Higher-order exceptional points and enhanced polarization sensitivity in anisotropic photonic time-Floquet crystals.

We realized fourth-order exceptional points (EP-4s) in the quasienergy bands of anisotropic photonic time-Floquet crystals (APTCs), where the full in-plane permittivity tensors are periodically modulated in time. We developed the Floquet matrix method for APTCs, which provides a comprehensive study of the generation and characteristics of EP-4s. It is shown that an EP-4 is formed by the coalescence of three second-order exceptional points (EP-2s), which are classified into two types based on the band slopes near them.

Kerker-type positional disorder immune metasurfaces.

Metasurfaces that can operate without a strictly periodic arrangement of meta-atoms are highly desirable for practical optical micro-nano devices. In this paper, we propose two kinds of Kerker-type metasurfaces that exhibit immunity to positional disorder. These metasurfaces consist of two distinct core-shell cylinders that satisfy the first and second Kerker conditions, respectively.

Efficient free-space to on-chip coupling of THz-bandwidth pulses for biomolecule fingerprint sensing.

Wide bandwidth THz pulses can be used to record the distinctive spectral fingerprints related to the vibrational or rotational modes of polycrystalline biomolecules, and can be used to resolve the time-dependent dynamics of such systems. Waveguides, owing to their tight spatial confinement of the electromagnetic fields and the longer interaction distance, are promising platforms with which to study small volumes of such systems. The efficient input of sub-ps THz pulses into waveguides is challenging owing to the wide bandwidth of the THz signal.

Tunable bilayer dielectric metasurface via stacking magnetic mirrors.

Functional tunability, environmental adaptability, and easy fabrication are highly desired properties in metasurfaces. Here we provide a tunable bilayer metasurface composed of two stacked identical dielectric magnetic mirrors. The magnetic mirrors are excited by the interaction between the interference of multipoles of each cylinder and the lattice resonance of the periodic array, which exhibits nonlocal electric field enhancement near the interface and high reflection.

S100P promotes trophoblast syncytialization during early placenta development by regulating YAP1.

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is a severe complication of pregnancy that is caused by genetic abnormalities, immune dysfunction, aberrant cell biology, and tissue structure destruction. Among which, placental dysfunction is crucial in the pathogenetic progression of RPL. Although some regulatory factors associated with RPL have been reported, the placental changes correlated with RPL still need to be elucidated.

Characterization of human IgM and IgG repertoires in individuals with chronic HIV-1 infection.

Advancements in high-throughput sequencing (HTS) of antibody repertoires (Ig-Seq) have unprecedentedly improved our ability to characterize the antibody repertoires on a large scale. However, currently, only a few studies explored the influence of chronic HIV-1 infection on human antibody repertoires and many of them reached contradictory conclusions, possibly limited by inadequate sequencing depth and throughput. To better understand how HIV-1 infection would impact humoral immune system, in this study, we systematically analyzed the differences between the IgM (HIV-IgM) and IgG (HIV-IgG) heavy chain repertoires of HIV-1 infected patients, as well as between antibody repertoires of HIV-1 patients and healthy donors (HH).

Multilayer for Radiative Cooling and Heating in Double-Side Photonic Thermal System.

The temperature of outdoor structures, such as automobiles, buildings, and clothing, can be tuned by designing photonic properties. However, particular challenges arise when considering the temperature of an object itself rather than the enclosure in these outdoor structures. We present a double-side photonic thermal (DSPT) system.

Lower Somatic Mutation Levels in the Light-Chain Repertoires with Chronic HBV Infection.

To investigate the characteristics of the immunoglobulin light-chain repertoires with chronic HBV infection, the high-throughput sequencing and IMGT/HighV-QUEST were adapted to analyze the (IgK) and (IgL) light-chain repertoires from the inactive HBV carriers (IHB) and the healthy adults (HH). The comparative analysis revealed high similarity between the light-chain repertoires of the HBV carriers and the healthy adults. Nevertheless, the proportion of IGLV genes with ≥90% identity as the germline genes was higher in the IgL light-chain repertoire of the IHB library compared with that of HH library (74.

Decrease of Clone Diversity in IgM Repertoires of HBV Chronically Infected Individuals With High Level of Viral Replication.

High-throughput antibody sequencing allows in-depth insights into human antibody repertoires. To investigate the characteristics of antibody repertoires in patients with chronic HBV infection, we performed Illumina sequencing and IMGT/HighV-QUEST analysis of B lymphocytes from healthy adults and the HBV carriers with high or low level of viral replication. The comparative study revealed high levels of similarity between the IgM and IgG repertoires of the HBV carriers and the healthy adults, including the somatic mutations in V regions, the average CDR3 length, and the occurrence of junctional modifications.

