Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine on COVID-19: Two Case Reports.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-infected pneumonia (novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia [NCIP]) is a new viral illness initially identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. According to the daily report on the epidemic situation of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China on March 23, 2020: COVID-19 is highly infectious, causing extremely high incidence of NCIP throughout Wuhan and has spread swiftly to 34 provinces within China and >100 other countries around the world between January and March 2020. Up to August 11, 2020, there have been 89,383 cases diagnosed as coronavirus-infected pneumonia; and 4,696 deaths in China (mortality rate of 5.25%) and worldwide reports have confirmed 19,936,210 cases and 732,499 deaths. These figures have been increasing daily. The treatment of viral conditions is well established within the context of Chinese Medicine. We report 2 successful cases in this study showing the patient's chest computed tomography scans and temperature charts made on before, during, and after treatment to demonstrate proof of the positive benefits achieved. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) demonstrates a positive effect in the treatment for COVID-19. It is highly recommended that TCM be incorporated early on in the treatment schedule for COVID-19.

Correction: LRP6 promotes invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer through cytoskeleton dynamics.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.22759.].

[Effects of water-fertilizer coupling on the yield of spring maize under shallow-buried drip irrigation in semi-arid region of western Liaoning Province]. / æµ åŸ‹æ»´çŒæ°´è‚¥è€¦åˆå¯¹è¾½è¥¿åŠå¹²æ—±åŒºæ˜¥çŽ‰ç±³äº§é‡çš„å½±å“.

To reveal the coupling effect of water and fertilizer on the yield of spring maize under shallow-buried drip irrigation in semi-arid area of western Liaoning, a field experiment was conducted with the quadratic regression orthogonal design of three factors (water, nitrogen and potassium) crossed with five levels in 2017-2018. A quadratic regression model was established with yield (Y) as the dependent variable and irrigation amount (W), nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) application amounts as independent variables to analyze the coupling relationships between Y and W, N and K, respectively. The results showed that the shallow-drip irrigation water-fertilizer coupling had significant impact on yield. The single factor of W, N and K promoted the yield, with their effects ranking as W>N>K. The effect of two-factor interaction on yield increased first and then decreased which ranked as WN>WK>NK. Considering the three-factor coupling effect on yield, the combination of abundant water, nitrogen and potassium was the highest, followed by high water, nitrogen and potassium, and low water, nitrogen and potassium the lowest. As the optimal treatments found by the model, we obtained the suitable water-fertilizer application range of shallow-buried drip irrigation with higher target yield of 8000-8810 kg·hm-2, that was, the irrigation amount was 43-61 mm, nitrogen 138-343 kg·hm-2 and potassium 79-163 kg·hm-2 under the ambient natural rainfall. The results provided a referable basis for application of water-fertilizer integrated cropping pattern under shallow-buried drip irrigation in semi-arid area of northern China.

[ADS-J1 antagonizes semen-derived enhancer of virus infection-mediated enhancement of transmitted founder HIV-1 and its matched chronic control strain infection].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of semen-derived enhancer of virus infection (SEVI) on the infection of transmitted/founder (TF) HIV-1 and its matched chronic control (CC) viruses and the antagonism of ADS-J1 on SEVI-mediated enhancement of TF and CC virus infection in vitro. METHODS: PAP248-286 self-assembling into SEVI amyloid fibrils was validated by ThT assay. We generated the virus stocks of TF and CC virus pair. TZM-bl cells were infected with the mixture of SEVI and TF or CC viruses for 72 h. Luciferase activity was used to observe the enhancement of SEVI. SEVI was treated with different concentrations of ADS-J1 and incubated with TF or CC viruses. TZM-bl cells were then infected with the mixture and luciferase activity was detected 72 h after infection to analyze the antagonism of ADS-J1 on the enhancing effect of SEVI. ADS-J1 was also incubated with TF and CC viruses directly and TZM-bl cells were infected for 72 h to evaluate the antiviral effect using luciferase assay. SEVI was treated with ADS-J1 and Zeta potential was determined to explore the antagonistic mechanism of ADS-J1. RESULTS: ThT assay showed that PAP248-286 was capable of self-assembly into SEVI amyloid fibrils. SEVI significantly accelerated TF and CC viruses infection (P<0.05), and ADS-J1 not only significantly antagonized the enhancement of SEVI (P<0.05) but also directly inhibited the infection of TF and CC viruses (P<0.05). ADS-J1 neutralized the positive charge of SEVI in a dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS: SEVI promotes the infection of TF and CC strains, and ADS-J1 antagonizes SEVI-mediated enhancement of TF and CC viruses by neutralizing the positive charge of SEVI.

