[Concerns about COVID-19-associated liver injury].

Patients infected with 2019-nCoV/SARS-CoV-2 are usually accompanied with liver injury, which may correlates with the severe forms of the disease. The pathogenesis of COVID-19-associated liver injury is not only related to the underlying liver diseases, viral cholangitis, systemic inflammatory response, and hypoxic liver injury, but also to multiple factors that lead to liver injury in patients. Therefore, during the course of treatment, the patient's liver function should be closely monitored, and attention should be paid to the occurrence of drug-induced liver injury.

[Consideration on implementation of co-administration of Seasonal Influenza and COVID-19 vaccines during pandemic in China].

Influenza is an infectious respiratory disease caused by the influenza viruses. Older people, infants and people with underlying medical conditions could have a higher risk of severe influenza symptoms and complications. The co-infection of Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19) with influenza viruses could lead to the complication of prevention, diagnosis, control, treatment, and recovery of COVID-19. Influenza vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine overlapped in target populations, vaccination time, and inoculation units. Although there was insufficient evidence on the immunogenicity and safety of co-administration of influenza vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine, World Health Organization and some countries recommended co-administration of inactivated influenza vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine. This review summarized domestic and international vaccination policies and research progress, and put forward corresponding suggestions in order to provide scientific support for the formulation of vaccination strategy on seasonal influenza vaccine and COVID-19 vaccine.

Temperature-Responsive Multilayer Films Based on Block Copolymer-Coated Silica Nanoparticles for Long-Term Release of Favipiravir

Using surface-initiated atom-transfer radical polymerization, temperature-responsive block polymers were functionalized on the surface of silica nanocapsules (SNCs) by a "grafting from" technique. Favipiravir, a potential medicine candidate for the treatment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), was encapsulated in polymer-coated SNCs and further incorporated into welldefined films by layer-by-layer self-assembly. The multilayer films composed of polymer-coated SNCs and poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) homopolymers exhibited swelling/deswelling behaviors under the trigger of a temperature stimulus. For the first time, the impact of steric hindrance on the assembling behavior, swelling/ deswelling transition, and delivering capacity of nanocapsule-based multilayer films was investigated. SNCs with coronae of higher steric hindrance resulted in a larger layering distance during film growth. Moreover, the difference in the sustained release rates of the drug indicated their diverse diffusion coefficients and intermolecular interactions within the multilayer films, due to the presence of a methyl spacer at the amino group of nanocapsule coronae and weaker ionic pairing between SNC coronae and PMAA homopolymers. The profile of drug release from the films was dependent on the temperature value of the surrounding environment. At 37 and 40 degrees C, the films were able to efficiently entrap favipiravir, with as low as 50% released in 80 days, whereas a faster favipiravir release was triggered by exposure to a lower temperature value at 25 degrees C. This work demonstrates the first proof-of-concept platform of temperature-responsive SNC-incorporated multilayered films with a well-defined internal structure and a sustained release profile for on-demand in vitro drug delivery.

Predicting Genotype Information Related to COVID-19 for Molecular Mechanism Based on Computational Methods

Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing health emergency. Several studies are related to COVID-19. However, its molecular mechanism remains unclear. The rapid publication of COVID-19 provides a new way to elucidate its mechanism through computational methods. This paper proposes a prediction method for mining genotype information related to COVID-19 from the perspective of molecular mechanisms based on machine learning. The method obtains seed genes based on prior knowledge. Candidate genes are mined from biomedical literature. The candidate genes are scored by machine learning based on the similarities measured between the seed and candidate genes. Furthermore, the results of the scores are used to perform functional enrichment analyses, including KEGG, interaction network, and Gene Ontology, for exploring the molecular mechanism of COVID-19. Experimental results show that the method is promising for mining genotype information to explore the molecular mechanism related to COVID-19.

[Evaluation of demand of resources for laboratory testing and prevention and control of COVID-19 in the context of global pandemic].

Objective: To rapidly evaluate the level of healthcare resource demand for laboratory testing and prevention and control of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in different epidemic situation, and prepare for the capacity planning, stockpile distribution, and funding raising for infectious disease epidemic response. Methods: An susceptible, exposed, infectious, removed infectious disease dynamics model with confirmed asymptomatic infection cases and symptomatic hospitalized patients was introduced to simulate different COVID-19 epidemic situation and predict the numbers of hospitalized or isolated patients, and based on the current COVID-19 prevention and control measures in China, the demands of resources for laboratory testing and prevention and control of COVID-19 were evaluated. Results: When community or local transmission or outbreaks occur and total population nucleic acid testing is implemented, the need for human resources is 3.3-89.1 times higher than the reserved, and the current resources of medical personal protective equipment and instruments can meet the need. The surge in asymptomatic infections can also increase the human resource demand for laboratory testing and pose challenge to the prevention and control of the disease. When vaccine protection coverage reach ≥50%, appropriate adjustment of the prevention and control measures can reduce the need for laboratory and human resources. Conclusions: There is a great need in our country to reserve the human resources for laboratory testing and disease prevention and control for the response of the possible epidemic of COVID-19. Challenges to human resources resulted from total population nucleic acid testing and its necessity need to be considered. Conducting non-pharmaceutical interventions and encouraging more people to be vaccinated can mitigate the shock on healthcare resource demand in COVID-19 prevention and control.

Antiviral properties of traditional chinese medicine against coronavirus: Research clues for coronavirus disease-2019

The objective of this study was to provide research clues for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and coronavirus (CoV) infection using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). A review on research and clinical trials that using TCM extracts and active ingredients against CoV was performed, and a table of TCM agents and their effects on CoV were summarized. Relevant analysis was performed and visual expression of the data included summarizing the types of TCM and treatment methods for COVID-19. TCM fighting against CoV is mainly used in the lung and heart channels, and its medicinal properties are mainly cold and mild, while its taste is mainly bitter and sweet. The majority of research focused on treatments that clear away heat and toxic materials and those that strengthen body resistance and tonify deficiencies. TCM has unique advantages to fight against CoV. The development of new anti-CoV therapy using TCM is of great significance for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia and various viral infectious diseases.

Viral kinetics and factors associated with rapid viral clearance during lopinavir/ritonavir-based combination therapy in non-severe COVID-19 patients.

OBJECTIVE: Lopinavir/ritonavir has modest antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The aim was to investigate the viral kinetics and factors associated with viral clearance during lopinavir/ritonavir-based combination treatment in non-severe patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty-four patients were retrospectively enrolled. Viral RNA was detected by real-time RT-PCR assay from sputum or throat swab samples at different time points. The patterns of viral kinetics were characterized, and factors associated with rapid viral clearance, which was defined as viral RNA undetectable within two weeks, were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: All patients achieved viral RNA negativity and were discharged from the hospital. Furthermore, 48 (75%) and 16 (25%) patients achieved rapid and delayed viral clearance, respectively. The lymphocyte counts of rapid viral clearance patients (1.40 [1.20-1.80] × 109/L) were higher, when compared to delayed viral clearance patients (1.00 [0.70-1.47] × 109/L) (p=0.024). The multivariate logistic analysis revealed that high lymphocyte count (≥1.3×109/L) is an independent factor associated with rapid viral clearance (OR=7.62, 95% CI=1.15-50.34, p=0.035). CONCLUSIONS: The viral shedding exhibited different patterns during treatment. Immune insufficiency is responsible for the delayed viral clearance, suggesting that an immunomodulator should be considered to promote viral clearance in patients with low lymphocyte counts.