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Background Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a typical tick-borne, natural focal disease. The natural foci of SFTS were considered to exist in hilly and mountainous areas before 2015. A cluster of 3 patients exposed to a patient with a fulminant disease consistent with SFTS occurred from July to August 2015 in Dongtai County, which is characterized by alluvial plains; this prompted investigation. Methods The epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory features of 4 patients in the cluster were analyzed. Serum samples from the indigenous healthy population and native domesticated animals were collected to conduct laboratory tests, along with small wild animals and ticks. Results In 3 secondary case patients, high fever, thrombocytopenia and leukopenia developed within 8–13 days after contact with blood or bloody secretions from the index patient; SFTS was then diagnosed by means of reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Genomic sequencing and analysis of S and L segments of 2 viral strains isolated from 2 secondary case patients showed that they shared 99.8%–99.9% homology in nucleotide sequence. The seroprevalences among indigenous healthy population, native livestock, native poultry, and small wild animals was 0.74%, 17.54%, 6.67%, and 1.12%, respectively. Three questing ticks, 61 feeding ticks, and 178 small wild animals were collected in August 2015. Survey on tick density and seasonal fluctuation in 2016 showed that ticks were active from March to October. All ticks were identified as Haemaphysalis longicornis. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia bunyavirus (SFTSV)–specific RNA was detected in the ticks collected in 2016, and the minimum SFTSV infection rate in these ticks was 0.54% (1 of 185).Wild mammals and ticks collected in August 2015 tested negative for SFTSV-specific RNA. Conclusions Aside from hilly or mountainous area, a coastal plain was identified as the natural foci of SFTSV in Dongtai County, China. The involvement of migration in the evolution of SFTSV might lead to a transregional transmission event of SFTSV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The instability of the ocean waves, such as intermittence, randomness, and irregularity, greatly affects the application of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) in its aspects and leads to the irregularity and uncontrollability of its output performance. Hence, the energy storage TENG (ES-TENG) based on the ratchet mechanism is proposed in this work. The ES-TENG uses the ratchet mechanism to store the wave energy in the clockwork spring and then releases it in a centralized way to convert the wave energy into electric energy. When the ES-TENG adopts this method, the change of external excitation does not affect its output performance. Simultaneously, the shell of the ES-TENG is duck-shaped, which can better adapt to the wave environment. The peak power, open-circuit voltage, and short-circuit current of the ES-TENG are 6.2 mW, 495 V, and 19 μA, respectively. In the simulated wave experiment, the ES-TENG can successfully drive a temperature sensor. In summary, this work shows an economic, environmental friendly TENG that can adapt to the wave motion, and its output performance is not affected by wave instability, which has an important guiding significance for the further development and utilization of TENG in ocean energy., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) is a new and promising technology, which aims to improve the efficiency of drug development and realize personalized medicine by simulating in vivo environment in vitro . Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling is believed to have the advantage of better reflecting the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion process of drugs in vivo than traditional compartmental or non-compartmental pharmacokinetic models. The combination of PBPK modeling and organ-on-a-chip is believed to provide a strong new tool for new drug development and have the potential to replace animal testing. This article provides the recent development of organ-on-a-chip technology and PBPK modeling including model construction, parameter estimation and validation strategies. Application of PBPK modeling on Organ-on-a-Chip (OoC) has been emphasized, and considerable progress has been made. PBPK modeling on OoC would become an essential part of new drug development, personalized medicine and other fields., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Yang, Chen, Wang, Xu, Fang, Guo, Chen and Gu.)