LRP6 promotes invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer through cytoskeleton dynamics.

Low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-related protein-6 (LRP6) is an important co-receptor of Wnt pathway, which plays a predominant role in development and progression of colorectal cancer. Recently, dysregulation of LRP6 has proved to be involved in the progression of cancers, but its biological role and clinical significance in colorectal cancer remain unclear. In present study, we revealed that phosphorylation of LRP6 was aberrantly upregulated in colorectal carcinoma correlating with TNM or Dukes staging and worse prognosis. In addition, phosphorylated LRP6 was positively correlated with nuclear accumulation of ß-catenin. Overexpression or activation of LRP6 could activate Wnt signaling and promote tumor cell migration in vitro. The activation of LRP6 could induce microtubule dynamics and actin remodeling, probably through regulation of microtubule-associated protein 1B (MAP1B), microtubule actin cross-linking factor 1 (MACF1) and Rho GTPase--RhoA and Rac1. The investigation suggests that LRP6 may be a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target in the progression of colorectal cancers.

[Prokaryotic expression of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 and preparation of monoclonal antibodies].

OBJECTIVE: To express and purify the recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 mature peptide (rhBMP-2m) in prokaryotic system and to develop highly-specific monoclonal antibodies. METHODS: An engineered E. coli strain expressing rhBMP-2m was fermented. The bacterial cells were firstly lysed and then the rhBMP-2m inclusion bodies were isolated by centrifugation. After the inclusion bodies had been solubilized by high-concentration denaturing agents, denatured rhBMP-2m was purified by cation ion-exchange chromatography. Biologically active rhBMP-2m was obtained by refolding of purified denatured rhBMP-2m through direct dilution. The refolded rhBMP-2m was used to immunize Balb/c mice to develop anti-rhBMP-2m monoclonal antibodies using classic hybridoma technique. RESULTS: rhBMP-2m with a purity greater than 95% was obtained on reduced SDS-PAGE. The refolded rhBMP-2m was measured to be bioactive by the induction of alkaline phosphatase activity in MC3T3-E1 cells. Two hybridoma cell lines that stably secreted anti-rhBMP-2m antibody were developed from the immunized mice. CONCLUSION: Bioactive rhBMP-2m protein and its monoclonal antibodies were successfully prepared, which will provides a solid base for future studies on rhBMP-2.

[Effects of long-term fertilization on soil enzyme activities and soil physicochemical properties of facility vegetable field].

An investigation was made on a long-term fertilization facility vegetable field at Shenyang Agricultural University to study the effects of long-term fertilization on the soil enzyme activities and soil physicochemical properties. Long term application of organic manure combined with or without nitrogen fertilizer increased the contents of soil organic matter, N, P, and K, and improved the soil physical properties and soil invertase, urease, and neutral phosphatase activities. However, long-term application of nitrogen fertilizer alone decreased soil pH and soil enzymes activities. Significant positive correlations were observed between soil invertase activity and soil organic matter and total P, between soil urease activity and soil organic matter, alkali-hydrolyzable N, total and available P, and available K, and between soil neutral phosphatase activity and soil organic matter, total P, and available K, but less correlation was found between soil dehydrogenase activity and soil nutrients.