Hypoxia and inflammation are risk factors for acute myocardial injury in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the risk factors for acute myocardial injury in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients.@*METHODS@#This is a retrospective analysis of a COVID-19 cohort, in which 149 confirmed COVID-19 patients enrolled were divided into the group of myocardial injury (19 cases) and the group of non-myocardial injury (130 cases). Myocardial injury was defined according to Fourth universal definition of myocardial infarction released by European Society of Cardiology (ESC) in 2018, that cardiac troponin (cTn) was above 99th percentile of the reference level. Clinical information and results of laboratory tests of the eligible patients were collected. Factors associated with myocardial injury in COVID-19 patients were evaluated.@*RESULTS@#Compared with the group of non-injury, the patients in the group of injury were older and had a larger proportion of severe or critical cases (P < 0.05), higher respiratory rate and lower percutaneous oxygen saturation (SpO2) without oxygen therapy on admission (P < 0.05). All inflammatory indexes except for tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) showed significant elevation in the patients of the group of injury (P < 0.05). Analyzed by Spearman correlation test, we showed that the levels of circulatory cTnI were in positive correlation with the levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), ferritin, receptor of interleukin-2 (IL-2R), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) (ρ > 0, P < 0.05). Lower SpO2 without oxygen therapy on admission (OR: 0.860, 95%CI: 0.779-0.949, P=0.003) and higher plasma IL-6 levels (OR: 1.068, 95%CI: 1.019-1.120, P=0.006) were independent risk factors for acute myocardial injury in the patients with COVID-19 by multivariate Logistic regression analyses.@*CONCLUSION@#Hypoxic state and inflammation may play a key role in the pathogenesis of acute myocardial injury in COVID-19 patients.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection in renal transplant recipients: A case report / 北京大学学报(医学版)

The novel coronavirus is a newly discovered pathogen in late December 2019, and its source is currently unknown, which can lead to asymptomatic infection, new coronavirus pneumonia or serious complications, such as acute respiratory failure. Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new type of respiratory disease that is currently spreading all over the world and caused by this coronavirus. Its common symptoms are highly similar to those of other viruses, such as fever, cough and dyspnea. There is currently no vaccine or treatment for COVID-19. Everyone is susceptible to infection with this disease, and owing to the long-term use of immunosuppressants, the immunity of kidney transplant recipients is suppressed, and it is more likely to be infected with the disease. At present, its impact on kidney transplant recipients is unclear. This article reports the clinical features and therapeutic course of novel coronavirus infection in a patient after renal transplantation. A 37-year-old female patient who received a kidney transplant 6 months before was diagnosed with novel coronavirus pneumonia. The patient's symptoms (such as fever, chills, dry cough, muscle aches), laboratory tests (such as decreased white blood cell count, elevated liver enzymes and D-dimer, positive viral nucleic acid test), and chest CT (multiple left lower lung plaque ground glass shadow) were similar to those of non-transplanted novel coronavirus pneumonia patients. In terms of treatment, because the immunity of kidney transplant recipients has been suppressed for a long time, it is a very common strategy to suspend the use of immunosuppressive agents. Therefore, the patient immediately discontinued the immunosuppressive agent after admission, so that she could restore immunity against infection in a short time. At the same time, the use of glucocorticoids was also very important. Its immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects played a large role in the treatment process.In addition, prophylactic antibiotics was needed, and nephrotoxic drugs should be used with caution. Finally, following discounting the use of immunosuppressant and a low-dose glucocorticoid-based treatment regimen, COVID-19 in this renal transplant recipient was successfully cured. The cure of this case was of great significance, and this adjuvant nonspecific antiviral therapy could provide a template for the treatment of other such patients.

Screening and identification of available endophytes in roots of Panax ginseng / 中草药

Objective: To investigate the resource situation of endophytes in the roots of Panax ginseng (ginseng) of Jilin province and to select endophytes with antagonistic effect on pathogenic fungi of ginseng. Methods: Strains with antagonistic effect were screened by applying mixed strains method during preliminary screening and adopting antagonism method of fermentation liquor in re-screening. Besides, the selected endophytes were identified via 16S rDNA and ITS methods. Results: One hundred and thirty-three endophytes were isolated from ginseng. After preliminary screening and re-screening, four strains with good antagonistic effect on pathogenic fungi of ginseng were selected: B16, B25, B69, and F32. Among them, B16, B25, and B69 showed an inhibitory effect on six pathogenic fungi; F32 had a good inhibitory effect on Seclerotinia schinseng, Phytophthora cactorum, and Fusarium solani, with an inhibitory zone diameter of greater than 35 mm; According to the identification, B16, B25, B69, and F32 were Bacillus methylotrophicus, B. amyloliquefaciens, B. vallismortis, and Penicillium daleae, respectively. Conclusion: Endophytes in ginseng are diversified and there also exist strains with high antagonistic effect, which can be a good source for biocontrol bacterium and fungus of ginseng diseases.

Research on genetic stability to American ginseng introduced into China for 30 years / 中国中药杂志

To study the genetic stability of Panax quinquefolium after introduced into China for 30 years, the samples of P. quinquefolium from 14 regions of China were studied. RAPD molecular marker technology was applied in this research, and POPGEN32 data analysis and NTSYS2. 10 cluster diagram were used to analyze the data. The results showed that there are abundant genetic diversity in the ginseng samples. There were 81 polymorphic bands based on the 13 random primers. The polymorphism was 83.51%, the effective number of alleles (N(e)) was 1.456 7; Nei's gene diversity index (H) was 0.274 8; Shannon's diversity index (H(o)) was 0.419 4. The clustering analyses indicated that P. quinquefolium and P. ginseng were classified into two obvious groups, especially, it was also found that the P. quinquefolium could be divided into two obvious groups based on whether the P. ginseng was cultivated in the same region or not, but it was thought that there was not genetically a qualitative difference. Thus it suggests that a good breeding field should be established in Jilin Province of China for the germplasm purification.