Template For Replication Research Articles

Coordination polymer nanozymes-integrated colorimetric microneedle patches for intelligent wound infection management

Biomedical patches are playing an indispensable role in wound infection management. Current efforts have focused on designing smart patches with both treating and sensing abilities to recognize wound infections and kill bacteria efficiently. Here, we present intelligent colorimetric microneedle patches (MNs) integrated with Fe ion-gallic acid coordination polymer nanodots (FNDs) for on-demand treatment and real-time report of infected wounds. Such FNDs are fabricated by coordination reactions among polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), gallic acid, and Fe ion, and are loaded inside the MNs using a template replication method (FNDs-MNs). Benefitting from the pH-dependent peroxidase mimic activity of the FNDs, the integrated MNs can catalyze H2O2 to generate much more OH at the acidic condition for bacteria killing. Besides, these FNDs-MNs also possess pH and H2O2 dependent color changes, and thus can timely reflect the wound repair and infection states. During the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infected wounds in mice, the FNDs-MNs exhibit obvious color changes at infected stages and achieve on-demand therapeutic effects. Thus, it is believed that such FNDs-MNs have great potentials for efficient wound infection management and will find wide applications in wound care.

Efficacy of non-surgical management and functional outcomes of partial ACL tears. A systematic review of randomised trials

BackgroundThe incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries represents a large burden of knee injuries in both the general and sporting populations, often requiring surgical intervention. Although there is much research on complete ACL tears including outcomes and indications for surgery, little is known about the short- and long-term outcomes of non-operative, physiotherapy led intervention in partial ACL tears. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate studies looking at the effectiveness of physiotherapy led interventions in improving pain and function in young and middle-aged adults with partial ACL tears. Additionally, the secondary aim was to evaluate the completeness of exercise prescription in randomised trials for physiotherapy led interventions in the management in partial ACL tears.MethodsA comprehensive and systematic search was performed on six databases (Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, PEDro, Scopus, SPORTDiscus and Cochrane). The search strategy consisted of two main concepts: (i) partial ACL tears, and (ii) non-operative management. 7,587 papers were identified by the search. After screening of eligible articles by two independent reviewers, 2 randomised studies were included for analysis. The same two reviewers assessed the completeness of reporting using the Toigio and Boutellier mechanobiological exercise descriptions and Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist. Group mean standard deviations (SD) for the main outcomes was extracted from both papers for analysis. Prospero Registration Number: CRD42020179892.ResultsThe search strategy identified two studies; one looking at Tai Chi and the other Pilates. The analysis indicated that Tai Chi was significant in reducing pain scores and both Tai Chi and Pilates were found to increase Muscle Peak Torque Strength (MPTS) at 180 degrees. Furthermore, Tai Chi showed a significant increase in proprioception.ConclusionsPhysiotherapy led interventions such as Pilates, and Tai Chi may improve pain, proprioception and strength in young and middle-aged adults with partial ACL tears, however full scale, high-quality randomised studies are required with long term outcomes recorded.

Replication Control of Human Telomere G-Quadruplex DNA by G-Quadruplex Ligands Dependent on Solution Environment.

The human telomere region is known to contain guanine-rich repeats and form a guanine-quadruplex (G4) structure. As telomeres play a role in the regulation of cancer progression, ligands that specifically bind and stabilize G4 have potential therapeutic applications. However, as the human telomere sequence can form G4 with various topologies due to direct interaction by ligands and indirect interaction by the solution environment, it is of great interest to study the topology-dependent control of replication by ligands. In the present study, a DNA replication assay of a template with a human telomere G4 sequence in the presence of various ligands was performed. Cyclic naphthalene diimides (cNDI1 and cNDI2) efficiently increased the replication stall of the template DNA at G4 with an anti-parallel topology. This inhibition was stability-dependent and topology-selective, as the replication of templates with hybrid or parallel G4 structures was not affected by the cNDI and cNDI2. Moreover, the G4 ligand fisetin repressed replication with selectivity for anti-parallel and hybrid G4 structures without stabilization. Finally, the method used, referred to as quantitative study of topology-dependent replication (QSTR), was adopted to evaluate the correlation between the replication kinetics and the stability of G4. Compared to previous results obtained using a modified human telomere sequence, the relationship between the stability of G4 and the effect on the topology-dependent replication varied. Our results suggest that native human telomere G4 is more flexible than the modified sequence for interacting with ligands. These findings indicate that the modification of the human telomeric sequence forces G4 to rigidly form a specific structure of G4, which can restrict the change in topology-dependent replication by some ligands.

