"The COVID-19 pandemic in BRICS: Milestones, interventions, and molecular epidemiology".

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) are a group of developing countries with shared economic, healthcare, and scientific interests. These countries navigate multiple syndemics, and the COVID-19 pandemic placed severe strain on already burdened BRICS' healthcare systems, hampering effective pandemic interventions. Genomic surveillance and molecular epidemiology remain indispensable tools for facilitating informed pandemic intervention.

Monitoring Partial EMT Dynamics through Cell Mechanics Using Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy.

Tumor cells undergo an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) accompanied by a reduction in elasticity to initiate metastasis. However, , tumor cells typically exhibit partial EMT rather than fully EMT. Whether cell mechanics can accurately identify the status of partial EMT, especially the dynamic process, remains unclear.

Melanin resistance of heat-processed ginsenosides from Panax ginseng berry treated with citric acid through autophagy pathway.

GFRS is the conversion product of Panax ginseng Meyer berry after citric acid heat treatment, which is rich in rare ginsenosides. However, the anti-melanin role of GFRS in the regulation of skin pigmentation and its material basis remains unclear. To compare the anti-melanin activity before and after citric acid heat treatment, we determined the effects of GFS and GFRS on tyrosinase activity and melanin lever under α-MSH stimulation and found the potential anti-melanin effect of GFRS.

Distinct SARS-CoV-2 populational immune backgrounds tolerate divergent RBD evolutionary preferences.

Immune evasion is a pivotal force shaping the evolution of viruses. Nonetheless, the extent to which virus evolution varies among populations with diverse immune backgrounds remains an unsolved mystery. Prior to the widespread SARS-CoV-2 infections in December 2022 and January 2023, the Chinese population possessed a markedly distinct (less potent) immune background due to its low infection rate, compared to countries experiencing multiple infection waves, presenting an unprecedented opportunity to investigate how the virus has evolved under different immune contexts.

Research on one-dimensional phase change heat transfer characteristics based on instrument compartment structure.

To address the issue of electronic equipment failure inside the instrument compartment due to aerodynamic heating during high-speed flight. Combining the heat transfer characteristics of phase change materials, a new instrument compartment structure was proposed as the research subject based on phase change materials. While studying the heat transfer characteristics of this structure, one-dimensional phase change heat transfer theoretical model was constructed based on the Lightfoot integral equation method, and the corresponding analytical solution was obtained.

Highly diverse sputum microbiota correlates with the disease severity in patients with community-acquired pneumonia: a longitudinal cohort study.

Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common and serious condition that can be caused by a variety of pathogens. However, much remains unknown about how these pathogens interact with the lower respiratory commensals, and whether any correlation exists between the dysbiosis of the lower respiratory microbiota and disease severity and prognosis.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to investigate the composition and dynamics of sputum microbiota in patients diagnosed with CAP.

Gut Microbiota Improves Prognostic Prediction in Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients Alongside Immunological and Hematological Indicators.

The gut microbiota undergoes substantial changes in COVID-19 patients; yet, the utility of these alterations as prognostic biomarkers at the time of hospital admission, and its correlation with immunological and hematological parameters, remains unclear. The objective of this study is to investigate the gut microbiota's dynamic change in critically ill patients with COVID-19 and evaluate its predictive capability for clinical outcomes alongside immunological and hematological parameters. In this study, anal swabs were consecutively collected from 192 COVID-19 patients (583 samples) upon hospital admission for metagenome sequencing.

Unveiling Patient Trust in Physicians Across China: Insights from a Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Trust is a major factor affecting patient-physician relationship and healthcare quality. However, there has been a lack of comprehensive study on the extent of and major factors affecting patient trust in healthcare providers of China, the world's largest developing country. The objective of this study is to elucidate the current status of outpatient trust in physicians in China and its influencing factors, providing empirical evidence to enhance doctor-patient trust and improve doctor-patient relationships.

Impact of typhoon events on microplastic distribution in offshore sediments in Leizhou Peninsula of the South China Sea.

Microplastic is an emerging pollutant and a technical fossil in Anthropocene sediments. Typhoon frequency and intensity have increased due to climate change, which has a major effect on the distribution patterns of microplastics. It is still unknown, though, how the topography of the peninsula affects the reconstruction of the distribution of microplastic in typhoons.

PySNV for complex intra-host variation detection.

Motivation: Intra-host variants refer to genetic variations or mutations that occur within an individual host organism. These variants are typically studied in the context of viruses, bacteria, or other pathogens to understand the evolution of pathogens. Moreover, intra-host variants are also explored in the field of tumor biology and mitochondrial biology to characterize somatic mutations and inherited heteroplasmic mutations.

Genome-scale acting catabolite-responsive element editing confers LG3145 plant-beneficial functions.

Rhizosphere dwelling microorganism such as spp. are helpful for crop growth. However, these functions are adversely affected by long-term synthetic fertilizer application.

Environment change recorded by lake sediment magnetism in the Songnen Plain, northeastern China.

