Background: A novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak due to the severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection occurred in China in late December 2019. Facemask wearing with proper hand hygiene is considered an effective measure to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but facemask wearing has become a social concern due to the global facemask shortage. China is the major facemask producer in the world, contributing to 50% of global production. However, a universal facemask wearing policy would put an enormous burden on the facemask supply. Methods: We performed a policy review concerning facemasks using government websites and mathematical modelling shortage analyses based on data obtained from the National Health Commission (NHC), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and General Administration of Customs (GAC) of the People's Republic of China. Three scenarios with respect to wearing facemasks were considered: (1) a universal facemask wearing policy implementation in all regions of mainland China; (2) a universal facemask wearing policy implementation only in the epicentre (Hubei province, China); and (3) no implementation of a universal facemask wearing policy. Findings: Regardless of different universal facemask wearing policy scenarios, facemask shortage would occur but eventually end during our prediction period (from 20 Jan 2020 to 30 Jun 2020). The duration of the facemask shortage described in the scenarios of a country-wide universal facemask wearing policy, a universal facemask wearing policy in the epicentre, and no universal facemask wearing policy were 132, seven, and four days, respectively. During the prediction period, the largest daily facemask shortages were predicted to be 589¢5, 49¢3, and 37¢5 million in each of the three scenarios, respectively. In any scenario, an N95 mask shortage was predicted to occur on 24 January 2020 with a daily facemask shortage of 2¢2 million. Interpretation: Implementing a universal facemask wearing policy in the whole of China could lead to severe facemask shortage. Without effective public communication, a universal facemask wearing policy could result in societal panic and subsequently, increase the nationwide and worldwide demand for facemasks. These increased demands could cause a facemask shortage for healthcare workers and reduce the effectiveness of outbreak control in the affected regions, eventually leading to a pandemic. To fight novel infectious disease outbreaks, such as COVID-19, governments should monitor domestic facemask supplies and give priority to healthcare workers. The risk of asymptomatic transmission and facemask shortages should be carefully evaluated before introducing a universal facemask wearing policy in high-risk regions. Public health measures aimed at improving hand hygiene and effective public communication should be considered along with the facemask policy.

GDM treatment based on the WeChat platform effectively reduces FBG and 2-h PBG and may improve pregnancy outcomes. However, 1-h PBG was not affected by treatment. Obstetricians should consider the OGTT2h value to increase gestational age at delivery.

Our previous study demonstrated that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) HOTTIP was maximally expressed in PDAC, and promoted cancer cell progression and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Numerous studies indicated that lncRNAs or EMT supported cancer stem cells. However, the role of HOTTIP in pancreatic cancer stem cells (PCSCs) remains unclear. Here, we evaluated the role and mechanism of HOTTIP in PCSCs. First, we analyzed the relationship between HOTTIP expression and overall or disease-free survival in 90 patients with PDAC after radical resection. Patients with higher HOTTIP expression had shorter disease-free survival and overall survival than those with lower expression. Expression of HOTTIP and other lncRNAs was detected in PCSCs and non-PCSCs by laser capture microdissection (LCM). HOTTIP was highly expressed in PCSCs. In addition, in vitro assays showed that HOTTIP alterations affected stemness, including sphericity, tumorigenesis, and stem factors (LIN28, NANOG, OCT4, and SOX2) and markers (ALDH1, CD44, and CD133). Mechanistically, HOTTIP mediated HOXA9 to enhance the Wnt/β-catenin pathway by binding to WDR5 in PCSCs. In vivo results showed that HOTTIP or HOXA9 alterations influenced stemness. Our results indicate that the HOTTIP/WDR5/HOXA9/Wnt axis contributes to PCSC stemness and is a potential therapeutic target for PDAC.

Background: Circular RNAs (circRNAs), a novel class of noncoding RNAs, have recently drawn much attention in the pathogenesis of human cancers. However, the role of circRNAs in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to identify novel circRNAs that regulate ESCC progression and explored their regulatory mechanisms and clinical significance in ESCC.Methods: Differentially expressed circRNAs between ESCC and paired adjacent normal tissues were identified using microarrays. The effects of a specific differentially expressed circRNA (circGSK3β) on tumor progression were explored in vitro and in vivo. Plasma samples from patients with ESCC, benign lesions and healthy controls were subjected to droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) analyses for circGSK3β, and the detection rates of plasma circGSK3β for ESCC were investigated.Results: We demonstrated that upregulated expression of circGSK3β was positively associated with advanced clinical stage and poor outcome in patients with ESCC. We further revealed that circGSK3β promoted ESCC cell migration and invasion via direct interaction with GSK3β and inhibiting GSK3β activity, providing a novel mechanism of circRNA in cancer progression. Importantly, we identified that circGSK3β expression in plasma was a biomarker for detection of ESCC and early stage of ESCC with the area under curve (AUC) of 0.782 and 0.793, respectively.Conclusions: CircGSK3β exerts critical roles in promoting ESCC metastasis and may serve as a novel therapeutic target for ESCC patients. The plasma level of circGSK3β have potential to serve as a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for ESCC detection.