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During pregnancy and lactation, mothers provide not only nutrients, but also many bioactive components for their offspring through placenta and breast milk, which are essential for offspring development. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanovesicles containing a variety of biologically active molecules and participate in the intercellular communication. In the past decade, an increasing number of studies have reported that maternal-derived EVs play a crucial role in offspring growth, development, and immune system establishment. Hereby, we summarized the characteristics of EVs; biological functions of maternal-derived EVs during pregnancy, including implantation, decidualization, placentation, embryo development and birth of offspring; biological function of breast milk-derived EVs (BMEs) on infant oral and intestinal diseases, immune system, neurodevelopment, and metabolism. In summary, emerging studies have revealed that maternal-derived EVs play a pivotal role in offspring health. As such, maternal-derived EVs may be used as promising biomarkers in offspring disease diagnosis and treatment. However, existing research on maternal-derived EVs and offspring health is largely limited to animal and cellular studies. Evidence from human studies is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of variants of concerns of SARS-CoV-2 highlights the need for comprehensively elucidating the correlates of protection for different COVID-19 vaccine types. Inactivated COVID-19 vaccines are currently amongst the most widely administered vaccines globally. However, investigations into the correlates of protection for inactivated COVID-19 vaccines are relatively rare. Data from a phase III double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial (NCT0445659) that evaluated the efficacy and safety of the CoronaVac vaccine in healthcare professionals were utilized in this secondary analysis. Additionally, the correlation between neutralizing antibody levels measured by micro-cytopathic effect (CPE) neutralization assay and the occurrence of laboratory-confirmed infections was assessed using neutralizing antibodies measured in blood samples collected on day 28 after receiving two doses of the vaccine. Finally, the protective threshold required to provide 50% protection against symptomatic illness and virus infections was estimated. The risk of infection was negatively correlated with the levels of post-vaccination neutralizing antibodies measured on day 28 after the second dose. A neutralization titer of 30 (95% CI: 2–56) was predicted to provide 50% efficacy against symptomatic infection, whilst a titer of 42 (95% CI: 24–62) was predicted to provide 50% efficacy against total infection. Lastly, a neutralization titer of 247 (95% CI: 139–506) or higher was required to achieve 80% or higher protection against symptomatic infections. The results highlight the value of neutralizing antibody response as a correlate of protection, which can be used to inform future vaccine development and implementation. Further studies of immune correlates of protection for other vaccines are warranted. • Neutralizing titers of 30 provide 50% efficacy against symptomatic infection. • Higher neutralizing titers will be needed to achieve higher vaccine efficacy. • Neutralizing antibody can be used to estimate correlate of protection to inform vaccine development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The long-term dynamics of antibody responses in patients with influenza A(H7N9) virus infection are not well understood.Methods: We conducted a longitudinal serological follow-up study in patients who were hospitalized with A(H7N9) virus infection, during 2013-2018. A(H7N9) virus-specific antibody responses were assessed by hemagglutination inhibition (HAI) and neutralization (NT) assays. A random intercept model was used to fit a curve to HAI antibody responses over time. HAI antibody responses were compared by clinical severity.Results: Of 67 patients with A(H7N9) virus infection, HAI antibody titers reached 40 on average 11 days after illness onset and peaked at a titer of 290 after three months, and average titers of ≥80 and ≥40 were present until 11 months and 22 months respectively. HAI antibody responses were significantly higher in patients who experienced severe disease, including respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome, compared with patients who experienced less severe illness.Conclusions: Patients with A(H7N9) virus infection who survived severe disease mounted higher antibody responses that persisted for longer periods compared with those that experienced moderate disease. Studies of convalescent plasma treatment for A(H7N9) patients should consider collection of donor plasma from survivors of severe disease between 1 and 11 months after illness onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control synthesis of self-standing porous bimetallic nanosheet array is of significant importance for electrocatalytic applications. Herein, we report an in-situ approach for directly fabricating interweaved porous palladium-ruthenium nanosheets on Ni foam (PdRu NS-NF) via a micelle-assisted galvanic replacement reaction using Ni foam as both the reductant and substrate. These nanosheets possess interconnected porosity and bimetallic compositions, which