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This paper provides empirical evidence on the reorganization of GVCs in East Asia, highlighting that structural trends explain a decrease in the fragmentation of production after 2011 but that it is not the result of rising trade costs along the value chain. Using harmonized inter-country input-output tables, the paper first analyzes the global import intensity of production to document changes in the structure of GVCs. It then calculates theoryconsistent bilateral trade costs for intermediate and final products using an approach derived from the gravity literature and introduces a new index of cumulative trade costs along the value chain. These data are used to discuss whether the decrease in global imports is the consequence of shifts in demand, efficiency-enhancing strategies of firms or rising trade costs. Between 2011 and 2016, cumulative trade costs have decreased in East Asian GVCs. However, as COVID-19 is likely to intensify trade and investment uncertainties, trade costs could increase in the future. Policies aimed at reducing uncertainties and preserving the gains from trade and investment liberalization will be key in this new environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contact tracing forms a crucial part of the public-health toolbox in mitigating and understanding emergent pathogens and nascent disease outbreaks. Contact tracing in the United States was conducted during the pre-Omicron phase of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This tracing relied on voluntary reporting and responses, often using rapid antigen tests due to lack of accessibility to PCR tests. These limitations, combined with SARS-CoV-2's propensity for asymptomatic transmission, raise the question "how reliable was contact tracing for COVID-19 in the United States"? We answered this question using a Markov model to examine the efficiency with which transmission could be detected based on the design and response rates of contact tracing studies in the United States. Our results suggest that contact tracing protocols in the U.S. are unlikely to have identified more than 1.65% (95% uncertainty interval: 1.62-1.68%) of transmission events with PCR testing and 1.00% (95% uncertainty interval 0.98-1.02%) with rapid antigen testing. When considering a more robust contact tracing scenario, based on compliance rates in East Asia with PCR testing, this increases to 62.7% (95% uncertainty interval: 62.6-62.8%). We did not assume presence of asymptomatic transmission or superspreading, making our estimates upper bounds on the actual percentages traced. These findings highlight the limitations in interpretability for studies of SARS-CoV-2 disease spread based on U.S. contact tracing and underscore the vulnerability of the population to future disease outbreaks, for SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has changed people's long-standing group life, and "less gathering" has become a popular slogan during this period. People will probably feel lonely when they are physically, socially, or mentally distanced and isolated or excluded, and they usually perceive a deficiency in the quality or quantity of their social relationships. Although loneliness is easily conflated with solitude, loneliness as an emotion is generally regarded as negative while solitude can be positive. There are various causes and effects of loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic, and loneliness has been found to have significant impacts on poorer physical and mental health. Religiosity and spirituality are specifically proven to have a great impact on handling loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. When regarding belongingness as the opposite of loneliness and social isolation, religious belonging means a feeling of being "at home" and "connected". In this paper, from a comparative approach, we attempt to investigate how the three most prominent traditions in East Asia, i.e., Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, can help manage the feeling of loneliness. Due to different understandings of loneliness, their coping strategies for loneliness also vary. Through a preliminary study of "benevolence and rites," "wu-wei and freedom," and "mindfulness and spiritual realization," we can learn from the ancient wisdom about how to reduce loneliness and promote spiritual well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ganoderma lucidum has a long history of medicinal uses in the Far East countries of more than 2000 years due to its healing properties. Recently, G. lucidum has come under scientific scrutiny to evaluate its content of bioactive components that affect human physiology, and has been exploited for potent components in the pharmacology, nutraceuticals, and cosmetics industries. For instance, evidence is accumulating on the potential of this mushroom species as a promising antiviral medicine for treating many viral diseases, such as dengue virus, enterovirus 71, and recently coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19). Still, more research studies on the biotherapeutic components of G. lucidum are needed to ensure the safety and efficiency of G. lucidum and promote the development of commercial functional foods. This paper provides an extensive overview of the nutraceutical value of Ganoderma lucidum and the development of commercial functional food. Moreover, the geo-origin tracing strategies of this mushroom and its products are discussed, a highly