Development of a live attenuated vaccine candidate for equid alphaherpesvirus 1 control: a step towards efficient protection.

Equid alphaherpesvirus 1 (EqAHV1) is a viral pathogen known to cause respiratory disease, neurologic syndromes, and abortion storms in horses. Currently, there are no vaccines that provide complete protection against EqAHV1. Marker vaccines and the differentiation of infected and vaccinated animals (DIVA) strategy are effective for preventing and controlling outbreaks but have not been used for the prevention of EqAHV1 infection. Glycoprotein 2 (gp2), located on the envelope of viruses (EqAHV1), exhibits high antigenicity and functions as a molecular marker for DIVA. In this study, a series of EqAHV1 mutants with deletion of gp2 along with other virulence genes (TK, UL24/TK, gI/gE) were engineered. The mutant viruses were studied in vitro and then in an in vivo experiment using Golden Syrian hamsters to assess the extent of viral attenuation and the immune response elicited by the mutant viruses in comparison to the wild-type (WT) virus. Compared with the WT strain, the YM2019 Δgp2, ΔTK/gp2, and ΔUL24/TK/gp2 strains exhibited reduced growth in RK-13 cells, while the ΔgI/gE/gp2 strain exhibited significantly impaired proliferation. The YM2019 Δgp2 strain induced clinical signs and mortality in hamsters. In contrast, the YM2019 ΔTK/gp2 and ΔUL24/TK/gp2 variants displayed diminished pathogenicity, causing no observable clinical signs or fatalities. Immunization with nasal vaccines containing YM2019 ΔTK/gp2 and ΔUL24/TK/gp2 elicited a robust immune response in hamsters. In particular, compared with the vaccine containing the ΔTK/gp2 strain, the vaccine containing the ΔUL24/TK/gp2 strain demonstrated enhanced immune protection upon challenge with the WT virus. Furthermore, an ELISA for gp2 was established and refined to accurately differentiate between infected and vaccinated animals. These results confirm that the ΔUL24/TK/gp2 strain is a safe and effective live attenuated vaccine candidate for controlling EqAHV1 infection.

Bone metabolism factors in predicting the risk of osteoporosis fracture in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE: Osteoporosis (OS) is a systemic bone disease characterized by low bone mass and bone microstructure damage. This study. METHODS: According to the T value, 88 elderly fracture patients were grouped as the control group (without OS, 43 cases) and observation group (with T value <-2.5, which could be diagnosed as OS, 45 cases). The content of boney containing protein (BGP), total type 1 collagen amino terminal extender peptide (TPINP), ß-Crosslaps (ß-CTX), parathyroid hormone (PTH) and insulin-like growth factors-1 (IGF-1) was compared. Multivariate logistic regression was adopted to analyze the correlation between biochemical indexes and the occurrence of senile OS fracture and the related risk factors. The diagnostic value in the elderly was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. RESULTS: The levels of BGP, TPINP, ß-CTX, PTH and IGF-1 were elevated, and the level of IGF-1 was decreased in the observation group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The elevated content of BGP, TPINP, ß-CTX and PTH, and the decreased expression of IGF-1 were influencing factors for OS fractures in the elderly (P < 0.05). The sensitivity and specificity to predict the occurrence of OS fractures in the elderly were 91.70% and 90.50%, respectively. The AUC of combined detection was 0.976 (95% CI: 0.952-1.000), which was memorably higher than single indicator detection (P < 0.05). Among 45 patients, 32 cases had good prognosis and 13 had poor prognosis. In comparison with the good prognosis group, the content of BGP, TPINP, ß-CTX and PTH were sensibly higher, the level of IGF-1 was prominently lower, and the proportion of fracture history was much higher in poor prognosis group (P < 0.05). Fracture history, BGP, TPINP, ß-CTX, PTH and IGF-1 were independent risk factors for poor prognosis of elderly OS fractures (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Bone metabolism factors were associated with poor prognosis of OS in the elderly. The combined detection had higher diagnostic value in calculating the risk of OS fracture in the elderly than single indicator detection.

Subthreshold Schottky-contacted carbon nanotube network film field-effect transistors for ultralow-power electronic applications.

Ultralow-power electronics is critical to wearable, portable, and implantable applications where the systems could only have access to very limited electrical power supply or even be self-powered. Here, we report on a type of Schottky barrier (SB) contacted single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) network film field-effect-transistors (FETs) that are operated in the subthreshold region to achieve ultralow-power applications. The thin high-k gate dielectric and the overlap between the gate and the source electrodes offer highly efficient gate electrostatic control over the SWCNT channel and the SB at the source contact, resulting in steep subthreshold switching characteristics with a small subthreshold swing (∼67 mV dec-1), a large current on/off ratio (∼106), and a low off-state current (∼0.5 pA). Ap-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor inverter built with the subthreshold SB-SWCNT-FETs exhibits a well-defined logic functionality and small-signal amplification capability under a low supply voltage (∼0.5 V) and an ultralow power (∼0.05 pWµm-1). The low-voltage and deep subthreshold operations reported here could lay an essential foundation for high-performance and ultralow-power SWCNTs-based electronics.

