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Abstract Exosomes are nanoscale membrane vesicles identified by electron microscopy in 1946. They are approximately 30–150 nm in size. Originally, exosomes were thought to be used to eliminate excess components from cells to maintain their normal physiology. Later, it was found that the function and targeting of specific cellular components in exosomes have important implications for the regulation of cellular communication. In the last few years, exosomes have been linked to tumors, infections, and other diseases. New advances in cancer immunotherapy have occurred as a result of the identification of exosomes of immune cell origin, expanding the existing anticancer immune response. This article details exosomes derived from dendritic cells, T lymphocytes (CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and CAR‐T cells), natural killer cells, and their promising applications in tumor therapy.

IntroductionFlight attendants, as the front-line staff in the cabin, play a crucial role in improving air travel safety. This research explores how psychological safety affects flight attendants’ adoption of mindful safety practices through voice participation. This mechanism also identifies ethical leadership and traditionality as two moderators.MethodsA self-reported questionnaire was used to collect data from 621 flight attendants in Chinese private commercial airline companies. PLS-SEM (partial least square structured equation modeling) is used to examine the hypotheses proposed in the present study.ResultsAfter data analysis, the results reveal that the underlying mechanism covering both mediating and moderating effects through which flight attendants’ voluntary and extra-role safety behavior could be improved.DiscussionThe findings extend the existing literature regarding the antecedents of flight attendants’ mindful safety practices adoption and obstacles to employee voice participation. Managerial implications are also provided in the commercial aviation industry and discussed along with future research directions.

Abstract Through tests and micro-observations, the static and dynamic mechanical properties and microstructure of rubber concrete samples modified with varying amounts of silica fume and polypropylene fiber content were explored. The results indicate that incorporation of silica fume and polypropylene fiber can effectively enhance the performance of rubber concrete. Moreover, at 10% and 0.1% of silica fume and polypropylene fiber content respectively, rubber concrete’s compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, and dynamic compressive strength reached maxima. Furthermore, microstructure characteristic analysis indicated that inadequate adhesion between rubber particles and the matrix is responsible for compromised bearing capacity in unmodified rubber concrete. However, with the addition of silica fume and polypropylene fiber, the fiber binds the rubber particles closely with the matrix, while the silica fume fills the gaps between the matrix components. This combination results in rubber concrete with a denser internal structure and enhances its bearing capacity significantly.

As the geological environment of highway tunnels becomes increasinlgy complex, sprayed engineered cementitious composites (ECC) has broad application prospects in the field of highway tunnel support. This study focuses on the shotcrete layer in the initial support of Wulingtou extra-long highway tunnel, the 1:4 scale model test of sprayed ECC layer under confining pressure was prepared. Its mechanical properties and real-time joint monitoring are determined using strain gauges, distributed optical fibers, and cameras. The results show that the maximum confining pressure of the sprayed ECC layer is 0.975 MPa with the maximum displacement of 15.497 cm, which outperforms ordinary shotcrete. The loading process of steel bars and sprayed ECC can be divided into three stages, with the change rate of these three stages showing an ascending trend. The failure mode is ductile, involving normal section, oblique section compression shear failure and bending shear failure. In addition, based on the similarity theory, the real mechanical characteristics of the sprayed ECC layer at the tunnel site can be predicted according to the experimental model.

Carbon felt is widely used due to its lightweight and conductive nature. However, limited research has been conducted regarding the tension applied during its preparation. This study aims to explore the influence of different loading tensions during the carbonization process on the properties of acrylic-based carbon felts. Enhanced flexibility, lower shrinkage and improved mechanical and electrical properties were found for the samples obtained in the edge loading mode. Subsequently, the performance of carbon felts in electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and resistive heating was studied. The carbon felts achieved a notable EMI shielding effectiveness of 55 dB. The specific shielding effectiveness values are significantly higher than other reported materials due to their low density and high porosity. Moreover, the carbon felts displayed commendable electrical heating performance through high heating rates and superior heating efficiency. Lastly, the structural stability was assessed via self-designed bending experiments. Good stability of the resistance and heating behavior of the carbon felts across multiple bending cycles was observed. With low manufacturing costs, good stability and air permeability, the flexible carbon felt is expected to be widely used for barrier applications and wearable electronics.

Abstract T cells engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) with specificity toward tumor cells have led to promising outcomes in patients with hematological malignancies. Nevertheless, the application of CAR‐T cell therapy in solid tumors encounters several obstacles. These include tumor heterogeneity and immune escape, T cell exhaustion and restricted infiltration into the tumors that affect the therapeutic efficacy of CAR‐T cells, as well as “on‐target, off‐tumor” toxicities that can lead to severe and even fatal adverse events. In recent years, clinical trials and new approaches of CAR‐T cell therapy for solid tumors have made certain progress. Here, we update the outcomes of related clinical trials and summarize engineered strategies aiming to improve the efficacy and therapeutic safety of CAR‐T cells based on experimental and clinical studies.

This study investigates the deterioration mechanism of the compressive mechanical properties of sprayed ECC under different temperature chloride erosion, as well as the deterioration mechanism of the rock-sprayed ECC combined body. The results show that the deterioration of compressive mechanical properties of sprayed ECC is due to the continuous accumulation of Friedel's salt and chloride crystals to generate expansion force, which causes microcracks, and the C–S–H gel changes from dense to reticular form, deteriorating the mechanical properties. In addition, with the increase of temperature, the hydration products dissolve to form new transport channels, which aggravates the deterioration. The deterioration of combined body is related to the repeated damage to the area where chloride ions pass through. Moreover, microcracks will actively tend to the area where expansion microcracks or salting-out occurs. The phenomenon of convergence or dispersion appears in crack propagation, which aggravates the formation of more axial penetrating cracks.

