Psychomotor symptoms, cognitive impairments and suicidal thoughts after COVID-19 infection: a case report and the possible allostatic mechanism.

Although neuropsychiatric manifestations are common in survivors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the pathophysiology is not yet elucidated. Here we describe the case of a geriatric inpatient who developed postCOVID depression with psychomotor retardation, anxiety, hopelessness, executive function problems, and suicidal ideations. The language problems and cognitive impairments coemerged with the motor problems. We propose a mechanism associated with problems in energy prediction and regulation in which the coronavirus infection, which causes neuroinflammation and viral activity in the nervous system, interferes with the reward pathway and sensory prediction process. Sigma-1 receptor agonists such as sertraline may regulate energy expenditure and, thus, be beneficial to the process. The treatment improvements in our patient included those in the autonomic nervous system, activity, and circadian rhythm.

Nanoscale Channel Length MoS2 Vertical Field-Effect Transistor Arrays with Side-Wall Source/Drain Electrodes.

Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have natural advantages in overcoming the short-channel effect in field-effect transistors (FETs) and in fabricating three-dimensional FETs, which benefit in increasing device density. However, so far, most reported works related to MoS2 FETs with a sub-100 nm channel employ mechanically exfoliated materials and all of the works involve electron beam lithography (EBL), which may limit their application in fabricating wafer-scale device arrays as demanded in integrated circuits (ICs). In this work, MoS2 FET arrays with a side-wall source and drain electrodes vertically distributed are designed and fabricated. The channel length of the as-fabricated FET is basically determined by the thickness of an insulating layer between the source and drain electrodes. The vertically distributed source and drain electrodes enable to reduce the electrode-occupied area and increase in the device density. The as-fabricated vertical FETs exhibit on/off ratios comparable to those of mechanically exfoliated MoS2 FETs with a nanoscale channel length under identical VDS. In addition, the as-fabricated FETs can work at a VDS as low as 10 mV with a desirable on/off ratio (1.9 × 107), which benefits in developing low-power devices. Moreover, the fabrication process is free from EBL and can be applied to wafer-scale device arrays. The statistical results show that the fabricated FET arrays have a device yield of 87.5% and an average on/off ratio of about 1.7 × 106 at a VDS of 10 mV, with the lowest and highest ones to be about 1.3 × 104 and 1.9 × 107, respectively, demonstrating the good reliability of our fabrication process. Our work promises a bright future for TMDCs in realizing high-density and low-power nanoelectronic devices in ICs.

Chinese expert consensus on imaging diagnosis of drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the major infectious diseases in the world with a high incidence rate. Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is a key and difficult challenge in the prevention and treatment of TB. Early, rapid, and accurate diagnosis of DR-TB is essential for selecting appropriate and personalized treatment and is an important means of reducing disease transmission and mortality. In recent years, imaging diagnosis of DR-TB has developed rapidly, but there is a lack of consistent understanding. To this end, the Infectious Disease Imaging Group, Infectious Disease Branch, Chinese Research Hospital Association; Infectious Diseases Group of Chinese Medical Association of Radiology; Digital Health Committee of China Association for the Promotion of Science and Technology Industrialization, and other organizations, formed a group of TB experts across China. The conglomerate then considered the Chinese and international diagnosis and treatment status of DR-TB, China's clinical practice, and evidence-based medicine on the methodological requirements of guidelines and standards. After repeated discussion, the expert consensus of imaging diagnosis of DR-PB was proposed. This consensus includes clinical diagnosis and classification of DR-TB, selection of etiology and imaging examination [mainly X-ray and computed tomography (CT)], imaging manifestations, diagnosis, and differential diagnosis. This expert consensus is expected to improve the understanding of the imaging changes of DR-TB, as a starting point for timely detection of suspected DR-TB patients, and can effectively improve the efficiency of clinical diagnosis and achieve the purpose of early diagnosis and treatment of DR-TB.

Neurobiological mechanisms of dialectical behavior therapy and Morita therapy, two psychotherapies inspired by Zen.

