Aptamer-functionalized two-dimensional photonic crystal (2DPC) hydrogels are reported for the detection of adenosine (AD). As a molecular recognition group, an AD-binding aptamer was covalently ...attached to 2DPC hydrogels. This aptamer selectively and sensitively binds AD, changing the conformation of the aptamer from a long single-stranded structure (AD-free conformation) to a short hairpin loop structure (AD-bound conformation). The AD-binding-induced changes of aptamer conformation reduced the volume of the 2DPC hydrogels and decreased the interparticle spacing of the 2DPC embedded in the hydrogel network. The particle spacing changes being dependent on AD concentration were determined by measuring 2DPC light diffraction using a simple laser pointer. The 2DPC hydrogel sensor showed a large particle spacing decrease of ~ 110 nm in response to 1 mM AD in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The linear range of determination of AD was 0.1 nM to 1 mM and the limit of detection was 0.09 nM. The hydrogel sensor response for real samples was then validated in diluted fetal bovine serum (FBS) and human urine. The average % difference in particle spacing changes measured between diluted FBS and pure PBS was only 3.99%. In diluted human urine, the recoveries for the detection of AD were 95–101% and the relative standard deviations were 4.9–7.8%. The results demonstrate the potential applicability of the hydrogel sensor for real samples. This sensing concept, using the aptamer-functionalized 2DPC hydrogels, allows for a simple, sensitive, selective, and reversible detection of AD. It may enable sensor development for a wide variety of analytes by simply changing the aptamer recognition group.
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In this paper, we investigate the content deployment problem from precaching and device-to-device communication perspectives. In the precaching stage, contents are prefetched and stored in edge nodes ...to be quickly provided to end users. In the device-to-device communication process, intermediate nodes face a dilemma in deciding whether to cache contents coming from or going to neighboring nodes to accelerate the content delivery. We call the former proactive caching and the latter reactive caching. We then design ProRec, a unified caching framework, by jointly considering the two cases with the goal of maximizing the content hit ratio. ProRec first addresses the optimization problem using the method of Lagrangian multipliers and obtains a general solution to the optimal content copies. Second, a greedy solution, proven to achieve the optimum with a probability of at least
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, is used to cache and replace contents. Finally, an edge computing simulation platform that includes real and synthetic traces is built as a case study to verify the effectiveness of ProRec. The numerical results show that it simultaneously improves the cache hit ratio and content delivery delay.
We conducted a multicentre cross-sectional survey of COVID-19 patients to evaluate the acute psychological impact on the patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during isolation treatment ...based on online questionnaires from 2 February to 5 March 2020. A total of 460 COVID-19 patients from 13 medical centers in Hubei province were investigated for their mental health status using online questionnaires (including Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-15, and Insomnia Severity Index scales). Among all 460 COVID-19 patients, 187 (40.65%) of them were healthcare workers (HCWs). 297 (64.57%) of them were females. The most common psychological problems were somatization symptoms (66.09%, n = 304), followed by depression (53.48%, n = 246), anxiety (46.30%, n = 213), problems of insomnia (42.01%, n = 171), and then self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts (23.26%, n = 107). Of all the patients, 15.65% (n = 72) had severe somatization symptoms, and 2.83% (n = 13) had severe (almost every day) self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts. The most common psychological problems for HCWs were somatization symptoms (67.84%, n = 125), followed by depression (51.87%, n = 97), anxiety (44.92%, n = 84), problems of insomnia (36.18%, n = 55), and then self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts (20.86%, n = 39). Patients with lower education levels were found to be associated with higher incidence of self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts (odds ratio OR, 2.68, 95% confidence interval 95% CI, 1.66-4.33 P < 0.001). Patients with abnormal body temperature were found to be associated with higher incidence of self-mutilating or suicidal thoughts (OR, 3.97, 95% CI, 2.07-7.63 P < 0.001), somatic symptoms (OR, 2.06, 95% CI, 1.20-3.55 P = 0.009) and insomnia (OR, 1.66, 95% CI, 1.04-2.65 P = 0.033). Those with suspected infected family members displayed a higher prevalence of anxiety than those without infected family members (OR, 1.61, 95% CI, 1.1-2.37 P = 0.015). Patients at the age of 18-44 years old had fewer somatic symptoms than those aged over 45 years old (OR, 1.91, 95% CI, 1.3-2.81 P = 0.001). In conclusion, COVID-19 patients tended to have a high prevalence of adverse psychological events. Early identification and intervention should be conducted to avoid extreme events such as self-mutilating or suicidal impulsivity for COVID-19 patients, especially for those with low education levels and females who have undergone divorce or bereavement.
