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According to the few researches on Nearly zero energy residential buildings (NZERB) in hot-summer and cold-winter zone, although it could reduce the cooling load of buildings due to its high thermal insulation and air tightness, it still needed for certain cooling in summer. This paper studied indoor environment of NZERB under three kinds of air-conditioners (split-type air-conditioner, multi-line air-conditioner and ceiling radiant air-conditioner). Firstly, a simulation model of NZERB was established based on Nanjing, a typical city in hot-summer and cold-winter zone. Secondly, variation of indoor air temperature and building load characteristics with outdoor air temperature were studied. Thirdly, indoor environment and energy consumption under three selected conventional air-conditioners in summer were simulated. Finally, the discussion was given, and an air-conditioner combining with convective and radiant cooling were proposed. The results indicated that the air-conditioner needed to be turned on in NZERB in hot-summer and cold-winter zone due to the room air temperature in off-air condition ranged from 32 °C to 36 °C, which was higher than designed indoor environment temperature in summer, but the indoor environment of NZERB under three selected conventional air-conditioners could not meet the requirements of energy saving and comfort at the same time, and a proposed convective-radiant air-conditioner could be fast, stable, and energy saving. The findings can provide a reference for conducting active technology in NZERB.

It was the focus of attention that probiotic control drink was packed with prebiotic nutrients and lactic acid bacteria. So, this study is aimed at revealing that the fermented carrot pulp regulation and protection function to the intestinal microecological disorders usually induced by antibiotic treatment. First, we study on lactobacillus fermentation conditions and effects on the secondary metabolism of fermented carrot juice, get its phenolic acids up, and get its flavonoids down. Then, establishment of the dysbacteriosis mouse model was used to validate the fermented carrot pulp prevention and treatment of intestinal microbiota imbalance. After the antibiotic treatment, the mice showed impotence, laziness, slow movement, weight loss, thin feces, dull hair, and anal redness, while the mice in the control group were all normal in terms of the mental state, diet, weight, and bowl movement. Along with the treatment, the abnormal conditions of the mice in the model group and natural recovery group improved in different degrees, indicating that the fermentation treatment is of help to the intestinal microbiota recovery. The fermentation-treated group of mice recovered close to normal that the diarrhea disappeared, and the weight gain, mental state, and the feces became normal. The serum antioxidant (SOD, GSH, and MDA) levels of the mice were checked. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels and glutathione (GSH) levels in the ordinary fermentation-treated group and probiotic fermentation-treated group were significantly increased compare to the natural recovery group. The malondialdehyde (MDA) levels showed great differences between the fermentation-treated groups and the blank group. At last, the 16sRNA analysis revealed that the microbiota richness and diversity in probiotic fermentation (J) are much higher than those in the model group (H), ordinary fermentation group (I), and blank group (G). Groups J and I are of significantly higher antioxidant level than group H; however, only the glutathione (GSH) level in group J increased dramatically but not those in the other three groups. Antibiotic treatment-induced mouse intestinal microecological disorder reduce the microbiota richness and diversity. Prebiotics fermented carrot pulp treatment can help in the recovery from the microbiota richness and diversity level prior to the antibiotic treatment, which suggests it can regulate and protect the murine intestinal microbiome.

Antibody levels predict vaccine efficacy Symptomatic COVID-19 infection can be prevented by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines. A “correlate of protection” is a molecular biomarker to measure how much immunity is needed to fight infection and is key for successful global immunization programs. Gilbert et al . determined that antibodies are the correlate of protection in vaccinated individuals enrolled in the Moderna COVE phase 3 clinical trial (see the Perspective by Openshaw). By measuring binding and neutralizing antibodies against the viral spike protein, the authors found that the levels of both antibodies correlated with the degree of vaccine efficacy. The higher the antibody level, the greater the protection afforded by the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine. Antibody levels that predict mRNA vaccine efficacy can therefore be used to guide vaccine regimen modifications and support regulatory approvals for a broader spectrum of the population. —PNK

