Emulsification properties of ovalbumin-fucoidan (OVA-FUC) binary complexes.

The poor thermal stability and emulsifying properties of ovalbumin (OVA) limit its functional performance, but these limitations may be overcome by forming binary complexes. We prepared binary complexes of OVA and fucoidan (FUC) through electrostatic self-assembly and investigated the emulsifying properties of the complex by measuring the particle size, interfacial membrane thickness, zeta potential, and stability of the emulsion prepared with camellia oil and the complex. The OVA-FUC emulsions have a thicker interfacial membrane, lower mobility, higher viscosity, and better stability compared with the OVA emulsions. The emulsion prepared with 1.5 % OVA-FUC remained stable and homogeneous during storage. They tended to become unstable with freeze-thaw, but the oil encapsulated did not leak after coalescence occurred. With the addition of Ca2+, the OVA-FUC emulsion will be converted into a gel state. These findings indicate that OVA-FUC binary complexes can be used to prepare high-performance emulsions with great potential for development.

Crosstalk between human immunodeficiency virus infection and salivary bacterial function in men who have sex with men.

Background: Engaging in anal sexual intercourse markedly increases the risk of developing HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM); oral sexual activities tend to uniquely introduce gut-derived microbes to salivary microbiota, which, combined with an individual's positive HIV status, may greatly perturb oral microecology. However, till date, only a few published studies have addressed this aspect. Methods: Based on 16S rRNA sequencing data of bacterial taxa, MicroPITA picks representative samples for metagenomic analysis, effectively revealing how the development and progression of the HIV disease influences oral microbiota in MSM. Therefore, we collected samples from 11 HIV-negative and 44 HIV-positive MSM subjects (stage 0 was defined by HIV RNA positivity, but negative or indeterminate antibody status; stages 1, 2, and 3 were defined by CD4+ T lymphocyte counts ≥ 500, 200-499, and ≤ 200 or opportunistic infection) and selected 25 representative saliva samples (5 cases/stage) using MicroPITA. Metagenomic sequencing analysis were performed to explore whether positive HIV status changes salivary bacterial KEGG function and metabolic pathway in MSM. Results: The core functions of oral microbiota were maintained across each of the five groups, including metabolism, genetic and environmental information processing. All HIV-positive groups displayed KEGG functions of abnormal proliferation, most prominently at stage 0, and others related to metabolism. Clustering relationship analysis tentatively identified functional relationships between groups, with bacterial function being more similar between stage 0-control groups and stage 1-2 groups, whereas the stage 3 group exhibited large functional changes. Although we identified most metabolic pathways as being common to all five groups, several unique pathways formed clusters for certain groups; the stage 0 group had several, while the stage 2 and 3 groups had few, such clusters. The abundance of K03046 was positively correlated with CD4 counts. Conclusion: As HIV progresses, salivary bacterial function and metabolic pathways in MSM progressively changes, which may be related to HIV promoting abnormal energy metabolism and exacerbate pathogen virulence. Further, infection and drug resistance of acute stage and immune cell destruction of AIDS stage were abnormally increased, predicting an increased risk for MSM individuals to develop systemic and oral diseases.

Higher cardiovascular disease risks in people living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The prognosis of AIDS after active antiretroviral therapy (ART) and the quality of life of people living with HIV (PLWH) are both affected by non-AIDS-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the specific risk ratios between PLWH and individuals negative for HIV are poorly understood. We aimed to systematically review and investigate the CVD risk factors associated with HIV. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases between 1 January 2015, and 12 May 2023 for articles reported the prevalence and risk factors of CVD such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia, coronary artery disease (CAD), and myocardial infarction (MI). Due to the high heterogeneity, we used a random-effects model to analyse the data. All statistical analyses were performed using Stata/MP 17.0 with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: We analysed 31 eligible studies including 312 913 PLWH. People living with HIV had higher risks of dyslipidaemia (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.53; 95% CI = 1.29, 1.82), CAD (HR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.24, 1.51), and MI (HR = 1.47; 95% CI = 1.28, 1.68) compared to individuals without HIV. However, there were no significant differences in the prevalence of hypertension between groups (HR = 1.17; 95% CI = 0.97, 1.41). Subgroup analysis revealed that men with HIV, PLWH who smoked and the elderly PLWH had a high prevalence of CVD. Moreover, the disease prevalence patterns varied among regions. In the USA and Europe, for instance, some HRs for CVD were higher than in other regions. Active ART initiation after 2015 appears to have a lower risk of CVD (hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, CAD). All outcomes under analysis showed significant heterogeneity (I2>70%, P < 0.001), which the available study-level variables could only partially account for. Conclusions: People living with HIV had a higher CVD risk than the general population; thus, CVD prevention in PLWH requires further attention. Rapid initiation of ART may reduce the incidence of CVD in PLWH. For timely screening of CVD high-risk individuals and thorough disease management to prevent CVD, further studies are required to evaluate the risk factors for CVD among PLWH, such as age, region, etc. Registration: PROSPERO (CRD42021255508).

