Search

Background The outbreak of COVID‐19, caused by SARS‐CoV‐2, started in December 2019, Wuhan, China. We aimed to figure out the time‐point and duration of using antiviral drugs for receiving the maximal effects in patients with COVID‐19. Methods In this study, we enrolled 129 confirmed COVID‐19 mild to moderate patients who had been treated with antiviral drugs during their hospitalization in Wuhan Union Hospital China. The patients were divided into early antiviral treatment group and late antiviral treatment group. The demographic data, laboratory tests, the virus clearance time, chest computed tomography (CT) scans, etc. were extracted, calculated and compared between two groups. Results Our data showed that the median time from illness onset to initiation of antiviral treatment was 6 days in all patients. The group with early antiviral treatment demonstrated 7 days shorter in the virus clearance time when compared to the group with late antiviral treatment. After virus clearance, the group with early antiviral treatment showed milder illness than the group with late antiviral treatment. Conclusions Early antiviral treatment could effectively shorten the virus clearance time, and prevent the rapid progression of COVID‐19. Therefore, the COVID‐19 patients should receive combined therapies with antiviral treatment at early stage. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Backgound To figure out whether diabetes is a risk factor influencing the progression and prognosis of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID‐19). Methods A total of 174 consecutive patients confirmed with COVID‐19 were studied. Demographic data, medical history, symptoms and signs, laboratory findings, chest computed tomography (CT) as well the treatment measures were collected and analysed. Results We found that COVID‐19 patients without other comorbidities but with diabetes (n = 24) were at higher risk of severe pneumonia, release of tissue injury‐related enzymes, excessive uncontrolled inflammation responses and hypercoagulable state associated with dysregulation of glucose metabolism. Furthermore, serum levels of inflammation‐related biomarkers such as IL‐6, C‐reactive protein, serum ferritin and coagulation index, D‐dimer, were significantly higher (P

Anthracnose is presently recognized as one of the most important postharvest disease of mango worldwide. To control the disease, chemical fungicides for a long time was widely used among fruit farmers, but recently found that pathogen had developed increasingly resistance to it. With people's growing desire of healthy and green food, finding new and environmentally friendly biological control approach was very necessary. In this paper, we provided a kind of new antagonistic yeast which enriched the strain resources and the efficacy of Debaryomyces nepalensis against postharvest anthracnose of mango fruit and the influence on quality parameters were investigated. The results showed that the decay incidence and lesion diameter of postharvest anthracnose of mango treated by D. nepalensis were significantly reduced compared with the control fruit stored at 25 °C for 30 d or at 15 °C for 40 d, and the higher concentration of D. nepalensis was, the better the efficacy of the biocontrol was. Study also found that 1 h was the best treatment duration and antagonistic yeast inoculated earlier had good biocontrol effect on anthracnose. Meanwhile, treatment by D. nepalensis could significantly reduce postharvest anthracnose of mango, delay the decrease in firmness, TSS, TA, and ascorbic acid value, and do not impair surface color during postharvest storage. Moreover, the increase in MDA (malondialdehyde) content and increase in cell membrane permeability of fruit treated by D. nepalensis was highly inhibited. The results suggested D. nepalensis treatment could not only maintain storage quality of mango fruit, but also decrease the decay incidence to anthracnose disease. All these results indicated that D. nepalensis has great potential for development of commercial formulations to control postharvest pathogens of mango fruit.

Poly(benzoxazine-co-urethane) was prepared by melt-blending bisphenol-S/aniline-type benzoxazine (BS-a) with isocyanate-terminated polyurethane (PU) prepolymer based on 2,4-toluene diisocyanate and poly(ethylene glycol), followed by thermally activated polymerization of the blend. The copolymerization reaction between BS-a and PU prepolymer was monitored using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The morphology, dynamic mechanical properties, and thermal stability of the poly(benzoxazine-co-urethane) were studied using scanning electron microscopy, dynamic mechanical analysis, and thermogravimetry. Homogeneous morphology is shown in scanning electron micrographs of the fracture surfaces of poly(benzoxazine-co-urethane)s with different urethane weight fractions, and the roughness of the surface increases with urethane content increasing. Correspondingly, a single glass transition temperature (Tg) is shown on the dynamic mechanical analysis curves of the poly(benzoxazine-co-urethane)s, and the Tg is higher than that of the polybenzoxazine. With increase in the urethane content, the Tg and water absorption of poly(benzoxazine-co-urethane) increase, whereas the storage modulus and thermal stability decrease. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 53:2633–2639, 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers

Light-scattering materials were fabricated by the melt blending of polypropylene with an ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) to prevent the glare effect of light-emitting diodes. The results show that the light-scattering capacity was remarkably dependent on the phase morphologies of EVA. (1) When EVA was dispersed as spherical droplets, the transmittance and haze gradually increased with the enrichment of EVA, and the half-peak width of the light-scattering pattern reached a maximum when 30 wt % EVA was loaded. On the basis of the analysis of Mie scattering theory, the enlargement of scattering particles promoted light transmittance, and more incoming light was deflected at the arclike interfaces. This induced a distinct antiglare effect. (2) When scattering particles deformed and expanded vertically in the light-transmitting direction, the light-scattering capacity turned out to be weakened by further enrichment of the EVA phase. The planelike interfaces reduced the deflection of incoming light, and this led to decreases in the scattering angles. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42844.

The preparation of partial acetylation of cellulose derived from rice straw was catalyzed by phosphotungstic acid with various numbers of crystal water, and H3PW12O40·4H2O was found to be as effective catalyst. The yield of the cellulose acetate was significantly enhanced by converting cellulose directly isolated from rice straw into microcrystalline cellulose before acetylation. The optimization of the acetylation was investigated by varying the amount of catalyst and acetic anhydride as well as reaction conditions including reaction time and medium, and a degree of substitution (DS) value of 2.29 and yield of 62.9% were obtained under the optimized conditions. The structure and the formation of the acetylated product were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, the thermal properties were determined by thermal analysis including thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the morphology was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41212.