Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)

Joint Detection of Serum IgM/IgG Antibody Is an Important Key to Clinical Diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Background. This study was aimed to investigate the application of SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibodies in diagnosis of COVID-19 infection. Method. This study enrolled a total of 178 patients at Huangshi Central Hospital from January to February 2020. Among them, 68 patients were SARS-CoV-2 infected, confirmed with nucleic acid test (NAT) and CT imaging. Nine patients were in the suspected group (NAT negative) with fever and other respiratory symptoms. 101 patients were in the control group with other diseases and negative to SARS-CoV-2 infection. After serum samples were collected, SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM antibodies were tested by chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) for all patients. Results. The specificity of serum IgM and IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 was 99.01% (100/101) and 96.04% (97/101), respectively, and the sensitivity was 88.24% (60/68) and 97.06% (66/68), respectively. The combined detection rate of SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibodies was 98.53% (67/68). Conclusion. Combined detection of serum SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG antibodies had better sensitivity compared with single IgM or IgG antibody testing, which can be used as an important diagnostic tool for SARS-CoV-2 infection and a screening tool of potential SARS-CoV-2 carriers in clinics, hospitals, and accredited scientific laboratories

The Impact of Housing Support Expenditure on Urban Residents’ Consumption—Evidence from China

Consumption plays an important role in economic growth and sustainable economic development. The Chinese government emphasizes the theme of promoting high-quality development. This aim has led to the implementation of strategies to expand domestic demand through a deep structural reform in the supply chain, enhance the endogenous power and reliability of the large domestic cycle, improve the quality and level of the international cycle, and accelerate the construction of a modern economic system. Based on the clarification of the consumption effect of housing support expenditure, this paper uses a combination of theoretical and empirical analysis to clarify the relationship between housing support expenditure and urban residents’ consumption. This is carried out to seek a breakthrough point for raising the total level of urban residents’ consumption expenditure in China from the level of housing support. This study revealed that government housing support has a certain degree of influence on the total level of urban residents’ consumption expenditure and that the government’s support of housing support is conducive to improving the total level of urban residents’ consumption expenditure. Also, if the housing price is not controlled and adjusted, the effect of government housing support on urban residents’ consumption expenditure will be greatly reduced, which will affect the lives of urban residents in the long run. Finally, suggestions and countermeasures for improving the overall level of urban residents’ consumption and the sustainable development of the social economy in China are provided

Additional file 3 of Neoadjuvant chemotherapy remodels the tumor immune microenvironment by increasing activated and cytotoxic T cell, decreasing B cells and macrophages in small cell lung cancer

Additional file 3: Figure S3. A The dots plots and gating strategies to determine the lymphocyte were shown. B The dots plots and gating strategies to determine the macrophages were shown C Comparison of TNF-α + CD8 + T cell infiltration in pre-NAC and post-NAC PBMC of SCLC, as detected by flow cytometry. D Comparison of γ-IFN + CD8 + T cell infiltration in pre-NAC and post-NAC PBMC of SCLC, as detected by flow cytometry

Additional file 1 of Neoadjuvant chemotherapy remodels the tumor immune microenvironment by increasing activated and cytotoxic T cell, decreasing B cells and macrophages in small cell lung cancer

Additional file 1: Figure S1. A The correlation between the number of unique molecular identifiers (UMIs) and the number of genes. B Principal analyses of the top 2000 variant genes using RunPCA. C Visualization of clustering using DimPlot. D Stratification and cell-type identification of single cells from 11 SCLC cases. Different types of cells were grouped into distinctive cell clusters. E. The infiltration of subpopulation of immune cells in tumor tissues in 2 NAC-treated SCLC patients and 9 non-NAC-treated SCLC patients prior to surgical resection

Additional file 2 of Neoadjuvant chemotherapy remodels the tumor immune microenvironment by increasing activated and cytotoxic T cell, decreasing B cells and macrophages in small cell lung cancer

Additional file 2: Figure S2. A tSNE of different immune cells in para-tumoral tissue with each cell color coded for the associated cell type. B tSNE of different immune cells in para-tumoral tissue with each cell color coded for the treatment type. C. The infiltration of subpopulation of immune cells in para-tumoral tissues in 2 NAC-treated SCLC patients and 9 non-NAC-treated SCLC patients prior to surgical resection

Additional file 6 of Neoadjuvant chemotherapy remodels the tumor immune microenvironment by increasing activated and cytotoxic T cell, decreasing B cells and macrophages in small cell lung cancer

Additional file 6: Table S3. Antibodies for flow cytometry staining