Background: An outbreak of pneumonia associated with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan city and then to other city. It is very urgent to delineate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of these affected patients. Methods: To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of the COVID-19, we describe a case series of 459 patients with con rmed COVID-19 in WZ of China from January 27 to February 12, 2020. Results: The median age of all patients was 48.0 years, and 46.8% were females. 37.5% of patients had a history of residence in Wuhan. Fever (72.1%) and cough (43.6%) were the most frequent symptoms. In addition, three kinds of unconventional cases were observed, in which included 4.4% con rmed virus carrier who were asymptomatic, 7.8% con rmed patients who had no link to Wuhan city but contact with individuals from Wuhan without any symptoms at the time of contact, and 10.7% con rmed patients who had no link to Wuhan city nor a history of intimate contact with patients or individuals from Wuhan without any symptoms, respectively. Conclusion: Our ndings presented the possibility of asymptomatic carriers affected with SARS-CoV-2, and this phenomenon suggested that chances of uncontrollable transmission in the larger population might be higher than formerly estimated, and transmission by these three kinds of unconventional patients in WZ may be one of the characteristics of infection in other Chinese cities outside the Wuhan epidemic area.

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field

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Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have attracted tremendous interest because of their high theoretical energy density and cost effectiveness. The target of Li-S battery research is to produce batteries with a high useful energy density that at least outperforms state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. However, due to an intrinsic gap between fundamental research and practical applications, the outstanding electrochemical results obtained in most Li-S battery studies indeed correspond to low useful energy densities and are not really suitable for practical requirements. The Li-S battery is a complex device and its useful energy density is determined by a number of design parameters, most of which are often ignored, leading to the failure to meet commercial requirements. The purpose of this review is to discuss how to pave the way for reliable Li-S batteries. First, the current research status of Li-S batteries is briefly reviewed based on statistical information obtained from literature. This includes an analysis of how the various parameters influence the useful energy density and a summary of existing problems in the current Li-S battery research. Possible solutions and some concerns regarding the construction of reliable Li-S batteries are comprehensively discussed. Finally, insights are offered on the future directions and prospects in Li-S battery field.

A unique sandwich structure is designed with pure sulfur between two graphene membranes, which are continuously produced over a large area, as a very simple but effective approach for the fabrication of Li–S batteries with ultrafast charge/discharge rates and long lifetimes.

Compared with the cases in Wuhan, 80 imported cases of COVID-19 in Jiangsu Province exhibited mild or moderate symptoms and no obvious gender susceptivity, lower proportion of liver dysfunction and abnormal CT imaging and higher frequency nucleic acid detection. AbstractBackground. We aimed to report the clinical characteristics of imported coronavirus disease-19 in Jiangsu Province. Methods.We retrospectively investigated the clinical, imaging, and laboratory characteristics of confirmed cases of COVID-19 with WHO interim guidance in three Grade ⅢA hospitals of Jiangsu from Jan 22 to Feb 14, 2020. Real time RT-PCR was used to detect the new coronavirus in respiratory samples. Results.Of the 80 patients infected with COVID-19, 41 patients were female, with a median age of 46.1 years. Except for 3 severe patients, the rest of the 77 patients exhibited mild or moderate symptoms. 9 patients were unconfirmed until a third-time nucleic acid test. 38 cases had a history of chronic diseases. The main clinical manifestations of the patients were fever and cough, which accounted for 63 cases (78.75%) and 51 cases (-63.75%) respectively.Only 3 patients (3.75%) showed liver dysfunction. Imaging examination showed that 55 patients (-68.75%) showed abnormal, 25 cases (31.25%) had no abnormal density shadow in the parenchyma of both lungs. Up to now, 21 cases were discharged from the hospital, and no patient died. The average length of stay for discharged patients was 8 days. Conclusions.Compared with the cases in Wuhan, the cases in Jiangsu exhibited mild or moderate symptoms and no obvious gender susceptivity. The proportion of patients having liver dysfunction and abnormal CT imaging was relatively lower than that of Wuhan.Notably, infected patients may be falsely excluded based on two consecutively negative respiratory pathogenic nucleic acid test results.

Single-crystal ZnO nanowires are synthesized using a vapor trapping chemical vapor deposition method and configured as field-effect transistors. Electrical transport studies show n-type semiconducting behavior with a carrier concentration of ∼107cm−1 and an electron mobility of ∼17cm2∕Vs. The contact Schottky barrier between the Au/Ni electrode and nanowire is determined from the temperature dependence of the conductance. Thermionic emission is found to dominate the transport mechanism. The effect of oxygen adsorption on electron transport through the nanowires is investigated. The sensitivity to oxygen is demonstrated to be higher with smaller radii nanowires. Moreover, the oxygen detection sensitivity can be modulated by the gate voltage. These results indicate that ZnO holds high potential for nanoscale sensing applications.

Materials exhibiting high energy/power density are currently needed to meet the growing demand of portable electronics, electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage devices. The highest energy densities are achieved for fuel cells, batteries, and supercapacitors, but conventional dielectric capacitors are receiving increased attention for pulsed power applications due to their high power density and their fast charge–discharge speed. The key to high energy density in dielectric capacitors is a large maximum but small remanent (zero in the case of linear dielectrics) polarization and a high electric breakdown strength. Polymer dielectric capacitors offer high power/energy density for applications at room temperature, but above 100 °C they are unreliable and suffer from dielectric breakdown. For high-temperature applications, therefore, dielectric ceramics are the only feasible alternative. Lead-based ceramics such as La-doped lead zirconate titanate exhibit good energy storage properties, but their toxicity raises concern over their use in consumer applications, where capacitors are exclusively lead free. Lead-free compositions with superior power density are thus required. In this paper, we introduce the fundamental principles of energy storage in dielectrics. We discuss key factors to improve energy storage properties such as the control of local structure, phase assemblage, dielectric layer thickness, microstructure, conductivity, and electrical homogeneity through the choice of base systems, dopants, and alloying additions, followed by a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art. Finally, we comment on the future requirements for new materials in high power/energy density capacitor applications.