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Objective: the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score is an objective tool widely used to assess nutritional status of patients. We aimed to investigate the value of CONUT score on predicting length of hospital stay (LOS) and the risk of long COVID in patients with COVID-19. Methods: a total of 151 patients with COVID-19 were enrolled for analysis. Patients were followed up for two years from three months after the onset of SARS-CoV-2 infection. CONUT score was calculated on admission. The correlation between CONUT score and LOS were assessed by Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and multivariate linear analysis. The association between different CONUT grade and long COVID was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival curves with log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard models. Results: Spearman's rank correlation coefficient showed that CONUT scores were positively correlated with LOS (r = 0.469, p < 0.001). Multivariate linear analysis showed that CONUT score is the only independent determinant of LOS (B 2.055, 95 % CI: 1.067-3.043, p < 0.001). A total of 53 (35.10 %) patients with long COVID were identified. Kaplan-Meier cumulative survival curves and Cox proportional hazards analyses showed that the incidence of long COVID in patients with a higher CONUT score was significantly higher than in patients with lower CONUT score (p < 0.001). Conclusions: higher CONUT score predicts longer LOS and the risk of long COVID in patients with COVID-19. The CONUT score might be useful for risk stratification in COVID-19 patients and help to develop new nutritional treatment strategies for long COVID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between stent expansion conditions and clinical outcomes is not completely understood. This prospective cohort study included patients who were successfully implanted with second-generation drug-eluting stent in 2012 and received follow-up angiography in 9-12 months. Stent over-expansion was defined as ≥ 1.05 of the stented segment over the reference artery diameter. Imaging parameters were measured, and the follow-up period was 7 years. A total of 123 patients with 161 lesions were enrolled, and 75 (46.58%) stents were found to be over-expanded. The baseline clinical and procedural data were comparable. Stent over-expansion showed a markedly increased diameter stenosis percentage (DSP) at 1-year follow-up (24.12 ± 21.10% vs. 14.65 ± 16.75%, P = 0.002) and high late lumen loss (LLL) in-segment (0.54 ± 0.62 mm vs. 0.31 ± 0.55 mm, P = 0.014). Furthermore, 63 patients with ≥ 1 over-expanded stented lesions were classified into the over-expansion group. Cumulative major cardiac adverse event (MACE) was higher in the over-expansion group than the norm-expansion group (17.5% vs. 8.3%, P = 0.133). Target lesion revascularization/target vessel revascularization increased during the 7-year follow-up period in the over-expansion group compared with the norm-expansion group (11.1% vs. 3.3%, P = 0.098). The Kaplan-Meier cumulative MACE-free survival showed a better tendency for statistical differences in the norm-expansion group than in the over-expansion group (log-rank test; P = 0.083). Conclusion: Stent over-expansion is associated with a significant increase in LLL and DSP at 1-year angiographic follow-up and with the increasing trend of cumulative MACE during 7-year clinical follow-up period compared with stent norm-expansion. Stent over-expansion needs to be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The clonal spread of multiple drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging problem in China. We analysed the molecular epidemiology of Acinetobacter baumanni isolates at three teaching hospitals and investigated the risk factors, clinical features, and outcomes of hospital-acquired pneumonia caused by extensive drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (XDRAB) infection in Guangzhou, China.Methods: Fifty-two A. baumannii isolates were collected. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was used to assess the genetic relationships among the isolates. The bla OXA-51-like gene was amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. The resistance phenotypes were determined using the disc diffusion method. A retrospective case-control study was performed to determine factors associated with XDRAB pneumonia.Results: Most of the 52 A. baumannii isolates (N = 37, 71.2%) were collected from intensive care units (ICUs). The respiratory system was the most common bodily site from which A. baumannii was recovered (N = 45, 86.5%). Disc diffusion classified the isolates into 17 multidrug-resistant (MDR) and 35 extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains. MLST grouped the A. baumannii isolates into 5 existing sequence types (STs) and 7 new STs. ST195 and ST208 accounted for 69.2% (36/52) of the isolates. The clonal relationship analysis showed that ST195 and ST208 belonged to clonal complex (CC) 92. According to the sequence-based typing (SBT) of the bla OXA-51-like gene, 51 A. baumannii isolates carried OXA-66 and the rest carried OXA-199. There were no significant differences with respect to the resistance phenotype between the CC92 and non-CC92 strains (P = 0.767). The multivariate analysis showed that the APACHE II score, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cardiac disease were independent risk factors for XDRAB pneumonia (P < 0.05). The mortality rate of XDRAB pneumonia was high (up to 42.8%), but pneumonia caused by XDRAB was not associated with in-hospital mortality (P = 0.582).Conclusions: ST195 may be the most common ST in Guangzhou, China, and may serve as a severe epidemic marker. SBT of bla OXA-51-like gene variants may not result in sufficient dissimilarities to type isolates in a small-scale, geographically restricted study of a single region. XDRAB pneumonia was strongly related to systemic illnesses and the APACHE II score but was not associated with in-hospital mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) can attach to food, host tissues and the surfaces of medical implants and form a biofilm, which makes it difficult to eliminate. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of honokiol on biofilm-grown S. aureus. In this report, honokiol showed effective antibacterial activity against S. aureus in biofilms. S. aureus isolates are capable of producing distinct types of biofilms mediated by polysaccharide intercellular adhesion (PIA) or extracellular DNA (eDNA). The biofilms' susceptibility to honokiol was evaluated using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) analysis. The transcript levels of the biofilm-related genes, the expression of PIA, and the amount of eDNA of biofilm-grown S. aureus exposed to honokiol were also investigated. The results of this study show that honokiol can detach existing biofilms, kill bacteria in biofilms, and simultaneously inhibit the transcript levels of sarA, cidA and icaA, eDNA release, and the expression of PIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) was involved in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease (CAD). We tested whether plasma PKM2 concentrations were correlated with clinical severity and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in CAD patients., Materials and Methods: A total of 2443 CAD patients and 238 controls were enrolled. The follow-up time was two years. Plasma PKM2 concentrations were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits (Cloud-Clone, Wuhan, China) using SpectraMax i3x Multi-Mode Microplate Reader (Molecular Devices, San Jose, USA). The predictors of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) were assessed by logistic regression analysis. The association between PKM2 concentration in different quartiles and MACEs was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves with log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard models. The predictive value of PKM2 and a cluster of conventional risk factors was determined by Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The net reclassification improvement (NRI) and the integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) were utilized to evaluate the enhancement in risk prediction when PKM2 was added to a predictive model containing a cluster of conventional risk factors., Results: In CAD patients, PKM2 concentration was the independent predictor of ACS (P < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier cumulative survival curves and Cox proportional hazards analyses revealed that patients with a higher PKM2 concentration had higher incidence of MACEs compared to those with a lower PKM2 concentration (P < 0.001). The addition of PKM2 to a cluster of conventional risk factors significantly increased its prognostic value of MACEs., Conclusion: Baseline plasma PKM2 concentrations predict the clinical severity and prognosis of CAD., Competing Interests: Potential conflict of interest None declared., (Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine.)

