ABSTRACT
ObjectiveWe aimed to determine the prevalence of the severity of COVID-19 illness and its associated predisposing factors in Nepal. DesignCross-sectional, observational study SettingSingle-centered hospital-based study, conducted at Nepal armed police force (APF) hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. ParticipantsAll individuals aged [≥]18 years with laboratory-confirmed SARS-Cov-2 (the SARS-CoV-2 specific real-time-RT-PCR result positive), regardless the severity of their disease. MeasurementsDisease severity was evaluated as a primary outcome and age, sex, BMI, smoking history, alcohol history, Hypertension, diabetes mellitus were evaluated as predictors in the analysis. ResultsMean ages of the patients were 40.79{+/-}16.04 years, and about two-thirds of the patients were male 146 (73.7%). More than half 57.1% (95%CI: 52.42-61.51) of the population had a mild infection, whereas 16.7% (95%CI: 7.4-24.6%) had severe/critical illness. In univariate analysis, each 1-year increase in age (OR: 1.05; 95% CI:1.030-1.081; P<0.001), each 1 unit increase in BMI (OR:1.12; 95% CI:1.02-1.25; P=0.033), comorbid illness (OR: 5.79; 95%CI: 2.51-13.33; P<0.001), hypertension (OR:5.95; 95%CI:2.66-13.30: P<0.001), diabetes mellitus (OR:3.26; 95%CI:1.30-8.15: P<0.005), and fever (OR:34.64; 95% CI:7.98-150.38; P<0.001) were independently associated with severity of the disease, whereas age (OR: 1.049; 95% CI: 1.019-1.080; P=0.02), hypertension (OR: 4.77; 95%CI: 1.62-14.04; P=0.004), and fever (OR: 51.02; 95%CI: 9.56-272.51; P<0.001) remained a significant predictive factors in multivariate analysis. ConclusionThe majority of the patients with COVID-19 had a mild illness, with 16.7% severe illness. Age, BMI, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, comorbidity, and temperature were associated the severity of the illness. Age, hypertension, and fever emerged as an independent predictive factors in multivariate analysis, and thus, these vulnerable groups should be given special protection to the infection and proactive intervention should be initiated at an early stage of the infection to diminish the severity of the illness and improve the clinical outcome of the disease. Strengths and limitations of the studyO_LIMuch of the studies on COVID-19 in Nepal focus on the describing epidemiology and clinical profile of the disease, however, risk factors that contribute to the severity of the illness are overlooked. C_LIO_LIThis study may help estimate the burden of the disease and identify the vulnerable group with poor prognosis, which is vital for clinicians and the public health approach to deal with the disease. C_LIO_LIAlthough limiting the study to a single-center with a relatively small sample size, it, however, allows evaluation of the importance of the demographic and geographical variation. C_LIO_LISocio-economic factors, lifestyle, and availability of quality medical care may have contributed to the severity of the COVID-19, which needs to be addressed in a further large-scale study. C_LI
ABSTRACT
miRNAs are important regulatory components involving in many biological processes, including plant development, vegetative and reproductive growth, and stress response. However, identification and characterization of miRNAs still remain limited for conifer species. In this study, with deep sequencing, we obtained 1,314,450 unique reads with 18-30 nt length from a stress-tolerant conifer, Sabina chinensis. We identified 37 conserved and 103 novel miRNAs, their unique characteristics were further analyzed, and 10 randomly selected were validated by qRT-PCR. Through miRNA target predictions and annotations, we found miRNA may have several targets as well a target could be regulated by several miRNAs, and a total of 2,397 mRNAs were predicted to be targets of the 140 miRNAs. These targets included not only important transcription factors such as auxin response factors, but also indispensable non-transcriptional factor proteins. Pathway-based analysis showed that S. chinensis miRNAs are involved in 172 metabolic pathways, of which 3 were discovered in adaptation-related pathways, indicating their possible relevance to the species' stress-tolerance characteristics. This study is expected to lay the foundation for exploring the regulative roles of miRNAs in development, growth, and response to environmental stresses of S. chinensis.