Safety and Efficacy of Long-Acting Injectable Agents for HIV-1: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: HIV-1 infection continues to affect global health. Although antiretrovirals can reduce the viral load or prevent HIV-1 infection, current drugs require daily oral use with a high adherence level. Long-acting antiretrovirals (LA-ARVs) significantly improve medication adherence and are essential for HIV-1 prophylaxis and therapy. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of long-acting cabotegravir (CAB-LA) and long-acting rilpivirine (RPV-LA) in the prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infection. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for studies from database inception to November 12, 2022. We included studies that reported efficacy and safety data on LA-ARV intervention in people living with HIV and excluded reviews, animal studies, and articles with missing or duplicate data. Virological suppression was defined as plasma viral load <50 copies/mL 6 months after antiviral therapy initiation. We extracted outcomes for analysis and expressed dichotomous data as risk ratios (RRs) and continuous data as mean differences. Depending on the heterogeneity assessment, a fixed- or random-effects model was used for data synthesis. We performed subgroup analyses of the partial safety and efficacy outcomes of CAB-LA+RPV-LA. The protocol was registered with the Open Science Framework. RESULTS: We included 12 trials comprising 10,957 individuals, of which 7 were prevention trials and 5 were treatment trials. CAB-LA and RPV-LA demonstrated safety profiles comparable with those of the placebo in terms of adverse event-related withdrawal. Moreover, the efficacy data showed that CAB-LA had a better effect on HIV-1 prevention than tenofovir disoproxil fumarate-emtricitabine (17/5161, 0.33% vs 75/5129, 1.46%; RR 0.21, 95% CI 0.07-0.61; I2=70%). Although CAB-LA+RPV-LA had more drug-related adverse events (556/681, 81.6% vs 37/598, 6.2%; RR 12.50, 95% CI 3.98-39.23; I2=85%), a mild or moderate injection site reaction was the most common reaction, and its frequency decreased over time. The efficacy of CAB-LA+RPV-LA was comparable with that of daily oral drugs at 48 and 96 weeks (1302/1424, 91.43% vs 915/993, 92.2%; RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.97-1.02; I2=0%), and a high level of virological suppression of 80.9% (186/230) was maintained even after 5 years of LA-ARV use. Similar efficacy outcomes were observed in both treatment-naive and treatment-experienced patients (849/911, 93.2% vs 615/654, 94%; RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.96-1.02; I2=0%). According to the questionnaires, more than 85% of people living with HIV favored LA-ARVs. CONCLUSIONS: LA-ARVs showed favorable safety profiles for both the prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infection and were well tolerated. CAB-LA has more satisfactory efficacy than tenofovir disoproxil fumarate-emtricitabine, significantly reducing the rate of HIV-1 infection. CAB-LA+RPV-LA maintains virological suppression for a long time and may be a viable switching strategy with enhanced public health benefits by reducing transmission. However, further trials are required to confirm the efficacy of these drugs.

The properties and formation mechanism of ovalbumin-fucoidan complex.

The polymeric materials formed by proteins and polysaccharides through molecular interactions have attracted public attention. In this study, a novel binary complex consisting of ovalbumin (OVA) and fucoidan (FUC) was obtained by electrostatic self-assembly. The self-assembly properties and the formation mechanism of the OVA-FUC binary complex were investigated by changing the charging degree and density of complex through altering pH value and polysaccharides proportion. Structural changes during the OVA-FUC electrostatic self-assembly process were investigated by a phase diagram, ζ-potential, and particle size. The optimal conditions for preparing soluble OVA-FUC binary complex were determined by the protein retention rate and insoluble solids content. Results showed that the soluble OVA-FUC binary complex could be obtained at the pH of 3.5 to 5, and the insoluble OVA-FUC binary complex was generated at the pH of 2.5 to 3.5. The OVA-FUC binary complex (19 ± 0.29 mN/m) possessed a medium ability to reduce interfacial tension of the water-oil interface compared with OVA (15 ± 1.13 mN/m) and FUC (24 ± 0.3 mN/m), indicating that OVA-FUC binary complex has good amphiphilicity and can be applied as a potential pH-controlled emulsifier in function food systems for delivering bioactive substances.