Glutamate ionotropic receptor kainate type subunit 3 (GRIK3) is a predominant excitatory neurotransmitter receptor in the mammalian brain. While it is known that GRIK3 is involved in normal neurophysiologic processes, its biological functions in tumor progression are still poorly understood due to limited investigation. In this study, we reported for the first time that GRIK3 expression was downregulated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues as compared to paracarcinoma tissues. Additionally, we observed that GRIK3 expression was strongly correlated with the prognosis of NSCLC patients. We also noted that GRIK3 suppressed the cell proliferation and migration capability of NSCLC cells, thereby inhibiting xenografts growth and metastasis. Mechanistically, GRIK3 deficiency increased the expression of ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 C (UBE2C) and cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), which resulted in the activation of the Wnt signaling pathway and enhanced NSCLC progression. Our findings suggest that GRIK3 plays a role in regulating NSCLC progression and that its expression may serve as an independent prognostic indicator for NSCLC patients., Competing Interests: None., (AJCR Copyright © 2023.)

Soil enzymes are catalysts for organic matter decomposition, the kinetic characteristics of which are important indicators of the catalytic performance of enzymes, with important role in evalua-ting soil health quality. We examined the responses of soil enzyme kinetic parameters to temperature change and the variation characteristics of their temperature sensitivity ( Q 10 ) in Robinia pseu-doacacia plantation soil under three different vegetation zones on the Loess Plateau. The results showed that the potential maximum reaction rate ( V max ) and the half-saturation constant ( K m ) of alanine transaminase (ALT), leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) all increased linearly with the increasing incubation temperature. The zonal regularity of forest zone &gt; forest-steppe zone &gt; steppe zone was presented in V max . The temperature sensitivity of V max ( Q 10( V max )) ranged from 1.14 to 1.62, and the temperature sensitivity of K m ( Q 10( K m ) ) ranged from 1.05 to 1.47, with both values being lower in forest-steppe zone than other vegetation zones. In low and high temperature regions, the variations of Q 10 in different soil enzymes differed among vegetation zones. Results from redundancy analysis showed that Q 10 had a significant correlation with environmental variables, especially soil nutrients, indicating that Q 10 would be affected by other environmental factors besides temperature.

