Unprecedented measures have been adopted to control the rapid spread of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic in China. People's adherence to control measures is affected by their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19. In this study, we investigated Chinese residents' KAP towards COVID-19 during the rapid rise period of the outbreak. An online sample of Chinese residents was successfully recruited via the authors' networks with residents and popular media in Hubei, China. A self-developed online KAP questionnaire was completed by the participants. The knowledge questionnaire consisted of 12 questions regarding the clinical characteristics and prevention of COVID-19. Assessments on residents' attitudes and practices towards COVID-19 included questions on confidence in winning the battle against COVID-19 and wearing masks when going out in recent days. Among the survey completers (n=6910), 65.7% were women, 63.5% held a bachelor degree or above, and 56.2% engaged in mental labor. The overall correct rate of the knowledge questionnaire was 90%. The majority of the respondents (97.1%) had confidence that China can win the battle against COVID-19. Nearly all of the participants (98.0%) wore masks when going out in recent days. In multiple logistic regression analyses, the COVID-19 knowledge score (OR: 0.75-0.90, P<0.001) was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of negative attitudes and preventive practices towards COVID-2019. Most Chinese residents of a relatively high socioeconomic status, in particular women, are knowledgeable about COVID-19, hold optimistic attitudes, and have appropriate practices towards COVID-19. Health education programs aimed at improving COVID-19 knowledge are helpful for Chinese residents to hold optimistic attitudes and maintain appropriate practices. Due to the limited sample representativeness, we must be cautious when generalizing these findings to populations of a low socioeconomic status.

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The structural speciation aspects, including the binding sites, species, complexation abilities and effects of the oxidized glutathione (GSSG) with aluminum(III) in aqueous solutions, have been studied by means of many analytical techniques: pH-potentiometry (25˚C, 0.1 M KCl and 37˚C, 0.15 M NaCl medium) was used to characterize the stoichiometry and stability of the species formed in the interactions of the Al(III) ion and the peptide GSSG, while multinuclear ( 1 H, 13 C, 27 Al) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electrospray mass spectroscopy (ESI-MS) were applied to characterize the binding sites and species of the metal ion in the complexes. Two-dimensional ( 1 H, 1 H-NOESY) was also employed to reveal the difference in the conformational behavior of the peptide and its complexes. The following results were obtained: (1) Aluminum(III) can coordinate with the important biomolecule GSSG through the following binding sites: glycyl and glutamyl carboxyl groups to form various mononuclear 1:1 (AlLH4, AlLH3, AlLH2, AlLH, AlL, AlLH-1, AlLH-2) and several binuclear 2:1 (Al2LH4, Al2LH2, Al2L) species (where H6L 2+ denotes the totally protonated oxidized glutathione) in acidic aqueous solutions. (2) It indicates that the COO -groups at low level of preorganization in such small peptide are not sufficient to keep the Al(III) ion in solution and to prevent the precipitation of Al(OH)3 in the physiological pH range. (3) It also suggests that the occurrence of an Al-linked complexation, the conformation of the peptide GSSG in aqueous solutions appeared to change a little, relative to the initial structure.