During the Omicron Pandemic Wave, the Severe Systemic Inflammatory Status of COVID-19 Indicated a Higher Risk of In-Hospital Mortality and Mediated the Clinical Efficacy of Corticosteroids.

Background: For the distinct immune/inflammatory responses from Omicron variant infection, this study aimed to investigate the diagnostic efficacy of systemic inflammatory indicators and the clinical efficacy of corticosteroids on the in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients. Methods: Under a retrospective cohort study, 1081 COVID-19 patients were recruited from Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University between November 16, 2022 and January 30, 2023. We chose neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), CRP-to-lymphocyte ratio (CLR), and CRP-to-albumin ratio (CAR) as the systemic inflammatory indicators. Receiver operating curve (ROC) and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to determine the diagnostic efficacy of systemic inflammatory indicators and the association between systemic inflammatory indicators and in-hospital mortality. Results: Among 684 patients included in analysis, 96 died during hospitalization. NLR, CLR and CAR performed well (with an area under the curve (AUC) greater than 0.75) in discriminating in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients. The severe status of systemic inflammation, with optimal cut-off value derived from ROC analysis, significantly associated higher risk of in-hospital mortality (OR = 3.81 for NLR ≥ 6.131; OR = 3.76 for CLR ≥ 45.455; OR = 5.10 for CAR ≥ 1.436). Corticosteroids use within 72 hours of admission increased the in-hospital mortality 2.88-fold for COVID-19 patients. In the subgroup of patients with severe systemic inflammation, corticosteroids increased the risk of in-hospital mortality (OR = 2.11 for NLR, p = 0.055; OR = 2.94 for CLR, p = 0.005; OR = 2.31 for CAR, p = 0.036). Conclusion: Systemic inflammatory indicators had good diagnostic performance for in-hospital mortality. Patients with severe systemic inflammatory status should not receive corticosteroid treatment and further studies are warranted for confirmation.

Quality of Cryopreserved Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Recovered from the Hepatitis/AIDS Biobank.

Background: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) count among the most important samples in a biobank, and the quality of cryopreserved PBMCs is crucial for further research. This study evaluated the quality of PBMCs recovered from the Beijing Capital Medical University Hepatitis/AIDS Biobank after 2-11 years of cryopreservation. Materials and Methods: A total of 87 PBMC samples with different cryopreservation times (2006, 2007, 2013, and 2015) were thawed, and the cell number and cell viability were determined by acridine orange/propidium iodide staining. Then, DNA was extracted from the cryopreserved PBMCs and assessed for quantity on an ultramicrospectrophotometer. Results: The median cell viability rate was 73.58% for the 87 PBMC samples cryopreserved for 2-11 years. A rate of 80.98% was obtained for PBMCs collected in 2006, a value higher than those of other cryopreservation times (2007, 2013, and 2015). Similarly, more live and total cells were obtained in PBMCs cryopreserved since 2006 compared with other cryopreservation times (since 2007, 2013, and 2015, respectively). Nonparametric Spearman correlation analysis indicated positive associations of cell viability with live (r = 0.578, p < 0.0001) and total (r = 0.338, p = 0.0003) cell numbers. Meanwhile, DNA amounts increased with total cell number. Statistical analysis showed that 3.69 µg DNA was obtained from ∼1 × 106 cells. Conclusion: Cryopreservation time (2-11 years) has negligible effects on the quality of PBMCs. Meanwhile, the cell number is positively correlated with cell viability.