important parameter to ensure product quality and safety. The discussed features will open new avenues and reveal more secrets to widely utilizing this mushroom in many industrial fields; i.e., pharmaceutical and nutritional ones, which will positively reflect the global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic is as much a process of globalization as it is its outcome. In the wake of the death, socio-economic devastation, and radical uncertainties it has unleashed, this paper re-examines globalization anew. This paper's focus is on the role that neoliberalism has played in precipitating the COVID-19 disaster, especially in the wealthiest nations of the West. Re-visiting history, the paper takes issue with the rhetoric of globalization that had been sold as a project ushering in an interconnected global village exalting culture and community. Against such exuberance, the paper recalls that globalization was a post-Cold War project celebrating liberal-capitalism's 'triumph' over state-socialism. It reveals globalization to be foremost about economic accumulation, not community edification. Moreover, in the realm of ideology and policymaking, the past four decades have seen liberalism devolving into neoliberalism, and many national states becoming financialized corporate states. Especially in the West, the liberal state has been captured and financialized. Austerity--not redistributive growth--has reigned, engendering historically unprecedented social polarization which COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated. Globalization, I argue, has served as rhetorical cover for the social destructiveness of 'neoliberalism'. The approaches and outcomes of pandemic management in much of the West are a further indictment of neoliberalism. Whereas 'herd immunity' had been the early de facto pandemic strategy of many neoliberal Western governments, most of East Asia a state-led commitment to 'zero transmission' and minimum casualties, leading to vastly different health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines three of the COVID-19 pandemic's "known" impacts to date: its widespread and fundamental altering of government policy priorities; record low oil prices and its role in further escalating already heightened levels of strategic competition in East Asia and weakening of the existing multilateral order. The paper then uses some of the observed outcomes of these changes under the pandemic so far, in addition to additional evidence and causal linkages drawn from past research, to assess COVID-19's potential, but still unknown, longer term influence on marine plastic pollution and overfishing in the South China Sea, two of East Asia's most pressing marine environmental problems. In addition to flagging potential COVID-19 linked issues of concern in these two important policy areas, this approach also may assist further inquiry into the pandemic's still unknown potential to undermine environmental protection and regulatory efforts in other environmental issue areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differences in public health approaches to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic could largely explain substantial variations in epidemiological indicators (such as incidence and mortality) between the West and the East. COVID-19 revealed vulnerabilities of most western countries' healthcare systems in their response to the ongoing public health crisis. Hence, western countries can possibly learn from practices from several East Asian countries regarding infrastructures, epidemiological surveillance and control strategies to mitigate the public health impact of the pandemic. In this paper, we discuss that the lack of rapid and timely community-centered approaches, and most importantly weak public health infrastructures, might have resulted in a high number of infected cases and fatalities in many western countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of digitalization, governments often turn to digital solutions for pressing policy issues, and the use of digital contact tracing and quarantine enforcement for COVID-19 is no exception. The longterm impacts of the digital solutions, however, cannot be taken for granted. The development and use of data tools for pandemic control, for example, may have potentially detrimental and irreversible impacts on data governance and, more broadly, society, in the long run. In this paper, we aim to explore the extent to which COVID-19 and digital contact tracing have led to policy change in data governance, if at all, and what the implications of such change would be for a post-COVID world. We compare the use of contact tracing and monitoring applications across mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore to illustrate both the enormous benefits and potential risks arising from the design of contact tracing applications and the involvement of stakeholders in the various stages of the policy cycle to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that, while COVID-19 has not changed the nature of issues, such as public trust in data governance, the increasing involvement of big tech in data policies, and data privacy risks, it has exacerbated those issues through the accelerated adoption of data technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature reports that there was a significant difference in the medical impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic between European and East Asian countries; specifically, the