Systematic review of Indigenous involvement and content in mental health interventions and their effectiveness for Indigenous populations.

Objective:To assess the effects of psychological, psychosocial, educational and alternative interventions on mental health outcomes of Indigenous adult populations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States and the Indigenous involvement and content in each study.Methods:We systematically searched databases, key journals and gray literature, for records until June 2020. Eligible studies were in English or French and examined the impact of interventions on mental health outcomes including anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, psychological distress or stress for Indigenous adults (⩾16 years). Data were extracted using a modified Cochrane Data Extraction Form and the Template for Intervention Description and Replication. Quality was evaluated using the Effective Public Health Practice Project quality assessment form.Results:In total, 21 studies were eligible, comprising 8 randomized controlled trials, 10 single-group pre–post studies and 3 pre–post studies with comparison groups. Twenty studies had Indigenous individuals or organizations involved in some decision-making capacity, though extent of involvement varied widely. In total, 9 studies were rated moderate and 12 weak in the Effective Public Health Practice Project quality assessment. Eight studies measuring depression, three measuring posttraumatic stress disorder, three measuring psychological distress and two measuring stress showed statistically significant improvements following the intervention.Conclusion:A wide range of interventions demonstrated mental health improvements. However, it is difficult to draw generalizable conclusions on intervention effectiveness, given heterogeneity among studies. Studies should employ a thorough assessment of the Indigenous involvement and content of their interventions for reporting and for critical consideration of the implications of their research and whether they address Indigenous determinants of mental health.

Interventions for pre-school children with co-occurring phonological speech sound disorder and expressive language difficulties: A scoping review.

Recent evidence suggests that pre-school children with co-occurring phonological speech sound disorder (SSD) and expressive language difficulties are at a higher risk of ongoing communication and literacy needs in comparison with children with these difficulties in isolation. However, to date there has been no systematic or scoping review of the literature specific to interventions for children with this dual profile. To explore the evidence regarding interventions for pre-school children with co-occurring phonological SSD and expressive language difficulties, including the content/delivery of such interventions, areas of speech and language targeted, and a broad overview of study quality. A scoping review methodology was used in accordance with the guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Following a systematic search of Ovid Medline, Ovid Emcare, OVID Embase, CINAHL, Psychinfo and ERIC, 11 studies were included in the review. A researcher-developed data extraction form was used to extract specific information about each intervention, with the JBI appraisal tools used to provide a broad overview of the quality of each study. Included papers consisted of six randomized controlled trials (RCTs), two cohort studies, two case studies and one case series. Interventions fell into two main categories: (1) integrated interventions that combined content for both speech and language targets and/or explicitly used the same type of technique to improve both domains; and (2) single-domain interventions that explicitly included content to target speech or language only, but also aimed to improve the other domain indirectly. Study quality varied, with detail on the content, context and delivery of interventions often underspecified, hampering the replication and clinical applicability of findings. Early emerging evidence was identified to support both integrated speech and language interventions as well as single-domain interventions. However, caution should be exercised due to the variation in the quality and level of detail reported for the interventions. Future intervention studies may seek to address this by reporting in accordance with Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) reporting guidelines. This approach would enable clinicians to consider the applicability of the intervention to individual children within differing settings. What is already known on the subject Pre-school children with co-occurring phonological SSD and expressive language difficulties frequently present within speech and language therapy services. These children are at a higher risk of long-term communication and literacy difficulties compared with children with these needs in isolation. Some emerging evidence suggests that interventions for children with this co-occurring profile may exist within the literature; however, this evidence may not be known to clinicians in everyday practice. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This review is the first to systematically examine evidence of interventions for pre-school children with co-occurring phonological SSD and expressive language difficulties. The review identified a small number of intervention studies that varied in research quality and level of detail provided regarding the content and delivery of interventions. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The findings of this study highlight published evidence for interventions for pre-school children with co-occurring phonological SSD and expressive language difficulties. These may take the form of integrating techniques for speech/language into a single intervention, or the explicit targeting of one domain with the aim of also influencing the other. However, there is a need for further high-quality research in this area. Such studies should provide sufficient detail to enable replication. This would enable clinicians to understand the relevance and applicability of such intervention findings to the individual children they see within their clinical practice.

Co-design of a school-based physical activity intervention for adolescent females in a disadvantaged community: insights from the Girls Active Project (GAP)

BackgroundGlobally, adolescents’ physical activity (PA) participation rates are low, particularly among lower socioeconomic groups, with females consistently the least active. The aim of this study was to co-design, with adolescent females, a school-based PA intervention in a single-sex, females-only designated disadvantaged post-primary school in Ireland. This involved using the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) and Public and Patient Involvement (PPI). This paper outlines the novel methodological approach taken.MethodsThe three stages 1) understand the behaviour, 2) identify intervention options, and 3) identify content and implementation options of the BCW guide is described. A student PPI Youth Advisory Group (YAG) (n = 8, aged 15–17) was established. Mixed-methods were used with students (n = 287, aged 12–18) and teachers (n = 7) to capture current self-reported PA levels and to identify factors influencing adolescent females’ PA behaviour in their school setting. The intervention options, content and implementation options were identified through discussion groups with the YAG. The Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist was used to specify details of the intervention.ResultsJust 1.4% of the students in this sample reported meeting the recommended PA guidelines. Students identified having more ‘time’ as the strongest predictor to becoming more active in school (Mean = 4.01, 95% CI 3.91 to 4.12). Social influences, environmental context and resources, behavioural regulation, beliefs about capabilities, goals, and reinforcement emerged from the qualitative data as factors influencing PA behaviour at school. The BCW co-design process resulted in the identification of seven intervention functions, four policy categories and 21 Behaviour Change Techniques. The Girls Active Project (GAP) intervention, a peer-led, after-school PA programme was proposed.ConclusionsThis paper describes how the BCW, a comprehensive, evidence-based, theory-driven framework was used in combination with PPI to co-design a school-based intervention aimed to increase adolescent females’ PA levels. This approach could be replicated in other settings to develop targeted behavioural interventions in populations with specific demographic characteristics.

Using qualitative research to develop an elaboration of the TIDieR checklist for interventions to enhance vaccination communication: short report

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased interest in communication with the public regarding vaccination. Our recent Cochrane qualitative evidence synthesis points to several factors that could influence the implementation and success of healthcare worker communication with older adults about vaccination. However, it is often difficult to assess whether factors identified as potentially important in qualitative studies have been considered in randomized trials because of poor trial reporting. We therefore decided to use our qualitative evidence synthesis findings to encourage better reporting of vaccination communication interventions in trials by developing an elaboration of the TIDieR (Template for Intervention Description and Replication) checklist for intervention reporting.MethodsWe examined the findings from our Cochrane qualitative evidence synthesis on healthcare workers’ perceptions of and experiences with communicating about vaccination with adults over the age of 50 years. We identified factors that could influence the implementation and uptake, and thereby the effectiveness, of vaccination communication interventions. We then drafted a list of the information elements we would need from trial reports to assess whether these factors had been considered in the development of the interventions evaluated in these trials. Finally, we compared our list of information elements to the TIDieR checklist items. We were able to align all of our information elements with the TIDieR items. However, for several of the TIDieR items, we developed a more detailed description to ensure that relevant information would be captured sufficiently in trial reports.ResultsWe developed elaborations for the following TIDieR items: “Why” (item 2), “What—materials” (item 3), “Who provided” (item 5), “How” (item 6), “Where” (item 7) and “Tailoring” (item 9).ConclusionsBoth qualitative research and trials of intervention effectiveness are critical to furthering our understanding of what works, where, for whom and through which mechanisms. However, a key ingredient for developing this understanding is adequate reporting of intervention design, content and implementation in randomized trials. We hope that this elaboration of the TIDier checklist will improve reporting of interventions in trials focused on vaccine communication with older adults, and thereby enhance the usability of this research for developing future communication strategies.

