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Infectious virus shedding from individuals infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is used to estimate human-to-human transmission risk. Control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission requires identifying the immune correlates that protect infectious virus shedding. Mucosal immunity prevents infection by SARS-CoV-2, which replicates in the respiratory epithelium and spreads rapidly to other hosts. However, whether mucosal immunity prevents the shedding of the infectious virus in SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals is unknown. We examined the relationship between viral RNA shedding dynamics, duration of infectious virus shedding, and mucosal antibody responses during SARS-CoV-2 infection. Anti-spike secretory IgA antibodies (S-IgA) reduced viral RNA load and infectivity more than anti-spike IgG/IgA antibodies in infected nasopharyngeal samples. Compared with the IgG/IgA response, the anti-spike S-IgA post-infection responses affected the viral RNA shedding dynamics and predicted the duration of infectious virus shedding regardless of the immune history. These findings highlight the importance of anti-spike S-IgA responses in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 for preventing infectious virus shedding and SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Developing medical countermeasures to shorten S-IgA response time may help control human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection and prevent future respiratory virus pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The H− ion beam intensity required for high-energy and high-intensity proton accelerators is continuously increasing. The required 95%-beam transverse normalized root mean square emittance (ε95%rnmsx/y) of the beam is around 0.25 πmm mrad for all accelerators. The Japan Proton Accelerator Complex (J-PARC) 400 MeV linear accelerator (LINAC) succeeded in accelerating the world’s highest-class H− ion beam of 50 mA with a cesiated RF-driven H− ion source. This was achieved by increasing the beam brightness through the following measures: (1) 45°-tapered plasma electrode (PE) with a 16 mm thickness to increase beam intensity by 56%, (2) continuous-wave igniter plasma driven by 50 W 30 MHz RF to reduce hydrogen pressure in the plasma chamber (PCH) by 50% and beam loss in low-energy beam transport by 12%, compared with that by the commonly used 300 W 13.56 MHz RF, (3) axial magnetic-field correction around the PE beam aperture to increase beam intensity by a maximum of 15%, (4) operation at a low PE temperature (TPE) of about 70 °C to reduce ε95%nrmsx/y by 27%, (5) suitable beam apertures of the plasma and the extraction electrodes to increase beam intensity by a maximum of 7% and to reduce ε95%nrmsx/y by more than 4%, (6) argon/nitrogen elimination and 39% filter-field reduction to reduce ε95%nrmsx/y by 9% and the required 2 MHz RF power by around 30%, (7) eight-hours conditioning with a 50 kW 2 MHz RF and a 5% (1 ms × 50 Hz) duty factor to reduce ε95%nrmsx/y by 15%, and (8) slight water molecules (H2Os) feeding in hydrogen to avoid ε95%nrmsx/y increase by 72% and divergence angle expansion by 50%. In the studies, we investigated principally the 66 mA H− ion beams extracted from the source in order to achieve a 50 mA beam at the J-PARC LINAC exit regardless of the beam’s brightness. Consequently, the source can produce the required beam for a 60 mA J-PARC LINAC operation, since the world’s brightest-class beam with the ε95%nrmsx/y of 0.23 πmm mrad and beam intensity of 66 mA is successfully produced through the above measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]