. RCTs with Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) score ≥4 were included in the analyses. Meta-analysis was conducted using RevMan 5.3 software. Publication bias was assessed by funnel plot analysis and Egger's test.Results: Nineteen RCTs with 1832 participants were identified. The studies investigated the Chuanxiong formulae vs. placebo (n = 5), Chuanxiong formulae vs. conventional pharmacotherapy (CP) (n = 13 with 15 comparisons), and Chuanxiong formulae plus CP vs. CP (n = 1). Meta-analysis indicated that Chuanxiong formulae could reduce frequency, duration, days and pain severity of migraine and improve the total clinical efficacy rate (P < 0.05). Adverse event monitoring was reported in 16 out of 19 studies and occurrence rate of adverse event was low.Conclusion: The findings of present study indicated that Chuanxiong formulae exerted the symptom reliefs of for migraine

Comparative analysis of organellar genomes between diploid and tetraploid Chrysanthemum indicum with its relatives

Chrysanthemum indicum, a species native to Eastern Asia is well known as one of the progenitor species of the cultivated Chrysanthemum which is grown for its ornamental and medicinal value. Previous genomic studies on Chrysanthemum have largely ignored the dynamics of plastid genome (plastome) and mitochondria genome (mitogenome) evolution when analyzing this plant lineage. In this study, we sequenced and assembled the plastomes and mitogenomes of diploid and tetraploid C. indicum as well as the morphologically divergent variety C. indicum var. aromaticum. We used published data from 27 species with both plastome and mitogenome complete sequences to explore differences in sequence evolution between the organellar genomes. The size and structure of organellar genome between diploid and tetraploid C. indicum were generally similar but the tetraploid C. indicum and C. indicum var. aromaticum were found to contain unique sequences in the mitogenomes which also contained previously undescribed open reading frames (ORFs). Across Chrysanthemum mitogenome structure varied greatly but sequences transferred from plastomes in to the mitogenomes were conserved. Finally, differences observed between mitogenome and plastome gene trees may be the result of the difference in the rate of sequence evolution between genes in these two genomes. In total the findings presented here greatly expand the resources for studying Chrysanthemum organellar genome evolution with possible applications to conservation, breeding, and gene banking in the future

Engineered Cytochrome c-Catalyzed Lactone-Carbene B–H Insertion

Previous work has demonstrated that variants of a heme protein, Rhodothermus marinus cytochrome c (Rma cyt c), catalyze abiological carbene boron–hydrogen (B–H) bond insertion with high efficiency and selectivity. Here we investigated this carbon–boron bond-forming chemistry with cyclic, lactone-based carbenes. Using directed evolution, we obtained a Rma cyt c variant BOR^(LAC) that shows high selectivity and efficiency for B–H insertion of 5- and 6-membered lactone carbenes (up to 24,500 total turnovers and 97.1:2.9 enantiomeric ratio). The enzyme shows low activity with a 7-membered lactone carbene. Computational studies revealed a highly twisted geometry of the 7-membered lactone carbene intermediate relative to 5- and 6-membered ones. Directed evolution of cytochrome c together with computational characterization of key iron-carbene intermediates has allowed us to expand the scope of enzymatic carbene B–H insertion to produce new lactone-based organoborons