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Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections were the main cause of anogenital cancers and warts. HPV 6/11/16/18 vaccines provide protection against the high-risk types of HPV responsible for 70% of cervical cancers and 90% of genital warts. This randomized, blinded, non-inferiority phase III trial was to determine whether immunogenicity and tolerability would be non-inferior among women after receiving two novel 4- and 9-valent HPV vaccines (4vHPV, HPV 6/11/16/18; 9vHPV, HPV 6/11/16/18/31/33/45/52/58) compared with those receiving Gardasil 4 (4-valent).1680 females between 20 and 45 years were randomized in a 2:1:1 ratio to 20-26, 27-35, or 36-45 y groups. Subjects then equally assigned to receive 4vHPV, 9vHPV or Gardasil 4 (control) vaccine at months 0, 2, and 6. End points included non-inferiority of HPV-6/11/16/18 antibodies for 4vHPV versus control, and 9vHPV versus control and safety. The immunogenicity non-inferiority was pre-defined as the lower bound of 95% confidence interval (CI) of seroconversion rate (SCR) difference -10% and the lower bound of 95% CI of geometric mean antibody titer (GMT) ratio 0.5.Among the three vaccine groups, more than 99% of the participants seroconverted to all 4 HPV types. The pre-specified statistical non-inferiority criterion for the immunogenicity hypothesis was met: all the lower bounds of 95% CIs on SCR differences exceeded -10% for each vaccine HPV type and the corresponding lower bounds of 95% CIs for GMT ratios 0.5. Across vaccination groups, the most common vaccination reaction were injection-site adverse events (AEs), including pain, swelling, and redness. General and serious AEs were similar in the three groups. There were no deaths.This study demonstrated that the novel 4- and 9-valent HPV vaccination was highly immunogenic and generally well tolerated, both of which were non-inferior to Gardasil 4 in immunogenicity and safety.

Background The quadrivalent human papillomavirus (qHPV; HPV6/11/16/18) vaccine was approved for use in Chinese women aged 20–45 years in 2017. This Phase 3, open-label study (NCT03493542) aimed to assess immunogenicity and safety of the qHPV vaccine in Chinese girls aged 9–19 years versus Chinese young women aged 20–26 years; we report results from Day 1 through Month 7. The study will continue through Month 60 to assess antibody persistence in Chinese girls aged 9–19 years. Methods Participants aged 9–26 years received three doses of the qHPV vaccine (Day 1, Month 2, Month 6). Geometric mean titers (GMTs) and seroconversion percentages for anti-HPV6/11/16/18 antibodies were determined by competitive Luminex immunoassay (cLIA) in serum samples obtained on Day 1 and at Month 7. Injection-site adverse events (AEs) and systemic AEs within 30 days post-vaccination, and serious AEs (SAEs) occurring at any time during the study, were recorded. Results In total, 766 participants (383 aged 9–19 years; 383 aged 20–26 years) were enrolled and received ≥1 vaccine dose. All participants in the per-protocol immunogenicity population of both age groups seroconverted to each of the vaccine HPV types at Month 7. Anti-HPV6/11/16/18 antibody GMTs at Month 7 in participants aged 9–19 years were non-inferior to those in participants aged 20–26 years. Injection-site AEs and systemic AEs were reported by 36.6% and 49.3% of 9–19-year-olds, and 40.7% and 54.8% of 20–26-year-olds, respectively. There were no vaccine-related SAEs. No participants discontinued the vaccine due to an AE and no deaths were reported. Conclusion Antibody responses induced by the 3-dose qHPV vaccination regimen in Chinese girls aged 9–19 years were non-inferior to those in Chinese young women aged 20–26 years. The vaccine was generally well tolerated in the study population. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03493542.

Coconut coir, a major type of tropical lignocellulosic waste, has been restricted from higher-value applications due to its chemical complexity and inherent variability. To better disclose the chemical relationships between polysaccharides and lignin in coir and further exploit its high value-added bio-based materials, two lignin-carbohydrate complexes (LCCs) designated as glucan-lignin (GL) and xylan-lignin (XL) were successively isolated from coir via a simplified and quantitative fractionation method. The characterization of chemical composition, molecular weight distribution, and constituent substructures of the isolated LCC fractions were examined, and the lignin-carbohydrate (LC) chemical linkages were revealed as γ-esters by a 2D heteronuclear singular quantum correlation (HSQC) NMR technique. Furthermore, XL was demonstrated as a more competitive candidate than GL for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) removal in comparison with 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT, a commercial antioxidant), and was also featured as a more promising reinforcing agent for elevating the adsorption property of polyacrylamide-based hydrogels via the synergistic effect of physical and hydrogen bonding adsorptions.

