Rapid Neutralization Testing System for Zika Virus Based on an Enzyme-Linked Immunospot Assay.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that has been associated with neuropathology in fetuses and adults, imposing a serious health concern. Therefore, the development of a vaccine is a global health priority. Notably, neutralization tests have a significant value for vaccine development and virus diagnosis. The cytopathic effect (CPE)-based neutralization test (Nt-CPE) is a common neutralization method for ZIKV. However, this method has some drawbacks, such as being time-consuming and labor-intensive and having low-throughput, which precludes its application in the detection of large numbers of specimens. To improve this problem, we developed a neutralization test based on an enzyme-linked immunospot assay (Nt-ELISPOT) for ZIKV and performed the assay in a 96-well format. A monoclonal antibody (mAb), 11C11, with high affinity and reactivity to ZIKV was used to detect ZIKV-infected cells. To optimize this method, the infectious dose of ZIKV was set at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 0.0625, and a detection experiment was performed after incubating for 24 h. As a result, under these conditions, the Nt-ELISPOT had good consistency with the traditional Nt-CPE to measure neutralizing titers of sera and neutralizing antibodies. Additionally, three neutralizing antibodies against ZIKV were screened by this method. Overall, we successfully developed an efficient neutralization test for ZIKV that is high-throughput and rapid. This Nt-ELISPOT can potentially be applied to detecting neutralizing titers of large numbers of specimens in vaccine evaluation and neutralizing antibody screening for ZIKV

Thyroid MALT lymphoma: self-harm to gain potential T-cell help.

Funder: CUH | Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, Cambridge University Hospitals (Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100002927Funder: Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland; doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100000672The development of extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) is driven by chronic inflammatory responses and acquired genetic changes. To investigate its genetic bases, we performed targeted sequencing of 93 genes in 131 MALT lymphomas including 76 from the thyroid. We found frequent deleterious mutations of TET2 (86%), CD274 (53%), TNFRSF14 (53%), and TNFAIP3 (30%) in thyroid MALT lymphoma. CD274 was also frequently deleted, together with mutation seen in 68% of cases. There was a significant association between CD274 mutation/deletion and TNFRSF14 mutation (p = 0.001). CD274 (PD-L1) and TNFRSF14 are ligands for the co-inhibitory receptor PD1 and BTLA on T-helper cells, respectively, their inactivation may free T-cell activities, promoting their help to malignant B-cells. In support of this, both the proportion of activated T-cells (CD4+CD69+/CD4+) within the proximity of malignant B-cells, and the level of transformed blasts were significantly higher in cases with CD274/TNFRSF14 genetic abnormalities than those without these changes. Both CD274 and TNFRSF14 genetic changes were significantly associated with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (p = 0.01, p = 0.04, respectively), and CD274 mutation/deletion additionally associated with increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p = 0.0001). In conclusion, CD274/TNFRSF14 inactivation in thyroid MALT lymphoma B-cells may deregulate their interaction with T-cells, promoting co-stimulations and impairing peripheral tolerance.Bloodwise the Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust Pathological Society of Great Britain and Irelan

Increasing Minority Recall Support Vector Machine Model for Imbalanced Data Classification

Imbalanced data classification is gaining importance in data mining and machine learning. The minority class recall rate requires special treatment in fields such as medical diagnosis, information security, industry, and computer vision. This paper proposes a new strategy and algorithm based on a cost-sensitive support vector machine to improve the minority class recall rate to 1 because the misclassification of even a few samples can cause serious losses in some physical problems. In the proposed method, the modification employs a margin compensation to make the margin lopsided, enabling decision boundary drift. When the boundary reaches a certain position, the minority class samples will be more generalized to achieve the requirement of a recall rate of 1. In the experiments, the effects of different parameters on the performance of the algorithm were analyzed, and the optimal parameters for a recall rate of 1 were determined. The experimental results reveal that, for the imbalanced data classification problem, the traditional definite cost classification scheme and the models classified using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve criterion rarely produce results such as a recall rate of 1. The new strategy can yield a minority recall of 1 for imbalanced data as the loss of the majority class is acceptable; moreover, it improves the g-means index. The proposed algorithm provides superior performance in minority recall compared to the conventional methods. The proposed method has important practical significance in credit card fraud, medical diagnosis, and other areas

