Safety of protease inhibitors and Arbidol for SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in Zhejiang Province, China / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of an antiviral regimen of protease inhibitors combined with Arbidol (umifenovir) for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pneumonia patients. The genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 is highly homologous to that of SARS-CoV (Zhou et al., 2020). Previously published basic and clinical research on anti-SARS-CoV treatment found that lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) could improve the prognosis of SARS patients (Chan et al., 2003; Chu et al., 2004). Darunavir (DRV) is another protease inhibitor that blocks the binding of SARS-CoV-2 to human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (Omotuyi et al., 2020). The broad-spectrum antiviral drug Arbidol (umifenovir) also shows in vitro anti-SARS-CoV activity (Khamitov et al., 2008).

Investigation of intestinal bacterial translocation in 78 patients with cirrhosis after liver transplantation / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the prevalence and associated risk factors of bacterial translocation (BT) in patients with cirrhosis after liver transplantation and analyze the effect of BT on bacterial infection after the surgery.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), portal vein blood, and peripheral blood were collected during the liver transplantation for microbiological culture from 78 patients with cirrhosis. And meanwhile, all related clinical data were analyzed to investigate the risk factors of BT and its relationship with post-liver transplantation infections.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>BT was occurred in 8 of 78 cirrhotic patients (10.3%) and positive-rate of MLN culture was 5/8. Gram-negative aerobic bacillus was the main causative bacterium of BT (5/9), followed by Gram-positive aerobic enterococcus (22.2%, 2/9). Total bilirubin level in patients with BT was significantly higher than that in patients without BT.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>It suggests that hyperbilirubinemia is the only risk factor for BT, and BT is associated with an increased infectious rate after liver transplantation.</p>

Intestinal microflora in rats with ischemia/reperfusion liver injury / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To investigate the intestinal microflora status related to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) liver injury and explore the possible mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Specific pathogen free grade Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into three groups: Control group (n=8), sham group (n=6) and I/R group (n=10). Rats in the control group did not receive any treatment, rats in the I/R group were subjected to 20 min of liver ischemia, and rats in the sham group were only subjected to sham operation. Twenty-two hours later, the rats were sacrificed and liver enzymes and malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), serum endotoxin, intestinal bacterial count, intestinal mucosal histology, bacterial translocation to mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, spleen, and kidney were studied.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Ischemia/reperfusion increased liver enzymes, MDA, decreased SOD, and was associated with plasma endotoxin elevation in I/R group compared to those in the sham group. Intestinal Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus decreased and intestinal Enterobacteria and Enterococci, bacterial translocation to kidney increased in the I/R group compared to the sham group. Intestinal microvilli were lost, disrupted and the interspace between cells became wider in the I/R group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>I/R liver injury may lead to disturbance of intestinal microflora and impairment of intestinal mucosal barrier function, which contributes to endotoxemia and bacterial translocation to kidney.</p>