ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Physicians may administer Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir to patients who have been symptomatic for more than 5 days. There is currently no clear evidence to support this approach. METHODS: A real-world study was conducted to investigate the potential relationship between the administration of Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir and the rates of intubation or in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients who experienced symptoms for more than 5 days. The end point was a composite event of intubation or in-hospital mortality. The outcomes between those patients who received Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir and those who did not were compared. RESULTS: A total of 847 patients were included in the analysis. Among them, 312 patients (36.84%) received Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir. Within the entire population, 86 patients (10.15%) experienced intubation or in-hospital mortality. The main analysis indicated that there was a significant association between the application of Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir and intubation or in-hospital mortality, with an odds ratio of 0.50 (95% confidence interval, 0.28 to 0.87; P = 0.0153) using inverse probability of treatment weighting. The finding was consistent with multiple sensitivity analyses. CONCLUSIONS: The application of Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir was associated with a significantly reduced risk of intubation or death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients who experienced symptoms for more than 5 days as compared to those who did not receive the treatment.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) is a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) that promotes tumor growth and metastasis. Exosomes can mediate intracellular communication in cancer by transferring active molecules. However, the role and mechanism of HOTAIR in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are still unclear. This study mainly explores the role and mechanism of exosome-derived HOTAIR in NSCLC. METHODS: after the material characterization of the CD63 immune lipid magnetic bead (CD63-IMB), the exosomes in serum of NSCLC patients were captured through CD63-IMB for the corresponding biological characterization. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to detect the expression level of HOTAIR in tumor tissues, serum, and serum exosome from NSCLC patients. Subsequently, exosome secreted by NCI-H1975 cells with highly expressed HOTAIR was selected to treat low-expression A549 cells and HOTAIR knockdown on NCI-H1975 cells. In this way, action mechanisms of HOTAIR can be investigated by means of qRT-PCR, colony formation assays, and flow cytometry. RESULTS: exosomes can be isolated by CD63-IMB, and taken up by cells effectively; the qRT-PCR results demonstrate that HOTAIR expressions are significantly upregulated in tumor tissues, serums, and exosomes isolated from serums of NSCLC patients. Clinicopathological correlation analysis shows that the upregulation of HOTAIR is closely associated with lymphatic metastasis and tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging (P < 0.05). HOTAIR expressions show a significant increase in A549 cells treated with exosomes derived from NCI-H1975 cells, signifying that both proliferation and migration of A549 cells are promoted, and HOTAIR depletion could inhibit the proliferation and migration of lung cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: HOTAIR is highly expressed in tumor tissues, serums, and serum exosomes of NSCLC patients and its expression has a significant correlation with lymphatic metastasis and TNM staging. Moreover, the exosome may promote NSCLC proliferation and migration through HOTAIR transportation. Therefore, exosome-derived HOTAIR is expected to be a new molecular marker for NSCLC diagnosis, and exosomal transmission of HOTAIR may provide a new approach to NSCLC diagnosis.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore and evaluate the predictive value of coagulopathy in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) METHODS: A retrospective study was performed by investigating the prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), plasma fibrinogen (FIB), thrombin time (TT), platelets (PLT), and D-dimer in 385 patients with CAP, who were admitted to the Respiratory Medical Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University from June, 2010 to May, 2011. The differences of the aforementioned results in patients with different prognostic risks were compared and analyzed. The Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) was calculated to assess the severity. RESULTS: The serum levels of PT, TT and D-dimer in high-risk patients with CAP were (15.1 ± 1.4) s, (16.0 ± 1.8) s, (7.5 ± 8.3) mg/L, respectively. They were all increased compared with those in the low-risk group (14.5 ± 0.9) s, (15.4 ± 1.2) s, (1.6 ± 2.0) mg/L]; the differences being statistically significant (P < 0.001), while PLT, APTT, and FIB were not statistically different (P > 0.05). The difference of the abnormal rate of PLT, PT, and D-dimer in high-risk group and the low-risk group were 30% (45/148) and 20% (47/237), 18% (26/148) and 5% (13/237), 99% (146/148) and 85% (202/237), respectively, the differences being statistically significant (χ² value were 5.602, 14.609, 23.442, respectively, P < 0.05), while TT, APTT, FIB were not (P > 0.05). Rank correlation existed between D-dimer and PSI (r = 0.798, P < 0.001), while there was no correlation between PLT and PSI (χ² = 6.040, P > 0.05). D-dimer in patients with respiratory failure was (10.0 ± 9.9) mg/L, which was significantly increased compared with that in patients without respiratory failure (2.4 ± 3.6) mg/L, P < 0.001, and there was no significant difference in PLT (χ² = 3.457, P > 0.05). D-dimer was significantly higher in patients who died of pneumonia as compared to those who survived [(14.0 ± 8.8) mg/L, (2.8 ± 4.6) mg/L, P < 0.001], and there was a significant difference in PLT (χ² = 4.909, P < 0.05). The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) of D-dimer, PSI and PLT were 0.962, 0.906, 0.583, respectively. Concerning the predictive value of mortality, both D-dimer and PSI showed ideal predictive accuracy (P < 0.001). The sensitivity of D-dimer was superior to its specificity. PLT showed poor predictive value for mortality. CONCLUSIONS: D-dimer was significantly higher in patients with CAP. D-dimer level was positively correlated with severity and mortality. D-dimer could be a good biomarker to assess the severity and mortality of patients with CAP.
