Background Health care workers at the frontline are facing a substantial risk of infection during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Methods We acquired information and data on the general information, infection and death status of health care workers in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak and completed statistical analyses. Results We have obtained the data on 2,457 infected cases among health care workers in Wuhan, China. More than half of the infected individuals were nurses (52.06%), while 33.62% of infected cases were doctors and 14.33% of cases were medical staff. In particular, the case infection rate of nurses (2.22%) was remarkably higher than that of doctors (1.92%). Most infected cases among health care workers were female (72.28%). A majority of the infected health care workers (89.26%) came from general hospitals, followed by specialized hospitals (5.70%) and community hospitals (5.05%). The case infection rate of health care workers (2.10%) was dramatically higher than that of non-health care workers (0.43%). The case fatality rate of health care workers (0.69%) was significantly lower than that of non-health care workers (5.30%). Conclusions The infection risk of HCWs is clearly higher than that of non-HCWs. HCWs play an essential role in fighting the pandemic. The analysis of the infection status of HCWs is essential to attract enough attention from the public, provide effective suggestions for government agencies and improve protective measures for HCWs.

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Sepsis, a systemic inflammatory response to infection, is the major cause of death in intensive care units (ICUs). The mortality rate of sepsis remains high even though the treatment and understanding of sepsis both continue to improve. Sinomenine (SIN) is a natural alkaloid extracted from Chinese medicinal plant Sinomenium acutum, and its hydrochloride salt (Sinomenine hydrochloride, SIN-HCl) is widely used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, its role in sepsis remains unclear. In the present study, we investigated the role of SIN-HCl in sepsis induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) in BALB/c mice and the corresponding mechanism. SIN-HCl treatment improved the survival of BALB/c mice that were subjected to CLP and reduced multiple organ dysfunction and the release of systemic inflammatory mediators. Autophagy activities were examined using Western blotting. The results showed that CLP-induced autophagy was elevated, and SIN-HCl treatment further strengthened the autophagy activity. Autophagy blocker 3-methyladenine (3-MA) was used to investigate the mechanism of SIN-HCl in vitro. Autophagy activities were determined by examining the autophagosome formation, which was shown as microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3) puncta with green immunofluorescence. SIN-HCl reduced lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory cytokine release and increased autophagy in peritoneal macrophages (PM). 3-MA significantly decreased autophagosome formation induced by LPS and SIN-HCl. The decrease of inflammatory cytokines caused by SIN-HCl was partially aggravated by 3-MA treatment. Taken together, our results indicated that SIN-HCl could improve survival, reduce organ damage, and attenuate the release of inflammatory cytokines induced by CLP, at least in part through regulating autophagy activities.

Extracellular vesicles are heterogeneous populations of naturally occurring secreted small vesicles. EVs function as signaling platforms to facilitate intracellular communication, which indicates the physiological or pathophysiological conditions of cells or tissues. Considering that EVs can be isolated from most body fluids and that molecular constituents could be reprogrammed according to the physiological status of the secreting cells, EVs are regarded as novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for many diseases. The ability to protect encapsulated molecules from degradation in body fluids suggests the potential of EVs as biological medicines or drug delivery systems. This article focuses on the EV-associated biomarkers and therapeutic approaches in autoimmune diseases.

After the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in November 2002, coronaviruses (CoVs) received worldwide attention. On December 1, 2019, the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), was reported in Wuhan, China, and CoVs returned to public view. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 epidemic is a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), and on March 11, 2020, the WHO classified COVID-19 as a pandemic disease. As of July 31, 2020, COVID-19 has affected 216 countries and regions, with 17,064,064 confirmed cases and 668,073 deaths, and the number of new cases has been increasing daily. Additionally, on March 19, 2020, there were no new confirmed cases in China, providing hope and valuable experience for the international community. In this review, we systematically compare COVID-19 and SARS in terms of epidemiology, pathogenesis and clinical characteristics and discuss the current treatment approaches, scientific advancements and Chinese experience in fighting the epidemic to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic. We also discuss the lessons that we have learned from COVID-19 and SARS.

Dp71 is one of the most ubiquitously expressed isoforms of dystrophin, the pathological genes of DMD. In order to find whether the alteration of Dp71 can affect the phenotypes of cell other than PC12, an A549 cell line with stably transfected Dp71 siRNA plasmids was set up and named A549-Dp71AS cell. It is demonstrated for the first time that the A549-Dp71AS cell line displayed decreased invasion capabilities, reduced migration ability, decreased proliferation rate, and lessened clonogenic formation. Cisplatin-induced apoptosis was also increased in A549-Dp71AS cell line via enhancing the Caspase 3, Caspase 8, and Caspase 9 activities. Knocking down Dp71 expression can significantly inhibit the A549 xenograft tumor growth in nude mice. The A549-Dp71AS cells and xenograft tumor tissues displayed reduced lamin B1, Bcl-2, and MMP2 protein expression, which accounts for the reduced malignancy of A549-Dp71AS cells in vivo and in vitro.

Tooth loss often results the alveolar bone resorption due to lack of mechanical stimulation. Thus, the mechanism of mechanical loading on stem cells osteogenesis is crucial for alveolar bone regeneration. This project aims to investigate the effect of mechanical loading on human dental pulp stromal cells (hDPSCs) osteogenesis in a novel in vitro model. Briefly, 1×10 7 hDPSCs were seeded into 1 mL 3% agarose gel in a 48-well-plate. Then a loading tube was placed in the middle of the gel to mimicking the tooth chewing movement

This study was undertaken to explore the value of interleukin-1 receptor 2 (IL1R2) as a novel potential biomarker for diagnosis of sepsis and discrimination of gram-negative (G)/gram-positive (G) bacterial sepsis. The study was performed in Kunming mice and septic patients. Inactive Escherichia coli or Staphylococcus aureus were used to stimulate Kunming mice (10 CFU/kg). In clinical study, septic patients with different pathogen infection were studied, and healthy volunteers and patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome without definite infection were enrolled as control. IL1R2 transcriptions of human subjects' peripheral leukocytes were measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay. IL1R2 serum concentrations of mice and human subjects were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The value of IL1R2 as a biomarker was compared with procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II). The results showed that IL1R2 expression was upregulated in mice treated with inactive Escherichia coli and septic patients. The elevation of serum IL1R2 was more significant in septic patients infected by Escherichia coli or G bacteria than in those infected by Staphylococcus aureus or G bacteria. For sepsis diagnosis and G/G bacterial sepsis discrimination, serum IL1R2 was more sensitive and specific than the traditional biomarkers such as PCT, CRP, and APACHE II as shown by the receiver operating characteristic curves. It was suggested that IL1R2 was a potential biomarker for diagnosis and G/G bacterial differentiation in sepsis.