A New Coronavirus Estimation Global Score for Predicting Mortality During Hospitalization in Patients with COVID-19.

Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exists as a pandemic. Mortality during hospitalization is multifactorial, and there is urgent need for a risk stratification model to predict in-hospital death among COVID-19 patients. Here we aimed to construct a risk score system for early identification of COVID-19 patients at high probability of dying during in-hospital treatment. Methods: In this retrospective analysis, a total of 821 confirmed COVID-19 patients from 3 centers were assigned to developmental (n = 411, between January 14, 2020 and February 11, 2020) and validation (n = 410, between February 14, 2020 and March 13, 2020) groups. Based on demographic, symptomatic, and laboratory variables, a new Coronavirus estimation global (CORE-G) score for prediction of in-hospital death was established from the developmental group, and its performance was then evaluated in the validation group. Results: The CORE-G score consisted of 18 variables (5 demographics, 2 symptoms, and 11 laboratory measurements) with a sum of 69.5 points. Goodness-of-fit tests indicated that the model performed well in the developmental group (H = 3.210, P = 0.880), and it was well validated in the validation group (H = 6.948, P = 0.542). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves were 0.955 in the developmental group (sensitivity, 94.1%; specificity, 83.4%) and 0.937 in the validation group (sensitivity, 87.2%; specificity, 84.2%). The mortality rate was not significantly different between the developmental (n = 85,20.7%) and validation (n = 94, 22.9%, P = 0.608) groups. Conclusions: The CORE-G score provides an estimate of the risk of in-hospital death. This is the first step toward the clinical use of the CORE-G score for predicting outcome in COVID-19 patients.

Efficacy and safety of colchicine in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: There are no meta-analyses evaluating the efficacy and safety of colchicine in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Our protocol is conceived to evaluate the efficacy and safety of colchicine in comparison of placebo and test the hypothesis that a short course of treatment with colchicine could lead to reduced infarct size in patients presenting with AMI. METHODS: We will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines and the recommendations of the Cochrane Collaboration to conduct this meta-analysis. Reviewers will search the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and EMBASE online databases for all English-language cohort studies published up to April, 2021. The cohort studies focusing on assess the efficacy and safety of colchicine in the treatment of AMI will be included in our meta-analysis. At least one of the following outcomes should have been measured: reduced infarct size, C-reactive protein (CRP) level, adverse events, death and major cardiovascular events. Review Manager software will be used for the meta-analysis. All outcomes are pooled on random-effect model. A P value of <.05 is considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: Our protocol is conceived to evaluate the efficacy and safety of colchicine in comparison of placebo and test the hypothesis that a short course of treatment with colchicine could lead to reduced infarct size in patients presenting with AMI. REGISTRATION NUMBER: 10.17605/OSF.IO/NTU5F.

Antiviral Abidol is Associated with the Reduction of In-Hospital Mortality in COVID-19 Patients.

OBJECTIVE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global public health crisis. There are no specific antiviral agents for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2. Information regarding the effect of Abidol on in-hospital mortality is scarce. The present study aimed to evaluate the treatment effect of Abidol for patients with COVID-19 before and after propensity score matching (PSM). METHODS: This retrospective cohort study analyzed 1019 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in China from December 22, 2019 to March 13, 2020. Patients were divided to Abidol (200 mg, tid, 5-7 days, n = 788, 77.3%) and No-Abidol (n = 231, 22.7%) groups. The primary outcome was the mortality during hospitalization. RESULTS: Among 1019 COVID-19 patients, the age was (60.4 ±â€Š14.5) years. Abidol-treated patients, compared with No-Abidol-treated patients, had a shorter duration from onset of symptoms to admission, less frequent renal dysfunction, lower white blood cell counts (lymphocytes <0.8) and erythrocyte sending rate, lower interleukin-6, higher platelet counts and plasma IgG and oxygen saturation, and less frequent myocardial injury. The mortality during hospitalization before PSM was 17.9% in Abidol group and 34.6% in No-Abidol (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.610, 95% confident interval (CI): 1.980-3.440), all seen in severe and critical patients. After PSM, the in-hospital death was 13.6% in Abidol and 28.6% in No-Abidol group (HR = 2.728, 95% CI: 1.598-4.659). CONCLUSIONS: Abidol-treatment results in less in-hospital death for severe and critical patients with COVID-19. Further randomized study is warranted to confirm the findings from this study.