Psychotherapy is a learning process. Updating the prediction models of the brain may be the mechanism underlying psychotherapeutic changes. Although developed in different eras and cultures, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and Morita therapy are influenced by Zen principles, and both emphasize the acceptance of reality and suffering. This article reviews these two treatments, their common and distinct therapeutic factors, and their neuroscientific implications. Additionally, it proposes a framework that includes the predictive function of the mind, constructed emotions, mindfulness, therapeutic relationship, and changes enabled via reward predictions. Brain networks, including the Default Mode Network (DMN), amygdala, fear circuitry, and reward pathways, contribute to the constructive process of brain predictions. Both treatments target the assimilation of prediction errors, gradual reorganization of predictive models, and creation of a life with step-by-step constructive rewards. By elucidating the possible neurobiological mechanisms of these psychotherapeutic techniques, this article is expected to serve as the first step towards filling the cultural gap and creating more teaching methods based on these concepts.

Canine Distemper Virus Alters Defense Responses in an Ex Vivo Model of Pulmonary Infection.

Canine distemper virus (CDV), belonging to the genus Morbillivirus, is a highly contagious pathogen. It is infectious in a wide range of host species, including domestic and wildlife carnivores, and causes severe systemic disease with involvement of the respiratory tract. In the present study, canine precision-cut lung slices (PCLSs) were infected with CDV (strain R252) to investigate temporospatial viral loads, cell tropism, ciliary activity, and local immune responses during early infection ex vivo. Progressive viral replication was observed during the infection period in histiocytic and, to a lesser extent, epithelial cells. CDV-infected cells were predominantly located within the bronchial subepithelial tissue. Ciliary activity was reduced in CDV-infected PCLSs, while viability remained unchanged when compared to controls. MHC-II expression was increased in the bronchial epithelium on day three postinfection. Elevated levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor-ß) were observed in CDV-infected PCLSs on day one postinfection. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that PCLSs are permissive for CDV. The model reveals an impaired ciliary function and an anti-inflammatory cytokine response, potentially fostering viral replication in the lung during the early phase of canine distemper.

High-Performance CMOS Inverter Array with Monolithic 3D Architecture Based on CVD-Grown n-MoS2 and p-MoTe2.

In this work, monolithic three-dimensional complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverter array has been fabricated, based on large-scale n-MoS2 and p-MoTe2 grown by the chemical vapor deposition method. In the CMOS device, the n- and p-channel field-effect transistors (FETs) stack vertically and share the same gate electrode. High k HfO2 is used as the gate dielectric. An Al2 O3 seed layer is used to protect the MoS2 from heavily n-doping in the later-on atomic layer deposition process. P-MoTe2 FET is intentionally designed as the upper layer. Because p-doping of MoTe2 results from oxygen and water in the air, this design can guarantee a higher hole density of MoTe2 . An HfO2 capping layer is employed to further balance the transfer curves of n- and p-channel FETs and improve the performance of the inverter. The typical gain and power consumption of the CMOS devices are about 4.2 and 0.11 nW, respectively, at VDD of 1 V. The statistical results show that the CMOS array is with high device yield (60%) and an average voltage gain value of about 3.6 at VDD of 1 V. This work demonstrates the advantage of two-dimensional semi-conductive transition metal dichalcogenides in fabricating high-density integrated circuits.

Stabilized recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen enhances vaccine immunogenicity and protective capacity.

The SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein is synthesized as a large precursor protein and must be activated by proteolytic cleavage into S1 and S2. A recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) expressing native, full-length S protein (MVA-SARS-2-S) is currently under investigation as a candidate vaccine in phase I clinical studies. Initial results from immunogenicity monitoring revealed induction of S-specific antibodies binding to S2, but low-level antibody responses to the S1 domain. Follow-up investigations of native S antigen synthesis in MVA-SARS-2-S-infected cells revealed limited levels of S1 protein on the cell surface. In contrast, we found superior S1 cell surface presentation upon infection with a recombinant MVA expressing a stabilized version of SARS-CoV-2 S protein with an inactivated S1/S2 cleavage site and K986P and V987P mutations (MVA-SARS-2-ST). When comparing immunogenicity of MVA vector vaccines, mice vaccinated with MVA-SARS-2-ST mounted substantial levels of broadly reactive anti-S antibodies that effectively neutralized different SARS-CoV-2 variants. Importantly, intramuscular MVA-SARS-2-ST immunization of hamsters and mice resulted in potent immune responses upon challenge infection and protected from disease and severe lung pathology. Our results suggest that MVA-SARS-2-ST represents an improved clinical candidate vaccine and that the presence of plasma membrane-bound S1 is highly beneficial to induce protective antibody levels.

Phenotypic and Transcriptional Changes of Pulmonary Immune Responses in Dogs Following Canine Distemper Virus Infection.

