Background COVID-19 has spread globally. Epidemiological susceptibility to COVID-19 has been reported in patients with cancer. We aimed to systematically characterise clinical features and determine risk factors of COVID-19 disease severity for patients with cancer and COVID-19. MethodsIn this multicentre, retrospective, cohort study, we included all adult patients (aged ≥18 years) with any type of malignant solid tumours and haematological malignancy who were admitted to nine hospitals in Wuhan, China, with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 between Jan 13 and March 18, 2020. Enrolled patients were statistically matched (2:1) with patients admitted with COVID-19 who did not have cancer with propensity score on the basis of age, sex, and comorbidities. Demographic characteristics, laboratory examinations, illness severity, and clinical interventions were compared between patients with COVID-19 with or without cancer as well as between patients with cancer with non-severe or severe COVID-19. COVID-19 disease severity was defined on admission on the basis of the WHO guidelines. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression, adjusted for age, sex, comorbidities, cancer type, tumour stage, and antitumour treatments, were used to explore risk factors associated with COVID-19 disease severity. This study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Register, ChiCTR2000030807. Findings Between Jan 13 and March 18, 2020, 13 077 patients with COVID-19 were admitted to the nine hospitals in Wuhan and 232 patients with cancer and 519 statistically matched patients without cancer were enrolled. Median follow-up was 29 days (IQR 22-38) in patients with cancer and 27 days (20-35) in patients without cancer. Patients with cancer were more likely to have severe COVID-19 than patients without cancer (148 [64%] of 232 vs 166 [32%] of 519; odds ratio [OR] 3•61 [95% CI 2•59-5•04]; p<0•0001). Risk factors previously reported in patients without cancer, such as older age; elevated interleukin 6, procalcitonin, and D-dimer; and reduced lymphocytes were validated in patients with cancer. We also identified advanced tumour stage (OR 2•60, 95% CI 1•05-6•43; p=0•039), elevated tumour necrosis factor α (1•22, 1•01-1•47; p=0•037), elevated N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (1•65, 1•03-2•78; p=0•032), reduced CD4+ T cells (0•84, 0•71-0•98; p=0•031), and reduced albumin-globulin ratio (0•12, 0•02-0•77; p=0•024) as risk factors of COVID-19 severity in patients with cancer. Interpretation Patients with cancer and COVID-19 were more likely to deteriorate into severe illness than those without cancer. The risk factors identified here could be helpful for early clinical surveillance of disease progression in patients with cancer who present with COVID-19.

OBJECTIVEDiabetes is one of the most distinct comorbidities of COVID-19. Here, we describe the clinical characteristics of and outcomes in patients with diabetes in whom COVID-19 has been confirmed or clinically diagnosed (with typical features on lung imaging and symptoms), and their association with glucose-lowering or blood pressure-lowering medications. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSIn this retrospective study involving 904 patients with COVID-19 (136 with diabetes, mostly type 2 diabetes), clinical and laboratory characteristics were collected and compared between the group with diabetes and the group without diabetes, and between groups taking different medications. Logistic regression was used in order to explore risk factors associated with mortality or poor prognosis. RESULTSThe proportion of comorbid diabetes is similar between cases of confirmed and of clinically diagnosed COVID-19. Risk factors for higher mortality of patients with diabetes and COVID-19 were older age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.09 [95% CI 1.04, 1.15] per year increase; P 5 0.001) and elevated C-reactive protein (aOR 1.12 [95% CI 1.00, 1.24]; P 5 0.043). Insulin usage (aOR 3.58 [95% CI 1.37, 9.35]; P 5 0.009) was associated with poor prognosis. Clinical outcomes of those who use an ACE inhibitor (ACEI) or angiotensin II type-I receptor blocker (ARB) were comparable with those of patients who do not use ACEI/ARB among patients with diabetes and hypertension who have COVID-19. CONCLUSIONSC-reactive protein may help to identify patients with diabetes who are at greater risk of dying during hospitalization. Older patients with diabetes were prone to death

No abstract

No abstract

Adult stem cells exist in various tissues and organs and have the potential to differentiate into different cell lineages, including bone, cartilage, fat, tendon, muscle, and epithelial cells of the gastrointestinal tract. Here, we report that the in vitro expanded and purified bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) might take on phenotypes with characteristics of vascular endothelial cells (7% on day 3 and 15% on day 1) or epidermal cells (3% on day 3 and 13% on day 1) after being cultured under different lineage-specific culture conditions. Also, in vivo grafting experiments showed that 5-bromodeoxyuridine-labeled MSCs could convert into the phenotypes of vascular endothelial cells (3.43, 3.46, and 2.94% on days 7, 14, and 28, respectively) in granulation tissues, sebaceous duct cells, and epidermal cells (0-1.49%) in regenerated skin, implying that these grafted MSCs might have transdifferentiated into the above three cell types. Animal autografting experiments with MSCs further confirmed that indices pertaining to wound healing quality, such as the speed of reepithelialization, the number of epidermal ridges and thickness of the regenerated epidermis, the morphology and the number and arrangement of microvasculature, fibroblasts and collagen, were much enhanced. Our results indicate that locally delivered bone marrow MSCs can enhance wound healing quality, and may generate de novo intact skin, resulting in perfect skin regeneration after full-thickness injury.

