Risk factors related to the severity of COVID-19 in Wuhan

Objective: To evaluate the characteristics at admission of patients with moderate COVID-19 in Wuhan and to explore risk factors associated with the severe prognosis of the disease for prognostic prediction.Methods: In this retrospective study, moderate and severe disease was defined according to the report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19. Clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of 172 patients with laboratory-confirmed moderate COVID-19 were collected when they were admitted to the Cancer Center of Wuhan Union Hospital between February 13, 2020 and February 25, 2020. This cohort was followed to March 14, 2020. The outcomes, being discharged as mild cases or developing into severe cases, were categorized into two groups. The data were compared and analyzed with univariate logistic regression to identify the features that differed significantly between the two groups. Based on machine learning algorithms, a further feature selection procedure was performed to identify the features that can contribute the most to the prediction of disease severity.Results: Of the 172 patients, 112 were discharged as mild cases, and 60 developed into severe cases. Four clinical characteristics and 18 laboratory findings showed significant differences between the two groups in the statistical test (P<0.01) and univariate logistic regression analysis (P<0.01). In the further feature selection procedure, six features were chosen to obtain the best performance in discriminating the two groups with a linear kernel support vector machine. The mean accuracy was 91.38%, with a sensitivity of 0.90 and a specificity of 0.94. The six features included interleukin-6, high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I, procalcitonin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, chest distress and calcium level.Conclusions: With the data collected at admission, the combination of one clinical characteristic and five laboratory findings contributed the most to the discrimination between the two groups with a linear kernel support vector machine classifier. These factors may be risk factors that can be used to perform a prognostic prediction regarding the severity of the disease for patients with moderate COVID-19 in the early stage of the disease.     

COVID-19 mortality as a fingerprint of biological age

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global emergency able to overwhelm the healthcare capacities worldwide and to affect the older generation especially. When addressing the pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical manifestations of COVID-19, it becomes evident that the disease targets pathways and domains affected by the main aging- and frailty-related pathophysiological changes. A closer analysis of the existing data supports a possible role of biological age rather than chronological age in the prognosis of COVID-19. There is a need for systematic, consequent action of identifying frail (not only older, not only multimorbid, not only symptomatic) persons at risk of poor outcomes.     

浅谈新型冠状病毒肺炎合并基础病的中医药防治策略＊

2019年12月始，新型冠状病毒肺炎（Corona Virus Disease 2019，COVID-19）以湖北武汉为中心向全国各地蔓延。目前数据显示，COVID-19合并糖尿病、高血压、肿瘤等基础病的患者病情较为严峻，病死率相对较高。该类患者的临床治疗策略有待进一步深入研究。在此次疫情防治过程中，中西医结合治疗手段于COVID-19的防治及患者基础疾病的兼顾治疗方面展现出了一定的特色及优势。本文结合中医“未病先防，既病防变，瘥后防复”思想，拟从COVID-19合并糖尿病、高血压、肿瘤三个方面，探讨COVID-19爆发形势下合并基础病患者的中医药防治策略。     

Awareness and risk factors of autism spectrum disorder in an Egyptian population

BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to determine the type and percentage of referral situations, risk factors, associated syndromes, and parental awareness of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children who visited the Medical Research Centre of Excellence, National Research Centre in Cairo, specialized in ASD diagnosis and management.MethodsThe study included 530 children who were diagnosed with ASD. For those, full medical history, clinical examination, severity evaluation, and testing the language and cognitive development were performed. The process of diagnosis and assessment of parents’ awareness and knowledge about ASD was investigated using questionnaires.ResultsThe clinic was mainly visited by self-referral. About half of the participants (51.4 %) had previously visited other doctors (1–5 physicians) who were mostly pediatricians. The parents’ awareness was mostly limited to the term “autism”, but not the nature of ASD. Caesarean section was the most common risk factor (57.4 %), followed by jaundice (30.1 %). The most common presenting symptoms were language (81.5 %) and social (60.4 %) deficits. ASD severity was found to be high in association with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and electroencephalogram (EEG) changes (p = 0.001).ConclusionThe risk factors and associated syndromes in the Egyptian population studied were similar to those reported in previous studies performed in other populations, but their percentage was different. Perinatal problems were the most common risk factors, which may relate to the influence of gene-environmental interaction on the factors which could play a role in developing ASD or increasing its severity. The process of ASD diagnosis was commonly delayed among the participants. Increasing awareness and knowledge among health care professionals and parents is urgently needed to facilitate early diagnosis and intervention services, which will lead to improvement of the developmental outcomes for ASD children. The associated syndromes could be the driving force to seek medical advice and could influence the ASD severity.     

