Regulation of the acetylcholine/α7nAChR anti-inflammatory pathway in COVID-19 patients

The cholinergic system has been proposed as a potential regulator of COVID-19-induced hypercytokinemia. We investigated whole-blood expression of cholinergic system members and correlated it with COVID-19 severity. Patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and healthy aged-matched controls were included in this non-interventional study. A whole blood sample was drawn between 9–11 days after symptoms onset, and peripheral leukocyte phenotyping, cytokines measurement, RNA expression and plasma viral load were determined. Additionally, whole-blood expression of native alpha-7 nicotinic subunit and its negative dominant duplicate (CHRFAM7A), choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholine esterase (AchE) were determined. Thirty-seven patients with COVID-19 (10 moderate, 11 severe and 16 with critical disease) and 14 controls were included. Expression of CHRFAM7A was significantly lower in critical COVID-19 patients compared to controls. COVID-19 patients not expressing CHRFAM7A had higher levels of CRP, more extended pulmonary lesions and displayed more pronounced lymphopenia. COVID-19 patients without CHRFAM7A expression also showed increased TNF pathway expression in whole blood. AchE was also expressed in 30 COVID-19 patients and in all controls. COVID-19-induced hypercytokinemia is associated with decreased expression of the pro-inflammatory dominant negative duplicate CHRFAM7A. Expression of this duplicate might be considered before targeting the cholinergic system in COVID-19 with nicotine.

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SMOKING BEHAVIOUR AND GLYCOHEMOGLOBINE LEVELS AMONG ADULT JAVANESE INDONESIAN SMOKERS

Nicotine, the active compound in cigarettes, can cause impaired glucose metabolism by increasing insulin resistance as well as decreasing insulin secretion in β cell pancreas. This condition can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in human. This study aims to evaluate the effect of smoking behaviour, determined by Cigarette per Day (CPD) and smoking duration, on glychohemoglobine (HbA1c) levels of Javanese Indonesian smokers. 30 smokers were studied consisting of 7 smokers with <10 CPD, 19 smokers with 11-20 CPD and 4 smokers with 21-30 CPD. They had been smoking for more than 10 years. The whole blood sample was used to examine the HbA1c levels. The HbA1c levels were tested at Bethesda Hospital's clinic laboratories using Architect 600 instrument. The results showed that CPD and smoking duration significantly influenced HbA1c, in which F count was > F table (370.541> 3.354) with significance < 0.05 (2.35. 10-20 < 0.05) and multiple correlation coefficient (R) of 0.982. Therefore, based on this research finding, it was concluded that longer smoking duration and higher CPD caused higher smokers’ HbA1c level.

High-Efficiency Plasma Separator Based on Immunocapture and Filtration

The shortcomings of standard plasma-separation methods limit the point-of-care application of microfluidics in clinical facilities and at the patient’s bedside. To overcome the limitations of this inconvenient, laborious, and costly technique, a new plasma-separation technique and device were developed. This new separation method relies on immunological capture and filtration to exclude cells from plasma, and is convenient, easy to use, and cost-effective. Most of the RBCs can be captured and immobilized by antibody which coated in separation matrix, and residue cells can be totally removed from the sample by a commercially plasma purification membranes. A 400 µL anti-coagulated whole blood sample with 65% hematocrit (Hct) can be separated by the device in 5 min with only one pipette. Up to 97% of the plasma can be recovered from the raw blood sample with a separation efficiency at 100%. The recovery rate of small molecule compounds, proteins, and nucleic acid biomarkers is evaluated; there are no obvious differences from the centrifuge method. The results demonstrate that this method is an excellent replacement for traditional plasma preparation protocols.

Blood Flow Separator Design in Passive Lab-On-Chip Device

Nowadays, most of the clinical analytical tests are performed by separating the blood particles and it is exclusively used to diagnose the diseases in the medical field. There are various techniques which can be done through separating the particles, yet there are ways to go further for making the separation of particles efficient. Therefore, an on-chip integrated microfluidic device is required for separating the blood particles. The particle separation can be achieved by using porosity method which comes under the filtration techniques. The designed device consists of an inlet and an outlet reservoir. The device has a top channel and bottom channel for the blood flow where the filters are placed at the middle. By this way of filtration, it can easily separate normal and abnormal blood particles. From the whole blood sample, the particles are trapped by using hydrodynamics trapping method. The passive device is designed by COMSOL Multiphysics software and design results are presented