Aims: The coronavirus disease 2019 is characterized as highly contagious and deadly; however there is no credible and convenient biomarker to predict the severity of the disease. The aim of the present study was to estimate whether the CRP level is able to act as a marker in indicating the severity of COVID-19.Methods: Patients who complained cough or chest pain with or without fever were enrolled after laboratory confirmed of SARS-CoV-2 viral nucleic acid via qRT-PCR. Chest computed tomography (CT) was then performed to classify the patients into mild, moderate and severe pneumonia groups according to the interim management guideline. Then linear regression models were applied to analyze the association between c-reactive protein (CRP) levels and severity of COVID-19 pneumonia.Results: When compared to mild pneumonia, the adjusted-Odds Ratio were 11.46, p = 0.029 and 23.40, p = 0.025 in moderate and severe pneumonia, respectively. The area under receiver operation curve was 0.898 (95% CI 0.835, 0.962, p < 0.001). Higher plasma CRP level indicated severe COVID-19 pneumonia and longer inpatients duration. Conclusions:The level of plasma CRP was positively correlated to the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia. Our findings could assist to discern patients of moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia from the mild ones. Our findings may be useful as an earlier indicator for severe illness and help physicians to stratify patients for intense care unit transfer.

Background and Aims. Emerging evidence suggests that plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels are decreased in patients with imaging-defined nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but no data are currently available on the association between plasma NT-proBNP levels and the histologic severity of NAFLD.Methods and Results. We enrolled 351 (73.5% men) consecutive adult patients with biopsyproven NAFLD without a prior history of cardiovascular disease. Plasma NT-proBNP levels were measured using a commercially available immunochemical system (VITROS® 5600, Johnson, New Jersey). Fifty-three percent of these subjects had nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). After stratification of patients by plasma NT-proBNP tertiles; compared to those in the 1 st tertile (NT-proBNP ≤16 pg/ml), the odds ratio for NASH was 0.52 (95% CI 0.29-0.95) in patients in the 2 nd tertile (NT-proBNP of 17-33 pg/ml) and 0.49 (95% CI 0.26-0.93) in those in the 3 rd tertile (NT-proBNP ≥34 pg/ml) of plasma NT-proBNP levels, even after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, HOMA-estimated insulin resistance, pre-existing diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidemia. Conclusions.In subjects with biopsy-proven NAFLD without known cardiovascular disease, this cross-sectional study shows for the first time, that lower plasma NT-proBNP levels are strongly associated with a higher prevalence of NASH.

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Abstract Background: It’s reported SARS-CoV-2 could transmit via gastrointestinal tract, with or without pulmonary symptoms. However, as far as we know, there is no convenient marker to predict the virus discharge in stool and initial gastrointestinal involvement of COVID-19.Aims: We aimed to investigate the biomarker predicting virus discharge in stool and initial gastrointestinal involvement of COVID-19, which may assist the clinicians to better combat and prevent COVID-19.Methods: The patients complained of initial gastrointestinal involvement, including vomiting, diarrhea, with or without respiratory symptoms, attending the Sixth People’s Hospital of Wenzhou, and the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, were screened by qRT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2. The Confirmed COVID-19 patients without contaminated ingestion were all enrolled to investigate the association between circulating lymphocyte count and virus discharge, initial gastrointestinal involvement.Results: 76 COVID-19 patients were finally enrolled in this study (mean age 44.5, male 44.7%), with 24 (31.5%) complained of initial gastrointestinal symptoms. Significantly lower circulating lymphocyte count was found in the patients with positive results of qRT-PCR on stool (p = 0.012). Furthermore, when the circulating lymphocyte count increased from bottom tertile to the 2nd and 3rd tertiles, the risk of initial gastrointestinal involvement decreased by nearly 75% (OR = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.98, p = 0.047), 83% (OR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.63, p = 0.008), adjusted for possible confounders.Conclusions: The circulating lymphocyte count is negatively associated with virus discharge in stool in COVID-19 patients, and the risk of initial gastrointestinal involvement also.

Aims. In view of the emerging virus variations and pandemic worldwide, it is urgent to explore effective models predicting disease severity. Methods. We aimed to investigate whether platelet-to-CRP ratio (PC ratio) could predict the severity of COVID-19 and multi-organ injuries. Patients who complained of pulmonary or gastrointestinal symptoms were enrolled after confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 infection via qRT-PCR. Those who complained of gastrointestinal symptoms were defined as having initial gastrointestinal involvement. Chest computed tomography (CT) was then performed to classify the patients into mild, moderate, and severe pneumonia groups according to the interim management guideline. qRT-PCR was also performed on stool to discern those discharging virus through the gastrointestinal tract. Logistic regression models were applied to analyze the association between PC ratio and severity of pneumonia, risk of initial gastrointestinal involvement, and multi-organ injuries. Results. When compared to the bottom tertile of PC ratio, the adjusted odds ratio was −0.51, p < 0.001 and −0.53, p < 0.001 in moderate and severe pneumonia, respectively. Furthermore, the adjusted odds ratio for initial gastrointestinal involvement was 0.18 (82% lower) when compared to the bottom tertile of PC ratio, p = 0.005 . The area under ROC on moderate-to-severe pneumonia and initial gastrointestinal involvement was 0.836 (95% CI: 0.742, 0.930, p < 0.001 ) and 0.721 (95% CI: 0.604, 0.839, p = 0.002 ), respectively. The upper tertiles of PC ratio showed lower levels of aspartate aminotransferase ( p = 0.016 ) and lactic dehydrogenase ( p < 0.001 ). Conclusions. Platelet-to-CRP ratio could act as an effective model in recognizing severe COVID-19 and multi-organ injuries.