mortality rate of COVID-19 in Europe was significantly higher than that in East Asia. Considering such a difference, our narrative review aimed to compare the prevalence and characteristics of residual lung abnormalities at one-year follow-up computed tomography (CT) after severe or critical COVID-19 in survivors of European and East Asian countries. A literature search was performed to identify articles focusing on the prevalence and characteristics of CT lung abnormalities in survivors of severe or critical COVID-19. Database analysis identified 16 research articles, 9 from Europe and 7 from East Asia (all from China). Our analysis found a higher prevalence of CT lung abnormalities in European than in Chinese studies (82% vs. 52%). While the most prevalent lung abnormalities in Chinese studies were ground-glass opacities (35%), the most prevalent lung abnormalities in European studies were linear (59%) and reticular opacities (55%), followed by bronchiectasis (46%). Although our findings required confirmation, the higher prevalence and severity of lung abnormalities in European than in Chinese survivors of COVID-19 may reflect a greater architectural distortion due to a more severe lung damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The stigma associated with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is relatively neglected in policies for handling the disease. Stigmatization occurs only within specific social contexts in local societies. Objective: This study aims to examine COVID-19 survivors' experiences of social stigma and discrimination in South Korea in the first 2 years of the pandemic. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Results: Of 52 participants, 45 reported that they had to cope with stigma and discrimination in their intimate social relationships, workplaces, and children's schools, ranging from subtle actions to job loss. Sexual minorities who were involved in mass disease transmission in the early part of the pandemic experienced a higher level of stigmatization. The stigmatization dealt with in this study was related to two themes: survivors' sense of causing trouble and possibility of transmission. Conclusion: By intertwining this stigma with the experiences of public health measures through the voices of survivors, this study reveals the local context of East Asia in terms of culture-specific aspects of COVID-19-related stigma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antimicrobials have allowed medical advancements over several decades. However, the continuous emergence of antimicrobial resistance restricts efficacy in treating infectious diseases. In this context, the drug repositioning of already known biological active compounds to antimicrobials could represent a useful strategy. In 2002 and 2003, the SARS-CoV pandemic immobilized the Far East regions. However, the drug discovery attempts to study the virus have stopped after the crisis declined. Today's COVID-19 pandemic could probably have been avoided if those efforts against SARS-CoV had continued. Recently, a new coronavirus variant was identified in the UK. Because of this, the search for safe and potent antimicrobials and antivirals is urgent. Apart from antiviral treatment for severe cases of COVID-19, many patients with mild disease without pneumonia or moderate disease with pneumonia have received different classes of antibiotics. Diarylureas are tyrosine kinase inhibitors well known in the art as anticancer agents, which might be useful tools for a reposition as antimicrobials. The first to come onto the market as anticancer was sorafenib, followed by some other active molecules. For this interesting class of organic compounds antimicrobial, antiviral, antithrombotic, antimalarial, and anti-inflammatory properties have been reported in the literature. These numerous properties make these compounds interesting for a new possible pandemic considering that, as well as for other viral infections also for CoVID-19, a multitarget therapeutic strategy could be favorable. This review is meant to be an overview on diarylureas, focusing on their biological activities, not dwelling on the already known antitumor activity. Quite a lot of papers present in the literature underline and highlight the importance of these molecules as versatile scaffolds for the development of new and promising antimicrobials and multitarget agents against new pandemic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: SARS-CoV-2 invades human cells and leads to COVID-19 by direct associating with angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors, the level of which may be increased by treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and/or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). This meta-analysis aimed to explore the impact of ACEI/ARB treatment on the clinical outcomes of patients with COVID-19 infections among population in the East-Asia region. Methods: We collected clinical data published from January 2000 to May 2022 in the English databases including PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. Two reviewers independently screened and identified studies that met the prespecified criteria. Review Manager 5.3 software was used to perform the meta-analysis. Results: A total of 28 articles were included in this analysis. The results showed that patients who were prescribed with ACEI/ARB had a shorter duration of hospital stay [MD = -2.37, 95%CI (-3.59, -1.14), P = 0.000 2] and a lower mortality rate [OR = 0.61, 95% CI (0.52, 0.70), P<0.000 01] than patients who were not on ACEI/ARB. