For the past 20 years, we have witnessed an unprecedented and, indeed, rather miraculous event of how cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), the naturally originated penetrating enhancers, help overcome the membrane barrier that has hindered the access of bio-macromolecular compounds such as genes and proteins into cells, thereby denying their clinical potential to become potent anti-cancer drugs. By taking the advantage of the unique cell-translocation property of these short peptides, various payloads of proteins, nucleic acids, or even nanoparticle-based carriers were delivered into all cell types with unparalleled efficiency. However, non-specific CPP-mediated cell penetration into normal tissues can lead to widespread organ distribution of the payloads, thereby reducing the therapeutic efficacy of the drug and at the same time increasing the drug-induced toxic effects. In view of these challenges, we present herein a review of the new designs of CPP-linked vehicles and strategies to achieve highly effective yet less toxic chemotherapy in combating tumor oncology.

To describe epidemiological trends and spatial distributions of HIV/AIDS among older adults (aged !50) in Sichuan Province, China during 2008-19, and provide scientific reference for HIV/AIDS prevention, intervention and treatment. Methods: Data on HIV/AIDS cases reported in 2008-19 was extracted from the Case Report System. The Cochran-Armitage trend test was used to determine epidemic trends. Spatial autocorrelation and spacetime analysis were conducted with ArcGIS10.6 and ArcGIS Pro2.4, respectively. Results: A total of 77 854 HIV/AIDS cases among older adults were included in the study. Newly reported cases increased from 320 in 2008 to 22 189 in 2019, and the reported incidence rate (number of new reported cases/older adult population) rose from 0.001% to 0.077%. Infections through heterosexual transmission increased from 65.3% to 98.2% of total cases in older adults in this period. Spatial analysis at the county-level showed significant clustering throughout Sichuan, with the main hot spots concentrated in the southeast. Spatiotemporal analysis indicated that most of the southeastern counties/districts were Consecutive Hot Spots. Conclusions: Older adults have become a key population in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Sichuan; comprehensive prevention and intervention measures targeted to older adults are urgently needed to control the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Aims To explore the epidemiological and clinical features of 2019 novel coronavirus(2019-nCoV)-infected patients with cardiac injury . Methods and results Data were collected from patients medical records, and we defined cardiac injury according to cardiac biomarker troponin I level > 0.03>ug/L. Among the 291 patients, 15 (5.2%) showed evidence of cardiac injury. Of 16 hospitalized patients with cardiac injury, the median age was 62 years, and 11/15 (73.3%) were men. Underlying cardiovascular diseases in some patients were hypertension (n=7, 46.6%), coronary heart disease (n=3, 20%) and diabetes (n=3, 20%). The most common symptoms at illness onset in patients with cardiac injury were fever (n=11, 73.3%), cough (n=7, 46.7%), headache or fatigue (n=5, 33.3%) and dyspnoea (n=4, 26.6%). These patients had higher systolic pressures, and lower lymphocyte counts and platelet counts, compared with patients without cardiac injury, respectively. Bilateral infiltrates on chest X-ray and elevated C-reactive protein occurred in all patients with cardiac injury. Compared with patients without cardiac injury, patients with cardiac injury were more likely to develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (73.3%), and receive mechanical ventilation (53.4%), continuous renal replacement therapy (33.3%), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (26.7%) and vasopressor therapy (26.7%) and be admitted to the intensive care unit (73.3%). One patient died during the study. Conclusion Cardiac injury is a common condition among patients infected with 2019-nCoV.Compared with patients without cardiac injury, the clinical outcomes of patients with cardiac injury are relatively worse. Keywords: 2019-nCoV, Cardiac injury, Clinical features

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