Case fatality risk of the first pandemic wave of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China

Objective To assess the case fatality risk (CFR) of COVID-19 in mainland China, stratified by region and clinical category, and estimate key time-to-event intervals. Methods We collected individual information and aggregated data on COVID-19 cases from publicly available official sources from December 29, 2019 to April 17, 2020. We accounted for right-censoring to estimate the CFR and explored the risk factors for mortality. We fitted Weibull, gamma, and lognormal distributions to time-to-event data using maximum-likelihood estimation. Results We analyzed 82,719 laboratory-confirmed cases reported in mainland China, including 4,632 deaths, and 77,029 discharges. The estimated CFR was 5.65% (95%CI: 5.50%-5.81%) nationally, with highest estimate in Wuhan (7.71%), and lowest in provinces outside Hubei (0.86%). The fatality risk among critical patients was 3.6 times that of all patients, and 0.8-10.3 fold higher than that of mild-to-severe patients. Older age (OR 1.14 per year; 95%CI: 1.11-1.16), and being male (OR 1.83; 95%CI: 1.10-3.04) were risk factors for mortality. The time from symptom onset to first healthcare consultation, time from symptom onset to laboratory confirmation, and time from symptom onset to hospitalization were consistently longer for deceased patients than for those who recovered. Conclusions Our CFR estimates based on laboratory-confirmed cases ascertained in mainland China suggest that COVID-19 is more severe than the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in hospitalized patients, particularly in Wuhan. Our study provides a comprehensive picture of the severity of the first wave of the pandemic in China. Our estimates can help inform models and the global response to COVID-19

The global EPTO database: Worldwide occurrences of aquatic insects

Motivation: Aquatic insects comprise 64% of freshwater animal diversity and are widely used as bioindicators to assess water quality impairment and freshwater ecosystem health, as well as to test ecological hypotheses. Despite their importance, a comprehensive, global database of aquatic insect occurrences for mapping freshwater biodiversity in macroecological studies and applied freshwater research is missing. We aim to fill this gap and present the Global EPTO Database, which includes worldwide geo-referenced aquatic insect occurrence records for four major taxa groups: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera and Odonata (EPTO). Main type of variables contained: A total of 8,368,467 occurrence records globally, of which 8,319,689 (99%) are publicly available. The records are attributed to the corresponding drainage basin and sub-catchment based on the Hydrography90m dataset and are accompanied by the elevation value, the freshwater ecoregion and the protection status of their location. Spatial location and grain: The database covers the global extent, with 86% of the observation records having coordinates with at least four decimal digits (11.1 m precision at the equator) in the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) coordinate reference system. Time period and grain: Sampling years span from 1951 to 2021. Ninety-nine percent of the records have information on the year of the observation, 95% on the year and month, while 94% have a complete date. In the case of seven sub-datasets, exact dates can be retrieved upon communication with the data contributors.Major taxa and level of measurement: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera and Odonata, standardized at the genus taxonomic level. We provide species names for 7,727,980 (93%) records without further taxonomic verification. Software format: The entire tab-separated value (.csv) database can be downloaded and visualized at https://glowa bio.org/proje ct/epto_datab ase/. Fifty individual datasets are also available at https://fred.igb-berlin. de, while six datasets have restricted access. For the latter, we share metadata and the contact details of the authors

A novel single nucleotide polymorphism within the NOD2 gene is associated with pulmonary tuberculosis in the Chinese Han, Uygur and Kazak populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The present study aimed to investigate the genetic polymorphisms in exon 4 of the <it>NOD2 </it>gene in tuberculosis patients and healthy controls, in order to clarify whether polymorphisms in the <it>NOD2 </it>gene is associated with tuberculosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A case-control study was performed on the Chinese Han, Uygur and Kazak populations. Exon 4 of the <it>NOD2 </it>gene was sequenced in 425 TB patients and 380 healthy controls to identify SNPs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The frequency of T/G genotypes for the Arg587Arg (CGT → CGG) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in <it>NOD2 </it>was found to be significantly higher in the Uygur (34.9%) and Kazak (37.1%) populations than the Han population (18.6%). Also, the frequency of G/G genotypes for the Arg587Arg SNP was significantly higher in the Uyghur (8.3%) and Kazak (5.4%) populations than the Han population (0.9%). Meanwhile, no significant difference was found in the Arg587Arg polymorphism between the tuberculosis patients and healthy controls in the Uyghur and Kazak populations (<it>P </it>> 0.05) whereas, a significant difference was observed in the Arg587Arg polymorphism between the tuberculosis patients and healthy controls in the Han population (<it>P </it>< 0.01). The odd ratio of 2.16 (95% CI = 1.31-3.58; <it>P </it>< 0.01) indicated that the Arg587Arg SNP in <it>NOD2 </it>may be associated with susceptibility to tuberculosis in the Chinese Han population.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study is the first to demonstrate that the Arg587Arg SNP in <it>NOD2 </it>is a new possible risk factor for tuberculosis in the Chinese Han population, but not in the Uyghur and Kazak populations. Our results may reflect racial differences in genetic susceptibility to tuberculosis.</p

