Effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy in severe COVID-19 patients.

Currently, there are no approved specific antiviral agents for novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, 10 severe patients confirmed by real-time viral RNA test were enrolled prospectively. One dose of 200 mL of convalescent plasma (CP) derived from recently recovered donors with the neutralizing antibody titers above 1:640 was transfused to the patients as an addition to maximal supportive care and antiviral agents. The primary endpoint was the safety of CP transfusion. The second endpoints were the improvement of clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters within 3 d after CP transfusion. The median time from onset of illness to CP transfusion was 16.5 d. After CP transfusion, the level of neutralizing antibody increased rapidly up to 1:640 in five cases, while that of the other four cases maintained at a high level (1:640). The clinical symptoms were significantly improved along with increase of oxyhemoglobin saturation within 3 d. Several parameters tended to improve as compared to pretransfusion, including increased lymphocyte counts (0.65 × 109/L vs. 0.76 × 109/L) and decreased C-reactive protein (55.98 mg/L vs. 18.13 mg/L). Radiological examinations showed varying degrees of absorption of lung lesions within 7 d. The viral load was undetectable after transfusion in seven patients who had previous viremia. No severe adverse effects were observed. This study showed CP therapy was well tolerated and could potentially improve the clinical outcomes through neutralizing viremia in severe COVID-19 cases. The optimal dose and time point, as well as the clinical benefit of CP therapy, needs further investigation in larger well-controlled trials.

Mutation of Arabidopsis CATALASE2 results in hyponastic leaves by changes of auxin levels.

Auxin and H2 O2 play vital roles in plant development and environmental responses; however, it is unclear whether and how H2 O2 modulates auxin levels. Here, we investigate this question using cat2-1 mutant, which exhibits reduced catalase activity and accumulates high levels of H2 O2 under photorespiratory conditions. At a light intensity of 150 µmol m(-2) s(-1) , the mutant exhibited up-curled leaves that have increased H2 O2 contents and decreased auxin levels. At low light intensities (30 µmol m(-2) s(-1)), the leaves of the mutant were normal, but exhibited reduced H2 O2 contents and elevated auxin levels. These findings suggest that H2 O2 modulates auxin levels. When auxin was directly applied to cat2-1 leaves, the up-curled leaves curled downwards. In addition, transformation of cat2-1 plants with pCAT2:iaaM, which increases auxin levels, rescued the hyponastic leaf phenotype. Using qRT-PCR, we demonstrated that the transcription of auxin synthesis-related genes and of genes that regulate leaf curvature is suppressed in cat2-1. Furthermore, application of glutathione rescued the up-curled leaves of cat2-1 and increased auxin levels, but did not change H2 O2 levels. Thus, the hyponastic leaves of cat2-1 reveal crosstalk between H2 O2 and auxin signalling that is mediated by changes in glutathione redox status.

Self-Assembled TLR7/8 Agonist-Mannose Conjugate as An Effective Vaccine Adjuvant for SARS-CoV-2 RBD Trimer.

Small synthetic TLR7/8-agonists can be used as vaccine adjuvants to enhance cell and humoral-mediated immune responses to specific antigens. Despite their potency, after local injection they can be dispersed to undesired body parts causing high reactogenicity, limiting their clinical applications. Here we describe a vaccination strategy that employs the covalent conjugate of a mannose and TLR7/8 agonist as a vaccine adjuvant to take advantage of mannose binding C-type lectins on dendritic cells to enhance the vaccine's immunogenicity. The mannose-TLR7/8 agonist conjugate can self-assemble into nanoparticles with the hydrophilic mannose on the outside and hydrophobic TLR7/8 agonist inside. Although its ability to stimulate HEK-BlueTM hTLR7/8 cells dropped, it can efficiently stimulate mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells as indicated by the up-regulation of CD80 and CD86, and higher cytokine expression levels of TNF-α, IL6, and IL-12p70 than the native TLR7/8 agonist. In vivo, vaccination using the SARS-CoV-2 RBD trimer as the antigen and the conjugate as the adjuvant induced a significantly higher amount of IgG2a. These results suggest that the mannose-TLR7/8-agonist conjugate can be used as an effective vaccine adjuvant.

