Association of ABO blood group, Rh phenotype and MN blood group with susceptibility to COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have reported that the susceptibility to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is related to ABO blood group, but the relationship with Rh phenotype and MN blood group is unknown. China had adopted a strict control policy on COVID-19 until December 5, 2022, when local communities were liberalized. Therefore, we aimed to explore the correlation between ABO blood group, Rh phenotype, MN blood group and susceptibility to COVID-19 based on the time sequence of infection during the pandemic. METHODS: A total of 870 patients who were routinely hospitalized in Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Hospital from March 1, 2023 to March 31, 2023 were randomly selected to enroll in this study. Patients were divided into susceptible group and non-susceptible group, according to the time of their previous infection. The demographics and clinical information of the enrolled participants were collected from electronic medical records. The association of ABO blood group, Rh phenotype and MN blood group with susceptibility to COVID-19 was analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 650 cases (74.7%) had been infected with COVID-19, with 157 cases (18.0%) in the second week and 252 cases (29.0%) in the third week, reaching the peak of infection. Compared with the non-susceptible group, the susceptible group had no statistically significant differences in ABO blood group and Rh phenotype, but the proportion of N+ was higher (75.6% vs 68.9%, P = 0.030) and the proportion of MM was lower (24.4% vs 31.1%, P = 0.030). Consistent with this, ABO blood group and Rh phenotype were not significantly associated with susceptibility to COVID-19 (P>0.05), while N+ and MM were associated with susceptibility to COVID-19 (OR: 1.432, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.049, 1.954, P = 0.024; OR: 0.698, 95% CI: 0.512, 0.953, P = 0.024, respectively), after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, basic disease, and vaccination status in multivariate logistic regression analysis. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that ABO blood group and Rh phenotype may not be related to the susceptibility to COVID-19, but MN blood group may be associated with the susceptibility to COVID-19.

Pretreatment lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio as a prognostic factor and influence on dose-effect in fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for oligometastatic brain metastases in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Background: Studies on the prognostic factors for patients with brain oligo-metastasis treated with fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (FSRT) usually focus on the size of metastatic tumor and radiation dose. Some inflammatory indicators have predictive value in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with brain metastasis receiving stereotactic radiotherapy. However, the prognostic value of inflammatory indicators in NSCLC patients with brain oligo-metastasis treated with FSRT, and their effect on radiotherapy dose is unknown. Methods: A total of 95 advanced NSCLC patients with brain oligo-metastasis who had undergone FSRT treatment at Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Hospital between January 2015 and April 2022 were enrolled into the study. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR), lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR), tumor diameter and biologically effective dose (BED10) were analyzed using Chi-square test. Univariate and multivariate Cox regressions were used to identify predictors of survival. Results: Tumor diameter (< 2 cm), BED10 (≥ 48Gy) and LMR (≥ 4) were found to be independently associated with good intracranial local control survival (i-LCS) through multivariate analysis. The median i-LCS was longer in patients with 2 independent risk factors (tumor diameter ≥ 2 and LMR < 4) administered with BED10 > 53.6Gy compared with patients administered with BED10 ≤ 53.6Gy (20.7 months vs 12.0 months, P = 0.042). LMR ≥ 4 (P = 0.019) and positivity for driver gene mutations (P = 0.011) were independently associated with better overall survival (OS). Conclusions: LMR is an independent prognostic factor of i-LCS and OS in NSCLC patients with brain oligo-metastasis treated with FSRT. Patients with tumor diameter ≥ 2 and LMR < 4 should be treated with BED10 greater than 53.6Gy.