Canine distemper virus (CDV), a morbillivirus within the family Paramyxoviridae, is a highly contagious infectious agent causing a multisystemic, devastating disease in a broad range of host species, characterized by severe immunosuppression, encephalitis and pneumonia. The present study aimed at investigating pulmonary immune responses of CDV-infected dogs in situ using immunohistochemistry and whole transcriptome analyses by bulk RNA sequencing. Spatiotemporal analysis of phenotypic changes revealed pulmonary immune responses primarily driven by MHC-II+, Iba-1+ and CD204+ innate immune cells during acute and subacute infection phases, which paralleled pathologic lesion development and coincided with high viral loads in CDV-infected lungs. CD20+ B cell numbers initially declined, followed by lymphoid repopulation in the advanced disease phase. Transcriptome analysis demonstrated an increased expression of transcripts related to innate immunity, antiviral defense mechanisms, type I interferon responses and regulation of cell death in the lung of CDV-infected dogs. Molecular analyses also revealed disturbed cytokine responses with a pro-inflammatory M1 macrophage polarization and impaired mucociliary defense in CDV-infected lungs. The exploratory study provides detailed data on CDV-related pulmonary immune responses, expanding the list of immunologic parameters potentially leading to viral elimination and virus-induced pulmonary immunopathology in canine distemper.

Novel Lagrange interpolation polynomials for dynamic access control in a healthcare cloud system.

The authority of user personal health records (PHRs) is usually determined by the owner of a cloud computing system. When a PHR file is accessed, a dynamic access control algorithm must be used to authenticate the users. The proposed dynamic access control algorithm is based on a novel Lagrange interpolation polynomial with timestamps, mainly functioning to authenticate the users with key information. Moreover, the inclusion of timestamps allows user access within an approved time slot to enhance the security of the healthcare cloud system. According to the security analysis results, this healthcare cloud system can effectively resist common attacks, including external attacks, internal attacks, collaborative attacks and equation-based attacks. Furthermore, the overall computational complexity of establishing and updating the polynomials is O(n*m* (log m)2), which is a promising result, where m denotes the degree of $ polynomial~G\left(x, y\right) $ and n denotes the number of secure users in the hierarchy.

Studies of Protein Wastes Adsorption by Chitosan-Modified Nanofibers Decorated with Dye Wastes in Batch and Continuous Flow Processes: Potential Environmental Applications.

In this study, reactive green 19 dye from wastewater was immobilized on the functionalized chitosan nanofiber membranes to treat soluble microbial proteins in biological wastewater. Polyacrylonitrile nanofiber membrane (PAN) was prepared by the electrospinning technique. After heat treatment, alkaline hydrolysis, and chemically grafted with chitosan to obtain modified chitosan nanofibers (P-COOH-CS), and finally immobilized with RG19 dye, dyed nanofibers were generated (P-COOH-CS-RG19). The synthesis of P-COOH-CS and P-COOH-CS-RG19 are novel materials for protein adsorption that are not deeply investigated currently, with each of the material functions based on their properties in significantly improving the adsorption efficiency. The nanofiber membrane shows good adsorption capacity and great recycling performance, while the application of chitosan and dye acts as the crosslinker in the nanofiber membrane and consists of various functional groups to enhance the adsorption of protein. The dyed nanofibers were applied for the batch adsorption of soluble protein (i.e., lysozyme), and the process parameters including chitosan's molecular weight, coupling pH, chitosan concentration, dye pH, dye concentration, and lysozyme pH were studied. The results showed that the molecular weight of chitosan was 50 kDa, pH 5, concentration 0.5%, initial concentration of dye at 1 mg/mL dye and pH 12, lysozyme solution at 2 mg/mL at pH 8, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 1293.66 mg/g at a temperature of 318 K. Furthermore, thermodynamic, and kinetic studies suggested that the adsorption behavior of lysozyme followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The optimal adsorption and desorption conditions based on batch experiments were directly applied to remove lysozyme in a continuous operation. This study demonstrated the potential of dyed nanofibers as an efficient adsorbent to remove approximately 100% of lysozyme from the simulated biological wastewater.

Chinese Herbal Medicines Have Potentially Beneficial Effects on the Perinatal Outcomes of Pregnant Women.

