新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情常态化防控态势下我国微生物学教学改革与人才培养

两年多前突如其来的新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情既给高校教学带来了全新挑战,也带来了变革的契机.随着后疫情时代的到来,有必要不断探索建立适应疫情防控要求的教学交流和研究模式,有效利用现代信息化技术和新媒体平台,整合优化教学资源,转变教学理念,切实提高教学水平与人才培养质量.《微生物学通报》以"第十八届全国微生物学教学和科研及成果...     

新型冠状病毒肺炎与mNGS技术

新型冠状病毒肺炎(Coronavirus Disease 2019,COVID 19)是指2019新型冠状病毒(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2,SARS CoV 2)感染导致的肺炎。截至2020年5月21日已造成全球超过496万人感染、30万人以上死亡。宏基因组下一代测序(metagenomic next generation sequencing,mNGS)技术是在发现和检测新冠肺炎中发挥重要作用的技术。本文介绍了mNGS在新冠肺炎疫情中的作用及核心技术特点,并为mNGS在抗击全球疫情中的应用做出技术性归纳总结。     

以“新冠”病毒肺炎疫情为案例的问题导向式微生物学课程思政教学设计

在微生物学课程中开展思政教学有助于提升相关专业学生的思想道德修养和综合素质,是当前高校教育"立德树人"根本任务的具体要求,也是思政教育"全过程、常态化"的重要体现。案例教学法是微生物学课程思政的一种重要教学方法,主要以微生物学科发展中的一些著名学者及其事迹为案例,引导学生认识和理解这些案例的思想内涵,以提升自身思想道德水平。该教学方法在实践中获得了较为理想的教学效果,但也存在着设计不够充分、时效性不足等问题。针对这些问题,本文提出了以新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19,简称"新冠"病毒肺炎)疫情为案例的问题导向式微生物学课程思政教学设计方案。该设计基于当前"新冠"病毒肺炎疫情中涌现出的诸多先进人物和事迹,以及暴露出的一些不良现象和问题,通过将这些案例与微生物学专业知识,以及微生物学科发展历史上的经典人物事迹进行有机整合和提炼,开展问题导向式教学。这些案例都是学生亲身经历过的重大事件,因此能有效地提升学生的参与感,引发学生的共鸣。使用这些案例是对微生物学课程思政经典教学案例的有益补充,能更好地引导学生在学习相关专业知识的同时,主动思考各案例所蕴含的思想道德意义并将之内化为自己的价值信念,帮助他们塑造正确的"三观",最终实现微生物学课程思政"寓思想教育于科学知识学习"的教学目标。     

新型冠状病毒肺炎的疫情趋势预测

2019年12月以来,湖北省武汉市部分医院陆续发现了多例不明原因肺炎病例,现已证实为新型冠状病毒肺炎(Coronavirus disease 2019,COVID-19)。全国各地采取了前所未有的措施,大力开展疾病救治和防疫工作。本文收集中国国家卫生健康委员会公布的官方统计数据预测疫情走向。传统SEIR模型中仅考虑病例和处于潜伏期的感染者,病例具有传染性而潜伏者无传染性;事实上,新冠肺炎确诊患者在医院中隔离无法对外界易感人群造成感染,有研究表明处于潜伏期的感染者可能具有传染性。因此,本研究提出了改进的传染病传播模型—ISEIR,将患者分为未收治的发病患者(具有传染性)和已收治的确诊患者(不考虑传染性),并考虑处于潜伏期的感染者具有传染性;以历史数据动态拟合模型参数,来摆脱固定参数的局限性。在数据预处理中根据每日有效再生数的概率分布将2020年2月12至14日这三天的临床诊断数据进行预处理,摊入到前期数据中。疫情分成全国(湖北省外)和湖北省两大区域分别进行探讨,通过新模型ISEIR预测今后疫情的进一步发展,并计算每日的有效再生数变化。结果显示,湖北省的有效再生数从3.108逐渐降低,20...     