Background Pregnancies occur during HIV-1 vaccine clinical trials, despite requirements for women of reproductive potential to use effective contraception. Deployment of an effective HIV-1 vaccine regimen will likely target adolescents and young adults and therefore safety for pregnant and breastfeeding women will need to be addressed. Methods We performed a retrospective, cross-protocol analysis to identify and compare pregnancy outcomes reported in 53 Phase 1 and Phase 2a HIV-1 vaccine clinical trials conducted by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). Results Two thousand six hundred seventy-three women of reproductive potential were identified and 193 pregnancies were reported. 39 of 53 (74%) studies had at least one pregnancy reported with an overall pregnancy rate of 3.15 per 100 woman-years (w-yr). While active contraception use was required during study participation, 13 of the 53 studies also contained a long-term follow up period during which pregnancy was no longer discouraged. The pregnancy rate during main study participation was 3.09 per 100 w-yr, while pregnancies occurred at a slightly greater rate in the long-term follow up period (3.22 per 100 w-yr). Adverse pregnancy outcomes were reported at similar rates between vaccinees and placebo recipients when vaccine vectors, adjuvant used, or geographic region were examined. Conclusion Although there is considerable heterogeneity amongst the different vaccine trials, there appears to be no obvious indication of increased risk of adverse pregnancy or birth outcomes in these early phase HIV-1 vaccine studies. More complete data on pregnancy outcomes should be collected in early phase HIV-1 vaccine clinical trials to better inform subsequent efficacy trials.

The HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) conducts clinical trials on 4 continents in pursuit of a safe and effective HIV vaccine. Cellular immune responses to vaccination that define vaccine immunogenicity and/or immune correlates of protection can be measured using multiparameter intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) assays. The HVTN cellular immunology laboratory, located in Seattle, WA, conducts ICS assays for vaccine trials according to Good Clinical Laboratory Practices (GCLP). In 2013, the HVTN established a second GCLP compliant cellular immunology laboratory in Cape Town, South Africa to assess vaccine immunogenicity for HVTN trials conducted on the African continent. To ensure ICS readouts in the 2 laboratories were directly comparable, we conducted concordance testing using PBMC from healthy controls and vaccine trial participants. Despite standardized procedures and instrumentation, shared quality control measures and quality assurance oversight, several factors impacted our ability to obtain close agreement in T-cell responses measured in the 2 laboratories. One of these was the type of fetal bovine serum (FBS) used in the assay, which impacted lymphocyte cell viability and background responses. In addition, the differences in supernatant removal technique also significantly affected our ability to detect positive responses to vaccine antigens. Standardization of these factors allowed us to achieve and maintain ICS assay concordance across the 2 laboratories over multiple years, accelerating our efforts to evaluate HIV vaccines. The insights gained in this process are valuable for assay transfer efforts by groups of investigators that need to directly compare data generated in different laboratories around the globe.

Measuring immune correlates of disease acquisition and protection in the context of a clinical trial is a prerequisite for improved vaccine design. We analysed binding and neutralizing antibody measurements 4 weeks post vaccination as correlates of risk of moderate to severe-critical COVID-19 through 83 d post vaccination in the phase 3, double-blind placebo-controlled phase of ENSEMBLE, an international randomized efficacy trial of a single dose of Ad26.COV2.S. We also evaluated correlates of protection in the trial cohort. Of the three antibody immune markers we measured, we found most support for 50% inhibitory dilution (ID

To study the effects of betulin (BE) on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats, electrocardiogram (ECG) was detected by an electrocardiograph; myocardial infarction was evaluated by triphenyltetrazolium (TTC) staining, serum biochemical indicators myocardial enzymes creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), serum superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), nitric oxide (NO), and malondialdehyde (MDA); and inflammatory cytokines were tested by using commercial kits. The expression of the Siti1/NLRP3/NF-κB signaling pathway was detected by western blotting and immunohistochemistry experiments. BE improved ECG; reduced myocardial infarction area; decreased CK, LDH, AST, MDA, NO, and inflammatory cytokines; and increased SOD and GSH in I/R rats. In addition, BE also increased Siti1 and decreased the NLRP3/NF-κB signaling pathway in I/R rats. This study shows that the protection of BE is associated with changes in the Siti1/NLRP3/NF-κB pathway.