Introduction: Tocolytic treatment is beneficial to pregnant women with a risk of premature labor or miscarriage. However, previous reports have shown that progestogen might not be effective and ritodrine may increase the risk of maternal vascular-related diseases. Chinese herbal products (CHP) are used as alternative therapies for pregnant women. The goal was to evaluate the efficacy of combined tocolytic therapy and CHP therapy in pregnancy outcomes for pregnant women in Taiwan. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on the National Health Insurance Research Database. A total of 47,153 pregnant women treated with tocolytics aged 18-50 years from 2001 to 2015 were selected from two million random samples. According to the medical use of tocolytics and CHP, we divided the users into two groups: western medicine (WM) only (n = 40,961) and WM/CHP (n = 6,192) groups. A propensity score (PS)-matched cohort (6,192 pairs) was established based on baseline confounders. All participants were followed up to perinatal outcomes. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to examine the effects of CHP use on the odds of miscarriage and preterm birth. Results: The adjusted odds ratio (OR) for premature birth in the WM/CHP group (n = 411, 6.64%) was significantly lower than in the WM group (n = 471, 7,61%) (0,86, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.74-0.99). Further subgroup analysis based on the usage of formulae that activate blood and remove stasis or purgative formulae, the adjusted OR of preterm birth of those using these formulae was significantly lower in the WM/CHP group (n = 215, 6.32%) than that in the WM group (n = 265, 7.77%) (OR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.65-0.96). Conclusion: We found that the combination of CHP and tocolytics can be beneficial to pregnant women in the prevention of premature birth. Further research is required to investigate causal relationships.

Primary harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) airway epithelial cells show high susceptibility to infection by a seal-derived influenza A virus (H5N8).

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses of the H5N8 subtype have been circulating in Europe and Asia since 2016, causing huge economic losses to the poultry industry. A new wave of H5Nx infections has begun in 2020. The viruses mainly infect wild birds and waterfowl; from there they spread to poultry and cause diseases. Previous studies have shown that the H5N8 viruses have seldom spread to mammals; however, reports in early 2021 indicate that humans may be infected, and some incident reports indicate that H5Nx clade 2.3.4.4B virus may be transmitted to wild mammals, such as red foxes and seals. In order to get more information on how the H5N8 virus affects seals and other marine animals, here, we used primary cultures to analyze the cell tropism of the H5N8 virus, which was isolated from an infected grey seal (H5N8/Seal-2016). Primary tracheal epithelial cells were readily infected by H5N8/Seal -2016 virus; in contrast, the commonly used primary seal kidney cells required the presence of exogenous trypsin to initiate virus infection. When applied to an ex vivo precision-cut lung slice model, compared with recombinant human H3N2 virus or H9N2 LPAI virus, the H5N8/Seal-2016 virus replicated to a high titre and caused a strong detrimental effect; with these characteristics, the virus was superior to a human H3N2 virus and to an H9N2 LPAI virus. By using well-differentiated air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures, we have observed that ALI cultures of canines, ferrets, and harbour seals are more sensitive to H5N8/Seal-2016 virus than are human or porcine ALI cultures, which cannot be fully explained by sialic acid distribution. Our results indicate that the airway epithelium of carnivores may be the main target of H5N8 viruses. Consideration should be given to an increased monitoring of the distribution of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses in wild animals.

Room-Temperature Ferroelectricity in 1T

van der Waals materials possess an innate layer degree of freedom and thus are excellent candidates for exploring emergent two-dimensional ferroelectricity induced by interlayer translation. However, despite being theoretically predicted, experimental realization of this type of ferroelectricity is scarce at the current stage. Here, we demonstrate robust sliding ferroelectricity in semiconducting 1T^{'}-ReS_{2} multilayers via a combined study of theory and experiment. Room-temperature vertical ferroelectricity is observed in two-dimensional 1T^{'}-ReS_{2} with layer number N≥2. The electric polarization stems from the uncompensated charge transfer between layers and can be switched by interlayer sliding. For bilayer 1T^{'}-ReS_{2}, the ferroelectric transition temperature is estimated to be ∼405 K from the second harmonic generation measurements. Our results highlight the importance of interlayer engineering in the realization of atomic-scale ferroelectricity.

