Currently,human health due to corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic has been seriously threatened.The coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)spike(S)protein plays a crucial role in virus transmission and several S-based therapeutic approaches have been approved for the treatment of COVID-19.However,the efficacy is compromised by the SARS-CoV-2 evolvement and mutation.Here we report the SARS-CoV-2 S protein receptor-binding domain(RBD)inhibitor licorice-saponin A3(A3)could widely inhibit RBD of SARS-CoV-2 variants,including Beta,Delta,and Omicron BA.1,XBB and BQ1.1.Furthermore,A3 could potently inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus in Vero E6 cells,with EC50 of 1.016 pM.The mechanism was related to binding with Y453 of RBD deter-mined by hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry(HDX-MS)analysis combined with quan-tum mechanics/molecular mechanics(QM/MM)simulations.Interestingly,phosphoproteomics analysis and multi fluorescent immunohistochemistry(mIHC)respectively indicated that A3 also inhibits host inflammation by directly modulating the JNK and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK)path-ways and rebalancing the corresponding immune dysregulation.This work supports A3 as a promising broad-spectrum small molecule drug candidate for COVID-19.

Liver transplantation(LT)is the only effective treatment for hepatopulmonary syndrome(HPS).Moreover,perioperative refractory hypoxemia(pRH)is a prevalent life-threatening condition and has extremely limited treatment options.Here,we report three patients with HPS who experienced pRH after LT and were consecutively treated with different salvage therapies,ephedrine inhalation,intravenous use of methylene blue with nitric oxide(NO)inhalation,and NO inhalation alone.The results showed that unresolved severe hypoxia may induce fatal morbidity such as early biliary leakage and acute kidney injury.Early initiation of NO inhalation,rather than ephedrine,can significantly improve oxygenation in patients with pRH and may help prevent hypoxia-related complications.Therefore,based on the response to these exploratory salvage treatments,we further demonstrate the unique ventilation-perfusion mismatch pathophysiology in specific lung regions during pRH in HPS.We propose that early inhalation of NO is an important treatment option to rescue severe hypoxia in patients with HPS during the perioperative period of LT.

Background::Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (HIRI) remains a common complication during liver transplantation (LT) in patients. As a key downstream effector of the Hippo pathway, Yes-associated protein (YAP) has been reported to be involved in various physiological and pathological processes. However, it remains elusive whether and how YAP may control autophagy activation during ischemia-reperfusion.Methods::Human liver tissues from patients who had undergone LT were obtained to evaluate the correlation between YAP and autophagy activation. Both an in vitro hepatocyte cell line and in vivo liver-specific YAP knockdown mice were used to establish the hepatic ischemia-reperfusion models to determine the role of YAP in the activation of autophagy and the mechanism of regulation. Results::Autophagy was activated in the post-perfusion liver grafts during LT in patients, and the expression of YAP positively correlated with the autophagic level of hepatocytes. Liver-specific knockdown of YAP inhibited hepatocytes autophagy upon hypoxia-reoxygenation and HIRI ( P <0.05). YAP deficiency aggravated HIRI by promoting the apoptosis of hepatocytes both in the in vitro and in vivo models ( P <0.05). Attenuated HIRI by overexpression of YAP was diminished after the inhibition of autophagy with 3-methyladenine. In addition, inhibiting autophagy activation by YAP knockdown exacerbated mitochondrial damage through increasing reactive oxygen species ( P <0.05). Moreover, the regulation of autophagy by YAP during HIRI was mediated by AP1 (c-Jun) N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling through binding to the transcriptional enhanced associate domain (TEAD). Conclusions::YAP protects against HIRI by inducing autophagy via JNK signaling that suppresses the apoptosis of hepatocytes. Targeting Hippo (YAP)-JNK-autophagy axis may provide a novel strategy for the prevention and treatment of HIRI.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical characteristics and genetic basis of two brothers featuring X-linked alpha thalassemia mental retardation (ATR-X) syndrome. METHODS: An infant who had presented at the Qilu Children's Hospital in 2020 for unstable upright head and inability to roll over and his family were selected as the study subjects. The clinical features of the child and one of his brothers were summarized, and their genomic DNA was subjected to targeted capture and next generation sequencing (NGS). RESULTS: The brothers had presented with mental retardation and facial dysmorphisms. NGS revealed that they had both harbored a hemizygous c.5275C>A variant of the ATRX gene located on the X chromosome, which was inherited from their mother. CONCLUSION The siblings were diagnosed with ATR-X syndrome. The discovery of the c.5275C>A variant has enriched the mutational spectrum of the ATRX gene.
Humans ; Infant ; Male ; alpha-Thalassemia/diagnosis* ; Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins/genetics* ; East Asian People ; Intellectual Disability/genetics* ; Mental Retardation, X-Linked/diagnosis* ; Pedigree ; X-linked Nuclear Protein/genetics*

