Efficacy and safety of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) antibodies in COVID-19 patients: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the efficacy and safety of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) antibodies in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: We searched Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases until July 27, 2022. Both randomized control trials (RCTs) and cohort studies were included and analyzed separately. The outcomes included mortality, incidence of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), ventilation improvement rate (need oxygen therapy to without oxygen therapy), secondary infection, and adverse events (AEs). The odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated by a random-effects meta-analysis model. RESULTS: Five RCTs and 2 cohort studies with 1726 COVID-19 patients were recruited (n = 866 in the GM-CSF antibody group and n = 891 in the control group). GM-CSF antibodies treatment reduced the incidence of IMV, which was supported by two cohort studies (OR 0.16; 95% CI 0.03, 0.74) and three RCTs (OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.41, 0.94). GM-CSF antibodies resulted in slight but not significant reductions in mortality (based on two cohort studies and five RCTs) and ventilation improvement (based on one cohort study and two RCTs). The sensitive analysis further showed the results of mortality and ventilation improvement rate became statistically significant when one included study was removed. Besides, GM-CSF antibodies did not increase the risks of the second infection (based on one cohort study and five RCTs) and AEs (based on five RCTs). CONCLUSION: GM-CSF antibody treatments may be an efficacious and well-tolerant way for the treatment of COVID-19. Further clinical evidence is still warranted.

Metabolic profiles in plasma of patients with herpes labialis based on GC-MS.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to compare the plasma metabolic profiles of patients with herpes labialis with healthy controls and identify the biomarkers of herpes labialis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We collected 18 patients with herpes labialis and 20 healthy individuals. Plasma samples from both groups were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). RESULTS: According to the principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), we found that metabolic profiles had changed in patients with herpes labialis compared to the controls. By further selecting the different metabolites according to the variable importance in the projection (VIP) and p valve of t-tests, we found that acetic acid, pyroglutamic acid, alanine, ethanedioic acid, cyclohexaneacetic acid, pyruvic acid, d-mannose, phosphoric acid, l-amphetamine, and citric acid were decreased in patients with herpes labialis, while sedoheptulose and ethylamine were increased. Pathway analysis showed that herpes labialis may affect the amino acid and energy metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings may contribute to elucidating the metabolic basis of herpes labialis and provide a new perspective for further research on the "Shang-Huo" state in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

A meta-analysis of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) antibody treatment for COVID-19 patients.

OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis aims to assess the efficacy and safety of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) antibodies on COVID-19. METHODS: Relevant literatures about GM-CSF antibody treatment in COVID-19 patients were searched from the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Google scholar, and Baiduscholar databases from the COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019 until 1 January 2021. The primary outcomes included the death, intensive care unit (ICU) admission risk, ventilation requirement, and secondary infection. RESULTS: A total of 12 eligible literature involving 8979 COVID-19 patients were recruited, and they were divided into experimental group (n = 2673) and control group (n = 6306). Using a random-effect model, it is found that the GM-CSF antibody treatment was associated with a 23% decline of the risk of death [odd's ratio (OR): 0.34, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.21-0.56, p < 0.0001] and a 20% enhancement of ventilation (OR: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.19, 1.80, p = 0.0002). GM-CSF antibody treatment did not have a significant correlation to secondary infection and increased risk of ICU admission in COVID-19 patients, which may be attributed to the older age and the length of stay. CONCLUSIONS: Severe COVID-19 patients can benefit from GM-CSF antibodies.

1-Ethyl-3-(2,4,6-trimethyl-phen-yl)imidazolium tetra-fluoro-borate.

The title compound, C(14)H(19)N(2) (+)·BF(4) (-), was obtained by reaction of 1-ethyl-3-(2,4,6-trimethyl-phen-yl)imidazolium tetra-fluoro-borate with sodium tetra-fluoro-borate. The imidazole ring makes a dihedral angle of 78.92 (13)° with the benzene ring.

[1,1'-Bis(diphenyl-phosphino)cobalto-cenium-κP,P']dichloridoplatinum(II) hexa-fluorido-phosphate.

The title bimetallic compound, [PtCl(2){Co(C(17)H(14)P)(2)}]PF(6), was obtained by reaction of 1,1'-bis-(diphenyl-phosphino)cobalto-cenium hexa-fluorido-phosphate with bis-(acetonitrile)di-chloridoplatinum. The Pt(II) ion is four-coordinated in a slightly distorted square-planar environment by two P atoms of the 1,1'-bis-(diphenyl-phosphino)cobaltocenium moiety and two Cl atoms. In the crystal structure, mol-ecules are linked by weak C-H⋯F and C-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds.