Optimization of Microbiological Laboratory Detection Strategy for Patients in A Designated Hospital Treating Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia in Anhui Province

Novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP) is an emerging, highly contagious community acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Highly efficient and accurate microbiological laboratory assay is essential to confirm the SARS-CoV-2 infection, rule out other pathogens that can cause CAP, and monitor secondary infections. Here, we enrolled and provide microbiological analysis for 129 suspected and 52 transferred confirmed NCP patients hospitalized in the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) from Jan 21 to Feb 29, 2020. By analyzing the dual swab samples (sputum and pharyngeal) from 129 suspected patients with realtime RT-PCR, we confirmed 33 SARS-CoV-2 infections, with two co-infection cases with adenovirus or rhinovirus. We also used multiplex PCR to detect 13 common respiratory tract pathogens in 96 non-NCP patients, and found that 30 patients (31.25%) were infected with at least one respiratory tract pathogen that may cause CAP. Further, we performed bacterial and fungal cultures as well as fungal serologic tests and found that there is no secondary bacterial/fungal infections in confirmed NCP patients. Our studies suggest that, during the epidemic of NCP in Anhui province, there was a certain proportion of infection and co-infection of other common pathogens of CAP, and the secondary bacterial and fungal infection is not detectable in NCP patients. In comparison with SARS-CoV-2 detection alone, this optimized strategy combining multiple pathogen detection for identification of NCP and other CAP patients as well as cultures and serologic tests for confirmed patients increases the diagnosis efficiency and facilitates the personalized medication.

Regulation of miR140-5p for paraoxonase 1 expression in HepG2 cells and its clinical application / 临床检验杂志

Objective@#To investigate the effects of miRNA on the expression of paraoxonase 1 (PON1) and its clinical application in the patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). @*Methods@#Bioinformatics methods were used to analyze and predict PON1 related regulation on miRNA. PON1 luciferase reporter gene vectors were constructed and the activity of dual luciferase was analyzed. The up/down-regulated levels of miRNA in HepG2 cells of different groups were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR), and the levels of PON1 protein in HepG2 cells were detected by western blot. The levels of miR140-5p in the serum of healthy people and NASH patients were also analyzed by qRT-PCR. @*Results@#According to the prediction of TargetScan database, miR140-5p may bind complementarily to the end of PON13′-UTR. The analysis for the activity of dual luciferase reporter gene showed that miR-140-5p mimic significantly downregulated the fluorescence of wild type PON1 vector (P＜0.01). The results of qRT-PCR demonstrated that miR-140-5p mimic group showed high overexpression (P＜0.01) compared with the normal cell control group and the negative mimic control group, while miR-140-5p inhibitor group appeared corresponding low expression (P＜0.05). western blot results suggested that the transfection of miR140-5p mimic significantly down-regulated the expression of PON1 (P＜0.01) while miR140-5p inhibitor up-regulated this expression (P＜0.01). Compared with the healthy control group, the level of miR140-5p was decreased in the serum of NASH patients, and the difference was statistically significant (P＜0.01). @*Conclusion@#miR140-5p may be involved in the progression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis through regulation for the posttranscriptional gene expression of PON1.

Application Values of Intraaortic Palloon Pumping in the Treatment of Acute Left Heart Failure / 现代生物医学进展

Objective:To evaluate the application values of intraaortic palloon pumping in the treatment of acute left heart failure.Methods:From February 2013 to January 2016,102 patients in our hospital for diagnosis and treatment of acute left heart failure were selected as the research object,all the patients were equally divided into the observation group and control group with 51 patients in each group according to the random draw envelope principle.The control group was given routine drug treatment,the observation group was given intraaortic palloon pumping treatment based on the treatment in control group,the prognosis of two groups were observed and compared between two groups.Results:The total effective rate of observation group and control group were 96.1％ and 84.3 ％,respectively,which was significantly higher in the tobservation group than that of the control group (P＜0.05).The LVEF values in the observation group and control group after treatment were 65.22 ± 4.52 ％ and 58.20 ± 5.31％ respectively,which were significantly higher than those before treatment 45.29± 5.14 ％ and 45.20± 4.89 ％,and the LVEF value of observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P＜0.05).After 6 months' treatment,the incidence of death,refractory ischemia,malignant arrhythmia and other recent primary end points in the observation group was 5.9 ％,the control group was 21.6 ％,which was significantly higher than that of the observation group (P＜0.05).Conclusion:Aortic balloon pump implantation could promote the improvement of left ventricular function,improve the treatment effect,reduce the occurrence of recent primary end point event in the treatment of acute left heart failure.

