It has been reported that ACE2 is the main host cell receptor of 2019-nCoV and plays a crucial role in the entry of virus into the cell to cause the final infection. To investigate the potential route of 2019-nCov infection on the mucosa of oral cavity, bulk RNA-seq profiles from two public databases including The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Functional Annotation of The Mammalian Genome Cap Analysis of Gene Expression (FANTOM5 CAGE) dataset were collected. RNA-seq profiling data of 13 organ types with para-carcinoma normal tissues from TCGA and 14 organ types with normal tissues from FANTOM5 CAGE were analyzed in order to explore and validate the expression of ACE2 on the mucosa of oral cavity. Further, single-cell transcriptomes from an independent data generated in-house were used to identify and confirm the ACE2-expressing cell composition and proportion in oral cavity. The results demonstrated that the ACE2 expressed on the mucosa of oral cavity. Interestingly, this receptor was highly enriched in epithelial cells of tongue. Preliminarily, those findings have explained the basic mechanism that the oral cavity is a potentially high risk for 2019-nCoV infectious susceptibility and provided a piece of evidence for the future prevention strategy in dental clinical practice as well as daily life.

The use of adipose-derived stem/stromal cells (ASCs) for promoting repair of tissues is a promising potential therapy, but the mechanisms of their action are not fully understood. We and others previously demonstrated accelerated reperfusion and tissue salvage by ASCs in peripheral ischemia models and have shown that ASCs secrete physiologically relevant levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor. The specific contribution of HGF to ASC potency was determined by silencing HGF expression. RNA interference was used to downregulate HGF expression. A dual-cassette lentiviral construct expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) and either a small hairpin RNA specifically targeted to HGF mRNA (shHGF) or an inactive control sequence (shCtrl) were used to stably transduce ASCs (ASC-shHGF and ASCshCtrl, respectively). Transduced ASC-shHGF secreted >80% less HGF, which led to a reduced ability to promote survival, proliferation, and migration of mature and progenitor endothelial cells in vitro. ASC-shHGF were also significantly impaired, compared with ASC-shCtrl, in their ability to promote reperfusion in a mouse hindlimb ischemia model. The diminished ability of ASCs with silenced HGF to promote reperfusion of ischemic tissues was reflected by reduced densities of capillaries in reperfused tissues. In addition, fewer GFP ؉ cells were detected at 3 weeks in ischemic limbs of mice treated with ASCshHGF compared with those treated with ASC-shCtrl. These results indicate that production of HGF is important for the potency of ASCs. This finding directly supports the emerging concept that local factor secretion by donor cells is a key element of cell-based therapies. STEM CELLS 2007;25:3234 -3243 Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

Most heart diseases are associated with and reflected by the sounds that the heart produces. Heart auscultation, defined as listening to the heart sound, has been a very important method for the early diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction. Traditional auscultation requires substantial clinical experience and good listening skills. The emergence of the electronic stethoscope has paved the way for a new field of computer-aided auscultation. This article provides an in-depth study of (1) the electronic stethoscope technology, and (2) the methodology for diagnosis of cardiac disorders based on computer-aided auscultation. The paper is based on a comprehensive review of (1) literature articles, (2) market (state-of-the-art) products, and (3) smartphone stethoscope apps. It covers in depth every key component of the computer-aided system with electronic stethoscope, from sensor design, front-end circuitry, denoising algorithm, heart sound segmentation, to the final machine learning techniques. Our intent is to provide an informative and illustrative presentation of the electronic stethoscope, which is valuable and beneficial to academics, researchers and engineers in the technical field, as well as to medical professionals to facilitate its use clinically. The paper provides the technological and medical basis for the development and commercialization of a real-time integrated heart sound detection, acquisition and quantification system.

