High Q-factor Fano resonances based on a permittivity-asymmetric dielectric pea-shaped cylinder.

We numerically investigate two Fano resonances with high Q-factors based on a permittivity-asymmetric metastructure composed of two pea-shaped cylinders. By employing different materials to break the permittivity-asymmetry, the quasi-bound state of the continuum spectrum (BIC) resonance at 982.87 nm is excited, showing the Q-factor as high as 8183.7. The electromagnetic fields and vectors are analyzed by using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, and the resonance modes are identified as magnetic dipole (MD) responses and MDs by multipole decomposition in Cartesian coordinates, displaying that the light is confined within a pea-shaped cylinder to achieve localized field enhancement. In addition, the sensing performances of the metastructure are evaluated, and an optical refractive index sensor can be obtained with the sensitivity of 152 nm/RIU and maximum figure of merit (FOM) of 832.6. This proposed structure offers a new, to the best of our knowledge, way to achieve Fano resonant excitation on all-dielectric metastructures and can be used in nonlinear optics, biosensing, optical switches, and lasers.

M2c Macrophages Protect Mice from Adriamycin-Induced Nephropathy by Upregulating CD62L in Tregs.

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) and M2c macrophages have been shown to exert potentially synergistic therapeutic effects in animals with adriamycin-induced nephropathy (AN), a model chronic proteinuric renal disease. M2c macrophages may protect against renal injury by promoting an increase in the number of Tregs in the renal draining lymph nodes of AN mice, but how they do so is unclear. In this study, we used an AN mouse model to analyze how M2c macrophages induce the migration of Tregs. Using flow cytometry, we found that M2c macrophages promoted the migration of Tregs from the peripheral blood to the spleen, thymus, kidney, and renal draining lymph nodes. At the same time, M2c macrophages significantly upregulated chemokine receptors and adhesion molecule in Tregs, including CCR4, CCR5, CCR7, CXCR5, and CD62L. Treating AN mice with monoclonal anti-CD62L antibody inhibited the migration of M2c macrophages and Tregs to the spleen, thymus, kidney, and renal draining lymph nodes. Taken together, our results suggest that M2c macrophages upregulate CD62L in Tregs and thereby promote their migration to inflammatory sites, where they exert renoprotective effects. These insights may aid the development of treatments against chronic kidney disease.

Impact of COVID-19 on emergency patients in the resuscitation room: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 outbreaks on emergency patients in a resuscitation room in Nanning, China. METHODS: A single-center cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted in the emergency department of a tertiary public hospital from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2020, in Nanning, Guangxi, China. We collected the data of patients in the resuscitation room to investigate the number of patients accessing emergency services during the study period. Data in 2020 were compared to the data during the same period in 2019. RESULTS: The number of emergency patients in the resuscitation room during the COVID-19 pandemic has decreased in intrinsic diseases, extrinsic diseases, and pediatric cases, especially in the early stages of the pandemic. Additionally, the length of stay of emergency patients in the resuscitation room was reduced. CONCLUSIONS: The number of emergency patients in the resuscitation room during the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020 was reduced compared to that in the same period in 2019 in Nanning, China. This situation shows a serious social problem, which should arouse the attention of the medical profession and the government.

Coagulation dysfunction is associated with severity of COVID-19: A meta-analysis.

To systematically analyze the blood coagulation features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients to provide a reference for clinical practice. An electronic search in PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, Scopus, CNKI, WanFang Data, and VIP databases to identify studies describing the blood coagulation features of COVID-19 patients from 1 January 2020 to 21 April 2020. Three reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, the meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 12.0 software. Thirty-four studies involving 6492 COVID-19 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that patients with severe disease showed significantly lower platelet count (weighted mean differences [WMD]: -16.29 × 109 /L; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -25.34 to -7.23) and shorter activated partial thromboplastin time (WMD: -0.81 seconds; 95% CI: -1.94 to 0.33) but higher D-dimer levels (WMD: 0.44 µg/mL; 95% CI: 0.29-0.58), higher fibrinogen levels (WMD: 0.51 g/L; 95% CI: 0.33-0.69) and longer prothrombin time (PT; WMD: 0.65 seconds; 95% CI: 0.44-0.86). Patients who died showed significantly higher D-dimer levels (WMD: 6.58 µg/mL; 95% CI: 3.59-9.57), longer PT (WMD: 1.27 seconds; 95% CI: 0.49-2.06) and lower platelet count (WMD: -39.73 × 109 /L; 95% CI: -61.99 to -17.45) than patients who survived. Coagulation dysfunction is common in severe COVID-19 patients and it is associated with severity of COVID-19.