Objective: To investigate the serotypes and drug resistance of non-typhoidal Salmonella in Zhengzhou City, so as to provide insights into prevention and control of non-typhoidal Salmonella infections. Methods: Salmonella isolates were collected from diarrheal patients in Zhengzhou municipal sentinel hospitals from 2017 to 2021. Salmonella serotypes were identified using slide agglutination test and soft agar colony formation assay, and antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed using the broth micro-dilution method. Results: Five serogroups and 37 serotypes were identified among 446 non-typhoidal Salmonella isolates, with S. enteritidis (210 isolates, 47.09%) and S. typhimurium (133 isolates, 29.82%) as dominant serotypes. Non-typhoidal Salmonella showed high resistance to ampicillin (79.60%), ampicillin/sulbactam (58.74%), naphthyric acid (56.05%), tetracycline (54.26%) and doxycycline (54.04%), respectively. There were 290 multidrug-resistant Salmonella isolates (65.02%), and the multidrug resistance rates were 70.48% for S. enteritidis and 67.67% for S. typhimurium, respectively. Conclusions Multiple serotypes of non-typhoidal Salmonella were identified in Zhengzhou City from 2017 to 2021, with S. enteritidis and S. typhimurium as dominant serotypes. Widespread drug resistance and multidrug resistance was seen in non-typhoidal Salmonella.

Objective: To analyze the pathogenic spectrum of infectious diarrhea among children in Zhengzhou City in 2020, so as to provide insights into the management of childhood infectious diarrhea. Methods: A total of 230 stool samples were collected from children with diarrhea in the Diarrhea Clinic of Zhengzhou Municipal Children's Hospital in 2020. Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Campylobacter and Aeromonas were isolated. Salmonella was typed using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis ( PFGE ) and antimicrobial resistance was tested in Salmonella. The main types and drug resistance of pathogens were descriptively analyzed. Results: The 230 children with diarrhea included 152 males and 78 females, with a male to female ratio of 1.95∶1. There were 173 cases at ages of 3 years and below ( 75.22% ), and 82 cases seen between June and August ( 35.65% ). A total of 71 pathogenic bacteria strains were isolated, with a detection rate of 30.87%. Salmonella was the most frequently isolated pathogen ( 35 strains, 15.22% prevalence ), following by diarrheagenic E. coli ( 20 strains, 8.70% ). Eleven serotypes of Salmonella were identified, which mainly included S. enteritidis and S. typhimurium. PFGE typing revealed 25 band patterns of Salmonella, with a similarity ranging from 11.85% to 100%. Salmonella were sensitive to imipenem, meropenem, polymyxin B and amikacin and highly resistant to streptomycin ( 85.71% ), ampicillin ( 80.00% ) and sulfaisoxazole ( 80.00% ). A 82.86% proportion of multi-drug resistance was detected in the 29 Salmonella strains. Conclusions A wide range of pathogenic bacteria were detected from the childhood infectious diarrhea in Zhengzhou City in 2020, which mainly included Salmonella and diarrheagenic E. coli. A high polymorphism level was seen in PFGE fingerprints of Salmonella, which presented high-level resistance to antimicrobial agents.

Objective:To explore the effect of short-term modularized training mode with clear milestones for case competition of standardized residency training.Methods:Surgical residents, who attended the first case competition of Guangdong Province in 2020, were trained by short-term modularized training mode with clear milestones. This mode contained four modules: SP consultation training, training of disease characteristics and principles of diagnosis and treatment summary, medical documents and case analysis writing training, and comprehensive emergency case training.Results:After the training, they all made great progress in consultation, interpretation of exam results, and first writing of course record, but less in medical documents and case analysis. The satisfaction rate was 100%, and they all considered informed consent writing for operation and formulating principles of diagnosis and treatment summary as difficult tasks.Conclusion:Short-term modularized training mode with clear milestones might improve the level of consultation, interpretation of exam results, and first writing of course record effectively. While, the difficult point is clinical thinking about the surgical treatment, which must be trained more in routine work.

