Efficacy and safety of Jinhua Qinggan granules in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate, using meta-analysis, the efficacy and safety profile of Jinhua Qinggan granules (JHQG) in the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia. METHODS: We screened multiple publication databases (PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang, and VIP), using parameters designed to identify articles detailing randomized controlled trials relating to the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia with JHQG. The inclusion period for each search was the point of database inception to November 2022. Each piece of literature identified in our initial screening was independently reviewed by 2 researchers, who extracted the relevant data and evaluated the bias risk associated with the study. The data was split in 2: the control group (containing patients who had received routine treatment or placebo) and the experimental group (containing patients treated with JHQG). The meta-analysis was performed using Revman 5.4 software. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach. RESULTS: Four articles were selected for this study and combined included a total of 582 patients, which were subdivided into experimental (n = 347) and control (n = 235) groups. The results showed that treatment with JHQG could significantly: enhance the improvement rate of primary symptoms [relative ratio (RR) = 1.26,95% confidence interval (CI) (1.07, 1.49), P = .007] and fever [RR = 1.48, 95% CI (1.07, 2.04), P = .02]; decrease the viral nucleic acid in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) [RR = 2.04, 95% CI (1.15, 3.62), P = .02] and reduce the progression of pneumonia [RR = 0.34, 95% CI (0.17, 0.67), P = .002]. However, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups with regards to: the improvement rate of cough, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, computed tomography, or frequency of adverse reactions. CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence indicates that JHQG is effective in treating COVID-19, increasing the rate of improvement for fever, increasing the negative rate of viral nucleic acid in patients with COVID-19 and reducing the aggravation rate of pneumonia. These conclusions need to be verified by further rigorous studies, as the existing results were limited by the number and quality of the included studies.

Save the giants: demand beyond production capacity of tantalum raw materials

Tantalum’s high melting point and ability to store and release electrical charges have attracted high-tech companies since its usage in capacitors began in the 1930s. During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, daily life relied on electronic equipment, resulting in a surge in demand for electronic and communication gadgets, which could necessitate many tantalum raw materials and an assured supply chain. Despite tantalum’s high demand from electronic manufacturers, 5G network systems and electric vehicles are currently added to the tantalum consumer list. The authors have examined three interconnected issues linked to tantalum supply interruption, which has resulted in a growing tantalum scarcity: (1) rising demand for tantalum ores and high-tech equipment while mining activities are in decline owing to the COVID-19 pandemic;(2) tantalum ore price volatility constrains the ore supply chain;(3) the challenge of pandemics that shrink mining activities and handicap supply chain. To address the issue of supply shortage in the long-term, the authors suggest that the concerned parties may adopt new norms of reliable, stable, and transparent supply channels instead of relying on an old uncertain and volatile supply system. The authors also suggest the transformation of central African artisanal and small-scale mining (mainly in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) into a modern mining system with a new supply channel that can resist existing and future disruptions.

Identification of a novel coronavirus causing severe pneumonia in human: a descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Human infections with zoonotic coronaviruses (CoVs), including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, have raised great public health concern globally. Here, we report a novel bat-origin CoV causing severe and fatal pneumonia in humans. METHODS: We collected clinical data and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens from five patients with severe pneumonia from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Hubei province, China. Nucleic acids of the BAL were extracted and subjected to next-generation sequencing. Virus isolation was carried out, and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed. RESULTS: Five patients hospitalized from December 18 to December 29, 2019 presented with fever, cough, and dyspnea accompanied by complications of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Chest radiography revealed diffuse opacities and consolidation. One of these patients died. Sequence results revealed the presence of a previously unknown ß-CoV strain in all five patients, with 99.8% to 99.9% nucleotide identities among the isolates. These isolates showed 79.0% nucleotide identity with the sequence of SARS-CoV (GenBank NC_004718) and 51.8% identity with the sequence of MERS-CoV (GenBank NC_019843). The virus is phylogenetically closest to a bat SARS-like CoV (SL-ZC45, GenBank MG772933) with 87.6% to 87.7% nucleotide identity, but is in a separate clade. Moreover, these viruses have a single intact open reading frame gene 8, as a further indicator of bat-origin CoVs. However, the amino acid sequence of the tentative receptor-binding domain resembles that of SARS-CoV, indicating that these viruses might use the same receptor. CONCLUSION: A novel bat-borne CoV was identified that is associated with severe and fatal respiratory disease in humans.

