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BackgroundCOVID-19 has infected over 35 million people worldwide and led to over 1 million deaths. Several risk factors that increase COVID-19 severity have emerged, including age and a history of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, or kidney disease. However, a number of outstanding questions persist, including whether the above comorbidities correlate with increased mortality from COVID-19 or whether age is a significant confounding variable that accounts for the observed relationship between COVID-19 severity and other comorbidities.Methods and findingsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies documenting COVID-19 patients with hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, or chronic kidney disease. We classified COVID-19 cases into severe/non-severe or deceased/surviving and calculated the odds ratio (OR) for each of the four comorbidities in these cohorts. 36 studies, comprising 22,573 patients, are included in our meta-analysis. We found that hypertension is the most prevalent comorbidity in deceased COVID-19 patients (55.4%; CI: 49.4-61.3%), followed by cardiovascular disease (30.7%; CI: 22.6-38.8%), cerebrovascular disease (13.4%; CI: 9.12-19.2%), then chronic kidney disease (9.05%; CI: 5.57-15.0%). The risk of death is also significantly higher for patients with these comorbidities, with the greatest risk factor being chronic kidney disease (OR: 8.86; CI: 5.27-14.89), followed by cardiovascular disease (OR: 6.87; CI: 5.56-8.50), hypertension (OR: 4.87; CI: 4.19-5.66), and cerebrovascular disease (OR: 4.28; CI: 2.86-6.41). These risks are significantly higher than previously reported, while correlations between comorbidities and COVID-19 severity are similar to previously reported figures. Using meta-regression analysis with age as a moderating variable, we observed that age contributes to the observed risks but does not explain them fully.ConclusionsIn this meta-analysis, we observed that cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and kidney-related comorbidities in COVID-19 significantly contributes to greater risk of mortality and increased disease severity. We also demonstrated that age may not be a confounder to these associations.

In this study, based on the element powder metallurgy method, a new hybrid method is proposed, which firstly prepares TiAl-based deposit precursors by the cold spraying of mixed Ti and Al powders and then combines this with hot isostatic pressing to achieve the preparation of TiAl-based alloys. This paper explores the effects of deposition parameters on deposition efficiency and coating composition and investigates the evolution of the microstructure and properties of TiAl-based alloys by different hot isostatic pressing parameters. The results show that the prepared TiAl deposits are dense and free of microstructural defects; a high deposition efficiency (75%) and small deviation of coating composition (3 at %) are obtained under the spraying parameters of 5 MPa, 500 °C. The TiAl-based alloy with a dense microstructure can be prepared by controlling the parameters such as temperature, pressure, and heating rate of subsequent hot isostatic pressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]