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference in disease severity [OR = 0.99, 95% CI (0.83, 1.17), P = 0.90] between individuals receiving ACEI/ARB or not. Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggested that the use of ACEI/ARB was not associated with adverse clinical outcomes in East-Asian Covid-19 patients and a reduced mortality and shorter duration of hospital stay among East-Asian population (especially for female subjects) was found. Thus, ACEI/ARB should be continued in patients infected by Covid-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas of our lives. Among other outcomes, the academic literature and popular media both discuss the potential effects of the pandemic on fertility. As fertility is an important determinant of population development and population forecasts are important for policy decisions and planning, we need to address to which extent fertility forecasts performed before the pandemic still apply. Using Monte Carlo forecasting based on principal components of fertility rates, we quantify the effects of the pandemic on fertility for 22 countries and discuss whether forecasts made prior to the pandemic need adjustment based on more recent data. Among the studied countries, 14 countries show no significant effect of the pandemic at all, while six countries have significantly lowered numbers of births in comparison to counterfactual trajectories that assume that past trends will hold. These countries are primarily in the Mediterranean and East Asia. For Finland and South Korea, there is statistical evidence for increased fertility in the early phases of the pandemic. In all cases with statistically significant fertility differentials caused by the pandemic, reproductive behavior normalized quickly. Therefore, we find no evidence for long-term effects of the pandemic on fertility, leading to the conclusion that pre-pandemic fertility forecasts still apply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To date, COVID‐19 has claimed 4.9 million lives. Diabetes has been identified as an independent risk factor of serious outcomes in people with COVID‐19 infection. Whether that holds true across world regions uniformly has not been previously assessed. Methods: This study offers the first umbrella systematic review and meta‐analysis to analyse the collective and geographically stratified mortality, ICU admission, ventilation requirement, illness severity and discharge rate amongst patients with diabetes. Five databases (EMBASE, MEDLINE, CAB Abstracts, PsychInfo and Web of Science) and 3 additional sources (SSRN's eLibrary, Research Square and MedRxiv) were searched from inception to 30 August 2021. Prospective and retrospective cohort studies, reporting the association between diabetes and one or more COVID‐19 hospitalization outcomes, were included. This meta‐analysis was registered on PROSPERO, CRD42021278579. Abbreviated MeSH terms used for search were as follows: (Diabetes) AND (2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease), adapted per database requirements. Exclusion criteria exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) none of the primary or secondary outcomes of meta‐analysis reported, (2) no confirmed COVID‐19 infection (laboratory or clinical) and (3) no unexposed population (solely patients with diabetes included). Quality of the included studies were assessed using the Newcastle‐Ottawa Scale (NOS) whilst quality of evidence by the GRADE framework. Studies that were clinically homogeneous were pooled. Summative data and heterogeneity were generated by the Cochrane platform RevMan (V. 5.4). Results: Overall, 158 observational studies were included, with a total of 270,212 of participants, median age 59 [53–65 IQR] of who 56.5% were male. A total of 22 studies originated from EU, 90 from Far East, 16 from Middle East and 30 from America. Data were synthesized with mixed heterogeneity across outcomes. Pooled results highlighted those patients with diabetes were at a higher risk of COVID‐19‐related mortality, OR 1.87 [95%CI 1.61, 2.17]. ICU admissions increased across all studies for patients with diabetes, OR 1.59 [95%CI 1.15, 2.18], a result that was mainly skewed by Far East‐originating studies, OR 1.94 [95%CI 1.51, 2.49]. Ventilation requirements were also increased amongst patients with diabetes worldwide, OR 1.44 [95%CI 1.20, 1.73] as well as their presentation with severe or critical condition, OR 2.88 [95%CI 2.29, 3.63]. HbA1C levels under <70 mmol and metformin use constituted protective factors in view of COVID‐19 mortality, whilst the inverse was true for concurrent insulin use. Conclusions: Whilst diabetes constitutes a poor prognosticator for various COVID‐19 infection outcomes, variability across world regions is significant and may skew overall trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The novel 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which is caused by infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has spread rapidly around the world and has caused many deaths. COVID-19 involves a systemic hypercoagulable state and arterial/venous thrombosis which induces unfavorable prognosis. Herein, we present a first case in East Asia where an acute superior mesenteric artery (SMA) occlusion associated with COVID-19 pneumonia was successfully treated by surgical intervention. Case presentation: A 70-year-old man presented to his local physician with a 3-day