As a transmembrane protein, CD47 plays an important role in mediating cell proliferation, migration, phagocytosis, apoptosis, immune homeostasis, inhibition of NO signal transduction and other ...related reactions. Upon the interaction of innate immune checkpoint CD47-SIRPα occurrence, they send a “don't eat me” signal to the macrophages. This signal ultimately helps tumors achieve immune escape by inhibiting macrophage contraction to prevent tumor cells from phagocytosis. Therefore, the importance of CD47-SIRPα immune checkpoint inhibitors in tumor immunotherapy has attracted more attention in recent years. Based on the cognitive improvement of the effect with CD47 in tumor microenvironment and tumor characteristics, the pace of tumor treatment strategies for CD47-SIRPα immune checkpoint inhibitors has gradually accelerated. In this review, we introduced the high expression of CD47 in cancer cells to avoid phagocytosis by immune cells and the importance of CD47 in the structure of cancer microenvironment and the maintenance of cancer cell characteristics. Given the role of the innate immune system in tumorigenesis and development, an improved understanding of the anti-tumor process of innate immune checkpoint inhibitors can lay the foundation for more effective combinations with other anti-tumor treatment strategies.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global public health crisis, causing significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. As an early response, different lockdowns were imposed in the UK (and the world) ...to limit the spread of the disease. Although effective, these measures profoundly impacted mobility patterns across cities, significantly reducing the number of people commuting to work or travelling for leisure. As different governments introduced massive vaccination programs to tackle the pandemic, cities have significantly but slowly increased human mobility, enabling the resumption of travel, work, and social activities. Nevertheless, how much can this return to normal mobility patterns be attributed to vaccines? In this study, we answer this question using a statistical approach, analysing two different open urban mobility datasets to quantify the effect vaccination rollouts have had on increased human activities.
To understand the response of hazelnut to the increased concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) under cadmium (Cd) pollution stress, this paper used an artificial open top chamber to control the CO2 ...concentration (at 370 and 750 μmol·mol−1) and to study the effects of an elevated CO2 concentration on the growth and photosynthetic capacity of hazelnut leaves under different levels of Cd stress. The results showed that the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration has a tendency to alleviate the inhibition of plant growth caused by Cd. The net photosynthetic rate rose significantly, although the transpiration rate and stomatal conductance of hazelnut leaves decreased slightly with the rise in CO2 concentration. The rise in CO2 concentration had no significant effect on the activity of the photosystem Ⅱ (PSII) reaction center in hazelnut leaves. Under Cd stress conditions, the rise in CO2 concentration significantly enhanced the PSII hazelnut leaves’ photochemical activity, which promotes the PSII receptor’s electron transfer capacity side and alleviates the degree of damage to the oxygen-evolving complex and the thylakoid membrane of the PSII donor side. The number of active reaction centers per unit area of hazelnut leaves, and the proportion of energy absorbed by PSII that is used for photosynthetic electron transfer, increased under severe stress conditions, which in turn reduced the energy proportion that was used for heat dissipation, providing CO2’s effective fixation energy in the dark reaction. In conclusion, the rise in the CO2 concentration enhances hazelnut’s heavy metal resistance by improving the PSII function under Cd stress conditions.
