Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 65 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Liaoning, China.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly to multiple countries through its infectious agent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The severity, atypical clinical presentation, and lack of specific anti-viral treatments have posed a challenge for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. Understanding the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 cases in different geographical areas is essential to improve the prognosis of COVID-19 patients and slow the spread of the disease. AIM: To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics and main therapeutic strategy for confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Liaoning Province, China. METHODS: Adult patients (n = 65) with confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled in this retrospective study from January 20 to February 29, 2020 in Liaoning Province, China. Pharyngeal swabs and sputum specimens were collected from the patients for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 nucleic acid. Patient demographic information and clinical data were collected from the medical records. Based on the severity of COVID-19, the patients were divided into nonsevere and severe groups. All patients were followed until March 20, 2020. RESULTS: The mean age of 65 COVID-19 patients was 45.5 ± 14.4 years, 56.9% were men, and 24.6% were severe cases. During the 14 d before symptom onset, 25 (38.5%) patients lived or stayed in Wuhan, whereas 8 (12.3%) had no clear history of exposure. Twenty-nine (44.6%) patients had at least one comorbidity; hypertension and diabetes were the most common comorbidities. Compared with nonsevere patients, severe patients had significantly lower lymphocyte counts [median value 1.3 × 109/L (interquartile range 0.9-1.95) vs 0.82 × 109/L (0.44-1.08), P < 0.001], elevated levels of lactate dehydrogenase [450 U/L (386-476) vs 707 U/L (592-980), P < 0.001] and C-reactive protein [6.1 mg/L (1.5-7.2) vs 52 mg/L (12.7-100.8), P < 0.001], and a prolonged median duration of viral shedding [19.5 d (16-21) vs 23.5 d (19.6-30.3), P = 0.001]. The overall median viral shedding time was 19.5 d, and the longest was 53 d. Severe patients were more frequently treated with lopinavir/ritonavir, antibiotics, glucocorticoid therapy, immunoglobulin, thymosin, and oxygen support. All patients were discharged following treatment in quarantine. CONCLUSION: Our findings may facilitate the identification of severe cases and inform clinical treatment and quarantine decisions regarding COVID-19.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of fifty-six cases of COVID-19 in Liaoning Province, China.

BACKGROUND: Pneumonia of uncertain cause has been reported in Wuhan, China since the beginning of early December 2019. In early January 2020, a novel strain of ß-coronavirus was identified by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention from the pharyngeal swab specimens of patients, which was recently named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). There is evidence of human-to-human transmission and familial cluster outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The World Health Organization(WHO) recently declared the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic a global health emergency. As of February 17, 2020, 71329 laboratory-confirmed cases (in 25 countries, including the United States and Germany) have been reported globally. Other than its rapid transmission, the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain unclear. In December 2019, coronavirus disease (named COVID-19 by the WHO) associated with the SARS-CoV-2 emerged in Wuhan, China and spread quickly across the country. AIM: To analyze the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of confirmed cases of this disease in Liaoning province, a Chinese region about 1800 km north of Wuhan. METHODS: The clinical data of 56 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases due to 2019-nCoV infection were analyzed. The cases originated from eight cities in Liaoning province. RESULTS: The median age of the patients was 45 years, and 57.1% of them were male. No patient had been in direct contact with wild animals. Among them, 23 patients (41.1%) had resided in or traveled to Wuhan, 27 cases (48.2%) had been in contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients, 5 cases (8.9%) had been in contact with confirmed patients with a contact history to COVID-19 patients, and 1 case (1.8%) had no apparent history of exposure. Fever (75.0%) and cough (60.7%) were the most common symptoms. The typical manifestations in lung computed tomography (CT) included ground-glass opacity and patchy shadows, with 67.8% of them being bilateral. Among the patients in the cohort, 78.6% showed reduction in their lymphocyte counts, 57.1% showed increases in their C-reactive protein levels, and 50.0% showed decreases in their blood albumin levels. Eleven patients (19.6%) were admitted to intensive care unit, 2 patients (3.5%) progressed to acute respiratory distress syndrome, 4 patients (7.1%) were equipped with non-invasive mechanical ventilation, and 1 patient (1.8) received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. There were 5 mild cases (5/56, 8.9%), 40 moderate cases (40/56, 71.4%), 10 severe cases (10/56, 17.9%), and 1 critical case (1/56, 1.8%). No deaths were reported. CONCLUSION: SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted among humans. Most COVID-19 patients show symptoms of fever, cough, lymphocyte reduction, and typical lung CT manifestations. Most are moderate cases. The seriousness of the disease (as indicated by blood oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, oxygenation index, blood lymphocyte count, and lesions shown in lung CT) is related to history of living in or traveling to Wuhan, underlying diseases, admittance to intensive care unit, and mechanical ventilation.

