Early predicting indicators of conversion from mild to moderate in overseas-imported COVID-19 cases.

BACKGROUND: Due to the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in foreign countries and regions, many overseas people arrive in China by air. Currently, most of the new cases of COVID-19 were imported from overseas. Here, we evaluated the predictive effect of the level of blood albumin (ALB) and serum prealbumin (PA) level in overseas-imported cases on the conversion of mild COVID-19 to moderate and its value in guiding nutritional support for these travelers. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed serum levels of ALB and PA of 193 patients with imported COVID-19 admitted to the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center at the time of admission on April 8, 2020. RESULTS: Since the first overseas-imported case was admitted to Shanghai on March 5, 2020, 195 overseas-imported cases have been treated in the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center. The disease was mild or moderate. A total of 193 patients (111 males and 82 females) entered our analysis and the disease was moderate in 108 patients and mild in 85 patients. Patients were aged 6 to 66 years (mean: 28 years). There was a strong negative correlation between the proportion of moderate type and ALB (P=0.0073); thus, patients with a lower level of ALB were more likely to be diagnosed with moderate type. The correlation coefficient was close to 0 in the scatter plot, indicating that there was no linear correlation between PA and the diagnosis of moderate type (P>0.05). There was a strong negative correlation between age and ALB level (P<0.001), while length of hospital stay did not show a linear correlation with ALB or PB levels (both P>0.05). Therefore, older patients had lower levels of ALB and were more likely to develop moderate COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: The serum ALB level can be an early predictive indicator for the conversion of mild COVID-19 to moderate in cases imported overseas and may guide nutritional support.

Significance of tumor protein p53 mutation in cellular process and drug selection in brain lower grade (WHO grades II and III) glioma.

Aim: Tumor protein p53 (TP53) mutant is one of the most frequently mutated genes in glioma. Results: The Cancer Genome Atlas data has shown that TP53 mutation is present in 49% of lower grade (World Health Organization [WHO] grades II and III) glioma patients. Data from The Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer database showed that three drugs: (5Z)-7-oxozeaenol, dabrafenib and nutlin-3a (-), have shown more resistance in patients with TP53 mutation. We identified 1100 differentially expressed genes. Functional enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes are mainly concentrated in the transport of ionic and cancer-related pathways. The top ten hub genes were identified and an outcome analysis revealed the most critical genes related to prognosis. Conclusion: Our results identified the key genes and pathways that might provide the basic proof to improve individualized treatment in patients with glioma.