provide abundant active sites and strong electronic effect. The binder-free PdRu NS-NF shows outstanding activity and stability for electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction to ammonia. Different from traditional complex methods for the fabrication of metallic nanosheets, the proposed approach is very feasible to directly synthesize metallic array with tunable morphology and composition on three-dimensional metallic substrates. A micelle-assistant self-reduction strategy is proposed to grow self-standing porous palladium-ruthenium nanosheets on Ni foam for nitrogen reduction reaction. Image 1 • Self-standing palladium-ruthenium nanosheets on Ni foam are prepared. • The palladium-ruthenium nanosheets possesses interweaved porous structures. • The electrocatalyst shows high performance for nitrogen reduction reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) caused by enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) is associated with acute neurological disease in children. This study aimed to estimate the burden of long-term sequelae and death following severe HFMD. Methods This systematic review and meta-analysis pooled all reports from English and Chinese databases including MEDLINE and Wangfang on outbreaks of clinically diagnosed HFMD and/or laboratory-confirmed EV-A71 with at least 7 days' follow-up published between 1st January 1966 and 19th October 2015. Two independent reviewers assessed the literature. We used a random effects meta-analysis to estimate cumulative incidence of neurological sequelae or death. Studies were assessed for methodological and reporting quality. PROSPERO registration number: 10.15124/CRD42015021981. Findings 43 studies were included in the review, and 599 children from 9 studies were included in the primary analysis. Estimated cumulative incidence of death or neurological sequelae at maximum follow up was 19.8% (95% CI:10.2%, 31.3%). Heterogeneity (Iˆ2) was 88.57%, partly accounted for by year of data collection and reporting quality of studies. Incidence by acute disease severity was 0.00% (0.00, 0.00) for grade IIa; 17.0% (7.9, 28.2) for grade IIb/III; 81.6% (65.1, 94.5) for grade IV (p = 0.00) disease. Conclusions HFMD with neurological involvement is associated with a substantial burden of long-term neurological sequelae. Grade of acute disease severity was a strong predictor of outcome. Strengths of this study include its bilingual approach and clinical applicability. Future prospective and interventional studies must use rigorous methodology to assess long-term outcomes in survivors. Funding There was no specific funding for this study. See below for researcher funding. Highlights • Severe hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is associated with CNS involvement. • Severe HFMD is associated with a significant burden of neurological sequelae. • Those with more severe acute disease are at higher risk of developing sequelae. • Future prospective and interventional studies should assess long-term outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowing the as-encountered geology during mechanized TBM tunneling is important for machine operation and contractual dispute resolution. However, ground condition estimated before excavation can be locally highly inaccurate. One solution is to characterize the ground directly from tunnel boring machine (TBM) data with data-driven models, assuming there exists unique relationships between TBM behavior and the changing ground. Only supervised-learning models trained exclusively with TBM data obtained near boreholes, where the true geology is known, have been used. Due to borehole sparsity, such training data is limited in quantity, especially at the beginning of excavation, undermining the model performance and delaying its deployment during tunneling. This paper proposes a semi-supervised learning model capable of using TBM data both with and without borehole information, relying on the principle of "guilt by association". Using the Seattle Northgate Link Extension tunneling project for case study, the proposed model is shown to outperform popular SL models – multilayer perceptron, multinomial logistic regression, random forest and sparse autoencoder neural networks – both in fitting the borehole data, as well as in inferring the heterogeneous ground profile with many irregular geological interbeddings and shifts of geological transitions identified. The proposed SSL model performs significantly better than SL models when given limited boreholes for training, making it more effective for use during tunneling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new approach for constructing chaotically synchronizing systems is proposed in this Letter. This method is based upon the stability criterion of linear systems. The complete synchronization and anti-synchronization for chaotic systems are discussed. The Lorenz system, the Duffing oscillator and the Ro¨ssler system are treated as examples. It is shown that the proposed method is simpler than the conventional synchronization approach, and is effective for autonomous or non-autonomous systems. Since the Lyapunov exponents are not required to calculate, this method is convenient particularly for the synchronization of hyperchaotic systems with more two positive Lyapunov exponents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]