PurposeTo report the ocular characteristics and the presence of viral RNA of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in conjunctival swab specimens in a patient with confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).Participant and methodsA 30-year-old man with confirmed COVID-19 and bilateral acute conjunctivitis which occurred 13 days after illness onset. Based on detailed ophthalmic examination, reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) was performed to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus in conjunctival swabs. The ocular characteristics, presence of viral RNA and viral dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 in the conjunctival specimens were evaluated.ResultsSlit lamp examination showed bilateral acute follicular conjunctivitis. RT-PCR assay demonstrated the presence of viral RNA in conjunctival specimen 13 days after onset (cycle threshold value: 31). The conjunctival swab specimens remained positive for SARS-CoV-2 on 14 and 17 days after onset. On day 19, RT-PCR result was negative for SARS-CoV-2.ConclusionSARS-CoV-2 is capable of causing ocular complications such as viral conjunctivitis in the middle phase of illness. Precautionary measures are recommended when examining infected patients throughout the clinical course of the infection. However, conjunctival sampling might not be useful for early diagnosis because the virus may not appear initially in the conjunctiva.

There is growing evidence on the clinical significance of Tumor Microenvironment (TME) cells in predicting prognosis and therapeutic effects. However, cell interactionsin tumor microenvironments have not been thoroughly studied or systematicallyanalyzed so far. In this study, 22 immune cell components in the lung adenocarcinoma(LUAD) TME were analyzed using gene expression profile from The Cancer GenomeAtlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) . The TME based molecular subtypesof LUAD were defined to evaluate further the relationship between molecular subtypes,prognosis, and clinical characteristics. A TME risk score model was constructed byusing the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of molecular subtypes. The relationshipbetween the TME score and clinical characteristics and genomic mutations wascompared to identify the genes that have significant associations with the TME. Thecomprehensive analysis of the TME characteristics maybe helpful in revealing theresponse of LUAD patients to immunotherapy, providing a new strategy forimmunotherapy.

The leaves of Ligustrum robustum have been applied as Ku-Ding-Cha, a functional tea to clear heat, remove toxins, and treat obesity and diabetes, in Southwest China. The phytochemical research on the leaves of L. robustum led to the isolation and identification of eight new monoterpenoid glycosides (1–8) and three known monoterpenoid glycosides (9–11). Compounds 1–11 were tested for the inhibitory activities on fatty acid synthase (FAS), α-glucosidase, α-amylase, and the antioxidant effects. Compound 2 showed stronger FAS inhibitory activity (IC50: 2.36 ± 0.10 μM) than the positive control orlistat (IC50: 4.46 ± 0.13 μM), while compounds 1, 2, 5 and 11 displayed more potent ABTS radical scavenging activity (IC50: 6.91 ± 0.10~9.41 ± 0.22 μM) than the positive control L-(+)-ascorbic acid (IC50: 10.06 ± 0.19 μM). This study provided a theoretical basis for the leaves of L. robustum as a functional tea to treat obesity.

A novel ultra-sensitive fluorescent sensor for monitoring microRNA (miRNA) in living cells was constructed by utilizing a hybridization chain reaction (HCR) as the signal amplification with a carbon nitride nanosheet (CNNS) as a carrier. The Cy5-labeled hairpin DNA could be adsorbed onto the surface of CNNS, resulting in fluorescence quenching of Cy5. When treated with complementary miRNA, the fluorescence was recovered because miRNA could efficiently trigger an HCR, which led to the release of the HCR products from the CNNS. This intracellular HCR strategy can be used for ultra-sensitive monitoring of intracellular miRNA. The main advantages of the proposed method are its simplicity, high sensitivity, high specificity and low toxicity for monitoring low-level biomarkers.

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