Stratigraphic determination of the Anthropocene, the "Great Acceleration", requires more key globally synchronous stratigraphic markers which reflect the significant human impacts on Earth. Lacustrine sediment magnetic characteristics are of considerable importance in Anthropocene studies because they respond sensitively to environmental changes. There are many shallow lakes in the Songnen Plain (SNP) in northeast China, which are conducive to obtaining Anthropocene sedimentary records.

Population-level variation in gut bifidobacterial composition and association with geography, age, ethnicity, and staple food.

Bifidobacteria are key gut commensals that confer various health benefits and are commonly used as probiotics. However, little is known about the population-level variation in gut bifidobacterial composition and its affecting factors. Therefore, we analyzed Bifidobacterium species with amplicon sequencing of the groEL gene on fecal samples of 1674 healthy individuals, who belonged to eight ethnic groups and resided in 60 counties/cities of 28 provinces across China.

In vitro inhalation bioaccessibility and health risk assessment of difenoconazole in the atmosphere.

Background: Assessment of the risk of pesticide inhalation in populations around farmland is necessary because inhalation is one of the ways in which pesticides can risk human health. This study aimed to identify the inhalation risk of difenoconazole on humans by using dose-response and exposure assessments.

Results: In the field simulation application, respiratory exposure in populations around farmland ranged from 71 to 430 ng/m .

A fast and accurate method for SARS-CoV-2 genomic tracing.

To contain infectious diseases, it is crucial to determine the origin and transmission routes of the pathogen, as well as how the virus evolves. With the development of genome sequencing technology, genome epidemiology has emerged as a powerful approach for investigating the source and transmission of pathogens. In this study, we first presented the rationale for genomic tracing of SARS-CoV-2 and the challenges we currently face.

Immune evasion and ACE2 binding affinity contribute to SARS-CoV-2 evolution.

Mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome could confer resistance to pre-existing antibodies and/or increased transmissibility. The recently emerged Omicron subvariants exhibit a strong tendency for immune evasion, suggesting adaptive evolution. However, because previous studies have been limited to specific lineages or subsets of mutations, the overall evolutionary trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 and the underlying driving forces are still not fully understood.

Water-Stable Hybrid Lead-Free Perovskite for Negative Temperature Coefficient Thermistors.

Negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors feature higher sensitivities and faster response speeds and thereby have particular applications in many fields. However, current NTC thermistors are mostly based on inorganic ceramic materials, which show obvious drawbacks in material synthesis, property modulation, and flexible film fabrication. Herein, we report, for the first time, the promising application of an inorganic-organic hybrid NTC thermistor.

CRISPR-Cas13d effectively targets SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Delta and Omicron, and inhibits viral infection.

The recent pandemic of variants of concern (VOC) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) highlights the need for innovative anti-SARS-CoV-2 approaches in addition to vaccines and antiviral therapeutics. Here, we demonstrate that a CRISPR-Cas13-based strategy against SARS-CoV-2 can effectively degrade viral RNA. First, we conducted a cytological infection experiment, screened CRISPR-associated RNAs (crRNAs) targeting conserved regions of viruses, and used an in vitro system to validate functional crRNAs.

Hardness-and-Type Recognition of Different Objects Based on a Novel Porous Graphene Flexible Tactile Sensor Array.

Accurately recognizing the hardness and type of different objects by tactile sensors is of great significance in human-machine interaction. In this paper, a novel porous graphene flexible tactile sensor array with great performance is designed and fabricated, and it is mounted on a two-finger mechanical actuator. This is used to detect various tactile sequence features from different objects by slightly squeezing them by 2 mm.

Genomic Analysis of the Suspicious SARS-CoV-2 Sequences in the Public Sequencing Database.

SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 600 million people. However, the origin of the virus is still unclear; knowing where the virus came from could help us prevent future zoonotic epidemics. Sequencing data, particularly metagenomic data, can profile the genomes of all species in the sample, including those not recognized at the time, thus allowing for the identification of the progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 in samples collected before the pandemic.

Correlation analysis between the occurrence of epidemic in ancient China and solar activity.

As the globe has witnessed the pandemic, epidemic diseases exert a strong impact on human beings and ecosystems. Since the Sun is the primary energy source of the Earth, some scientific pioneers attempted to search for the discernible relation between solar activity and the incidence of epidemics. In this study, the periodic changes and trends of ancient Chinese epidemic data were analyzed in comparison with those of sunspot numbers, a solar activity proxy.

Temporal dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 genome mutations that occurred on an aircraft.

We analyzed variations in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome during a flight-related cluster outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Shenzhen, China, to explore the characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and intra-host single nucleotide variations (iSNVs) in a confined space. Thirty-three patients with COVID-19 were sampled, and 14 were resampled 3-31 days later. All 47 nasopharyngeal swabs were deep-sequenced.

Toward efficient and high-fidelity metagenomic data from sub-nanogram DNA: evaluation of library preparation and decontamination methods.

Background: Shotgun metagenomic sequencing has greatly expanded the understanding of microbial communities in various biological niches. However, it is still challenging to efficiently convert sub-nanogram DNA to high-quality metagenomic libraries and obtain high-fidelity data, hindering the exploration of niches with low microbial biomass.

Results: To cope with this challenge comprehensively, we evaluated the performance of various library preparation methods on 0.