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The benefits and harms of methylprednisolone treatment in patients with moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain controversial. In this study, we investigated the effect of methylprednisolone on mortality rate, viral clearance, and hospitalization stay in patients with moderate COVID-19.

Thanks to their extremely large surface-to-volume ratio, colloidal quantum dots are potential high-performance sensing materials. However, previous sensing works using their spontaneous emission suffer from low sensitivities. The absence of an amplification process and the presence of the steric hindrance of long-chain organic ligands are two possible causations. Herein we propose that these two issues can be circumvented by using the amplified spontaneous emission of colloidal quantum dots capped by short-chain inorganic ligands. To exemplify this concept, we performed humidity sensing and observed a ∼31 times enhancement in sensitivity. Meanwhile, we found that the amplified spontaneous emission threshold power was reduced by 34% in a high humidity environment. On the basis of our transient absorption measurements, we attribute these observations to the mitigation of ultrafast subpicosecond trapping processes, which are enabled by the absorption of water molecules.

Different user groups will tend to value different third-party mobile payment offerings differently, and so make different adoption decisions. Millennials are regarded as creative, socially conscious and more willing to provide opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of new technologies. Therefore, it is important to investigate the key factors that affect Chinese Millennials' adoption behavior of third-party mobile payments as they grow in popularity in China. This study establishes a new conceptual model based on the Technology Acceptance Model incorporating additional variables such as perceived risk, personal innovativeness, compatibility, and social influence. This research collected quantitative data by questionnaire (N=380). The data was analyzed by SPSS. This study suggests that social influence and attitude directly affect adoption intention towards third-party mobile payments, whereas perceived usefulness, compatibility, perceived ease of use and personal innovativeness only indirectly affect adoption intention towards third-party mobile payments.

We compared the safety and efficacy of haploidentical stem cell transplantation (haplo-SCT) to matched donor SCT (matched-SCT) in treating hematological malignancies. The Medline, Cochrane, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases were searched through 21 June 2017 using the search term “(hematological disease) AND matched AND (haploidentical OR haplo-identical OR haplo identical OR haplo transplantation OR haplo transplant OR haplo-SCT OR haplo-HSCT OR haplo-HCT).” Twenty-five studies enrolling 11,359 patients (haplo-SCT: 2677; matched-SCT: 8682) were included. The primary outcomes were acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), non-relapse mortality, and 1-year cumulative incidence of relapse. Haplo-SCT was associated with similar risks as matched-SCT for all primary endpoints. Subgroup analysis of patients who received a matched-SCT from a related donor revealed that patients who received haplo-SCT had a lower risk of acute GVHD. Among patients who received reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC), those who received haplo-SCT had a higher risk of acute grade II–IV GVHD and non-relapse mortality than did patients who received a matched-SCT from a related or unrelated donor. Haplo-SCT should continue to be considered as a safe and effective transplant option when a matched donor is unavailable, but it may not be suitable for patients who receive RIC.

Background: Adoptive immune cell transfer such as cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells has become an important adjuvant approach in patients with tumours.Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyse the adverse events (AEs) that occur during the transfusion of autologous CIK cells and to identify the risk factors associated with these AEs.Methods: Cell infusion-associated AEs were evaluated according to National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria. Analysis was performed from a single-centre data on 893 malignant tumour patients who received a total of 4088 transfusions from March 2008 to October 2013.Results: A total of 215/4088 (5.26%) transfusion cases from 893 patients presented with AEs (Grade 1 – 4); 204/215 (94.88%) were Grade 1 – 2, and 156/215 (72.56%) occurred within 24 h. The most common AEs were fever (0.88%), chills (0.56%) and fatigue (0.49%). The rare but severe AEs included anaphylactoid purpura, tumour lysis syndrome, anaphylactic shock, arthralgia. No transfusion-associated death was noticed. The mainly relative risk factors for AEs included transfer cycles and clinical stages.Conclusion: This study is a large-sample AEs research, to our knowledge, relative to immune cell transfusion from a single centre data analysis, revealing that autologous CIK cell therapy represents a fairly safe and well-tolerated treatment modality for malignant tumour patients, even rare severe, but not lethal AEs were observed in few patients.

Objective This study was performed to examine the treatment regimen used for an elderly patient with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) complicated with renal dysfunction.Case report An 85-year-old man presented with nasal and sinus disorders in May 2018. He was also found to have renal insufficiency caused by long-term consumption of compound aminopyrine phenacetin tablets. Physical examination revealed irritation of the nasal mucous membrane on the right side and dark red nasal passages with a smooth surface. The right side of the neck contained several small peanut-sized lymph nodes. A biopsy of the right nasal neoplasm revealed germinal center type DLBCL. The mini–rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone regimen (mini-R-CHOP) was administered as the main chemotherapy regimen. Additionally, the use of thrombopoietin prevented further deterioration in renal function. This individualized treatment program helped the patient to achieve complete remission. The creatinine level decreased and was well maintained.Conclusion The mini-R-CHOP and rituximab cross-use regimen was found to be safe in an elderly patient with chronic renal insufficiency. Thrombopoietin exerted a protective effect on renal function.

HLA-B*5801-TNFα-308A haplotype; acute lymphoblastic leukemia; allogeneic haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; allogeneic identical hematopoietic stem cell transplantationNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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