The influence of blood donation before pregnancy on neonatal birth weight.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of blood donation before pregnancy on neonatal birth weight. METHODS: A total of 14996 women with singleton pregnancies at full-term in Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Hospital and Ningbo Women's and Children's Hospital from November 2019 to November 2020 were enrolled in this study. Detailed records of whole blood donation before pregnancy were obtained through Alipay software. The records were classified into three groups: nondonors, low-frequency donors and high-frequency donors according to the total numbers of blood donations in the 3-year period before pregnancy. The demographics and clinical information of the enrolled participants and their fetuses were collected from electronic medical records (EMRs). The effect of blood donations in the 3-year period before pregnancy on neonatal birth weight was analyzed. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in neonatal birth weight among the three groups (P = 0.373). In line with this, there was no association between the number of blood donations in the 3-year period before pregnancy and neonatal birth weight (ß = 14.5; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -3.9, 31.4; P = 0.094) in the bootstrapped multivariate linear regression analysis models, adjusted for maternal age, number of pregnancies, number of deliveries, gestational age, mode of delivery, years of education and blood type in pregnant women. Compared to the nondonors, the risk of fetal macrosomia was higher in both low-frequency donors and all donors (OR: 1.539, 95% CI: 1.058, 2.134, P = 0.016; OR: 1.454, 95% CI: 1.033, 1.952, P = 0.021, respectively), in the bootstrapped binary logistic regression analysis models after adjusting for the variables mentioned above. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that maternal blood donation in the 3-year period before pregnancy may not lead to a reduction in neonatal birth weight, but may be associated with the incidence of fetal macrosomia.

[Preparation of 1 µm non-porous C18 silica gel stationary phase for chiral-pressurized capillary electrochromatography].

Non-porous C18 silica gel stationary phase (1 µm) was prepared and applied to chiral separation in pressurized capillary electrochromatography (pCEC) for the enantioseparation of various basic compounds. The non-porous silica particles (1 µm) were synthesized using modified St6ber method. C18 stationary phase (1 µm) was prepared by immobilization of chloro-dimethyl-octadecylsilane. Using carboxymethyl-ß-cyclodextrin (CM-ß-CD) as the chiral additive, the pCEC conditions including the content of acetonitrile (ACN), concentration of buffer, pH, the concentration of chiral additive and flow rate as well as applied voltage were investigated to obtain the optimal pCEC conditions for the separation of four basic chiral compounds. The column provided an efficiency of up to 190,000 plates/m. Bupropion hydrochloride, clenbuterol hydrochloride, metoprolol tartrate, and esmolol hydrochloride were baseline separated under the conditions of 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate buffer at pH 4. 0 with 20% (v/ v) acetonitrile, and 15 mmol/L CM-ß-CD as the chiral additive. The applied voltage was 2 kV and flow rate was 0.03 mL/min with splitting ratio of 300:1. The resolution were 1.55, 2.82, 1. 69, 1. 70 for bupropion hydrochloride, clenbuterol hydrochloride, metoprolol tartrate, esmolol hydrochloride, respectively. The C18 coverage was improved by repeating silylation method. The synthesized 1 µm C18 packings have better mechanical strength and longer service life because of the special, non-porous structure. The column used in pCEC mode showed better separation of the racemates and a higher rate compared with those used in the capillary liquid chromatography (cLC) mode. This study provided an alternative way for the method of pCEC enantioseparation with chiral additives in the mobile phase and demonstrated the feasibility of micron particle stationary phase in chiral separation.

[Preparation and evaluation of glutathione modified SiO2 @ Au as stationary phase in capillary liquid chromatography and pressurized capillary electrochromatography].

In order to improve the contents of -NH2 group on the surface of SiO2, polyethylenimine ( PEI) was introduced on the surface of SiO2 through Schiff Base reaction. Then self-assembled monolayer electroless plating (SAM-electroless plating) method was used to prepare SiO2 @ Au core-shell particles. During this process, two factors were discussed. They were the reaction pH in the SiO2 @ Au seed forming phase and the reaction volume of formaldehyde in the SiO2 @ Au seed growth phase. The scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) showed the coverage of Au was high and the dispersity was uniform after the optimizations. As we know, Au can coordinate with -SH group easily, so glutathione (GSH) can be bound on the surface of Au. In this study, GSH was bound on the surface of Au through the optimization of the reaction pH. The Fourier transform infrared spectrum showed that the GSH was bound on the surface of Au successfully at pH 3. At last, this packing material was packed into capillary column by slurry packing method to prepare SiO2 @ Au-GSH capillary columns, and the capillary liquid chromatography (cLC) mode was used to certify the hydrophilic property of this kind of column. In addition, this kind of column was certified to have a good separation ability of polar compounds in pressurized capillary electrochromatography (pCEC) mode.