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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is ravaging the world. Many therapies have been explored to treat COVID-19. This report aimed to assess the global research trends for the development of COVID-19 therapies.We searched the relevant articles on COVID-19 therapies published from January 1, 2020, to May 25, 2022, in the Web of Science Core Collection Database (WOSCC). VOSviewer 1.6.18 software was used to assess data on the countries, institutions, authors, collaborations, keywords, and journals that were most implicated in COVID-19 pharmacological research. The latest research and changing trends in COVID-19-relevant pharmacological research were analyzed.After manually eliminating articles that do not meet the requirements, a total of 5,289 studies authored by 32,932 researchers were eventually included in the analyses, which comprised 95 randomized controlled trials. 3044 (57.6%) studies were published in 2021. The USA conducted the greatest number of studies, followed by China and India. The primary USA collaborators were China and England. The topics covered in the publications included: the general characteristics, the impact on pharmacists' work, the pharmacological research, broad-spectrum antiviral drug therapy and research, and promising targets or preventive measures, such as vaccine. The temporal diagram revealed that the current research hotspots focused on the vaccine, molecular docking, Mpro, and drug delivery keywords.Comprehensive bibliometric analysis can aid the rapid identification of the principal research topics, potential collaborators, and the direction of future research. Pharmacological research is critical for the development of therapeutic and preventive COVID-19-associated measures. This study may therefore provide valuable information for eradicating COVID-19.

Soil salinization seriously affects crop yield and soil productivity. The application of bacteria and microalgae has been considered as a promising strategy to alleviate soil salinization. However, the effect of bacteria-microalgae symbiosis on saline-alkali land is still unclear. This study evaluated the effects of Azotobacter beijerinckii, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, and their combined application on the wheat growth and saline-alkali soil improvement. The results showed that, among all the treatments, A. beijerinckii + live C. pyrenoidosa combined inoculation group (BA) had the best effect on increasing wheat plant biomass, improving salt tolerance, and improving soil fertility. The dry weight of wheat plant in the BA group increased by 66.7%, 17.4%, and 35.0%, respectively, compared with the control group (CK), A. beijerinckii inoculation group (B), and live C. pyrenoidosa inoculation group (A). The total nitrogen content of wheat plant in the BA group increased by 69.5%, 76.7%, and 71.1%, compared with the CK, B, and A group. The proline content of wheat plant in the BA group was 100% higher than that in the CK group. The N/P ratio and K/Na ratio of wheat plant increased by 157% and 12.9% in the BA group compared with the CK group, respectively, which was more conducive to alleviating nitrogen limitation and salt stress. The A. beijerinckii + live C. pyrenoidosa inoculation treatment better reduced soil pH and improved the availability of phosphorus in soil. This study illustrated the comprehensive application prospects of bacteria-microalgae interactions on wheat growth promotion and soil improvement in saline-alkali land, and provided a new effective strategy for improving saline-alkali soil quality and increasing crop productivity.

Optical imaging technologies improve clinical diagnostic accuracy of early gastric cancer (EGC). However, there was a lack of imaging agents exhibiting molecular specificity for EGCs. Here, we employed the dye labeled human heavy-chain ferritin (HFn) as imaging nanoprobe, which recognizes tumor biomarker transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1), to enable specific EGC imaging using confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE). TfR1 expression was initially examined in vitro in gastric tumor cells and in vivo through whole-body fluorescence and CLE imaging in tumor-bearing mice. Subsequently, dye labeled HFn was topically applied to resected human tissues for EGC detection. CLE analysis of TfR1-targeted fluorescence imaging allowed distinction of neoplastic from non-neoplastic tissues (P 0.0001), and TfR1 expression level was found to correlate with EGC differentiation degrees (P 0.0001). Notably, the CLE evaluation correlated well with the immunohistochemical findings (κ-coefficient: 0.8023). Our HFn-nanoprobe-based CLE increases the accuracy of EGC detection and enables visualization of tumor margins and endoscopic resection.

Summary Objective Previous studies by this group have shown that Helicobacter pylori with high thioredoxin-1 (Trx1) expression might be involved in stomach carcinogenesis in vitro. To study histopathological changes of the stomach mucosa in vivo, a Mongolian gerbil model infected with H. pylori with high Trx1 expression was established. Methods Healthy, male Mongolian gerbils (n = 75) were randomly divided into 3 groups: controls (n = 15), which were not infected with H. pylori, high Trx1 (n = 30) which were infected with H. pylori with high Trx1 expression and low Trx1 (n = 30) which were infected with low Trx1 expression H. pylori. The animals were sacrificed at 4, 20, 34, 48, 70 and 90 weeks after inoculation. Results The Mongolian gerbil model of H. pylori infection was successfully established. Three animals died during the study, leaving 72 animals (controls, n = 14; low Trx1, n = 29; high Trx1, n = 29) examined on schedule. Histopathological analysis of the stomach mucosa showed gradually increased aggravation over time in the high and low Trx1 groups. Compared with control and low Trx1, the histopathological changes were more serious in the high Trx1 group. At 90 weeks, no abnormal changes were found in the controls, but 62.5% of the high Trx1 group and 33.3% of the low Trx1 showed adenocarcinomas. The H. pylori Trx1 level in gastric cancer tissue was significantly higher than that from gastritis tissue. Within gastric cancer cells, high Trx1 expression in H. pylori significantly upregulated cyclin D1. Conclusions High Trx1 expression in H. pylori promoted stomach carcinogenesis. More studies are needed to confirm this finding.

Microvessel density (MVD) is regarded as a surrogate marker for angiogenesis and has been used for tumor prognosis. In this study, MVD was identified immunohistochemically by monoclonal antibodies against CD105 and CD34 in the tissues representing gastric carcinoma, chronic gastritis, and hyperplastic polyps, and the results were correlated with clinicopathologic features. The expression of CD105 in the microvessels within benign lesions was barely visible, and MVD was markedly lower than that determined by CD34. CD34 was strongly expressed in the microvessels within hyperplastic polyps and tissues with gastritis. In gastric carcinoma, CD105 expression in microvessels was as high as the MVD, compared with benign lesions. CD105 stained well-formed mature and newly formed immature vessels within the cancer mass. Correlation analysis showed that MVD determined by CD105 correlated with blood vessel invasion, distant metastasis, and formation of ascites. Survival analysis demonstrated an inverse correlation between MVD count and overall survival: patients with MVD counts of 32 or higher survived for a much shorter time than those with counts lower than 32. Multivariate analysis confirmed that MVD determined by CD105 was an independent prognostic factor for survival. Microvessel density determined by CD34 inversely correlated with overall survival, but it did not correlate with other clinicopathologic parameters except formation of ascites. In conclusion, CD34 was universally expressed in blood vessels within benign and malignant tissues, whereas CD105 expression was minimal in benign tissues but stronger in gastric carcinoma. These data suggest that both CD105 and CD34 could be used for quantification of angiogenesis, but preference should be given to CD105 in the evaluation of prognosis in gastric carcinoma.