Polymorphisms of the BCL2 gene associated with susceptibility to tuberculosis

Although tuberculosis (TB) is a serious public health concern, we still don’t understand why only 10% of people infected will develop the disease. Apoptosis plays a role in the interaction of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) with the human host and it may be modified by subtle alterations in the B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2) gene, an anti-apoptotic regulatory element. Therefore, we investigated whether there is an association between BCL2 polymorphisms and susceptibility to TB by analyzing 130 TB cases, 108 subjects with latent TB infection (LTBI), and 163 healthy controls (HC). Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidential intervals (95% CIs) for possible associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in BCL2 and the risk of tuberculosis. We found that the G allele of rs80030866 (OR=0.62, 95%CI:0.42-0.91, P=0.015), and also the G allele of rs9955190 (OR=0.58, 95%CI:0.38-0.88, P=0.011) were less frequent in the TB group compared with the LTBI group. In addition, individuals with rs2551402 CC genotype were more likely to have LTBI than those with AA genotype (OR=2.166, 95%CI:1.046-4.484, P=0.037). Our study suggests that BCL2 gene polymorphisms may be correlated with susceptibility to both TB and LTBI

Advances in highly hydrided palladium

Palladium is a prototypical hydride-forming metal, which can accommodate a large volume of hydrogen through the formation of either interstitial or complex hydrides. Interstitial palladium hydrides, especially those with exceptionally high hydrogen loadings, have attracted considerable interest from the low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) community, as they have been invoked to explain the anomalous nuclear effects related to the known but controversial Pons-Fleischmann experiment. Complex palladium hydrides also constitute a class of solid-state hydrides that present stoichiometric PdH2, PdH3, or PdH4 units within the crystal structure, but remain unexplored as far as the unusual H/Pd ratio is concerned. This minireview gives a brief introduction to these two types of solid-state palladium hydrides, with the hope of providing some information for materials development relevant to LENR research

A virus-like particle of the hepatitis B virus preS antigen elicits robust neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses in mice

The preS antigen of hepatitis B virus (HBV) corresponds to the N-terminal polypeptide in the large (L) antigen in addition to the small (S) antigen. The virus-like particle (VLP) of the S antigen is widely used as a vaccine to protect the population from HBV infection. The presence of the S antigen and its antibodies in patient blood has been used as markers to monitor hepatitis B. However, there is very limited knowledge about the preS antigen. We generated a preS VLP that is formed by a chimeric protein between preS and hemagglutinin (HA), and the matrix protein M1 of influenza virus. The HBV preS antigen is displayed on the surface of preS VLP. Asn112 and Ser98 of preS in VLP were found to be glycosylated and O-glycosylation of Ser98 has not been reported previously. The preS VLP shows a significantly higher immunogenicity than recombinant preS, eliciting robust anti-preS neutralizing antibodies. In addition, preS VLP is also capable of stimulating preS-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cell responses in Balb/c mice and HBV transgenic mice. Furthermore, preS VLP immunization provided protection against hydrodynamic transfection of HBV DNA in mice. The data clearly suggest that this novel preS VLP could elicit robust immune responses to the HBV antigen, and can be potentially developed into prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines

All-Cellulose-Based Quasi-Solid-State Sodium-Ion Hybrid Capacitors Enabled by Structural Hierarchy

Na-ion hybrid capacitors consisting of battery-type anodes and capacitor-style cathodes are attracting increasing attention on account of the abundance of sodium-based resources as well as the potential to bridge the gap between batteries (high energy) and supercapacitors (high power). Herein, hierarchically structured carbon materials inspired by multiscale building units of cellulose from nature are assembled with cellulose-based gel electrolytes into Na-ion capacitors. Nonporous hard carbon anodes are obtained through the direct thermal pyrolysis of cellulose nanocrystals. Nitrogen-doped carbon cathodes with a coral-like hierarchically porous architecture are prepared via hydrothermal carbonization and activation of cellulose microfibrils. The reversible charge capacity of the anode is 256.9 mAh g−1 when operating at 0.1 A g−1 from 0 to 1.5 V versus Na+/Na, and the discharge capacitance of cathodes tested within 1.5 to 4.2 V versus Na+/Na is 212.4 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1. Utilizing Na+ and ClO4− as charge carriers, the energy density of the full Na-ion capacitor with two asymmetric carbon electrodes can reach 181 Wh kg−1 at 250 W kg−1, which is one of the highest energy devices reported until now. Combined with macrocellulose-based gel electrolytes, all-cellulose-based quasi-solid-state devices are demonstrated possessing additional advantages in terms of overall sustainability

Time-Reversal-Even Nonlinear Current Induced Spin Polarization

We propose a time-reversal-even spin generation in second order of electric fields, which dominates the current induced spin polarization in a wide class of centrosymmetric nonmagnetic materials, and leads to a novel nonlinear spin-orbit torque in magnets. We reveal a quantum origin of this effect from the momentum space dipole of the anomalous spin polarizability. First-principles calculations predict sizable spin generations in several nonmagnetic hcp metals, in monolayer TiTe$_{2}$, and in ferromagnetic monolayer MnSe$_{2}$, which can be detected in experiment. Our work opens up the broad vista of nonlinear spintronics in both nonmagnetic and magnetic systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure