Association between the various characteristics of COVID-19 patients with the severity of the disease.

Association between the various characteristics of COVID-19 patients with the severity of the disease.</p

Characteristics of the COVID-19 patients.

Patients with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) have a worse prognosis than COVID-19 patients without OSA. This study aimed to examine the relationship between OSA risk and the severity of COVID-19 in patients undiagnosed with OSA. Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and hospitalized or admitted to a community hotel were recruited for the study after recovery during a clinic check-up visit 6–8 weeks after discharge. At this visit, they answered the Epworth Sleeping Scale (ESS) and Berlin questionnaire. Demographic and clinical details were collected from electronic medical records. OSA risk was observed in 37 of 119 included patients (31.1%). Patients with high OSA risk were male, significantly older, had a higher body mass index (BMI), and had higher rates of hypertension and snoring than patients with low OSA risk. Moreover, OSA risk was associated with COVID-19 severity; 48.6% of patients with high risk for OSA suffered from severe COVID-19 compared to 22% of patients with low risk for OSA (p = 0.007). The duration of hospitalization for patients with a high OSA risk was 10.97±9.43 days, while that for those with a low OSA risk was 4.71±6.86 days (p = 0.001). After adjusting for BMI, age, hypertension, and chronic disease, the odds ratio was 4.3 (95%CI, 1.2–16, p = 0.029). A high OSA risk was associated with severe COVID-19 and longer hospitalization. Thus, we recommend that the Berlin and ESS questionnaires be completed for every COVID-19-infected patient at hospitalization, especially in the presence of comorbidities.</div

Association between the various characteristics of COVID-19 patients and the risk for OSA.

Association between the various characteristics of COVID-19 patients and the risk for OSA.</p

Clinical characteristics of sarcoidosis patients.

<p>Clinical characteristics of sarcoidosis patients.</p

Demographic characteristics of patients with sarcoidosis.

<p>Demographic characteristics of patients with sarcoidosis.</p

Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC).

<p>Curve showing specificity and sensitivity percentages of osteopontin in patients and controls. Area under the curve is 0.798 (0.686–0.909 95% CI). 89.5% specificity and 63.9% sensitivity for cutoff value of 180ng/ml. Positive (sarcoid), Negative (control).</p

Decreased bleomycin-induced apoptosis in hTERT transfected MLE cells.

<p>(A) PCR-based telomerase activity in Mouse-Lung Epithelial (MLE) cells transfected with hTERT⁺ or control hTERT (hTERT^ctrl) expression vectors. hTERT⁺ and hTERT^ctrl MLE cells were exposed to bleomycin (0.06mU) or control saline. (B) Flow cytometry analysis demonstrating decreased Annexin V staining in bleomycin-treated hTERT⁺ compared to hTERT^ctrl cells. (C) Bar diagram representing the fold ratio (bleomycin/saline) of MLE cell apoptosis in hTERT⁺ vs. hTERT^ctrl MLE cells (n = 4, *p<0.05).</p

Fas expression is unchanged in hTERT⁺-transfected MLE cells.

<p>(A) Flow cytometry analysis (histogram and dot plots) showing similar Fas expression in hTERT⁺ vs. hTERT^ctrl MLE cells. (B) Graphic presentation of FACS analysis from three independent experiments (n = 4).</p

Decreased Fas-induced apoptosis in hTERT⁺ vs. hTERT^ctrl transfected MLE cells.

<p>MLE cells were transfected with hTERT or control expression vector, and exposed to Fas or control IgG mAb (10 μg/ml, 24h). (A) Histogram plot and (B) confocal microscopy of Annexin V staining (blue) and PI (red) in hTERT⁺ vs. hTERT^ctrl cells showing decreased Annexin V staining in hTERT⁺ when compared to hTERT^ctrl transfected cells (MLE). Inserted numbers represent the percentage of Annexin V-stained cells (blue) among total cells in the field (red) with standard deviation (SD). 10–15 fields were counted. (C) Western blots of caspase-8 cleavage into p42 and p18 subunits. Cleaved/uncleaved-caspase-8 optical density (OD) ratios are presented, showing decreased caspase 8 cleavage in hTERT⁺ when compared to the hTERT^ctrl-transfected MLE cell line. Representative results of two different experiments with similar results.</p

FLIP is upregulated in hTERT⁺ vs. hTERT^ctrl transfected MLE cells.

<p>(A) Flow cytometry dot plots of FLIP expression, and (B) Western blot using anti-FLIP mAb in hTERT⁺ vs. hTERT^ctrl (control) transfected cells. OD ratios showing increased FLIP in hTERT⁺ mouse lung MLE epithelial transfected cells are presented. Representative results of two different experiments for each assay, with similar results.</p