Serum level of testosterone predicts disease severity of male COVID-19 patients and is related to T-cell immune modulation by transcriptome analysis.

BACKGROUND: Severe disease of COVID-19 and mortality occur more frequently in male patients than that in female patients may be related to testosterone level. However, the diagnostic value of changes in the level of testosterone in predicting severe disease of male COVID-19 patients has not been determined yet. METHODS: Sixty-one male COVID-19 patients admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine were enrolled. Serum samples at different stages of the patients after admission were collected and testosterone levels were detected to analyze the correlation between testosterone level and disease severity. Transcriptome analysis of PBMC was performed in 34 patients. RESULTS: Testosterone levels at admission in male non-ICU COVID-19 patients (3.7 nmol/L, IQR: 1.5 âˆ¼ 4.7) were significantly lower than those in male ICU COVID-19 patients (6.7 nmol/L, IQR: 4.2 âˆ¼ 8.7). Testosterone levels in the non-ICU group increased gradually during the progression of the disease, while those in the ICU group remained low. In addition, testosterone level of enrolled patients in the second week after onset was significantly correlated with the severity of pneumonia, and ROC curve showed that testosterone level in the second week after onset was highly effective in predicting the severity of COVID-19. Transcriptome studies have found that testosterone levels of COVID-19 patients were associated with immune response, including T cell activation and regulation of lymphocyte activation. In addition, CD28 and Inositol Polyphosphate-4-Phosphatase Type II B (INPP4B) were found positively correlated with testosterone. CONCLUSIONS: Serum testosterone is an independent risk factor for predicting the severity of COVID-19 in male patients, and the level of serum testosterone in the second week after onset is valuable for evaluating the severity of COVID-19. Testosterone level is associated with T cell immune activation. The monitoring of serum testosterone should be highlighted in clinical treatment and the related mechanism should be further studied.

Clinical features and microbiological characteristics of hospital- and community-onset Escherichia coli bloodstream infection.

PURPOSE: Escherichia coli is a leading cause of bloodstream infection (BSI) in hospitals and communities. METHODOLOGY: We conducted a retrospective study in 2015 to evaluate the clinical features and microbiological characteristics of E. coli BSI acquired in the hospital and community. RESULTS: A total of 100 patients with E. coli BSI were enrolled, among whom 60 % had hospital-onset (HO) BSI while 40 % had community-onset (CO) BSI. Patients with HO BSI had higher percentages of haematological disorders, immunosuppression conditions, underwent surgery within 2 weeks and had a higher 30-day mortality. The prevalences of multidrug-resistant and extended-spectrum ß-lactamase-producing strains were 81 and 60 %, respectively. Resistance percentages to ampicillin, ampicillin-sulbactam, cefazolin, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin were greater than 50 %. Of the 43 different sequence types (STs) identified, ST131 (15.3 %) was the most common. The serum agglutination rate was 52 % in which 13 O and 11 H serogroups were observed. Among the 36 detected virulence factor (VF) genes, IutA (66 %) and traT (61 %) were the most predominant. papA, papC and papEF were different between the CO and HO BSI groups. VF scores were high (mean >7) in the frequently detected ST95, ST1193 and ST131. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that the clinical features of HO and CO E. coli BSI were different. STs and serotypes showed a great diversity in this region while VF genes of the isolates varied between clones.