Omicron variant of SARS-COV-2 in Shanghai: Clinical features and inactivated vaccine efficacy in 13,120 elderly patients.

Background: Few reports concerning inactivated vaccine efficacy in elderly patients with Omicron infection. We aimed at demonstrating the clinical characteristics of elderly patients with mild disease and assessing the protective effect of the vaccine preliminarily. Methods: 13,120 mild patients who aged beyond 60 years old were included in this study totally, medical records were collected and analyzed. Results: Patients beyond 60 years had more chronic comorbidities, significantly lower ORF1ab and N gene CT values, and longer time of nucleic acid conversion than other age groups. Higher CT value of ORF1ab and N gene were found in older patients who received a booster dose of vaccine than in those who received two doses. The time of nucleic acid conversion was longest in unvaccinated old patients, with a decreasing trend from those who received two doses to those who received a booster doses. We also used random forest and logistic regression to screen for factors strongly associated with nucleic acid conversion and to predict the time of nucleic acid conversion. Conclusion: For mild patients with Omicron infection, patients aged>60 years had mild clinical symptoms, higher viral loads, and longer time of nucleic acid conversion, when compared with younger patients. The inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine provided effective protection among adults with omicron variant infection, and the effectiveness of three doses of the vaccine was greater than that of two doses of the vaccine. Special attention should be given to elderly patients.

A Facial Feature and Lip Movement Enhanced Audio-Visual Speech Separation Model.

The cocktail party problem can be more effectively addressed by leveraging the speaker's visual and audio information. This paper proposes a method to improve the audio's separation using two visual cues: facial features and lip movement. Firstly, residual connections are introduced in the audio separation module to extract detailed features. Secondly, considering the video stream contains information other than the face, which has a minimal correlation with the audio, an attention mechanism is employed in the face module to focus on crucial information. Then, the loss function considers the audio-visual similarity to take advantage of the relationship between audio and visual completely. Experimental results on the public VoxCeleb2 dataset show that the proposed model significantly enhanced SDR, PSEQ, and STOI, especially 4 dB improvements in SDR.

High-rate, ultralong cycle-life lithium/sulfur batteries enabled by nitrogen-doped graphene.

Nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) is a promising conductive matrix material for fabricating high-performance Li/S batteries. Here we report a simple, low-cost, and scalable method to prepare an additive-free nanocomposite cathode in which sulfur nanoparticles are wrapped inside the NG sheets (S@NG). We show that the Li/S@NG can deliver high specific discharge capacities at high rates, that is, ∼ 1167 mAh g(-1) at 0.2 C, ∼ 1058 mAh g(-1) at 0.5 C, ∼ 971 mAh g(-1) at 1 C, ∼ 802 mAh g(-1) at 2 C, and ∼ 606 mAh g(-1) at 5 C. The cells also demonstrate an ultralong cycle life exceeding 2000 cycles and an extremely low capacity-decay rate (0.028% per cycle), which is among the best performance demonstrated so far for Li/S cells. Furthermore, the S@NG cathode can be cycled with an excellent Coulombic efficiency of above 97% after 2000 cycles. With a high active S content (60%) in the total electrode weight, the S@NG cathode could provide a specific energy that is competitive to the state-of-the-art Li-ion cells even after 2000 cycles. The X-ray spectroscopic analysis and ab initio calculation results indicate that the excellent performance can be attributed to the well-restored C-C lattice and the unique lithium polysulfide binding capability of the N functional groups in the NG sheets. The results indicate that the S@NG nanocomposite based Li/S cells have a great potential to replace the current Li-ion batteries.

Pre-Existing Allergies Patients with Higher Viral Load and Longer Recovery Days Infected by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 in Shanghai, China, 2022.