Urbanization in the Haihe River Basin in northern China, particularly the upstream mountainous basin of Baiyangdian, has significantly altered land use and runoff processes. The runoff is a key water source for downstream areas like Baiyangdian and the Xiong’an New Area, making it essential to understand these changes’ implications for water security. However, the exact implications of these processes remain unclear. To address this gap, a simulation framework combining SWAT+ and CLUE-S was used to analyze runoff responses under different land use scenarios: natural development (ND), farmland protection (FP), and ecological protection (EP). The model simulation results were good, with NSE above 0.7 for SWAT+. The Kappa coefficient for CLUE-S model validation was 0.83. The further study found that from 2005 to 2015, urban construction land increased by 11.50 km2 per year, leading to a 0.5–1.3 mm rise in annual runoff. Although urban expansion continued, the other scenarios, which emphasized farmland and forest preservation, slowed this growth. Monthly runoff changes were most significant during the rainy season, with annual runoff in ND, FP, and EP varying by 8.9%, 10.9%, and 7.7%, respectively. While the differences in annual runoff between scenarios were not dramatic, these findings provide a theoretical foundation for future water resource planning and management in the upstream mountainous area of Baiyangdian and offer valuable insights for the sustainable development of Xiong’an New Area. Additionally, these results contribute to the broader field of hydrology by highlighting the importance of considering multiple land use scenarios in runoff change analysis.

In response to the growing demand for lightweight yet robust materials in electric vehicle (EV) battery casings, this study introduces an advanced carbon fiber-reinforced composite (CFRC). This novel material is engineered to address critical aspects of EV battery casing requirements, including mechanical strength, electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding, and thermal management. The research strategically combines carbon composite components with copper-plated polyester non-woven fabric (CFRC/Cu) and melamine foam board (CFRC/Me) into a sandwich-structure composite plus a series of composites with graphite particle-integrated matrix resin (CFRC+Gr). Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) revealed that the inclusion of copper-plated fabric significantly enhanced the stiffness, and the specific tensile strength of the new composites reached 346.8 MPa/(g/cm3), which was higher than that of other metal materials used for EV battery casings. The new developed composites had excellent EMI shielding properties, with the highest shielding effectives of 88.27 dB from 30 MHz to 3 GHz. Furthermore, after integrating the graphite particles, the peak temperature of all composites via Joule heating was increased. The CFRC+Gr/Me reached 68.3 °C under a 5 V DC power supply after 180 s. This research presents a comprehensive and innovative approach that adeptly balances mechanical, electromagnetic, and thermal requirements for EV battery casings.

Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) secreted by cells. With advances in the study of sEVs, they have shown great potential in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. However, sEV therapy usually requires a certain dose and purity of sEVs to achieve the therapeutic effect, but the existing sEV purification technology exists in the form of low yield, low purity, time-consuming, complex operation and many other problems, which greatly limits the application of sEVs. Therefore, how to obtain high-purity and high-quality sEVs quickly and efficiently, and make them realize large-scale production is a major problem in current sEV research. This paper discusses how to improve the purity and yield of sEVs from the whole production process of sEVs, including the upstream cell line selection and cell culture process, to the downstream isolation and purification, quality testing and the final storage technology.

Abstract Neoantigens generated by non-synonymous mutations of tumor genes can induce activation of neoantigen-reactive T (NRT) cells which have the ability to resist the growth of tumors expressing specific neoantigens. Immunotherapy based on NRT cells has made preeminent achievements in melanoma and other solid tumors. The process of manufacturing NRT cells includes identification of neoantigens, preparation of neoantigen expression vectors or peptides, induction and activation of NRT cells, and analysis of functions and phenotypes. Numerous improvement strategies have been proposed to enhance the potency of NRT cells by engineering TCR, promoting infiltration of T cells and overcoming immunosuppressive factors in the tumor microenvironment. In this review, we outline the improvement of the preparation and the function assessment of NRT cells, and discuss the current status of clinical trials related to NRT cell immunotherapy.

Bacterial infection is a common complication in bone defect surgery, in which infection by clinically resistant bacteria has been a challenge for the medical community. Given this emerging problem, the discovery of novel natural-type inhibitors of drug-resistant bacteria has become imperative. Brucine, present in the traditional Chinese herb Strychnine semen, is reported to exert analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects. Brucine’s clinical application was limited because of its water solubility. We extracted high-purity BS by employing reflux extraction and crystallization, greatly improved its solubility, and evaluated its antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. aureus. Importantly, we found that BS inhibited the drug-resistant strains significantly better than standard strains and achieved sterilization by disrupting the bacterial cell wall. Considering the safety concerns associated with the narrow therapeutic window of BS, a 3D BS-PLLA/PGA bone scaffold system was constructed with SLS technology and tested for its performance, bacteriostatic behaviors, and biocompatibility. The results have shown that the drug-loaded bone scaffolds had not only long-term, slow-controlled release with good cytocompatibility but also demonstrated significant antimicrobial activity in antimicrobial testing. The above results indicated that BS may be a potential drug candidate for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections and that scaffolds with enhanced antibacterial activity and mechanical properties may have potential applications in bone tissue engineering.

Objectives To evaluate the relationship among dysnatraemia at hospital presentation and duration of admission, risk of intensive care unit (ICU) admission and all-cause mortality and to assess the underlying pathophysiological mechanism of hyponatraemia in patients with COVID-19. Our hypothesis is that both hyponatraemia and hypernatraemia at presentation are associated with adverse outcomes.Design Observational study.Setting Secondary care; 11 Dutch hospitals (2 university and 9 general hospitals).Participants An analysis was performed within the retrospective multicentre cohort study COVIDPredict. 7811 patients were included (60% men, 40% women) between 24 February 2020 and 9 August 2022. Patients who were ≥18 years with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 or CT with COVID-19 reporting and data system score≥4 and alternative diagnosis were included. Patients were excluded when serum sodium levels at presentation were not registered in the database or when they had been transferred from another participating hospital.Outcome measures We studied demographics, medical history, symptoms and outcomes. Patients were stratified according to serum sodium concentration and urinary sodium excretion.Results Hyponatraemia was present in 2677 (34.2%) patients and hypernatraemia in 126 (1.6%) patients. Patients with hyponatraemia presented more frequently with diarrhoea, lower blood pressure and tachycardia. Hyponatraemia was, despite a higher risk for ICU admission (OR 1.27 (1.11–1.46; p

