Novel RT-PCR Using Sugar Chain-Immobilized Gold-Nanoparticles Correlates Patients’ Symptoms: The Follow-Up Study of COVID-19 Hospitalized Patients

Background: The transmissible capacity and toxicity of SARS-CoV-2 variants are continually changing. We report here the follow-up study of hospitalized COVID-19 patients from 2020 to 2022. It is known that the PCR diagnosis for hospitalized patients sometimes causes confusion because of the incompatibility between their diagnosis and symptoms. We applied our sugar chain-immobilized gold-nanoparticles for the extraction and partial purification of RNA from specimens for quantitative RT-PCR assay and evaluated whether the results correlate with patients’ symptoms. Methods and Results: Saliva specimens were taken from hospitalized patients with mild or moderate symptoms every early morning. At the time of RT-PCR diagnosis, two methods for the extraction and partial purification of RNA from the specimen were performed: a commonly used Boom (Qiagen) method and our original sugar chain-immobilized gold nanoparticle (SGNP) method. For symptoms, body temperature and oxygen saturation (SpO2) of patients were monitored every 4 h. Conclusions: It was clear that patients infected with the Delta variant needed more time to recover than those with the Omicron variant, and that the SGNP method showed more realistic correlation with the symptoms of patients compared with the common Qiagen method

Tolerability, Efficacy, and Safety of Bisoprolol vs. Carvedilol in Japanese Patients With Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction - The CIBIS-J Trial -

Background: The comparative tolerability, efficacy, and safety of bisoprolol and carvedilol have not been established in Japanese patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Methods and Results: The CIBIS-J trial is a multicenter, open-label, non-inferiority randomized controlled trial of bisoprolol vs. carvedilol in 217 patients with HFrEF (EF <= 40%). The primary endpoint was tolerability, defined as reaching and maintaining the maximum maintenance dose (bisoprolol 5 mg/day or carvedilol 20 mg/day) during 48 weeks of treatment. The primary endpoint was achieved in 41.4% of patients in bisoprolol (n=111) and 42.5% in carvedilol (n=106) groups. The non-inferiority of tolerability of bisoprolol compared with carvedilol was not supported, however, neither beta-blocker was superior with regard to tolerability. Heart rate (HR) decreased in both groups and its decrease from baseline was significantly greater in the bisoprolol group (20.3 vs. 15.4 beats/min at 24 week, P<0.05). Plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels decreased in both groups and the decrease was significantly greater in the carvedilol group (12.4 vs. 39.0 % at 24 weeks, P<0.05). Conclusions: There were no significant differences between bisoprolol and carvedilol in the tolerability of target doses in Japanese HFrEF patients. The clinical efficacy and safety were also similar despite the greater reduction in HR by bisoprolol and plasma BNP by carvedilol