Inflammatory activation and immune cell infiltration are main biological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infected myocardium.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) can target cardiomyocytes (CMs) to directly invade the heart resulting in high mortality. This study aims to explore the biological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infected myocardium based on omics by collecting transcriptome data and analyzing them with a series of bioinformatics tools. Totally, 86 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were discovered in SARS-CoV-2 infected CMs, and 15 miRNAs were discovered to target 60 genes. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that these DEGs were mainly enriched in the inflammatory signaling pathway. After the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed, several genes including CCL2 and CXCL8 were regarded as the hub genes. SRC inhibitor saracatinib was predicted to potentially act against the cardiac dysfunction induced by SARS-CoV-2. Among the 86 DEGs, 28 were validated to be dysregulated in SARS-CoV-2 infected hearts. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) analysis of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) showed that malaria, IL-17 signaling pathway, and complement and coagulation cascades were significantly enriched. Immune infiltration analysis indicated that 'naive B cells' was significantly increased in the SARS-CoV-2 infected heart. The above results may help to improve the prognosis of patients with COVID-19.

Metatranscriptomic Characterization of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Identified a Host Transcriptional Classifier Associated With Immune Signaling.

BACKGROUND: The recent identification of a novel coronavirus, also known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has caused a global outbreak of respiratory illnesses. The rapidly developing pandemic has posed great challenges to diagnosis of this novel infection. However, little is known about the metatranscriptomic characteristics of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: We analyzed metatranscriptomics in 187 patients (62 cases with COVID-19 and 125 with non-COVID-19 pneumonia). Transcriptional aspects of 3 core elements, pathogens, the microbiome, and host responses, were evaluated. Based on the host transcriptional signature, we built a host gene classifier and examined its potential for diagnosing COVID-19 and indicating disease severity. RESULTS: The airway microbiome in COVID-19 patients had reduced alpha diversity, with 18 taxa of differential abundance. Potentially pathogenic microbes were also detected in 47% of the COVID-19 cases, 58% of which were respiratory viruses. Host gene analysis revealed a transcriptional signature of 36 differentially expressed genes significantly associated with immune pathways, such as cytokine signaling. The host gene classifier built on such a signature exhibited the potential for diagnosing COVID-19 (area under the curve of 0.75-0.89) and indicating disease severity. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with those with non-COVID-19 pneumonias, COVID-19 patients appeared to have a more disrupted airway microbiome with frequent potential concurrent infections and a special trigger host immune response in certain pathways, such as interferon-gamma signaling. The immune-associated host transcriptional signatures of COVID-19 hold promise as a tool for improving COVID-19 diagnosis and indicating disease severity.

CMTM3 overexpression promotes cell apoptosis while DHT promotes cell proliferation in hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs).

In Yangtze River Delta white goat, hypermethylation of CMTM3 leads to a decreased expression level in high quality brush hair. However, the regulation of CMTM3 expression and its function in hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) remains largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the regulation of CMTM3 expression, function, and molecular mechanism in HFSCs. The re-expression of CMTM3 significantly suppressed the proliferation of HFSCs by inducing G1 cell cycle arrest and promoting apoptosis. Moreover, the downregulation of CMTM3 promoted HFSC proliferation. Treatment with sh_CMTM3 and incubation in a DHT culture medium had the most significant growth-promoting effect. It was hypothesized that transcriptome analysis using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) in samples would enable the identification of unique protein-coding and non-coding genes that may help uncover the role of CMTM3. Multiple genes and pathways were involved in this process, including 168 common DEGs, such as CXCL8 and E-selectin, which is reportedly involved in multiple regulatory pathways. These results indicated that CMTM3 can function as HFSCs through the induction of a G1 cell cycle arrest and promoted apoptosis by mediating crosstalk between several pathways and transcription factors. Our data is available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database with the accession number PRJNA657430.

Development and evaluation of a rapid CRISPR-based diagnostic for COVID-19.

The recent outbreak of human infections caused by SARS-CoV-2, the third zoonotic coronavirus has raised great public health concern globally. Rapid and accurate diagnosis of this novel pathogen posts great challenges not only clinically but also technologically. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR) have been the most commonly used molecular methodologies. However, each has their own limitations. In this study, we developed an isothermal, CRISPR-based diagnostic for COVID-19 with near single-copy sensitivity. The diagnostic performances of all three technology platforms were also compared. Our study aimed to provide more insights into the molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2, and also to present a novel diagnostic option for this new emerging virus.

Co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A Virus in Patient with Pneumonia, China.

We report co-infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and influenza A virus in a patient with pneumonia in China. The case highlights possible co-detection of known respiratory viruses. We noted low sensitivity of upper respiratory specimens for SARS-CoV-2, which could further complicate recognition of the full extent of disease.