Int J Med Sci
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Objectives: As of 11 Feb 2020, a total of 1,716 medical staff infected with laboratory-confirmed the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) in China had been reported. The predominant cause of the infection among medical staff remains unclear. We sought to explore the epidemiological, clinical characteristics and prognosis of infected medical staff. ⋯ Conclusions: Our findings suggested that the infection of medical staff mainly occurred at the early stages of SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Wuhan, and only a small proportion of infection had an exact mode. Meanwhile, medical staff infected with COVID-19 have relatively milder symptoms and favorable clinical course than ordinary patients, which may be partly due to their medical expertise, younger age and less underlying diseases. The potential risk factors of fever and IL-6 levels greater than 2.9 pg/ml could help to identify medical staff with poor prognosis at an early stage.
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Facing the unprecedented global public health crisis caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), nucleic acid tests for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are the gold standard for diagnosing COVID-19. The asymptomatic carriers were not suspected of playing a significant role in the ongoing pandemic, and universal nucleic acid screening in close contacts of confirmed cases and asymptomatic carriers has been carried out in many medium- and high-risk areas for the spread of the virus. Recently, anal swabs for key population screening have been shown to not only reduce missed diagnoses but also facilitate the traceability of infectious sources. As a specimen for the detection of viruses, the goal of this paper is to briefly review the transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 and the necessity of using anal swabs for SARS-CoV-2 screening to minimize transmission and a threat to other people with COVID-19.
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Multicenter Study
Oncological and prognostic impact of lymphovascular invasion in Colorectal Cancer patients.
Objectives: Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is correlated with unfavorable prognoses in several types of cancers. We aimed to identify the informative features associated with LVI and to determine its prognostic value in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 1,474 CRC patients admitted in Wuhan Union Hospital between 2013 and 2017 as the development cohort and 549 CRC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database as the validation cohort. ⋯ The survival nomogram incorporating LVI exhibited good predictive performance and reliability in the Wuhan Union cohort and TCGA cohort. Conclusion: LVI is a significant indicator of advanced stage and is remarkably correlated with worse prognosis in CRC patients. The survival nomogram incorporating LVI may assist clinicians to better strategize the therapeutic options for patients with CRC.
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Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in more than 610,000 deaths worldwide since December 2019. Given the rapid deterioration of patients' condition before death, markers with efficient prognostic values are urgently required. During the treatment process, notable changes in plasma potassium levels have been observed among severely ill patients. ⋯ Multivariate Cox regression showed that compared with the reference group (Ka+ 4.0 to <4.5 mmol/L), 30-day mortality was 1.99 (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.54-7.35, P=0.300), 1.14 (95% CI=0.39-3.32, P=0.810), and 4.14 (95% CI=1.29-13.29, P=0.017) times higher in patients with COVID-19 who had Ka+ <4.0, 4.5 to <5.0, and ≥5.0 mmol/L, respectively. Conclusion: Patients with COVID-19 who had a Ka+ level ≥5.0 mmol/L had a significantly increased 30-day mortality compared with those who had a Ka+ level 4.0 to <4.5 mmol/L. Plasma potassium levels should be monitored routinely and maintained within appropriate ranges in patients with COVID-19.
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Meta Analysis
Association of Polymorphism rs1045411 in the HMGB1 Gene with Cancer Risk: Evidence from a Meta-analysis.
The high-mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) rs1045411 polymorphism has been demonstrated to be associated with cancer risk in some studies. However, the results regarding this topic are inconsistent. A meta-analysis was applied to elucidate the association between the HMGB1 rs1045411 polymorphism and cancer risk. ⋯ CC: OR=1.42; 95% CI 0.98-2.05), a trend of increased risk could be drawn. In the subgroup analysis by type of malignancy and ethnicity, no obvious difference was found in the tumour risk regarding the HMGB1 rs1045411 polymorphism amongst the cancer types except for breast cancer (OR=1.94; 95% CI: 1.05-3.59; p=0.03) and hepatocellular carcinoma (OR=1.82; 95% CI: 1.15-2.88; p=0.01), while rs1045411 polymorphism was positively associated with risks of cancer amongst Hans (OR=1.37; 95% CI: 1.11-1.69; p=0.004) rather than Caucasians (OR=0.89; 95% CI: 0.26-3.02; p=0.01). These results suggest that the HMGB1 rs1045411 polymorphism might be associated with increased cancer risk.