Factors affecting effects of ultrasound guided high intensity focused ultrasound for single uterine fibroids: a retrospective analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate factors affecting effects of ultrasound guided high intensity focused ultrasound (USgHIFU) in the treatment of single uterine fibroids (UFs) with different magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features. METHODS: A total of 207 patients with single symptomatic UFs who were treated with HIFU were retrospectively analyzed. All UFs were grouped according to MRI features, and factors affecting HIFU ablation were set as independent variables. Non-perfusion volume ratio (NPVR) and energy efficiency factor (EEF) were set as dependent variables to establish multiple linear regression models with a stepwise method. RESULTS: All patients had successful HIFU treatment, with the mean NPVR of 74.7 ± 15.1% and the mean EEF of 7.4 ± 5.2 j/mm3. The NPVR was negatively correlated with transmural type of UFs, hyperintense on T2 weighted image (T2WI), enhancement type on T1 weighted image (T1WI), distance from UFs ventral side to skin and posterior location of UFs, but positively correlated with anterior location of UFs, hypointense on T2WI and anteverted uterus (uterine location). The EEF was negatively correlated with size, anterior location of UFs and hypointense on T2WI, but positively correlated with distance from UFs ventral side to skin, enhancement type on T1WI and transmural type of UFs. The UFs size and enhancement type on T1WI were the greatest factors affecting the ablation effect. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of HIFU treatment for single UFs is affected by multiple factors, and the UFs of hypointense on T2WI, large size, mild enhancement on T1WI and anteverted uterus can be easily ablated with high ablation efficiency.

Synthesis, Fungicidal Activity, and Structure Activity Relationship of ß-Acylaminocycloalkylsulfonamides against Botrytis cinerea.

In order to discover new antifungal agrochemicals that could have highly active and novel motifs, thirty-six new 2-acylaminocycloalkylsulfonamides (IV) were synthesized. Their structures were characterized and confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR, MS, elemental analysis and X-ray single crystal diffraction. In vitro and in vivo activities against various Botrytis cinerea strains were evaluated. Bioassay results revealed that most of the title compounds exhibited excellent in vitro fungicidal activity, in which compound IV-26 showed the highest activity against sensitive, low-resistant, moderate-resistant and high-resistant strains of B. cinerea compared with the positive fungicide procymidone. Meanwhile in vivo fungicidal activity of compound IV-31 was better than the commercial fungicides procymidone and chesulfamide in greenhouse trial. The structure activity relationship (SAR) was also discussed and the results were of importance to the structural optimization and development of more potent sulfonamides antifungal agents.

Estimation of stature and sex from scapular measurements by three-dimensional volume-rendering technique using in Chinese.

In order to develop population - specific discriminant function equations and stature prediction equations for predicting sex and stature from measurements of the scapula in a contemporary Chinese, 414 individual 3D CT images were collected from participants undergoing routine examination. Sex differences for the variables were tested by Student's t-test. Fisher's method has been followed for discriminant analysis. Regression analysis was applied to match the six linear parameters against stature. The stepwise analysis of all measurements yielded a sex classification accuracy rate of 86.7% and a sex bias of 3.1%. All the classification accuracy rates of the univariate discriminant function analyses are of more than 80%. For stature estimation, the accuracy of stature prediction ranged from 5.252 to 7.210cm for male, from 4.630 to 6.484cm for female, respectively. This paper provides indications that the scapula is an important bone for sex diagnosis and it could be effectively used as alternatives in forensic cases. Furthermore, the equations presented for stature estimation in this study should be used as alternatives in forensic cases when long bones were unavailable for stature estimation.

Myocardial protection of early extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support for acute myocardial infarction with cardiogenic shock in pigs.