CT imaging features of 4121 patients with COVID-19: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: We systematically reviewed the computed tomography (CT) imaging features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to provide reference for clinical practice. METHODS: Our article comprehensively searched PubMed, FMRS, EMbase, CNKI, WanFang databases, and VIP databases to collect literatures about the CT imaging features of COVID-19 from 1 January to 16 March 2020. Three reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, and then, this meta-analysis was performed by using Stata12.0 software. RESULTS: A total of 34 retrospective studies involving a total of 4121 patients with COVID-19 were included. The results of the meta-analysis showed that most patients presented bilateral lung involvement (73.8%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 65.9%-81.1%) or multilobar involvement (67.3%, 95% CI: 54.8%-78.7%) and just little patients showed normal CT findings (8.4%). We found that the most common changes in lesion density were ground-glass opacities (68.1%, 95% CI: 56.9%-78.2%). Other changes in density included air bronchogram sign (44.7%), crazy-paving pattern (35.6%), and consolidation (32.0%). Patchy (40.3%), spider web sign (39.5%), cord-like (36.8%), and nodular (20.5%) were common lesion shapes in patients with COVID-19. Pleural thickening (27.1%) was found in some patients. Lymphadenopathy (5.4%) and pleural effusion (5.3%) were rare. CONCLUSION: The lung lesions of patients with COVID-19 were mostly bilateral lungs or multilobar involved. The most common chest CT findings were patchy and ground-glass opacities. Some patients had air bronchogram, spider web sign, and cord-like. Lymphadenopathy and pleural effusion were rare.

Clinical characteristics of 3062 COVID-19 patients: A meta-analysis.

We aimed to systematically review the clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Seven databases were searched to collect studies about the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 from January 1, 2020 to February 28, 2020. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata12.0 software. A total of 38 studies involving 3062 COVID-19 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that a higher proportion of infected patients was male (56.9%). The incidence rate of respiratory failure or acute respiratory distress syndrome was 19.5% and the fatality rate was 5.5%. Fever (80.4%), fatigue (46%), cough (63.1%), and expectoration (41.8%) were the most common clinical manifestations. Other common symptoms included muscle soreness (33%), anorexia (38.8%), chest tightness (35.7%), shortness of breath (35%), dyspnea (33.9%). Minor symptoms included nausea and vomiting (10.2%), diarrhea (12.9%), headache (15.4%), pharyngalgia (13.1%), shivering (10.9%), and abdominal pain (4.4%). The proportion of patients that was asymptomatic was 11.9%. Normal leukocyte counts (69.7%), lymphopenia (56.5%), elevated C-reactive protein levels (73.6%), elevated ESR (65.6%), and oxygenation index decreased (63.6%) were observed in most patients. About 37.2% of patients were found with elevated D-dimer, 25.9% of patients with leukopenia, along with abnormal levels of liver function (29%), and renal function (25.5%). Other findings included leukocytosis (12.6%) and elevated procalcitonin (17.5%). Only 25.8% of patients had lesions involving a single lung and 75.7% of patients had lesions involving bilateral lungs. The most commonly experienced symptoms of COVID-19 patients were fever, fatigue, cough, and expectoration. A relatively small percentage of patients were asymptomatic. Most patients showed normal leucocytes counts, lymphopenia, elevated levels of C-reactive protein and ESR. Bilateral lung involvement was common.

Risk factors of severe cases with COVID-19: a meta-analysis.

Our study aimed to systematically analyse the risk factors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with severe disease. An electronic search in eight databases to identify studies describing severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients from 1 January 2020 to 3 April 2020. In the end, we meta-analysed 40 studies involving 5872 COVID-19 patients. The average age was higher in severe COVID-19 patients (weighted mean difference; WMD = 10.69, 95%CI 7.83-13.54). Patients with severe disease showed significantly lower platelet count (WMD = -18.63, 95%CI -30.86 to -6.40) and lymphocyte count (WMD = -0.35, 95%CI -0.41 to -0.30) but higher C-reactive protein (CRP; WMD = 42.7, 95%CI 31.12-54.28), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH; WMD = 137.4, 95%CI 105.5-169.3), white blood cell count（WBC), procalcitonin（PCT）, D-dimer, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and creatinine（Cr）. Similarly, patients who died showed significantly higher WBC, D-dimer, ALT, AST and Cr but similar platelet count and LDH as patients who survived. These results indicate that older age, low platelet count, lymphopenia, elevated levels of LDH, ALT, AST, PCT, Cr and D-dimer are associated with severity of COVID-19 and thus could be used as early identification or even prediction of disease progression.