Case Report: Treatment of Oral Lichen Planus With a Focus on Psychological Methods

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is one of the most common chronic diseases; however, its etiology remains unknown. More and more studies have revealed that emotional instability is one of the risk factors for the onset and expansion of OLP, especially in patients suffering from depression, anxiety disorder, and acute stress. In this case report, we had a 32-year-old female OLP patient who had no obvious response to conventional OLP drugs. Then we switched to a combination of psychotropic drugs and psychotherapies. By regulating mood through drugs and psychological counseling, the patient&#39;s oral disease was alleviated. Our case shows that clinicians should consider the mental problems of OLP patients. It also emphasizes the importance of medications and psychological counseling in the treatment of somatic diseases. &nbsp;</p

Application of fungal fluorescent staining in oral candidiasis: diagnostic analysis of 228 specimens

Abstract Background Several conventional methods, including fungal culture and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) reagent staining, have been used to diagnose oral candidiasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a novel method, fungal fluorescent staining, in relation to conventional protocols in the diagnosis of oral candidiasis. Methods We collected 106 oral swabs and 122 oral biopsy tissues from patients highly suspected with oral candidiasis. We applied fungal culture and periodic acid-Schiff reagent staining as the gold standard diagnostic tools. The efficacy of these methods in determining the presence of Candida was compared with that of fluorescent staining. Results In the majority of specimens subjected to fluorescent staining, fungal organisms were distinguished by blue fluorescence surrounding their tubular or annular shapes. The sensitivity, specificity, Youden index, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the fluorescent staining method were 82.7, 93.5, 76.7, 96.8 and 69.1% in oral swabs and 90.0, 92.9, 82.9, 96.0 and 82.9% in oral biopsy tissues, respectively. Conclusions Fungal fluorescent staining represents a rapid method for detection of Candida, supporting its potential utility as an effective early diagnostic tool for oral candidiasis

Different Irrigation Pressure and Filter on Emitter Clogging in Drip Phosphate Fertigation Systems

Irrigation pressures and filters have a significant influence on emitter clogging in drip fertigation systems. Exploring the anti-clogging performance of emitters at different irrigation pressures (80, 90, 100 kPa; 40, 50, 60 kPa) and filters (the disc filter with an aperture of 125 &mu;m, the screen filter with an aperture of 125&mu;m, and the screen filter with an aperture of 200 &mu;m) can provide suitable guidance for the design and operation of drip fertigation systems. The average relative discharge (Dra), the Christiansen uniformity coefficient (CU), and the differential pressure (DP) were analyzed to study the anti-clogging performance of flat emitters (FE) and labyrinth emitters (LE). Meanwhile, the scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer were used to observe the surface morphology and chemical composition of clogging substances in filters and emitters. Results showed that the irrigation pressure of 90 and 50 kPa did not cause a significant decrease in Dra, and the Dra of two types of emitters were all great than 95.22%. When the irrigation pressure was 80 and 40 kPa, the Dra decreased significantly (73.48&ndash;78.71%, 81.3&ndash;83.6% for FE and LE). The CU values of emitters were all greater than 90% except for the irrigation pressures of 80 and 40 kPa. The relative Dra and CU of LE were greater than those of FE, indicating that the LE had a better anti-clogging performance compared with the FE. The decrease in DP reflected an increase in the emitter clogging degree. Meanwhile, irrigation pressures and the interaction between irrigation pressures and filters imposed a significant effect on the CU at a significance level of p &lt; 0.05, p &lt; 0.01, respectively. The clogging process was mainly affected by physical and chemical factors, and the generated clogging substances included phosphate fertilizer, silicate, carbonate, and phosphate precipitations. In conclusion, the best operation mode of phosphate fertilizer in drip fertigation systems was to use the disc filter with an aperture of 125 &mu;m and the LE at the irrigation pressure of 50 kPa. An appropriate irrigation pressure combined with effective filters can reduce emitter clogging while saving water and fertilizer

Investigations on electrochemical performance of La2NiO4+δ cathode material doped at A site for solid oxide fuel cells