Global epidemic studies have suggested that coffee consumption is reversely correlated with the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), a metabolic disease. The misfolding of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) is regarded as one of the causative factors of T2DM. Coffee extracts have three major active components: caffeine, caffeic acid (CA), and chlorogenic acid (CGA). In this study, the effects of these major coffee components, as well as dihydrocaffeic acid (DHCA) (a major metabolite of CGA and CA), on the amyloidogenicity of hIAPP were investigated by thioflavin-T based fluorescence emission, transmission electronic microscopy, circular dichroism, light-induced cross-linking, dynamic light scattering, and MTT-based cell viability assays. The results suggest that all components show varied inhibitory effects on the formation of toxic hIAPP amyloids, in which CA shows the highest potency in delaying the conformational transition of the hIAPP molecule with the most prolonged lag time, whereas caffeine shows the lowest potency. At a 5-fold excess molar ratio of compound to hIAPP, all coffee-derived compounds affect the secondary structures of incubated hIAPP as suggested by the circular dichroism spectra and CDPro deconvolution analysis. Further photoinduced cross-linking based oligomerization and dynamic light scattering studies suggested CA and CGA significantly suppressed the formation of hIAPP oligomers, whereas caffeine showed no significant effect on oligomerization. Cell protection effects were also observed for all three compounds, with the protection efficiency being greatest for CA and least for CGA. These findings suggest that the beneficial effects of coffee consumption on T2DM may be partly due to the ability of the major coffee components and metabolites to inhibit the toxic aggregation of hIAPP.

Protein misfolding and aggregation are associated with more than twenty diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic diseases. The amyloid oligomers and fibrils may induce cell membrane disruption and lead to cell apoptosis. A great number of studies have focused on discovery of amyloid inhibitors which may prevent or treat amyloidosis diseases. Polyphenols have been extensively studied as a class of amyloid inhibitors, with several polyphenols under clinical trials as anti-neurodegenerative drugs. As oxidative intermediates of natural polyphenols, quinones widely exist in medicinal plants or food. In this study, we used insulin as an amyloid model to test the anti-amyloid effects of four simple quinones and four natural anthraquinone derivatives from rhubarb, a traditional herbal medicine used for treating Alzheimer's disease. Our results demonstrated that all eight quinones show inhibitory effects to different extent on insulin oligomerization, especially for 1,4-benzoquinone and 1,4-naphthoquinone. Significantly attenuated oligomerization, reduced amount of amyloid fibrils and reduced hemolysis levels were found after quinones treatments, indicating quinones may inhibit insulin from forming toxic oligomeric species. The results suggest a potential action of native anthraquinone derivatives in preventing protein misfolding diseases, the quinone skeleton may thus be further explored for designing effective anti-amyloidosis compounds.

Chronic cutaneous wounds represent a major health care burden in China. However, limited information exists regarding the epidemiologic changes associated with recent social and economic development. We designed a cross-sectional survey in 2,513 patients who underwent treatment of chronic cutaneous wounds from a nationally representative sample in 17 hospitals between 2007 and 2008. Results revealed the prevalence of chronic cutaneous wounds among hospitalized patients was 1.7‰. Patient ages ranged from 18 days to 96 years (median, 58 years). The highest ratios were among 40-60 and 60-80-year-old patients (31% and 38%, respectively). The leading causes of chronic cutaneous wounds were diabetes (31.3% men, 35.3% women) trauma (26.4% men, 19.2% women). Manual workers (38.5% men, 29.3% women) and retirees (27.9% men, 23.5% women) accounted for over half the chronic cutaneous wound patients. Regarding treatments, only 22.4% were treated with modern dressings or other novel technologies and more patients received antibiotics (77.8%). Treatment was paid for by the patients in 42.3% of cases, by social medical insurance in 25.0%, by commercial medical insurance in 4.8%, while 27.9% received free medical care. Approximately half the patients' wounds were completely healed at discharge (1,345/2,513). In conclusion, diabetes has recently become the leading cause of chronic cutaneous wounds in China. The large population and considerable financial burden mean that serious attention should be paid to the early detection, prevention and diagnosis of chronic cutaneous wounds, and suggest that an overall health insurance system should be established, especially for the elderly.