It is time to improve the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among people with chronic diseases: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This study aims to investigated COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among people with chronic diseases and the factors correlating with their vaccination hesitancy. The articles were searched in PubMed, Ovid, EMBASE, and web of science databases between December 2019 and October 2022. Cross-sectional studies, including the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine by patients with chronic diseases (≥18 years old), were included in this study. The outcomes included the proportion and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of chronic disease patients willing to be vaccinated and the odds ratio (OR) and 95% CI of correlating factors. The source of heterogeneity was analyzed through meta-regression and subgroup analysis. We included 31 studies involving 57 875 patients with chronic disease. The overall COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among patients with chronic disease was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.59-0.72). The acceptance among the elderly patients was 0.53 (95% CI, 0.26-0.80). South America had the highest COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate and Asia the lowest, while on a country level, the United Kingdom had the highest acceptance rate among patients with chronic diseases. People with rheumatic immune diseases had the lowest rate of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. Concerns about vaccine safety had a statistically different effect on acceptance. Overall, the health systems ought to focus on educating specific groups of individuals on the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination and addressing safety concerns.

Reducing the potential allergenicity of amandin through binding to (-)-epigallocatechin gallate.

Potential allergenicity of amandin was reduced by binding amandin with (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) via alkaline, free radical, ultrasound-assisted alkaline, and ultrasound-assisted free radical methods. These results of total phenol content, free sulfhydryl group, free amino group, surface hydrophobicity, and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) indicated that amandin might be covalently bound to EGCG through reactive groups such as sulfhydryl and amino groups, or non-covalently through hydrophobic interactions. Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy revealed structural changes of amandin-EGCG conjugate, which also caused significant reduction in potential allergenicity of amandin. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) found that amandin bound to EGCG mainly through cysteine and glutamate residues, and linear epitope for amandin was reduced. This provided a new method and theoretical basis of hypoallergenic almond food.

Deep potential for a face-centered cubic Cu system at finite temperatures.

The state-of-the-art method generating potential functions used in molecular dynamics is based on machine learning with neural networks, which is critical for molecular dynamics simulation. This method provides an efficient way for fitting multi-variable nonlinear functions, attracting extensive attention in recent years. Generally, the quality of potentials fitted by neural networks is heavily affected by training datasets and the training process and could be ensured by comprehensively verificating the model accuracy. In this study, we obtained the neural network potential of face-centered cubic (FCC) Cu with the most accurate and adequate training datasets from first-principle calculations and the training process performed by Deep Potential Molecular Dynamics (DeePMD). This potential could not only succeed in reproductions of the variety of properties of Cu at 0 K, but also have a good performance at finite temperatures, such as predicting elastic constants and the melting point. Moreover, our potential has a better generalization capacity to predict the grain boundary energy without including extra datasets about grain boundary structures. These results support the applicability of the method under more practical conditions.

Bedaquiline and Linezolid improve anti-TB treatment outcome in drug-resistant TB patients with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the effect of second-line anti-TB treatment and determine which drugs can achieve the greatest clinical benefit for DR-TB-HIV patients by comparing multiple chemotherapy regimens, to provide a basis for evidence-based practice. METHODS: We searched three electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane) for related English studies published since 2010. A random-effect model was used to estimate the pooled result for the treatment outcomes. Subgroup analysis based on possible factors, such as ART, baseline CD4 T-cell count, treatment regimens, and profiles of drug resistance, was also conducted to assess factors for favorable outcome. Outcomes were treatment success and mortality. RESULTS: 38 studies, 40 cohorts with 9279 patients were included. The pooled treatment success, mortality, treatment failure, and default rates were 57.5 % (95 % CI 53.1-61.9), 21 % (95 % CI 17.8-24.6), 4.8 % (95 % CI 3.5-6.5), and 10.7 % (95 % CI 8.7-13.1), respectively, in patients with DR-TB and HIV co-infection. Subgroup analysis showed that BDQ and LZD based regimen, and ≥ 2 Group A drugs were associated with a higher treatment success rate. Besides, higher CD4 T-cell count at baseline was also correlated with higher treatment success rate, too. CONCLUSIONS: Suboptimal anti-TB outcomes underlining the need to expand the application of effective drugs and better regimen in high HIV setting. BDQ and LZD based all-oral regimen and early ART could contribute to higher treatment success, particularly among XDR-TB-HIV patients. Given that all included studies were observational, our findings emphasize the need for high-quality studies to further investigate the optimal treatment regimen for DR-TB-HIV.