The aim of this study was to explore myocardial protection of early extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support for acute myocardial infarction with cardiogenic shock in pigs. 24 male pigs (34.6 ± 1.3 kg) were randomly divided into three groups-control group, drug therapy group, and ECMO group. Myocardial infarction model was created in drug therapy group and ECMO group by ligating coronary artery. When cardiogenic shock occurred, drugs were given in drug therapy group and ECMO began to work in ECMO group. The pigs were killed 24 h after cardiogenic shock. Compared with in drug therapy group, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure in ECMO group decreased significantly 6 h after ligation (P < 0.05). At the end of the experiments, LV - dp/dt among three groups was significantly different, drug therapy group < ECMO group < control group. There was no difference in LV + dp/dt between drug therapy group and ECMO group. Compared with drug group, myocardial infarct size of ECMO group did not reduce significantly, but myocardial enzyme and troponin-I decreased significantly. Compared with drug therapy, ECMO improves left ventricular diastolic function, and may improve systolic function. ECMO cannot reduce myocardial infarct size without revascularization, but may have positive effects on ischemic areas by avoiding further injuring.

The XRCC1 Arg280His gene polymorphism and hepatocellular carcinoma risk: a meta-analysis.

Many studies have suggested that the XRCC1 Arg280His gene polymorphism might be involved in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the results have been inconsistent. In this study, the authors performed a meta-analysis to assess the association between XRCC1 Arg280His and HCC susceptibility. Published literature from PubMed, EMBASE and CNKI Data was searched. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using fixed- or random- effects models when appropriate. Begg's test was used to measure publication bias. A total of 7 case-control studies covering 1,448 HCC cases and 1,544 controls were included. No significant variation in HCC risk was detected in any of the genetic models overall. In the stratified analysis, four studies with sample sizes over 300 produced similar results. The corresponding pooled ORs were not substantially altered after the exclusion of three studies deviating from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the control group, which indicated reliability for our meta-analysis results.

Synthesis of 2-amino-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamides and their activity against Botrytis cinerea.

BACKGROUND: With the objective of exploring the fungicidal activity of 2-oxocyclohexylsulfonamides (2), a series of novel 2-amino-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamides (6 to 23) were synthesised, and their fungicidal activities against Botrytis cinerea Pers. were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: The compounds were characterised by IR, 1H NMR and elemental analysis. Bioassay results of mycelial growth showed that compounds 6 to 23 had a moderate antifungal activity against B. cinerea. N-(2-methylphenyl)-2-(2-methylphenylamino)-4,4-dimethyl-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamide (13) and N-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-(2-chlorophenylamino)-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamide (21) showed best antifungal activities, with EC50 values of 8.05 and 10.56 µg mL(-1) respectively. Commercial fungicide procymidone provided an EC50 value of 0.63 µg mL(-1) . The conidial germination assay showed that most of compounds 6 to 23 possessed excellent inhibition of spore germination and germ-tube elongation of conidia of B. cinerea. For in vivo control of B. cinerea colonising cucumber leaves, the compound N-cyclohexyl-2-(cyclohexylamino)-4,4-dimethyl-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamide (19) showed a better control effect than the commercial fungicide procymidone. CONCLUSION: The present work demonstrated that 2-amino-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamides can be used as possible new lead compounds for further developing novel fungicides against B. cinerea.

Synthesis, fungicidal activity, and structure-activity relationship of 2-oxo- and 2-hydroxycycloalkylsulfonamides.

