Antimicrobial Use in COVID-19 Patients in the First Phase of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic:A Scoping Review

This scoping review provides new evidence on the prevalence and patterns of global antimicrobial use in the treatment of COVID-19 patients; identifies the most commonly used antibiotics and clinical scenarios associated with antibiotic prescribing in the first phase of the pandemic; and explores the impact of documented antibiotic prescribing on treatment outcomes in COVID-19 patients. The review complies with PRISMA guidelines for Scoping Reviews and the protocol is registered with the Open Science Framework. In the first six months of the pandemic, there was a similar mean antibiotic prescribing rate between patients with severe or critical illness (75.4%) and patients with mild or moderate illness (75.1%). The proportion of patients prescribed antibiotics without clinical justification was 51.5% vs. 41.9% for patients with mild or moderate illness and those with severe or critical illness. Comparison of patients who were provided antibiotics with a clinical justification with those who were given antibiotics without clinical justification showed lower mortality rates (9.5% vs. 13.1%), higher discharge rates (80.9% vs. 69.3%), and shorter length of hospital stay (9.3 days vs. 12.2 days). In the first 6 months of the pandemic, antibiotics were prescribed for COVID-19 patients regardless of severity of illness. A large proportion of antibiotic prescribing for mild and moderate COVID-19 patients did not have clinical evidence of a bacterial co-infection. Antibiotics may not be beneficial to COVID-19 patients without clinical evidence of a bacterial co-infection

Research on the Influence of Pile Shoe Insertion and Removal on the Neighboring Three-Cylinder Jacket Foundation in Clay

[Introduction] The construction process of pile insertion and removal for installing offshore wind turbines on mobile platforms is risky, which can easily affect the working performance of adjacent infrastructure, and even lead to its instability and failure. [Method] In order to clarify the mechanism of the influence of pile shoe insertion and removal on adjacent foundation, this paper used CEL large deformation method to simulate the insertion and removal process of similar rectangular pile shoe in homogeneous and heterogeneous clay, and focused on the analysis of the evolution mechanism of additional overturning angle caused by pile insertion process on adjacent jacket foundation; based on the simulation results of large deformation, the influence of soil softening effect on the ultimate bearing capacity of adjacent buckets after pile shoe removal was further studied by using small deformation. [Result] The results show that under the action of pile shoe compaction, the rotational displacement of the three-cylinder jacket foundation will take place, and it will decrease gradually with the increase of net spacing. At the same time, the soil softening caused by compaction will reduce the bearing capacity of adjacent cylinder. [Conclusion] The overturning angle of three-cylinder jacket in heterogeneous soil is larger and the corresponding penetration depth is deeper due to the influence of pile shoe insertion and removal. The affected area of softening area caused by pile shoe insertion and removal is larger in horizontal direction and smaller in depth direction in homogeneous clay. In homogeneous clay, the average strength loss is small, and the horizontal and angular bearing capacity loss of the three-cylinder jacket is small. In homogeneous and heterogeneous clays, the vertical bearing capacity is reduced obviously, and the maximum reduction factor can reach 0.72

Impacts of Antibiotic Residues in the Environment on Bacterial Resistance and Human Health in Eastern China: An Interdisciplinary Mixed-Methods Study Protocol

Antibiotic resistance is a global health challenge that threatens human and animal lives, especially among low-income and vulnerable populations in less-developed countries. Its multi-factorial nature requires integrated studies on antibiotics and resistant bacteria in humans, animals, and the environment. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of the situation and management of antibiotic use and environmental transmission, this paper describes a study protocol to document human exposure to antibiotics from major direct and indirect sources, and its potential health outcomes. Our mixed-methods approach addresses both microbiological and pathogen genomics, and epidemiological, geospatial, anthropological, and sociological aspects. Implemented in two rural residential areas in two provinces in Eastern China, linked sub-studies assess antibiotic exposure in population cohorts through household surveys, medicine diaries, and biological sampling; identify the types and frequencies of antibiotic resistance genes in humans and food-stock animals; quantify the presence of antibiotic residues and antibiotic resistance genes in the aquatic environment, including wastewater; investigate the drivers and behaviours associated with human and livestock antibiotic use; and analyse the national and local policy context, to propose strategies and systematic measurements for optimising and monitoring antibiotic use. As a multidisciplinary collaboration between institutions in the UK and China, this study will provide an in-depth understanding of the influencing factors and allow comprehensive awareness of the complexity of AMR and antibiotic use in rural Eastern China

High operating temperature (> 200 °C) InAs/GaAs quantum-dot laser with co-doping technique

Working reliably at elevated operating temperatures is a key requirement for semiconductor lasers used in optical communication. InAs/GaAs quantum-dot (QD) lasers have been considered a promising solution due to the discrete energy states of QDs. This work demonstrates temperature-insensitive and low threshold InAs/GaAs QD lasers incorporating co-doping technique, compared with p-type modulation doping. 2 mm long co-doped QD lasers exhibit a low threshold current density of 154 A cm−2 (210 A cm−2) and operate at a high heatsink temperature of 205 °C (160 °C) under the pulsed (continuous-wave) mode, outperforming the p-type doped QD lasers. The results reveal that co-doping effectively enhances both high-temperature stability and threshold reduction in InAs/GaAs QD lasers, surpassing the performance of conventional p-type modulation doping. This approach offers a pathway toward cooling-free operation, making co-doped QD lasers suitable for data and telecommunication applications

Machine Learning and Swarm Optimization Algorithm in Temperature Compensation of Pressure Sensors

The main temperature compensation method for MEMS piezoresistive pressure sensors is software compensation, which processes the sensor data using various algorithms to improve the output accuracy. However, there are few algorithms designed for sensors with specific ranges, most of which ignore the operating characteristics of the sensors themselves. In this paper, we propose three temperature compensation methods based on swarm optimization algorithms fused with machine learning for three different ranges of sensors and explore the partitioning ratio of the calibration dataset on Sensor A. The results show that different algorithms are suitable for pressure sensors of different ranges. An optimal compensation effect was achieved on Sensor A when the splitting ratio was 33.3%, where the zero-drift coefficient was 2.88 × 10−7/°C and the sensitivity temperature coefficient was 4.52 × 10−6/°C. The algorithms were compared with other algorithms in the literature to verify their superiority. The optimal segmentation ratio obtained from the experimental investigation is consistent with the sensor operating temperature interval and exhibits a strong innovation