Backscattering suppression in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) is one of the central issues to reduce energy loss and signal distortion, enabling for capability improvement of modern information processing systems. Valley physics provides an intriguing way for robust information transfer and unidirectional coupling in topological nanophotonics. Here we realize topological transport in a SOI valley photonic crystal slab. Localized Berry curvature near zone corners guarantees the existence of valley-dependent edge states below light cone, maintaining in-plane robustness and light confinement simultaneously. Topologically robust transport at telecommunication is observed along two sharp-bend interfaces in subwavelength scale, showing flat-top high transmission of ~10% bandwidth. Topological photonic routing is achieved in a bearded-stack interface, due to unidirectional excitation of valley-chirality-locked edge state from the phase vortex of a nanoscale microdisk. These findings show the prototype of robustly integrated devices, and open a new door towards the observation of non-trivial states even in non-Hermitian systems.

An impressive clinical success has been observed in treating a variety of cancers using immunotherapy with programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) checkpoint blockade. However, limited response in most patients treated with anti-PD-1 antibodies remains a challenge, requiring better understanding of molecular mechanisms limiting immunotherapy. In colorectal cancer (CRC) resistant to immunotherapy, mismatch-repair-proficient or microsatellite instability-low (pMMR-MSI-L) tumors have low mutation burden and constitute~85% of patients. Here, we show that inhibition of N 6-methyladenosine (m 6 A) mRNA modification by depletion of methyltransferases, Mettl3 and Mettl14, enhanced response to anti-PD-1 treatment in pMMR-MSI-L CRC and melanoma. Mettl3or Mettl14-deficient tumors increased cytotoxic tumor-infiltrating CD8 + T cells and elevated secretion of IFN-c, Cxcl9, and Cxcl10 in tumor microenvironment in vivo. Mechanistically, Mettl3 or Mettl14 loss promoted IFN-c-Stat1-Irf1 signaling through stabilizing the Stat1 and Irf1 mRNA via Ythdf2. Finally, we found a negative correlation between METTL3 or METTL14 and STAT1 in 59 patients with pMMR-MSI-L CRC tumors. Altogether, our findings uncover a new awareness of the function of RNA methylation in adaptive immunity and provide METTL3 and METTL14 as potential therapeutic targets in anticancer immunotherapy.

Electrospinning has recently emerged as a leading technique for the formation of nanofibrous structures made of synthetic and natural extracellular matrix components. In this study, nanofibrous scaffolds were obtained by electrospinning a combination of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and type-I collagen in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-isopropanol (HIFP). The resulting fibers ranged from 300 to 600 nm in diameter. Their surfaces were characterized by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis and atomic force microscopy. The PHBV and collagen components of the PHBV/collagen nanofibrous scaffold were biodegraded by PHB depolymerase and a type-I collagenase aqueous solution, respectively. The cell culture experiments indicated that the PHBV/collagen nanofibrous scaffold accelerated the adhesion and growth of NIH3T3 cells more effectively than the PHBV nanofibrous scaffold, thus making the former a good scaffold for tissue engineering.

The objective of this study is to investigate an appropriate process to fabricate the wood-polyurethane hybrid composites [wood-polyurethane foam (PUF)]. Rigid PUFs that contain up to 20% wood flours were successfully fabricated from polymeric 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate, polyols, silicone surfactant, dibutin dilaurate/ dimethylethanolamine catalysts, and distilled water (chemical blowing agent). The effects of hydroxyl value of polyols, wood flour particle size, wood flour content, isocyanate index, and water amount on the compressive property of foam were investigated. The morphology of the cell was observed with a scanning electron microscope.Wood-PUF with different densities were prepared at different water contents in the wood flours. The relationship between the compressive property and density was established following the Power law. The incorporation of wood flour improved the compressive property of PUF, whereas its tensile and flexural properties were reduced. The thermal stability of the PUF was improved with the addition of wood flour.

In order to investigate the clinical features of pregnant women and their neonates with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the evidence of vertical transmission of COVID-19, we retrieved studies included in PubMed, Medline and Chinese databases from January 1, 2000 to October 25, 2020 using relevant terms, such as 'COVID-19', 'vertical transmission' et al. in 'Title/Abstract'. Case reports and case series were included according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. We conducted literature screening and data extraction, and performed literature bias risk assessment. Total of 13 case series and 16 case reports were collected, including a total of 564 pregnant women with COVID-19 and their 555 neonates, of which 549 neonates received nucleic acid test for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and 18 neonates was diagnosed with COVID-19. The positive rate is 3.28%. Amniotic fluid of one woman was tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The majority of infected neonates were born under strict infection control and received isolation and artificial feeding. Up till now, there is no sufficient evidence to exclude the possibility of vertical transmission for COVID-19 based on the current available data.