In this work, the perovskite compounds La _1.5 A _0.5 NiO _4+ _δ (A = Ca, Sr or Ba), which is one kind of mixed ionic electronic conductors (MIEC) with perovskite structure, was explored as cathode materials for proton conducting solid oxide fuel cells (H-SOFCs). In order to understand how the size of A-site cations affects material properties, the electrical conductivity and the electrochemical performances of La _1.5 A _0.5 NiO _4+ _δ (A = Ca, Sr or Ba) were compared. The results are more interesting. In the middle temperature region (600 °C–700 °C), Ca doping is the best choice among the three alkaline earth elements. In the low temperature region (300 °C–600 °C), Sr-doped single cells Sr-doped single cells have better performance. However, Ba doping easily generates BaCO _3 impurities, which reduces the ion transmission capacity and increases the interface resistance, resulting in poor performance of the single cell. This work shows that La _1.5 A _0.5 NiO _4+ _δ (A = Ca and Sr) is the main cathode candidate material for H-SOFC

Superwetting Ti3C2TX MXene membranes intercalated with sodium alginate for oil/water separation

Oily wastewater seriously endangers human health. Ti3C2Tx MXene has attracted extensive attention as a building block for separating membranes because of its unique two-dimensional structure and excellent hydrophilicity. In this study, we constructed a superwetting Ti3C2Tx MXene membrane intercalated with sodium alginate. The hydrophilic sodium alginate not only enlarged the nanochannel of the MXene membrane but also decorated the membrane surface and endowed the membrane with excellent surface superwetting properties. The underwater oil contact angle (OCA) was about 151°, indicating an extremely low adhesion between oil and membrane surface. The membrane could also separate a series of oil-water emulsions with high separation efficiency and flux. Due to its excellent underwater superoleophobicity, the membrane demonstrated outstanding antifouling property. Excellent separation performance was maintained even after separation cycles. This work provides insights into the rational use of MXene-based membranes design and demonstrates its potential in the field of membrane separation

Higher Fine Particle Fraction in Sediment Increased Phosphorus Flux to Estuary in Restored Yellow River Basin

River delta-front estuaries (DEs) are vital interfaces for fluxes between terrestrial and marine environments. However, deep uncertainty exists in estimating the sedimentary pollutant flux from terrestrial environments in DEs due, in part, to a lack of direct measurements in these dynamic and complicated regions and uncertainty in the calculation method. Due to its high sediment content, the Yellow River (YR) has a strong ability to adsorb phosphorus; therefore, it reliably reflects estuarine sedimentary processes. Here, through the comprehensive analysis of field samples, monitoring data and remote sensing images, we conclude that riverine fine particles control the deltaic estuary pollution status and that particle size is the key factor. Based on the stable relationships between phosphorus and heavy metals, with r(2) values of 0.990, 0.992, and 0.639 for As, Cd, and Cr, respectively, we estimated that the P flux reached 22.68 g/m(2) yr in 2017. Analysis of the YR high-silt sediment load, which has a strong phosphorus adsorption ability and constitutes a substantial fraction of global fluvial sediment transport, revealed a negative correlation between the riverine sediment load and the estuarine phosphorus flux

Higher Fine Particle Fraction in Sediment Increased Phosphorus Flux to Estuary in Restored Yellow River Basin

River delta-front estuaries (DEs) are vital interfaces for fluxes between terrestrial and marine environments. However, deep uncertainty exists in estimating the sedimentary pollutant flux from terrestrial environments in DEs due, in part, to a lack of direct measurements in these dynamic and complicated regions and uncertainty in the calculation method. Due to its high sediment content, the Yellow River (YR) has a strong ability to adsorb phosphorus; therefore, it reliably reflects estuarine sedimentary processes. Here, through the comprehensive analysis of field samples, monitoring data and remote sensing images, we conclude that riverine fine particles control the deltaic estuary pollution status and that particle size is the key factor. Based on the stable relationships between phosphorus and heavy metals, with r(2) values of 0.990, 0.992, and 0.639 for As, Cd, and Cr, respectively, we estimated that the P flux reached 22.68 g/m(2) yr in 2017. Analysis of the YR high-silt sediment load, which has a strong phosphorus adsorption ability and constitutes a substantial fraction of global fluvial sediment transport, revealed a negative correlation between the riverine sediment load and the estuarine phosphorus flux