Panic Attack Prediction Using Wearable Devices and Machine Learning: Development and Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: A panic attack (PA) is an intense form of anxiety accompanied by multiple somatic presentations, leading to frequent emergency department visits and impairing the quality of life. A prediction model for PAs could help clinicians and patients monitor, control, and carry out early intervention for recurrent PAs, enabling more personalized treatment for panic disorder (PD). OBJECTIVE: This study aims to provide a 7-day PA prediction model and determine the relationship between a future PA and various features, including physiological factors, anxiety and depressive factors, and the air quality index (AQI). METHODS: We enrolled 59 participants with PD (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview). Participants used smartwatches (Garmin Vívosmart 4) and mobile apps to collect their sleep, heart rate (HR), activity level, anxiety, and depression scores (Beck Depression Inventory [BDI], Beck Anxiety Inventory [BAI], State-Trait Anxiety Inventory state anxiety [STAI-S], State-Trait Anxiety Inventory trait anxiety [STAI-T], and Panic Disorder Severity Scale Self-Report) in their real life for a duration of 1 year. We also included AQIs from open data. To analyze these data, our team used 6 machine learning methods: random forests, decision trees, linear discriminant analysis, adaptive boosting, extreme gradient boosting, and regularized greedy forests. RESULTS: For 7-day PA predictions, the random forest produced the best prediction rate. Overall, the accuracy of the test set was 67.4%-81.3% for different machine learning algorithms. The most critical variables in the model were questionnaire and physiological features, such as the BAI, BDI, STAI, MINI, average HR, resting HR, and deep sleep duration. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to predict PAs using a combination of data from questionnaires and physiological and environmental data.

Overcoming the Barrier of the Respiratory Epithelium during Canine Distemper Virus Infection.

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a highly contagious pathogen and is known to enter the host via the respiratory tract and disseminate to various organs. Current hypotheses speculate that CDV uses the homologous cellular receptors of measles virus (MeV), SLAM and nectin-4, to initiate the infection process. For validation, here, we established the well-differentiated air-liquid interface (ALI) culture model from primary canine tracheal airway epithelial cells. By applying the green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing CDV vaccine strain and recombinant wild-type viruses, we show that cell-free virus infects the airway epithelium mainly via the paracellular route and only after prior disruption of tight junctions by pretreatment with EGTA; this infection was related to nectin-4 but not to SLAM. Remarkably, when CDV-preinfected DH82 cells were cocultured on the basolateral side of canine ALI cultures grown on filter supports with a 1.0-µm pore size, cell-associated CDV could be transmitted via cell-to-cell contact from immunocytes to airway epithelial cultures. Finally, we observed that canine ALI cultures formed syncytia and started to release cell-free infectious viral particles from the apical surface following treatment with an inhibitor of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway (ruxolitinib). Our findings show that CDV can overcome the epithelial barrier through different strategies, including infection via immunocyte-mediated transmission and direct infection via the paracellular route when tight junctions are disrupted. Our established model can be adapted to other animals for studying the transmission routes and the pathogenicity of other morbilliviruses. IMPORTANCE Canine distemper virus (CDV) is not only an important pathogen of carnivores, but it also serves as a model virus for analyzing measles virus pathogenesis. To get a better picture of the different stages of infection, we used air-liquid interface cultures to analyze the infection of well-differentiated airway epithelial cells by CDV. Applying a coculture approach with DH82 cells, we demonstrated that cell-mediated infection from the basolateral side of well-differentiated epithelial cells is more efficient than infection via cell-free virus. In fact, free virus was unable to infect intact polarized cells. When tight junctions were interrupted by treatment with EGTA, cells became susceptible to infection, with nectin-4 serving as a receptor. Another interesting feature of CDV infection is that infection of well-differentiated airway epithelial cells does not result in virus egress. Cell-free virions are released from the cells only in the presence of an inhibitor of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. Our results provide new insights into how CDV can overcome the barrier of the airway epithelium and reveal similarities and some dissimilarities compared to measles virus.

Intranasal Delivery of MVA Vector Vaccine Induces Effective Pulmonary Immunity Against SARS-CoV-2 in Rodents.