Effects on human peripheral erythrocytes of long-term occupational contact with chromate / 中华预防医学杂志

Objective@#To investigate the effects on human peripheral blood erythrocytes of long-term occupational contact with chromate.@*Methods@#A dynamic cohort study was conducted of chromate-exposed workers (343 cases) and non-chromate-exposed workers (73 cases) at a chromate production enterprise who were selected according to specific inclusion and exclusion criteria from 2010 to 2015. Personal information and chromate exposure information were obtained by questionnaire. A generalized estimating equation was employed to analyze the effects on human peripheral blood erythrocytes of long-term occupational contact with chromate, controlling for age, gender, smoking, alcohol consumption and body mass index.@*Results@#The mean ages and working ages of those entering the cohort study were 36.67 ±6.78 and 38.47 ± 7.18, respectively, for the exposure group and 8.39 ± 6.02 and 12.86 ± 8.34, respectively, for the control group. The erythrocyte content [(4.73±0.46), (4.81±0.53), (4.41±0.45)]×1012/L in the peripheral blood in the chromate exposure group was lower than that [(4.76±0.42), (4.95±0.45), (4.47±0.39)]×1012/L in the control group for the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014 (t values were 0.38, 1.96, 0.92 and 1.21; P values were 0.703, 0.051, 0.358 and 0.227, respectively). The correlations between the years 2010 and 2011, 2011 and 2012, 2012 and 2014, and 2014 and 2015 were 0.667, 0.464,-0.070 and 0.020, respectively (P<0.001). The RR for males and those that consumed alcohol were 0.661 (95% CI: 0.616-0.709) and 0.910 (95% CI: 0.811- 1.201), respectively. Compared with the control group, the risk of reduced erythrocyte levels in the peripheral blood was increased by 0.915 (95% CI: 0.852- 0.982) in the chromate-exposed group.@*Conclusions@#The erythrocyte content of peripheral blood was reduced after long-term exposure to chromate. Maleness and alcohol consumption were factors that increased the risk of reduced peripheral blood erythrocytes in the chromate-exposed population.

Analysis the relationship between the found ways and first diagnosis age for large vestibular aqueduct children / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the found ways and first diagnosis age of children with large vestibular aqueduct, and their relations with hearing loss.@*METHOD@#Medical histories of 122 cases of children diagnosed with large vestibular aqueduct by HRCT or MRI had been collected from January 2009 to April 2014 in our hospital children's hearing diagnosis center clinic. Found ways comprise of accepting universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) group and unaccepting UNHS group. Accepting UNHS children were divided into two ears unpassing group, single ear unpassing group and passing group. The patients in unaccepting UNHS group were divided into not sensitive to sounds, speech stunting, sudden hearing loss, and other group. Analysis the relationship between the found ways and first diagnosis age and their relations with hearing loss.@*RESULT@#There are 84 cases (68.85%) accepting UNHS, the average age of first diagnosis was (17.24 ± 17.08) months; 37 cases (31.15%) are not accepting UNHS. The average age of first diagnosis was (30.92 ± 18.21) months. The average first diagnosis age of accepting UNHS group was more earlier than the unaccepting UNHS group. The difference was statistically signif- icant (P 0.05). In unaccepting UNHS group ,the average first diagnosis age of the mild-to-moderate hearing loss group was later than the very severe hearing loss group (P < 0.01).@*CONCLUSION@#Most of large vestibular aqueduct children can be found and receive diagnosis early by UNHS. But part of these patients with late-onset or progressive hearing loss, especially these with mild-to-moderate hearing loss cannot be found early, which should arouse our attention.

Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A_2 as a predictor for severity of coronary atherosclerosis / 第二军医大学学报

Objective:To investigate whether plasma lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A_(2)(Lp-PLA_(2)) activity correlates with severity and stability of coronary atherosclerosis and other established cardiovascular risk factors.Methods: Coronary angiography(CAG) was performed in 180 hospitalized patients who were suspected as having coronary heart disease(CHD).The severity of pathological changes of the coronary artery was assessed by the number of diseased coronary branches and Gensini′s score.According to the results of CAG,the 180 patients were divided into 2 groups: CHD group(n=112) and non-CHD group(n=68).The CHD patients were further divided into subgroups according to the clinical types,the number of diseased coronary branches and Gensini′s score.Lp-PLA_(2) activity,white blood cell(WBC) count,high sensitive C reactive protein(hsCRP),lipids,blood pressure and body mass index were measured.The age,sex and prior medical histories including hypertension,diabetes mellitus and smoking status were obtained before CAG in all patients.Lp-PLA_(2),WBC count and hsCRP were compared statistically between the subgroups,and correlation coefficients of Lp-PLA_(2) activity with WBC count,hsCRP and other conventional risk factors for CHD were calculated.Results: Plasma Lp-PLA_(2) activity in CHD patients was significantly higher than that in controls(P