history of cough and diarrhea. A real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test showed positive for COVID-19, and he was admitted to the source hospital with the diagnosis of moderate COVID-19 pneumonia. Eight days later, acute onset of severe abdominal pain appeared with worsening respiratory condition. Contrast CT showed that bilateral lower lobe/middle lobe and lingula ground glass opacification with distribution suggestive of COVID-19 pneumonia and right renal infarction. In addition, it demonstrated SMA occlusion with intestinal ischemia suggesting extensive necrosis from the jejunum to the transverse colon. The patient underwent an emergency exploratory laparotomy with implementing institutional COVID-19 precaution guideline. Upon exploration, the intestine from jejunum at 100 cm from Treitz ligament to middle of transverse colon appeared necrotic. Necrotic bowel resection was performed with constructing jejunostomy and transverse colon mucous fistula. We performed second surgery to close the jejunostomy and transverse colon mucous fistula with end-to-end anastomosis on postoperative day 22. The postoperative course was uneventful and he moved to another hospital for rehabilitation to improve activities of daily living (ADLs) on postoperative day 45. As of 6 months after the surgery, his ADLs have completely improved and he has returned to social life without any intravenous nutritional supports. Conclusions: Intensive treatment including surgical procedures allowed the patient with SMA occlusion in COVID-19 pneumonia to return to social life with completely independent ADLs. Although treatment for COVID-19 involves many challenges, including securing medical resources and controlling the spread of infection, when severe abdominal pain occurs in patients with COVID-19, physicians should consider SMA occlusion and treat promptly for life-saving from this deadly combination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The onset of 2020 is marked by stricter restrictions on maritime sulfur emissions and the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this background, liner companies now face the challenge to find suitable sulfur reduction technologies, make reasonable decisions on fleet renewal, and prepare stable operation plans under the highly uncertain shipping market. Considering three sulfur reduction technologies, namely, fuel-switching, scrubber, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel engine, this paper develops a robust optimization model based on two-stage stochastic linear programming (SLP) to formulate a decision plan for container fleet, which can deal with various uncertainties in future: freight demand, ship charter rate, fuel price, retrofit time and Sulfur Emission Control Area (SECA) ratio. The main decision contents include ship acquisition, ship retrofit, ship sale, ship charter, route assignment, and speed optimization. The effectiveness of our plan was verified through a case study on two liner routes from the Far East to Northwest America, operated by COSCO Shipping Lines. The results from SLP model show that large-capacity fuel-switching ships and their LNG dual-fuel engine retrofits should be included in the long-term investment and operation plan; slow-steaming is an important operational decision for ocean liner shipping; if the current SECA boundary is not further expanded or the sulfur emission restrictions not further tightened, the scrubber ship will have no advantage in investment cost and operation. However, considering the probabilities of more flexible scenarios, the results from the robust model suggest that it is beneficial to install scrubber on medium-capacity fuel-switching ships, and carry out more LNG dual-fuel engine retrofits for large-capacity fuel-switching ships. Compared with SLP, this robust strategy greatly reduces sulfur emissions while slightly pushing up carbon emissions. • A robust optimization model was established based on two-stage stochastic linear programming. • Three sulfur reduction technologies were integrated into fleet renewal decisions. • Various uncertainties in liner shipping market amidst COVID-19 were considered. • Strategic and tactical decisions were optimized at the same time. • A real case of COSCO-Liner under the influence of COVID-19 is studied to demonstrate the effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first appearance of Fusarium head blight (FHB) and the beginning of scientific research of this disease-occurred the Far East region of Russia at the end of the 19th century. In the summer of 2019, in the Amur region, which comprises 60-70% of grain production in the Russian Far East, flooding caused a state of emergency. The quality of wheat and barley grains grown under natural conditions of FHB outbreaks, including grain infection, fungal species composition, DNA content of F. graminearum and chemotypes, and the presence of various mycotoxins, was studied. Fusarium infection rates reached extremely high percentages, 51-98%, the majority of which were F. graminearum infections. The amount of F. graminearumDNAin wheat grain samples was higher than in the barley grain samples and averaged 6.1 and 2.1 pg/ng, respectively. The content of deoxynivalenol (DON) in the wheat samples reached 13,343 ppb and in barley reached 7,755 ppb. A multilocus genotyping assay was conducted on the partially sequenced fragments of the translation elongation factor EF-1a, ammonium ligase gene, reductase gene, and 3-O-acetyltransferase gene in 29 Fusarium graminearum sensu lato strains from the grain harvested in the Amur region. All strains from the Far East region were characterized as F. graminearum sensu stricto; 70% were the 15-AcDON chemotype, while the other strains were the 3-AcDON chemotype. According to the results, after 140 years of study of FHB, we are still not very successful in controlling this disease if conditions are favorable for pathogen development. Even at present, some of the grain harvested must be destroyed, as high contamination of mycotoxins renders it unusable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In December 2019, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), or COVID-19, raised worldwide concern. