A Case of Nosocomial Coinfection of SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A Virus in a Hospitalized Patient with Acute Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND: Inpatients in cardiovascular medicine departments often have complicated conditions, long hospital stays, and a high risk of nosocomial infection. Good infection control is of great importance for the treatment and rehabilitation of inpatients in cardiovascular medicine departments. METHODS: We report a case of coinfection with the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and influenza A virus in a hospitalized patient with acute myocardial infarction. We used reverse transcription real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR to detect SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A virus and used the Ct value to represent the relative concentration of the above two viruses. RESULTS: The patient was tested for SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid and influenza A and B virus nucleic acid in the early stage of hospitalization, and the results were negative. On the 39th day of admission, the nucleic acid test result for SARS-CoV-2 was positive (ORF1ab gene, Ct value 24.63; N gene, Ct value 24.55); on the 48th day of admission, the nucleic acid test result for influenza A virus was positive (Ct value, 21.32), indicating hospital-acquired respiratory virus coinfection. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians should be highly cognizant that SARS-CoV-2 may become a new high-incidence pathogen of nosocomial infection. In-hospital monitoring of common respiratory viruses should be considered to detect infected patients early and prevent common respiratory viruses from spreading in hospitals.

Ni3Fe/BC nanocatalysts based on biomass charcoal self-reduction achieves excellent hydrogen storage performance of MgH2.

Bimetallic catalysts offer unique advantages for improving the hydrogen storage performance of MgH2. Herein, Ni3Fe/BC nanocatalysts were prepared via a simple solid phase reduction method using a low-cost biomass charcoal (BC) material as the carrier. The onset temperature of hydrogen release for the MgH2 + 10 wt% Ni3Fe/BC composite was 184.5 °C, which is 155.5 °C lower than that of pure MgH2. The dehydrogenated composite starts to absorb hydrogen at as low as 30 °C and is able to absorb 5.35 wt% of H2 within 10 min under 3 MPa hydrogen pressure at 150 °C. In comparison to pure MgH2, the apparent activation energies of dehydrogenation and rehydrogenation of MgH2 + 10 wt% Ni3Fe/BC were reduced by 52.89 kJ mol-1 and 23.28 kJ mol-1, respectively. The hydrogen storage capacity of the composite was maintained in 20 de/rehydrogenation cycles, indicating a good cycling stability. X-Ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) characterization reveal that the in situ formation of multiphases Mg2Ni and Fe catalysts during the hydrogen uptake and release reaction and the transformation of Mg2Ni/Mg2NiH4 together contribute to the superior hydrogen adsorption and desorption performance of MgH2.

Two Cases of Pseudoelevation of Plasma D-Dimer Levels.

BACKGROUND: D-dimer is a molecular marker of fibrin degradation and fibrinolytic system activation and is an effective indicator for early diagnosis of thrombotic diseases, monitoring of thrombolytic therapy, and efficacy evaluation; therefore, the accuracy of D-dimer test results is of great significance to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in clinical practice. METHODS: This paper reports two cases of pseudoelevation of plasma D-dimer levels by different test systems. RESULTS: In case 1, the abnormal increases in the results of the ACL TOP 700 analyzer were considered to be the pseudoelevation caused by interferences, and the abnormal increases in the STA-R Max results were considered to be the pseudoelevation caused by interferences in case 2. CONCLUSIONS: Laboratories should be equipped with two different brands of test systems and reagents to identify suspicious test results in a timely manner and avoid adverse events.

A microemulsion high-performance liquid chromatography (MELC) method for the separation and determination of hydrolyzed tenuifolin in Radix Polygalae.

Tenuifolin was used as a reliable chemical marker for the quality control of Radix Polygalae. The determination of tenuifolin is challenging because the analyte molecule lacks a suitable chromophore. The aim of this study was to establish a microemulsion high-performance liquid chromatography (MELC) method which is robust and sensitive, and can separate and determine tenuifolin in Radix Polygalae using an oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsion mobile phase. The separations were performed on a C18 (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 µm) column at 25 °C using a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, and an ultraviolet detection wavelength of 210 nm. The microemulsion mobile phase comprised 2.8% (w/v) sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), 7.0% (v/v) n-butanol, 0.8% (v/v) n-octane and 0.1% (v/v) aqueous orthophosphate buffer (H3PO4). The linearity analysis of tenuifolin showed a correlation coefficient of 0.9923 in the concentration range of 48.00-960.00 µg/mL. The accuracy of the method based on three concentration levels ranged from 96.23% to 99.28%; the limit of detection (LOD) was 2.34 µg/mL, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) was 6.76 µg/mL. The results of our study indicated that the optimized MELC method was sensitive and robust, and can be widely applied for the separation and determination of tenuifolin in Radix Polygalae.

