Background The association between metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and disease progression in patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are unclear. Aims To explore the association between MAFLD and the severity of COVID-19 by meta-analysis. Methods We conducted a literature search using PubMed, EMBASE, Medline (OVID), and MedRxiv from inception to July 6, 2020. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) and Stata 14.0 were used for quality assessment of included studies as well as for performing a pooled analysis. Results A total of 6 studies with 1,293 participants were included after screening. Four studies reported the prevalence of MAFLD patients with COVID-19, with a pooled prevalence of 0.31 for MAFLD (95CI 0.28, 0.35, I 2 = 38.8%, P = 0.179). MAFLD increased the risk of COVID-19 disease severity, with a pooled OR of 2.93 (95CI 1.87, 4.60, I 2 = 34.3%, P = 0.166). Conclusion In this meta-analysis, we found that a high percentage of patients with COVID-19 had MAFLD. Meanwhile, MAFLD increased the risk of disease progression among patients with COVID-19. Thus, better intensive care and monitoring are needed for MAFLD patients infected by SARS-COV-2.

We present an initial experimental validation of a microwave tomography (MWT) prototype for brain stroke detection and classification using the distorted Born iterative method, two-step iterative shrinkage thresholding (DBIM-TwIST) algorithm. The validation study consists of first preparing and characterizing gel phantoms which mimic the structure and the dielectric properties of a simplified brain model with a haemorrhagic or ischemic stroke target. Then, we measure the S-parameters of the phantoms in our experimental prototype and process the scattered signals from 0.5 to 2.5 GHz using the DBIM-TwIST algorithm to estimate the dielectric properties of the reconstruction domain. Our results demonstrate that we are able to detect the stroke target in scenarios where the initial guess of the inverse problem is only an approximation of the true experimental phantom. Moreover, the prototype can differentiate between haemorrhagic and ischemic strokes based on the estimation of their dielectric properties.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a very common metastatic tumor with active angiogenesis that requires active angiogenesis. Recently, increased microRNA-181a-5p (miR-181a) expression was found to be significantly associated with liver metastasis and poor outcome in CRC patients. In this study, the role of miR-181a in tumor angiogenesis was further investigated. Capillary tube formation assays were used to demonstrate the ability of miR-181a to promote tumor angiogenesis. Bioinformatics analyses identified SRC kinase signaling inhibitor 1 (SRCIN1) as a potential target of miR-181a. Next, two CRC cell lines (HT29 and SW480) were used to clarify the function of miR-181a through SRCIN1 targeting. In addition, the biological effects of SRCIN1 inhibition by miR-181a were examined in vitro by quantitative RT-PCR, western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and in vivo by Matrigel plug angiogenesis assays and immunohistochemical staining. In clinical samples, Fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence were performed to detect the relation between miR-181a and SRCIN1. In addition, SRCIN1 protein and miR-181a expression levels in CRC tissues were also measured by western blot and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. MiR-181a markedly augmented the capability of CRC cells to advance tube formation in endothelial cells in vitro. The Matrigel plug assay showed that miR-181a promoted angiogenesis in vivo. In conclusion, miR-181a inhibited SRCIN1, which caused SRC to transform from an inactive status to an active conformation and to trigger vascular endothelial growth factor secretion, leading to increased angiogenesis. MiR-181a dysregulation contributes to angiogenesis in CRC, and downregulation of miR-181a represents a promising, novel strategy to achieve an efficient antiangiogenic response in anti-CRC therapy.

ObjectivesThis study aimed to validate the performance of the Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) in a Chinese emergency department and to determine the best cut-off value for in-hospital mortality prediction.DesignA prospective, single-centred observational cohort study.SettingThis study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in South China.ParticipantsA total of 383 patients aged 18 years or older who presented to the emergency department from 17 May 2017 through 27 September 2017, triaged as category 1, 2 or 3, were enrolled.OutcomesThe primary outcome was a composite of in-hospital mortality and admission to the intensive care unit. The secondary outcome was using MEWS to predict hospitalised and discharged patients.ResultsA total of 383 patients were included in this study. In-hospital mortality was 13.6% (52/383), and transfer to the intensive care unit was 21.7% (83/383). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of MEWS for in-hospital mortality prediction was 0.83 (95% CI 0.786 to 0.881). When predicting in-hospital mortality with the cut-off point defined as 3.5, 158 patients had MEWS >3.5, with a specificity of 66%, a sensitivity of 87%, an accuracy of 69%, a positive predictive value of 28% and a negative predictive value of 97%, respectively.ConclusionOur findings support the use of MEWS for in-hospital mortality prediction in patients who were triaged category 1, 2 or 3 in a Chinese emergency department. The cut-off value for in-hospital mortality prediction defined in this study was different from that seen in many other studies.

Background It has been reported that several microRNAs (miRNAs), such as miR-141, miR-9, and miR-122, are involved in the regulation of pancreatitis-related proteins or that their levels change in acute pancreatitis (AP) animal models. However, the serum levels, as well as the clinical diagnostic and prognostic values, of these miRNAs in AP patients remain unclear. Furthermore, as a pancreas- (islet) enriched miRNA, miR-7 was reported to be downregulated in AP patients, which requires further verification. Methods The levels of miR-7, miR-9, miR-122, and miR-141 were examined and compared using qRT-PCR among 80 severe AP patients, 80 mild AP patients, and 74 healthy controls. Results The serum levels of these four miRNAs were increased markedly in the AP patients compared with the controls, and these levels decreased significantly after effective therapy. Particularly, the level of miR-7 was higher in severe AP patients than in mild AP patients. ROC curve analysis demonstrated that four miRNAs could be used as potential biomarkers for AP. Moreover, these miRNAs showed strong positive correlations with CRP, which may be associated with inflammation. Conclusions The serum miR-7, miR-9, miR-122, and miR-141 levels were increased in AP patients. These 4 miRNAs may represent diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for AP.