To control seasonal influenza epidemics in elders, a quadrivalent, inactivated, split-virion influenza vaccine (IIV4) comprising A and B lineages is produced for young individuals and adults aged ≥60 years. In this phase III, randomized, double-blind, active-controlled trial, we compared safety and immunogenicity of IIV4 with a licensed quadrivalent inactivated vaccine (IIV4-HL) produced by Hualan Biological Engineering during the 2019 influenza season. Participants were randomly assigned to receive IIV4 (n = 959) or IIV4-HL (n = 959). Compared to IIV4-HL, geometric mean titers (GMT) of hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) titers and seroconversion rate (SCR) of IIV4 demonstrated better antibody responses in A lineages (H1N1 and H3N2) (P .01) in both age groups. After immunization, IIV4 provided a satisfactory SCR and seroprotection rate (SPR) in elders. No discernible variation in immunogenicity was observed between the two age cohorts. In both age groups, IIV4 and IIV4-HL recipients experienced similar levels of solicited and unsolicited adverse events (AEs), and the incidence of AEs was low in both vaccine groups. Most AEs were of mild-to-moderate severity and no grade 3 AEs in IIV4 group, but AEs in adults aged 60-65 were little higher than in adults over 65 years in IIV4 and IIV4-HL groups (IIV4: 14.66% vs. 10.36%; IIV4-HL:14.67% vs. 11.43%). Totally, IIV4 was generally well tolerated and induced high antibody titers against all four influenza strains in elderly, making it a compelling alternative for the elderly aged ≥60 years.Trial registration: Clinical Trials.gov: 2015L00649-2.

Waste rubber wood (RW) is the castoff of rubber plantation with abundant reservation but without high-value utilization. In this study, cellulose with high purity has been efficiently isolated from waste RW and further processed into cellulose nanocrystals. By means of acetylation, more hydrophobic cellulose-based products, namely acetylated rubber wood cellulose (Ac–RWC) and acetylated rubber wood cellulose nanocrystals (Ac–RW–CNC) had been attempted as reinforcing fillers for fabricating two series of PLA-based composite films via spin coating instead of currently prevailing melt compounding technique. To ensure a uniformed dispersion of fillers in PLA matrix, the addition of reinforcing filler should be equal to or less than 5% based on the film dry weight. Compared with pure PLA film, the Ac–RWC reinforced PLA composite films are more thermally stable, while the Ac–RW–CNC reinforced PLA composite films on the other hand exhibit more enhanced performance in mechanical properties and the degree of crystallinity. The highest tensile strength (55.0 MPa) and Young’s modulus (3.9 GPa) were achieved for 5%Ac–RW–CNC/PLA composite film.

Safe and effective vaccines are still urgently needed to cope with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, we developed a recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (V-01) containing fusion protein (IFN-PADRE-RBD-Fc dimer) as antigen verified to induce protective immunity against SARS-CoV-2 challenge in pre-clinical study, which supported progression to Phase I clinical trials in humans. A Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase I clinical trial was initiated at the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Gaozhou, China) in February 2021. Healthy adults aged between 18 and 59 years and over 60 years were sequentially enrolled and randomly allocated into three subgroups (1:1:1) either to receive the vaccine (10, 25, and 50 μg) or placebo (V-01: Placebo = 4:1) intramuscularly with a 21-day interval by a sentinel and dose escalation design. The data showed a promising safety profile with approximately 25% vaccine-related overall adverse events (AEs) within 30 days and no grade 3 or worse AEs. Besides, V-01 provoked rapid and strong immune responses, elicited substantially high-titre neutralizing antibodies and anti-RBD IgG peaked at day 35 or 49 after first dose, presented with encouraging immunogenicity at low dose (10 μg) subgroup and elderly participants, which showed great promise to be used as all-aged (18 and above) vaccine against COVID-19. Taken together, our preliminary findings indicate that V-01 is safe and well tolerated, capable of inducing rapid and strong immune responses, and warrants further testing in Phase II/III clinical trials.