Strain-Modulated Photoelectric Responses from a Flexible α-In2Se3/3R MoS2 Heterojunction.

Semiconducting piezoelectric α-In2Se3 and 3R MoS2 have attracted tremendous attention due to their unique electronic properties. Artificial van der Waals (vdWs) heterostructures constructed with α-In2Se3 and 3R MoS2 flakes have shown promising applications in optoelectronics and photocatalysis. Here, we present the first flexible α-In2Se3/3R MoS2 vdWs p-n heterojunction devices for photodetection from the visible to near infrared region. These heterojunction devices exhibit an ultrahigh photoresponsivity of 2.9 × 103 A W-1 and a substantial specific detectivity of 6.2 × 1010 Jones under a compressive strain of - 0.26%. The photocurrent can be increased by 64% under a tensile strain of + 0.35%, due to the heterojunction energy band modulation by piezoelectric polarization charges at the heterojunction interface. This work demonstrates a feasible approach to enhancement of α-In2Se3/3R MoS2 photoelectric response through an appropriate mechanical stimulus.

Piezoelectric polymer nanofibers for pressure sensors and their applications in human activity monitoring.

Miniaturized, wearable and self-powered sensors are crucial for applications in artificial intelligence, robotics, healthcare, and communication devices. In particular, piezoelectric polymer-based sensing systems have the advantages of light weight, large piezoelectricity and mechanical flexibility, offering great opportunities in flexible and stretchable electronic devices. Herein, free-standing large-size nanofiber (NF) membranes have been fabricated by an electrospinning technique. Our results show that the as-synthesized P(VDF-TrFE) NFs are pure ß-phase and exhibit excellent mechanical and thermal properties. Besides having high sensitivity and operational stability, the fibrous sensor can generate remarkable electrical signals from applied pressure, with an output voltage of 18.1 V, output current of 0.177 µA, and power density of 22.9 µW cm-2. Moreover, such sensors also produce significant electrical performance of up to a few volts under human mechanical stress, thereby allowing for the monitoring of biomechanical movement of the human foot, elbow, and finger. Our study sheds light onto the use of piezoelectric polymers for flexible self-powered sensing electronics and wearable devices.

In-situ Functionalization of Metal Electrodes for Advanced Asymmetric Supercapacitors.

Nanostructured metal-based compound electrodes with excellent electrochemical activity and electrical conductivity are promising for high-performance energy storage applications. In this paper, we report an asymmetric supercapacitor based on Ti and Cu coated vertical-aligned carbon nanotube electrodes on carbon cloth. The active material is achieved by in-situ functionalization using a high-temperature annealing process. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy confirm the detailed nanostructures and composition of the electrodes. The TiC@VCC and CuxS@VCC electrodes show a high specific capacity of 200.89 F g-1 and 228.37 F g-1, respectively, and good capacitive characteristics at different scan speeds. The excellent performance can be attributed to a large surface area to volume ratio and high electrical conductivity of the electrodes. Furthermore, an asymmetric supercapacitor is assembled with TiC@VCC as anode and CuxS@VCC as cathode. The full device can operate within the 0-1.4 V range, and shows a maximum energy density of 9.12 Wh kg-1 at a power density of 46.88 W kg-1. These findings suggest that the metal-based asymmetric electrodes have a great potential for supercapacitor applications.

A Hierarchical Copper Oxide-Germanium Hybrid Film for High Areal Capacity Lithium Ion Batteries.

Self-supported electrodes represent a novel architecture for better performing lithium ion batteries. However, lower areal capacity restricts their commercial application. Here, we explore a facial strategy to increase the areal capacity without sacrificing the lithium storage performance. A hierarchical CuO-Ge hybrid film electrode will not only provide high areal capacity but also outstanding lithium storage performance for lithium ion battery anode. Benefiting from the favorable structural advance as well as the synergic effect of the Ge film and CuO NWs array, the hybrid electrode exhibits a high areal capacity up to 3.81 mA h cm-2, good cycling stability (a capacity retention of 90.5% after 150 cycles), and superior rate performance (77.4% capacity remains even when the current density increased to 10 times higher).

Optical-reconfigurable carbon nanotube and indium-tin-oxide complementary thin-film transistor logic gates.

Optically transparent thin-film transistors (TFTs) have recently attracted significant attention for a new generation of transparent electronics where p- and n-channel transistors form the basic building block for complementary analog and digital integrated circuits (ICs). This paper reports a hybrid integration of p-channel carbon nanotube (CNT) and n-channel junctionless indium-tin-oxide (ITO) TFTs using a simple and cost-effective shadow mask-assisted fabrication process. The fabricated devices exhibit a high transmittance of ∼90% in the visible light region and function as inverters, NAND and NOR gates. More interestingly, distinct optoelectronic responses of the CNT- and ITO-TFTs to ultraviolet light have been clearly observed. In addition to conventional electrically gated logic operations, simple optical-reconfigurable logic operations have been realized with hybrid CNT/ITO-TFT based logic gates. The results suggest that introducing optical-modulation to the logic gates could increase the functionalities compared with the traditional electrically driven counterparts.