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BackgroundBrucellosis, as a serious zoonotic infectious disease, has been recognized as a re-emerging disease in the developing countries worldwide. In china, the incidence of brucellosis is increasing each year, seriously threatening the health of humans as well as animal populations. Despite a quite number of diagnostic methods currently being used for brucellosis, innovative technologies are still needed for its rapid and accurate diagnosis, especially in area where traditional diagnostic is unavailable.Methodology/principal findingsIn this study, a total of 22 B cell linear epitopes were predicted from five Brucella outer membrane proteins (OMPs) using an immunoinformatic approach. These epitopes were then chemically synthesized, and with the method of indirect ELISA (iELISA), each of them displayed a certain degree of capability in identifying human brucellosis positive sera. Subsequently, a fusion protein consisting of the 22 predicted epitopes was prokaryotically expressed and used as diagnostic antigen in a newly established brucellosis testing method, nano-ZnO modified paper-based ELISA (nano-p-ELISA). According to the verifying test using a collection of sera collected from brucellosis and non-brucellosis patients, the sensitivity and specificity of multiepitope based nano-p-ELISA were 92.38% and 98.35% respectively. The positive predictive value was 98.26% and the negative predictive value was 91.67%. The multiepitope based fusion protein also displayed significantly higher specificity than Brucella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigen.ConclusionsB cell epitopes are important candidates for serologically testing brucellosis. Multiepitope fusion protein based nano-p-ELISA displayed significantly sensitivity and specificity compared to Brucella LPS antigen. The strategy applied in this study will be helpful to develop rapid and accurate diagnostic method for brucellosis in human as well as animal populations.

The purpose of this research was to explore how moral belief of life, at a trait and state level, triggers more altruistic empathy towards others in risk, thereby enhancing greater prosocial behavior, especially in emergencies. Three hundred and twenty-eight undergraduates were asked to complete moral belief of life scale, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Prosocial Tendencies Measure and Social Desirability Scale. We first found empathy, rather than personal distress, mediated the effect of moral belief of life disposition on prosocial behavior (Study 1). Then, sixty undergraduates were recruited to voluntarily participate the follow-up experiment, moral belief of life elicited by narrative recalling increased empathy toward victims in life emergencies, rather than personal distress, and thus enhanced emergency helping. Moreover, the mediation mechanism of empathy was not moderated by victim attributions (Study 2). These findings verify the self-transcendent attribute of moral belief of life and shed light on how moral belief of life influences emergency helping. Practically, they provide a new perspective for emergency interventions, it is necessary to popularize life morality education to promote moral belief of life and carry out empathy intervention among individuals with weak moral belief of life., Author(s): Xia Li [sup.1] , Kaixin Xia [sup.2] , Jiyun Bai [sup.1] , Xiling Wu [sup.1] , Mulan Hou [sup.1] , Jianxin Zhang [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.411864.e, 0000 0004 [...]

In recent years, the incidence of brucellosis has increased annually, causing tremendous economic losses to animal husbandry in a lot of countries. Therefore, developing rapid, sensitive, and specific diagnostic techniques is critical to control the spread of brucellosis. In this study, bioinformatics technology was used to predict the B cell epitopes of the main outer membrane proteins of Brucella, and the diagnostic efficacy of each epitope was verified by an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA). Then, a fusion protein containing 22 verified epitopes was prokaryotically expressed and used as an antigen in paper-based ELISA (p-ELISA) for serodiagnosis of brucellosis. The multi-epitope-based p-ELISA was evaluated using a collection of brucellosis-positive and -negative sera collected from bovine and goat, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the sensitivity and specificity of detection-ELISA in diagnosing goat brucellosis were 98.85 and 98.51%. The positive and the negative predictive values were 99.29 and 98.15%, respectively. In diagnosing bovine brucellosis, the sensitivity and specificity of this method were 97.85 and 96.61%, with the positive and negative predictive values being identified as 98.28 and 97.33%, respectively. This study demonstrated that the B cell epitopes contained in major antigenic proteins of Brucella can be a very useful antigen source in developing a highly sensitive and specific method for serodiagnosis of brucellosis.

