Objective To investigate the prognostic factors of acute gastrointestinal injury(AGI)in children with sepsis,and to explore the predictive value of pediatric sequential organ failure assessment(pSOFA)score,AGI grade and their combined for prognosis.Methods A total of 143 children with sepsis complicated with AGI in Inner Mongolia Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2020 to January 2022 were selected and divided into sepsis group(n=1 03)and septic shock group(n=40)according to the severity of disease.pSOFA score was obtained on the day when sepsis was diagnosed.AGI was evaluated every day during hospitalization.Multivariate Logistic regression was used to identify independent factors affecting the outcome.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to analyze predictive value of pSOFA score,AGI grade and their combination for poor prognosis.Results The number of patients who received continuous renal replacement therapy,surgery,mechanical ventilation,bloody stool,hypoactive bowel sound and procalcitonin concentration in septic shock group were higher than those in sepsis group(P＜0.05).Red blood cell,hemoglobin and platelet in septic shock group were lower than those in sepsis group(P＜0.05).Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that mechanical ventilation,surgery,decrease of hemoglobin,increase of pSOFA score and AGI grade were independent risk factors for poor prognosis in patients(P＜0.05).ROC curve analysis showed that predictive value of pSOFA score combined with AGI grading for prognosis of patients was higher than that of them alone(P＜0.05).Conclusion Mechanical ventilation,surgery,hemoglobin,pSOFA score and AGI grade are prognostic factors of sepsis complicated with AGI in children.pSOFA score combined with AGI grade has a high value in predicting poor prognosis.

Azvudine and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) are recommended for COVID-19 treatment in China, but their safety and efficacy in the elderly population are not fully known. In this multicenter, retrospective, cohort study, we identified 5131 elderly hospitalized COVID-19 patients from 32,864 COVID-19 patients admitted to nine hospitals in Henan Province, China, from December 5, 2022, to January 31, 2023. The primary outcome was all-cause death, and the secondary outcome was composite disease progression. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to control for confounding factors, including demographics, vaccination status, comorbidities, and laboratory tests. After 2:1 PSM, 1786 elderly patients receiving azvudine and 893 elderly patients receiving Paxlovid were included. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses revealed that compared with Paxlovid group, azvudine could significantly reduce the risk of all-cause death (log-rank P = 0.002; HR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.573-0.883, P = 0.002), but there was no difference in composite disease progression (log-rank P = 0.52; HR: 1.05, 95% CI: 0.877-1.260, P = 0.588). Four sensitivity analyses verified the robustness of above results. Subgroup analysis suggested that a greater benefit of azvudine over Paxlovid was observed in elderly patients with primary malignant tumors (P for interaction = 0.005, HR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.18-0.57) compared to patients without primary malignant tumors. Safety analysis revealed that azvudine treatment had a lower incidence of adverse events and higher lymphocyte levels than Paxlovid treatment. In conclusion, azvudine treatment is not inferior to Paxlovid treatment in terms of all-cause death, composite disease progression and adverse events in elderly hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Objective To investigate the prognostic factors of acute gastrointestinal injury(AGI)in children with sepsis,and to explore the predictive value of pediatric sequential organ failure assessment(pSOFA)score,AGI grade and their combined for prognosis.Methods A total of 143 children with sepsis complicated with AGI in Inner Mongolia Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2020 to January 2022 were selected and divided into sepsis group(n=1 03)and septic shock group(n=40)according to the severity of disease.pSOFA score was obtained on the day when sepsis was diagnosed.AGI was evaluated every day during hospitalization.Multivariate Logistic regression was used to identify independent factors affecting the outcome.Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was used to analyze predictive value of pSOFA score,AGI grade and their combination for poor prognosis.Results The number of patients who received continuous renal replacement therapy,surgery,mechanical ventilation,bloody stool,hypoactive bowel sound and procalcitonin concentration in septic shock group were higher than those in sepsis group(P＜0.05).Red blood cell,hemoglobin and platelet in septic shock group were lower than those in sepsis group(P＜0.05).Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that mechanical ventilation,surgery,decrease of hemoglobin,increase of pSOFA score and AGI grade were independent risk factors for poor prognosis in patients(P＜0.05).ROC curve analysis showed that predictive value of pSOFA score combined with AGI grading for prognosis of patients was higher than that of them alone(P＜0.05).Conclusion Mechanical ventilation,surgery,hemoglobin,pSOFA score and AGI grade are prognostic factors of sepsis complicated with AGI in children.pSOFA score combined with AGI grade has a high value in predicting poor prognosis.

SARS-CoV-2 infection causes complicated clinical manifestations with variable multi-organ injuries, however, the underlying mechanism, in particular immune responses in different organs, remains elusive. In this study, comprehensive transcriptomic alterations of 14 tissues from rhesus macaque infected with SARS-CoV-2 were analyzed. Compared to normal controls, SARS-CoV-2 infection resulted in dysregulation of genes involving diverse functions in various examined tissues/organs, with drastic transcriptomic changes in cerebral cortex and right ventricle. Intriguingly, cerebral cortex exhibited a hyperinflammatory state evidenced by significant upregulation of inflammation response-related genes. Meanwhile, expressions of coagulation, angiogenesis and fibrosis factors were also up-regulated in cerebral cortex. Based on our findings, neuropilin 1 (NRP1), a receptor of SARS-CoV-2, was significantly elevated in cerebral cortex post infection, accompanied by active immune response releasing inflammatory factors and signal transmission among tissues, which enhanced infection of the central nervous system (CNS) in a positive feedback way, leading to viral encephalitis. Overall, our study depicts a multi-tissue/organ transcriptomic landscapes of rhesus macaque with early infection of SARS-CoV-2, and provides important insights into the mechanistic basis for COVID-19-associated clinical complications.
Animals ; COVID-19/genetics* ; Macaca mulatta ; SARS-CoV-2/genetics* ; Transcriptome