Possible link between new coronavirus variants and atmospheric lightning and seawater intrusion

自新型冠状病毒肺炎暴发一年多以来,已经对全球产生深远影响.新型冠状病毒肺炎变异毒株的出现使当前疫情发展充满了不确定性.从这方面出发,我们讨论病毒变异与大气因素之间的联系.根据固氮过程和硝酸盐在人体中的转化过程,我们提出了新型冠状病毒肺炎变异毒株的出现或许和闪电以及海水入侵有联系.我们的研究对新型冠状病毒肺炎变异毒株可能的产生原因提供新的观点.     

CT检查在2019新型冠状病毒疫情中的作用

目的：分析CT检查在2019新型冠状病毒疫情中的作用。方法：回顾性分析浙江大学医学院附属第一医院放射科自2020年1月19日至2月19日所有胸心组CT检查病例8 864例,对这些患者的CT诊断结果等信息进行汇总分析。结果：CT诊断结果怀疑是新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）的病例当中有77.17%的人确诊。55名出院患者在住院期间人均CT检查次数为4次,出院后有23名患者进行过CT复查。结论：影像学检查不能代替核酸检测,但是在新冠肺炎的筛查和治疗情况评估中有着至关重要的作用。     

Aerosol transmission of human pathogens: From miasmata to modern viral pandemics and their preservation potential in the Anthropocene record

Ongoing uncertainty over the relative importance of aerosol transmission of COVID-19 is in part rooted in the history of medical science and our understanding of how epidemic diseases can spread through human populations. Ancient Greek medical theory held that such illnesses are transmitted by airborne pathogenic emanations containing particulate matter (“miasmata”). Notable Roman and medieval scholars such as Varro, Ibn al-Khatib and Fracastoro developed these ideas, combining them with early germ theory and the concept of contagion. A widely held but vaguely defined belief in toxic miasmatic mists as a dominant causative agent in disease propagation was overtaken by the science of 19th century microbiology and epidemiology, especially in the study of cholera, which was proven to be mainly transmitted by contaminated water. Airborne disease transmission came to be viewed as burdened by a dubious historical reputation and difficult to demonstrate convincingly. A breakthrough came with the classic mid-20th century work of Wells, Riley and Mills who proved how expiratory aerosols (their “droplet nuclei”) could transport still-infectious tuberculosis bacteria through ventilation systems. The topic of aerosol transmission of pathogenic respiratory diseases assumed a new dimension with the mid-late 20th century “Great Acceleration” of an increasingly hypermobile human population repeatedly infected by different strains of zoonotic viruses, and has taken centre stage this century in response to outbreaks of new respiratory infections that include coronaviruses. From a geoscience perspective, the consequences of pandemic-status diseases such as COVID-19, produced by viral pathogens utilising aerosols to infect a human population currently approaching 8 billion, are far-reaching and unprecedented. The obvious and sudden impacts on for example waste plastic production, water and air quality and atmospheric chemistry are accelerating human awareness of current environmental challenges. As such, the “anthropause” lockdown enforced by COVID-19 may come to be seen as a harbinger of change great enough to be preserved in the Anthropocene stratal record.