Clinical manifestations and pathogen characteristics in children admitted for suspected COVID-19
AbstractCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has spread around the world. However, approaches to distinguish COVID-19 from pneumonia caused by other pathogens have not yet been reported. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 97 children with probable COVID-19. A total of 13 (13.4%) patients were confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection by nucleic acid RT-PCR testing, and 41 (42.3%) patients were found to be infected with other pathogens. Notably, no pathogen was detected in 43 (44.3%) patients. Among all patients, 25 (25.8%) had ...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - October 27, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Persistence of humoral and cellular immune response after SARS-CoV-2 infection: opportunities and challenges
(Source: Frontiers of Medicine)
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - October 24, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Precision medicine in acute lymphoblastic leukemia
AbstractThe cure rate of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has exceeded 90% in some contemporary clinical trials. However, the dose intensity of conventional chemotherapy has been pushed to its limit. Further improvement in outcome will need to rely more heavily on molecular therapeutic as well as immuno-and cellular-therapy approaches together with precise risk stratification. Children withETV6-RUNX1 or hyperdiploid> 50 ALL who achieve negative minimal residual disease during early remission induction are suitable candidates for reduction in treatment. Patients with Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive or P...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - October 19, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Metabolism and immunity in breast cancer
AbstractBreast cancer is one of the most common malignancies that seriously threaten women ’s health. In the process of the malignant transformation of breast cancer, metabolic reprogramming and immune evasion represent the two main fascinating characteristics of cancer and facilitate cancer cell proliferation. Breast cancer cells generate energy through increased glucose metabolism. Li pid metabolism contributes to biological signal pathways and forms cell membranes except energy generation. Amino acids act as basic protein units and metabolic regulators in supporting cell growth. For tumor-associated immunity, poor imm...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - October 19, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Durability of neutralizing antibodies and T-cell response post SARS-CoV-2 infection
AbstractThe ongoing pandemic of Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is caused by a newly discovered β Coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). How long the adaptive immunity triggered by SARS-CoV-2 can last is of critical clinical relevance in assessing the probability of second infection and efficacy of vaccination. Here we examined, using ELISA, the IgG an tibodies in serum specimens collected from 17 COVID-19 patients at 6–7 months after diagnosis and the results were compared to those from cases investigated 2 weeks to 2 months post-infection. All samples were positive for IgGs a...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - October 4, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Bioactive hyaluronic acid fragments inhibit lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory responses via the Toll-like receptor 4 signaling pathway
In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the B-HA attenuated the LPS-stimulated inflammatory response by inhibiting the activation of the TLR4 signaling pathway. B-HA could be a potential anti-inflammatory drug in the treatment of inflammatory disea se. (Source: Frontiers of Medicine)
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - September 17, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Chinese herbal medicine reduces mortality in patients with severe and critical Coronavirus disease 2019: a retrospective cohort study
This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in patients with severe/critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this retrospective study, data were collected from 662 patients with severe/critical COVID-19 who were admitted to a designated hospital to treat patients with severe COVID-19 in Wuhan before March 20, 2020. All patients were divided into an exposed group (CHM users) and a control group (non-users). After propensity score matching in a 1:1 ratio, 156 CHM users were matched by propensity score to 156 non-users. No significant differences in seven baseline clinical variables were...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - September 13, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Clinical features and the traditional Chinese medicine therapeutic characteristics of 293 COVID-19 inpatient cases
We reported the clinical features and therapeutic characteristics of moderate COVID-19 cases in Wuhan that were treated via the integration of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western medicine. We collected electronic medical record (EMR) data, which included the full clinical profiles of patients, from a designated TCM hospital in Wuhan. The structured data of symptoms and drugs from admission notes were obtained through an information extraction process. Other key clinical entities were also confirmed and normalized to obtain information on the diagnosis, clinical treatments, laboratory tests, and outcomes of the p...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - September 13, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Erratum to: Screening for main components associated with the idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity of a tonic herb, Polygonum multiflorum