In a methylammonium‐free (MA‐free) composition, the uncontrollable crystallization process between Cs and formamidine (FA) currently hinders its efficiency enhancement, especially in inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, a dual‐interface modification of perovskite films is proposed by simultaneously introducing additives and surface passivators. In particular, (aminomethyl)phosphonic acid (AMP) is introduced into the precursor solution to balance crystallization by inducing the preferential crystallization of FA through the specific formation of strong hydrogen bonds with FA. In addition, AMP spontaneously sinks and anchors to the buried interface to fill the voids of the self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) via the covalent bonds formed by ─PO3H2 and FTO. Subsequently, by the sequential modification of perovskite surface with 2‐(3‐fluorophenyl)ethylamine iodide (mF‐PEAI) and piperazine diiodide (PDI), a uniform surface potential is achieved and recombination losses at the interface are minimized. Notably, the dual‐interface‐modified inverted MA‐free PSCs achieve a state‐of‐the‐art power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 25.35% (certified: 24.87%) with a satisfactory Voc of 1.17 V based on the bandgap of 1.52 eV. Importantly, the unencapsulated devices maintain 92.8% and 91.7% of the initial efficiency after 1000 h of maximum power output (MPP) tracking and >800 h of heating at 85 °C, respectively, confirming excellent operational and thermal stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficiency loss caused by area scaling is one of the key factors hindering the industrial development of perovskite solar cells. The energy loss and contact issues in the buried interface are the main reasons. Here, a new self‐assembled monolayer (SAM), Ph‐4PACz, with a large dipole moment (2.32 D) is obtained. It is found that Ph‐4PACz with high polarity can improve the band alignment and minimize the energy loss , resulting in an open‐circuit voltage (Voc) as high as 1.2 V for 1.55 eV perovskite. However, when applied to large‐area devices, the fill factor (FF) still suffered from significant attenuation. Therefore, alumina nanoparticles (Al2O3‐NPs) are introduced to the interface between Ph‐4PACz and rough FTO substrate to further improve the flatness , resulting in a conformal perovskite film with almost no voids in the buried interface, thus promoting low exciton binding energy, fast hot‐carrier extraction and low non‐radiative recombination. The final devices achieved a small‐area power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 25.60% and a large‐area (1 cm2) PCE of 24.61% (certified at 24.48%), which represents one of the highest PCE for single device ≥ 1 cm2 area. Additionally, mini‐modules and stability testing are also carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of commercialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background DNA mismatch repair proteins participate in diverse cellular functions including DNA damage response and repair. As a member of this protein family, the molecular mechanisms of hMSH4 in mitotic cells are poorly defined. It is known that hMSH4 is promiscuous, and among various interactions the hMSH4-hMSH5 interaction is involved in recognizing DNA intermediate structures arising from homologous recombination (HR). Results We identified a new hMSH4 interacting protein eIF3f – a protein that functions not only in translation but also in the regulation of apoptosis and tumorigenesis in humans. Our studies have demonstrated that hMSH4-eIF3f interaction is mediated through the N-terminal regions of both proteins. The interaction with eIF3f fosters hMSH4 protein stabilization, which in turn sustains γ-H2AX foci and compromises cell survival in response to ionizing radiation (IR)-induced DNA damage. These effects can be, at least partially, attributed to the down-regulation of NHEJ activity by hMSH4. Furthermore, the interplay between hMSH4 and eIF3f inhibits IR-induced AKT activation, and hMSH4 promotes eIF3f-mediated bypass of S phase arrest, and ultimately enhancing an early G2/M arrest in response to IR treatment. Conclusion Our current study has revealed a role for hMSH4 in the maintenance of genomic stability by suppressing NHEJ-mediated DSB repair.

Energy is a national strategic resource affecting national welfare and people's livelihood, which also determines the social attributes of the energy industry. Thai it, its development affects both the economic development level and social security and stability. This paper will discuss how to effectively improve the crisis and emergency management capabilities of energy companies. First, it analyzes how energy companies build the modern integrated emergency response platform by adopting advanced information technologies; based on which, it will analyze the path for energy companies to improve their crisis and emergency management capabilities from company and government perspectives.