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The usefulness of live attenuated virus vaccines has been limited by suboptimal immunogenicity, safety concerns or cumbersome manufacturing processes and techniques. Here we describe the generation of a live attenuated influenza A virus vaccine using proteolysis-targeting chimeric (PROTAC) technology to degrade viral proteins via the endogenous ubiquitin-proteasome system of host cells. We engineered the genome of influenza A viruses in stable cell lines engineered for virus production to introduce a conditionally removable proteasome-targeting domain, generating fully infective PROTAC viruses that were live attenuated by the host protein degradation machinery upon infection. In mouse and ferret models, PROTAC viruses were highly attenuated and able to elicit robust and broad humoral, mucosal and cellular immunity against homologous and heterologous virus challenges. PROTAC-mediated attenuation of viruses may be broadly applicable for generating live attenuated vaccines.

Background Decreased bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO) under hypoxic conditions can lead to endothelial dysfunction. NO supplementation may protect endothelial function in ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. Therefore, a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was performed to verify the protective effect of NO donors on endothelium in IR injury. Methods Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched from inception to April 1, 2023. The specific inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) RCTs; (2) trials comparing NO donors with placebo control groups; and (3) trials reporting the effects of these interventions on vascular endothelial functional outcomes in IR injury. Random-effects models were used to assess pooled effect sizes, which were expressed as standardized mean differences (SMD). Results Seven studies satisfied the inclusion criteria and consisted of a total of 149 participants. NO donors were protective of endothelial function in IR injury (SMD: − 1.60; 95% confidence interval [CI]: − 2.33, − 0.88, P 2 = 66%, P = 0.001]). Results of the subgroup analysis showed the following: absence of protective effect of NO donor use following ischemia on endothelial function in IR injury − 1.78 (95% CI: − 2.50, − 1.07) and loss of protective effect on endothelial function after prolonged NO donor use − 0.89 (95% CI: − 2.06, 0.28). Conclusion The short-period use of NO donors before the onset of ischemia can protect endothelial function in IR injury.

Severe COVID-19 is characterized by an increase in the number and changes in the function of innate immune cells including neutrophils. However, it is not known how the metabolome of immune cells changes in patients with COVID-19. To address these questions, we analyzed the metabolome of neutrophils from patients with severe or mild COVID-19 and healthy controls. We identified widespread dysregulation of neutrophil metabolism with disease progression including in amino acid, redox, and central carbon metabolism. Metabolic changes in neutrophils from patients with severe COVID-19 were consistent with reduced activity of the glycolytic enzyme GAPDH. Inhibition of GAPDH blocked glycolysis and promoted pentose phosphate pathway activity but blunted the neutrophil respiratory burst. Inhibition of GAPDH was sufficient to cause neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation which required neutrophil elastase activity. GAPDH inhibition increased neutrophil pH, and blocking this increase prevented cell death and NET formation. These findings indicate that neutrophils in severe COVID-19 have an aberrant metabolism which can contribute to their dysfunction. Our work also shows that NET formation, a pathogenic feature of many inflammatory diseases, is actively suppressed in neutrophils by a cell-intrinsic mechanism controlled by GAPDH.

Growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (GHS-R1a) is an important G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that regulates a variety of functions by binding to ghrelin. It has been shown that the dimerization of GHS-R1a with other receptors also affects ingestion, energy metabolism, learning and memory. Dopamine type 2 receptor (D2R) is a GPCR mainly distributed in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), substantia nigra (SN), striatum and other brain regions. In this study we investigated the existence and function of GHS-R1a/D2R heterodimers in nigral dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson’s disease (PD) models in vitro and in vivo. By conducting immunofluorescence staining, FRET and BRET analyses, we confirmed that GHS-R1a and D2R could form heterodimers in PC-12 cells and in the nigral dopaminergic neurons of wild-type mice. This process was inhibited by MPP+ or MPTP treatment. Application of QNP (10 μM) alone significantly increased the viability of MPP+-treated PC-12 cells, and administration of quinpirole (QNP, 1 mg/kg, i.p. once before and twice after MPTP injection) significantly alleviated motor deficits in MPTP-induced PD mice model; the beneficial effects of QNP were abolished by GHS-R1a knockdown. We revealed that the GHS-R1a/D2R heterodimers could increase the protein levels of tyrosine hydroxylase in the SN of MPTP-induced PD mice model through the cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) signaling pathway, ultimately promoting dopamine synthesis and release. These results demonstrate a protective role for GHS-R1a/D2R heterodimers in dopaminergic neurons, providing evidence for the involvement of GHS-R1a in PD pathogenesis independent of ghrelin.