Textile-based electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials with good flexibility and high EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) are highly desirable. Still, the poor mechanical properties of textile-based EMI shielding materials limit their application. The carbon filaments (CF) combine superior mechanical properties and conductivity. Therefore, we demonstrate the CF-reinforced material, which was laminated with two types of copper-coated nonwoven polyester (CuPET10 and CuPET20) for EMI shielding. Compared to the traditional lamination method, this process was more convenient by ironing with adhesive lining. The developed laminate (CuPET/CF) performs superior EMI shielding property with an average SE value of 88.6 dB in the frequency range of 30 MHz to 3 GHz. The mechanical properties were improved from 12.7 to 39.9 MPa and from 13.46 MPa to 35.78 MPa for CuPET10/CF and CuPET20/CF, respectively. The newly developed material also demonstrated exceptional lightweight, flexibility, and thermal resistance. The laminated CuPET/CF material provides enhanced mechanical properties and easy lamination capability, allowing it to shield surfaces of electromagnetic radiation-sensitive equipment while providing a certain degree of protection and extremely high EMI shielding efficiency.

This paper shows that desertification combating practices decline incomes of farmers and herders, and China needs to adapt its ecological programmes to address the impacts of climate change and create positive synergies to combat desertification.

Abstract Extracellular vesicles (EVs) facilitate the extracellular transfer of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids and mediate intercellular communication among multiple cells in the tumour environment. Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are defined as EVs range in diameter from approximately 50 to 150 nm. Tumour-derived sEVs (TDsEVs) and immune cell-derived sEVs have significant immunological activities and participate in cancer progression and immune responses. Cancer-specific molecules have been identified on TDsEVs and can function as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, as well as allergens for TDsEVs-based vaccination. Various monocytes, including but not limited to dendritic cells (DCs), B cells, T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, macrophages, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), secrete sEVs that regulate immune responses in the complex immune network with either protumour or antitumour effects. After engineered modification, sEVs from immune cells and other donor cells can provide improved targeting and biological effects. Combined with their naïve characteristics, these engineered sEVs hold great potential as drug carriers. When used in a variety of cancer therapies, they can adjunctly enhance the safety and antitumor efficacy of multiple therapeutics. In summary, both naïve sEVs in the tumour environment and engineered sEVs with effector cargoes are regarded as showing promising potential for use in cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.

This paper investigated the washability and comfort properties of a kind of electromagnetic interference shielding material (Meftex10) with and without the parylene C coating. Parylene C can form a uniform protective film on the fabric and improve different properties of the fabric. In this paper, it will be used to improve the washability of electromagnetic interference shielding material. Through a large number of experiments, it can be determined that the parylene C coated samples have a significant improvement in washability compared to the uncoated samples. When the sample’s parylene C coating content arrives at 33.4 g/m², its electromagnetic shielding effectiveness still remains around 65% after 10 times washing cycles. Conversely, as the content of the parylene C coating increases, the air permeability of the samples as well as the water vapor permeability will decrease. The reason is that the parylene C coating closes some of the pores, which affects air and water vapor transport through the material. In addition to this, it can be concluded that the thermal conductivities of samples increase with increasing parylene C coating contents. The above phenomenon is caused by the following two aspects: The parylene C coating material will reduce the spaces between the fibers and yarns by partially filling the pores, leading to less still air inside and the fabric has a greater capacity for heat transfer; Parylene C has a higher thermal conductivity than the electromagnetic interference shielding material (Meftex10).

Multimodel ensembles are powerful tools for evaluating agricultural production. Multimodel simulation results provided by the Global Gridded Crop Model Intercomparison (GGCMI) facilitate the evaluation of the grain production situation in China. With census crop yield data, the performance of nine global gridded crop models (GGCMs) in China was evaluated, and the yield gaps of four crops (maize, rice, soybean, and wheat) were estimated. The results showed that GGCMs better simulated maize yields than those of other crops in the northeast, north, northwest, east, and center. GEPIC (CLM-CROP) performed best in simulating maize (wheat) yield in the north, east, and northwest (southwest and south), due to reasonable parameter (cultivar and phenology parameters) settings. Because the rice phenology parameters were calibrated against phenological observation networks and a simple nitrogen limitation index was introduced, ORCHIDEE-CROP performed well in rice yield simulation and soybean yield simulation (center and southwest). Among four crops, wheat has the largest yield gap (7.3–14.1%), in which the poor soil of northwest (14.1%) exposes wheat to relatively high nutritional stress. Thus, in northwest China, optimizing nitrogen management in wheat production can effectively mitigate the negative impact of climate change on crop production. HIGHLIGHTS GGCMs performed better in simulating maize yield in most parts of China than those of other crops.; Cultivar and phenology parameters settings affected GGCMs' performance in simulating crop yield in China.; The yield gap of wheat was the highest under no nitrogen stress compared with other crops in China, especially in the northwest.; The northwest of China showed great potential for increasing crops yield through optimizing nitrogen management.;

Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are recognized as promising detection biomarkers and attractive delivery vehicles, showing great potential in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, the applications of sEVs are usually restricted by their poor secretion amount from donor cells under routine cell culture conditions, which is especially true for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) due to their limited expansion and early senescence. Here, a microfluidic device is proposed for boosting sEV secretion from MSCs derived from human fetal bone marrow (BM-MSCs). As the cells rapidly pass through a microfluidic channel with a series of narrow squeezing ridges, mechanical stimulation permeabilizes the cell membrane, thus promoting them to secrete more sEVs into extracellular space. In this study, the microfluidic device demonstrates that mechanical-squeezing effect could increase the secretion amount of sEVs from the BM-MSCs by approximately 4-fold, while maintaining cellular growth state of the stem cells. Further, the secreted sEVs are efficiently taken up by immortalized human corneal epithelial cells and accelerate corneal epithelial wound healing in vitro, indicating that this technique wound not affect the functionality of sEVs and demonstrating the application potentials of this technique.

SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) invades the human body by binding to major receptors such as ACE2 via its S-spike protein, so the interaction of receptor-binding sites has been a hot topic in the development of coronavirus drugs. At present, the clinical progress in monoclonal antibody therapy that occurred early in the pandemic is gradually showing signs of slowing. While recombinant soluble ACE2, as an alternative therapy, has been modified by many engineering methods, both the safety and functional aspects are approaching maturity, and this therapy shows great potential for broadly neutralizing coronaviruses, but its progress in clinical development remains stalled. Therefore, there are still several key problems to be considered and solved for recombinant soluble ACE2 to be approved as a clinical treatment as soon as possible.

Semicarbazide (SEM), the metabolite of antibiotic nitrofurazone, is often used as the biomarker to determine the use of nitrofurazone. Frequent false-positive events of SEM have brought great trouble to the aquatic industry in international trade. In this paper, the situation of endogenous SEM in aquatic products was investigated, and the possible mechanism of amino acid conversion into SEM was studied by establishing a simulated oxidation system and a urea system. The results revealed the presence of endogenous SEM in the muscle tissue of shrimps, and the content of SEM ranged from 0.56 to 5.28 ng/g, which presented as Macrobrachium nipponense>Macrobrachium rosenbergii>Procambarus clarkii. The increase in SEM production of control lysine under natural oxidation conditions suggests that oxidation has an effect on the conversion of SEM. Under the action of the simulated oxidation system, the SEM of Arginine, Lysine, Citrulline and Glutamine among the 21 amino acids were increased, and the polymer azine was formed. In combination with the structure of four amino acids, it was presumed that the group of amide is a key intermediate structure for the formation of endogenous SEM. In addition, under the urea system, the content of SEM produced by amino acids increased after the addition of urea, and the concentration of urea had a significant correlation with the content of SEM. Taken together, the production of endogenous SEM in shrimps is related to amino acids and urea, and the urea cycle and other substances containing amide structures should also be considered in future explorations.

With the rapid development of modern science and technology, a kind of invisible pollution named electromagnetic radiation has increasingly attracted the attention of all sectors of society. Therefore, electromagnetic shielding protective clothing is widely used by people for daily life and work. More and more scholars and researchers are paying attention to this research direction, and they have done a series of related research on how to improve the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of clothing materials. At the same time, the related comfort properties of these clothing materials should also be concerned because they will greatly affect the wearer’s experience. This study evaluated the related comfort properties of a kind of copper-plated nonwoven materials with different electromagnetic shielding effectiveness, including air permeability, water vapor permeability, and thermal resistance. The result shows that electromagnetic shielding effectiveness is positively related to the amount of plated copper based on this kind of copper plating method. Other experiment results display that air permeability and water vapor permeability of this kind of material are negatively related to its electromagnetic shielding effectiveness. On the contrary, their thermal resistance is positively related to their electromagnetic shielding effectiveness. In addition to the above, it also found that air permeability and water vapor permeability have a positive correlation with optical porosity, and thermal resistance has a positive correlation with volume porosity.

This paper presents one efficient and accurate EMI shielding performance simulation method for metal particles coated on nonwoven textile-based material with the optimized textile module using the finite element method (FEM) simulated in the waveguide model. Copper particles coated polyester nonwoven materials with three contents of copper were made by the electroless plating method, which was used to evaluate the results from the EMI shielding test and simulation run. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and p-value from the two samples' t-tests show that the simulation results of the two samples are less than 6.08%, and the p-value is more than 0.05. For the rest of one sample, the error of simulated value to measured value is higher (

The Wulingtou tunnel in Xuancheng City is faced with complex geological conditions in the construction process, and the construction is difficult. The research team of Anhui University of Science and Technology applied the new sprayed engineered cementitious composites (NS-ECC) to the initial support structure of K43 + 546.3-K43 + 556.7 section of the tunnel. The mechanical properties of NS-ECC were significantly improved compared with that of single fiber (1% volume content), and the compressive strength is ‘positive hybrid effect’. In this paper, the ordinary C25 sprayed concrete (SC-C25) was compared with NS-ECC to precisely evaluate their performance. Slump and rebound rate tests and uniaxial compression tests under four water-containing states and five loading rates were carried out, and the differences in performance were studied in detail via scanning electron microscope and nuclear magnetic resonance tests and based on energy evolution and transformation characteristics. Results show that the real water absorption and rebound rate of SC-C25 were significantly higher than those of NS-ECC. Increasing the water content reduced the compressive strength, peak strain and energy storage density of both cements yet increased their elastic modulus. In the saturated water state, increasing the loading rate also increased the compressive strength, elastic modulus and energy storage density limit values of both cements yet decreased their peak strain. NS-ECC reported higher strength, peak strain, energy storage density and sensitivity to the ‘Strain rate effect’, under the saturated state, its peak stress is 32.92 MPa, peak strain is 0.65%, the energy storage density limit is 0.01MJ/m3, and the elastic energy conversion rate reaches 95.9%, which are better than SC-C25.

Abstract In this paper, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coarse aggregate with different mixing contents is used to solve the problems of plastic pollution, low energy absorption capacity and poor damage integrity, which provides an important reference for PVC plastic concrete used in the initial support structures of highway tunnels and coal mine roadway. At the same time, the energy absorption characteristics and their relationship under different impact loads are studied, which provides an important reference for predicting the energy absorption characteristics of concrete under other PVC aggregate content or higher impact speed. This study replaced natural coarse aggregate in concrete with different contents and equal volume of well-graded flaky PVC particles obtained by crushing PVC soft board. Also, slump, compression, and splitting strength tests, a free falling low-speed impact test of steel balls and a high-speed impact compression test of split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) were carried out. Results demonstrate that the static and dynamic compressive strength decreases substantially, and the elastic modulus and slump decrease slowly with the increase of the mixing amount of PVC aggregate (0–30%). However, the energy absorption rate under low-speed impact and the specific energy absorption per MPa under high-speed impact increase obviously, indicating that the energy absorption capacity is significantly enhanced. Regardless of the mixing amount of PVC aggregate, greater strain rate can significantly enhance the dynamic compressive strength and the specific energy absorption per MPa. After the uniaxial compression test or the SHPB impact test, the relative integrity of the specimen is positively correlated with the mixing amount of PVC aggregate. In addition, the specimens are seriously damaged with the increase of the impact strain rate. When the PVC aggregate content is 20%, the compressive strength and splitting strength of concrete are 33.8 MPa and 3.26 MPa, respectively, the slump is 165 mm, the energy absorption rate under low-speed impact is 89.5%, the dynamic compressive strength under 0.65 Mpa impact air pressure is 58.77 mpa, and the specific energy absorption value per MPa is 13.33, which meets the requirements of shotcrete used in tunnel, roadway support and other impact loads. There is a linear relationship between the energy absorption characteristics under low-speed impact and high-speed impact. The greater the impact pressure, the larger the slope of the fitting straight line. The slope and intercept of the fitting line also show a good linear relationship with the increase of impact pressure. The conclusions can be used to predict the energy absorption characteristics under different PVC aggregate content or higher-speed impact pressure, which can provide important reference for safer, more economical, and environmental protection engineering structure design.

