Consecutively confirmed COVID-19 discharged cases were enrolled. The clinical characteristics of patients with liver injury and without liver injury were compared. Results: A total of 79 COVID-19 patients were included. 31.6%, 35.4% and 5.1% COVID-19 patients had elevated levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and bilirubin respectively. Median value of ALT, AST and bilirubin for entire cohort was 36.5 (17.5 ~ 71.5) U/L, 34.5 (25.3 ~ 55.3) U/L and 12.7(8.1 ~ 15.4) mmol/L respectively. There were no significant differences in age, previous medical history and symptoms between the two groups. Males were more likely to have liver injury when infected with COVID-19 (P < .05); compared with patients without liver injury, patients with liver injury had increased levels of white blood cell counts, neutrophils, CRP and CT score (P < .05) and had a longer length of stay (P < .05). Logistic regression analyses suggested that the extent of pulmonary lesions on CT was a predictor of liver function damage (P < .05).

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Umifenovir (Arbidol®) is an antiviral drug being used to treat influenza in Russia and China. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and safety of umifenovir for COVID-19. Methods: A retrospective study was performed in a non-intensive care unit (ICU) ward in Jinyintan Hospital from 2 February 2020 to 20 March 2020. COVID-19 was confirmed by real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay of pharyngeal swab specimens. The confirmed patients were divided into the umifenovir group and the control group according to the use of umifenovir. The main outcomes were the rate of negative pharyngeal swab tests for SARS-CoV-2 within 1 week after admission and the time for the virus to turn negative. The negativity time of SARS-CoV-2 was defined as the first day of a negative test if the nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 was negative for two consecutive tests. Results: A total of 81 COVID-19 patients were included, with 45 in the umifenovir group and 36 in the control group. Baseline clinical and laboratory characteristics were comparable between the two groups. Thirty-three out of 45 (73%) patients in the umifenovir group tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 within 7 days after admission, the number was 28/36 (78%) in the control group (p 0.19). The median time from onset of symptoms to SARS-CoV-2 turning negative was 18 days (interquartile range (IQR) 12e21) in the umifenovir group and 16 days (IQR 11e21) in the control group (p 0.42). Patients in the umifenovir group had a longer hospital stay than patients in the control group (13 days (IQR 9e17) vs 11 days (IQR 9e14), p 0.04). No deaths or severe adverse reactions were found in both groups. Discussion: Umifenovir might not improve the prognosis or accelerate SARS-CoV-2 clearance in non-ICU patients. A randomized control clinical trial is needed to assess the efficacy of umifenovir.

The molecular pathogenesis as well as histogenesis of endocrine pancreatic tumors (EPTs) is not well understood , and the clinical behavior of EPTs is difficult to predict using current morphological criteria. Thus, more accurate markers of risk and better understanding of tumor initiation and progression are needed to allow a precise classification of EPTs. We have studied 44 benign and malignant EPTs by comparative genomic hybridization to correlate the overall number of genetic alterations with clinical and histopathological parameters and to identify chromosomal regions which might harbor genes involved in EPT pathogenesis and progression. Aberrations were found in 36 EPTs , and chromosomal losses (mean, 5.3) were slightly more frequent than gains (mean, 4.6). The most frequent losses involved Y (45% of male EPTs) , 6q (39%) , 11q (36%) , 3p , 3q , 11p (each 30%) , 6p (27%) , and 10q and Xq (each 25%) , whereas most common gains included 7q (43%) , 17q (41%), 5q and 14q (each 32%) , 7p , 9q , 17p , 20q (each 27%), and 12q and Xp (each 25%). A correlation was found between the total number of genetic changes per tumor and both tumor size and disease stage. In particular , losses of 3p and 6 and gains of 14q and Xq were found to be associated with metastatic disease. Furthermore , characteristic patterns of genetic changes were found in the various EPT subtypes , eg , 6q loss in malignant insulinomas , indicating that these groups might evolve along genetically different pathways. The highlighted genetic aberrations , including the newly found involvement of 6q losses and sex chromosome alterations , should stimulate the further analysis of these chromosomal regions, which may lead to the discovery of novel genes important in the tumorigenesis and evolution of EPTs. (Am J Pathol 1999, 155:1787-1794)

A template-free and surfactant-free method for the synthesis of highly monodisperse phenol formaldehyde resin and corresponding carbon nano/microspheres with excellent size tunability has been developed for the first time after investigating a series of phenol derivatives, including 3-methylphenol, 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene, 2-aminophenol, 3-aminophenol, and 4-aminophenol. The method is based on the polymerization reaction of 3-aminophenol and formaldehyde in the mixture solutions of water and ethanol to generate 3-aminophenol/formaldehyde (APF) resin colloidal spheres. The sizes of APF resin colloidal spheres are tunable in a very broad range from 80 nm up to 2500 nm by changing reaction conditions. The excellent thermal stability of APF resins allows the generation of monodisperse carbon spheres by the pyrolysis of APF resin spheres with high yields. Both APF resin spheres and corresponding carbon spheres are so monodisperse (polydispersity <3%) that can form three-dimensional periodic structures. The method has striking features of excellent monodispersity, very broad size tunability, high yield, smooth sphere surface, and easy preparation. This approach also holds great promise for the large-scale production of resin spheres and carbon spheres.