Histone H2B mono-ubiquitination at lysine 120 (ubH2B) has been found to regulate transcriptional elongation by collaborating with the histone chaperone FACT (Facilitates Chromatin Transcription) and plays essential roles in chromatin-based transcriptional processes. However, the mechanism of how ubH2B directly collaborates with FACT at the nucleosome level still remains elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that ubH2B impairs the mechanical stability of the nucleosome and helps to recruit FACT by enhancing the binding of FACT on the nucleosome. FACT prefers to bind and deposit H2A-ubH2B dimers to form an intact nucleosome. Strikingly, the preferable binding of FACT on ubH2B-nucleosome greatly enhances nucleosome stability and maintains its integrity. The stable altered nucleosome state obtained by ubH2B and FACT provides a key platform for gene transcription, as revealed by genome-wide and time-course ChIP-qPCR analyses. Our findings provide mechanistic insights of how ubH2B directly collaborates with FACT to regulate nucleosome dynamics for gene transcription.

Neoantigens play a key role in the recognition of tumour cells by T cells; however, only a small proportion of neoantigens truly elicit T-cell responses, and few clues exist as to which neoantigens are recognized by which T-cell receptors (TCRs). We built a transfer learning-based model named the pMHC–TCR binding prediction network (pMTnet) to predict TCR binding specificities of the neoantigens—and T cell antigens in general—presented by class I major histocompatibility complexes. pMTnet was comprehensively validated by a series of analyses and exhibited great advances over previous works. By applying pMTnet to human tumour genomics data, we discovered that neoantigens were generally more immunogenic than self-antigens, but human endogenous retrovirus E (a special type of self-antigen that is reactivated in kidney cancer) is more immunogenic than neoantigens. We further discovered that patients with more clonally expanded T cells that exhibit better affinity against truncal rather than subclonal neoantigens had more favourable prognosis and treatment response to immunotherapy in melanoma and lung cancer but not in kidney cancer. Predicting TCR–neoantigen/antigen pairing is one of the most daunting challenges in modern immunology; however, we achieved an accurate prediction of the pairing using only the TCR sequence (CDR3β), antigen sequence and class I major histocompatibility complex allele, and our work revealed unique insights into the interactions between TCRs and major histocompatibility complexes in human tumours, using pMTnet as a discovery tool. T-cell immunity is driven by the interaction between peptides presented by major histocompatibility complexes (pMHCs) and T-cell receptors (TCRs). Only a small proportion of neoantigens elicit T-cell responses, and it is not clear which neoantigens are recognized by which TCRs. The authors develop a transfer learning model to predict TCR binding specificity to class-I pMHCs.

Therapeutic responses of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) - tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are known to be associated with EGFR mutations. However, a proportion of NSCLCs carrying EGFR mutations still progress on EGFR-TKI underlining the imperfect correlation. Structure-function-based approaches have recently been reported to perform better in retrospectively predicting patient outcomes following EGFR-TKI treatment than exon-based method. Here, we develop a multicolor fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) with an EGFR-TKI-based fluorogenic probe (HX103) to profile active-EGFR in tumors. HX103-based FACS shows an overall agreement with gene mutations of 82.6%, sensitivity of 81.8% and specificity of 83.3% for discriminating EGFR-activating mutations from wild-type in surgical specimens from NSCLC patients. We then translate HX103 to the clinical studies for prediction of EGFR-TKI sensitivity. When integrating computed tomography imaging with HX103-based FACS, we find a high correlation between EGFR-TKI therapy response and probe labeling. These studies demonstrate HX103-based FACS provides a high predictive performance for response to EGFR-TKI, suggesting the potential utility of an EGFR-TKI-based probe in precision medicine trials to stratify NSCLC patients for EGFR-TKI treatment.