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively influenced health and wellness across the globe and caused nearly three million deaths. This study focuses on informal caregivers of people with dementia, a disease that affects about 50 million older adults worldwide and requires much caregiving support. Objective : Examine the current literature on the impact of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of informal caregivers for people with dementia. Method : This rapid review was conducted across five electronic databases for quantitative and qualitative articles published through March 15, 2021. Results : The 10 studies included in this review reported quantitative descriptive data from across the globe; however, no studies existed from the U.S. or East Asia countries. All of the studies examined the psychological rather than physical impact of COVID-19 and highlighted risk and protective factors in the areas of psychosocial (resilience, neuropsychiatric, and social isolation), sociodemographic (gender and education), and environmental (home confinement, living arrangement, and dementia stage). Conclusion : COVID-19 has had a considerable negative impact on the psychological well-being of informal caregivers of people with dementia, namely causing more depression and anxiety than pre-pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronaviruses gained public attention during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in East Asia in 2003 and spread of Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012. Direct human-to-human contact and droplet are the main methods of transmission. Viral stability in aerosols on different surfaces supports evidence on indirect viral acquisition from fomites through the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, and eyes. Given the pandemic circumstances, the level of evidence in COVID-19 and ophthalmology regarding eye infection, conjunctival transmission, and viral shedding through tears is insufficient. Presently, conjunctival transmission of coronaviruses has not been confirmed and remains controversial. Considering the physiology of the lacrimal system and ocular surface, the eyes are considered an immunoprotective site, with several antiviral molecules and anti-inflammatory proteins. Nevertheless, they represent an interface with the exterior world and face daily putative aggressors. Understanding the host's ocular surface immunological and protective environment is crucial to clarify the potential of the conjunctiva as an entry route for SARS-CoV-2 and as part of this viral infection. We will discuss hypothetical ocular surface transmission mechanisms and related counterarguments addressed to both angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptors found on the conjunctival and corneal epithelia and lactoferrin, lysozyme, lipocalin and secretory IgA levels in the tear film. Hopefully, we will promote better understanding of this organ in COVID-19 infection and the potential transmission route that can be helpful in setting recommendations on best practices and protective guidelines to mitigate the disease spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wearing masks against 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) is beneficial in suppressing pandemic spread, not through preventing the wearer from being infected but by preventing the wearer from infecting others. Despite not providing much protection, the custom of wearing masks has prevailed in East Asia from the early stages of the pandemic, especially in Japan, to such an extent that it caused a shortfall in supply. Why do many Japanese people wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though masks are unlikely to prevent them from getting infected? We examined six possible psychological reasons for wearing masks: three involved expectations about the risk of infection and three involved other driving psychological forces. The results of our nationwide survey revealed that people conformed to societal norms in wearing masks and felt relief from anxiety when wearing masks. However, risk reduction expectations did not affect mask usage. The social psychological motivations successfully explained much about mask usage. Our findings suggest that policymakers responsible for public health should consider social motivations when implementing public strategies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SARS-CoV-2, which emerged from East Asia in December 2019, has rapidly evolved into a global pandemic infecting close to 7 million people. The current uncertainties regarding its impact on Africa calls for critical monitoring of the evolution of the pandemic and correlation of factors that influence the burden of the disease. We herein discuss possible implications of SARS-CoV-2 