Background: Diabetes correlates with poor prognosis in patients with COVID-19, but very few studies have evaluated whether impaired fasting glucose (IFG) is also a risk factor for the poor outcomes of patients with COVID-19. Here we aimed to examine the associations between IFG and diabetes at admission with risks of complications and mortality among patients with COVID-19. Methods: In this multicenter retrospective cohort study, we enrolled 312 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 from 5 hospitals in Wuhan from Jan 1 to Mar 17, 2020. Clinical information, laboratory findings, complications, treatment regimens, and mortality status were collected. The associations between hyperglycemia and diabetes status at admission with primary composite end-point events (including mechanical ventilation, admission to intensive care unit, or death) were analyzed by Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: The median age of the patients was 57 years (interquartile range 38-66), and 172 (55%) were women. At the time of hospital admission, 84 (27%) had diabetes (and 36 were new-diagnosed), 62 (20%) had IFG, and 166 (53%) had normal fasting glucose (NFG) levels. Compared to patients with NFG, patients with IFG and diabetes developed more primary composite end-point events (9 [5%], 11 [18%], 26 [31%]), including receiving mechanical ventilation (5 [3%], 6 [10%], 21 [25%]), and death (4 [2%], 9 [15%], 20 [24%]). Multivariable Cox regression analyses showed diabetes was Zhang et al. IFG and Diabetes and the Severity of COVID-19 associated increased risks of primary composite end-point events (hazard ratio 3.53; 95% confidence interval 1.48-8.40) and mortality (6.25; 1.91-20.45), and IFG was associated with an increased risk of mortality (4.11; 1.15-14.74), after adjusting for age, sex, hospitals and comorbidities. Conclusion: IFG and diabetes at admission were associated with higher risks of adverse outcomes among patients with COVID-19.

Rational construction of mixed metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has been proved to be an effective way to heighten the electrocatalytic performance for MOFs, while the function of mixed metal clusters in MOFs to the electrocatalytic activity has not been known. For the first time, we present a mixed-metal-cluster strategy to boost electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance for MOFs. Heterometal clusters (Fe2M­(μ3-O) (CH3COO)6(H2O)3, denoted as Fe2M (M: Co or Ni)), were chosen as the metal source to construct two bimetal PCN-250-Fe2M. Then, we further mixed Fe2Co and Fe2Ni clusters to construct mixed-metal-cluster PCN-Fe2Co-Fe2Ni by the in situ solvothermal reaction. Consequently, the OER activity of PCN-Fe2Co-Fe2Ni shows a dramatic enhancement compared with that of the parent bimetal MOFs. The PCN-Fe2Co-Fe2Ni displays a lower overpotential of 271 mV (η10), small Tafel slope (67.7 mV dec–1), and good linear sweep voltammetry cycle stability for the OER. Combination of DFT calculation and experiment results show that the improved electrocatalytic activity of PCN-Fe2Co-Fe2Ni is ascribed to the increased electron density of Co and Ni active centers and electrochemically active areas.

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