Background: To assess the dynamic changes in clinical and CT characteristics of COVID-19 patients with different epidemiology histories. Methods: Fifty-three discharged COVID-19 patients were enrolled at Beijing Youan Hospital, Capital Medical University, from Jan 21 to Mar 10, 2020. Spearman correlation analysis was performed between CT scores and laboratory indicators. Patients were divided into Wuhan (lived in/or traveled to Wuhan, 30 cases) and nonWuhan group (close contacts or unknown exposure, 23 cases). The CT and laboratory findings were compared between and within groups during the clinical process. Results: Fever (88.7%), cough (64.2%), fatigue (34%), and abnormal laboratory indicators, including lymphopenia, reduced albumin, albumin/globulin (A/G), and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), were mainly observed. Subpleural ground-glass opacities (86.8%) were usually detected at admission. The CT scores were highly correlated with lymphocytes, CRP, albumin, and A/G at initial and follow-ups (all p<0.05). Four days after admission, most patients (66.7% Wuhan, 47.8% nonWuhan) showed progression, and the CT scores of Wuhan significantly increased (p=0.015). Eight days after admission, the vast majority of patients (69.2% Wuhan, 100% nonWuhan, p=0.006) presented improvement, and the CT scores of nonWuhan were significantly lower than Wuhan (p=0.006). Pneumonia was completely absorbed in most patients 2-4 weeks after discharge. Conclusions: CT plays a crucial role in early diagnosis and monitoring changes in COVID-19. Lymphocytes, CRP, albumin, and A/G are expected to predict disease severity and prognosis. Viral pathogenicity in non-endemic areas may be weaker than core-infected areas. Lung lesions can disappear around 4 weeks after discharge in most patients. Background In December 2019, there was an outbreak of novel viral pneumonia in Wuhan, China, which was proved to be associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [1] and later named by World Health Organization (WHO) as the corona virus disease (COVID-19). COVID-19 initially affected mainly the person who worked or lived around the Huanan seafood market (Wuhan, China)[2, 3]. Then, the number of infected individuals soared and rapidly spread across all number BMU2018MX027]; Capital medical university research and incubation funding [grant number PYZ19162]; and Beijing Excellent Talent Plan [grant number 2018000021469G290]. The funders and sponsors had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The researchers confirm their independence.

The purpose of this case report is to describe the radiographic and clinical features of a COVID-19 pneumonia patient without clear epidemiological history outside Wuhan, China.

Macrophages play an essential role in maintaining the normal function of the innate and adaptive immune responses during host defence. Macrophages acquire diverse functional phenotypes in response to various microenvironmental stimuli, and are mainly classified into classically activated macrophages (M1) and alternatively activated macrophages (M2). Macrophage polarization participates in the inflammatory, fibrotic, and oncogenic processes of diverse respiratory diseases by changing phenotype and function. In recent decades, with the advent of broad-range profiling methods such as microarrays and next-generation sequencing, the discovery of RNA transcripts that do not encode proteins termed “noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs)” has become more easily accessible. As one major member of the regulatory ncRNA family, long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs, transcripts &gt;200 nucleotides) participate in multiple pathophysiological processes, including cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis, and vary with different stimulants and cell types. Emerging evidence suggests that lncRNAs account for the regulation of macrophage polarization and subsequent effects on respiratory diseases. In this review, we summarize the current published literature from the PubMed database concerning lncRNAs relevant to macrophage polarization and the underlying molecular mechanisms during the occurrence and development of respiratory diseases. These differentially expressed lncRNAs are expected to be biomarkers and targets for the therapeutic regulation of macrophage polarization during disease development.