The original version of this article unfortunately contained some mistakes.The panel of “LPS-/drug-” in Fig. 3B (Page 259), the panels of “LPS-/EtoAc+” and “LPS-/Residue+” in Supplementary Fig. 3 (Page 7 in the online supplementary materials) should be corrected. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the artic le in any way. (Source: Frontiers of Medicine)
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - September 11, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Comprehensive functional annotation of susceptibility variants identifies genetic heterogeneity between lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma
AbstractAlthough genome-wide association studies have identified more than eighty genetic variants associated with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) risk, biological mechanisms of these variants remain largely unknown. By integrating a large-scale genotype data of 15 581 lung adenocarcinoma (AD) cases, 8350 squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) cases, and 27 355 controls, as well as multiple transcriptome and epigenomic databases, we conducted histology-specific meta-analyses and functional annotations of both reported and novel susceptibility variants. We identified 3064 credible risk variants for NSCLC, which were overrepresen...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - September 4, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Effects of vitrification and cryostorage duration on single-cell RNA-Seq profiling of vitrified-thawed human metaphase II oocytes
AbstractOocyte cryopreservation is widely used for clinical and social reasons. Previous studies have demonstrated that conventional slow-freezing cryopreservation procedures, but not storage time, can alter the gene expression profiles of frozen oocytes. Whether vitrification procedures and the related frozen storage durations have any effects on the transcriptomes of human metaphase II oocytes remain unknown. Four women (30 –32 years old) who had undergone IVF treatment were recruited for this study. RNA-Seq profiles of 3 fresh oocytes and 13 surviving vitrified-thawed oocytes (3, 3, 4, and 3 oocytes were cryostored fo...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - September 1, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Recent advances in myeloid-derived suppressor cell biology
AbstractIn recent years, studying the role of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in many pathological inflammatory conditions has become a very active research area. Although the role of MDSCs in cancer is relatively well established, their role in non-cancerous pathological conditions remains in its infancy resulting in much confusion. Our objectives in this review are to address some recent advances in MDSC research in order to minimize such confusion and to provide an insight into their function in the context of other diseases. The following topics will be specifically focused upon: (1) definition and characteriz...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - September 1, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Applications of atomic force microscopy in immunology
AbstractCellular mechanics, a major regulating factor of cellular architecture and biological functions, responds to intrinsic stresses and extrinsic forces exerted by other cells and the extracellular matrix in the microenvironment. Cellular mechanics also acts as a fundamental mediator in complicated immune responses, such as cell migration, immune cell activation, and pathogen clearance. The principle of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and its three running modes are introduced for the mechanical characterization of living cells. The peak force tapping mode provides the most delicate and desirable virtues to collect high-...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - August 18, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Long non-coding RNA SAP30-2:1 is downregulated in congenital heart disease and regulates cell proliferation by targeting HAND2
This study aimed to investigate the role of dysregulated lncRNAs in CHD. We used Gene Expression Omnibus data mining, bioinformatics analysis, and analysis of clinical tissue samples and observed that the novel lncRNA SAP30-2:1 with unknown function was significantly downregulated in damaged cardiac tissues from patients with CHD. Knockdown of lncRNA SAP30-2:1 inhibited the proliferation of human embryonic kidney and AC16 cells and decreased the expression of heart and neural crest derivatives expressed 2 (HAND2). Moreover, lncRNA SAP30-2:1 was associated with HAND2 by RNA immunoprecipitation. Overall, these results sugges...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - August 18, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
Programming CAR T cells to enhance anti-tumor efficacy through remodeling of the immune system
AbstractChimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells have been indicated effective in treating B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and have shown encouraging results in preclinical and clinical studies. However, CAR T cells have achieved minimal success against solid malignancies because of the additional obstacles of their insufficient migration into tumors and poor amplification and persistence, in addition to antigen-negative relapse and an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Various preclinical studies are exploring strategies to overcome the above challenges. Mobilization of endogenous immune cells...
Source: Frontiers of Medicine - August 12, 2020 Category: General Medicine Source Type: research
