Anxiety and depressive symptoms among COVID-19 patients in Jianghan Fangcang Shelter Hospital in Wuhan, China.

Fangcang shelter hospitals were established in China during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as a countermeasure to stop the spread of the disease. To our knowledge, no research has been conducted on mental health problems among patients in Fangcang shelter hospitals. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and major influencing factors of anxiety and depressive symptoms among COVID-19 patients admitted to Fangcang shelter hospitals. From February 23, 2020, to February 26, 2020, we obtained sociodemographic and clinical characteristics information of COVID-19 patients in Jianghan Fangcang Shelter Hospital (Wuhan, China) and assessed their mental health status and sleep quality. Data were obtained with an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of a set of items on demographic characteristics, a set of items on clinical characteristics, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Self-Rating Depression Scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Three hundred seven COVID-19 patients who were admitted to Jianghan Fangcang Shelter Hospital participated in this study. The prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms were 18.6% and 13.4%, respectively. Poor sleep quality and having ≥ two current physical symptoms were independent risk factors for anxiety symptoms. Female sex, having a family member with confirmed COVID-19, and having ≥ two current physical symptoms were independent risk factors for depressive symptoms. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were found to be common among COVID-19 patients in Fangcang Shelter Hospital, with some patients being at high risk.

Quantitative analysis of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography in acute radiation-induced liver injury: An animal model.

The aim of the present study was to examine and assess contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the early diagnosis of acute radiation-induced liver injury in a rat model. Sixty female rats were used, with 50 rats being utilized to produce an animal model of liver injury with a single dose of stereotactic X-ray irradiation of 20 Gy. Ten rats from the injury group and 2 rats from the control group were randomly selected on days 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28, and examined by contrast-enhanced ultrasound and histopathology of liver specimens. The rats were divided into four groups: the normal control group, mild, moderate, and severe radioactive liver injury groups based on the histopathological examination results. Hepatic artery arriving time (HAAT) and hepatic vein arriving time (HVAT) were recorded, and hepatic artery to vein transit time (HA-HVTT) was calculated. The time-intensity curve of liver parenchyma, the time to peak (TTP) and peak intensity (PI) were also obtained. Significant differences were observed between liver injury and control groups for PI and HA-HVTT (P<0.05). PI and HA-HVTT were shorter in the severe liver injury group compared to the mild and moderate liver injury groups (P<0.05). Compared to the control group, higher TTP was recorded in all the liver injury groups (P<0.05), and the highest TTP level was observed in the severe liver injury group compared to the mild or moderate group (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was observed between the mild and moderate groups for PI, HA-HVTT and TTP. In conclusion, the results showed that contrast-enhanced ultrasonography is useful for an earlier diagnosis in a rat model of acute radiation-induced liver injury.

[Differential expression in ACE2, Ang(1-7) and Mas receptor during progression of liver fibrosis in a rat model].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes in expression of the ACE2/Ang(1-7)/Mas receptor axis' components that occur during progression of liver fibrosis using a rat model system. METHODS: Thirty-six adult male Wistar rats, were randomly assigned to groups of normal control (n = 6; no manipulation) and liver fibrosis (n = 30; given a subcutaneous injection of 40% chronic carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)). At post-injection days 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75, 1 control rat and 6 modeled rats were sacrificed for analysis. Histopathological analysis of liver tissue was performed with hematoxylin-eosin and rapid Masson staining. Protein expression level of Ang(1-7) was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and of ACE2 and Mas receptor was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Real-time PCR was used to measure the mRNA expression levels of ACE2 and Mas receptor. RESULTS: The expression levels of ACE2, Ang(1-7) and Mas receptor showed a statistically significant upward trend that followed the progression of fibrosis up to post-injection day 60 (P less than 0.01), but the significant increase was not seen from day 60 to day 75. CONCLUSION: Each component of the ACE2/Ang(1-7)/Mas receptor axis shows differential expression during the development of liver fibrosis and may contribute to disease progression.

[Color Doppler in differential diagnosis of scrotal mass].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the differential diagnosis of scrotal mass with color Doppler ultrasound. METHODS: Retrospective analysis was made of 21 cases of scrotal mass confirmed both surgically and pathologically in our hospital. RESULTS: Eight of the total number were malignancy of the testis origin, accounting for 38.1% of whole study group and 13 were benign, accounting for 61.9%. Of the 13 benign cases, only 2 were of the testis origin (15.4%) while the other 11 (84.6%) were not. CONCLUSION: Color Doppler ultrasound plays an increasingly important role in the differential diagnosis of scrotal mass.

Involvement of caspase-3 activation in squamocin-induced apoptosis in leukemia cell line HL-60.

Annonaceous acetogenins have potent antitumor effect in vitro and in vivo. Squamocin is one of the annonaceous acetogenins and has been reported to have antiproliferative effect on cancer cells. Our results from this study showed that squamocin inhibited proliferation of HL-60 cells with IC50 value of 0.17 microg/ml and induced apoptosis of HL-60 cells. Investigation of the mechanism of squamocin-induced apoptosis revealed that treatment of HL-60 cells with squamocin resulted in extensive nuclear condensation. DNA fragmentation, cleavage of the death substrate poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and induction of caspase-3 activity. Pretreatment of HL-60 cells with caspase-3 specific inhibitor DEVD-CHO prevented squamocin-induced DNA fragmentation, PARP cleavage and cell death. The expression levels of protein bcl-2, bax have no change in response to squamocin treatment in HL-60 cells, whereas stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK/JNK) was activated after treatment with squamocin in HL-60 cells. These results suggest that apoptosis of HL-60 cells induced by squamocin requires caspase-3 activation and is related to SAPK activation.