SARS-CoV-2 vaccination has been launched worldwide to build effective population-level immunity to curb the spread of this virus. The effectiveness and duration of protective immunity is a critical factor for public health. Here, we report the kinetics of the SARS-CoV-2 specific immune response in 204 individuals up to 1-year after recovery from COVID-19. RBD-IgG and full-length spike-IgG concentrations and serum neutralizing capacity decreases during the first 6-months, but is maintained stably up to 1-year after hospital discharge. Even individuals who had generated high IgG levels during early convalescent stages had IgG levels that had decreased to a similar level one year later. Notably, the RBD-IgG level positively correlates with serum neutralizing capacity, suggesting the representative role of RBD-IgG in predicting serum protection. Moreover, viral-specific cellular immune protection, including spike and nucleoprotein specific, persisted between 6 months and 12 months. Altogether, our study supports the persistence of viral-specific protective immunity over 1 year.

Approximately 15–20% of COVID-19 patients will develop severe pneumonia, and about 10% of these will die if not properly managed. Earlier discrimination of potentially severe patients basing on routine clinical and laboratory changes and commencement of prophylactical management will not only save lives but also mitigate the otherwise overwhelming healthcare burden. In this retrospective investigation, the clinical and laboratory features were collected from 125 COVID-19 patients who were classified into mild (93 cases) or severe (32 cases) groups according to their clinical outcomes after 3–7 days post-admission. The subsequent analysis with single-factor and multivariate logistic regression methods indicated that 17 factors on admission differed significantly between mild and severe groups but that only comorbidity with underlying diseases, increased respiratory rate (>24/min), elevated C-reactive protein (CRP >10 mg/L), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH >250 U/L) were independently associated with the later disease development. Finally, we evaluated their prognostic values with receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis and found that the above four factors could not confidently predict the occurrence of severe pneumonia individually, though a combination of fast respiratory rate and elevated LDH significantly increased the predictive confidence (AUC = 0.944, sensitivity = 0.941, and specificity = 0.902). A combination consisting of three or four factors could further increase the prognostic value. Additionally, measurable serum viral RNA post-admission independently predicted the severe illness occurrence. In conclusion, a combination of general clinical characteristics and laboratory tests could provide a highly confident prognostic value for identifying potentially severe COVID-19 pneumonia patients.

Purpose We investigated the effectiveness, safety and compliance of Zheng’s Supine Rehabilitation Exercise (ZSRE) as a rehabilitation programme among elderly patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Patients and methods About 82 elderly patients with AECOPD were divided into a rehabilitation group and control group on their admission day, and both groups received routine medical treatment. Patients in the rehabilitation group started ZSRE on the second day of admission and continued until 8 weeks after discharge. Results At the 9th week after discharge, the COPD Assessment Test (CAT), 6‐minute walking distance (6MWD) and Modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (mMRC) in the rehabilitation group were all significantly better than those in the control group (P < 0.01; P < 0.01; and P < 0.05, respectively). In the rehabilitation group, the CAT and 6MWD were significantly improved in the 9th week after discharge as compared with those at admission or discharge, and mMRC was significantly improved at the 9th week after discharge as compared with that at admission (all P < 0.01). Conclusion ZSRE can be performed by elderly patients with the acute exacerbation of severe or extremely severe COPD with high safety and compliance and was helpful for their recovery.

28Approximately 15-20% of COVID-19 patients will develop severe 29 pneumonia, about 10 % of which will die if not properly managed. Earlier 30 discrimination of the potential severe patients basing on routine clinical and 31 laboratory changes and commencement of prophylactical management will not 32 only save their lives but also mitigate the otherwise overwhelmed health care 33 burden. In this retrospective investigation, the clinical and laboratory features 34 were collected from 125 COVID-19 patients, who were classified into mild (93 35 cases) or severe (32 cases) groups according to their clinical outcomes after 3 36 to 7-days post-admission. The subsequent analysis with single-factor and 37 multivariate logistic regression methods indicated that 17 factors on admission 38 differed significantly between mild and severe groups, but that only comorbid 39 with underlying diseases, increased respiratory rate (>24/min), elevated C-40 reactive protein (CRP >10mg/liter), and lactate dehydrogenase 41 (LDH >250U/liter), were independently associated with the later disease 42 development. Finally, we evaluated their prognostic values with the receiver 43 operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis and found that the above four 44 factors could not confidently predict the occurrence of severe pneumonia 45 individually, but that a combination of fast respiratory rate and elevated LDH 46 significantly increased the predictive confidence (AUC= 0.944, sensitivity= 47 Page 5

Fe-doped CuO (Cu1−xFexO) nanocrystals (NCs) (x=0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, and 0.3) are prepared by using the urea nitrate combustion method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the monoclinic structure of CuO. Single-phase structure is obtained for the 0%–20% Fe-doped CuO, whereas for the 25% and 30% Fe-doped CuO material, secondary phase, α-Fe2O3, is presented. Rietveld refinements of XRD data revealed that with an increase in Fe doping level, there is a monotonic increase in cation vacancies in the Fe-doped samples. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements on the Cu0.98Fe0.02O sample revealed that the Cu2+ sites are partly substituted by Fe3+ ions. The microstructure is investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The magnetic hysteresis loops and the temperature dependence of magnetization of the samples indicated that the samples are mictomagnetic of ferromagnetic domains originated from ferromagnetic coupling between the doping Fe ions in Cu1−xFexO NCs randomly distributed in the antiferromagnetic CuO matrix. The Curie temperature of the ferromagnetic phase is higher than 400 K for all Fe-doped CuO samples. The ferromagnetic behavior of the samples is discussed.

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Ambient temperatures influence plant growth and development, however very little is known about changes in root growth in response to ambient temperature change. Here, we performed transcriptome profiling and compared the differences in gene expression at lower and higher temperatures compared with normal plant growth temperatures. Our analysis of the biological processes and molecular functions regulated by differentially expressed genes revealed that low temperature upregulated carbohydrate metabolism and transmembrane transport, and downregulated signal transduction and defense. High temperature upregulated metabolic processes, transport, and auxin biosynthesis, and downregulated catabolic processes. We found that increased temperature specifically affected the levels of Arabidopsis response regulators, ARR1 and ARR12, to decrease cytokinin signaling, altered the level of the brassinosteroid receptor BRI1 to downregulate brassinosteroid signaling, and changed the level of the gibberellin receptor DELLA to upregulate gibberellin signaling and mediate root elongation. These data contribute to our knowledge of how root growth adapts to elevated ambient temperature under climate warming.