Substrate integrated Bragg waveguide: an octave-bandwidth single-mode hybrid transmission line for millimeter-wave applications.

We demonstrate an air-core single-mode hollow hybrid waveguide that uses Bragg reflector structures in place of the vertical metal walls of the standard rectangular waveguide or via holes of the so-called substrate integrated waveguide. The high-order modes in the waveguide are substantially suppressed by a modal-filtering effect, making the waveguide operate in the fundamental mode over more than one octave. Numerical simulations show that the propagation loss of the proposed waveguide can be lower than that of classic hollow metallic rectangular waveguides at terahertz frequencies, benefiting from a significant reduction in Ohmic loss.

Recent Progress on Neutralizing Antibodies against Hepatitis B Virus and its Implications.

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a global health problem. As "cure" for chronic hepatitis B is of current priority, hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) has been utilized for several decades to provide post-exposure prophylaxis. In recent years, a number of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting HBV have been developed and demonstrated with high affinity, specificity, and neutralizing potency.

In-Depth Analysis of Human Neonatal and Adult IgM Antibody Repertoires.

Although high-throughput sequencing and associated bioinformatics technologies have enabled the in-depth, sequence-based characterization of human immune repertoires, only a few studies on a relatively small number of sequences explored the characteristics of antibody repertoires in neonates, with contradictory conclusions. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the human IgM antibody repertoire, we performed Illumina sequencing and IMGT/HighV-QUEST analysis of IgM heavy chain repertoire of the B lymphocytes from the cord blood (CB) of neonates, as well as the repertoire from peripheral blood of healthy human adults (HH). The comparative study revealed unexpectedly high levels of similarity between the neonatal and adult repertoires.

Engineered Soluble Monomeric IgG1 Fc with Significantly Decreased Non-Specific Binding.

Due to the long serum half-life provided by the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) recycling, the IgG1 Fc has been pursued as the fusion partner to develop therapeutic Fc-fusion proteins, or as the antibody-derived scaffold that could be engineered with antigen-binding capabilities. In previous studies, we engineered the monomeric Fc by mutating critical residues located on the IgG1 Fc dimerization interface. Comparing with the wild-type dimeric Fc, monomeric Fc might possess substantial advantages conferred by its smaller size, but also suffers the disadvantage of non-specific binding to some unrelated antigens, raising considerable concerns over its potential clinical development.

Neutralization of Zika virus by germline-like human monoclonal antibodies targeting cryptic epitopes on envelope domain III.

The Zika virus (ZIKV), a flavivirus transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, has emerged as a global public health concern. Pre-existing cross-reactive antibodies against other flaviviruses could modulate immune responses to ZIKV infection by antibody-dependent enhancement, highlighting the importance of understanding the immunogenicity of the ZIKV envelope protein. In this study, we identified a panel of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that target domain III (DIII) of the ZIKV envelope protein from a very large phage-display naive antibody library.

A Potent Germline-like Human Monoclonal Antibody Targets a pH-Sensitive Epitope on H7N9 Influenza Hemagglutinin.

The H7N9 influenza virus causes high-mortality disease in humans but no effective therapeutics are available. Here we report a human monoclonal antibody, m826, that binds to H7 hemagglutinin (HA) and protects against H7N9 infection. m826 binds to H7N9 HA with subnanomolar affinity at acidic pH and 10-fold lower affinity at neutral pH.

Association of rs1478605 T>C in 5'-untranslated regions with the development and progression of gastric cancer.

Thrombospondin 1 (THBS1) plays an important role in angiogenesis and tumor progression. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs1478605 and rs3743125) in the untranslated regions of the gene on the development and progression of gastric cancer. In the case-control study, 275 gastric cancer patients and 275 cancer-free controls were successfully genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Fluorescent oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene) contained amphiphiles-encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles for targeted magnetic resonance and two-photon optical imaging in vitro and in vivo.

Folate receptor-targeted multifunctional fluorescent magnetic nanoparticles (FMNPs) composed of cores containing iron oxide nanocrystals and amphiphilic oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene) shells with multimodal imaging capability were successfully prepared through a convenient hydrophobic encapsulation approach. The iron oxide nanoparticles in the core provided T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), whereas the amphiphilic oligomers on the surface of the nanoparticles introduced good water-solubility, biocompatibility, excellent fluorescent properties and cancer-targeting. These nanoparticles exhibited superparamagnetic properties with saturation magnetization (Ms) of 23 emu g(-1) and a transverse relaxivity rate of 140.