Identification of Genes with Altered Methylation and Its Role in Early Diagnosis of Sepsis-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

PURPOSE: Early diagnosis of sepsis-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is critical for effective treatment. We aimed to identify early stage biomarkers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Differentially expressed genes were identified in whole blood samples from patients with sepsis or ARDS based on the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets GSE32707, GSE54514 and GSE10361. Functional enrichment analysis explored the biological characteristics of differentially expressed genes. Genes with high functional connectivity based on a protein-protein interaction network were marked as hub genes, which were validated using the GEO dataset GSE76293, and a gene set variation analysis index (GSVA) was assigned. Diagnostic and predictive ability of the hub genes were assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. DNA methylation levels of hub genes were quantified using the GEO dataset GSE67530. RESULTS: Forty-one differentially expressed genes were shared between sepsis-specific and ARDS-specific datasets. MAP2K2 and IRF7 functional activity was highly connected in sepsis-induced ARDS. Hub genes included RETN, MVP, DEFA4, CTSG, AZU1, FMNL1, RBBP7, POLD4, RIN3, IRF7. ROC curve analysis of the hub gene GSVA index showed good diagnostic ability in sepsis or ARDS. Among genes related to sepsis-induced ARDS, 17 were differentially methylated. Principal component analysis and heatmaps indicated that gene methylation patterns differed significantly between ARDS patients and controls. CONCLUSION: We identified a genetic profile specific to early-stage sepsis-induced ARDS. The abnormal expression of these genes may be caused by hypomethylation, which may serve as a biomarker for early diagnosis of ARDS.

Clinical characteristics of 2,459 severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients: A meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT: Our study aims to summarize the clinical characteristics of patients with severe or critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Five databases were electronically searched to collect studies describing clinical characteristics of severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients and published between January 1, 2020 and April 12, 2020. Three reviewers independently collected the literature, extracted the required data, and assessed the risk of publication bias of the included studies before including the studies in the meta-analysis.A total of 40 studies involving 2459 patients with severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that a greater proportion of severe or critically COVID-19 patients were male (62.3%), and the 2 main clinical symptoms were fever (87.4%) and cough (66.3%). Other common clinical symptoms included dyspnea (45.3%), chest tightness (37.4%), fatigue (36.6%), and expectoration (31.9%). Minor symptoms included myalgia (19.5%), dizziness (11.5%), headache (11.4%), diarrhea (11.2%), pharyngalgia (11.0%), nausea, and vomiting (5.9%). Most patients showed elevated levels of C-reactive protein (83.5%) and D-dimer (73.3%), lymphopenia (70.3%), and normal leukocyte counts (56.9%). Other findings included abnormal levels of liver function (39.8%), elevated procalcitonin (36.6%), leukocytosis (21.7%), thrombocytopenia (19.0%), and leucopenia (18.2%). Most patients showed acute respiratory distress syndrome (60.8%). Other complications included acute cardiac injury (37.1%), shock (32.0%), and acute kidney injury (22.0%).The most common symptoms of severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients were fever and cough. Most patients showed lymphopenia, elevated levels of C-reactive protein and D-dimer. A large percentage of patients progress to ARDS, acute cardiac injury, acute kidney injury and shock were also common.

Association of elevated inflammatory markers and severe COVID-19: A meta-analysis.

Our study aimed to assess the existing evidence on whether severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with elevated inflammatory markers.The PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang, and China Science and Technology Journal databases were searched to identify studies published between January 1 and April 21, 2020 that assayed inflammatory markers in COVID-19 patients. Three reviewers independently examined the literature, extracted relevant data, and assessed the risk of publication bias before including the meta-analysis studies.Fifty-six studies involving 8719 COVID-19 patients were identified. Meta-analysis showed that patients with severe disease showed elevated levels of white blood cell count (WMD: 1.15, 95% CI: 0.78-1.52), C-reactive protein (WMD: 38.85, 95% CI: 31.19-46.52), procalcitonin (WMD: 0.08, 95% CI: 0.06-0.11), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (WMD: 10.15, 95% CI: 5.03-15.46), interleukin-6 (WMD: 23.87, 95% CI: 15.95-31.78), and interleukin-10 (WMD: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.97-2.28). Similarly, COVID-19 patients who died during follow-up showed significantly higher levels of white blood cell count (WMD: 4.11, 95% CI: 3.25-4.97), C-reactive protein (WMD: 74.18, 95% CI: 56.63-91.73), procalcitonin (WMD: 0.26, 95% CI: 0.11-0.42), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (WMD: 10.94, 95% CI: 4.79-17.09), and interleukin-6 (WMD: 59.88, 95% CI: 19.46-100.30) than survivors.Severe COVID-19 is associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers than a mild disease, so tracking these markers may allow early identification or even prediction of disease progression.

Clinicopathological characteristics of 8697 patients with COVID-19 in China: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Our study aims to present a summary of the clinicopathological characteristics of patients affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that can be used as a reference for further research and clinical decisions. DESIGN: Studies were included in the meta-analysis if they had cohort, case-control or case series designs and provided sufficient details on clinical symptoms, laboratory outcomes and asymptomatic patients. SETTING: PubMed, Embase, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Wanfang, China Science and Technology Journal Database and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were electronically searched to identify related studies published between 1 January 2020 and 16 March 2020. Three reviewers independently examined the literature, extracted relevant data and assessed the risk of publication bias before including the studies in the meta-analysis. PARTICIPANTS: The confirmed cases of COVID-19. RESULTS: A total of 55 unique retrospective studies involving 8697 patients with COVID-19 were identified. Meta-analysis showed that a higher proportion of infected patients were male (53.3%), and the two major symptoms observed were fever (78.4%) and cough (58.3%). Other common symptoms included fatigue (34%), myalgia (21.9%), expectoration (23.7%), anorexia (22.9%), chest tightness (22.9%) and dyspnoea (20.6%). Minor symptoms included nausea and vomiting (6.6%), diarrhoea (8.2%), headache (11.3%), pharyngalgia (11.6%), shivering (15.2%) and rhinorrhea (7.3%). About 5.4% of the patients were asymptomatic. Most patients showed normal leucocyte counts (64.7%) and elevated C reactive protein levels (65.9%). Lymphopaenia was observed in about 47.6% of the infected patients, along with abnormal levels of myocardial enzymes (49.4%) and liver function (26.4%). Other findings included leucopenia (23.5%), elevated D-dimer (20.4%), elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (20.4%), leucocytosis (9.9%), elevated procalcitonin (16.7%) and abnormal renal function (10.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The most commonly experienced symptoms of patients with COVID-19 were fever and cough. Myalgia, anorexia, chest tightness and dyspnoea were found in some patients. A relatively small percentage of patients were asymptomatic and could act as carriers of the disease. Most patients showed normal leucocyte counts, elevated levels of C reactive protein and lymphopaenia, confirming the viral origin of the disease.

MiR-129-5p inhibits liver cancer growth by targeting calcium calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CAMK4).

This study was designed to investigate the mechanism by which miR-129-5p affects the biological function of liver cancer cells. The expression levels of miR-129-5p in liver cancer tissues and cells were, respectively, determined. Crystal violet staining and flow cytometry were used to detect cell proliferation and apoptosis. Wound healing assay and transwell assay were performed to test cell migration and invasion. The target gene of miR-129-5p was analyzed and verified by bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay. Tumorigenicity assays in nude mice were used to test the antitumor ability of calcium calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CAMK4). miR-129-5p was found to be underexpressed in hepatocellular cancer tissues and cells and also to inhibit liver cells proliferation, migration, and invasion and promote apoptosis. CAMK4 was a direct target for miR-129-5p and was lowly expressed in liver cancer tissues and cells. CAMK4 was also found to inhibit liver cells proliferation, migration and invasion, and promote apoptosis. CAMK4 might exert an antitumor effect by inhibiting the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). MiR-129-5p was a tumor suppressor with low expression in liver cancer tissues and cells. CAMK4, which is a direct target gene of miR-129-5p, could inhibit tumor by inhibiting the activation of MAPK signaling pathway.