Some patients with positive chest CT findings may present with negative results of real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In ...this study, the authors present chest CT findings from five patients with COVID-19 infection who had initial negative RT-PCR results. All five patients had typical imaging findings, including ground-glass opacity (five patients) and/or mixed ground-glass opacity and mixed consolidation (two patients). After isolation for presumed COVID-19 pneumonia, all patients were eventually confirmed to have COVID-19 infection by means of repeated swab tests. A combination of repeated swab tests and CT scanning may be helpful for individuals with a high clinical suspicion of COVID-19 infection but negative findings at RT-PCR screening.
The increasing number of cases of confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China is striking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between chest CT findings and the clinical ...conditions of COVID-19 pneumonia.
Data on 101 cases of COVID-19 pneumonia were retrospectively collected from four institutions in Hunan, China. Basic clinical characteristics and detailed imaging features were evaluated and compared between two groups on the basis of clinical status: nonemergency (mild or common disease) and emergency (severe or fatal disease).
Patients 21-50 years old accounted for most (70.2%) of the cohort, and five (5.0%) patients had disease associated with a family outbreak. Most patients (78.2%) had fever as the onset symptom. Most patients with COVID-19 pneumonia had typical imaging features, such as ground-glass opacities (GGO) (87 86.1%) or mixed GGO and consolidation (65 64.4%), vascular enlargement in the lesion (72 71.3%), and traction bronchiectasis (53 52.5%). Lesions present on CT images were more likely to have a peripheral distribution (88 87.1%) and bilateral involvement (83 82.2%) and be lower lung predominant (55 54.5%) and multifocal (55 54.5%). Patients in the emergency group were older than those in the non-emergency group. Architectural distortion, traction bronchiectasis, and CT involvement score aided in evaluation of the severity and extent of the disease.
Patients with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia have typical imaging features that can be helpful in early screening of highly suspected cases and in evaluation of the severity and extent of disease. Most patients with COVID-19 pneumonia have GGO or mixed GGO and consolidation and vascular enlargement in the lesion. Lesions are more likely to have peripheral distribution and bilateral involvement and be lower lung predominant and multifocal. CT involvement score can help in evaluation of the severity and extent of the disease.
Wnts are secreted proteins that bind to cell surface receptors to activate downstream signaling cascades. Normal Wnt signaling plays key roles in embryonic development and adult tissue homeostasis. ...The secretion of Wnt ligands, the turnover of Wnt receptors, and the signaling transduction are tightly regulated and fine-tuned to keep the signaling output "just right." Hyperactivated Wnt signaling due to recurrent genetic alterations drives several human cancers. Elevated Wnt signaling also confers resistance to multiple conventional and targeted cancer therapies through diverse mechanisms including maintaining the cancer stem cell population, enhancing DNA damage repair, facilitating transcriptional plasticity, and promoting immune evasion. Different classes of Wnt signaling inhibitors targeting key nodes of the pathway have been developed and show efficacy in treating Wnt-driven cancers and subverting Wnt-mediated therapy resistance in preclinical studies. Several of these inhibitors have advanced to clinical trials, both singly and in combination with other existing US Food and Drug Administration-approved anti-cancer modalities. In the near future, pharmacological inhibition of Wnt signaling may be a real choice for patients with cancer. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: The latest insights in Wnt signaling, ranging from basic biology to therapeutic implications in cancer, are reviewed. Recent studies extend understanding of this ancient signaling pathway and describe the development and improvement of anti-Wnt therapeutic modalities for cancer.
Dysbiosis, departure of the gut microbiome from a healthy state, has been suggested to be a powerful biomarker of disease incidence and progression
. Diagnostic applications have been proposed for ...inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis and prognosis
, colorectal cancer prescreening
and therapeutic choices in melanoma
. Noninvasive sampling could facilitate large-scale public health applications, including early diagnosis and risk assessment in metabolic
and cardiovascular diseases
. To understand the generalizability of microbiota-based diagnostic models of metabolic disease, we characterized the gut microbiota of 7,009 individuals from 14 districts within 1 province in China. Among phenotypes, host location showed the strongest associations with microbiota variations. Microbiota-based metabolic disease models developed in one location failed when used elsewhere, suggesting that such models cannot be extrapolated. Interpolated models performed much better, especially in diseases with obvious microbiota-related characteristics. Interpolation efficiency decreased as geographic scale increased, indicating a need to build localized baseline and disease models to predict metabolic risks.
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