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The study aimed to explore the influencing factors on critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients’ prognosis and to construct a nomogram model to predict the mortality risk. We retrospectively analyzed the demographic data and corresponding laboratory biomarkers of 102 critical COVID-19 patients with a residence time ≥ 24 h and divided patients into survival and death groups according to their prognosis. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to assess risk factors for critical COVID-19 patients and a nomogram was constructed based on the screened risk factors. Logistic regression analysis showed that advanced age, high peripheral white blood cell count (WBC), low lymphocyte count (L), low platelet count (PLT), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were associated with critical COVID-19 patients mortality risk (p < 0.05) and these were integrated into the nomogram model. Nomogram analysis showed that the total factor score ranged from 179 to 270 while the corresponding mortality risk ranged from 0.05 to 0.95. Findings from this study suggest advanced age, high WBC, high hs-CRP, low L, and low PLT are risk factors for death in critical COVID-19 patients. The Nomogram model is helpful for timely intervention to reduce mortality in critical COVID-19 patients.

Red blood cell (RBC)-mimicking nanoparticles (NPs) offer a promising platform for drug delivery because of their prolonged circulation time, reduced immunogenicity and specific targeting ability. Herein, we report the design and preparation of RBC membrane-bound NPs (M@AP), for tumoral photodynamic-immunotherapy. The M@AP is formed by self-assembly of the positively charged aggregation-induced emission luminogen (AIEgen) (named P2-PPh3) and the negatively charged polyinosinic : polycytidylic acid (Poly(I : C)), followed by RBC membrane encapsulation. P2-PPh3 is an AIE-active conjugated polyelectrolyte with additional photosensitizing ability for photodynamic therapy (PDT), while Poly(I : C) serves as an immune-stimulant to stimulate both tumor and immune cells to activate immunity, and thus reduces tumor cell viability. When applied in tumor-bearing mice, the M@AP NPs are enriched in both the tumor region as a result of an enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, and the spleen because of the homing effect of the RBC-mimicking shell. Upon light irradiation, P2-PPh3 promotes strong ROS generation in tumor cells, inducing the release of tumor antigens (TA). The anti-tumor immunity is further enhanced by the presence of Poly(I : C) in M@AP. Thus, this strategy combines the PDT properties of the AIE-active polyelectrolyte and immunotherapy properties of Poly(I : C) to achieve synergistic activation of the immune system for anti-tumor activity, providing a novel strategy for tumor treatment., Immunotherapy has great potential, but the response of some tumors to immunotherapy is not high. Herein, we developed a biomimetic red cell membrane loaded with aggregation-induced emission luminogen and polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid nanoparticles to enhance the efficacy of tumor immunotherapy.

Introduction Prehypertension is highly prevalent. However, very few studies have evaluated the association of various metabolic risk factors in those with prehypertension and, more importantly, possible differences based on gender. Material and methods Data of clinical characteristics were collected from 3891 subjects. Risk factors were analyzed by multiple logistic regression analysis. The areas under receiver operating characteristic curves were compared to assess the discriminatory value of metabolic parameters for predicting prehypertension. Results The incidence of prehypertension was 55.9% (66.9% of men, 41.1% of women). Prehypertensives showed clusters of metabolic associations including changes in the levels of plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR = 1.550), triglycerides (OR = 1.141) and fasting blood glucose (OR = 1.320) after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index and smoking. The metabolic associations also showed differences based on gender. For instance, higher total cholesterol (OR = 1.602) was the most evident risk factor in men with prehypertension, while higher triglycerides (OR = 1.314) and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR = 1.729) were the main risk factors in women. Conclusions Our study suggests that risk associations of prehypertension show gender differences. These results emphasize the importance of health education, active management of blood pressure and timely and effective treatment of abnormal lipid profile in subjects with prehypertension.

Lung cancer is one of the most common malignant diseases and a major threat to public health on a global scale. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has a higher degree of malignancy and a lower 5-year survival rate compared with that of small-cell lung cancer. NSCLC may be mainly divided into two pathological subtypes, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. The aim of the present study was to identify disease genes based on the gene expression profile and the shortest path analysis of weighted functional protein association networks with the existing protein-protein interaction data from the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes. The gene expression profile (GSE10245) was downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus database, including 40 lung adenocarcinoma and 18 lung squamous cell carcinoma tissues. A total of 8 disease genes were identified using Naive Bayesian Classifier based on the Maximum Relevance Minimum Redundancy feature selection method following preprocessing. An additional 21 candidate genes were selected using the shortest path analysis with Dijkstra's algorithm. The AURKA and SLC7A2 genes were selected three and two times in the shortest path analysis, respectively. All those genes participate in a number of important pathways, such as oocyte meiosis, cell cycle and cancer pathways with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis. The present findings may provide novel insights into the pathogenesis of NSCLC and enable the development of novel therapeutic strategies. However, further investigation is required to confirm these findings.