Serum MicroRNA Expression Profile Distinguishes Enterovirus 71 and Coxsackievirus 16 Infections in Patients with Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Altered circulating microRNA (miRNA) profiles have been noted in patients with microbial infections. We compared host serum miRNA levels in patients with hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) caused by enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus 16 (CVA16) as well as in other microbial infections and in healthy individuals. Among 664 different miRNAs analyzed using a miRNA array, 102 were up-regulated and 26 were down-regulated in sera of patients with enteroviral infections. Expression levels of ten candidate miRNAs were further evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR assays. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that six miRNAs (miR-148a, miR-143, miR-324-3p, miR-628-3p, miR-140-5p, and miR-362-3p) were able to discriminate patients with enterovirus infections from healthy controls with area under curve (AUC) values ranged from 0.828 to 0.934. The combined six miRNA using multiple logistic regression analysis provided not only a sensitivity of 97.1% and a specificity of 92.7% but also a unique profile that differentiated enterovirial infections from other microbial infections. Expression levels of five miRNAs (miR-148a, miR-143, miR-324-3p, miR-545, and miR-140-5p) were significantly increased in patients with CVA16 versus those with EV71 (p<0.05). Combination of miR-545, miR-324-3p, and miR-143 possessed a moderate ability to discrimination between CVA16 and EV71 with an AUC value of 0.761. These data indicate that sera from patients with different subtypes of enteroviral infection express unique miRNA profiles. Serum miRNA expression profiles may provide supplemental biomarkers for diagnosing and subtyping enteroviral HFMD infections

Mid-upper arm circumference as a simple tool for identifying central obesity and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND:Our research aimed to explore the correlation between mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) and central obesity and insulin resistance (IR) in Chinese subjects with type 2 diabetes. MATERIALS:A total of 103 participants (60 men) were recruited in our study. MUAC was measured around the mid-arm between the shoulder and elbow. Waist circumference (WC) was obtained as central obesity parameter, and the IR parameter of Homeostasis Model Assessment-Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) was calculated. The subjects were divided into three groups according to the tertiles cut-points of MUAC level. RESULTS:Body mass index (BMI), WC, the percentages of central obesity and HOMA-IR were significantly higher in the groups with higher MUAC than those in the group with lower MUAC (all P < 0.05). Pearson analysis showed that MUAC was correlated with BMI, WC, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), logHOMA-IR, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), uric acid (UA) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in all subjects. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that MUAC was independently associated with logHOMA-IR (β = 0.036, P<0.001) after adjusting for age, gender, WHR, UA, TG, LDL-C and HDL-C. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that MUAC was an independent predictor of central obesity (OR: 2.129, 95%CI: 1.311-3.457, P = 0.002). Furthermore, MUAC≥30.9cm for male and ≥30.0cm for female were the optimal cutoff values for identifying central obesity. CONCLUSIONS:Our study indicated that among Chinese subjects with type 2 diabetes, MUAC is a simple and effective tool for the determination of central obesity and IR. Additionally, the larger MUAC is proved to be more associated with metabolic risk factors of higher UA and LDL-C and lowever HDL-C

Transcriptome Analysis of Morus alba L. Flower Reveals Important Genes of Floral Sex Differentiation

Mulberry (Morus alba L.) is a perennial woody plant with significant economic benefits and ecological value. The floral character of mulberry has an important impact on the yield and quality to its fruits and leaves. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of mulberry floral differentiation still now. The transcriptome data were obtained via Illumina HiSeq high-throughput sequencing from male and female inflorescences of the monoecious mulberry. A total of 26.21 Gb clean data were obtained, and as many as 100,177 unigenes with an average length of 821.66 bp were successfully assembled. In comparative-omics analysis, 1717 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between male and female flowers and only a quarter of the DEGs were highly expressed in female flowers. The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed that DEGs were involved in glucose and lipid metabolism, hormone signal transduction, and the regulation of related transcription factors. In addition, many DEGs related to flower development and plant sex differentiation have also been detected, such as PMADS1/2, AGAMOUS, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), APETALA 2 (AP2), TASSELSEED2 (TS2), and ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATOR 17 (ARR17). Finally, the expression patterns of selected 20 DEGs were validated by q-PCR and the results showed that the transcriptome data were highly reliable. This study shows that the differentiation of male and female flowers of mulberry is affected and regulated by multiple factors, with transcription factors and hormone signals playing a key role. Briefly, the current data provide comprehensive insights into the mulberry tree&rsquo;s floral differentiation as well as a bioinformatics framework for the development of molecular breeding of mulberry

COMPARISON BETWEEN RELEASABLE SCLERAL BUCKLING AND VITRECTOMY IN PATIENTS WITH PHAKIC PRIMARY RHEGMATOGENOUS RETINAL DETACHMENT.

PurposeTo compare the efficiency of releasable scleral buckling (RSB) and pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) in the treatment of phakic patients with primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.MethodsThe current study was a prospective randomized clinical trial. One hundred and ten eyes from 110 patients with primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and proliferative vitreoretinopathy of Grade B or less were included in this study. The patients were randomly allocated into an RSB group and a PPV group. The functional and anatomical success was compared between groups.ResultsThe primary anatomical success rate (PPV 41/43 [95.35%] and RSB 38/41 [92.68%]) and final anatomical success rate (PPV and RSB 100%) showed a nonsignificant difference. The best-corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure, and complications were not different between the groups. However, the incidence of cataract progression was higher in the PPV group (26 of 43 [60.47%]) than in the RSB group (4 of 41 [9.76%]) at the 12-month follow-up. The subfoveal choroidal thickness increased significantly in the RSB group 3 months after surgery, but no longer differed at the postoperative 6-month and 12-month follow-ups. The axial length had increased significantly 1 month after surgery, but the difference was no longer significant at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months.ConclusionThe RSB and PPV procedures have the same effects on the functional and anatomical success for patients with phakic primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Nevertheless, based on the few cases of intraocular complications and cataract progression, we believe that the RSB technique should be preferentially recommended