Interventions: Anesthetic management and infection control guidelines for emergency procedures for patients with suspected 2019-nCoV were drafted and applied in 4 hospitals in Wuhan. Measurements and Main Results: Cross-infection in the operating rooms of the 4 hospitals was effectively reduced by implementing the new measures and procedures. The majority of patients with laboratory-confirmed 2019-nCoV infection or suspected infection were female (23 [62%] of 37), and the mean age was 41.0 years old (standard deviation 19.6; range 4-78). 10 (27%) patients had chronic medical illnesses, including 4 (11%) with diabetes, 8 (22%) with hypertension, and 8 (22%) with digestive system disease. Twenty-five (68%) patients presented with lymphopenia, and 23 (62%) patients exhibited multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity on computed tomography scanning. Conclusions: The present study indicates that COVID 19Àspecific guidelines for emergency procedures for patients with confirmed or suspected 2019-nCoV may effectively prevent cross-infection in the operating room. Most patients with confirmed or suspected COVID 19 presented with fever and dry cough and demonstrated bilateral multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity on chest computed tomography scans. Ó 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effective cancer therapy depends not only on destroying the primary tumor but also on conditioning the host immune system to recognize and eliminate residual tumor cells and prevent metastasis. In this study, a tumor integrin αvβ6-targeting peptide (the HK peptide)-functionalized graphene oxide (GO) was coated with a photosensitizer (HPPH). The resulting GO conjugate, GO(HPPH)-PEG-HK, was investigated whether it could destroy primary tumors and boost host antitumor immunity. We found that GO(HPPH)-PEG-HK exhibited significantly higher tumor uptake than GO(HPPH)-PEG and HPPH. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) using GO(HPPH)-PEG suppressed tumor growth in both subcutaneous and lung metastatic mouse models. Necrotic tumor cells caused by GO(HPPH)-PEG-HK PDT activated dendritic cells and significantly prevented tumor growth and lung metastasis by increasing the infiltration of cytotoxic CD8 T lymphocytes within tumors as evidenced by in vivo optical and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT imaging. These results demonstrate that tumor-targeted PDT using GO(HPPH)-PEG-HK could effectively ablate primary tumors and destroy residual tumor cells, thereby preventing distant metastasis by activating host antitumor immunity and suppressing tumor relapse by stimulation of immunological memory.

Blood coagulation in vivo is initiated by factor VII (FVII) binding to its cellular receptor tissue factor (TF). FVII is the only known ligand for TF, so it was expected that FVII-deficient embryos would have a similar phenotype to TF-deficient embryos, which have defective vitello-embryonic circulation and die around 9.5 days of gestation. Surprisingly, we find that FVII-deficient (FVII-/-) embryos developed normally. FVII-/- mice succumbed perinatally because of fatal haemorrhaging from normal blood vessels. At embryonic day 9.5, maternal-fetal transfer of FVII was undetectable and survival of embryos did not depend on TF-FVII-initiated fibrin formation. Thus, the TF-/- embryonic lethal and the FVII-/- survival-phenotypes suggest a role for TF during embryogenesis beyond fibrin formation.

SummaryMice with a total deficiency in blood coagulation Factor X (FX) were generated by targeted replacement of an 18-kb fragment of the FX gene, comprising all exons encoding the mature FX protein, with a neor cassette. The genotype distribution among the offspring from heterozygous breeding pairs suggested that FX deficiency resulted in partial embryonic lethality, with approximately one-third of the FX −/− embryos dying around embryonic day (E) 11.5-12.5. Two of 44 non-resorbed FX −/− embryos analyzed at these stages showed signs of massive bleeding, one of which into the brain ventricles, but no histological defects in the vasculature of these embryos or their yolk sac were observed. The remainder of the FX −/− embryos appeared normal and survived to term, but the majority of neonates (90%) died within 5 days, most frequently from intraabdominal bleeding. The remaining FX −/− animals succumbed between postnatal day (P)5 and P20 with intraabdominal, subcutaneous, or intracranial bleeding or a combination thereof. The lethal phenotype of the FX −/− mice illustrates the importance of FX function in embryonic and postnatal survival and demonstrates that these mice serve as effective models of the bleeding disorders observed in severe FX deficiency in humans.

| Mitral regurgitation (MR) is a common valvular heart disease and is the second most frequent indication for heart valve surgery in Western countries. Echocardiography is the recommended first-line test for the assessment of valvular heart disease, but cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) provides complementary information, especially for assessing MR severity and to plan the timing of intervention. As new CMR techniques for the assessment of MR have arisen, standardizing CMR protocols for research and clinical studies has become important in order to optimize diagnostic utility and support the wider use of CMR for the clinical assessment of MR. In this Consensus Statement, we provide a detailed description of the current evidence on the use of CMR for MR assessment, highlight its current clinical utility, and recommend a standardized CMR protocol and report for MR assessment.