Antigen-specific tissue-resident memory T cells (Trms) and neutralizing IgA antibodies provide the most effective protection of the lungs from viral infections. To induce those essential components of lung immunity against SARS-CoV-2, we tested various immunization protocols involving intranasal delivery of a novel Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA)-SARS-2-spike vaccine candidate. We show that a single intranasal MVA-SARS-CoV-2-S application in mice strongly induced pulmonary spike-specific CD8+ T cells, albeit restricted production of neutralizing antibodies. In prime-boost protocols, intranasal booster vaccine delivery proved to be crucial for a massive expansion of systemic and lung tissue-resident spike-specific CD8+ T cells and the development of Th1 - but not Th2 - CD4+ T cells. Likewise, very high titers of IgG and IgA anti-spike antibodies were present in serum and broncho-alveolar lavages that possessed high virus neutralization capacities to all current SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Importantly, the MVA-SARS-2-spike vaccine applied in intramuscular priming and intranasal boosting treatment regimen completely protected hamsters from developing SARS-CoV-2 lung infection and pathology. Together, these results identify intramuscular priming followed by respiratory tract boosting with MVA-SARS-2-S as a promising approach for the induction of local, respiratory as well as systemic immune responses suited to protect from SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Low-power-consumption CMOS inverter array based on CVD-grown p-MoTe2 and n-MoS2.

Two-dimensional (2D) semi-conductive transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have shown advantages for logic application. Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) inverter is an important component in integrated circuits in view of low power consumption. So far, the performance of the reported TMDCs-based CMOS inverters is not satisfactory. Besides, most of the inverters were made of mechanically exfoliated materials, which hinders their reproducible production and large-scale integration in practical application. In this study, we demonstrate a practical approach to fabricate CMOS inverter arrays using large-area p-MoTe2 and n-MoS2, which are grown via chemical vapor deposition method. The current characteristics of the channel materials are balanced by atomic layer depositing Al2O3. Complete logic swing and clear dynamic switching behavior are observed in the inverters. Especially, ultra-low power consumption of ∼0.37 nW is achieved. Our work paves the way for the application of 2D TMDCs materials in large-scale low-power-consumption logic circuits.

Light helicity detector based on 2D magnetic semiconductor CrI3.

Two-dimensional magnetic semiconductors provide a platform for studying physical phenomena at atomically thin limit, and promise magneto-optoelectronic devices application. Here, we report light helicity detectors based on graphene-CrI3-graphene vdW heterostructures. We investigate the circularly polarized light excited current and reflective magnetic circular dichroism (RMCD) under various magnetic fields in both monolayer and multilayer CrI3 devices. The devices exhibit clear helicity-selective photoresponse behavior determined by the magnetic state of CrI3. We also find abnormal negative photocurrents at higher bias in both monolayer and multilayer CrI3. A possible explanation is proposed for this phenomenon. Our work reveals the interplay between magnetic and optoelectronic properties in CrI3 and paves the way to developing spin-optoelectronic devices.

Imaging and Controlling Photonic Modes in Perovskite Microcavities.

Perovskite microcavities have excellent photophysical properties for integrated optoelectronic devices, such as nanolasers. Imaging and controlling the photonic modes within the cavity are fundamentally important to understand and develop applications. Here, photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) is used to image the photonic modes within optical microcavities with a nanometer-scale spatial resolution. From a CsPbBr3 microcavity, hybrid mode patterns are observed. Spatial frequency spectrum analysis on the patterns uncovers the characteristic cavity modes, which are modeled with transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves, and assigned to exciton-polariton modes. Based on this understanding, the light focus in a designed microcavity is imaged in real space and controlled by the light field polarization. The study confirms that the cavity modes in perovskites can be effectively observed by the PEEM technique under resonant excitation, which, in turn, promotes the design of optoelectronic devices based on perovskite microcavities.

Time-dependent viral interference between influenza virus and coronavirus in the infection of differentiated porcine airway epithelial cells.

Coronaviruses and influenza viruses are circulating in humans and animals all over the world. Co-infection with these two viruses may aggravate clinical signs. However, the molecular mechanisms of co-infections by these two viruses are incompletely understood. In this study, we applied air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures of well-differentiated porcine tracheal epithelial cells (PTECs) to analyze the co-infection by a swine influenza virus (SIV, H3N2 subtype) and porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCoV) at different time intervals. Our results revealed that in short-term intervals, prior infection by influenza virus caused complete inhibition of coronavirus infection, while in long-term intervals, some coronavirus replication was detectable. The influenza virus infection resulted in (i) an upregulation of porcine aminopeptidase N, the cellular receptor for PRCoV and (ii) in the induction of an innate immune response which was responsible for the inhibition of PRCoV replication. By contrast, prior infection by coronavirus only caused a slight inhibition of influenza virus replication. Taken together, the timing and the order of virus infection are important determinants in co-infections. This study is the first to show the impact of SIV and PRCoV co- and super-infection on the cellular level. Our results have implications also for human viruses, including potential co-infections by SARS-CoV-2 and seasonal influenza viruses.