“工业微生物学”课程线上教学的改革与实践

为了保证新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情下的教学质量,我们教学团队通过重构教学体系和教学过程设计,进行了“工业微生物学”课程教学改革的探索。基于超星泛雅网络教学平台,建立集网络课堂和数字化资源为一体的智能教学体系,改革教学过程的设计与实施途径,探讨“线上”教学的考核模式,评价教学改革效果。实践表明,改革后的课程教学激发了学生的学习兴趣,提高了自主学习能力,促进了师生互动,取得了较好的教学效果。     

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情下医务工作者的自我心理防护

近来,新型冠状病毒肺炎(coronavirus disease 2019,COVID-19)疫情成为“国际关注的突发公共卫生事件”,大量医务工作者积极投入应对疫情的战役,在承担繁重工作的同时,也承受着巨大的心理压力。本文分析在重大传染病疫情下,一线医务工作者可能面临的心理问题,并提出自我解决的方案,这将有助于医务人员以良好的情绪状态投入防疫和抗疫工作。     

新型冠状病毒的结构基础与新型冠状病毒肺炎的临床药物治疗

新型冠状病毒肺炎(corona virus disease 2019, COVID-19)是指由新型冠状病毒(severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus2, SARS-CoV-2)感染导致的肺炎。SARS-CoV-2结合细胞表面受体——血管紧张素转化酶2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2,ACE2)感染肺部细胞,导致白细胞浸润,血管和肺泡壁通透性增加,肺表面活性物质减少,引起呼吸系统症状。局部的炎症加重引起细胞因子风暴,造成全身性炎症反应综合征。2019年12月,武汉市卫生健康委员会报告了多例新型肺炎,分离并确定了病原体SARS-CoV-2。截至2020年9月13日,全世界216个国家或地区受累,2 860余万人确诊COVID-19,90余万人死于该疾病,病死率高达3.20%。到目前为止,尚无特效药物可治疗COVID-19,因此解析病毒结构,探索治疗药物显得尤其重要。本文总结了SARS-CoV-2的病毒结构和COVID-19的临床药物治疗,并分析了他们之间可能的相关性。     

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情对辽宁省食用菌产业的影响及应对措施

概述了新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情期间辽宁省食用菌产业生产和管理现状,分析了疫情对辽宁省食用菌产业产前、产中、产后的影响,指出了原辅料准备、菌种(棒)生产、养菌管理、产品销售以及人员用工、交通物流等存在的诸多问题,明确了疫情对食用菌产业结构、销售市场结构、投资市场结构主要的影响因素,提出了应对交通不畅、劳动力匮乏、资金短缺、技术缺乏的具体措施,并对辽宁省食用菌产业健康持续高质量发展提出建议。     

对新型冠状病毒肺炎的认识

新型冠状病毒肺炎(Corona Virus Disease 2019,COVID-19)是近期在世界范围发生的一种以呼吸系统症状为主要表现的传染性疾病,该病对我国乃至世界人民的生命安全造成了重大威胁。严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2,SARS-CoV-2)的传染性较SARS-CoV、MERS-CoV强,是该病原体最大特点之一,且其感染后进展快、危害大。现已经过我国及全世界科学家努力对该病有了进一步的认识。该文旨在对该病的认识进行梳理,提高临床医生对该病的初步认识。     

开放式教育潮流下的我国微生物学教学改革与人才培养

信息通信技术的迅猛发展不仅改变了知识的传播方式,也对高等教育的教学理念、教学模式和教学方法产生了深远的影响,以各类在线开放课程建设为代表的开放式教育理念目前已在高校中获得普遍的认可和实施。《微生物学通报》以"第十六届全国微生物学教学和科研及成果产业化研讨会"大会报告为主要稿源组织出版的这期"高等院校教学主题刊"很好地反映了在开放式教育潮流下我国微生物学教学改革与人才培养的最新进展和发展态势。期望该专刊的出版有助于进一步加强我国高校微生物学教师间的教改经验交流和合作,促进微生物学教学质量的全面提升。     

Incidence and impact of cardiac arrhythmias in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundStudies have shown that cardiac arrhythmias may occur in up to 44% of patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and has been associated with an increased risk of death. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias in patients with COVID-19 and their implications on patient prognosis.MethodsWe performed a systematic literature search from PubMed, SCOPUS, Europe PMC, Cochrane Central Databases, and Google Scholar + Preprint Servers. The primary endpoint of the study was poor outcomes including mortality, severe COVID-19, and the need for ICU care.ResultsA total of 4 studies including 784 patients were analyzed. The incidence of arrhythmia in patients with COVID-19 was 19% (9–28%; I²: 91.45). Arrhythmia occurred in 48% (38–57%; I²: 48.08) of patients with poor outcome and 6% (1–12%; I²: 85.33%) of patients without poor outcome. Patients with COVID-19 experiencing arrhythmia had an increased risk of poor outcome (RR 7.96 [3.77, 16.81], p < 0.001; I²: 71.1%). The funnel-plot analysis showed an asymmetrical funnel plot with most of the studies on the right side of the effect estimate. The regression-based Egger’s test showed indication of small-study effects (p = 0.001).ConclusionCardiac arrhythmias were significantly associated with an increased risk of poor outcome in COVID-19. Arrhythmias were observed in 19% of patients with COVID-19 and in 48% of patients with COVID-19 and poor outcomes.     

