Dynamic Imaging Changes of COVID-19 Pneumonia at Different Stages.

INTRODUCTION: To investigate the Computed Tomography (CT) imaging characteristics and dynamic changes of COVID-19 pneumonia at different stages. METHODS: Forty-six patients infected with COVID-19 who had chest CT scans were enrolled, and CT scans were performed 4-6 times with an interval of 2-5 days. RESULTS: At the early stage (n=25), ground glass opacity was presented in 11 patients (11/25 or 44.0 %) and ground glass opacity mixed with consolidation in 13 (13/25 or 52.0 %) in the lung CT images. At the progressive stage (n=38), ground glass opacity was presented in only one patient (1/38 or 2.6 %) and ground glass opacity mixed with consolidation in 33 (33/38 or 86.8 %). In the early improvement stage (n=38), the imaging presentation was ground glass opacity alone in three patients (3/38 or 7.9 %) and ground glass opacity mixed with consolidation in 34 (34/38 or 89.5 %). In the late improvement (absorption) stage (n=33), the primary imaging presentation was ground glass presentation in eight patients (8/33 or 24.2 %) and ground glass opacity mixed with consolidation in 23 (23/33 or 69.7 %). The lesion reached the peak at 4-16 days after disease onset, and 26 (26/38 or 68.4 %) patients reached the disease peak within ten days. Starting from 6 to 20 days after onset, the disease began to be improved, with 30 (30/38 or 78.9 %) patients being improved within 15 days. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 pneumonia will progress to the peak stage at a mediate time of seven days and enter the improvement stage at twelve days. Computed tomography imaging of the pulmonary lesion has a common pattern from disease onset to improvement and recovery and provides important information for evaluation of the disease course and treatment effect.

Clinical and imaging features of pediatric COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Pediatric COVID-19 is relatively mild and may vary from that in adults. This study was to investigate the epidemic, clinical, and imaging features of pediatric COVID-19 pneumonia for early diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: Forty-one children infected with COVID-19 were analyzed in the epidemic, clinical and imaging data. RESULTS: Among 30 children with mild COVID-19, seven had no symptoms, fifteen had low or mediate fever, and eight presented with cough, nasal congestion, diarrhea, headache, or fatigue. Among eleven children with moderate COVID-19, nine presented with low or mediate fever, accompanied with cough and runny nose, and two had no symptoms. Significantly (P < 0.05) more children had a greater rate of cough in moderate than in mild COVID-19. Thirty children with mild COVID-19 were negative in pulmonary CT imaging, whereas eleven children with moderate COVID-19 had pulmonary lesions, including ground glass opacity in ten (90.9%), patches of high density in six (54.5%), consolidation in three (27.3%), and enlarged bronchovascular bundles in seven (63.6%). The lesions were distributed along the bronchus in five patients (45.5%). The lymph nodes were enlarged in the pulmonary hilum in two patients (18.2%). The lesions were presented in the right upper lobe in two patients (18.1%), right middle lobe in one (9.1%), right lower lobe in six (54.5%), left upper lobe in five (45.5%), and left lower lobe in eight (72.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Children with COVID-19 have mild or moderate clinical and imaging presentations. A better understanding of the clinical and CT imaging helps ascertaining those with negative nucleic acid and reducing misdiagnosis rate for those with atypical and concealed symptoms.

Study on the treatment of simulated azo dye wastewater by a novel micro-electrolysis filler.

A new type of iron-copper-carbon (Fe-Cu-C) ternary micro-electrolysis filler was prepared with a certain proportion of iron powder, activated carbon, bentonite, copper powder, etc. The effect of the new type of micro-electrolysis filler on the simulated methyl orange dye wastewater was studied. The effects of various operational parameters, such as reaction time, initial pH value, aeration rate, filler dose and reaction temperature, on the degradation rate of methyl orange were studied to determine the optimum treatment conditions, and the micro-electrolysis filler was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The experimental results show that the degradation rate of 220 mL of simulated dye wastewater with a concentration of 100 mg/L reached 93.41% ± 2.94% after 60 mL/min of aeration, with an initial pH = 2, a dose of 45 g and 125 minutes of reaction at room temperature. The new micro-electrolysis filler has a high degradation rate for methyl orange solution, which is attributed to the iron and activated carbon particles sintered into an integrated structure, which makes the iron and carbon difficult to separate and affects the galvanic cell reaction. The addition of copper also greatly increases the transmission efficiency of electrons, which promotes the reaction. In addition, the surface iron is consumed, the adjacent carbon is stripped layer by layer, and the new micro-electrolytic filler does not easily passivate and agglomerate during its use.