Background: It is not known whether the viral load and the number of days to negative nucleic acid increased in patients with a history of allergy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: To investigate the impact of allergy labels on SARS-CoV-2 Omicron outcomes. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 62,293 patients with mild Omicron infection between April 9, 2022, and May 31, 2022. Using 1:2 propensity score matching, we identified 2177 COVID-19 patients with a history of allergy and 4254 COVID-19 patients with no history of allergy. The differences in viral load, days to nucleic acid turning negative, and clinical symptoms were compared between the two groups. Results: Compared with the group with no allergies, the number of days before negative nucleic acid conversion of COVID-19 patients with allergies was significantly higher, the viral load was significantly higher, and the cumulative negative conversion rates at 5-10 days were all lower (p < 0.01). Patients with a history of allergy to antibiotics had higher viral load and more days with negative nucleic acid levels (p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis revealed that the viral load in penicillin-allergic and cephalosporins-allergic patients was significantly compared to patients without any history of allergies (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Patients with a history of allergy have a more significant viral load and a longer duration of nucleic acid negative conversion upon COVID-19 infection, particularly those allergic to antibiotics.

All-Solid-State High-Energy Asymmetric Supercapacitors Enabled by Three-Dimensional Mixed-Valent MnOx Nanospike and Graphene Electrodes.

Three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures enable high-energy storage devices. Here we report a 3D manganese oxide nanospike (NSP) array electrode fabricated by anodization and subsequent electrodeposition. All-solid-state asymmetric supercapacitors were assembled with the 3D Al@Ni@MnOx NSP as the positive electrode, chemically converted graphene (CCG) as the negative electrode, and Na2SO4/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as the polymer gel electrolyte. Taking advantage of the different potential windows of Al@Ni@MnOx NSP and CCG electrodes, the asymmetric supercapacitor showed an ideal capacitive behavior with a cell voltage up to 1.8 V, capable of lighting up a red LED indicator (nominal voltage of 1.8 V). The device could deliver an energy density of 23.02 W h kg(-1) at a current density of 1 A g(-1). It could also preserve 96.3% of its initial capacitance at a current density of 2 A g(-1) after 10000 charging/discharging cycles. The remarkable performance is attributed to the unique 3D NSP array structure that could play an important role in increasing the effective electrode surface area, facilitating electrolyte permeation, and shortening the electron pathway in the active materials.

Distinguishing features of leucine and alpha-ketoisocaproate sensing in pancreatic beta-cells.

Culturing rat islets in high glucose (HG) increased 1-(14)C-alpha-ketoisocaproate (KIC) oxidation compared with culturing them in low glucose. Leucine caused insulin secretion (IS) in low glucose but not in HG rat islets, whereas KIC did so in both. Pretreatment with HG for 40 min abolished leucine stimulation of IS by mouse islets and prevented the cytosolic Ca(2+) rise without inhibiting IS and Ca(2+) increments caused by KIC. When islets were pretreated without glucose and glutamine, aminooxyacetic acid (AOA) markedly decreased KIC effects. When islets were pretreated without glucose and with glutamine, AOA potentiated leucine effects but attenuated KIC effects. AOA stimulated glutamine oxidation in the presence but not the absence of +/-2-amino-2-norbornane-carboxylic acid, a nonmetabolized leucine analog. Pretreatment with HG and glutamine partially reversed AOA inhibition of KIC effects. Glucose increased intracellular ATP and GTP, whereas it decreased ADP and GDP in beta HC9 cells. Glutamate dehydrogenase activity of beta HC9 cell extracts was increased by leucine and attenuated by GTP, but it was potentiated by ADP. In conclusion, leucine and KIC stimulated beta-cells via distinct mechanisms. Glutamate dehydrogenase is the sensor of leucine, whereas transamination plays an important role in KIC stimulation of pancreatic beta-cells.

Prognostic significance of let-7b expression in breast cancer and correlation to its target gene of BSG expression.