Stanford A型主动脉夹层术后肾脏功能损伤的危险因素

目的调查分析Stanford A型主动脉夹层术后肾脏功能损伤(AKI)的危险因素,为临床降低肾脏功能损伤并发率对策提供支持。方法收集2017年1月—2019年12月医院心血管外科确诊且顺利行A型主动脉夹层手术的179例患者为研究对象,均由同组外科医师和麻醉医师实施手术,术后进入ICU监测治疗。根据术后早期是否存在AKI,将发生AKI 60例设为病例组,未发生AKI 119例设为对照组。分析发生AKI高危因素。结果经过多因素Logistics回归分析显示,年龄(OR=2.396)、双侧肾脏灌注欠佳(OR=8.725)、BMI值(OR=3.454)、监测膀胱温度(OR=4.180)、CPB时长(OR=2.165)、术中红细胞输注(OR=2.291)均为此类手术患者发生AKI独立危险因素(P<0.05)。结论年龄、BMI值、双侧肾脏灌注欠佳、CPB、监测膀胱温度、术中红细胞输注均为影响A型主动脉夹层术后AKI的独立相关因素,临床护士应针对上述分析制定个体化针对方案以降低术后AKI发生风险。     

超声引导PVNB对老年食道癌开胸患者术后镇痛、应激及炎性因子水平的影响

目的 探讨超声引导下连续椎旁神经阻滞(PVNB)对老年食道癌开胸手术患者术后镇痛、应激及炎性因子水平的影响。方法 选取我院拟实施全麻下开胸手术的90例食道癌开胸手术患者作为研究对象,其中45例患者术前采用超声引导下PVNB麻醉复合全身麻醉(PVNB组)、对照组45例患者采用全身麻醉；两组患者术后均采用静脉自控镇痛(对照组)；对比两组患者术后2h、6h、24h及48h静息状态、咳嗽状态下的视觉模拟疼痛评分(VAS),术后镇痛药物用量及镇痛药物不良反应发生情况,术前及术后24h血清去甲肾上腺素(NE)、肾上腺素(E)、皮质醇(Cor)、白细胞介素-6(IL-6)、肿瘤坏死因子-α(TNF-α)差异及术后肺部感染发生情况。结果 PVNB组患者和对照组在术后2h～术后48h的静息VAS评分及咳嗽VAS评分组间比较,差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05),PVNB组术后2h、6h及24h静息VAS评分及咳嗽VAS评分均高于对照组(P>0.05)。PVNB组患者术后的镇痛泵按压次数、舒芬太尼用量均低于对照组(P<0.05),PVNB组患者术后的镇痛泵按压次数、舒芬太尼用量均低于对照组(P<0.05),术前两组患者的血清NE、E、Cor水平差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)；术后两24h两组患者血清NE、E、Cor水平均较术前增高(P>0.05),术后24h PVNB组的血清NE、E、Cor水平低于对照组(P<0.05),术前两组患者的血清IL-6、TNF-α水平差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)；术后24h两组患者血清IL-6、IL-10、TNF-α水平均较术前增高(P<0.05),PVNB组的血清IL-6、TNF-α水平低于对照组(P<0.05),PVNB组术后发生肺部感染2例,发生率为4.4%,对照组术后发生肺部感染6例,发生率为13.3%,PVNB组术后肺部感染发生率低于对照组(P<0.05)。结论 超声引导下PVNB能够改善老年食道癌开胸患者术后镇痛效果,减轻手术创伤所致的应激反应,较少患者术后肺部感染的发生。     

Physiological determinants of residual cerebral arterial pulsatility on best medical treatment after TIA or minor stroke

Cerebral arterial pulsatility is strongly associated with cerebral small vessel disease and lacunar stroke yet its dependence on central versus local haemodynamic processes is unclear. In a population-based study of patients on best medical managment, 4–6 weeks after a TIA or non-disabling stroke, arterial stiffness and aortic systolic, diastolic and pulse pressures were measured (Sphygmocor). Middle cerebral artery peak and trough flow velocities and Gosling’s pulsatility index were measured by transcranial ultrasound. In 981 participants, aortic and cerebral pulsatility rose strongly with age in both sexes, but aortic diastolic pressure fell more with age in men whilst cerebral trough velocity fell more in women. There was no significant association between aortic systolic or diastolic blood pressure with cerebral peak or trough flow velocity but aortic pulse pressure explained 37% of the variance in cerebral arterial pulsatility, before adjustment, whilst 49% of the variance was explained by aortic pulse pressure, arterial stiffness, age, gender and cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, arterial stiffness partially mediated the relationship between aortic and cerebral pulsatility. Overall, absolute aortic pressures and cerebral blood flow velocity were poorly correlated but aortic and cerebral pulsatility were strongly related, suggesting a key role for transmission of aortic pulsatility to the brain.     

转录调节因子c-Myb通过炎症因子Ccl2抑制乳腺癌肺转移的实验研究

目的:研究乳腺癌细胞中转录调节因子c-Myb的表达对肺转移的影响及其分子机制。方法:构建c-Myb高表达的4T1乳腺癌细胞株，种植小鼠构建乳腺癌动物模型，检测实验动物肺转移情况，通过荷瘤抑制试验检测肺转移抑制效果。提取组织进行荧光PCR检测相关炎症因子的表达。利用Medisapiens数据库的生物信息学资源，对c-Myb和Ccl2的表达与乳腺癌患者的预后进行分析。结果:高表达c-Myb的荷瘤小鼠肺部转移灶明显减少，其中炎症相关因子表达受限。由数据库分析得出，c-Myb高表达患者生存期得以延长。结论:乳腺癌中c-Myb的表达能够通过炎症因子Ccl2抑制肺转移从而延长患者生存期。