Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 Viral Shedding in Patients with COVID-19 was Associated with Delayed Initiation of Arbidol Treatment and Consulting Doctor Later: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: To study data about SARS-CoV-2 virus shedding and clarify the risk factors for prolonged virus shedding. METHODS: Data were retrospectively collected from adults hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) in Wuhan Union Hospital. We compared clinical features among patients with prolonged (a positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA on day 23 after illness onset) and short virus shedding and evaluated risk factors associated with prolonged virus shedding by multivariate regression analysis. RESULTS: Among 238 patients, the median age was 55.5 years, 57.1% were female, 92.9% (221/238) were administered with arbidol, 58.4% (139/238) were given arbidol in combination with interferon. The median duration of SARS-CoV-2 virus shedding was 23 days (IQR, 17.8-30 days) with a longest one of 51 days. The patients with prolonged virus shedding had higher value of D-dimer (P=0.002), IL-6 (P<0.001), CRP (P=0.005) and more lobes lung lesion (P=0.014) on admission, as well as older age (P=0.017) and more patients with hypertension (P=0.044) than in those the virus shedding less than 23 days. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that prolonged viral shedding was significantly associated with initiation arbidol >8 days after symptom onset [OR: 2.447, 95% CI (1.351-4.431)], ≥3 days from onset of symptoms to first medical visitation [OR: 1.880, 95% CI (1.035-3.416)], illness onset before Jan. 31, 2020 [OR: 3.289, 95% CI (1.474-7.337)]. Arbidol in combination with interferon was also significantly associated with shorter virus shedding [OR: 0.363, 95% CI (0.191-0.690)]. CONCLUSION: Duration of SARS-CoV-2 virus shedding was long. Early initiation of arbidol and arbidol in combination with interferon as well as consulting doctor timely after illness onset were helpful for SARS-CoV-2 clearance.

[Pollution Level, Distribution Characteristic, and Ecological Risk Assessment of Environmentally Persistent Pharmaceutical Pollutants in Surface Water of Jiangsu Province].

Because Jiangsu is an important economic province of China, it is necessary to examine the pollution characteristics and assess the ecological risk of environmentally persistent pharmaceutical pollutants (EPPPs) in this region. In this study, surface water samples were obtained from grade 1-4 rivers and lakes (with an area of 50 km2 or more) in Jiangsu Province, and then analyzed to determine the pollution level of EPPPs. In total, 35 EPPPs were detected in the surface water of Jiangsu Province, with total concentrations in the samples ranging from 66.74 to 2189.83 ng·L-1. The 17 EPPPs with a detection rate of more than 25% are discussed in this study. The total concentrations of 35 EPPPs were 72.48-1142.79 ng·L-1, and the mean concentration was 345.20 ng·L-1. The total concentration of EPPPs was higher in the north and south than in the central part of Jiangsu. Yangzhou city had the highest concentration of EPPPs in the whole province, and the main sources of this pollution were domestic sewage, shipping sewage discharge, and drug use in fishery breeding. The total concentration of EPPPs decreased on both sides of the region, with the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and waste from the Yellow River forming the middle line. An ecological risk assessment of 17 EPPPs showed that single target drugs posed a low risk to water ecology in Jiangsu Province. The combined risk quotient of 17 EPPPs in water of Jiangsu Province was 0.03-0.52, indicating that EPPPs posed a low to moderate risk.

Corticosteroids Treatment of Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Propensity Score Matching Study.

The role of corticosteroids in the treatment of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is controversial. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of adjuvant corticosteroids treatment on the outcome of patients with COVID-19 (n=966), using Propensity Score Matching to adjust for potential differences between the corticosteroids group (n=289) and the non-corticosteroids group (n=677). Analysis of data without adjusting differences in baseline characteristics indicated that the proportion of mechanical ventilation and the mortality was higher in the corticosteroids treatment group in total or severe/critical patients. The duration of viral shedding was longer in the non-corticosteroids treatment group in total or general/mild patients. After adjusting the difference between the corticosteroids and non-corticosteroids treatment group, the analysis revealed that the use of corticosteroids had no effect on the duration of viral shedding, in-hospital mortality or 28-day mortality.

New solution to build constructed wetland in cold climatic region.

Constructed wetland is an efficient and convenient wastewater treatment technology that has been widely used in China and elsewhere. However, seasonal frozen soil is easily formed in the cold regions of northern China. The local wetlands are in the frozen soil layer, causing the pollutants from wastewater not to be removed well. Therefore, a new constructed wetland structure that uses shallow geothermal energy to keep the wetland not frozen in the winter is proposed in this paper. The results of the experiment show that the average removal rates of total nitrogen, ammonium ion, and total phosphorus in the multistage constructed wetland system are 54.8%, 44.5%, and 77.7%, respectively. This performance is substantially better than that of conventional wetlands in winter. The proposed wetland structure can be applied to conventional wetlands and avoid the conventional wetlands being idle during cold seasons, which is conducive to the popularization of constructed wetlands (CWs) in cold regions.

Geraniin inhibits oral cancer cell migration by suppressing matrix metalloproteinase-2 activation through the FAK/Src and ERK pathways.

Geraniin has been reported to have numerous biological activities, including antiviral, antihypertensive, antihyperglycaemic, liver protective, antidiabetic, and apoptotic activities. However, the anti-migration effects of geraniin on oral cancer remain elusive. In this study, we revealed the potential antitumor mechanisms of geraniin through the inhibition of the migration and invasion of human oral cancer cell lines SCC-9 and SCC-14. The results of gelatin zymography and Western blot assays revealed that geraniin significantly reduced the activity and expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) of oral cancer cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, geraniin potently suppressed the phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), Src, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 but did not affect the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1/2. Moreover, blocking the MAPK/ERK1/2 pathway significantly enhanced the anti-migration ability of geraniin in oral cancer cells. In conclusion, we demonstrated that geraniin inhibits the motility of SCC-9 and SCC-14 cells in vitro through a molecular mechanism that involves the attenuation of MMP-2 expression and activity mediated by decreased FAK/Src and ERK1/2 pathways.

Structural characterisation and discrimination of the aerial parts of Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis and Paris polyphylla var. chinensis by UHPLC-QTOF-MS coupled with multivariate data analysis.

INTRODUCTION: As sources of Rhizoma Paridis are facing shortages, utilising the aerial parts of Paris polyphylla has emerged as a promising additional source. However, the components in the aerial parts still need to be explored, and it is difficult to distinguish the aerial parts of P. polyphylla Smith var. yunnanensis (PPY) and P. polyphylla var. chinensis (PPC), two varieties of P. polyphylla. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to establish a comprehensive platform to characterise steroid saponins from the aerial parts of PPY and PPC and to discriminate these two varieties. METHODOLOGY: A dereplication approach and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) analysis were used for the characterisation of steroidal saponins in the aerial parts of PPY and PPC. Multivariate statistical analysis was performed to differentiate these two varieties and screen discriminant variables. In addition, a genetic algorithm-optimised for support vector machines (GA-SVM) model was developed to predict P. polyphylla samples. The distribution of steroidal saponins in PPY and PPC was visualised by a heatmap. RESULTS: A total of 102 compounds were characterised from the aerial parts of PPY and PPC by dereplication. A clear separation of PPY and PPC was achieved, and 35 saponins were screened as marker compounds. The established GA-SVM model showed excellent prediction performance with a prediction accuracy of 100%. CONCLUSIONS: Many steroid saponins that have been reported in Rhizoma Paridis also exist in the aerial parts of P. polyphylla. Samples from the aerial parts of PPY and PPC could be discriminated using our platform.