Background: Immunologic dysfunction due to coronavirus disease 2019 is closely related to clinical prognosis, and the inflammatory response of pregnant women may affect the directional differentiation and function of fetal immune cells.Objective: We sought to analyze the immune status of newborns from mothers with COVID-19 in the third trimester. Methods: Along with collecting the clinical data from 51 newborns and their respective mothers, we recorded the immunophenotypes and cytokine and immunoglobulin levels of the newborns. Results: None of the 51 newborns showed fever or respiratory distress during hospitalization. Detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 nucleic acid in pharyngeal swabs was negative. Except for the low level of CD16-CD56 cells, the count and proportion of lymphocytes, CD3, CD4, CD8, and CD19 were all in the normal range. Moreover, the serum IgG and IgM levels were within the normal range, whereas IL-6 showed increased levels. There was no correlation between maternal COVID-19 duration and the lymphocyte subsets or cytokine levels (IFN-g, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-a). There was a positive correlation between IL-6 and IL-10 levels and CD16-CD56 cells. One (1.96%) infant with an extremely elevated IL-6 concentration developed necrotizing enterocolitis in the third week after birth, and the remaining 50 infants did not show abnormal symptoms through the end of the follow-up period. Conclusions: COVID-19 in the third trimester did not significantly affect the cellular and humoral immunity of the fetus, and there was no evidence that the differentiation of lymphocyte subsets was seriously unbalanced.

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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most important pathogen correlated to the first-time infant wheezing and later recurrence after its primary infection. RSV infection promotes the bronchial smooth muscle sensitivity to leukotrienes (LTs) in acute stage, causes the extensive inflammatory reaction and the aggregation of Th2-like cells during respiratory tract obstruction. Infants and young children infected with RSV exhibit an increased susceptibility to the exposure of exogenous allergens, easy to suffer from the recurrent wheezing, which prompts that the body is still in a state of inflammation or immunological bias. However, the pathological mechanism is unclear. The recent researches demonstrate that abnormal expression of non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) can be detected from the peripheral blood and airway tract epithelial of RSV infected infants, which participate the regulation of immune cells polarization and LTs synthesis. Improving the immune tolerance can significantly relieve the airway inflammation and broncho-spasm caused by RSV. In this review, we discuss recent advances in understanding the mechanism of RSV-induced inflammatory reaction and immune dysfunction leading to airway hyper-reactivity. Further, we summarize the potential molecular basis that, in this process, miRNAs, which are produced by airway epithelial cells or peripheral blood mononuclear cells, directly or in the form of exosome to regulate the inflammation programs as well as the function, differentiation and proliferation of immune cells. miRNAs may become a potential bio-marker of detecting severe RSV infection and a novel target of early intervention and therapeutic strategy in recurrent wheezing or asthma related to RSV infection.

New tricyanopyrroline (TCP) chromophores with rigid–flexible dendron were prepared for second‐order nonlinear optical (NLO) application. The chromophores were fully characterized using ultraviolet‐visible spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the chromophores had excellent thermal stability. Large λmax and high solvate chromic effects revealed that the chromophores had large second‐order optical nonlinearity. The electro‐optic coefficients (r33) were measured in the chromophores‐doped poly(bisphenol A carbonate) films at the fundamental wavelength of 1310 nm, and the highest γ33 achieved was 217 pmV−1. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.