Over one billion people have received 2–3 dosages of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine for basic immunization. Whether a booster dose should be delivered to protect against the Omicron variant and its sub-lineages, remains controversial. Here, we tested different vaccine platforms targeting the ancestral or Omicron strain as a secondary booster of the ancestral inactivated vaccine in mice. We found that the Omicron-adapted inactivated viral vaccine promoted a neutralizing antibody response against Omicron in mice. Furthermore,...

We proposed a modification of the existing approach for mapping active paddy rice fields in monsoon-dominated areas. In the existing PPPM approach, LSWI higher than EVI at the transplantation stage enables the identification of rice fields. However, it fails to recognize the fields submerged later due to monsoon floods. In the proposed approach (IPPPM), the submerged fields, at the maximum greenness time, were excluded for better estimation. Sentinel–2A/2B time-series images were used for the year...

The pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC) is unclear. House dust mite (HDM) is associated with immune inflammation in the body. This study is designed to identify the association between HDM and UC clinical symptoms. UC patients (n = 86) and non-UC control (NC) subjects (n = 64) were recruited. Colon lavage fluids (CLF) were collected from HDM skin prick test positive patients during colonoscopy, and analyzed by immunological approaches. HDM was detected in fecal samples,...

We study optimal variance reduction solutions for count and ratio metrics in online controlled experiments. Our methods apply flexible machine learning tools to incorporate covariates that are independent from the treatment but have predictive power for the outcomes, and employ the cross-fitting technique to remove the bias in complex machine learning models. We establish CLT-type asymptotic inference based on our estimators under mild convergence conditions. Our procedures are optimal (efficient) for the corresponding targets as...

In order to overcome the pandemic of COVID-19, messenger RNA (mRNA)-based vaccine has been extensively researched as a rapid and versatile strategy. Herein, we described the immunogenicity of mRNA-based vaccines for Beta and the most recent Omicron variants. The homologous mRNA-Beta and mRNA-Omicron and heterologous Ad5-nCoV plus mRNA vaccine exhibited high level cross-reactive neutralization for Beta, original, Delta and Omicron variants. It indicated that the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have great potential in the clinical use...

Analysis of large-scale gene expression post vaccination can provide an overview of immune responses. We used transcriptional approaches to comprehensively analyze the innate immune response signatures elicited by protein subunit (PS) vaccine ZF2001 and a mRNA vaccine named RRV. A fine-grained time-dependent dissection of large-scale gene expression post immunization revealed that ZF001 induced MHC class II-related genes, including cd74 and H2-Aa, more expeditiously than RRV. Notably, RRV induced MHC class I-related genes like Tap1/2, B2m...

Safe, efficacious and deployable vaccines are urgently needed to control COVID-19 in the large-scale vaccination campaigns. We report here the preclinical studies of an approved protein subunit vaccine against COVID-19, ZF2001, which contains tandem-repeat dimeric receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein with alum-based adjuvant. We assessed vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy in both mice and non-human primates (NHPs). ZF2001 induced high levels of RBD-binding and SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody in both mice and non-human primates, and elicited balanced TH1/TH2...

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Candida parapsilosis is becoming a predominant non-albicans cause of invasive candidiasis (IC). Echinocandins are the preferred choice for IC treatment and prophylaxis. Resistance to echinocandins in C. parapsilosis has emerged in several countries, but little is known about the susceptibility profile in China or about mechanisms of resistance. Here, we investigated the echinocandin susceptibilities of 2523 C. parapsilosis isolates collected from China and further explored the resistance mechanism among echinocandin-resistant isolates. Anidulafungin exhibited the highest...

In the past three decades, a large body of data on the effects of exposure to ionizing radiation and the ensuing changes in gene expression has been generated. These data have allowed for an understanding of molecular-level events and shown a level of consistency in response despite the vast formats and experimental procedures being used across institutions. However, clarity on how this information may inform strategies for health risk assessment needs to be explored. An...