COVID-19 disease and malignant cancers: The impact for the furin gene expression in susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2

Furin is a proprotein convertase that activates different kinds of regulatory proteins, including SARS-CoV-2 spike protein which contains an additional furin-specific cleavage site. It is essential in predicting cancer patients'' susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 and the disease outcomes due to varying furin expressions in tumor tissues. In this study, we analyzed furin''s expression, methylation, mutation rate, functional enrichment, survival rate and COVID-19 outcomes in normal and cancer tissues using online databases, and our IHC. As a result, furin presented with biased expression profiles in normal tissues, showing 12.25-fold higher than ACE2 in the lungs. The furin expression in tumors were significantly increased in ESCA and TGCT, and decreased in DLBC and THYM, indicating furin may play critical mechanistic functions in COVID-19 viral entry into cells in these cancer patients. Line with furin over/downexpression, furin promoter hypo-/hyper-methylation may be the regulatory cause of disease and lead to pathogenesis of ESCA and THYM. Furthermore, presence of FURIN-201 isoform with functional domains (P_proprotein, Peptidase_S8 and S8_pro-domain) is highest in all cancer types in comparison to other isoforms, demonstrating its use in tumorigenesis and SARS-Cov-2 entry into tumor tissues. Furin mutation frequency was highest in UCES, and its mutation might elevate ACE2 expression in LUAD and UCEC, reduce ACE2 expression in COAD, elevate HSPA5 expression in PAAD, and elevate TMPRSS2 expression in BRCA. These results showed that furin mutations mostly increased expression of ACE2, HSPA5, and TMPRSS2 in certain cancers, indicating furin mutations might facilitate COVID-19 cell entry in cancer patients. In addition, high expression of furin was significantly inversely correlated with long overall survival (OS) in LGG and correlated with long OS in COAD and KIRC, indicating that it could be used as a favorable prognostic marker for cancer patients'' survival. GO and KEGG demonstrated that furin was mostly enriched in genes for metabolic and biosynthetic processes, retinal dehydrogenase activity, tRNA methyltransferase activity, and genes involving COVID-19, further supporting its role in COVID-19 and cancer metabolism. Moreover, Cordycepin (CD) inhibited furin expression in a dosage dependent manner. Altogether, furin''s high expression might not only implies increased susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 and higher severity of COVID-19 symptoms in cancer patients, but also it highlights the need for cancer treatment and therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic. CD might have a potential to develop an anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug through inhibiting furin expression.     

Extensive use of face masks during COVID-19 pandemic: (micro-)plastic pollution and potential health concerns in the Arabian Peninsula

Face masks are primary line of defense to reduce the transmission risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). World Health Organization (WHO) has already updated the guidelines and advised the use of face masks in public areas essentially. This has dramatically increased the production and use of face masks in many parts of the world. Arabian Peninsula is comprised of six countries where the public perception of following WHO guidelines is high. In this study, we highlight the concerns relating to extensive use of face masks in this region, particularly in the context of (micro-)plastic pollution. We computed the number of face masks to be used in each of the countries of Arabian Peninsula for varying levels of acceptance rate and average number of daily usages. Accordingly, the amount of (micro-)plastic that could come into the terrestrial and marine environment is also reported. Saudi Arabia, being the most populated country in the region may contribute up to 32–235 thousand tons of (micro-)plastic which is nearly half of the amount in the whole Peninsula. On the other hand, an extremely high infection rate in Qatar (25.74%) may also lead to a significant increase of (micro-)plastic content due to high public acceptance rate and living standards. The high (micro-)plastic fraction is of significant concern because it ends up in the marine ecosystems. Further, it allows colonization of several pathogenic microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungal filaments, and spores) and might serve as carriers of disease transmission finally affecting the living organisms habituating these ecosystems. It is suggested that appropriate regulations on face masks waste should be devised to avoid any unwanted consequences in the near future.     