on the African continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a phylogenetic network analysis of 160 complete human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) genomes, we find three central variants distinguished by amino acid changes, which we have named A, B, and C, with A being the ancestral type according to the bat outgroup coronavirus. The A and C types are found in significant proportions outside East Asia, that is, in Europeans and Americans. In contrast, the B type is the most common type in East Asia, and its ancestral genome appears not to have spread outside East Asia without first mutating into derived B types, pointing to founder effects or immunological or environmental resistance against this type outside Asia. The network faithfully traces routes of infections for documented coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, indicating that phylogenetic networks can likewise be successfully used to help trace undocumented COVID-19 infection sources, which can then be quarantined to prevent recurrent spread of the disease worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of host genetics and demography in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a crucial aspect of infection, prognosis and associated case fatality rate. Individual genetic landscapes can contribute to understand Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) burden and can give information on how to fight virus spreading and the associated severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The spread and pathogenicity of the virus have become pandemic on specific geographic areas and ethnicities. Interestingly, SARS-CoV-2 firstly emerged in East Asia and next in Europe, where it has caused higher morbidity and mortality. This is a peculiar feature of SARS-CoV-2, different from past global viral infections (i.e., SARS-1 or MERS); it shares with the previous pandemics strong age- and sex-dependent gaps in the disease outcome. The observation that the severest COVID-19 patients are more likely to have a history of hypertension, diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease and receive Renin-Angiotensin-System (RAS) inhibitor treatment raised the hypothesis that RAS-unbalancing may have a crucial role. Accordingly, we recently published a genetic hypothesis on the role of RAS-pathway genes (ACE1, rs4646994, rs1799752, rs4340, rs13447447; and ACE2, rs2285666, rs1978124, rs714205) and ABO-locus (rs495828, rs8176746) in COVID-19 prognosis, suspecting inherited genetic predispositions to be predictive of COVID-19 severity. In addition, recently, Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) found COVID-19-association signals at locus 3p21.31 (rs11385942) comprising the solute carrier SLC6A20 (Na+ and Cl- coupled transporter family) and at locus 9q34.2 (rs657152) coincident with ABO-blood group (rs8176747, rs41302905, rs8176719), and interestingly, both loci are associated to RAS-pathway. Finally, ACE1 and ACE2 haplotypes seem to provide plausible explanations for why SARS-CoV-2 have affected more heavily some ethnic groups, namely people with European ancestry, than Asians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shortly after the outbreak of the novel infectious disease (COVID-19) started at the end of 2019, it turned into a global pandemic, which caused the lockdown of many countries across the world. Various strict measures were adopted to reduce anthropogenic activities in order to prevent further spread and infection of the disease. In this study, we utilized continental scale remotely sensed data along with city scale in situ air quality observations for 2020 as well as data from the baseline period (2015–2019) to provide an early insight on air pollution changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, by combining both continental and city scales. For the continental scale analysis, data of NO2, SO2, and O3 were acquired from the ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) and data of aerosol optical depth (AOD) were collected from the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS). For city scale analysis, data of NO2, CO, PM2.5, O3, and SO2 were derived from ground-based air quality observations. Results from satellite observations at the continental scale showed that concentrations of NO2, SO2, and AOD substantially dropped in 2020 during the lockdown period compared to their averages for the baseline period over all continents, with a maximum reduction of ~33% for NO2 in East Asia, ~41% for SO2 in East Asia, and ~37% for AOD in South Asia. In the case of O3, the maximum overall reduction was observed as ~11% in Europe, followed by ~10% in North America, while a slight increase was found in other study regions. These findings align with ground-based air quality observations, which showed that pollutants such as NO2, CO, PM2.5, and SO2 during the 2020 lockdown period decreased significantly except that O3 had varying patterns in different cities. Specifically, a maximum reduction of ~49% in NO2 was found in London, ~43% in CO in Wuhan, ~38% in PM2.5 in Chennai, and ~48% in SO2 in Beijing. In the case of urban O3, a maximum reduction of ~43% was found in Wuhan, but a significant increase of ~47% was observed in Chennai. It is obvious that restricted human activities during the lockdown have reduced the anthropogenic emissions and subsequently improved air quality, especially across the metropolitan cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]