Atorvastatin induces autophagy in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells.

This article explores the effects of atorvastatin on cultured breast cancer cells. Our experiment demonstrated that atorvastatin triggered autophagy and inhibited proliferation in breast cancer cells. A CCK8 assay indicated that atorvastatin can inhibit the activity of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Western blotting results showed that atorvastatin increased the conversion of light chain 3 (LC3)-I to LC3-phosphatidylethanolamine conjugate (LC3-II). Confocal microscopy was used to reveal the appearance of a punctate structure in the cytoplasm, and electron microscopy was used to reveal the formation of double-membrane autophagosome. In conclusion, our study showed that atorvastatin may affect MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells by inducing autophagy.

Clinical value of serum trophoblast cell surface protein 2 (TROP2) antibody in non-small-cell lung cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study was to explore the clinical role of serum trophoblast cell surface protein 2 (TROP2) antibody in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We collected serum specimens from 117 NSCLC patients, 40 benign lung disease patients, and 60 healthy controls. TROP2 antibody concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Serum TROP2 antibody levels were higher in the NSCLC group compared to the control group (p < 0.001). TROP2 antibody, at a cutoff value of 9.8 U/ml, showed good diagnostic performance for NSCLC. CONCLUSION: Measurement of TROP2 antibody might have diagnostic value for patients with NSCLC.

Ionic liquids: not only structurally but also dynamically heterogeneous.

In recent years, the complex and heterogeneous structure of ionic liquids has been demonstrated; however, the consequences on the dynamics have remained elusive. Here, we use femtosecond IR spectroscopy to elucidate the local structural dynamics in protic alkylammonium-based ionic liquids. The structural relaxation after an ultrafast temperature increase, following vibrational excitation and subsequent relaxation of the N-D (or N-H) stretching vibration, is found to vary substantially between the ionic and hydrophobic subdomains. The dynamics in the ionic domains are virtually unaffected by the alkyl chain length and is, therefore, decoupled from viscosity. Equilibration within the hydrophobic subdomains, as evident from the dynamics of the C-H stretching vibration, is faster than that in the ionic domains and shows a remarkably low thermal activation.

The effects of X-ray irradiation on the proliferation and apoptosis of MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

To investigate the effects of X-ray irradiation on the proliferation and apoptosis of MCF-7 breast cancer cells; MCF-7 breast cancer cells were irradiated with X-ray. After irradiation, morphological changes and growth inhibition rate of the irradiated cells were observed under an inverted microscope. 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay was used to assess the proliferation of the irradiated MCF-7 cells. Transmission electron microscope was used to observe the morphology and ultrastructure of the irradiated MCF-7 cells. Western blotting was used to analyze the expression level of apoptosis-related protein caspase-3. Our results showed, at 48 h after the irradiation (0 Gy and 8 Gy), cells oval in shape, cell shrinkage or swelling and partial formation of debris under inverted microscope; as well as cytoplasmic vacuolization or inspissation, increased electron density of cytoplasm, structural damage of organelles, blurred mitochondrial cristae and chromatin margination under transmission electron microscopy; the survival rate of MCF-7 cells in X-ray group was 17.3% lower than that in control group (0 Gy) (p < 0.001); while caspase-3 expression increased evidently in X-ray group compared with control group (0 Gy) (p < 0.05). In conclusion, X-ray irradiation can inhibit the proliferation of MCF-7 cells and induce apoptosis through increasing caspase-3 expression.

[Study on THz spectra and vibrational modes of benzoic acid and sodium Benzoate].

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy was employed to measure the terahertz absorption spectra of benzoic acid and sodium benzoate at room temperature. The origins of the measured features of benzoic acid were summarized based on previous study. Density functional theory was used to compute and analyze the molecular structure and vibrational modes of sodium benzoate in monomer. Based on the obtained results, the authors found that the THz spectral features can be used to distinguish benzoic acid and sodium benzoate totally; the essential reason for the THz spectral difference between benzoic acid and sodium benzoate is that the electrovalent bond of sodium benzoate affects the values of covalent bond lengths and bond angles, as well as the molecular interactions and arrangement in unit cell; the measured features of benzoic acid and sodium benzoate come from the collective vibrations except the peaks located at 107 cm-1 of benzoic acid and 54 cm-1 of sodium benzoate.

