Clinical characteristics and plasma antibody titer of patients with COVID-19 in Zhejiang, China.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which first affected humans in China on December 31, 2019 (Shi et al., 2020). Coronaviruses generally cause mild, self-limiting upper respiratory tract infections in humans, such as the common cold, pneumonia, and gastroenteritis (To et al., 2013; Berry et al., 2015; Chan et al., 2015). According to the Report of the World Health Organization (WHO)-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 (WHO, 2020), the case fatality rate of COVID-19 increases with age, while the rate among males is higher than that among females (4.7% and 2.8%, respectively). Since an effective vaccine and specific anti-viral drugs are still under development, passive immunization using the convalescent plasma (CP) of recovered COVID-19 donors may offer a suitable therapeutic strategy for severely ill patients in the meantime. So far, several studies have shown therapeutic efficacy of CP transfusion in treating COVID-19 cases. A pilot study first reported that transfusion of CP with neutralizing antibody titers above 1:640 was well tolerated and could potentially improve clinical outcomes through neutralizing viremia in severe COVID-19 cases (Chen et al., 2020). Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM are the most abundant and important antibodies in protecting the human body from viral attack (Arabi et al., 2015; Marano et al., 2016). Our study aimed to understand the aspects of plasma antibody titer levels in convalescent patients, as well as assessing the clinical characteristics of normal, severely ill, and critically ill patients, and thus provide a basis for guiding CP therapy. We also hoped to find indicators which could serve as a reference in predicting the progression of the disease.

[Protective effect of Ginseng Guipi Pill on liver injury in rats with spleen failing to control blood syndrome and its mechanism].

Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effect of Ginseng Guipi pill on rats with spleen failing to control blood syndrome and its effect on liver. Methods: Forty SPF male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into normal control group (n=10) and experimental group (n=30). For the first 42 days, the experimental group swam for 30 minutes every day, eating for one day and fasting for two days (diet disorder). On the 43rd to 72nd day, the rats were injected with low-molecular-weight heparin calcium to induce hemorrhage on the basis of exhaustion of swimming and diet disorder to construct a rat model of spleen failing to control blood syndrome. Those thirty rat that successfully established the model were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=10), model control group (MD), natural rehabilitation group (NR) and Guipi Pill group (GP). On the 73rd to 103rd day, the MD group continued to apply factors (exhausted swimming, eating disorder, and injection of low-molecular-weight heparin calcium), the NR group and the GP group stopped applying the factors , the GP group was daily administered with Ginseng Guipi Pill solution (0.2 g/ml, 10 ml/(kg·d)) , and the NR group was given an equal dose of saline. After the 103 days, blood and liver samples were collected, and the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBil) and total protein (TP) content were detected, the number of red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB) content and hematocrit (HCT) were detected, the expressions of IL-6 and TNF-α in serum were determined by ELISA kit, the levels of apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase3 in liver tissue were detected by Western blot. The expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2, Bax and Caspase3 mRNA in liver tissue were detected by real-time PCR. Results: Compared with the control group, the serum levels of ALT, AST and TBil in the model group were increased significantly, while the serum level of TP was reduced significantly (P＜0.01), the number of RBC, HGB content and HCT were decreased significantly (P＜0.01), the expressions of IL-6 and TNF-α in serum were increased (P＜0.05), the Bcl-2 protein and mRNA levels were reduced, Bax and Caspase3 protein and mRNA levels were increased significantly (P＜0.01); Compared with the model group, the serum levels of ALT, AST and TBil were significantly lower in the natural rehabilitation group and the Guipi Pill group, the level of TP was increased significantly (P＜0.01), the blood RBC, HGB and HCT were increased significantly (P＜ 0.01), the expressions of IL-6 and TNF-α were decreased (P＜0.05), the levels of Bcl-2 protein and mRNA were increased significantly, the Bax, Caspase3 protein and mRNA levels were decreased (P＜0.05); Compared with the natural rehabilitation group, the serum levels of ALT, AST and TBil were reduced , and the TP content was increased significantly in the Guipi Pill group (P＜ 0.01), the number of RBC was increased significantly in the Guipi Pill group (P＜0.05), the levels of Bcl-2 protein and mRNA were increased (P＜0.05),the level of Caspase3 protein was decreased (P＜0.05), the expression of Bax mRNA was reduced significantly (P＜0.05). Conclusion: Ginseng Guipi Pill has protective effect on liver injury in rats with spleen failing to control blood syndrome. The mechanism may be related to the inhibition the liver cell apoptosis and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

[Treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus with the stem and leaf of blacktartary buckwheat and its effects on the pancreas and spleen].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the therapeutic effects of the black buckwheat leaf (BBL) in type 2 diabetes mellitus mice and its effects on pancreas and spleen. METHODS: Forty male C57 / B16 mice (SPF) were randomly divided into normal control (NC) group (n=10) and the experimental group (n=30), the experimental group were fed with high sugar and high fat, combined with intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin in small dose to establish the model of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Those thirty model mice were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=10), diabetes mellitus group (DM), low dose of BBL (DM+L) treated group, high dose of BBL (DM+H) treated group. The mice in the NC group and the DM group were given normal saline per day, and the DM+L group and DM+H group were treated with black tartary buckwheat at the doses of 0.21g/kg·d-1 and 0.42g/kg·d-1 respectively. After 14 days. All mice were executed by cervical dislocation, then blood samples were collected, pancreas and spleen were removed for subsequent experiments. The serum levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TCH) and insulin were detected. TNF-α protein in spleen tissue was detected by ELISA kit. The morphology of pancreas tissue was observed by HE staining, and the spleen coefficient was calculated. The expression levels of insulin receptor substrate-1(IRS-1) mRNA and IRS-1 protein in pancreatic tissue were detected. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the serum levels of FBG, TC and TCH in the model group were increased significantly, while the serum level of insulin was decreased significantly (P＜0.05), the expression of TNF-α protein in spleen tissues was obviously raised, the expressions of IRS-1 mRNA and IRS-1 protein in pancreatic tissue in model group were decreased significantly (P＜0.05). Compared with the model group, the serum levels of FBG, TC and TCH were decreased significantly in the BBL treated groups. The serum insulin level, spleen coefficient, TNF-α protein expression level in spleen tissue, IRS-1 mRNA expression and IRS-1 protein expression levels in pancreatic tissue in BBL treated group were increased significantly (P＜ 0.05). High-dose black tartary buckwheat leaves (0.42g/kg·d-1) exerted a more significant effect. CONCLUSION: Stem and leaf of black bitter buckwheat has significant therapeutic effects on reducing blood sugar and blood fat in type 2 diabetic mice, and has certain protective effects on pancreas and spleen of diabetic mice.