Dynamic profile and clinical implications of hematological parameters in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019.

Objectives As people across the world suffer from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), further studies are needed to facilitate evaluating the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 patients. In the study, we aimed to dissect the dynamic profile and clinical implications of hematological findings in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the hematological findings of 72 patients with COVID-19 admitted from January 21 to February 17, 2020. The final date of follow-up was March 20, 2020. Dynamic profile of vital hematological parameters in severe and non-severe patients was presented at different time points (day 1, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 after admission), and the correlation of hematological parameters with hospitalization time was indicated. Results Of 72 patients with COVID-19, lymphopenia and leukopenia occurred in 39 (54.2%) and 20 (27.8%) patients with COVID-19, respectively. Fifteen (20.8%) patients were defined as severe cases and 57 (79.2%) were non-severe cases. Compared to non-severe patients, leukocyte count, neutrophil count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were significantly higher, whereas lymphocyte count was declined in severe patients at each time point. A growing trend in platelet count was found in non-severe patients over the follow-up period. In addition, a positive correlation of NLR with hospitalization time was detected from day 5 after admission. Conclusions Dynamic changes in vital hematological parameters from severe and non-severe patients had been characterized in the course of hospitalization. During hospitalization, NLR was found to have certain relevance to the hospitalization days and a role in forecasting disease prognosis for patients with COVID-19.

Decreased mitochondrial DNA copy number in children with cerebral palsy quantified by droplet digital PCR.

BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial DNA copy number is a potential biomarker for mitochondrial dysfunction and is involved in a variety of disease states including autism, neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injury, but few studies on mitochondrial DNA copy number in cerebral palsy have been reported. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the role of mitochondrial DNA copy number in children with cerebral palsy. METHODS: A total of 104 children with cerebral palsy and 78 typically developing children were enrolled in this study. All children with cerebral palsy were diagnosed according to clinical criteria and furtherly divided into clinical subtypes. Mitochondrial DNA copy number was quantified by droplet digital PCR. RESULTS: We observed a significant reduction in mitochondrial DNA copy number from children with cerebral palsy comparing to healthy controls (216.76 ± 71.39 vs 359.66 ± 72.78, p < 0.001). An upward trend in mitochondrial DNA copy number alteration with the increase of age was found in healthy controls rather than in children with cerebral palsy. In addition, the mitochondrial DNA copy number in children with spastic hemiplegia was higher than that in children with spastic quadriplegia (152.27 ± 49.78 vs 90.64 ± 21.55, p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that on the basis of accurate quantification by droplet digital PCR, the declined mitochondrial DNA copy number probably has certain implications for mitochondrial dysfunction in children with cerebral palsy, which provides a new clue for the investigation on the molecular mechanism and clinical characteristics of cerebral palsy.