Few studies have explored the influences of children’s justice. The present study investigated the associations of parents’ and peers’ justice with children’s justice based on the perspectives of intergenerational similarity and peer homophily. A total of 761 fourth- to ninth-graders aged 10–15 years old (Mean age = 12.62, SD = 1.74; 45.2% boys) and their mothers, fathers, and reciprocal playmates participated in this study. The justice subscale of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Adults (VIA-IS) and Youth (VIA-Youth) was used to measure the justice of each party. A multilevel regression analysis showed that high levels of mothers’, fathers’, and playmates’ justice were associated with a high level of children’s justice. Two-way interactions were found between mothers’ and playmates’ justice. Simple slope analyses showed that mothers’ high level of justice was related to high justice in children when playmates’ justice was low. Similarly, playmates’ high level of justice was related to a high level of justice in children when mothers’ justice was low. Moreover, multigroup analysis indicated gender differences in that the interaction and its compensatory effect were only observed in boys but not in girls. The findings also suggest a positive linkage of parents’ and peers’ justice with children’s justice and a compensatory interaction mechanism between mother and peer systems, which enriches evidence in the relevant research field and contributes to our knowledge of children’s virtue development.

To observe the time-effect relationship of moxibustion for primary dysmenorrhea (PD) due to stagnation and congelation of cold-damp, thus explore the optimal choice of moxibustion duration, and provide evidence for achieving satisfactory efficacy in moxibustion treatment. A total of 90 patients with PD due to stagnatin and congelation of cold-damp were divided into three groups by the random number table method, with 30 cases in each group. All the patients in the three groups were given moxibustion treatment at Guanyuan (CV 4), 20 min in group A, 40 min in group B and 60 min in group C. The changes in the pain measurement score in the three groups were observed after treatment. After treatment, there were significant differences in the clinical efficacy among the three groups (P

Background During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) containment, primary health care (PHC) facilities inChina played an important role in providing both healthcare and public care services to community populations. The tasks of COVID-19 containment facilitated by PHC facilities were different among different regions and during different periods of COVID-19 pandemic. We sought to investigate the gaps on task participation, explore existing problems and provide corresponding solutions. Methods Semi-structured face-to-face interviews with COVID-19 prevention and control management teams of PHC facilities were conducted. Purposive stratified sampling was used and 32 team members of 22 PHC facilities were selected from Wuhan (as high-risk city), Shanghai (as medium-risk city) and Zunyi (as low-risk city). Framework analysis was employed to analyze the transcribed recordings. Results The main tasks of PHC facilities during the early period of the pandemic included assisting in contact tracing and epidemiological investigation, screening of populations at high-risk at travel centers/internals, house-by-house, or pre-examination/triage within PHC facilities; at-home/ centralized quarantine management; the work of fever sentinel clinics. Further analyses revealed the existing problems and suggestions for improvement or resolutions. Regular medical supply reserves were recommended because of the medical supply shortage during the pre-outbreak period. Temporarily converted quarantine wards and centralized quarantine centers could be used to deal with pressures on patients’ treatment and management of the febrile patients. Only after strict evaluation of nucleic acid testing (NAT) results and housing conditions, decision on quarantine at-home or centralized quarantine centers could be made. Settings of fever sentinel clinics at PHC facilities allowed fever patients with no COVID-19 infection risks for treatment without being transferred to fever clinics of the designed secondary hospitals. Psychological intervention was sometimes in need and really helped in addressing individuals’ mental pressures. Conclusions During the COVID-19 containment, PHC facilities in China were responsible for different tasks and several problems were encountered in the working process. Accordingly, specific and feasible suggestions were put forward for different problems. Our findings are highly beneficial for healthcare teams and governments in handling similar situations.