As wastewater treatment systems that strengthen natural processes, constructed wetlands provide both ecosystem services and disservices. Manipulating both the physical and ecological structures of constructed wetlands has been the key to improve ecosystem services while reducing disservices. Herein, an experiment using simulated constructed wetlands was conducted to explore the effect of two different substrate sizes (fine sand or coarse sand), plant richness (1, 3, or 4 species), and plant species identity on ecosystem services. Results indicated that (1) only in microcosms with coarse sand, species richness enhanced nitrogen removal efficiency while reduced nitrous oxide emissions and that (2) the presence of Phalaris arundinacea increased nitrogen removal rate, and the presence of Rumex japonicus or Oenanthe javanica decreased nitrous oxide emissions; (3) however, the net ecosystem services (nitrogen removal, greenhouse gas emissions, biofuel production) of microcosms with fine sand were higher than those of microcosms with coarse sand, and (4) interestingly, there was no difference in net ecosystem services between microcosms with coarse sand (1033 yuan ha−1 day−1; 1 yuan ≈ 0.14 USD) and those with fine sand (1071 yuan ha−1 day−1) for the four-species mixtures. Hence, in practice, ensuring plant species richness with appropriate species in microcosms with coarse sand can improve ecosystem services to a level equal to that of microcosms with fine sand and help to prevent constructed wetlands from clogging.

Anti-spike IgG binding antibody, anti-receptor binding domain IgG antibody, and pseudovirus neutralizing antibody measurements four weeks post-vaccination were assessed as correlates of risk of moderate to severe-critical COVID-19 outcomes through 83 days post-vaccination and as correlates of protection following a single dose of Ad26.COV2.S COVID-19 vaccine in the placebo-controlled phase of ENSEMBLE, an international, randomized efficacy trial. Each marker had evidence as a correlate of risk and of protection, with strongest evidence for 50% inhibitory dilution (ID50) neutralizing antibody titer. The outcome hazard ratio was 0.49 (95% confidence interval 0.29, 0.81; p=0.006) per 10-fold increase in ID50; vaccine efficacy was 60% (43, 72%) at nonquantifiable ID50 (< 2.7 IU50/ml) and rose to 89% (78, 96%) at ID50 = 96.3 IU50/ml. Comparison of the vaccine efficacy by ID50 titer curves for ENSEMBLE-US, the COVE trial of the mRNA-1273 vaccine, and the COV002-UK trial of the AZD1222 vaccine supported consistency of the ID50 titer correlate of protection across trials and vaccine types.

The subunit of tropomyosin (α-TM) from Haliotis discus hannai is an important allergen. The methods to reduce the immunoreactivity of α-TM are worth investigating. Thus, this study confirmed the reacted conditions of α-TM with transglutaminase (TG)-catalyzed cross-linking reaction, TG-catalyzed glycosylation, and glycation. Three processing technologies reduced significantly the contents of α-helix and hydrophobic force of α-TM and increased the surface hydrophobicity. A serological experiment confirmed that the glycated α-TM with xylose showed the lowest IgG/IgE-binding capacity. The inhabitation dot blot displayed that five epitope peptides could bind with the site-specific IgE prepared by the glycated α-TM. Three in nine glycated sites (M68, N202, and N203) were verified to modify-two epitopes (L-HTM-3 and L-HTM-7) of α-TM, which affected the immunoreactivity of α-TM during glycation. These results indicated that glycation would be desired for developing hypo-allergenic abalone products.

BackgroundIn the Coronavirus Efficacy (COVE) trial, estimated mRNA-1273 vaccine efficacy against coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) was 94%. SARS-CoV-2 antibody measurements were assessed as correlates of COVID-19 risk and as correlates of protection.MethodsThrough case-cohort sampling, participants were selected for measurement of four serum antibody markers at Day 1 (first dose), Day 29 (second dose), and Day 57: IgG binding antibodies (bAbs) to Spike, bAbs to Spike receptor-binding domain (RBD), and 50% and 80% inhibitory dilution pseudovirus neutralizing antibody titers calibrated to the WHO International Standard (cID50 and cID80). Participants with no evidence of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection were included. Cox regression assessed in vaccine recipients the association of each Day 29 or 57 serologic marker with COVID-19 through 126 or 100 days of follow-up, respectively, adjusting for risk factors.ResultsDay 57 Spike IgG, RBD IgG, cID50, and cID80 neutralization levels were each inversely correlated with risk of COVID-19: hazard ratios 0.66 (95% CI 0.50, 0.88; p=0.005); 0.57 (0.40, 0.82; p=0.002); 0.42 (0.27, 0.65; pConclusionsBinding and neutralizing antibodies correlated with COVID-19 risk and vaccine efficacy and likely have utility in predicting mRNA-1273 vaccine efficacy against COVID-19.Trial registration numberCOVEClinicalTrials.govnumber,NCT04470427