[Preliminary study on RC membrane permeability and mechanism of seven traditional Chinese medicine alkaloids such as berberine].

In order to analyze the law of membrane permeation of different alkaloids, seven traditional Chinese medicine alkaloids with different parent nucleus and substituent structures, including berberine, palmatine, sinomenine, matrine, oxymatrine, sophoridine, and tetrandrine, were prepared into the simulated solution with same molar concentration, and the membrane penetrating experiments with membrane RC1K and membrane RC5K were carried out. The dynamic transmittance, the total transmittance and the total adsorption rate of each substance were measured, and the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the membrane surface before and after the membrane experiment were considered to predict and analyze the reason of differences in dynamic transmittance of different alkaloids. The results showed that there were significant differences in the dynamic transmittance of the chemical constituents of different alkaloids during penetrating the two membranes. The contamination degree on the surface of the membrane material was also different. The transmittance of the same compound through the RC5K membrane was larger than that through RC1K membrane. Within a certain range, the smaller the pore size of the membrane, the better the selective screening effect on the chemical constituents of traditional Chinese medicine. All the membrane surfaces were less polluted. The difference in transmittance between different substances on the same membrane showed a positive correlation with the difference in structural complexity, providing an experimental basis for the surface modification design in contamination control of membrane materials. In the design of membrane modified material, the surface properties of the membrane can be improved by grafting different polar groups, thereby changing the adsorption characteristics of the membrane surface. The pore size was designed accordingly to achieve the high transmittance and low pollution of the corresponding compounds.

[Correlation between plasma aldosterone concentration and left ventricular structure in hypertensive patients].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the correlation between plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) and left ventricular structure in hypertensive patients. METHODS: A total of 201 hypertensive patients [117 male, aged from seventeen to sixty eight years old, mean (43.6 ± 10.2) years] were included. All subjects underwent echocardiography examination for measurement of left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), LV posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), interventricular septum thickness (IVST) and LV mass index (LVMI). Plasma PAC was also measured at three postural positions. According to the sitting PAC, subjects were divided into high aldosterone group (PAC ≥ 120 ng/L, n = 83) and normal aldosterone (PAC < 120 ng/L, n = 118) group. Bivariate correlation and multiple stepwise regression analysis were performed to analyze the correlation between left ventricular structure parameters and PAC. RESULTS: IVST, LVPWT values were significantly higher in the increased PAC group than that in normal PAC group [ (10.4 ± 1.0) mm vs. (10.9 ± 1.8) mm, (10.1 ± 0.7) mm vs.(10.4 ± 1.5) mm, all P < 0.05]. Bivariate correlation analysis showed that PAC was weakly correlated with IVST (r = 0.190, P < 0.05) , while was not correlated to LVMI, LVPWT and LVEDD (all P > 0.05). Multiple linear stepwise regression analysis showed that PAC was positively correlated with IVST and LVPWT (ß = 0.206 and ß = 0.241, respectively, all P < 0.05), but was not correlated to LVMI and LVEDD (all P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: PAC is positively correlated with IVST and LVPWT in hypertensive patients.

Computer simulation of the adsorption of thiophene in all-silica Y and Na-Y.

A grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulation is performed to investigate the adsorption, heat of adsorption, and distributions of thiophene in all-silica Y and Na-Y zeolites. Biased particle insertions and deletions were implemented to allow the computation of equilibrium adsorption isotherms of such molecules. The calculated number of absorbed thiophene molecules in these zeolites is in good agreement with the experimental data. The calculated results show that the number absorbed of thiophene molecules in Na-Y is much greater than that in all-silica Y over the range of pressure. The calculated heat of adsorption is in good agreement with experimental results. The Na-Y zeolite, rather than all-silica Y, preferentially adsorbs the thiophene. A distribution analysis of the adsorbed phase structure reveals a different adsorption site in the zeolites.