In this paper, co-doping method is used to improve the current efficiency of solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). By changing the ratio of two thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) emitters, we studied the performance of device and its mechanism. A solution processed OLED with a structure of indium tin oxide (ITO, 150 nm)/PEDOT:PSS (30 nm)/CBP:4CzIPN-x%:4CzPN-y% (30 nm)/TPBi (40 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm) was fabricated. The current efficiencies of 26.6 cd/A and 26.4 cd/A were achieved by the devices with dopant ratio of 6% 4CzIPN:2% 4CzPN and 2% 4CzIPN:6% 4CzPN in emitting material layer (EML), respectively. By investigating the tendency of current density change in devices with different doping ratio, we suggested that the enhancement of the current efficiency should be due to the charge transport balance improvement induced by assist dopant in EML.

A novel, wireless, passive, extra-arterial implantable blood pressure monitoring system was designed, fabricated, and tested. The measurement system is composed of an implantable sensor in-vivo and a readout system in-vitro. It was designed to balance the measurement accuracy and arterial invasiveness in continuous blood pressure monitoring. The passive LC resonant circuit was formed by a variable parallel-plate capacitance and a planar spiral inductor. It was fabricated and implanted in the necks of the rats to detect blood pressure changes. The variation of blood pressure was transduced into a change of the capacitance value of the variable parallel-plate capacitor, which caused a variation of the resonant frequency of the LC circuit. A readout probe with inductor coil was then used to measure the change of the resonant frequency of the LC circuit, and therefore indirectly measure the variation of blood pressure wirelessly. By measuring the resonant frequency with electromagnetic coupling of the implanted LC resonant sensor and the external inductor coil, a sensitivity of 8.53 kHz/mmHg for blood pressure measurement had been successfully achieved. The sensing distance is longer than 22 mm, which is enough for implementation of the wireless measurement. The overall size of the implantable sensor is 5 mm × 1.1 mm. The wireless implantable blood pressure sensor may be used in biomedical research for continuous, accurate and arterial trauma free blood pressure monitoring.

Zero-valent iron (ZVI) has been widely applied to the remediation of uranium (U)-contaminated water. Notably, indigenous bacteria may possess potential positive or unfavorable influence on the mechanism and stability of Fe-U precipitates. However, the focus of the researches in this field has mainly been on physical and/or chemical aspects. In this study, batch experiments were conducted to explore the effects of an indigenous bacterium (Leifsonia sp.) on Fe-U precipitates and the corresponding removal efficiency by ZVI under different environmental factors. The results showed that the removal rate and capacity of U(VI) was significantly inhibited and decreased by ZVI when the pH increased to near-neutral level (pH = 6~8). However, in the ZVI + Leifsonia sp. coexistence system, the U(VI) removal efficiency were maintained at high levels (over 90%) within the experimental scope (pH = 3~8). This revealed that Leifsonia sp. had a synergistic effect on U(VI) remove by ZVI. According to scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray detector (SEM-EDX) analysis, dense scaly uranium-phosphate precipitation was observed on ZVI + Leifsonia sp. surface. The X-photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis indicated that Leifsonia sp. facilitated the generation of U(VI)-phosphates precipitates. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses further revealed that new substances, such as (Fe(II)Fe(III)2(PO4)2(OH)2), Fe(II)(UO2)2(PO4)2·8H2O, Fe(II)Fe(III)5(PO4)4(OH)2·4H2O, etc., were produced in the coexisting system of ZVI and Leifsonia sp. This study provides new insights on the feasibility and validity of site application of ZVI to U(VI)-contaminated subsurface water in situ. Graphical abstract.