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 induces fibrin(ogen) resistant to fibrinolysis: implications for microclot formation in COVID-19

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2)-induced infection, the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is characterized by unprecedented clinical pathologies. One of the most important pathologies, is hypercoagulation and microclots in the lungs of patients. Here we study the effect of isolated SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S1 subunit as potential inflammagen sui generis. Using scanning electron and fluorescence microscopy as well as mass spectrometry, we investigate the potential of this inflammagen to interact with platelets and fibrin(ogen) directly to cause blood hypercoagulation. Using platelet-poor plasma (PPP), we show that spike protein may interfere with blood flow. Mass spectrometry also showed that when spike protein S1 is added to healthy PPP, it results in structural changes to β and γ fibrin(ogen), complement 3, and prothrombin. These proteins were substantially resistant to trypsinization, in the presence of spike protein S1. Here we suggest that, in part, the presence of spike protein in circulation may contribute to the hypercoagulation in COVID-19 positive patients and may cause substantial impairment of fibrinolysis. Such lytic impairment may result in the persistent large microclots we have noted here and previously in plasma samples of COVID-19 patients. This observation may have important clinical relevance in the treatment of hypercoagulability in COVID-19 patients.     

慕课、微课在地方应用型高校“发酵工程”课程教学中的

慕课、微课是信息时代发展的产物,是将来高等教育的发展方向。探索将慕课、微课引入到地方应用型高校的“发酵工程”教学改革与探索,以期将其作为“发酵工程”课堂教学的补充与延伸,形成一种兼顾课堂教学和个性化教学的新模式,最大限度地促进学生的个性化学习。一年多的教学改革探索表明慕课、微课的课程教学改革得到了学生和同行教师的认可,确实有利于提升学生的各项学习成绩,尤其是实践成绩的提升达到了显著水平(P<0.05),符合培养应用型人才的教学目的,值得地方高校借鉴。     

The C609T inborn polymorphism in NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 is associated with susceptibility to multiple sclerosis and affects the risk of development of the primary progressive form of the disease

Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Inactivating polymorphisms of genes encoding detoxification enzymes, such as NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), could influence susceptibility to MS. To test this hypothesis we performed a case-control study in which we compared the distribution of NQO1 genotypes between 231 MS patients and 380 controls, using both PCR-RFLP and real-time PCR assays. Correlations with MS clinical subtype classification and gender were also evaluated. A significantly higher frequency of the homozygous (T/T) and heterozygous (C/T) NQO1 C⁶⁰⁹T variant genotypes was observed among MS patients compared to controls (P = 0.01), with MS patients showing a 1.5-fold increased risk of carrying at least one variant T allele (P = 0.009). Interestingly, patients belonging to the primary progressive subgroup exhibited a significantly higher incidence of the heterozygous C/T variant genotype, compared to the other forms of MS (P = 0.019). There was no correlation of the NQO1 polymorphism with gender. These results provide the first evidence for a pathogenetic role for the NQO1 C⁶⁰⁹T polymorphism in MS susceptibility and suggest a possible role for the NQO1 genetic background in the development of primary progressive MS.     

Treatment With 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 (Calcifediol) Is Associated With a Reduction in the Blood Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Marker of Disease Severity in Hospitalized Patients With COVID-19: A Pilot Multicenter,Randomized, Placebo-Controlled,Double-Blinded Clinical Trial

ObjectiveThe goal of this randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of oral 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ (25(OH)D₃) in improving vitamin D status in vitamin D–deficient/vitamin D–insufficient patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus.MethodsThis is a multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Participants were recruited from 3 hospitals that are affiliated to [Institution Blinded for Review] and [Institution Blinded for Review].ResultsA total 106 hospitalized patients who had a circulating 25(OH)D₃ concentration of <30 ng/mL were enrolled in this study. Within 30 and 60 days, 76.4% (26 of 34) and 100% (24 of 24) of the patients who received 25(OH)D₃ had a sufficient circulating 25(OH)D₃ concentration, whereas ≤12.5% of the patients in the placebo group had a sufficient circulating 25(OH)D₃ concentration during the 2-month follow-up.We observed an overall lower trend for hospitalization, intensive care unit duration, need for ventilator assistance, and mortality in the 25(OH)D₃ group compared with that in the placebo group, but differences were not statistically significant. Treatment with oral 25(OH)D₃ was associated with a significant increase in the lymphocyte percentage and decrease in the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in the patients. The lower neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio was significantly associated with reduced intensive care unit admission days and mortality.ConclusionOur analysis indicated that oral 25(OH)D₃ was able to correct vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency in patients with COVID-19 that resulted in improved immune function by increasing blood lymphocyte percentage. Randomized controlled trials with a larger sample size and higher dose of 25(OH)D₃ may be needed to confirm the potential effect of 25(OH)D₃ on reducing clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19.