Abstract Background COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic and the death toll is increasing. However, there is no definitive information regarding the type of clinical specimens that is the best for SARS-CoV-2 detection, the antibody levels in patients with different duration of disease, and the relationship between antibody level and viral load. Methods Nasopharyngeal swabs, anal swabs, saliva, blood, and urine specimens were collected from patients with a course of disease ranging from 7 to 69 days. Viral load in different specimen types was measured using droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). Meanwhile, anti-nucleocapsid protein (anti-N) IgM and IgG antibodies and anti-spike protein receptor-binding domain (anti-S-RBD) IgG antibody in all serum samples were tested using ELISA. Results The positive detection rate in nasopharyngeal swab was the highest (54.05%), followed by anal swab (24.32%), and the positive detection rate in saliva, blood, and urine was 16.22%, 10.81%, and 5.41%, respectively. However, some patients with negative nasopharyngeal swabs had other specimens tested positive. There was no significant correlation between antibody level and days after symptoms onset or viral load. Conclusions Other specimens could be positive in patients with negative nasopharyngeal swabs, suggesting that for patients in the recovery period, specimens other than nasopharyngeal swabs should also be tested to avoid false negative results, and anal swabs are recommended. The antibody level had no correlation with days after symptoms onset or the viral load of nasopharyngeal swabs, suggesting that the antibody level may also be affected by other factors.

Abstract The world is experiencing one of the most difficult moments in history with COVID‐19, which has rapidly developed into a worldwide pandemic with a significant health and economic burden. Efforts to fight the virus, including prevention and treatment, have never stopped. However, no specific drugs or treatments have yet been found. Antibody drugs have never been absent in epidemics such as SARS, MERS, HIV, Ebola, and so on in the past two decades. At present, while research on the SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccine is in full swing, antibody drugs are also receiving widespread attention. Several antibody drugs have successfully entered clinical trials and achieved impressive therapeutic effects. Here, we summarize the therapeutic antibodies against SARS‐CoV‐2, as well as the research using ACE2 recombinant protein or ACE2‐Ig fusion protein.

Abstract Background During the chemical and biochemical decomposition of lignocellulosic biomasses, lignin is highly recalcitrant. Genetic transformation of plants to qualitatively and/or quantitatively modify lignin may reduce these recalcitrant properties. Efficient discovery of genes to achieve lignin manipulation is thus required. Results To screen for new genes to reduce lignin recalcitrance, we heterologously expressed 50 enzymatic genes under the control of a cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H) gene promoter, derived from a hybrid aspen, which is preferentially active in tissues with lignified cell walls in Arabidopsis plants. These genes encode enzymes that act on metabolites in shikimate, general phenylpropanoid, flavonoid, or monolignol biosynthetic pathways. Among these genes, 30, 18, and 2 originated from plants, bacteria, and fungi, respectively. In our first screening step, 296 independent transgenic plants (T1 generation) harboring single or multiple transgenes were generated from pools of seven Agrobacterium strains used for conventional floral-dip transformation. Wiesner and Mäule staining patterns in the stems of the resultant plants revealed seven and nine plants with apparent abnormalities in the two respective staining analyses. According to genomic PCR and subsequent direct sequencing, each of these 16 plants possessed a gene encoding either coniferaldehyde dehydrogenase (calB), feruloyl-CoA 6′-hydroxylase (F6H1), hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA hydratase/lyase (couA), or ferulate 5-hydroxylase (F5H), with one transgenic plant carrying both calB and F6H1. The effects of these genes on lignin manipulation were confirmed in individually re-created T1 transgenic Arabidopsis plants. While no difference in lignin content was detected in the transgenic lines compared with the wild type, lignin monomeric composition was changed in the transgenic lines. The observed compositional change in the transgenic plants carrying calB, couA, and F5H led to improved sugar release from cell walls after alkaline pretreatment. Conclusions Simple colorimetric characterization of stem lignin is useful for simultaneous screening of many genes with the potential to reduce lignin recalcitrance. In addition to F5H, the positive control, we identified three enzyme-coding genes that can function as genetic tools for lignin manipulation. Two of these genes (calB and couA) accelerate sugar release from transgenic lignocelluloses.

SARS-CoV-2 uses ACE2 as the entry receptor. Here, the authors show that an ACE2-Ig fusion protein inhibits entry of virus pseudotyped with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, show differential binding kinetics of SARS-CoV and SARSCoV-2 spike proteins to ACE2, and determine pharmakocinetic parameters of ACE2-Ig in mice.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the structural and construct validity of the FCG inventory as applied in Iran. Feedback on Career Goals (FCG) Inventory was devised and validated by Hu, Creed, and Hood (2017) and was later used to measure career feedback among Chinese and Australian university students. The statistical population of this study consisted of all high school students in Isfahan in the academic year of 2018-2019, and 324 students (166 females and 158 males) were selected through cluster sampling as the sample size. Then, the students were administered a translated version of the FCG inventory, and their responses were examined with respect to the structure of the inventory. Results of confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that three factors of feedback on progress, goal suitability, and improvements needed loaded on one higher-order factor of career feedback, similar to the structure of the FCG inventory applied in Chinese and Australian students. The results also provided support for construct validity of the scale by linking career feedback with career goal-performance discrepancies and career-related stress. Our findings suggest that the Iranian version of the FCG inventory has acceptable psychometric properties and is a valid instrument for the assessment of career feedback.