Wastewater with relatively high nitrogen concentrations is a major source of nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions and exerts multiple stresses on the environment. Studies have shown that plant diversity plays an important role in ecosystem functioning. However, the effects of plant species diversity on CH4 and N2O emissions under high ammonium (NH4+-N) loading rates remain unclear. In this study, a microcosm experiment simulating vertical constructed wetlands supplied with high NH4+-N water levels was established. The treatments included four species richness levels (1, 2, 3, 4) and 15 species compositions. There was no significant relationship between species richness and N2O emissions. However, N2O emissions were significantly reduced by specific plant species composition. Notably, the communities with the presence of Rumex japonicus L. reduced N2O emissions by 62% compared to communities without this species. This reduction in N2O emissions may have been a result of decreased N concentrations and increased plant biomass. CH4 emissions did not respond to plant species richness or species identity. Overall, plant species identity surpassed species richness in lowering N2O emissions from constructed wetlands with high NH4+-N water. The results also suggest that communities with R. japonicus could achieve higher N removal and lower greenhouse gas emissions than other wetland species.

The severe degradation of Fe-N-C electrocatalysts during a long-term oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has become a major obstacle for application in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. Understanding the degradation mechanism and regeneration of aged Fe-N-C catalysts would be of particular interest for extending their service life. Herein, we show that the by-product hydrogen peroxide during the ORR not only results in the oxidation of the carbon surface but also causes the demetallation of Fe active sites. Quantitative analysis reveals that the Fe demetallation constitutes the main reason for catalyst degradation, while previously reported carbon surface oxidation plays a minor role. We further reveal that post thermal annealing of the aged catalysts can transform the oxygen functional groups on the carbon surface into micropores. These newly formed micropores not only help to increase the active-site density but also the intrinsic ORR activity of the neighbouring Fe-N

During 2018, Black or African American (Black) persons accounted for 43% of all diagnoses of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States (1). Among Black persons with diagnosed HIV infection in 41 states and the District of Columbia for whom complete laboratory reporting* was available, the percentages of Black persons linked to care within 1 month of diagnosis (77.1%) and with viral suppression within 6 months of diagnosis (62.9%) during 2018 were lower than the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative objectives of 95% for linkage to care and viral suppression goals (2). Access to HIV-related care and treatment services varies by residence area (3-5). Identifying urban-rural differences in HIV care outcomes is crucial for addressing HIV-related disparities among Black persons with HIV infection. CDC used National HIV Surveillance System† (NHSS) data to describe HIV care outcomes among Black persons with diagnosed HIV infection during 2018 by population area of residence§ (area). During 2018, Black persons in rural areas received a higher percentage of late-stage diagnoses (25.2%) than did those in urban (21.9%) and metropolitan (19.0%) areas. Linkage to care within 1 month of diagnosis was similar across all areas, whereas viral suppression within 6 months of diagnosis was highest in metropolitan areas (63.8%). The Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative supports scalable, coordinated, and innovative efforts to increase HIV diagnosis, treatment, and prevention among populations disproportionately affected by or who are at higher risk for HIV infection (6), especially during syndemics (e.g. with coronavirus disease 2019).