Strong piezocatalysis in barium titanate/carbon hybrid nanocomposites for dye wastewater decomposition.

In this work, the strong piezocatalysis is found in the two-step hydrothermally-synthesized barium titanate/carbon hybrid nanocomposites and is used for rhodamine B dye decomposition. As the carbon content increases from 0 to 5 wt%, the catalytic performance of hybrid nanocomposites first increases and then slightly decreases. When the carbon content increases to 2 wt%, the barium titanate/carbon hybrid nanocomposites exhibit the optimal piezocatalytic performance, which have the ~75.5% dye decomposition ratio and the ~0.04901 min-1 reaction rate constant after the 40 min vibration stimulation, while that of the pure barium titanate are 48.4% and 0.01942 min-1, respectively. The improvement of piezocatalytic performance in barium titanate/carbon hybrid nanocomposites can be ascribed to the action of carbon's charge transfer which promotes the effective separation of the piezoelectrically-induced electric charges. After three runs recycle utilization tests, the barium titanate/carbon hybrid nanocomposites still exhibit ~70% decomposition ratio of rhodamine B dye. The strong piezocatalytic performance and the good reusability make the barium titanate/carbon hybrid nanocomposites potential in the field of wastewater treatment through utilizing natural vibration energy in future.

Leukocyte Rho kinase activity and serum cystatin C affect cardiovascular events in acute coronary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to investigate the effects of leukocyte Rho kinase activity and serum Cystatin C (Cys C) on cardiovascular events in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). METHODS: A total of 48 patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), 23 patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), 25 patients with unstable angina (UA) and 20 patients with no-acute coronary syndrome as control from January 2017 to June 2018 in Tianyou Hospital affiliated to Wuhan University of Science and Technology were selected in this study. Western blot was used to detect the leukocyte Rho kinase activity and Elisa kit was used to measure serum Cys C. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to analyze the influencing factors of cardiovascular events in ACS patients. RESULTS: The activity of leukocyte Rho kinase and serum Cys C were gradually reduced in the STEMI, NSTEMI and UA patients, but all significantly higher than that in No-ASC patients, and there was a positive correlation between leukocyte Rho kinase activity and serum Cys C in ACS patients (r = 0.516, P < .001). The activity of leukocyte Rho kinase was positively correlated with the levels of serum TNF-α (r = 0.634, P < .001), IL-6 (r = 0.578, P < .001), IL-8 (r = 0.582, P < .001) in ACS patients, and the level of Cys C was positively correlated with the levels of serum TNF-α (r = 0.634, P < .001), IL-6 (r = 0.578, P < .001), IL-8 (r = 0.582, P < .001) in ACS patients. Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that the leukocyte Rho kinase activity (HR = 2.994, 95%CI = 1.328-6.054, P < .0001) and the levels of serum Cys C (HR = 1.692, 95%CI = 1.028-2.124, P < .0001) were independent influencing factors of cardiovascular events in ACS patients. CONCLUSION: The leukocyte Rho kinase activity and serum Cystatin C are high in acute coronary syndrome patients, and are the independent influencing factors of cardiovascular events in ACS patients.

Removal of Lead(II) Ions from Aqueous Solution Using L. Seed Husk Ash as a Biosorbent.

The removal of heavy metals, especially from wastewater, has attracted significant interest because of their toxicity, tendency to bioaccumulate, and the threat they pose to human life and the environment. Many low-cost sorbents have been investigated for their biosorption capacity toward heavy metals. However, there are no reports available on the removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solution by of L. seed husk ash. In this work, use of seed husk ash for the removal of Pb(II) from wastewater was investigated as a function of contact time and the initial pH of the solution. Kinetics and equilibrium constants were obtained from batch experiments. Our study shows that the adsorption process follows pseudo-second-order kinetics. Moreover, the Langmuir absorption model gave a better fit to the experimental data than the Freundlich equation. The maximum adsorption capacity of the husk ash was 263.10 mg g at 298 K and pH 5.0, and this is higher than the previously reported data obtained using other sorbents. The results obtained confirm that seed husk ash is an effective sorbent for the removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solution. Analysis of infrared spectra of the husk ash after absorption of Pb(II) suggested that OH, C=O, C-O, Si-O-Si, and O-Si-O groups were important for the Pb(II) ion removal. Moreover, practical tests on this biosorbent for Pb(II) removal in real wastewater samples successfully demonstrated that seed husk ash constitutes an efficient and cost-effective technology for the elimination of heavy metals from industrial effluent.