Thouless pumping, not only achieving quantized transport but also immune to moderate disorder, has attracted growing attention in both experiments and theories. Here, we explore how particle-particle interactions affect topological transport in a periodically modulated and tilted optical lattice. Three characterized interaction effects are revealed: topological pumping of bound states, interaction blockade of scattering states, and topologically resonant tunnelings. Attributed to the tilting, we have found a linear scanning in the first Brillouin zone at each Bloch-oscillation period of multiparticle center-of-mass momentum. Not limited to multiparticle Wannier states, our scheme ensures a dispersionless quantized transport even for initial Gaussian-like wave packets of interacting bosons which do not uniformly occupy a given band. Our study deepens the understanding of correlation effects on topological states, and provides a feasible way for detecting topological properties in interacting systems.

Soil moisture is a key parameter in hydrological research and drought management. The inversion of soil moisture based on land surface temperature (LST) and NDVI triangular feature spaces has been widely used in various studies. Remote sensing provides regional LST data with coarse spatial resolutions which are insufficient for field scale (tens of meters). In this study, we bridged the data gap by adopting a Data Mining Sharpener algorithm to downscale MODIS thermal data with Vis-NIR imagery from Sentinel-2. To evaluate the downscaling algorithm, an unmanned aerial system (UAS) equipped with a thermal sensor was used to capture the ultra-fine resolution LST at three sites in the Tang River Basin in China. The obtained fine-resolution LST data were then used to calculate the Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) for soil moisture monitoring. Results indicated that downscaled LST data from satellites showed spatial patterns similar to UAS-measured LST, although discrepancies still existed. Based on the fine-resolution LST data, a 10-m resolution TVDI map was generated. Significant negative correlations were observed between the TVDI and in-situ soil moisture measurements (Pearson’s r of −0.67 and −0.71). Overall, the fine-resolution TVDI derived from the downscaled LST has a high potential for capturing spatial soil moisture variation.

Targeted therapeutics for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), especially severe cases, are currently lacking. As macrophages have unique effector functions as a first-line defense against invading pathogens, we genetically armed human macrophages with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) to reprogram their phagocytic activity against SARS-CoV-2. After investigation of CAR constructs with different intracellular receptor domains, we found that although cytosolic domains from MERTK (CARMERTK) did not trigger antigen-specific cellular phagocytosis or killing effects, unlike those from MEGF10, FcRγ and CD3ζ did, these CARs all mediated similar SARS-CoV-2 clearance in vitro. Notably, we showed that CARMERTK macrophages reduced the virion load without upregulation of proinflammatory cytokine expression. These results suggest that CARMERTK drives an ‘immunologically silent’ scavenger effect in macrophages and pave the way for further investigation of CARs for the treatment of individuals with COVID-19, particularly those with severe cases at a high risk of hyperinflammation.

Objective Develop and validate models that predict mortality of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 admitted to the hospital.Design Retrospective cohort study.Setting A multicentre cohort across 10 Dutch hospitals including patients from 27 February to 8 June 2020.Participants SARS-CoV-2 positive patients (age ≥18) admitted to the hospital.Main outcome measures 21-day all-cause mortality evaluated by the area under the receiver operator curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. The predictive value of age was explored by comparison with age-based rules used in practice and by excluding age from the analysis.Results 2273 patients were included, of whom 516 had died or discharged to palliative care within 21 days after admission. Five feature sets, including premorbid, clinical presentation and laboratory and radiology values, were derived from 80 features. Additionally, an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)-based data-driven feature selection selected the 10 features with the highest F values: age, number of home medications, urea nitrogen, lactate dehydrogenase, albumin, oxygen saturation (%), oxygen saturation is measured on room air, oxygen saturation is measured on oxygen therapy, blood gas pH and history of chronic cardiac disease. A linear logistic regression and non-linear tree-based gradient boosting algorithm fitted the data with an AUC of 0.81 (95% CI 0.77 to 0.85) and 0.82 (0.79 to 0.85), respectively, using the 10 selected features. Both models outperformed age-based decision rules used in practice (AUC of 0.69, 0.65 to 0.74 for age >70). Furthermore, performance remained stable when excluding age as predictor (AUC of 0.78, 0.75 to 0.81).Conclusion Both models showed good performance and had better test characteristics than age-based decision rules, using 10 admission features readily available in Dutch hospitals. The models hold promise to aid decision-making during a hospital bed shortage.

Genetically engineered T cells expressing a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR-T cells) are a promising new treatment for cancer, but are associated with unique toxicities. Here, the authors test CAR-T-cell-derived exosomes as a surrogate for CAR-T cells and show that they can elicit a potent antitumour immune response in preclinical models of breast cancer with reduced signs of cytokine release syndrome compared with CAR-T therapy.

Cartilage is a kind of connective tissue that buffers pressure and is essential to protect joint movement. It is difficult to self-recover once cartilage is damaged due to the lack of blood vessels, lymph, and nerve tissues. Repair of cartilage injury is mainly achieved by stimulating chondrocyte proliferation and extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis. Cartilage homeostasis involves the regulation of multiple growth factors and the transduction of cellular signals. It is a very complicated process that has not been elucidated in detail. In this review, we summarized a variety of signaling molecules related to chondrocytes function. Especially, we described the correlation between chondrocyte-specific regulatory factors and cell signaling molecules. It has potential significance for guiding the treatment of cartilage injury.

