Since late 2013, several outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection have emerged in Taiwan. Suckling piglets under 2 weeks of age showed severe vomiting and watery yellowish diarrhea with morbidity and mortality ranging from 80 to 100% and 90 to 100%, respectively. A total of 68 samples from 25 pig farms were confirmed as positive for PEDV and negative for rotavirus and transmissible gastroenteritis virus by reverse transcription PCR, and the partial S gene of PEDV was analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis places all 18 Taiwanese PEDV isolates collected during this outbreak in the same clade as the US strains of PEDV. This novel PEDV is prevailing and currently causing severe outbreaks in Taiwan.

The outcomes of feline coronavirus (FCoV) infection vary greatly from asymptomatic or mild enteric infection to fatal feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). On the basis of in vitro neutralization tests, FCoVs can be divided into two serotypes. To explore the correlation between different types of FCoV and FIP, clinical specimens collected from 363 naturally infected cats during 2003-2007 were analyzed. Amplification of a portion of the S gene from the FCoV was performed and a total of 222 cases were differentiated. Among them, 197 (88.7%) cats were type I-positive, 13 (5.9%) were type II-positive, and 12 (5.4%) were positive for both types. Irrespective of the predominance of type I FCoV infection in Taiwan, type II FCoV demonstrated a significantly higher correlation with FIP (p<0.01). Analysis of partial S gene sequences of the local type I and II FCoVs strains revealed that type I viruses were more genetically divergent (6.2-11.7%) than type II viruses (0.6-3.2%) within the 5-year study period. The higher genetic diversity of type I FCoVs might be due to the larger infected cat population and to the long period of viral persistence in asymptomatic cats in comparison to type II viruses.

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a fatal disease in domestic and nondomestic felids caused by feline coronavirus (FCoV). Currently, no effective vaccine is available for the prevention of this disease. In searching for agents that may prove clinically effective against FCoV infection, 16 compounds were screened for their antiviral activity against a local FCoV strain in Felis catus whole fetus-4 cells. The results showed that Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) and nelfinavir effectively inhibited FCoV replication. When the amount of virus preinoculated into the test cells was increased to mimic the high viral load present in the target cells of FIP cats, GNA and nelfinavir by themselves lost their inhibitory effect. However, when the two agents were added together to FCoV-infected cells, a synergistic antiviral effect defined by complete blockage of viral replication was observed. These results suggest that the combined use of GNA and nelfinavir has therapeutic potential in the prophylaxis and treatment of cats with early-diagnosed FIP.

Current ion separation based on membranes is limited by low selectivity for monovalent ions. Here, we propose that nacre-like asymmetrically structured membranes can rapidly conduct Li + through the composited channels, with the selectivity of Li + /Na + and Li + /K + up to 2.52 and 4.78, respectively. Experimental and theoretical results indicate that Li + shows an excellent permeation rate far higher than Na + , K + , Mg 2+ , and Ca 2+ due to its small radius and low charge. Moreover, the robustness and stability of membranes achieve use over many cycles.

The aprotic Li-CO 2 battery is emerging as a promising energy storage technology with the capability of CO 2 fixation and conversion. However, its practical applications are still impeded by the large overpotential. Herein, the general synthesis of a series of ultrathin 2D Ru-M (M = Co, Ni, and Cu) nanosheets by a facile one-pot solvothermal method is reported. As a proofof-concept application, the representative RuCo nanosheets are used as the cathode catalysts for Li-CO 2 batteries, which demonstrate a low charge voltage of 3.74 V, a small overpotential of 0.94 V, and hence a high energy efficiency of 75%. Ex/in situ studies and density functional theory calculations reveal that the excellent catalytic performance of RuCo nanosheets originates from the enhanced adsorption toward Li and CO 2 during discharge as well as the elevated electron interaction with Li 2 CO 3 during charge by the in-plane RuCo alloy structure. This work indicates the feasibility of boosting the electrochemical performance of Li-CO 2 batteries by in-plane metal alloy sites of ultrathin 2D alloy nanomaterials.