Functional comparison of catalase genes in the elimination of photorespiratory H2O2 using promoter- and 3'-untranslated region exchange experiments in the Arabidopsis cat2 photorespiratory mutant.

Photorespiration-associated production of H(2) O(2) accounts for the majority of total H(2) O(2) in leaves of C(3) plants and is mainly eliminated by catalases. In Arabidopsis, lack of CAT2, but not CAT1 or CAT3, results in growth suppression and a marked accumulation of H(2) O(2) in leaves. To evaluate the contribution of individual catalase genes and their promoters to catalase function, we investigated the growth suppression and H(2) O(2) accumulation phenotypes of Arabidopsis derivatives expressing catalase genes from heterologous CAT promoters in a cat2 mutant background. The expression of CAT2 from the CAT2 promoter restored the wild-type phenotype in a cat2-1 mutant, while CAT1 and CAT3 promoter-driven expression of CAT2 did not. Ectopic expression of CAT3 from the CAT2 promoter also restored the normal phenotype, unlike that of CAT1 which required replacement of the CAT1 3'-untranslated region (UTR) with that of CAT2. These results demonstrated that the photorespiratory role of CAT2 is determined mainly by the regulation of its promoter activity. The 3'-UTR of CAT2 was vital for controlling CAT2 protein levels under photorespiratory conditions. Identification of component of heterotetramers catalase isoforms suggested that there is some functional redundancy between CAT2 and CAT1 and CAT3.

Determination of phosphoamino acids derivatized with 5-(4,6-dichloro-s-triazin-2-ylamino)fluorescein by micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

A sensitive analytical protocol for determining phosphoamino acids using capillary electrophoresis coupled with laser-induced fluorescence detection has been developed. The technique involved the derivatization of the phosphoamino acids with fluorescent reagent 5-(4,6-dichloro-s-triazin-2-ylamino)fluorescein (DTAF) and the analyses of the derivatives by micellar electrokinetic chromatography with laser induced fluorescence detection (MEKC-LIF). Different variables that affect derivatization (DTAF concentration, pH, temperature and time) and separation (kind of surfactant, pH and concentration of buffer) were studied. The baseline separation of three phosphoamino acids could be obtained in less than 11 min with good reproducibility. There was a linear relationship between the peak area of the analyte and its concentration, with correlation coefficients in the range of 0.9979-0.9997. The concentration detection limits (signal to noise = 3) with respect to each single phosphoamino acid were in the range of 0.5-1 nM. The developed method was successfully applied for the determination of phosphoamino acids in the hydrolyzed phosphorylated protein samples.

[Simultaneous determination of 16 organophosphorous pesticides in vegetables, fruits and tea by gas chromatography coupled with clean-up by mesoporous alumina as solid-phase extraction adsorbent].

A gas chromatographic method based on solid-phase extraction was developed for the simultaneous determination of 16 organophosphorous pesticides in vegetables, fruits and tea, including cabbage, lettuce, pumpkin, onion, tomato, turnip, apple, pear and tea. The samples were extracted with ethyl acetate, and clean-up with mesoporous alumina as solid-phase extraction adsorbent. The separation of target compounds was performed on a DB-1701 capillary column, and the quantitative analysis of the organophosphorous pesticides was carried out by gas chromatography with flame photometric detection. The results showed that the calibration curves of the 16 organophosphorous pesticides were linear in the range of 10-2 000 microg/L with good correlation coefficients (R2 > 0.997). The recoveries of the pesticides in different samples at three spiked levels ranged from 83.2% to 103.8% with the relative standard deviations of 2.0%-9.9%. This method has high sensitivity, high accuracy and good repeatability, and can be applied to the determination of the organophosphorus pesticide residues in vegetables, fruits and tea.