To explore new potential fungicides, a series of novel compounds, including 11 2-oxocycloalkylsulfonamide (3) and 21 2-hydroxycycloalkylsulfonamide (4) derivatives, were synthesized and their structures were confirmed by (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared (IR), and elemental analysis. The results of the bioassay showed that the compounds 3 and 4 possessed excellent fungicidal activity against Botrytis cinerea Pers. both in vitro and in vivo. The fungicidal activity of the compounds with 7- or 8-membered rings is better than those with 5-, 6-, or 12-membered rings. According to the results of the mycelium growth rate test, the EC50 values of the compounds 3C, 4C, 3D, and 4D were 0.80, 0.85, 1.22, and 1.09 µg/mL, respectively, and similar to or better than commercial fungicide procymidone. The bioassay results of spore germination indicated that most of the compounds exhibited obvious inhibitory effects against B. cinerea and the inhibition rates of 2-oxocycloalkylsulfonamides were higher than 2-hydroxycycloalkylsulfonamides, among them. The EC50 values of compounds 3A, 3B17, 3E, and 4A were 4.21, 4.21 3.24, and 5.29 µg/mL, respectively. Those compounds containing 5- or 6-membered rings showed better activity than those containing 7-, 8-, or 12-membered rings. Furthermore, the results of the pot culture test showed that almost all of the compounds had effective control activity in vivo and 2-hydroxycycloalkylsulfonamides were obviously superior to 2-oxocycloalkylsulfonamides. The compounds 3E, 4C and 4D presented higher control efficacy than procymidone and pyrimethanil against gray mold disease on cucumber plants.

[Propofol protecting rats from paraquat induced lung injury].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective efficacy of propofol against paraquat induced lung injury. METHODS: One hundred and twenty-eight male Wistar rats were randomizedly divided into three groups: the control group (n = 8), the intoxication group (n = 60) and the propofol group (n = 60). One hundred and twenty rats were once administered with 5 mg/kg paraquat (PQ) by the intragastrical injection to establish the model of PQ induced lung injury. The propofol of 10 mg/kg was administered intraperitoneally in the propofol group (60 rats) twice a day for four consecutive days one hour after the rats were intoxicated while the normal saline of the same amount as propofol in the propofol group was administered in the intoxication group (60 rats) one hour after the rats were intoxicated. The intragastrical injection of 1 mg/kg normal saline was administered once in the control group (8 rats). On the first, the third, the seventh, the 14th and the 28th day after treating, the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) in plasma, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung homogenate, and the content of hydroxyproline (HPY) in lung homogenate, the cell count of BALF were detected. Meanwhile, pathological changes of lung were examined under optical microscope. RESULTS: The level of MDA in plasma on the first, the third and the seventh day and in BALF and lung homogenate on the first and the third day in the propofol group [in plasma: (4.31 +/- 0.94), (4.04 +/- 0.87) and (3.24 +/- 1.14) nmol/ml; in BALF: (3.47 +/- 1.09) and (2.79 +/- 1.11) nmol/ml; in lung homogenate: (7.54 +/- 0.63) and (8.41 +/- 1.23) nmol/ml] were significantly lower than those in the intoxication group [in plasma: (10.15 +/- 3.15), (6.97 +/- 1.6 5) and (5.44 +/- 0.66) nmol/ml; in BALF: (5.58 +/- 1.19) and (4.86 +/- 1.89) nmol/ml; in lung homogenate: (10.20 +/- 2.43) and (10.71 +/- 171) nmol/ml, P < 0.05 or P < 0.01]. The total cell count of BALF on the first, the third and the seventh day after intoxication in the propofol group was significantly less than that in the intoxication group respectively (P < 0.05). The histological changes such as alveolar edema, hemorrhage and inflammatory cell infiltration in the propofol group were less than those in the PQ group. CONCLUSION: Propofol could reduce the level of MDA and relieve paraquat induced lung injury.

Synthesis and fungicidal activity of novel 2-oxocycloalkylsulfonylureas.

A series of 2-oxocycloalkylsulfonylureas (2) have been synthesized in a six-step, three-pot reaction sequence from readily available cyclododecanone, cycloheptanone, and cyclohexanone. Their structures were confirmed by IR, 1H NMR, and elemental analysis. The bioassay indicated that some of them possess certain fungicidal activity against Gibberella zeae Petch. In general, compounds containing a 12-membered ring (2A) are more active than those containing a 6- or 7-membered ring (2B, 2C). In the series 2A, the compounds in which R is a disubstituted phenyl or pyrimidyl showed better activity than those in which R is a monosubstituted phenyl or pyrimidyl, and aryl-substituted compounds have somewhat higher activity than those substituted by pyrimidyl. The further bioassay showed that the representative of 2A, 2A15, has good fungicidal activities against not only G. zeae Petch but also Botrytis cinerea Pers, Colletotrichum orbiculare Arx, Pythium aphanidermatum Fitzp, Fusarium oxysporum Schl. f. sp. Vasinfectum, etc.