Objectives Critical cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are associated with a high risk of mortality. It remains unclear why patients with the same critical condition have different outcomes. We aimed to explore relevant factors that may affect the prognosis of critical COVID-19 patients. Methods Six critical COVID-19 inpatients were included in our study. The 6 patients were divided into two groups based on whether they had a good or poor prognosis. We collected peripheral blood samples at admission and the time point of exacerbation to compare differences in the phenotypes and functions of major populations of immune cells between the groups. Results On admission, compared to patients with poor prognoses, those with good prognoses had significantly higher counts of monocytes (p less then 0.05), macrophages (p less then 0.05), higher frequency of CD3+ CD4+ CD45RO+ CXCR3+ subsets (p less then 0.05), higher frequency of CD14+ CD11C+ HLA-DR+ subset of dendritic cells (DCs) (p less then 0.05), and a lower count of neutrophils (p less then 0.05). At the time point of exacerbation, the proportions of naïve CD4+ T cells (p less then 0.05), Tregs, and Th2 cells in the poor prognosis group were relatively higher than those in the good prognosis group, and CD4+ memory T cells were relatively lower (p less then 0.05). Conclusion According to our results, the poor prognosis group showed a worse immune response than the good prognosis group at the time of admission and at exacerbation. Dysregulation of the immune response affects the outcome of critical COVID-19 patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a relevant cause of acute respiratory infection among children. Viral replication and immune conditions may account for severity. RSV viral load (VL) was assessed in 486 children (290 hospitalized and 196 from primary care) attended at São Paulo Hospital from 2009 to 2013. VL was calculated by real-time RT-qPCR (Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) and expressed in Log10 RNA copies/mL. Coinfection with rhinovirus (RV) and influenza A virus was also tested. Young children ( less then 1 year of age) had a higher mean VL than older children at primary care (6.35 and 4.34 Log10 RNA copies/mL, respectively; p= 0.0006). Conversely, hospitalized children ≥ 2 years of age, presented higher mean VL compared to the same age children of primary care (6.10 and 4.26, respectively; p= 0.0024). RV was the most codetected virus in RSV positive patients (20% from primary care and 14% in hospitalized), and influenza A virus was found in 11% of primary care and 0.4% in hospitalized children with RSV, without RSV VL association (p= 0.2903). These findings may guide future therapies and immunization policies considering the role of viral load on clinical presentation among older hospitalized children and also the change of infection transmissions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.The smart self-protection is essential to avoid the safety issue of energy storage devices. However, conventional strategies based on sol-gel transition electrolytes often suffer from unstable self-recovery performance. Herein, smart separators based on thermal-gated poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) hydrogel electrolytes were developed for rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs). Such PNIPAM-based separators not only display a pore structure evolution from opened to closed state, but also exhibit a surface wettability transition from hydrophilic to hydrophobic behaviors when the temperature rises. This can suppress the migration of electrolyte ions across the separators, realizing the self-protection of ZIBs at high temperature. Furthermore, the thermal-gated behavior is highly reversible even after multiple heating/cooling cycles due to the reversibility of temperature-dependent structural evolution and hydrophilic/hydrophobic transition. This work will pave the way for designing thermal-responsive energy storage devices with safe and controlled energy delivery.Quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) relaxation parameters demonstrate varying sensitivity to the orientation of the ordered tissues in the magnetic field. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Dapagliflozin.html In this study, the orientation dependence of multiple relaxation parameters was assessed in cadaveric human cartilage with varying degree of natural degeneration, and compared with biomechanical testing, histological scoring, and quantitative histology. Twelve patellar cartilage samples were imaged at 9.4 T MRI with multiple relaxation parameters, including T1 , T2 , CW - T1ρ , and adiabatic T1ρ , at three different orientations with respect to the main magnetic field. Anisotropy of the relaxation parameters was quantified, and the results were compared with the reference measurements and between samples of different histological Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) grades. T2 and CW - T1ρ at 400 Hz spin-lock demonstrated the clearest anisotropy patterns. Radial zone anisotropy for T2 was significantly higher for samples with OARSI grade 2 than for grade 4. The proteoglycan content (measured as optical density) correlated with the radial zone MRI orientation anisotropy for T2 (r = 0.818) and CW - T1ρ with 400 Hz spin-lock (r = 0.650). Orientation anisotropy of MRI parameters altered with progressing cartilage degeneration. This is associated with differences in the integrity of the collagen fiber network, but it also seems to be related to the proteoglycan content of the cartilage. Samples with advanced OA had great variation in all biomechanical and histological properties and exhibited more variation in MRI orientation anisotropy than the less degenerated samples. Understanding the background of relaxation anisotropy on a molecular level would help to develop new MRI contrasts and improve the application of previously established quantitative relaxation contrasts.Identifying and correcting varus-valgus (V-V) malalignment of the tibial component is important when balancing a kinematically aligned total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Accordingly, the primary objective was to determine whether the tibial forces or V-V laxities are more sensitive to, and thus more useful for identifying and correcting, V-V malalignments of the tibial component that overstuff a compartment. Calipered kinematically aligned TKA was performed on nine human cadaveric knees. Medial and lateral tibial forces and V-V laxities were measured from 0° to 120° flexion with an unmodified reference tibial component and modified tibial components that introduced ±1° and ±2° V-V malalignments from the reference component to overstuff either the medial or lateral compartment. Changes in the tibial forces were most sensitive to V-V malalignments at 0° flexion (medial = 118 ± 34 N/deg valgus malalignment and lateral = 79 ± 20 N/deg varus malalignment). The varus and valgus laxities were most sensitive to V-V malalignments at 30° flexion (-0.