The interlayer modification and the intercalation pseudocapacitance have been combined in vanadium oxide electrode for aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Intercalation pseudocapacitive hydrated vanadium oxide Mn 1.4 V 10 O 24 •12H 2 O with defective crystal structure, interlayer water, and large interlayer distance has been prepared by a spontaneous chemical synthesis method. The inserted Mn 2+ forms coordination bonds with the oxygen of the host material and strengthens the interaction between the layers, preventing damage to the structure. Combined with the experimental data and DFT calculation, it is found that Mn 2+ refines the structure stability, adjusts the electronic structure, and improves the conductivity of hydrated vanadium oxide. Also, Mn 2+ changes the migration path of Zn 2+ , reduces the migration barrier, and improves the rate performance. Therefore, Mn 2+ -inserted hydrated vanadium oxide electrode delivers a high specific capacity of 456 mAh g −1 at 0.2 A g -1 , 173 mAh g -1 at 40 A g -1 , and a capacity retention of 80% over 5000 cycles at 10 A g -1 . Furthermore, based on the calculated zinc ion mobility coefficient and Zn(H 2 O) n 2+ diffusion energy barrier, the possible migration behavior of Zn(H 2 O) n 2+ in vanadium oxide electrode has also been speculated, which will provide a new reference for understanding the migration behavior of hydrated zinc-ion.

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Light‐driven swimming particles hold great potential in wide applications ranging from next‐generation drug delivery to versatile microrobotic devices. It is desired that the self‐propelled microparticles should swim not only autonomously but also directionally to achieve their goals in their potential applications. This paper presents the first example of fully organic colloidal particles of a spiropyran‐terminated hyperbranched polymer that can be driven and meanwhile steered by a UV light source, swimming straight towards the UV source. The mean‐square velocities of the photochromic suspension particles are about 20 μm s−1, and increase to about 54 μm s−1 with the addition of NaCl of 0.5%. The phototactic propulsion is supposed to be originated from the UV irradiation‐induced interfacial tension gradient on the surface of the colloidal particles. This finding allows for the design of new microengines for next‐generation drug delivery systems, microrobotic devices, and self‐adaptive photocatalysts, etc.

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Due to potential risks to the environment and human health arising from pathogens/chemical contaminants, novel devices are being developed for rapid and precise detection of those contaminants. Here, we demonstrate highly sensitive and selective field-effect transistor (FET) sensor devices for detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria using thermally reduced monolayer graphene oxide (TRMGO) sheets as semiconducting channels. The graphene oxide (GO) sheets are assembled on the aminoethanethiol (AET)-functionalized gold (Au) electrodes through electrostatic interactions with ultrasonic assistance. Anti-Escherichia coli (anti-E. coli) antibodies are used as receptors for selective detection of E. coli cells and integrated on the FET device through covalent bonding with Au nanoparticles on the GO surface. The TRMGO FET device shows great electronic stability and high sensitivity to E. coli cells with a concentration as low as 10 colony-forming units (cfu) per mL. The biosensing platform reported here is promising for large-scale, sensitive, selective, low-cost, and real-time detection of E. coli bacteria.

Duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV) is a newly emerging pathogenic flavivirus that is causing massive economic loss in the Chinese duck industry. To obtain a live vaccine candidate against the disease, the DTMUV isolate FX2010 was passaged serially in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs). Characterization of FX2010-180P revealed that it was unable to replicate efficiently in chicken embryonated eggs, nor intranasally infect mice or shelducks at high doses of 5.5log10 tissue culture infectious doses (TCID50). FX2010-180P did not induce clinical symptoms, or pathological lesions in ducks at a dose of 5.5log10TCID50. The attenuation of FX2010-180P was due to 19 amino acid changes and 15 synonymous mutations. Importantly, FX2010-180P elicited good immune responses in ducks inoculated at low doses (3.5log10TCID50) and provided complete protection against challenge with a virulent strain. These results indicate that FX2010-180P is a promising candidate live vaccine for prevention of duck Tembusu viral disease.

BackgroundSince April 2010, domesticated ducks in China have been suffering from an emerging infectious disease characterized by retarded growth, high fever, loss of appetite, decline in egg production, and death. The causative agent was identified as a duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV), a member of the Ntaya virus (NTAV) group within the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. DTMUV is highly contagious and spreads rapidly in many species of ducks. More than 10 million shelducks have been infected and approximately 1 million died in 2010. The disease remains a constant threat to the duck industry; however, it is not known whether DTMUV can infect humans or other mammalians, despite the fact that the virus has spread widely in southeast China, one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The lack of reliable methods to detect the serum antibodies against DTMUV has limited our ability to conduct epidemiological investigations in various natural hosts and to evaluate the efficiency of vaccines to DTMUV.Methodology/Principal FindingsA neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) 1F5 binding specifically to the E protein was developed. Based on the mAb, a blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for the detection of neutralizing antibodies against DTMUV. The average value of percent inhibition (PI) of 350 duck serum samples obtained from DTMUV-free farms was 1.0% ±5.8% (mean ± SD). The selected cut-off PI values for negative and positive sera were 12.6% (mean +2SD) and 18.4% (mean +3SD), respectively. When compared with a serum neutralizing antibody test (SNT) using chicken embryonated eggs, the rate of coincidence was 70.6% between the blocking ELISA and SNT, based on the titration of 20 duck DTMUV-positive serum samples.Conclusions/SignificanceThe blocking ELISA based on a neutralizing mAb allowed rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of neutralization-related antibodies against DTMUV.

Anti-HER2/neu antibody therapy has been reported to mediate tumor regression of HER2/ neu+ tumors. Here we demonstrated the expression of HER2 in a wide range of human melanoma cells including a primary culture and seven cell lines, and we further investigated whether HER2 could be served as a target for T cell mediated immunotherapy of human melanoma. Specific cytolytic activity of activated T cells (ATC) armed with anti-CD3 x anti-HER2 bispecific antibody (HER2Bi-Ab) against Malme-3M-luc cells was evaluated by bioluminescent signal generated by luciferase reporter which did not alter HER2 expression or proliferation ability of Malme-3M cells. Contrast with unarmed ATC, increased cytotoxic activity of HER2Bi-armed ATC against Malme-3M-luc cells was observed at effector/target (E/T) ratios of 1:1, 5:1, and 20:1. Moreover, HER2Bi-armed ATC expressed higher level of activation marker CD69 and secreted significantly higher level of IFN-γ than unarmed ATC counterpart at the E/T ratio of 20:1. In addition, compared with anti-HER2 mAb (Herceptin®) or unarmed ATC, HER2Bi-armed ATC showed remarkable suppression effect on Malme-3M-luc tumor cells. Furthermore, in melanoma tumor cell xenograft mice, infusion of HER2Bi-armed ATC successfully inhibited the growth of melanoma tumors. The anti-tumor effect of HER2Bi-armed ATC may provide a promising immunotherapy for melanoma in the future.