Hypertension as an independent risk factor for severity and mortality in patients with COVID-19: a retrospective study.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Hypertension is one of the most common comorbidities in COVID-19 pneumonia. However, whether it is an independent factor on the severity and mortality of COVID-19 has not been studied. STUDY DESIGN: In this study, 736 patients with a PCR-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 were included from 12 January 2020 to 25 March 2020. All patients were divided into two groups according to whether or not they were hypertensive. After propensity score matching (PSM) to remove the interference of mismatches in the baseline data, the clinical characteristics and outcomes of angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB)/ACE inhibitors application were analysed. RESULTS: A total of 220 (29.9%) patients were hypertensive, and 516 (70.1%) patients were not hypertensive. PSM eliminated demographic and comorbidity differences between the two groups. Of all participants, 32 patients died (4.3% mortality), including 17 out of 220 in the hypertension group (7.7%) and 15 out of 516 in the non-hypertension group (2.9%). The incidence of intensive care unit (ICU) stay in the hypertension group (12.8%) was higher than in the non-hypertension group (5.3%) (p<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that hypertension was an independent risk factor for death, not other comorbidities. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that mortality was higher in the hypertension group than in the non-hypertension group before and after PSM (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in ICU therapy, mortality and hospitalisation time between hypertensive patients with or without ARBs/ACE inhibitors (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Hypertension was an independent risk factor for the severity and mortality of patients with COVID-19. ARBs/ACE inhibitors should not be discontinued in hypertensive patients with COVID-19.

Turning waste into wealth: nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots derived from fruits wastes for sensing.

Hydrothermal treatment of m-phenylenediamine and grape seed powder has been adopted to synthesize nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs). The prepared N-CQDs possessed outstanding optical properties and high quantum yield. Based on the combined effect of static quenching effect and inner filter effect of permanganate (MnO4 - ) to N-CQDs and the redox reaction that occurred between MnO4 - and l-ascorbic acid (l-AA), an 'off-on' fluorescence strategy with N-CQDs has been proposed for the detection of MnO4 - and l-AA. The proposed fluorescent probe was fast, sensitive and selective to MnO4 - and l-AA under mild conditions. In addition, the satisfactory results of the proposed strategy for the detection of MnO4 - and l-AA in real samples indicated its practicability.

Potential role of Chinese medicine nanoparticles to treat coronary artery disease.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death worldwide, while conventional treatments such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) have limitations. This review aims to explore the potential of nanoparticles loaded with Chinese medicine in the treatment of CAD. We conducted a comprehensive literature search to summarize the characteristics of nanovehicle systems, targeting strategies, and administration methods of various nanoparticles containing Chinese medicine for CAD treatment. Nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems, capable of delivering Chinese medicine, offer several advantages, including high targeting efficiency, prolonged half-life, and low systemic toxicity, making them promising for CAD treatment. Overall, nanoparticles containing Chinese medicine present a promising approach for the treatment of CAD.

Robust Mesoporous Functional Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Framework for Hypochlorite Detection.

Although tremendous progress has been achieved in the field of hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs), the low stability, small/none pores, and difficult functionality severely obstruct their development. Herein, a novel robust mesoporous HOF (HOF-FAFU-1) decorated with a high density of free hydroxy moieties has been designed and readily synthesized in the de novo synthesis. In HOF-FAFU-1, the planar building blocks are connected to each other by typical intermolecular carboxylate dimers to form two-dimensional (2D) layers with sql topology, which are further connected to their adjacent layers by face-to-face π-π interactions to obtain a three-dimensional (3D) open mesoporous framework. Owing to the high density of intermolecular hydrogen bonding and strong π-π interactions, HOF-FAFU-1 is very stable, allowing it to retain its structure in aqueous solutions with a pH range of 1-9. Benefiting from the decorated hydroxy moieties, HOF-FAFU-1 was exploited as a fluorescent sensor for hypochlorite detection in water media by a turn-off mode, which cannot be realized by its nonhydroxy groups anchoring counterpart (HOF-TCBP). The proposed sensing system is highly efficient, validated by a very broad linear range (0-0.45 mM), fast response (15 s), and small limit of detection (LOD) (1.32 µM). The fluorescent quenching of HOF-FAFU-1 toward hypochlorite was also investigated, mainly being ascribed to the transformation of building blocks from the fluorescent reduced state to the nonfluorescent oxidative state. This work not only demonstrates that HOFs integrated with high stability and large pores as well as high density of functional groups can be simultaneously realized by judicious design of building blocks but also conceptually elucidates that such HOFs can effectively extend the application fields of HOFs.