Comparison of demographic features and laboratory parameters between COVID-19 deceased patients and surviving severe and critically ill cases

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) has been far more devastating than expected, showing no signs of slowing down at present. Heilongjiang Province is the most northeastern province of China, and has cold weather for nearly half a year and an annual temperature difference of more than 60℃, which increases the underlying morbidity associated with pulmonary diseases, and thus leads to lung dysfunction. The demographic features and laboratory parameters of COVID-19 deceased patients in Heilongjiang Province, China with such climatic characteristics are still not clearly illustrated.AIM To illustrate the demographic features and laboratory parameters of COVID-19 deceased patients in Heilongjiang Province by comparing with those of surviving severe and critically ill cases.METHODS COVID-19 deceased patients from different hospitals in Heilongjiang Province were included in this retrospective study and compared their characteristics with those of surviving severe and critically ill cases in the COVID-19 treatment center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University. The surviving patients were divided into severe group and critically ill group according to the Diagnosis and Treatment of New Coronavirus Pneumonia(the seventh edition).Demographic data were collected and recorded upon admission. Laboratory parameters were obtained from the medical records, and then compared among the groups.RESULTS Twelve COVID-19 deceased patients, 27 severe cases and 26 critically ill cases were enrolled in this retrospective study. No differences in age, gender, and number of comorbidities between groups were found. Neutrophil percentage(NEUT%), platelet(PLT), C-reactive protein(CRP), creatine kinase isoenzyme(CK-MB), serum troponin I(TNI) and brain natriuretic peptides(BNP) showed significant differences among the groups(P = 0.020, P = 0.001, P < 0.001, P = 0.001, P < 0.001, P <0.001, respectively). The increase of CRP, D-dimer and NEUT% levels, as well as the decrease of lymphocyte count(LYMPH) and PLT counts, showed significant correlation with death of COVID-19 patients(P = 0.023, P = 0.008, P = 0.045, P = 0.020, P = 0.015, respectively).CONCLUSION Compared with surviving severe and critically ill cases, no special demographic features of COVID-19 deceased patients were observed, while some laboratory parameters including NEUT%, PLT, CRP, CK-MB, TNI and BNP showed significant differences. COVID-19 deceased patients had higher CRP, D-dimer and NEUT% levels and lower LYMPH and PLT counts.

Rules of Ren Shunping's prescription for trearing Spleen Deficiency and Qi Stagnation Syndrome of Functional Dyspepsia Based on Data Mining

Objective:To explore the medication rules of Professor Ren Shunping treating spleen deficiency and qi stagnation syndrome of functional dyspepsia,so as to provide reference for clinical prevention and development of new drugs.Methods:The 144 Chinese herbal formulas considered as active prescribed by professor Ren Shunping for the first time treating the patients with spleen deficiency and qi stagnation syndrome of functional dyspepsia were collected,entered into TCM inheritance auxiliary platform(V2.5),and then mined by some data mining methods of the software,such as the association rules and unsupervised entropy hierarchical clustering.Results:This study involved 144 Chinese herbal formulas,including a total of 56 Chinese herbal medicines.Of these Chinese herbal medicines,the herbs of cold and warm nature,and pungent,bitter and sweet in flavors were used in a quite high frequency,all of which act on spleen,stomach,lungs,large intestine,liver and gallbladder meridians.One core Chinese herbal formula was excavated,composed of patchouli,perilla stem,radix bupleuri,scutellaria,ginger pinellia,codonopsispilosula,magnolia bark,tangerine peel,large-headed atractylodes,immature bitter orange,wood incense,fructus amomi,inula britannica chinensis,ginger,medicated leaven,fried rice and fried malt based on the association rules.And a total of 17 groups of core used drugs and 2 groups of new Chinese herbal formulas undiscovered were mined based on unsupervised entropy hierarchical clustering.Conclusion:In treating spleen deficiency and qi stagnation syndrome of functional dyspepsia,professor Ren is good at treating spleen deficiency and qi stagnation syndrome of functional dyspepsia from the perspective of"tong jiang",using the"five-in-one"strategy of strengthening the spleen,evacuating the liver,coming down qi from the stomach,dispersing lung,and bowel-reflexing to treat patients as a whole.And the herbal medicines were light in dose,lovely and mild in nature for the formulars.At the same time,he paid attention to the combination of syndromes and symptoms,and flexible arbitration.

Zinc metalloprotease FgM35,which targets the wheat zinc-binding protein TaZnBP,contributes to the virulence of Fusarium graminearum

Metalloproteinases are ubiquitous in organisms.Most metalloproteinases secreted by pathogenic microorganisms are also called virulence factors,because they degrade proteins in the external tissues of the host,thereby reducing the host’s immunity and increasing its susceptibility to disease.Zinc metalloproteinase is one of the most common metalloproteinases.In our report,we studied the biological function of zinc metalloprotease FgM35 in Fusarium graminearum and the pathogen-host interaction during infection.We found that the asexual and sexual reproduction of the deletion mutantΔFgM35 were affected,as well as the tolerance of F.graminearum to metal stress.In addition,deletion of FgM35 reduced the virulence of F.graminearum.The wheat target TaZnBP was screened using a wheat yeast cDNA library,and the interaction between FgM35 and TaZnBP was verified by HADDOCK molecular docking,yeast two-hybrid,Bi-FC,Luc,and Co-IP assays.The contribution of TaZnBP to plant immunity was also demonstrated.In summary,our work revealed the indispensable role of FgM35 in the reproductive process and the pathogenicity of F.graminearum,and it identified the interaction between FgM35 and TaZnBP as well as the function of TaZnBP.This provides a theoretical basis for further study of the function of metalloproteinases in pathogen-host interactions.

Correction:Zinc metalloprotease FgM35,which targets the wheat zinc-binding protein TaZnBP,contributes to the virulence of Fusarium graminearum

Following publication of the original article(Wang et al.2024),the authors reported an error in Fig.4a,which should be updated from.