The feasibility of convalescent plasma therapy in severe COVID-19 patients: a pilot study

Currently, there are no approved specific antiviral agents for 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In this study, ten severe patients confirmed by real-time viral RNA test were enrolled prospectively. One dose of 200 mL convalescent plasma (CP) derived from recently recovered donors with the neutralizing antibody titers above 1:640 was transfused to the patients as an addition to maximal supportive care and antiviral agents. The primary endpoint was the safety of CP transfusion. The second endpoints were the improvement of clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters within 3 days after CP transfusion. The median time from onset of illness to CP transfusion was 16.5 days. After CP transfusion, the level of neutralizing antibody increased rapidly up to 1:640 in five cases, while that of the other four cases maintained at a high level (1:640). The clinical symptoms were significantly improved along with increase of oxyhemoglobin saturation within 3 days. Several parameters tended to improve as compared to pre-transfusion, including increased lymphocyte counts (0.65x109/L vs. 0.76x109/L) and decreased C-reactive protein (55.98 mg/L vs. 18.13 mg/L). Radiological examinations showed varying degrees of absorption of lung lesionswithin 7 days. The viral load was undetectable after transfusion in seven patients who had previous viremia. No severe adverse effects were observed. This study showed CP therapy was welltolerated and could potentially improve the clinical outcomes through neutralizing viremia in severe COVID-19 cases. The optimal dose and time point, as well as the clinical benefit of CP therapy, needs further investigation in larger well-controlled trials. Significance StatementCOVID-19 is currently a big threat to global health. However, no specific antiviral agents are available for its treatment. In this work, we explored the feasibility of convalescent plasma (CP) transfusion to rescue severe patients. The results from 10 severe adult cases showed that one dose (200 mL) of CP was welltolerated and could significantly increase or maintain the neutralizing antibodies at a high level, leading to disappearance of viremia in 7 days. Meanwhile, clinical symptoms and paraclinical criteria rapidly improved within 3 days. Radiological examination showed varying degrees of absorption of lung lesions within 7 days. These results indicate that CP can serve as a promising rescue option for severe COVID-19 while the randomized trial is warranted.

Construction of a Questionnaire of Attitudes toward Homosexuals in Chinese University Students / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective: To develop a scale to measure attitudes toward homosexuals in Chinese university students.Methods:Based on surveys and literatures, we conducted the pre-test and test for accessing the construct validity of the scale by EFA ( exploratory factor analysis) and CFA (confirmatory factor analysis) in 1010 Chinese university students.Results: There were three components that could explain 63.84% of the total variance with loading between 0.501 and 0.851 in the scale.The three components could explain 46.67%,10.27% and 6.90% of the variance separately.They were named cognitive tolerance, emotional tolerance and behavior tolerance.The scale had NFI 0.979,NNFI 0.981,CFI 0.985,RMSEA 0.073 by CFA.The Cronbach'?coefficient was 0.931 and the test-retest reliability was 0.839 (with P

Loneliness of University Students and Its Relationship with Serf-concealment,Serf-disclosure,Coping Style and Perceived Social Support / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective:To investigate the impact of self-concealment,self-disclosure,coping style and per- ceived social support on university students'loneliness.Methods:Loneliness and related factors were assessed among 482 university students using scales including UCLA Loneliness Scale,Self-concealment Scale(SCS),Self-disclosure Index(SDI),Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire(SCSQ)and Perceived Social Support Scale(PSSS).Results: The level of university students'loneliness was not high(36.5?7.4);males experienced more loneliness than fe- males(37.4?7.5/35.4?7.3,F=8.25,P0.05). Regression analysis showed that SCS,SCSQ and PSSS predicted UCLA effectively(?=0.207,-0.218,0.157, -0.380).The testing of mediating effect indicated that SCS had direct and indirect impact on UCLA through nega- tive coping style and PSSS;SDI had only indirect impact on UCLA through positive coping style and PSSS.Conclusion:SCS,SDI,SCSQ and PSSS are important factors influencing UCLA,and the intervention of univer- sity students'loneliness should focus on these variables.

GC Fingerprints of High-yield Pinellia ternata from the West of Hubei Province / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To establish a fingerprint analysis method of Pinellia ternata from the west of Hubei province.METHODS:The samples of Pinellia ternata from different areas harvested at different time and processed by different methods were analyzed by GC method to establish their fingerprint data.RESULTS: The fingerprints of Pinellia ternata have been established using GC data of the chromatographic peaks of five phytosterols from various samples,and these samples had a similarity of between 0.877 and 0.999.CONCLUSION: The fingerprints of phytosterols of Pinellia ternata are stable thus can be used as a new method for the quality control of Pinellia ternata.