The tumor microenvironment (TM) plays a critical role in the progress of tumors.

Background: In 2020, a novel coronavirus has spread throughout the world. More than four hundred thousand people have died of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia, most of which were severe and critical patients. No effective antiviral treatment has been verified thus far. Nutrition support has become one of the important treatments for severe and critical patients.Methods: In this retrospective study, 26 severe patients and 22 critical patients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled. We recorded the diet and nutritional treatments in severe and critical patients. Baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes of severe and critical patients were also collected.Results: Average calorie intake of severe patients (19.3 kcal/kg/d) was higher than critical patients (15.3 kcal/kg/d) (P = 0.04). Protein intake was similar in the two groups (0.65 and 0.62 g/kg per day, respectively; P = 0.29). There was no significant difference in the median duration of viral shedding between the severe and critical patients (P = 0.354).Conclusions: A permissive underfeeding strategy that restricts non-protein calories but preserves protein intake is feasible for critical patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia. Viral shedding duration of critical patients was the same as severe patients who received standard feeding. Nevertheless, evidence of the conclusion is not sufficient because of small sample size. To show the real clinical benefit of permissive low-calorie and adequate protein intake in critical SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia patients, a large and pragmatic randomized controlled trial is needed.

Activated carbon (AC) was modified by MgO and MnO2 through an impregnation-precipitation-calcination procedure. The batch experiments of adsorption of Rhodamine B (RB) by a modified adsorption material, an MgO-MnO2-AC composite, were carried out and the characteristics of the composite adsorbent were evaluated. The results showed that manganese/magnesium loading changed the surface area, pore volume and increased the number of active adsorption sites of AC. The highest Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area (1,036.18 m2·g−1) was obtained for MgO-MnO2-AC compared with AC. The content of AC loaded with magnesium and manganese was 34.24 and 5.51 mg·g−1 respectively. The adsorption of RB on MgO-MnO2-AC was significantly improved. The maximum adsorption capacity of RB on MgO-MnO2-AC was 16.19 mg·g−1 at 25 °C under the RB concentration of 50 mg·L−1. The adsorption of RB by AC and MgO-MnO2-AC increased with the initial concentration of RB. The adsorption of RB increased first and then decreased when pH was between 3 and 11. The results indicated that the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation and Langmuir equation can be used to describe the adsorption of RB on MgO-MnO2-AC.

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