Reflection and transmission of an incident solitary wave at an interface of a binary complex plasma in a microgravity condition.

Theoretical results are given in the present paper, which can well explain the experimental observations performed under microgravity conditions in the PK-3 Plus Laboratory on board the International Space Station about the propagation of a solitary wave across an interface in a binary complex plasma. By using the traditional reductive perturbation method and the continuity conditions of both the electric potential and the momentum at the interface, we obtain the equivalent "initial conditions" for both the transmitted wave and the reflected waves from the incident wave. Then we obtain the numbers of the reflected and the transmitted solitary waves as well as all the wave amplitudes by using the inverse scattering method. The ripples of both reflection and transmission have also been given by using the Fourier series. The number of the reflected and the transmitted solitary waves produced by interface, as well as all the solitary wave amplitudes, depend on the system parameters such as the number density, electric charge, mass of the dust particles, and the effective temperature in both regions. The analytical results agree with observations in the experiments.

Scattering of shock wave by impurities in a viscoelastic granular chain.

The transmission and the reflection of a shock wave by one or several impurities in viscoelastic bead chains is studied in the present paper. There is only one reflected wave for a single impurity. The amplitude of the beads oscillation increases as the initial velocity of the boundaries beads increases, while it decreases as the viscosity coefficient increases. Two reflected waves will be produced if the impurity number is larger than a critical value. This critical value depends on both the initial velocity and the viscosity coefficient. In addition, the maximum amplitude of reflected wave is a constant, when the viscosity coefficient is large enough.

Possibility of the existence of the rogue wave and the super rogue wave in granular matter.

By using the traditional perturbation technique, a focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) for the one-dimensional bead chain with the initial prestress is first obtained. The Peregrine soliton, called the rogue wave in the present paper, and the super rogue wave are investigated both numerically and analytically. It is noted that both the rogue wave and the super rogue wave do exist in the one-dimensional bead chain. The solutions from the NLSE can correctly describe the real rogue wave as well as the real super rogue wave in the limiting case of small amplitude. Both the rogue wave and the super rogue wave propagate in the granular bead chain as if they are solitary waves.

Shock wave due to the short-period impact in one-dimensional plasticity bead chain.

The waves in a one-dimensional (1-D) bead chain produced by a constant velocity impact in a short period are studied numerically in the present paper. It seems that in some cases, the waves look like a shock wave, while in other cases they may be composed of several solitary waves or some oscillations. These characteristics depend on both the bead parameters and the impact parameters, such as the plasticity of the bead material, the piston velocity and the impact duration. It is found that the shock structure appears if the duration of the impact is longer, while it will evolve into several solitary waves if the duration of the impact is small enough. This indicates that the bead velocity attenuates with power function. The strength of the attenuation depends on the plasticity, the piston velocity and the bead radius.

Synergetic effect of H and He impurities in Ti3AlC2: first principles calculations.

First principles calculations have been performed to investigate the synergetic effect of H and He impurities with vacancies in Ti3AlC2. The configurations and energetics of Hn-He-VAl complexes (n ≤ 4) and He-He/He-H/H-H interactions have been studied. It is found that the impurity H atom prefers to occupy the tetrahedral interstitial site (Itetr-3), but the He atom prefers to occupy the octahedral interstitial site (Ioct-4) in perfect Ti3AlC2. Within a pre-existing Al vacancy, the most favorable site for a He atom is close to tetr-site, meanwhile the H atom preferentially deviates from the vacancy center with the separation 1.3 Å along the 001 direction. He-H and He-He show a weakly attractive interaction, but weak repulsion occurs in the H-H interaction, which is different from the case of Ti3SiC2. The He-VAl complex plays an important role in the trapping of H atoms. The He-VAl cluster can trap up to three H atoms in the absence of H2 molecules, which leads to the formation of a H-He hybridized bubble. Thus, the He atom can subsequently suppress further aggregation of H atoms and block hydrogen embrittlement and volume swelling.

Retention and diffusion of transmutation H and He atoms in Be12Ti: first-principles calculations.