Capacity is a fundamental metric for mobile edge computing scenarios, where the system state plays an important role. Previous studies have mostly been based on the premise that the system state is ...stable. In reality, the network is dynamic and the system state changes with time. In this paper, we study the capacity of a mobile edge system in which users continuously join or leave the coverage of base station. We first change the problem of maximum network capacity into a minimum transmission distance problem. We observe that both the probability of the files being requested and the distance of the files transmission are related to the degree of files, i.e., the number of users who are interested in a file and request it with a certain probability. Then, we evaluate the degree of files in a time-varying situation, and calculate the probability of the files being requested and the transmission distance according to the degree of files. Finally, we calculate the capacity of the network under time-varying conditions. In the experimental section, we analyze the degree of files, the optimal copies number, and the change in network capacity over time. In addition, we compare the capacity in our system with classic studies. The experimental results verify the superiority of the proposed method.
Aluminum (Al) has been classified as a cumulative environmental pollutant that endangers human health. There is increasing evidence to suggest the toxic effects of Al, but the specific action on ...human brain development remains unclear. Al hydroxide (Al(OH)3), the most common vaccine adjuvant, is the major source of Al and poses risks to the environment and early childhood neurodevelopment. In this study, we explored the neurotoxic effect of 5 μg/ml or 25 μg/ml Al(OH)3 for six days on neurogenesis by utilizing human cerebral organoids from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). We found that early Al(OH)3 exposure in organoids caused a reduction in the size, deficits in basal neural progenitor cell (NPC) proliferation, and premature neuron differentiation in a time and dose-dependent manner. Transcriptomes analysis revealed a markedly altered Hippo-YAP1 signaling pathway in Al(OH)3 exposed cerebral organoid, uncovering a novel mechanism for Al(OH)3-induced detrimental to neurogenesis during human cortical development. We further identified that Al(OH)3 exposure at day 90 mainly decreased the production of outer radial glia-like cells(oRGs) but promoted NPC toward astrocyte differentiation. Taken together, we established a tractable experimental model to facilitate a better understanding of the impact and mechanism of Al(OH)3 exposure on human brain development.
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•hESC-derived organoid is an ideal model to evaluate the toxicity of Al(OH)3.•Al(OH)3 exposure at an early stage inhibited NPC proliferation.•Al(OH)3 exposure at a later stage promoted NPC toward astrocyte differentiation.•Hippo-YAP1 signaling pathway is involved in Al(OH)3-induced impaired neurogenesis.
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak started in Wuhan, Hubei, China since Dec 2019 and cases of infection have been continuously reported in various countries. It is now clear that ...the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus is transmissible from human to human. Nucleic acid detection is considered as the gold standard for the diagnosis of COVID-19. In this case report, we describe our experience in detection of SARS-COV-2 from a confirmed patient using nucleic acid test of bronchoalveolar-lavage fluid (BALF) samples but not nasopharyngeal swabs.
We present a case of severely ill SARS-COV-2 infected 46-year-old man with fever, coughing and chest tightness. We performed viral detection using his BALF samples and imaging method (CT) for confirmation. The patient received combination of interferonalfa-1b and ribavirin, lopinavir and ritonavir for antiviral treatment at different stages. Other medication was also given to him in combination for anti-inflammation, intestinal microbial regulation, phlegm elimination, liver protection and pulmonary fibrosis prevention purposes. We provided oxygen supply to him using BIPAP ventilator and high-flow humidification oxygen therapy instrument to facilitate respiration. The patient was cured and discharged.
This case report described an effective supportive medication scheme to treat SARS-COV-2 infected patient and emphasized the necessity of detection of the viral genome using BALF samples and its significance in the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease.
System capacity is an important metric for evaluating the performance of edge-caching networks. In most previous studies, the caching content was assumed to remain unchanged in a base station. Hence, ...the requested probability for each content was treated as stable; In fact, both the number of content and users can change overtime, which impacts the system performance. This article firstly constructs a new user-content evolution model to infer such performance changes, and analyzes the number of links between users and content (i.e., degree). Then, the requested probability of the content and the optimal copy number are calculated by using the content degree. Next, the minimum average transmission distance of the content and system capacity under the cache scheme are given. Finally, a user-content time-varying system is simulated. The results show that the proposed model can characterize the evolution relationship between users and content and achieve better performance in terms of system capacity.
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