Let-7 microRNAs (miRNAs) are found in a wide range of species, and alterations of let-7 miRNA family member expression levels in humans are associated with various types of cancer. However, few researchers have reported alterations in let-7b levels in breast cancer (BC). Specifically, the use of altered let-7 expression as a prognostic biomarker is of particular interest and significance. The aim of this study was to investigate whether let-7b could be used as a biomarker of tumor progression and patient prognosis in BC and to determine the target gene of let-7b. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical pathological characteristics of 80 BC. We utilized digoxigenin-labeled locked nucleic acid-miRNA probes to detect let-7b expression in 80 BC and 22 benign breast disease (BBD) histologic specimens by in situ hybridization, and also detect the expression of BSG-a potential target gene of let-7b-by immunohistochemistry. We observed that the levels of let-7b expression in BBD were higher than in BC specimens (P < 0.05), indicating that let-7b could inhibit growth and facilitate differentiation of BBD. Also, loss of let-7b expression on BC tissue specimens raised the possibility that let-7b could play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of BC. Furthermore, let-7b expression in breast cancer patients was inversely associated with tumor lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001), patient overall survival (P = 0.027), relapse-free survival (P = 0.016), and BSG protein expression (P = 0.001). Breast cancer patients with low let-7b expression had poor prognoses, indicating let-7b might act as cancer suppressor gene in BC development and progression by inhibiting the expression of BSG.

Expression and correlation of Twist and gelatinases in breast cancer.

Altered expression of Twist, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 proteins has been identified in various types of human cancers. However, the correlation between Twist and these gelatinases in breast cancer remains unclear. In this study, immunohistochemical analysis of Twist, MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression was performed on tissue microarrays from 200 breast cancer cases. The association of Twist and gelatinase expression with clinicopathological factors and patient survival was analyzed. Altered expression of Twist, MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins was observed in breast cancer tissue. The positive rates of Twist, MMP-2 and MMP-9 protein expression were 75.5, 97.0 and 96.0%, respectively. Increased expression of Twist was positively correlated with the status of axillary lymph node metastasis and higher tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (P<0.01). Moreover, increased expression of Twist was correlated with poor overall survival (OS) and post-operative relapse-free survival (RFS), compared with those for the patients with reduced expression levels of Twist (P<0.05, P<0.01). The expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was positively correlated with Twist expression (P<0.001). Our results indicate that Twist may play an important role in the invasion, metastasis and prognosis of breast cancer. Additionally, our results suggest that Twist may be a regulator of gelatinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9).

In situ hydrothermal synthesis of dysprosium(III) single-molecule magnet with lanthanide salt as catalyst.

A family of six dinuclear lanthanide complexes have been obtained via in situ hydrothermal synthesis with lanthanide ions as catalyst. These six complexes are formulated as [Ln(2)(3-Htzba)(2)(3-tzba)(2)(H(2)O)(8)]·4H(2)O [Ln = Gd, 1; Dy, 2; Eu, 3; Tb, 4; Sm, 5; Er, 6; 3-H(2)tzba = 3-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)benzoic acid]. The magnetic investigations show that complex 2 behaves as a single-molecule magnet (SMM) with a quantum relaxation time of ~10(-2) s.

[Study of pharyngeal anatomical diameter in patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome before and after uvulopalatopharyngoplasty].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the changes of oropharynx in patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome(OSAHS) before and after long-term uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with uvula reserved completely. METHOD: Thirty-one patients with OSAHS were studied. The following indexes were measured before and after uvulopalatopharyngoplasty: length of uvula, width of uvula base, distance between two-side pillars (DBTP), distance between uvula and posterior pharyngeal wall(DBUP), length of soft palate, perimeter of neck and body mass index (BMI). RESULT: The postoperative length of uvula, width of uvula base, DBTP, DBUP changed significantly after uvulopalatopharyngoplasty( P <0.05). The postoperative length of soft palate was significantly less than that before uvulopalatopharyngoplasty( P <0.05). There was no significance difference in BMI and perimeter of neck between preoperative and postoperative patients( P >0.05). CONCLUSION: The uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with uvula reserved completely is an effective method to solve the airway constriction, especially the oropharynx constriction. Transverse diameter could be enlarged to the length of normal adults.