The perfect synchronization of maternal immune-endocrine mechanisms and those of the fetus is necessary for a successful pregnancy. In this report, decidual immune cells at the maternal-fetal interface were detected that expressed TIGIT (T cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains), which is a co-inhibitory receptor that triggers immunological tolerance. We generated recombinant TIGIT-Fc fusion proteins by linking the extracellular domain of TIGIT and silent Fc fragments. The treatment with TIGIT-Fc of human decidual antigen presenting cells (APCs), the decidual dendritic cells (dDCs), and decidual macrophages (dMϕs) increased the production of interleukin 10 and induced the decidua APCs to powerfully polarize the decidual CD4+ T cells toward a classic TH2 phenotype. We further proposed that Notch signaling shows a pivotal effect on the transcriptional regulation in decidual immune cell subsets. Moreover, the administration of TIGIT-Fc to CBA/J pregnant mice at preimplantation induced CD4+ forkhead box P3+ (Foxp3+) regulatory T cells and tolerogenic dendritic cells and increased pregnancy rates in an abortion-prone animal model stress. The results suggested the therapeutic potential of the TIGIT-Fc fusion protein in reinstating immune tolerance in failing pregnancies.

While the potential therapeutic utility of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is well established, the clinical development of ACE2 drugs has been limited, likely due in part to the short half-life of the protein. In contrast, Ig-like ACE2 fusion proteins have exhibited greatly extended plasma half-life in vivo, and they have been shown to have a potent neutralization effect against SARS-CoV-2. Clinical investigation of Ig-like ACE2 fusion proteins as COVID-19 interventions is thus warranted.

To investigate whether the compound modification means which mixes modified Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) aggregate and polypropylene fiber in concrete could gain “positive hybrid effect” and cope with more sophisticated engineering circumstances, four groups of test specimens were prepared: concrete doped with unmodified PVC aggregate, concrete doped with modified PVC aggregate, concrete doped with unmodified PVC aggregate and polypropylene fiber, and concrete doped with modified PVC aggregate and polypropylene fiber. The fiber content is 0.9 kg/m3, the modified solution content is 1 mol/L NaOH, and the replacement amount of PVC fine aggregate in replacement sand is 0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30%. Mechanical property and durability tests were carried out to compare and analyze the measured compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural tensile strength, water absorption rate, and impact failure energy. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy and XRD diffraction were used to analyze micromorphology and crystal structure of concrete. The test results demonstrate that as the content of PVC aggregate increases, the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural tensile strength of the concrete decrease significantly, while the brittleness is improved. Meanwhile, the water absorption rate increases and the impact resistance shows an approximately linear increase trend. Under the same content of PVC aggregate, the most effective way to improve compressive strength is to use modified PVC aggregate. The rapid decrease of compressive strength caused by PVC aggregate can be effectively delayed by doping polypropylene fiber and modified PVC aggregate. Adding polypropylene fiber or using the modified PVC aggregate can improve the brittleness, tensile strength, flexural tensile strength, and impact resistance, but they have different modification and reinforcement effects. The concrete prepared by doping polypropylene fiber and modified PVC aggregate has better performance in tensile strength, flexural tensile strength, brittleness, and impact resistance, and the water absorption and the compressive strength of the concrete are enhanced compared with the normal group. Therefore, composite modified reinforced concrete doped with modified PVC aggregate-polypropylene fiber has broad application prospects.

In order to obtain the relationship between fractal dimension and energy dissipation of rock-like materials under initial stress state, a variable cross-section split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) test system with active confining pressure loading device was used to carry out impact compression and splitting tests on cemented sand specimens. The impact test results show that (1) the prediction value on the fragmentation degree of cemented sand specimens by using the fractal model is basically consistent with the screening results of actual test, which verifies the applicability of the fractal calculation model given in this study; (2) the more the fracture energy dissipated in the crushing process of cemented sand specimens, the more serious the fragmentation degree is, and accordingly the larger the fractal dimension is, that is, the fracture energy is positively correlated with the fractal dimension; (3) there is an exponential relationship between the fractal dimension and energy dissipation of cemented sand specimens under initial stress, which is so different from that under no initial stress. The experimental results in this study can be used to modify the fractal damage model for rock blasting considering the initial stress.

The separation and purification of a sample of interest is essential for subsequent detection and analysis procedures, but there is a lack of effective separation methods with which to purify nano-sized particles from the sample media. In this paper, a microfluidic system based on negative magnetophoresis is presented for the high-resolution separation of nanoparticles. The system includes on-chip magnetic pole arrays and permalloys that symmetrically distribute on both sides of the separation channel and four permanent magnets that provide strong magnetic fields. The microfluidic system can separate 200 nm particles with a high purity from the mixture (1000 nm and 200 nm particles) due to a magnetic field gradient as high as 10,000 T/m being generated inside the separation channel, which can provide a negative magnetophoretic force of up to 10 pN to the 1000 nm particle. The overall recovery rate of the particles reaches 99%, the recovery rate of 200 nm particles is 84.2%, and the purity reaches 98.2%. Compared with the existing negative magnetophoretic separation methods, our system not only exhibits high resolution on particle sizes (800 nm), but also improves the sample processing throughput, which reaches 2.5 μL/min. The microfluidic system is expected to provide a new solution for the high-purity separation of nanoparticles, as well as nanobiological samples.

A textile material’s electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness mainly depends on the material’s electrical conductivity and porosity. Enhancing the conductivity of the material surface can effectively improve the electromagnetic shielding effectiveness. However, the use of highly conductive materials increases production cost, and limits the enhancement of electromagnetic shielding effectiveness. This work aims to improve the EMI shielding effectiveness (EMSE) by using an ultrathin multilayer structure and the air-permeable textile MEFTEX. MEFTEX is a copper-coated non-woven ultrathin fabric. The single-layer MEFTEX SE test results show that the higher its mass per unit area (MEFTEX 30), the better its SE property between 56.14 dB and 62.53 dB in the frequency band 30 MHz–1.5 GHz. Through comparative testing of three groups samples, a higher electromagnetic shielding effect is obtained via multilayer structures due to the increase in thickness and decrease of volume electrical resistivity. Compared to a single layer, the EMI shielding effectiveness of five layers of MEFTEX increases by 44.27–83.8%. Due to its ultrathin and porous structure, and considering the balance from porosity and SE, MEFTEX 10 with three to four layers can still maintain air permeability from 2942 L/m2/s–3658 L/m2/s.