[Influence of HIV infection on hepatitis C progress in patients co-infected with HIV/HCV].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the influence of HIV infection on hepatitis C progress in patients co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) and related immune mechanism. METHODS: Twenty eight patients co-infected with HIV/HCV and 12 patients with simplex HCV infection were enrolled. The liver function and hepatic fibrosis progress were evaluated by detecting peripheral blood and with Fibro-Scan. The viral load of HCV was detected by using real time quantitative PCR. And the percentage of Treg/CD4⁺ T lymphocyte cell was tested by using flow cytometry. RESULTS: The levels of ALT and ALP in HIV/HCV co-infection group were (76.16 ± 81.248) U/L, (24.507 1 ± 8.194) g/L respectively, higher than those of simplex HCV infection group [(27.475 0 ± 13.985) U/L, (16.966 7 ± 7.189) g/L], the differences were statistical significant. P value was 0.012 and 0.009 respectively. The liver fibrosis index in HIV/HCV co-infection group was 5.950 0-5.825 0 Kpa, higher than that in simplex HIV infection group (5.150 0-1.050 0 Kpa), and the difference was nearly statistical significant (P = 0.077). The HCV viral load in HIV/HCV co-infection group was (6.476 8-5.343 4) lg copy/ml, higher than that in simplex HCV infection group [(1.699 0-2.681 5) lg copy/ml], and the rate of HCV clearance in HIV/HCV co-infection group was 32.14%, lower than that in simplex HCV infection group (75.00%). P value was 0.012 and 0.032 respectively. The percentage of Treg/CD4⁺ T lymphocyte cell in HIV/HCV co-infection group was (7.460 0%-2.287 5%), higher than that in simplex HCV infection group (5.965 0%-2.105 0%), and the difference was significant (P = 0.032). The percentage of Treg/CD4⁺ T lymphocyte cell was significantly related with HCV viral load (ρ = 0.350, P = 0.027), and HCV viral load was significantly related with the liver fibrosis index (ρ = 0.487, P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: HIV infection could accelerate the progress of hepatitis C, and Treg cells were involved in this progress.

MicroRNA panels as disease biomarkers distinguishing hepatitis B virus infection caused hepatitis and liver cirrhosis.

An important unresolved clinical issue is to distinguish hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection caused chronic hepatitis and their corresponding liver cirrhosis (LC). Recent research suggests that circulating microRNAs are useful biomarkers for a wide array of diseases. We analyzed microRNA profiles in the plasmas of a total of 495 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, LC patients and healthy donors and identified 10 miRNAs that were differentially expressed between CHB and LC patients. Our logistic models show that three panels of miRNAs have promising diagnostic performances in discriminating CHB from LC. Blinded tests were subsequently conducted to evaluate the diagnostic performances in clinical practice and a sensitivity of 85% and specificity of 70% have been achieved in separating CHB from LC pateints. The expression levels of some circulating miRNAs were significantly correlated with HBV DNA load and liver function, such as prothrombin activity (PTA) and levels of alanin aminotransferase (ALT), albumin (ALB) and cholinesterase (CHE). Our results provide important information for developing novel diagnostic tools for distinguishing chronic HBV hepatitis and their corresponding cirrhosis.

[Study on the status of pollution by Legionella species in hot spring vacation center and the related factors].

OBJECTIVE: To study the pollution status of Legionella species in hot spring vacation center and the related factors. METHODS: Field surveys were performed in four big hot spring vacation centers of Changping district. Uniform questionnaires was used and colony count was made together with the isolation of Legionella species from hot spring water based on mip gene typing. RESULTS: 47 isolates of Legionella pneumophila (Lp) from 87 samples showed 4 serotypes as Lp1, Lp6, Lp12, Lp5 with percent of 57.45%, 21.28%, 14.89%, 6.38% respectively. The hot spring centers controlled the temperature of recycled water between 34-47 degrees C by hot water heating and filtrating system. All the isolates were cultured from the hot water with temperature between 34-44 degrees C: 56.75% (21/37) in high temperature (40-47 degrees C) and 61.90% (26/42) in low temperature (34-39.9 degrees C). There were no statistically significant difference between the high and the low temperature samples (P > 0.05). In the four hot spring vacation centers, the pH value was under control at 6.4-7.3 and the ambient temperature was under control between 26-28 degrees C. The humidity was controlled between 56% -69% relative humidity, which were the best growing conditions for the Legionella species. Disinfectors as chlorine deviratives was used in the four hot spring vacation centers. Though the concentration of chlorine in the water was 0.3-0.5 mg/L, 14.29%-48.00% of the samples were still positive of having Legionella species. CONCLUSION: The pollution of Legionella species was considered to be quite serious in the four hot spring vacation centers and the predominant serotype was Lp1. The pH and temperature of the hot spring water, ambient temperature and humidity and the way of heating up the water were the best conditions for the growth of Legionella species in these centers. Because of the high temperature of the hot spring water, chlorine of the disinfector volatilized quickly, affecting the effect of disinfection. The result revealed that water temperature achieving 44 degrees C could have had the effect of prevention.