[Respiratory virus infection and its influence on outcome in children with septic shock]

Objective: To investigate respiratory virus infection in children with septic shock in pediatric care units (PICU) in China and its influence on clinical outcomes. Methods: The clinical data of children with septic shock in children's PICU from January 2018 to December 2019 in 10 Chinese hospitals were retrospectively collected. They were divided into the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 groups according to the onset of disease, and the characteristics and composition of respiratory virus in the 2 groups were compared. Matching age, malignant underlying diseases, bacteria, fungi and other viruses, a new database was generated using 1∶1 propensity score matching method. The children were divided into the respiratory virus group and non-respiratory virus group according to the presence or absence of respiratory virus infection; their clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment were compared by t-test, rank sum test and Chi-square test. The correlation between respiratory virus infection and the clinical outcomes was analyzed by logistic regression. Results: A total of 1 247 children with septic shock were included in the study, of them 748 were male; the age was 37 (11, 105) months. In the pre-and post-COVID-19 groups, there were 530 and 717 cases of septic shock, respectively; the positive rate of respiratory virus was 14.9% (79 cases) and 9.8% (70 cases); the seasonal distribution of septic shock was 28.9% (153/530) and 25.9% (185/717) in autumn, and 30.3% (161/530) and 28.3% (203/717) in winter, respectively, and the corresponding positive rates of respiratory viruses were 19.6% (30/153) and 15.7% (29/185) in autumn, and 21.1% (34/161) and 15.3% (31/203) in winter, respectively. The positive rates of influenza virus and adenovirus in the post-COVID-19 group were lower than those in the pre-COVID-19 group (2.1% (15/717) vs. 7.5% (40/530), and 0.7% (5/717) vs. 3.2% (17/530), χ2=21.51 and 11.08, respectively; all P<0.05). Rhinovirus virus were higher than those in the pre-Covid-19 group (1.7% (12/717) vs. 0.2% (1/530), χ2=6.51, P=0.011). After propensity score matching, there were 147 cases in both the respiratory virus group and the non-respiratory virus group. Rate of respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress, rate of disseminated coagulation dysfunction, and immunoglobulin usage of the respiratory virus group were higher than those of non-respiratory virus group (77.6% (114/147) vs. 59.2% (87/147), 17.7% (26/147) vs. 4.1% (6/147), 15.6% (25/147) vs. 4.1% (7/147), and 35.4% (52/147) vs. 21.4% (32/147); χ2=11.07, 14.02, 11.06 and 6.67, all P<0.05); and PICU hospitalization of the former was longer than that of the later (7 (3, 16) vs. 3 (1, 7)d, Z=5.01, P<0.001). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of respiratory viral infection was associated with respiratory failure, disseminated coagulation dysfunction, the use of mechanical ventilation, and the use of immunoglobulin and anti-respiratory viral drugs (OR=2.42, 0.22, 0.25, 0.56 and 1.12, all P<0.05). Conclusions: The composition of respiratory virus infection in children with septic shock is different between pre and post-COVID-19. Respiratory viral infection is associated with organ dysfunction in children with septic shock. Decreasing respiratory viral infection through respiratory protection may improve the clinical outcome of these children.

[Expression profile of intervertebral disc degeneration-specific genes: a transcriptome sequencing-based analysis]

OBJECTIVE

To identify new therapeutic targets for intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) by analyzing gene variations in IDD.

OBJECTIVE

We analyzed surgical samples of intervertebral disc from 4 patients with IDD and 3 patients with non-IDD using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technology to identify significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in IDD. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases were utilized for gene enrichment studies to acquire the key genes and signal pathways during IDD progression. The differential expressions of the identified genes in IDD were validated in clinical samples with qRT-PCR.

