Background The death toll of COVID-19 topped 170,000 in Europe by the end of May 2020. COVID-19 has caused an immense psychological burden on the population, especially among doctors and nurses who are faced with high infection risks and increased workload. Objective The aim of this study was to compare the mental health of medical professionals with nonmedical professionals in different European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized that medical professionals, particularly those exposed to COVID-19 at work, would have higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. We also aimed to determine their main stressors and most frequently used coping strategies during the crisis. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was conducted during peak COVID-19 months in 8 European countries. The questionnaire included demographic data and inquired whether the participants were exposed to COVID-19 at work or not. Mental health was assessed via the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales32 (23.53)–21 (DASS-21). A 12-item checklist on preferred coping strategies and another 23-item questionnaire on major stressors were completed by medical professionals. Results The sample (N=609) consisted of 189 doctors, 165 nurses, and 255 nonmedical professionals. Participants from France and the United Kingdom reported experiencing severe/extremely severe depression, anxiety, and stress more often compared to those from the other countries. Nonmedical professionals had significantly higher scores for depression and anxiety. Among medical professionals, no significant link was reported between direct contact with patients with COVID-19 at work and anxiety, depression, or stress. “Uncertainty about when the epidemic will be under control” caused the most amount of stress for health care professionals while “taking protective measures” was the most frequently used coping strategy among all participants. Conclusions COVID-19 poses a major challenge to the mental health of working professionals as a considerable proportion of our participants showed high values for depression, anxiety, and stress. Even though medical professionals exhibited less mental stress than nonmedical professionals, sufficient help should be offered to all occupational groups with an emphasis on effective coping strategies.

Background COVID-19 resulted in considerable mental health burden in the Chinese general population and among health care workers at the beginning and peak of the pandemic. However, little is known about potentially vulnerable groups during the final stage of the lockdown. Objective The aim of this survey study was to assess the mental health burden of different professions in China in order to find vulnerable groups, possible influencing factors, and successful ways of coping during the last 4 weeks of the lockdown in Hubei Province. Methods A cross-sectional online survey asked participants about current residence, daily working hours, exposure to COVID-19 at work, and media preferences. We used a shortened version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) to assess mental health. Further assessments included perceived stress (Simplified Chinese version of the 14-item Perceived Stress Scale), coping strategies for all participants, and specific stressors for health care workers. We followed the reporting guidelines of the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) statement for observational studies. Results The sample (N=687) consisted of 158 doctors, 221 nurses, 24 other medical staff, 43 students, 60 teachers/government staff, 135 economy staff, 26 workers/farmers, and 20 professions designated under the “other” category. We found increased depression (n=123, 17.9%), anxiety (n=208, 30.3%), and stress (n=94, 13.7%) in our sample. Professions that were vulnerable to depression were other medical staff and students. Doctors, nurses, and students were vulnerable to anxiety; and other medical staff, students, and economy staff were vulnerable to stress. Coping strategies were reduced to three factors: active, mental, and emotional. Being female and emotional coping were independently associated with depression, anxiety, or stress. Applying active coping strategies showed lower odds for anxiety while mental coping strategies showed lower odds for depression, anxiety, and stress. Age, being inside a lockdown area, exposure to COVID-19 at work, and having a high workload (8-12 hours per day) were not associated with depression, anxiety, or stress. WeChat was the preferred way of staying informed across all groups. Conclusions By the end of the lockdown, a considerable part of the Chinese population showed increased levels of depression and anxiety. Students and other medical staff were the most affected, while economy staff were highly stressed. Doctors and nurses need support regarding potential anxiety disorders. Future work should focus on longitudinal results of the pandemic and develop targeted preventive measures.

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AWPPH is a newly discovered long non-coding (lnc)RNA that serves an oncogenic role in the development of several types of cancer; however, its involvement in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is unknown. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the function of AWPPH in NSCLC. The results demonstrated that AWPPH expression levels were significantly upregulated in the lung tissues and serum samples of patients with NSCLC compared with in healthy controls. High expression levels of AWPPH effectively distinguished NSCLC patients from healthy controls. In addition, patients with high expression levels of AWPPH had significantly shorter survival time. AWPPH overexpression in NSCLC cells promoted proliferation and inhibited apoptosis, and activated the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, which is a classic signaling pathway involved in the development and progression of different types of cancers. Treatment with a Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway activator produced no significant effect on AWPPH expression. Therefore, it was concluded that lcRNA AWPPH could promote the growth of NSCLCs by activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Long-term use of cocaine (⩾15 years) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) have been implicated in cardiovascular complications. Nevertheless, the individual and combined effects of ART and cocaine use on silent coronary artery disease have not been fully investigated.Methods: Computed tomography coronary angiography was performed for 165 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)– infected African American study participants aged 25–54 years in Baltimore, Maryland, with contrast-enhanced 64-slice multidetector computed tomography imaging.Result: Significant (⩾50%) coronary stenosis was detected in 24 (15%) of 165 participants. The prevalence of significant stenosis among those who had used cocaine for ⩾15 years and had received ART for ⩾6 months was 42%. Exact logistic regression analysis revealed that long-term cocaine use(adjusted odds ratio, 7.75; 95% confidence interval, 2.26–31.2) and exposure to ART for ⩾6 months(adjusted odds ratio, 4.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.30–16.4) were independently associated with the presence of significant coronary stenosis. In addition, after controlling for confounding factors,both stavudine use for ⩾6 months or combivir use for ⩾6 months were independently associated with the presence of significant coronary stenosis.Conclusions: Long-term exposure to ART may be associated with silent coronary artery disease;however, the magnitude of increased risk associated with ART was much lower than the risk associated with cocaine use or traditional risk factors. Cardiovascular monitoring and aggressive modification of cardiovascular risk factors are essential for reducing the risk of coronary artery disease in HIV-infected individuals. Extensive efforts should also be made to develop effective cocaine use cessation programs for HIV-infected cocaine users.