Climate change is having a considerable impact on the availability of water resources for agricultural production on the North China Plain (NCP), where the shortage of water is currently disturbing the stability and sustainability of agricultural production with respect to the drying tendency since the 1950s. However, although potential evapotranspiration (ET) has shown a decreasing trend under climate change, actual ET has slightly increased with an acceleration in hydrological cycling. Global climate model (GCM) ensemble projections predict that by the 2050s, the increased crop water demand and intensified ET resulting from global warming will reduce water resources surplus (Precipitation–ET) about 4%–24% and increase significantly the irrigation water demand in crop growth periods. This study assesses possible mitigation and adaptation measures for enabling agricultural sustainability. It is revealed that reducing the sowing area of winter wheat (3.0%–15.9%) in water-limited basins, together with improvement in crop water-use efficiency would effectively mitigate water shortages and intensify the resilience of agricultural systems to climate change.

This study aims to solve the problems of the high cost, heavy pollution and poor performance of traditional engineered cementitious composites (ECC) by adding modified Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) aggregate, Polypropylene (PP)–Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hybrid fiber and large amount of fly ash. The PVC aggregate is modified by pre-coating silica fume with a PP fiber volume content of 0.5%, PVA fiber volume contents of 1%, 1.5%, and 2%, PVC aggregate contents of 10%, 20%, and 30%, and fly ash volume content of 69%. Different properties and microstructures were studied by carrying out cube compression tests, splitting tensile tests, water absorption tests, drop hammer impact tests, scanning electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance tests. According to the test results, under the same content of PVC aggregate, the use of modified PVC aggregate can, not only effectively avoid the decrease in strength and increase of water absorption, but also improve brittleness and impact failure energy. Regardless of the kind and content of fiber, the compressive strength and brittleness will decrease, while the splitting tensile strength, water absorption, and impact failure energy will increase. After adding 0.5% PP and 1.5% PVA fiber, the performance is ordinary and a negative mixing effect occurs. As more modified PVC aggregate is added, the strength of the ECC concrete with PP–PVA hybrid fiber and modified PVC aggregate added slowly decrease, while the water absorption and impact failure energy increase. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the test data, the reinforcement method of adding 1.5% PVA-0.5% PP hybrid fiber-30% modified PVC aggregate is superior to adding 1.5% PVA fiber, but slightly inferior to adding 2% PVA fiber. This study argues that the reinforcement method is of great significance for the promotion and application of ECC.

Studies of evapotranspiration on remote tropical coral islands are important to explore and sustain scarce freshwater resources. However, there is a significant knowledge gap between research to evaluate evapotranspiration based on remote sensing methods and the influences of different land use types on water dynamics on reclaimed coral islands. This study applied the remote-sensing-based Vegetation Interfaces Processes (VIP-RS) model to estimate actual evapotranspiration (ETa) on Zhaoshu Island, Yongxing Island, and Yongshu Island in the South China Sea from 2016 to 2019. The results showed that the average annual ETa of Zhaoshu Island, Yongxing Island, and Yongshu Island was 685 mm, 530 mm, and 210 mm, respectively. Annual transpiration (Ec) and soil evaporation (Es) exhibited similar patterns on the natural islands; however, Es controlled the water consumption on the reclaimed islands. Water dynamics exhibited seasonal fluctuations due to the uneven distribution of precipitation (PRP). However, ETa of the natural islands was higher than PRP in the dry season, indicating vegetation has to absorb water from the groundwater to sustain growth. The results also agreed with the analysis of dominant driving factors based on partial correlation analysis, which demonstrated that the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the most important factor that influences ETa, while relative humidity (RH) controlled the bare land or sparsely vegetated areas on the reclaimed islands. The setting of different land use types showed that vegetation and built-up or hardened roads took control of evapotranspiration and rainwater collection, respectively, which play important roles in water dynamics on corals islands. The evaluation of ETa based on a remote-sensing-based model overcame the difficulty in fieldwork observation, which improves the certainty and accuracy at a spatial scale. In addition, it gave us a new reference to protect and manage scarce freshwater resources properly.

Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is everywhere in this world and galaxy in different forms and levels. In some cases, human beings need to protect themselves from electromagnetic radiations and the same thing is also recommended for electronic devices as well. Lots of studies are there on the shielding of electromagnetic radiation interference using metals, polymers, and minerals. For protecting the human being, textile structures are playing the main role. In the textile material structure itself many types are there; each one is having its unique geometrical shape and design. In this work, the copper/nickel-coated ultrathin nonwoven fabric is prepared like a strip. The 3, 6, and 9 mm thick strips are prepared and laid at different gaps, angles, and layered to study the effect of factors on EM shielding effectiveness as per ASTM D4935-10 standard. The design of experiment has been done to analyze the three factors and three levels of the strip properties having an influence on electromagnetic shielding results. From the findings of the design of experiment (DoE) screening design, the factors are the thickness of the strips, the gap between the strips, and the strips laid angle having a statistically significant effect on electromagnetic shielding effectiveness.

Using the Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS) leaf area index (LAI), the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and available water resources in the Mekong River Basin were estimated with the Remote Sensing-Based Vegetation Interface Processes Model (VIP-RS). The relative contributions of climate variables and vegetation greening to ETa were estimated with numerical experiments. The results show that the average ETa in the entire basin increased at a rate of 1.16 mm year−2 from 1980 to 2012 (36.7% of the area met the 95% significance level). Vegetation greening contributed 54.1% of the annual ETa trend, slightly higher than that of climate change. The contributions of air temperature, precipitation and the LAI were positive, whereas contributions of solar radiation and vapor pressure were negative. The effects of water supply and energy availability were equivalent on the variation of ETa throughout most of the basin, except the upper reach and downstream Mekong Delta. In the upper reach, climate warming played a critical role in the ETa variability, while the warming effect was offset by reduced solar radiation in the Mekong Delta (an energy-limited region). For the entire basin, the available water resources showed an increasing trend due to intensified precipitation; however, in downstream areas, additional pressure on available water resources is exerted due to cropland expansion with enhanced agricultural water consumption. The results provide scientific basis for practices of integrated catchment management and water resources allocation.