The Heusler-type spin gapless semiconductors (SGSs) have been extensively studied owing to their characteristic band structure, i.e., zero band gap of majority electrons and clear band gap of minority electrons. To date, the intrinsic physical property of the correlated single crystal is somewhat unclear, leading to difficulty in understanding the principle physical mechanism. In this study, we successfully fabricated the single crystal of the potential spin-gapless semiconductor Heusler CoFeMnSi compound and investigated its intrinsic physical properties. The saturation magnetization of the single crystal at 50 K is ∼99.55 emu/g (∼3.53 μB/f.u.), and the single crystal exhibits a Curie temperature of 826 K. The resistivity of single crystal shows anisotropy: the temperature dependence of resistivity along the [111] direction is completely different from the behavior along [001] and [100] directions. Furthermore, when the temperature was >135 K, a semiconductor-like behavior was observed along the [111] orientation.

Bonded samples of La0.9Ce0.1Fe11.7Si1.3H1.8 and La0.9Ce0.1Fe11.41Mn0.29Si1.3H1.8 with NaZn13-type cubic structure have been prepared, and their mechanical properties and magnetocaloric effects have been investigated. The bonded samples show a very good compressive strength of 320 and 332 MPa, about 10% and 14% higher than that of bulk LaFe10.99Co0.91Si1.1B0.2 compound. By partial substitution of Mn for Fe, the Curie temperature (Tc) of bonded La0.9Ce0.1Fe11.7Si1.3H1.8 decreases remarkably from 325 to 279 K. The magnetic entropy change (ΔSm) for bonded La0.9Ce0.1Fe11.7Si1.3H1.8 and La0.9Ce0.1Fe11.41Mn0.29Si1.3H1.8 slightly reduces compared with hydride alloys, but still maintains large values of 8.8 and 7.9 J/kg K. The two bonded samples exhibit the same adiabatic temperature change (ΔTad) of about 2.6 K under a field change from 0 to 1.5 T. The bonded La0.9Ce0.1(Fe,Mn)11.7Si1.3 hydrides samples with good magnetocaloric effects and better mechanical properties are promising as high performance magnetic refrigerants materials.

The influence of Nb substitution on the structure, magnetoelastic transition and magnetocaloric properties has been investigated for the Mn1.1Fe0.85-xNbxP0.43Si0.57 alloys. The substitution for Fe by merely 4.7 at.% Nb (i.e. x = 0.04) significantly diminishes the thermal hysteresis from 10 to 1 K due to the reduced structural discontinuity crossing the magnetoelastic transition. This also improves the mechanical stability. The Curie temperature of the magnetoelastic transition is lowered by approximately 11.6 K per at.% of the Nb substitution, originating from the enhanced covalent bonding that favors the paramagnetic state. The giant magnetocaloric effect is still retained in the Nb-substituted alloys.

The Mn 38 Fe 22 Al 40 C x alloys with x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.5 and 2.5 were investigated. XRD results show that the alloys with x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 crystallize in CsCl(B2)-type structure. The alloys with x = 1.5 and 2.5 crystallize in (Fe/Mn) 3 Al(DO 3 ), and there exists an α-Mn phase. The Curie temperature ( T C ) decreases with increasing of carbon content. The maximal magnetic-entropy change is 0.71 J/kg K (0–1.5 T) for x = 0.3 at 297 K, which is 16% higher than that of the parent alloy. The adiabatic temperature change of Mn 38 Fe 22 Al 40 C x alloys was around 0.19 K in 1.5 T.

To study the steroidal alkaloids in Veratrum dahuricum.The compounds were isolated and purified by various column chromatographic methods. Their structures were identified by spectroscopic analysis.Five compounds were isolated and identified as (20R, 22S, 25S)-veratra-5,13-dien-3beta-ol (1), angeloylzygadenine (2), 15-O-(2-methylbutanoyl)-3-O-veatroylprotoverine (3), 20-isoveratramine (4), veratramine (5).Compound 1 was a new compound, compounds 24 were obtained from the plant for the first time.

To study the components in aerial part of Siegesbeckia pubescens.The compounds were isolated and purified by silica gel, sephadex LH-20 and other column chromatography. Structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods.Four compounds were isolated from S. pubescens and were characterized as dimethyl-21-ethenetylene-darutigenol-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosid (1), darutigenol (2), darutoside (3), stigmaster-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosid (4).Compound 1 is a new compound.