Background Eliciting durable humoral immunity with sufficient breadth and magnitude is important for HIV-1 vaccine design. The HVTN 114 vaccine trial evaluated different boost regimens administered after a 7-year rest period in participants previously enrolled in HVTN 205, who received either three MVA/HIV62B (MMM) or two DNA and two MVA/HIV62B (DDMM) injections; both vaccines expressed multiple HIV-1 antigens in non-infectious virus-like-particles. The primary objective of HVTN 114 was to assess the impact of a heterologous gp120 protein AIDSVAX B/E boost on the magnitude, breadth and durability of vaccine-induced immune responses. Methods We enrolled 27 participants from HVTN 205 into five groups. Eight participants who previously received MMM were randomized and boosted with either MVA/HIV62B alone (T1; n = 4) or MVA/HIV62B and AIDSVAX B/E (T2; n = 4). Nineteen participants who received DDMM were randomized and boosted with MVA/HIV62B alone (T3; n = 6), MVA/HIV62B and AIDSVAX B/E (T4; n = 6), or AIDSVAX B/E alone (T5; n = 7). Boosts were at months 0 and 4. Participants were followed for safety and immunogenicity for 10 months and were pooled for analysis based on the regimen: MVA-only (T1 + T3), MVA + AIDSVAX (T2 + T4), and AIDSVAX-only (T5). Results All regimens were safe and well-tolerated. Prior to the boost vaccination, binding antibody and CD4+T-cell responses were observed 7 years after HVTN 205 vaccinations. Late boosting with AIDSVAX, with or without MVA, resulted in high binding antibody responses to gp120 and V1V2 epitopes, with increased magnitude and breadth compared to those observed in HVTN 205. Late boosting with MVA, with or without AIDSVAX, resulted in increased gp140 and gp41 antibody responses and higher CD4+T-cell responses to Env and Gag. Conclusions Late boosting with AIDSVAX, alone or in combination with MVA, can broaden binding antibody responses and increase T-cell responses even years following the original MVA/HIV62B with or without DNA-priming vaccine.

Neurosensory retinal detachment (NRD) is a separation of the neurosensory retina from the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) because of the subretinal fluid that can result in significant vision loss. The detachment of the neurosensory retina is known to alter the topology as well as the intensity continuity of the retinal layers. This nature of NRD makes the layer segmentation of NRD affected eyes difficult. In this paper, we presented a fully automated three-dimensional (3D) method to segment the retinal layers and NRD associated subretinal fluid from a spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) image. The proposed method has three phases, including a prior information model; an NRD associated subretinal fluid segmentation; and layer segmentation. The graph search and graph cut techniques were employed to segment the retinal layers and NRD associated sub-retinal fluid, respectively. To reduce the computational cost of graph-based optimization, the `divide and merge' approach was introduced. The experiment shows that while maintaining the segmentation accuracy, the `divide and merge' approach considerably decreases the computational cost. Our method was evaluated on 20 SD-OCT cubes diagnosed with NRD, and the results were compared with the manual segmentation results from experts. The layer evaluation showed an overall absolute surface position difference of 6.34 ± 2.6μm, which is comparable with the inter-expert variability of 6.39 ± 5.9 μm. The segmentation result of the NRD associated sub-retinal fluid was assessed in terms of the dice coefficient and achieved means of 90.78% and 92.04% in comparison to two experts.

A variable gain feedback PDα-type iterative learning control (ILC) update rate is proposed for the fractional-order nonlinear systems with time delay. The learning update rate combines the open-loop and closed-loop strategy, in which the system's current tracking error and the previous iterative control of the tracking error are simultaneously used to correct the control effect. So, the proposed method could both speed up the convergence rate along the iteration direction and reduce the tracking error along the time direction. Furthermore, the algorithm ensures that the system has good learning efficiency and control performance at the different running time and iterative batches due to the time-iteration-variable learning gain. The sufficient condition for the convergence of the proposed algorithm is analyzed. Finally, the validity of the proposed method is verified on a numerical example and a wind power generation system.