Combined measurement of CA 15-3 with novel autoantibodies improves diagnostic accuracy for breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: CA 15-3 is a traditional biomarker for advanced breast cancer with limited sensitivity for early stage patients. In order to increase the sensitivity for early detection, in this study, we introduced novel tumor-associated autoantibodies that were measured concurrently with serum CA 15-3 to evaluate their diagnostic advantage in breast cancer. METHODS: We investigated a T7 breast cancer complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) phage library for tumor-associated antigens using sera from normal and breast cancer patients. Identified novel tumor-associated antigens phage proteins were then used to develop enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to measure corresponding autoantibodies in 150 breast cancer, 150 normal, and 40 other cancer (non breast) patient serum samples. Meanwhile, the same samples were measured for CA 15-3 concentrations. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to evaluate the predictive accuracies of single markers as well as combined markers. RESULTS: Sequencing analysis revealed that two phage-expressed proteins were within the open reading frame and had significant homology to proteins heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins F (hnRNPF) and ferritin heavy chain (FTH1). Autoantibodies against hnRNPF and FTH1 alone were significantly higher in patients than in control serum samples (P < 0.01), and the area under the curve for hnRNPF and FTH1 alone was 0.73 and 0.69, respectively. However, when the two autoantibody biomarkers were analyzed in combination with serum CA 15-3 values, the area under the curve increased to 0.93, and the optimal sensitivity and specificity became 89.3% and 93.8%, respectively. Further messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) analysis showed that hnRNPF and FTH1 were significantly upregulated in tumor tissues. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that combined serologic biomarkers of tumor-associated antigens with autoantibodies may improve the diagnostic accuracy of breast cancer.

[Terahertz spectroscopy of DNA nucleobases: cytosine and thymine].

The absorption features of DNA nucleobases cytosine and thymine were measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) from 0.1 to 3.5 THz. Our experimental results clearly show that these important biomolecules exhibit distinctive absorption features in THz region. To the best of our knowledge, the subtle absorption peak of cytosine at 2.53 THz is reported for the first time. Moreover, geometry optimizations and lattice dynamic calculations on cytosine crystal were also performed with the pseudo-potential plane wave method of density functional theory by taking periodic boundary conditions into account. All measured terahertz absorption features of cytosine were assigned successfully and its absorption spectrum was reproduced according to our calculations. Furthermore, our results show that absorption features of cytosine below 3.5 THz arise from external modes in translation and rotation motions, which are dominated by the intermolecular hydrogen bonds.

First principles investigation of L-alanine in terahertz region.

Terahertz absorption spectrum (0.5-4.0 THz) of L-alanine in the solid phase was measured by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy at room temperature. Simulations utilizing gaseous-state and solid-state theory were performed to determine the origins of the observed vibrational features. Our calculations showed that the measured features in solid-state materials could be well understood by considering the crystal packing interactions in a solid-state density functional theory calculation. Furthermore, intermolecular vibrations of L-alanine are found to be the dominating contributions to these measured spectral features in the range of 0.5-4.0 THz, except that located at 3.11 THz.

[Clinical significance of detecting lymph node micrometastasis of colorectal cancer by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: It remains controversial whether lymph node micrometastasis has impact on staging and prognosis of colorectal cancer. This study was to compare the sensitivity of reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in detecting lymph node micrometastasis of colorectal cancer with pathological morphology and immunohistochemistry, and assess the impact of lymph node micrometastasis on clinical staging and prognosis of colorectal cancer. METHODS: Lymph nodes from 56 cases of colorectal cancer radical resection specimens were studied by RT-PCR to detect the expression of cytokeratin 20 (CK20) mRNA, and compared with routine pathology detection using hematoxylin and eosine (HE) staining, and immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibody specifically against CK20. The patients had been followed up for 5 years. RESULTS: A total of 432 lymph nodes in 56 patients were analysed by pathological morphology, immunohistochemistry, and RT-PCR, the detected positive lymph node numbers were 247 (57.2%), 269 (62.3%), and 316 (73.1%), respectively. The difference in metastatic lymph node numbers was significant between pathological morphology and RT-PCR method (P< 0.05). Five-year disease- free survival rates of PN0,PN1, and PN2 stages detected by RT-PCR method were 100%, 61.9%, and 55.6%, respectively, significantly higher than those obtained by pathological morphology method, which were 80.0%, 60.0%, and 50.0%, respectively (P< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Detecting lymph node micrometastasis of colorectal cancer with RT-PCR method is more sensitive than pathological morphology. RT-PCR method could define the TNM stage and make accurate prognosis for patients with colorectal cancer.

gamma-hydroxybutyrate protects the liver from warm ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat.