Introduction: Lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1) is involved in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Circulating soluble LOX-1 (sLOX-1) has been linked to the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). Our aim was to test if baseline serum sLOX-1 was associated with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with stable CAD., Materials and Methods: This multicentre pilot study enrolled 833 stable CAD patients. All patients were followed for two years. Serum sLOX-1 concentrations were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The association between sLOX-1 concentrations and MACE was assessed by logistic regression, Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox proportional hazards analyses. Logistic regression analysis was employed to assess the predictors of complex lesion., Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that sLOX-1 concentration was an independent predictor of MACE (OR 2.07, 95%CI 1.52 - 2.82; P < 0.001). Kaplan-Meier cumulative survival curves showed that the incidence of MACE in patients with a high sLOX-1 concentration was significantly higher than in patients with an intermediate or low sLOX-1 concentration (P < 0.001). Soluble LOX-1 concentrations were independently correlated with coronary complex lesions (OR 2.32, 95%CI 1.81 - 2.97; P < 0.001)., Conclusions: Baseline sLOX-1 concentrations were correlated with 2-year MACE in stable CAD patients. Furthermore, patients with high serum sLOX-1 concentrations had higher cumulative incidence of MACE compared to those with low serum sLOX-1 concentrations., Competing Interests: Potential conflict of interest: None declared.

Background: Adropin is a peptide hormone expressed in coronary artery endothelial cells, which plays a potential endothelial protective role. We sought to assess whether serum adropin levels are correlated with the coronary slow flow phenomenon (CSFP)., Methods: We enrolled 82 patients with angiographically confirmed CSFP and 184 age-matched controls. Serum adropin levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and coronary flow rate was assessed using thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) frame count (TFC). CSFP was defined as a corrected TIMI-TFC greater than two standard deviations from the normal range., Results: Serum adropin levels were significantly lower in the CSFP patients (n = 82) than in the controls (n = 184) (4.03 ± 1.99 vs. 4.86 ± 1.88 ng/ml, p = 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that serum adropin was the only independent negative predictor of CSFP (odds ratio 0.758, 95% confidence interval 0.647-0.888, p = 0.001). Serum adropin levels were independently and negatively correlated with mean TFC (r = -0.387, p < 0.001)., Conclusions: We demonstrated that decreased serum adropin levels were independently associated with the presence and severity of angiographically proven CSFP. These findings suggest that serum adropin may be a potential biomarker to provide valuable information regarding the prediction of CSFP.

Objective: To study methods of diagnosis and treatment for atypical pneumonia (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), outbreak of the illness in Guangzhou during Jan. - Mar., 2003., Methods: 190 cases with atypical pneumonia were analyzed, and the cases were admitted in Guangzhou municipal First Hospital and Guangzhou municipal Eighth Hospital., Results: Patients were infected by close quarters contacting each other. All patients manifest high fever, and accompany by dyspnea, cough, palpitate, weakness, headache and swirl. Other 46 cases were accompanied by diarrhea. Most of patients, manifestation of lungs was negative. Chest X-ray, shadow of lungs were light in beginning, and change to severity slowly or suddenly during 5 - 10 days. Of these cases, 36 cases develop to ARDS and 11 cases died with severity ARDS. Using general antibiotic was of no effect for the illness. Continual positive airway pressure (CPAP) and glucocorticoid was required that can control deprivation of the disease when toxicosis symptom of patients was severity and shadow of lungs diffuse more and more., Conclusion: Infectivity of the illness is evidence and spread by airway. Using general antibiotic was of no effect for the illness. Continual positive airway pressure (CPAP) and glucocorticoid are effective for control of the disease.

Activation function (AF1) region of N-terminal domain of androgen receptor (AR) is necessary for the transcriptional activation function of AR. The sequences of AF1 in twenty normal chinese were amplified by PCR and determined by direct dsDNA cycle sequencing. Based on this, the mutations in AF1 of AR in patients with androgen insensitivity syndrome(AIS) or prostate cancer(PC) were screened by a combination of single strand conformation polymorphism(SSCP) analysis and direct dsDNA cycle sequencing. The sequences between normal chinese and other races were identical and one point mutation (C966A, Ser296Arg), which had not been reported so far, was identified in a patient with prostate cancer with poor differentiation. That suggests alteration of structure and function in AF1 of N-terminal domain of AR might be relative with PC progression of some patients.