Clinical features and underlying genetic causes in neonatal encephalopathy: A large cohort study

This study aimed to investigate the potential genetic causes of neonatal encephalopathy (NE) in a large cohort of Chinese patients. We included 366 neonates with encephalopathy. Whole exome sequencing was performed to assess the potential molecular defects. In this study, 43 patients (11.7%) were identified with pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants and 10 patients (2.7%) carried variants with unknown significance. Compared with patients without genetic findings (28.9%), patients with genetic findings (96.2%) displayed a significant higher incidence of seizure (P = .0009); however, a lower frequency of abnormal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results (P < .0001). Epileptic encephalopathy related genes account for nearly half (46.4%) of all genetic defects of NE with seizures. Follow-up results revealed genetic diagnosis, seizure and severe abnormal electroencephalograph results were significantly associated with high risk of developmental delay (P < .05). This study increases the understanding of genetic contribution to NE. Our findings suggest that the full-term NE patients with seizure, the greater the possibility of genetic diseases. However, for newborns especially the preterm babies with abnormal MRI findings, there is smaller possibility of genetic diseases. NE caused from genetic diseases have poor prognosis, and intensive intervention and follow-up is necessary for these newborns.     

Recent advances in the detection of respiratory virus infection in humans

Respiratory tract viral infection caused by viruses or bacteria is one of the most common diseases in human worldwide, while those caused by emerging viruses, such as the novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV that caused the pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China most recently, have posed great threats to global public health. Identification of the causative viral pathogens of respiratory tract viral infections is important to select an appropriate treatment, save people's lives, stop the epidemics, and avoid unnecessary use of antibiotics. Conventional diagnostic tests, such as the assays for rapid detection of antiviral antibodies or viral antigens, are widely used in many clinical laboratories. With the development of modern technologies, new diagnostic strategies, including multiplex nucleic acid amplification and microarray-based assays, are emerging. This review summarizes currently available and novel emerging diagnostic methods for the detection of common respiratory viruses, such as influenza virus, human respiratory syncytial virus, coronavirus, human adenovirus, and human rhinovirus. Multiplex assays for simultaneous detection of multiple respiratory viruses are also described. It is anticipated that such data will assist researchers and clinicians to develop appropriate diagnostic strategies for timely and effective detection of respiratory virus infections.     

Association of polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor gene with susceptibility to and severity of hand,foot, and mouth disease caused by coxsackievirus A16

Coxsackievirus A16 (CA16) remains the most common causative agent of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), and is related to high incidence and critical complications. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) activity might affect the outcome of CA16 infection. Our case-control research aims to evaluate the relationship between VDR polymorphisms in the gene encoding and susceptibility to and severity of HFMD due to CA16. Three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of VDR gene were selected according to functional prediction and linkage disequilibrium, and were examined utilizing the SNPscan method to identify possible associations with HFMD caused by CA16. A significant relationship was found in the HFMD cases of polymorphism rs11574129 (GA vs GG: odds ratio (OR) = 0.068, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.007-0.693, P = .023; GA + AA vs GG: OR = 0.322, 95%CI = 0.106-0.984, P = .047), and vitamin D levels in genotype AA were significantly higher than those in genotype GG (P < .05). These results suggest that VDR rs11574129 may influence genetic susceptibility to CA16-associated HFMD.     

The impact of COPD and smoking history on the severity of COVID-19: A systemic review and meta-analysis

Comorbidities are associated with the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This meta-analysis aimed to explore the risk of severe COVID-19 in patients with pre-existing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and ongoing smoking history. A comprehensive systematic literature search was carried out to find studies published from December 2019 to 22 March 2020 from five databases. The languages of literature included English and Chinese. The point prevalence of severe COVID-19 in patients with pre-existing COPD and those with ongoing smoking was evaluated with this meta-analysis. Overall 11 case series, published either in Chinese or English language with a total of 2002 cases, were included in this study. The pooled OR of COPD and the development of severe COVID-19 was 4.38 (fixed-effects model; 95% CI: 2.34-8.20), while the OR of ongoing smoking was 1.98 (fixed-effects model; 95% CI: 1.29-3.05). There was no publication bias as examined by the funnel plot and Egger's test (P = not significant). The heterogeneity of included studies was moderate for both COPD and ongoing smoking history on the severity of COVID-19. COPD and ongoing smoking history attribute to the worse progression and outcome of COVID-19.     

A study on clinical effect of Arbidol combined with adjuvant therapy on COVID-19

This study aims to explore the clinical effect of Arbidol (ARB) combined with adjuvant therapy on patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The study included 62 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the First Hospital of Jiaxing from January to March 2020, and all patients were divided into the test group and the control group according to whether they received ARB during hospitalization. Various indexes in the two groups before and after treatment were observed and recorded, including fever, cough, hypodynamia, nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, diarrhea, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), blood routine indexes, blood biochemical indexes, time to achieve negative virus nucleic acid, and so on. The fever and cough in the test group were relieved markedly faster than those in the control group (P < .05); there was no obvious difference between the two groups concerning the percentage of patients with abnormal CRP, PCT, blood routine indexes, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase (P > .05); the time for two consecutive negative nucleic acid tests in the test group were shorter than that in the control group; the hospitalization period of the patients in the test group and control group were (16.5 ± 7.14) days and (18.55 ± 7.52) days, respectively. ARB combined with adjuvant therapy might be able to relieve the fever of COVID-19 sufferers faster and accelerate the cure time to some degree, hence it's recommended for further research clinically.     

Quercetin alleviates neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury by inhibiting microglia-derived oxidative stress and TLR4-mediated inflammation

Inflammation Research - Microglia stimulated by oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) were treated with quercetin to investigate the effect on oxidative stress and the inflammatory response and to...