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Background Cancer patients are regarded as a highly vulnerable group in the current Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To date, the clinical characteristics of COVID-19-infected cancer patients remain largely unknown. Patients and methods In this retrospective cohort study, we included cancer patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from three designated hospitals in Wuhan, China. Clinical data were collected from medical records from 13 January 2020 to 26 February 2020. Univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to assess the risk factors associated with severe events defined as a condition requiring admission to an intensive care unit, the use of mechanical ventilation, or death. Results A total of 28 COVID-19-infected cancer patients were included; 17 (60.7%) patients were male. Median (interquartile range) age was 65.0 (56.0–70.0) years. Lung cancer was the most frequent cancer type (n = 7; 25.0%). Eight (28.6%) patients were suspected to have hospital-associated transmission. The following clinical features were shown in our cohort: fever (n = 23, 82.1%), dry cough (n = 22, 81%), and dyspnoea (n = 14, 50.0%), along with lymphopaenia (n = 23, 82.1%), high level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (n = 23, 82.1%), anaemia (n = 21, 75.0%), and hypoproteinaemia (n = 25, 89.3%). The common chest computed tomography (CT) findings were ground-glass opacity (n = 21, 75.0%) and patchy consolidation (n = 13, 46.3%). A total of 15 (53.6%) patients had severe events and the mortality rate was 28.6%. If the last antitumour treatment was within 14 days, it significantly increased the risk of developing severe events [hazard ratio (HR) = 4.079, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.086–15.322, P = 0.037]. Furthermore, patchy consolidation on CT on admission was associated with a higher risk of developing severe events (HR = 5.438, 95% CI 1.498–19.748, P = 0.010). Conclusions Cancer patients show deteriorating conditions and poor outcomes from the COVID-19 infection. It is recommended that cancer patients receiving antitumour treatments should have vigorous screening for COVID-19 infection and should avoid treatments causing immunosuppression or have their dosages decreased in case of COVID-19 coinfection.

A new type of precast CFST column to RC beam braced frame is proposed in this paper. A series of shake table tests were conducted to excite a one-third scale six-story model for investigating the global seismic performance of this type of structure against earthquake actions. Particular emphasis was given to its dynamic property, global seismic responses and failure path. Correspondingly, a numerical model built on the basis of fiberbeam- element model, multi-layer shell model and element-deactivation method was developed to simulate the seismic performance of the prototype structure. Numerical results were compared with the measured values from shake table tests to verify the validity and reliability of the numerical model. The results demonstrated that the proposed novel precast CFST column to RC beam braced frame performs excellently under strong earthquake excitations; the "strong CFST column-weak RC beam" and "strong connection-weak member" anti-seismic design principles can be easily achieved; the maximum deflections of precast CFSTC-RCB braced frame satisfied the deflection limitations proposed in national code; the numerical model can properly simulate the dynamic property and responses of the precast CFSTC-RCB braced frame that are highly concerned in engineering practice.

We successfully replaced the ovalbumin gene of a magnum region in chickens with a human plasminogen activator. We constructed pL-eGFP, pL-tPAGFP and pL-2.8OVtPAGFP vectors and cultured 293FT chicken embryo fibroblasts, chicken primordial germ cells, Hela C127 cells, and oviduct epithelial cells. All vectors were expressed in the transfected cells, except pL-2.8OVtPAGFP vector, which was only expressed in oviduct epithelial cells. A lentivirus with pL-2.8OVtPAGFP was injected in fertilized eggs; 11 chicks hatched in the G₀ generation, four of them carried the tPAGFP. Two cockerels from the G₀ generation were crossed with four wild-type hens. Three chicks in G₁ carried the tPAGFP. We concluded that by using an oviduct-specific vector for transfection, human recombinant plasminogen activator protein can be expressed in the oviducts of laying hens. This character is inherited and can be reproduced with a need for repeated transfection.

Three rheological measurements, as well as cryo-scanning electron microscopy, were used to study the mechanism of gel formation and structure of a hydrocolloid-based milk gel. Processing conditions included combinations of pH level and total solids concentration as well as fat content. The first two variables and their interaction influenced gel point, gel strength, viscoelasticity and syneresis; while fat served primarily as a filler of the gel matrix, it also influenced those properties. In model studies of carrageenan and kappa-casein, calcium ions promoted gelation. Gel microstructure was dictated by processing variables and governed physical properties. The cold-setting mechanism occurred in three stages, hypothesized to include increased viscosity and molecular alignment, molecular interaction, and aggregation.

The contrast ratios of new reflective bistable twisted nematic liquid crystal displays with rear quarter-wave film are optimized by means of a parameter space approach. Both the absolute reflectance and the wavelength dispersion of two bistable twisted states are investigated. The simulation results show that super-high contrast ratio, reflectance about 95% with polarized-light-input, large dΔn (0.63 μm) and little dispersion are possible for such reflective bistable liquid crystal display.

The formation of micellar nematics is discussed with emphasis on the transitions between nematic phases and nematic-smectic transitions. Phase diagrams for MTAB/l-decanol/D,O systems show a direct transition between uniaxial nematics. Electrical conductivity and birefringence measurements on a mixture of sodium decylsulfate. 1-decanol, D,O demonstrate, on the other hand, the existence of a biaxial nemantic range that separates the Uniaxial nematics. On a mixture of cesium perflouroctanoate and H2O the electrical conductivity and rotational viscosity are used to discuss the relevant features of nematic-lamellar-smectic transitions. The formation of elongated ribbon-like micelles at the nematic-smectic transition is suggested. Transitions between different nematic phases in the MTAB system may be connected with a structural change from long micelles with a fairly circular cross section to similar micelles with a more elliptical cross section.

Determining the extent of liver fibrosis has clinically been difficult due to the lack of a simple, objective method that can accurately quantify the amount of collagen in the diseased tissue. Second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy has been shown to produce bright and robust signals from non-centrosymmetric fibrillar collagen. We designed a SHG system that can objectively measure collagen presence in livers. In addition, we have developed a fully automated algorithm to quantify liver fibrosis in an efficient, standardized and reproducible manner. SHG microscopy was performed on livers harvested from bile duct ligated Wistar rats using a confocal microscope with a mode-locked Ti:Sapphire laser. Images acquired were later analyzed with Otsu method and a custom-developed, fully automated algorithm to measure area of fibers. Both the qualitative and quantitative progression of collagen over time was observed using SHG microscopy. We have compared the modified quantification algorithm with Otsu segmentation algorithm. With the modified algorithm, we have maintained greater amount of collagen after segmentation. We have also shown modified algorithm was able to identify the presence of finer collagen which was completely removed with the normal Otsu method. We have built an imaging system using state-of-the-art SHG microscopy. In addition, a fully-automated algorithm was developed to quantify collagen content in tissue to measure the presence of collagen in high accuracy. By combining SHG microscopy and our quantification algorithm, we can provide sensitive measurement for liver fibrosis which accurately reflects the progression of liver fibrosis, especially in early stages.

Fusion and deep-inelastic heavy-ion collisions are treated by Langevin equations within the framework of the surface friction model. Cross sections are calculated by Monte Carlo sampling of trajectories. An important result is that in contrast to what is usually assumed statistical fluctuations play a significant role in analysing heavy ion fusion data. It is demonstrated that in the analysis of deep-inelastic collisions the Langevin-Monte-Carlo method is more accurate than solving the corresponding Fokker-Planck equation by the usual moment expansion with the assumption of a gaussian distribution function.