1. Melatonin is an indole hormone that, among its myriad biological functions, regulates circadian and seasonal rhythms in animals. The ASMT gene plays an essential role in melatonin synthesis. However, in chickens, little is known about the regulatory elements governing its transcription. 2. The following study identified the transcription start site of the chicken ASMT gene by 5’-RACE. Then, the proximal minimal promoter was identified using a series of 5′ truncations of the ASMT promoter...

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We identified relapsing fever (RF) Borrelia in 1.45% (145/10426) of the ticks and 1.40% (40/2850) of the wild mammals in a field investigation in China. Three RF Borrelia species, including human-pathogenic Borrelia miyamotoi, Borrelia persica and unclassified Babesia sp. were determined. Main species determined from ticks was B. miyamotoi (44.14%), followed by the unclassified Borrelia sp. (42.76%), and Borrelia theileri (13.10%). In wild mammals, main species found was B. persica (57.50%), followed by the unclassified...

We study optimal variance reduction solutions for count and ratio metrics in online controlled experiments. Our methods apply flexible machine learning tools to incorporate covariates that are independent from the treatment but have predictive power for the outcomes, and employ the cross-fitting technique to remove the bias in complex machine learning models. We establish CLT-type asymptotic inference based on our estimators under mild convergence conditions. Our procedures are optimal (efficient) for the corresponding targets as...

1. Due to seasonal breeding, geese breeds from Southern China have low egg yield. The genetic makeup underlying performance of local breeds is largely unknown, and few studies have investigated this problem. This study integrated 21 newly generated and 50 publicly existing RNA-seq libraries, representing the hypothalamus, pituitary and testis, to identify candidate genes and importantly related pathways associated with seasonal breeding in male Lion-Head geese. 2. In total, 19, 119 and 302 differentially expressed...

The long-term effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been rarely known. This study aimed to investigate healthy outcomes of COVID-19 survivors up to 2 years after the infection. A total of 155 COVID-19 patients, who were discharged from Shenzhen Third People's Hospital from February 2020 to April 2020, were enrolled and followed up until March 4, 2022. COVID-19 survivors received questionnaires of long COVID symptoms and psychological symptoms, pulmonary function tests, chest computed tomography...

The pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC) is unclear. House dust mite (HDM) is associated with immune inflammation in the body. This study is designed to identify the association between HDM and UC clinical symptoms. UC patients (n = 86) and non-UC control (NC) subjects (n = 64) were recruited. Colon lavage fluids (CLF) were collected from HDM skin prick test positive patients during colonoscopy, and analyzed by immunological approaches. HDM was detected in fecal samples,...

This study aimed to explore the effect of the Semaphorin3A (Sema3A)/Neuropilin-1 (Nrp-1) pathway on Müller cell activities and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induced by high glucose (HG) in vitro. The primary Müller cells of C57BL/6J mice were isolated and cultured in normal or high glucose medium. The expression of endogenous Sema3A and its coreceptor Nrp-1 was measured by Western blot. Müller cells were incubated with exogenous recombinant Sema3A protein or transfected with lentiviral vectors expressing...

1. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in various physiological functions. However, the mechanisms underlying the regulation of lncRNAs in melanogenesis remain unclear. To determine the molecular mechanisms involved in the melanogenesis of skin melanogenesis, the present study depicted the expression profiles of lncRNAs and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in black- (B group) and white- (W group) skinned chickens using RNA sequencing. 2. In total, 373 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs; 203 up-regulated and 170 down-regulated)...

Objective: This systematic review aimed to identify the referral criteria for palliative care in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Methods: We conducted an electronic search for publications on referral criteria for palliative care in patients with Parkinson’s disease in six electronic databases. The articles were thoroughly reviewed by two independent reviewers for inclusion using a predefined data extraction list. The referral criteria were thematically classified using a coding methodology. Results: This systematic review included 36 publications....

How much the vaccine contributes to the induction and development of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) of breakthrough cases relative to those unvaccinated-infected cases is not fully understood. We conducted a prospective cohort study and collected serum samples from 576 individuals who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 Delta strain infection, including 245 breakthrough cases and 331 unvaccinated-infected cases. NAbs were analyzed by live virus microneutralization test and transformation of NAb titer. NAbs titers against SARS-CoV-2 ancestral and Delta...