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BackgroundThe dynamic changes of lymphocyte subsets and cytokines profiles of patients with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and their correlation with the disease severity remain unclear. MethodsPeripheral blood samples were longitudinally collected from 40 confirmed COVID-19 patients and examined for lymphocyte subsets by flow cytometry and cytokine profiles by specific immunoassays. ResultsOf the 40 COVID-19 patients enrolled, 13 severe cases showed significant and sustained decreases in lymphocyte counts but increases in neutrophil counts than 27 mild cases. Further analysis demonstrated significant decreases in the counts of T cells, especially CD8 + T cells, as well as increases in IL-6, IL-10, IL-2 and IFN-{gamma} levels in the peripheral blood in the severe cases compared to those in the mild cases. T cell counts and cytokine levels in severe COVID-19 patients who survived the disease gradually recovered at later time points to levels that were comparable to those of the mild cases. Moreover, the neutrophil-to-CD8+ T cell ratio (N8R) were identified as the most powerful prognostic factor affecting the prognosis for severe COVID-19. ConclusionsThe degree of lymphopenia and a proinflammatory cytokine storm is higher in severe COVID-19 patients than in mild cases, and is associated with the disease severity. N8R may serve as a useful prognostic factor for early identification of severe COVID-19 cases. SummaryLymphocyte subsets and cytokine profiles in the peripheral blood of COVID-19 patients were longitudinally characterized. The study revealed the kinetics features of immune parameters associated with the disease severity and identified N8R as a useful prognostic factor for predicting severe COVID-19 cases.
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Background Herpes stromal keratitis (HSK) is a common infectious ocular surface disease,with a higher recurrent rate,especially in necrotizing HSK.The diagnosis of HSK primarily depends on signs and symptoms,and specific laboratory diagnostic is lack.Objective This study was to clarify the expression of herpes simplex virus (HSV) in the corneal epithelium scrapings and tears of necrotizing HSK patients.Methods Thirty eyes of 30 patients with necrotizing HSK were enrolled in Nanjing Hospital of Nanjing Medical Hospital from September 2012 to September 2013 under the patient's informed consent.The eyes were examined by slit lamp microscope and scored.HSK patients received local and systemic therapy for 8 weeks and then an oral maintenance dose for 6 months.Corneal epithelial scrapings and tears samples were collected for HSV DNA detection by real-time PCR before and the 1 st,2nd,4th,6th and 8th week after therapy respectively.The difference of HSV positive rate was compared between corneal epithelium scrapings and tears samples using Chi-square test.Multilevel mixed effective model was employed to evaluate HSV concentration change in the samples at various time points in the HSV-positive patients of initial visit.The correlation between HSV concentration and clinical score was analyzed by Spearman rank correlation.Results HSV-positive rate was 46.4％ (13/30) in the corneal epithelial scrapings and 13.3％(4/30) in the tear samples,showing a significant difference between them (P =0.006).HSV-positive rate was significantly lower in the corneal epithelial scrapings 1 week,2 weeks and 4 weeks after treatment than before (P =0.001,0.003,0.004),and no HSV was detected 6 weeks and 8 weeks after treatment.No significant change in HSV-positive rate in tear samples in 1 week and 2 weeks after treatment in comparison with before treatment (P =1.000,0.583),and no HSV was detected after 4 weeks following treatment.The HSV concentration was 2460 (2 165-636500)/ml in initial 13 HSV-positive eyes of corneal epithelial scrapings and 0 (0-1150)/ml in initial 13 HSV-positive eyes of tear samples.Multilevel mixed effective model determined that HSV concentration was significantly lower in corneal epithelial scraping than that in tear (P =0.005),and HSV concentration was reduced with the lapse of time (P =0.001),with the faster rate of decline in the corneal epithelial scrapings (P =0.049).A positive correlation was found between initial HSV concentration and clinical scores (rs =0.844,P =0.000).Conclusiors Real-time PCR appears to be a powerful molecular tool for the detection of HSV in the HSK,especially in corneal epithelial scrapings of lesion.The initial positive outcome of viral DNA in corneal epithelial scrapings predicts a severe clinical procedure.
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Corneal endothelial transplantation has achieved good results in domestic and foreign clinical applications , which has become the preferred method for treatment of severe corneal endothelial lesion .Corneal endothelial transplantation retained the patients′autologous healthy corneal epithelum , Bowman′s membrane and the strooma , as far as possible to ensure the integrity of the ocular sur-face, reduce the astigmatism.It had some advantages such as small invasiveness , less rejection, and faster visual recovery .Descemet stripping endothelial keratoplasty is the mianstream mode of operation , then the advanced femtosecond laser Descemet′s membrane en-dothelial keratoplasty were developed .We review the development course , operation methods , and complications of corneal endothelial transplantation in this paper .