Background HVTN 100 evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of an HIV subtype C pox-protein vaccine regimen, investigating a 12-month booster to extend vaccine-induced immune responses. Methods and findings A phase 1–2 randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial enrolled 252 participants (210 vaccine/42 placebo; median age 23 years; 43% female) between 9 February 2015 and 26 May 2015. Vaccine recipients received ALVAC-HIV (vCP2438) alone at months 0 and 1 and with bivalent subtype C gp120/MF59 at months 3, 6, and 12. Antibody (IgG, IgG3 binding, and neutralizing) and CD4+ T-cell (expressing interferon-gamma, interleukin-2, and CD40 ligand) responses were evaluated at month 6.5 for all participants and at months 12, 12.5, and 18 for a randomly selected subset. The primary analysis compared IgG binding antibody (bAb) responses and CD4+ T-cell responses to 3 vaccine-matched antigens at peak (month 6.5 versus 12.5) and durability (month 12 versus 18) timepoints; IgG responses to CaseA2_gp70_V1V2.B, a primary correlate of risk in RV144, were also compared at these same timepoints. Secondary and exploratory analyses compared IgG3 bAb responses, IgG bAb breadth scores, neutralizing antibody (nAb) responses, antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis, CD4+ polyfunctionality responses, and CD4+ memory sub-population responses at the same timepoints. Vaccines were generally safe and well tolerated. During the study, there were 2 deaths (both in the vaccine group and both unrelated to study products). Ten participants became HIV-infected during the trial, 7% (3/42) of placebo recipients and 3% (7/210) of vaccine recipients. All 8 serious adverse events were unrelated to study products. Less waning of immune responses was seen after the fifth vaccination than after the fourth, with higher antibody and cellular response rates at month 18 than at month 12: IgG bAb response rates to 1086.C V1V2, 21.0% versus 9.7% (difference = 11.3%, 95% CI = 0.6%–22.0%, P = 0.039), and ZM96.C V1V2, 21.0% versus 6.5% (difference = 14.5%, 95% CI = 4.1%–24.9%, P = 0.004). IgG bAb response rates to all 4 primary V1V2 antigens were higher 2 weeks after the fifth vaccination than 2 weeks after the fourth vaccination: 87.7% versus 75.4% (difference = 12.3%, 95% CI = 1.7%–22.9%, P = 0.022) for 1086.C V1V2, 86.0% versus 63.2% (difference = 22.8%, 95% CI = 9.1%–36.5%, P = 0.001) for TV1c8.2.C V1V2, 67.7% versus 44.6% (difference = 23.1%, 95% CI = 10.4%–35.7%, P < 0.001) for ZM96.C V1V2, and 81.5% versus 60.0% (difference = 21.5%, 95% CI = 7.6%–35.5%, P = 0.002) for CaseA2_gp70_V1V2.B. IgG bAb response rates to the 3 primary vaccine-matched gp120 antigens were all above 90% at both peak timepoints, with no significant differences seen, except a higher response rate to ZM96.C gp120 at month 18 versus month 12: 64.5% versus 1.6% (difference = 62.9%, 95% CI = 49.3%–76.5%, P < 0.001). CD4+ T-cell response rates were higher at month 18 than month 12 for all 3 primary vaccine-matched antigens: 47.3% versus 29.1% (difference = 18.2%, 95% CI = 2.9%–33.4%, P = 0.021) for 1086.C, 61.8% versus 38.2% (difference = 23.6%, 95% CI = 9.5%–37.8%, P = 0.001) for TV1.C, and 63.6% versus 41.8% (difference = 21.8%, 95% CI = 5.1%–38.5%, P = 0.007) for ZM96.C, with no significant differences seen at the peak timepoints. Limitations were that higher doses of gp120 were not evaluated, this study was not designed to investigate HIV prevention efficacy, and the clinical significance of the observed immunological effects is uncertain. Conclusions In this study, a 12-month booster of subtype C pox-protein vaccines restored immune responses, and slowed response decay compared to the 6-month vaccination. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02404311. South African National Clinical Trials Registry (SANCTR number: DOH--27-0215-4796)., Fatima Laher and co-authors report on safety and immune responses in a randomized trial of a candidate HIV vaccine incorporating a "booster" vaccination., Author summary Why was this study done? The RV144 vaccine trial, which tested a pox-protein regimen designed against HIV subtypes B and E, showed modest efficacy in preventing HIV acquisition. However, efficacy and vaccine-induced immune responses declined considerably after the first year. Our clinical trial, HVTN 100, investigated whether adding a booster at month 12 to a similar vaccine regimen, tailored against subtype C HIV, would prolong immune responses, and also evaluated its safety. What did the researchers do and find? We gave intramuscular injections of ALVAC-HIV (vCP2438) alone at months 0 and 1 and with bivalent subtype C gp120/MF59 at months 3, 6, and 12 to 210 vaccine recipients. We administered placebo to 42 participants. We tested antibody (IgG, IgG3 binding, antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis, and neutralizing) and cellular (T cells expressing interferon-gamma, interleukin-2, or CD40 ligand) immune responses at month 6.5 in all participants and at months 12, 12.5, and 18 in a randomly chosen subset. We evaluated safety for 18 months. Vaccines were generally safe and well tolerated. Antibody and cellular response rates were higher after the 12-month booster than after the 6-month vaccination. What do these findings mean? Adding a booster osf subtype C pox-protein vaccines at month 12 can improve the durability of vaccine-induced immune responses. The ongoing phase 2b–3 trial HVTN 702 was designed to evaluate the efficacy of this regimen with month 12 and month 18 boosters.