The beryllide Be12Ti is considered to be the most promising candidate material for advanced plasma facing materials in future fusion reactors because of its excellent performance. In this work, first-principles calculations were conducted to gain insight into the retention and diffusion behavior of transmutation H and He atoms in Be12Ti. The solution energy and migration energy of single impurity H/He atoms were computed to study the behavior of their retention and diffusion. Among seven stable interstitial sites, H atoms preferentially occupy the octahedral interstitial site, I oct, whereas He atoms preferentially occupy the dodecahedral interstitial site, I dode. The solubility of H is much higher than that of He in Be12Ti. When monovacancy is generated, H atoms preferentially stay in the vicinity of Be1 vacancies, while He atoms tend to reside in the center of Ti vacancies. The migration energy barrier of a single He atom between first near-neighbor I dode sites is 0.35 eV. For H atoms, the migration energy barrier from I dode to I tetra2 is 0.45 eV. The barrier along the paths I tri1-I dode-I tri1 is 0.38 eV. When a Be3 vacancy is introduced as the neighbour of I tri1, the migration energy barrier increases to 0.77 eV. These results indicate that vacancies can trap impurity atoms and may act as seeds for bubble formation.

Preliminary research on flow rate and free surface of the accelerator driven subcritical system gravity-driven dense granular-flow target.

A spallation target is one of the three core parts of the accelerator driven subcritical system (ADS), which has already been investigated for decades. Recently, a gravity-driven Dense Granular-flow Target (DGT) is proposed, which consists of a cylindrical hopper and an internal coaxial cylindrical beam pipe. The research on the flow rate and free surface are important for the design of the target whether in Heavy Liquid Metal (HLM) targets or the DGT. In this paper, the relations of flow rate and the geometry of the DGT are investigated. Simulations based on the discrete element method (DEM) implementing on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and experiments are both performed. It is found that the existence of an internal pipe doesn't influence the flow rate when the distance from the bottom of the pipe to orifice is large enough even in a larger system. Meanwhile, snapshots of the free surface formed just below the beam pipe are given. It is observed that the free surface is stable over time. The entire research is meaningful for the design of DGT.

Freak oscillation in a dusty plasma.

The freak oscillation in one-dimensional dusty plasma is studied numerically by particle-in-cell method. Using a perturbation method, the basic set of fluid equations is reduced to a nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE). The rational solution of the NLSE is presented, which is proposed as an effective tool for studying the rogue waves in dusty plasma. Additionally, the application scope of the analytical solution of the rogue wave described by the NLSE is given.

Shock wave in a one-dimensional granular chain under Hertz contact.

The shock wave in one-dimensional bead chain is studied numerically. When the shock wave arrives, the bead velocity oscillates around the piston velocity. It is found that the shock front is composed of several solitary waves and the limitation of the maximum bead velocity is 2 times the piston velocity in the limiting case where the initial overlap is zero. If the initial overlap is not zero, then the maximum bead velocity is less than 2 times the piston velocity but larger than the piston velocity. As the initial overlap increases from zero to the finite value, the shock velocity depends on not only the piston velocity but also the initial overlap. The crossover of the dependence of the shock velocity on the piston velocity from the zero initial prestress to the finite value is obtained in the present manuscript. It is an improvement of the results presented in Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 058001 (2012)10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.058001. In other words, the dependence of the shock velocity on the parameters of the granular materials is given.

Head-on collision and overtaking collision between an envelope solitary wave and a KdV solitary wave in a dusty plasma.

Head-on collision and overtaking collision between a KdV solitary wave and an envelope solitary wave are first studied in present paper by using Particle-in-cell (PIC) method in a dusty plasma. There are phase shifts of the KdV solitary wave in both head-on collision and the overtaking collision, while no phase shift is found for the envelop solitary wave in any cases. The remarkable difference between head-on collision and the overtaking collision is that the phase shift of KdV solitary wave increases as amplitude of KdV solitary wave increases in head-on collision, while it decreases as amplitude of the KdV solitary wave increases in the overtaking collision. It is found that the maximum amplitude during the collision process is less than sum of two amplitudes of both solitary waves, but is larger than either of the amplitude.

Envelope solitary waves exist and collide head-on without phase shift in a dusty plasma.

The rarefactive KdV solitary waves in a dusty plasma have been extensively studied analytically and found experimentally in the previous works. Though the envelope solitary wave described by a nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLSE) has been proposed by using the reductive perturbation method, it is first verified by using the particle-in-cell (PIC) numerical method in this paper. Surprisingly, there is no phase shift after the head on collision between two envelope solitary waves, while it is sure that there are phase shifts of two colliding KdV solitary waves after head on collision.