Prognostic value of SOFA combined with chest CT severity score in patients with critical COVID-19 pneumonia: a retrospective study (preprint)

Background: Either sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score or chest CT severity score (CT-SS) is often used alone to evaluate the prognosis of patients with critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but each of them has intrinsic deficiency. Herein, we attempted to investigate the predictive value of the combination of SOFA and CT-SS for the prognosis of COVID-19. Materials and Methods: A single-center retrospective study was performed in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine from December 2022 to January 2023. Patients with critical COVID-19 pneumonia were divided into two groups of survival or non-survival of hospitalization. The data including clinical characteristics, CT-SS, SOFA score, laboratory results on admission day were collected and analyzed. In addition, the predictive value of SOFAscore, chest CT-SS, or their combination for in-hospital mortality of COVID-19 pneumonia were compared by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results: A total of 424 patients with a mean age of 75.46 years and a major proportion of male (69.10%) were finally enrolled, and the total in-hospital mortality was 43.40% (184/424). In comparison with survival group, significant higher proportions of older age (>75 years), comorbidities including obesity, diabetes, and cerebrovascular disease, more needs of mechanical ventilation and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) were observed in the non-survival group (all P﹤0.05). In addition, non-survival patients had a higher value of creatinine, procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 , SOFA score , CT-SS  (all P﹤0.05) on admission day. Multivariate logistic regression analysis further showed that older age, obesity, diabetes, SOFA score, CT-SS, mechanical ventilation, and lymphocytopenia (all P﹤0.05) were independently related with in-hospital mortality. Moreover, the area under the curve (AUC) of combination of SOFA score and chest CT-SS became significant higher than their respective alone (P＜0.01). Conclusion: A simple combination of SOFA scorewith chest CT-SS on admission elicits a better predictive value for in-hospital mortality of critical COVID-19 patients, which could also serve as a promising indicator for prognosis prediction of other severe lung diseases like severe pneumonia and acute lung injury.

Investigation and analysis of the characteristics of a family cluster of coronavirus disease 2019 in Zibo. (Special Issue: Spatio-temporal dynamics analysis, risk assessment and emergency management for COVID-19 epidemic.) [Chinese]

Objective: To investigate a family cluster of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in Zibo, so as to analyze the characteristics of the epidemic.

The willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccine and its associated factors among teachers and students in outpatient clinic in a medical college in Beijing

Objective: To understand the willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccine among teachers and students in outpatient clinic in a medical college in Beijing, and to discuss its related factors, in order to provide reference for the implementation of COVID-19 vaccination.

The Landscape of Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases Involved in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) are essential enzymes in translation by linking amino acids onto their cognate tRNAs during protein synthesis. During evolution, aaRSs develop numerous non-canonical functions that expand the roles of aaRSs in eukaryotic organisms. Although aaRSs have been implicated in viral infection, the function of aaRSs during infections with coronaviruses (CoVs) remains unclear. Here, we analyzed the data from transcriptomic and proteomic database on human cytoplasmic (cyto) and mitochondrial (mt) aaRSs across infections with three highly pathogenic human CoVs, with a particular focus on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We found an overall downregulation of aaRSs at mRNA levels, while the protein levels of some mt-aaRSs and the phosphorylation of certain aaRSs were increased in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Strikingly, interaction network between SARS-CoV-2 and human aaRSs displayed a strong involvement of mt-aaRSs. Further co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) experiments confirmed the physical interaction between SARS-CoV-2 M protein and TARS2. In addition, we identified the intermediate nodes and potential pathways involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study provides an unbiased, overarching perspective on the correlation between aaRSs and SARS-CoV-2. More importantly, this work identifies TARS2, HARS2, and EARS2 as potential key factors involved in COVID-19.

Research progress on preparation and application of flavonoids antibody of plants

Flavonoids are important natural products. Epidemiological studies have shown that flavonoids can reduce the risk of a variety of chronic diseases and cancer, they also have a significant auxiliary effect on COVID-19. Antibodies are extremely important tools in modern life science research. Flavonoid antibody technology has broad application prospects in the fields of Chinese medicine and food nutrition science research. This article introduced the pharmacological effects of flavonoids and the research progress of the preparation of flavonoid haptens, complete antigen and antibodies. Besides, the application of flavonoid antibody which mainly includes enzyme-linked immunoassay, immunoaffinity chromatography method, fluorescence immunoassay method, immunochromatographic test strips and eastern blotting were illustrated, thus supporting the reference for further research of flavonoid antibodies.

Robust Antibody and T Cell Responses in COVID-19 Patients Six Months After Infection (preprint)

Determining the longevity of natural immunity after SARS-CoV-2 infection is critical for understanding immune protection and optimizing vaccine design. Over six months have been passed since the emergence of COVID-19 in China. We evaluated humoral and cellular responses in 418 patients six months after infection. 95.9% and 98.1% of the patients maintained SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies. All severe patients were positive for IgG and neutralizing antibodies and had significantly higher titers than mild and moderate patients as well as asymptomatic individuals. The patients had a more robust SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ T cell response than CD8+ T cells six months after infection. Unexpectedly, sustained immune activation was observed, which displayed as the evaluated proinflammatory monocytes, non-classical NK cells, CD4+ Treg cells, and activated CD4+ T cells. Our findings indicate that SARS-CoV-2 gives rise to persisting and robust protective immunity, which provides a promising sign for prevention from reinfection and vaccination strategy.Funding: This work was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China (81773494 to M.J.M.), the National Major Project for Control and Prevention of Infectious Disease of China (2017ZX10303401-006 to M.J.M.), the Special National Project on Investigation of Basic Resources of China (2019FY101502 to M.J.M.).Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no competing interests.Ethical Approval: All patients provided written informed consent. The study was conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki, and the Institutional Review Board of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences approved the study protocol (IRB number: AF/SC-08/02.46).

How Well-Targeted Are Payroll Tax Cuts as a Response to COVID-19? Evidence from China (preprint)

Numerous countries cut payroll taxes in response to COVID-19, including China, which re-duced employer contributions by 21 percentage points. We use administrative data on 900,000firms to evaluate payroll tax cuts as a business relief measure. We estimate that the tax cutscover 31.5% of the decline in business cash flow, but labor informality causes 53% of regis-tered firms—24% of aggregate economic activity—to receive no benefits at all. We quantifythe targeting of the policy in terms of how much benefits flow to small firms less able to accessexternal finance and to sectors worse hit by COVID-19. We find that (1) small firms and vul-nerable industries are comparatively more labor intensive, which leads to desirable targeting;(2) labor informality worsens, but does not eliminate, targeting by firm size; and (3) labor in-formality is uncorrelated with the COVID-19 shock, and therefore does not affect targeting bysector.