VEGF-A promotes cardiac stem cell engraftment and myocardial repair in the infarcted heart.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to determine whether vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A subtypes improve cardiac stem cell (CSC) engraftment and promote CSC-mediated myocardial repair in the infarcted heart. METHODS: CSCs were treated with VEGF receptor (VEGFR) inhibitors, VCAM-1 antibody (VCAM-1-Ab), or PKC-α inhibitor followed by the treatment with VEGF-A. CSC adhesion assays were performed in vitro. In vivo, the PKH26-labeled and VCAM-1-Ab or PKC-α inhibitor pre-treated CSCs were treated with VEGF-A followed by implantation into infarcted rat hearts. The hearts were then collected for measuring CSC engraftment and evaluating cardiac fibrosis and function 3 or 28days after the CSC transplantation. RESULTS: All three VEGF-A subtypes promoted CSC adhesion to extracellular matrix and endothelial cells. VEGF-A-mediated CSC adhesion required VEGFR and PKCα signaling. Importantly, VEGF-A induced VCAM-1, but not ICAM-1 expression in CSCs through PKCα signaling. In vivo, VEGF-A promoted the engraftment of CSCs in infarcted hearts, which was attenuated by PKCα inhibitor or VCAM-1-Ab. Moreover, VEGF-A-mediated CSC engraftment resulted in a reduction in infarct size and fibrosis. Functional studies showed that the transplantation of the VEGF-A-treated CSCs stimulated extensive angiomyogenesis in infarcted hearts as indicated by the expression of cardiac troponin T and von Willebrand factor, leading to an improved performance of left ventricle. Blockade of PKCα signaling or VCAM-1 significantly diminished the beneficial effects of CSCs treated with VEGF-A. CONCLUSION: VEGF-A promotes myocardial repair through, at least in part, enhancing the engraftment of CSCs mediated by PKCα/VCAM-1 pathway.

[µ-2,2'-(1,4-Phenyl-ene)diacetato-κ(2)O(1):O(4)]bis-[aqua-(2,2'-bipyridine-κ(2)N,N')chloridocopper(II)] dihydrate.

In the centrosymmetric title compound, [Cu(2)(C(10)H(8)O(4))Cl(2)(C(10)H(8)N(2))(2)(H(2)O)(2)]·2H(2)O, the Cu(II) atom is five-coordinated in a distorted square-pyramidal geometry by two N atoms from a chelating 2,2'-bipyridine ligand, one O atom from a 1,4-phenyl-enediacetate ligand, one Cl atom and one water mol-ecule. The 1,4-phenyl-enediacetate ligand, lying on an inversion center, bridges two Cu(II) atoms. In the crystal, O-H⋯O and O-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds and π-π inter-actions between the pyridine rings [centroid-centroid distance = 3.740 (5) Å] link the complex mol-ecules and uncoordinated water mol-ecules into a three-dimensional network.

catena-Poly[[[tetra-aqua-lanthanum(III)]-di-µ-isonicotinato-κ(4)O:O'] chloride].

In the title compound, {[La(C(6)H(4)NO(2))(2)(H(2)O)(4)]Cl}(n), the La(III) atom lies on a twofold rotation axis and is eight-coordinated by four O atoms from four isonicotinate ligands and four water mol-ecules in a distorted square-anti-prismatic coodination environment. Adjacent La(III) atoms are bridged by two carboxyl-ate groups from two isonicotinate ligands, forming an extended chain along [001]. These chains are linked through O-H⋯N hydrogen bonds into a three-dimensional network with channels in which the chloride anions form O-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds. Intra-chain O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds and π-π inter-actions [centroid-centroid distance = 3.908 (2) Å] are also observed.