BACKGROUND: Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) syndrome remains an important clinical consideration in hepatic surgery, hemorrhagic shock, and liver transplantation. gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) has been reported to exert protective effects against ischemia-reperfusion injury to various organs. To investigate whether GHB protects the liver from warm ischemia-reperfusion injury, we performed this study in rats. METHODS: Thirty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into a sham-operation group, a control group,and three I/R groups pretreated with GHB, GHB plus naloxone or naloxone. After 30 minutes of partial ischemia, followed by 60 minutes of reperfusion in the liver, histomorphological and enzymological changes, lipid peroxidation, apoptosis, and the plasma level of endothelin-1 were observed. RESULTS: I/R increased the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase and the plasma level of endothelin-1 significantly (P<0.01), in addition to increase of apoptotic index (AI) from 0.28%+/-0.25% to 17.68%+/-1.91%. The levels of hepatic malondialdehyde were markedly increased, whereas the activities of superoxide dismutase were markedly decreased. GHB pretreatment prevented the liver from warm ischemia-reperfusion injury significantly, but naloxone partially blocked this effect. CONCLUSION: GHB may significantly protect the liver from hepatic warm ischemia-reperfusion injury via several different mechanisms.

[Mutant prevention concentrations of fluoroquinolones for Staphylococcus aureus].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a method to measure mutant prevention concentration (MPC) in vitro, and to measure MPC of fluoroquinolones for staphylococcus aureus. METHODS: The staphylococcus aureus strain ATCC25923 and 20 ciprofloxacin-susceptible clinical isolates were enriched in broth, and the bacterial concentrations were adjusted to 10(10) colony forming units per milliliter. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), MIC for 99% of input cells (MIC99), provisional MPC (MPCpr) and MPC of moxifloxacin, gatifloxacin, pasufloxacin and ciprofloxacin for staphylococcus aureus were determined by agar plates dilution method. RESULTS: The MPC of moxifloxacin, gatifloxacin, pasufloxacin and ciprofloxacin for staphylococcus aureus strain ATCC25923 were 0.18, 0.3, 0.75 and 1.8 microg/ml, and the MPC/MIC99 were 9.0, 7.5, 8.0 and 10.6 respectively. The MPC for 90% of the isolates (MPCpr90) of moxifloxacin, gatifloxacin, pasufloxacin and ciprofloxacin for 20 staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates were 1, 1, 4 and 8 microg/ml, and the MPCpr90/MIC90 were 8, 8, 16 and 16 respectively. CONCLUSION: The capacity of moxifloxacin and gatifloxacin for restricting the selection of staphylococcus aureus resistant mutants were stronger than that of pasufloxacin and ciprofloxacin. Combined with pharmacokinetic parameters, moxifloxacin and gatifloxacin may restrict the selective enrichment of resistant mutants among ciprofloxacin-susceptible staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates, and ciprofloxacin is expected to selectively enrich mutants easily.

Transforming growth factor-beta1 in invasion and metastasis in colorectal cancer.

AIM: To investigate the role of TGFbeta1 in invasion and metastasis in colorectal cancer by analysing TGFbeta1 correlated with depth of tumor invasion, stage and metastasis. METHODS: Serum TGFbeta1 levels were determined in 50 patients with colorectal cancer and 30 healthy volunteers using a TGFbeta1 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. TGFbeta1 expression in primary and lymph node metastatic lesions were detected in 98 cases of colorectal cancer by immunohistochemical staining and in situ hybridization. RESULTS: Serum levels of TGFbeta1 in patients with colorectal cancer(40+/-18 microg.L(-1)) were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group(19+/-8 microg.L(-1)), P<0.05. Elevated levels of serum TGFbeta1 were found in 60 % of patients with colorectal cancer when the mean +2 s was used as the upper limit of the normal range (35.1 microg.L(-1)). Increases in serum TGFbeta1 levels were significantly associated with Duke's stage (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between Duke's stage B patients and Duke's stage C patients. In the cytoplasm of cancer cells, TGFbeta1 was immunostained in 37.8 % (37/98) of colorectal cancer, and this expression was confirmed by in situ hybridization. Among 35 cases of colorectal cancer with lymph node metastatic lesions, TGFbeta1 positive staining was found in 18 (51.4 %) cases of primary tumor, and 25 (71.4 %) cases with lymph node metastatic lesions, respectively. Of 17 cases w ith no staining in the primary lesion, 7 (41.2%) casesshowed TGFbeta1 staining in the metastatic lesion. Serum TGFbeta1 levels and TGFbeta1 expression in colorectal cancer tissues were correlated significantly with depth of tumor invasion, stage and metastasis. Patients in stage C-D,T3-T4 and with metastasis had significantly higher TGFbeta1 levels than patients in stage A-B,T1-T2 and without metastasis (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that transforming growth factor-beta1 is closely related to the invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer. It increased the invasive and metastatic potential of tumor by altering a tumor microenvironment. TGFbeta1 may be used as a possible biomarker.