It is an urgent demand worldwide to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. The 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CL^pro) and papain-like protease (PL^pro) are key targets to discover SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors. After screening 12 Chinese herbal medicines and 125 compounds from licorice, we found that a popular natural product schaftoside inhibited 3CL^pro and PL^pro with IC₅₀ values of 1.73 ± 0.22 and 3.91 ± 0.19 μmol/L, respectively, and inhibited SARS-CoV-2 virus in Vero E6 cells with EC₅₀ of 11.83 ± 3.23 μmol/L. Hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry analysis, quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations, together with site-directed mutagenesis indicated the antiviral activities of schaftoside were related with non-covalent interactions with H41, G143 and R188 of 3CL^pro, and K157, E167 and A246 of PL^pro. Moreover, proteomics analysis and cytokine assay revealed that schaftoside also regulated immune response and inflammation of the host cells. The anti-inflammatory activities of schaftoside were confirmed on lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury mice. Schaftoside showed good safety and pharmacokinetic property, and could be a promising drug candidate for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

Objective: To examine the efficacy and safety of pemetrexed plus apatinib for the treatment of advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in elderly patients. Methods: Between January 2016 and June 2017, 38 elderly patients with ad-vanced non-squamous NSCLC from Qingdao Municipal Hospital were examined. All patients received first-or second-line therapy. The inclusion criteria were an age of≥65 years, physical status score of 0-2, and expected survival time of>3 months. Eighteen patients were assigned to the test group, and the remaining 20 patients were assigned to the control group. The patients in the test group were treated with pemetrexed plus apatinib, pemetrexed 500 mg/m2 on day 1 and apatinib 250 mg/d on days 1-21. The control group re-ceived pemetrexed in a 21-day cycle until the disease progressed or intolerable adverse reactions developed. The study was reviewed and approved by the medical ethics committee of Qingdao Municipal Hospital. Results: The disease control rates in the test and con-trol groups were 72.2% and 35%, respectively, with a statistically significant difference (χ2=5.265, P=0.022). The median progression-free survival time (PFS) in the test and control groups were 5.7 months [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.8-8.6] and 3.1 months (95% CI:2.7-3.5), with a statistically significant difference (χ2=4.01, P=0.045). The difference in the incidence of hand-foot syndrome and hyper-tension between the two groups was statistically significant (P=0.007 and P=0.016, respectively), with side effects of 1 or 2 degree in most cases, which was acceptable. Conclusions: Pemetrexed plus apatinib has a definite curative effect on advanced NSCLC, with con-trollable adverse reactions.

Critical ultrasonography(CUS) is different from the traditional diagnostic ultrasound,the examiner and interpreter of the image are critical care medicine physicians.The core content of CUS is to evaluate the pathophysiological changes of organs and systems and etiology changes.With the idea of critical care medicine as the soul,it can integrate the above information and clinical information,bedside real-time diagnosis and titration treatment,and evaluate the therapeutic effect so as to improve the outcome.CUS is a traditional technique which is applied as a new application method.The consensus of experts on critical ultrasonography in China released in 2016 put forward consensus suggestions on the concept,implementation and application of CUS.It should be further emphasized that the accurate and objective assessment and implementation of CUS requires the standardization of ultrasound image acquisition and the need to establish a CUS procedure.At the same time,the standardized training for CUS accepted by critical care medicine physicians requires the application of technical specifications,and the establishment of technical specifications is the basis for the quality control and continuous improvement of CUS.Chinese Critical Ultrasound Study Group and Critical Hemodynamic Therapy Collabration Group,based on the rich experience of clinical practice in critical care and research,combined with the essence of CUS,to learn the traditional ultrasonic essence,established the clinical application technical specifications of CUS,including in five parts:basic view and relevant indicators to obtain in CUS;basic norms for viscera organ assessment and special assessment;standardized processes and systematic inspection programs;examples of CUS applications;CUS training and the application of qualification certification.The establishment of applied technology standard is helpful for standardized training and clinical correct implementation.It is helpful for clinical evaluation and correct guidance treatment,and is also helpful for quality control and continuous improvement of CUS application.