OBJECTIVE

The transcriptome profile revealed 512 significant DEGs, which were enriched in terms of keratinization, extracellular matrix (ECM) components, growth factor binding, and inflammatory chemotaxis in GO analysis. The top 10 terms of KEGG enrichment included amoebiasis, viral protein interaction with cytokine and cytokine receptor, ECM-receptor interaction, IL-17 signaling pathway, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, TNF signaling pathway, AGE-RAGE signaling pathway in diabetic complications, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, chemokine signaling pathway and estrogen signaling pathway. Thirteen DEGs selected as the targets for qRT-PCR validation showed significant differential expressions in IDD (P < 0.001), and their expression trends were all consistent with the results of RNA-seq. Among these genes, 10 genes showed significant intergroup fold change (Log2FoldChange>1).

OBJECTIVE

ECM, growth factors, collagen components, inflammatory chemokines and such signal pathways as TNF-α and PI3K-Akt all have important contributions to IDD progression and may thus serve as new therapeutic targets for treatment of IDD.

Boosting one-step conversion of cyclohexane to adipic acid by NO2 and VPO composite catalysts

We demonstrate VPO composites as efficient catalysts for highly selective oxidation of cyclohexane to adipic acid with NO2. In particular, the Ni-Al-VPO composite catalyst exhibits the striking conversion of cyclohexane (60.6%) and exceptionally high selectivity towards adipic acid (85.0%). Moreover, N2O is an environmentally harmful gas, and its yield in the present process is only 0.03 t/t adipic acid, which is far below that obtained using the industrial method (0.3 t/t adipic acid). This work provides a new strategy for the one-step synthesis of dicarboxylic acids from cycloalkanes.

H3PW12O40 synergized with MCM-41 for the catalytic nitration of benzene with NO2 to nitrobenzene

In this work, NO₂ as a nitration agent and the supported HPW/MCM-41 as a synergistic catalyst to replace traditional nitric acid and sulfuric acids were employed to catalyze benzene nitration to nitrobenzene.

Anatomical research on the subacromial interval following implantation of clavicle hook plates

This article aimed to explore whether hook plate implantation significantly narrowed the subacromial space. 24 shoulder joints were implanted with clavicle hook plates. A Vernier caliper was used to measure the length and thickness of the acromion. In addition, the length and thickness of the hook of the plate were measured. The data from all measurements recorded were divided into 2 groups Group A, the length group: the length of acromion and the hook, and Group B, the thickness group: the thickness of acromion and the depth of hook. There are significant statistical differences when comparing between the subgroups within each group. The depth of the hook exceeds the thickness of the acromion (12.41±2.80 mm vs. 10.44±2.59 mm, respectively), the hook plate implantation significantly narrowed the subacromial space by 1.97±1.19 mm (p<0.01), and the length of the hook was shorter than that of the acromion by 9.75±3.64 mm (p<0.01). Our findings revealed that the hook plate with only 3 depths could not match the acromion satisfactorily and the hook plate implantation significantly narrowed the subacromial space. A hook plate with a variable depth, which can match better with patient's anatomy, is worthy of further investigation in the future.

[A neuropsychologic study in migraine patients]

A neuropsychologic test battery (nine kinds, eighteen items) was administered to 16 patients with classic migraine and 32 with common migraine in between attacks, 20 patients with functional headache and 20 physically and mentally healthy volunteers were sustained the test battery as control. The results suggested that the patients of both migraine groups had higher nervous dysfunction in motor, perception, memory, abstract thought, attention and information processing, statistic analysis showed significant difference between both migraine groups and normal control group. The higher nervous dysfunction became worse with the prolongation of course of migraine.

Distribution of red cell blood group systems in Yi, Tibetan and Manchu ethnic groups in China

A survey on distribution of ten red cell blood group systems was carried out in 1985 in the Yi, Tibetan and Manchu nationalities in China. Significant differences were found in the distribution of Rh, MNSs, P and especially in the ABO system, while no significant difference was found for Diego, Duffy, Kell, Kidd and XG systems. The DI*a gene frequency was about 0.03, FY*a rather high (0.94), KEL*K extremely low (0.005) and JK*a was about 0.4. In the three nationalities under study, Yi is characterized by high frequencies of the alleles A, M and CDe and by the absence of CDE and Cde. Tibetans show a high frequency of O and a relatively high frequency of P*P1, while Manchus have the lowest frequency of M and in particular of MS.