A Decade of Scientific and Technological Innovation at Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College: Retrospect and Prospect.

Focusing on the reform initiatives of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & Peking Union Medical College (PUMC) in medical scientific and technological innovation from perspectives of deepening the reform and optimizing the ecosystem of science and technology innovation, this article summarizes the highlights of CAMS & PUMC's efforts in safeguarding people's health and promoting the Healthy China 2030 strategy through scientific and technological innovation in the fields including basic research, disease prevention and treatment, and medical technology in the past ten years. These achievements embody the endeavors and responsibility of CAMS & PUMC in realizing self-reliance and self-improvement of Chinese medical science and technology and highlight its contributions to the development of medical science and technology of China.

Unintended Consequences of COVID-19 Public Policy Responses on Renewable Energy Power: Evidence from OECD Countries in the EU (preprint)

Starting from 2020, governments around the world have continued to implement many types of public polices in response to the COVID-19 outbreaks. The dramatic public policies have substantially changed production and consumption activities, thereby temporarily lowing electricity use and greenhouse gas emissions. This study argues that the pandemic-induced public policies unintendedly slow down the transformation of renewable energy use in the EU, since the decline of greenhouse gas emissions led by the lockdowns helps the countries reduce the total emission temporarily. We employ a fixed-effect model to investigate the effects of different types of COVID-19 public policy responses on electricity production, consumption, and net import in 12 OECD countries in the EU, and mainly focus on the electricity production share from renewable energy source. Among several public policy responses, the stringent lockdown policies such as workplace closing, stay at home requirements, and restrictions on gathering size have negative and statistically significant impacts on electricity generation and consumption. Further, the countries with stringent lockdown policies are more likely to import electricity from other countries to mitigate the electricity shortage in their domestic markets. Importantly, we find the lockdown events have negative and statistically significant effects on the share of renewable energy use for the electricity production, while increase the share of fossil fuel use for the electricity production. In opposite, economic support policies such as income support, debt relief and economic stimulus programs can help reduce the share of fossil use for the electricity production and decrease the net import of electricity from other countries. Our results indicate that the public polices in response to the COVID-19 outbreaks have mixed effects on the transition to renewable energy power in the EU, suggesting that the current decline of greenhouse gas emissions comes from the reduction of electricity use led by the lockdown events instead of the adoption of renewable energy use and discourage the transformation of renewable energy source.

A Biological Insight into the Susceptibility to Influenza Infection in Junior Rats by Comprehensive Analysis of lncRNA Profiles.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to participate in regulating many biological processes, including immune response to influenza A virus (IAV). However, the association between lncRNA expression profiles and influenza infection susceptibility has not been well elucidated. Here, we analyzed the expression profiles of lncRNAs, miRNAs, and mRNAs among IAV-infected adult rat (IAR), normal adult rat (AR), IAV-infected junior rat (IJR), and normal junior rat (JR) by RNA sequencing. Compared with differently expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) between AR and IAR, 24 specific DElncRNAs were found between IJR and JR. Then, based on the fold changes and P value, the top 5 DElncRNAs, including 3 upregulated and 2 downregulated lncRNAs, were chosen to establish a ceRNA network for further disclosing their regulatory mechanisms. To visualize the differentially expressed genes in the ceRNA network, GO and KEGG pathway analysis was performed to further explore their roles in influenza infection of junior rats. The results showed that the downregulated DElncRNA-target genes were mostly enriched in the IL-17 signaling pathway. It indicated that the downregulated lncRNAs conferred the susceptibility of junior rats to IAV via mediating the IL-17 signaling pathway.

A Multicentre Study of 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease Outcomes of Cancer Patients in Wuhan, China (preprint)

Background: At present, there is a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Two previous case series from China have suggested that cancer patients are at a higher risk of COVID-19 pneumonia, but the reports were limited by small numbers and few clinical information. Objective: To study clinical characteristics and outcomes of cancer patients infected with COVID-19. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Four designated COVID-16 hospitals in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Participants: Medical records of 67 cancer patients admitted to hospitals between Jan 5, 2020 to Feb 18, 2020 were included. Measurements: Demographic, clinical, laboratory, radiological and treatment data were collected. Survival data of the cohort was cut-off on Mar 10, 2020. Results: Of the 67 patients (median age: 66 years), the median age of patients who had severe illness was older than that of patients who had mild symptoms (P<0.001). Forty-three (64.2%) patients had other concurrent chronic diseases, and the proportion of severe patients had co-morbidities was higher than patients with mild disease (P=0.004). Twenty-three (34.3%) patients were still at the anticancer treatment phase, but no tumour progression and recurrence was observed for all the patients during the treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia. About 70% of these patients had fever (n=53, 79.1%) and/or cough (n=50, 74.6%). Lymphocytopenia was the main laboratory finding accompanying increased C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in cancer patients, especially in severe cases. By Mar 10, 2020, 18 (26.9%) patients died from COVID-19, and 39 (58.2%) patients have been discharged. The median age of survivors was younger than that of deaths (P=0.014). Lung cancer (n=15, 22.4%) with COVID-19 was the most common cancer type and accounted for the highest proportion COVID-19 resulted deaths (33.3%, 5/15). We observed a tendency that patients at the follow-up phase had a better prognosis than that at anticancer treatment phase (P=0.095). Limitation: This is a retrospective study with only 67 cases from four hospitals. And some specific clinical information was insufficient. Conclusion: This study showed COVID-19 patients with cancer seem to have a higher proportion of severe cases and poorer prognosis. The tendency of poor prognosis was more obvious in patients at anticancer treatment phase. We should pay more intensive attentions to cancer patients infected with COVID-19.