Background: An increasing number of studies have focused on the association between leptin, adiponectin levels and the risk as well as the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the reported results are conflicting.Methods: A meta-analysis was performed to assess the correlation between leptin, adiponectin levels and risk and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (CRD42020195882). Through June 14, 2020, PubMed, Cochrane Library and EMBASE databases were searched, including references of qualifying articles. Titles, abstracts, and main texts were reviewed by at least 2 independent readers. Stata 16.0 was used to calculate statistical data.Results: Thirty studies were included in this meta-analysis and results showed that hepatocellular carcinoma group had significantly higher leptin levels than the cancer-free control group (SMD = 1.83, 95% CI (1.09, 2.58),P = 0.000), the healthy control group (SMD = 4.32, 95% CI (2.41, 6.24),P = 0.000) and the cirrhosis group (SMD = 1.85, 95% CI (0.70, 3.01),P = 0.002). Hepatocellular carcinoma group had significantly higher adiponectin levels than the healthy control group (SMD = 1.57, 95% CI (0.37, 2.76),P = 0.010), but no statistical difference compared with the cancer-free control group (SMD = 0.24, 95% CI (− 0.35, 0.82),P = 0.430) and the cirrhosis group (SMD = − 0.51, 95% CI (− 1.30, 0.29),P = 0.213). The leptin rs7799039 polymorphism was associated with increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (G vs A: OR = 1.28, 95% CI (1.10, 1.48),P = 0.002). There were linear relationships between adiponectin levels and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (OR = 1.066, 95% CI (1.03, 1.11),P = 0.001). In addition, the results showed that high/positive expression of adiponectin was significantly related to lower overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma patients (HR = 1.70, 95% CI (1.22, 2.37),P = 0.002); however, there was no significantly association between the leptin levels and overall survival (HR = 0.92, 95% CI (0.53, 1.59),P = 0.766).Conclusion: The study shows that high leptin levels were associated with a higher risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. Adiponectin levels were proportional to hepatocellular carcinoma risk, and were related to the poor prognosis.

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has aroused global concerns. We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of COVID-19 nonsurvivors and analyze possible causes for the rapid disease progress to death. Methods: Patients with confirmed COVID-19 died in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University before February 15, 2020, were identified. We obtained epidemiological, demographic, and clinical data from electronic medical records. Results: Among 101 nonsurvivors, the median age was 71.0 years (IQR, 59.0-80.0), 59.4% were male, 79.2% had one or more comorbidities including hypertension (58.4%), cardiovascular disease (22.8%), diabetes (20.8%) etc. The most common symptoms were fever (76.2%), cough (58.4%) and dyspnea (54.5%). Respiratory failure (99.0%), acute cardiac injury (52.5%), sepsis (40.6%) and acute kidney injury (23.8%) were most common complications. Compared with patients died after 3 days of admission, patients died within 3 days of admission had significantly higher white blood cell count (10.8 vs 6.7×10 ⁹ /L, P =0.001) and neutrophil count (8.9 vs 5.5×10 ⁹ /L, P =0.001), longer prothrombin time (13.2 vs 12.5 s, P =0.040), higher D-dimer concentration (7.64 vs 2.82, P =0.040), higher lactate level (2.9 vs 2.2 mmol/L, P =0.042), lower oxygen saturation (85.0% vs 91.0%, P =0.008), and were more likely to suffer sepsis (52.1% vs 30.2%, P =0.025). Conclusions: Older patients with underlying comorbidities suffering COVID-19 were at high risk of death. Respiratory failure, acute cardiac injury and acute kidney injury played crucial roles in the death of COVID-19 patients. Early development of sepsis was associated with the rapid disease progress to death.

Cancer is a leading cause of death globally. Immunotherapy has shown promise in treating various types of cancer, but its effectiveness varies among patients. The Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score has been linked to the prognosis of different cancers. However, its predictive value for immunotherapy outcomes is not well understood. Our research represents the pioneering meta-study to examine the prognostic value of the CONUT score on cancer patients treated with an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI). A comprehensive literature search was conducted using various databases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Google Scholar. The study was conducted until July 28, 2023. This analysis encompassed a comprehensive evaluation of various clinical outcomes, namely overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and disease control rate (DCR). 663 patients from 8 studies were included in this study. It showed that cancer patients with high CONUT score had poorer OS (HR: 1.94, 95% CI, 1.52–2.47, p < 0.001) and PFS (HR: 2.22, 95% CI, 1.48–3.31, p < 0.001), as well as worse ORR (OR: 0.46, 95% CI, 0.25–0.85, p = 0.013) and DCR (HR: 0.29, 95% CI, 0.14–0.59, p = 0.001). The CONUT score can predict the prognosis of tumor patients treated with ICIs.