Real-time sensing and modeling of the human body, especially the hands, is an important research endeavor for various applicative purposes such as in natural human computer interactions. Hand pose estimation is a big academic and technical challenge due to the complex structure and dexterous movement of human hands. Boosted by advancements from both hardware and artificial intelligence, various prototypes of data gloves and computer-vision-based methods have been proposed for accurate and rapid hand pose estimation in recent years. However, existing reviews either focused on data gloves or on vision methods or were even based on a particular type of camera, such as the depth camera. The purpose of this survey is to conduct a comprehensive and timely review of recent research advances in sensor-based hand pose estimation, including wearable and vision-based solutions. Hand kinematic models are firstly discussed. An in-depth review is conducted on data gloves and vision-based sensor systems with corresponding modeling methods. Particularly, this review also discusses deep-learning-based methods, which are very promising in hand pose estimation. Moreover, the advantages and drawbacks of the current hand gesture estimation methods, the applicative scope, and related challenges are also discussed.

A small addition amount (0.01–4 phr) of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were blended into fluorosilicone rubber (FSR) in order to improve its thermal aging properties, and the paper was investigated from three aspects: (1) the distribution of MWCNTs inside FSR was characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM); (2) the thermal stability of FSR and FSR/MWCNTs was evaluated by the changes of mechanical performance and weight loss in the thermo-oxidative aging process, and the function mechanism of MWCNTs was studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), chemiluminescence (CL), electron spin resonance (ESR) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements; (3) the vulcanization properties of FSR and FSR/MWCNTs were obtained from their vulcanization curves employing three kinds of peroxides as vulcanizers. The results showed MWCNTs, with a homogeneous distribution inside FSR, had significantly improved the antioxidant performance of FSR due to their powerful radical scavenging activity. Moreover, MWCNTs revealed no scavenging effect on the tert-butoxy radical, which ensured that FSR/MWCNTs could be well vulcanized.

Constructed wetlands, which are designed ecosystems that consist of substrates, plants and microorganisms, have been used as an alternative clean technology to treat wastewater. However, greenhouse gas emission in constructed wetlands is still an accompanying problem. Finding a cleaner way to mitigate the net global warming potential while maintaining nitrogen removal efficiency has received increasing attention in recent years. High plant diversity has been found to increase nitrogen removal efficiency, but its effect on net global warming potential is not well understood. In this study, four species richness levels (1, 2, 3 and 4) were assembled in microcosms simulating constructed wetlands. The goal of this work is to explore the effects of plant diversity (species richness and identity) on the net global warming potential integrating multiple functions, including carbon sequestration in substrate, carbon dioxide emission mitigation by aboveground biomass converted to biofuel, and non-carbon dioxide (methane and nitrous oxide) emissions. Results showed that: (1) increasing species richness reduced the global warming potential based on carbon sequestration and carbon dioxide emission mitigation while increasing the global warming potential of non-carbon dioxide emissions of the microcosms; (2) increasing species richness mitigated the overall global warming potential due to the greater role of carbon sequestration and carbon dioxide emission mitigation; and (3) the presence of Rumex japonicus or Oenanthe javanica decreased the overall global warming potential of the microcosms. This study concluded that assembling communities with high plant species richness and several specific species instead of monocultures are more effective and cleaner for mitigating global warming potential while maintaining the efficiency of nitrogen removal.