Obesity and its related complications pose an increasing threat to human health; however, targetable obesity‐related membrane receptors are not yet elucidated. Here, the membrane receptor CD146 is demonstrated to play an essential role in obesity. In particular, CD146 acts as a new adipose receptor for angiopoietin‐like protein 2 (ANGPTL2), which is thought to act on endothelial cells to activate adipose inflammation. ANGPTL2 binds to CD146 to activate cAMP response element‐binding protein (CREB), which then upregulates CD146 during adipogenesis and adipose inflammation. CD146 is present in preadipocytes and mature adipocytes, where it is mediated by its ligands ANGPTL2 and galectin‐1. In preadipocytes, CD146 ablation suppresses adipogenesis, whereas the loss of CD146 in mature adipocytes suppresses lipid accumulation and enhances energy expenditure. Moreover, anti‐CD146 antibodies inhibit obesity by disrupting the interactions between CD146 and its ligands. Together, these findings demonstrate that ANGPTL2 directly affects adipocytes via CD146 to promote obesity, suggesting that CD146 can be a potential target for treating obesity.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains one of the most common cancers worldwide. HS1-associated protein X-1 (HAX-1) has been highlighted as an important marker in many types of cancers. However, little is known about the role of HAX-1 in CRC. The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation of HAX-1 expression with the clinicopathological features of CRC. The protein and mRNA levels of HAX-1 were examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and real-time quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in CRC tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues. Survival curves were made with follow-up data. The relations of the prognosis with clinical and pathological characteristics were analyzed. Using IHC and RT-qPCR, we showed that HAX-1 expression was significantly higher in CRC tissues than in adjacent noncancerous tissues (P < 0.05). High HAX-1 expression was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.034) and tumor (T) node (N) metastasis (M) stage (P = 0.028) of patients with CRC. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves indicated that overall survival was significantly worse in CRC patients with HAX-1 overexpression. Multivariate analysis showed that high HAX-1 expression was an independent predictor of overall survival. In conclusion, our data for the first time provide a basis for the concept that overexpression of HAX-1 may contribute to the malignant progression of CRC and predict poor prognosis for patients with this disease. HAX-1 might be an important marker for tumor progression and prognosis, as well as a potential therapeutic target of CRC.

Background: Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) are crucial in promoting and maintaining positive anti-tumor immune responses. The tumor stroma has a powerful immunosuppressive function that could exclude tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes from the tumor beds and lead to a "cold" phenotype. TLSs and tumor stroma percentage (TSP) are significantly associated with the prognosis of patients with certain cancers. However, the exact roles of TLSs and TSP and their intrinsic relationship are still largely unknown in colorectal cancer (CRC).Methods: TLSs and TSP were assessed using hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) and/or immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining from 114 CRC patients in the training set and 60 CRC patients in the external validation set. The correlation between TILs, TLS and clinicopathological characteristics and their prognostic values were assessed. Finally, we plotted a Nomogram including the TLS, TSP and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage to predict the probability of recurrencefree survival (RFS) at 2-and 5-years in non-metastatic colorectal cancer (nmCRC) patients.Results: Peritumoral TLS (P-TLS), intratumoral TLS (In-TLS) and high TSP (H-TSP, >50%) were present in 99.1%, 26.3% and 41.2% patients, respectively. H-TSP tumor tends to be associated with lower P-TLS density (P =0.0205). The low P-TLS density (< 0.098/mm 2 ) was significantly associated with reduced RFS (HR=6.597 95% CI: 2.882-15.103, P <0.001) and reduced overall survival (OS) (HR=6.628 95% CI: 2.893-15.183, P < 0.001) of nmCRC patients. In-TLS was not of significance in evaluating the clinical outcomes of nmCRC patients. H-TSP was significantly associated with reduced RFS (HR=0.126 95%