Are shared decision making studies well enough described to be replicated? Secondary analysis of a Cochrane systematic review.

BackgroundInterventions to change health professionals’ behaviour are often difficult to replicate. Incomplete reporting is a key reason and a source of waste in health research. We aimed to assess the reporting of shared decision making (SDM) interventions.MethodsWe extracted data from a 2017 Cochrane systematic review whose aim was to determine the effectiveness of interventions to increase the use of SDM by healthcare professionals. In a secondary analysis, we used the 12 items of the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist to analyze quantitative data. We used a conceptual framework for implementation fidelity to analyze qualitative data, which added details to various TIDieR items (e.g. under “what materials?” we also reported on ease of access to materials). We used SAS 9.4 for all analyses.ResultsOf the 87 studies included in the 2017 Cochrane review, 83 were randomized trials, three were non-randomized trials, and one was a controlled before-and-after study. Items most completely reported were: “brief name” (87/87, 100%), “why” (rationale) (86/87, 99%), and “what” (procedures) (81/87, 93%). The least completely reported items (under 50%) were “materials” (29/87, 33%), “who” (23/87, 26%), and “when and how much” (18/87, 21%), as well as the conditional items: “tailoring” (8/87, 9%), “modifications” (3/87, 4%), and “how well (actual)” (i.e. delivered as planned?) (3/87, 3%). Interventions targeting patients were better reported than those targeting health professionals or both patients and health professionals, e.g. 84% of patient-targeted intervention studies reported “How”, (delivery modes), vs. 67% for those targeting health professionals and 32% for those targeting both. We also reported qualitative analyses for most items. Overall reporting of items for all interventions was 41.5%.ConclusionsReporting on all groups or components of SDM interventions was incomplete in most SDM studies published up to 2017. Our results provide guidance for authors on what elements need better reporting to improve the replicability of their SDM interventions.

Movement breaks for classroom and online learning: An outreach project connecting university and elementary school students

After witnessing their own children learn online during the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic, Heather Trommer-Beardslee and Elaine DiFalco Daugherty collaborated with their university students to create instructional movement videos designed for elementary teachers to use as movement breaks during the school day. Knowing that movement triggers the human brain to reinvigorate focused learning, the video sequences were developed as a tool to aid teachers in providing opportunities to break up long periods of sitting and engage students in active dance play to stimulate multiple senses and therefore increase brain activity. Trommer-Beardslee worked with university students to create movement content while Daugherty worked with them on breath and speech to ensure that the verbal teaching component was articulate and accessible. This article details the inspiration, goals and process used for collaborative, practical engagement and provides a template for replication and further development.

Arrowhead Composite Microneedle Patches with Anisotropic Surface Adhesion for Preventing Intrauterine Adhesions.

Biomedical patches are considered as a promising strategy to help tissue repair and regeneration, prevent tissue adhesion, and reduce neighboring friction. Here, novel arrowhead composite microneedle patches (MNPs) are presented with anisotropic surface adhesion and growth factor encapsulation using a heterogeneous template replication approach for endometrium repair and intrauterine adhesions (IUAs) prevention. The arrowhead structures bring about interlocking between the microneedle (MN) tips and tissues, allowing these MNPs to steadily adhere to the tissues. Besides, benefitting from the cytoadhesive needle‐tip material and the antiadhesive base material, these MNPs possess anisotropic surface adhesion and can facilitate cell adhesion on one surface to repair damaged tissues while restrain tissue contact on the other to prevent adverse adhesion. In the meanwhile, the encapsulated growth factor can be delivered through the MNs to the deep tissue, further accelerating tissue repair. Additionally, as the bases are soft and their patterns are highly tunable, the MNPs can change their shapes flexibly to adjust to the irregular morphology of uteri. It is demonstrated that these MNPs show good performances in treating injured endometrium and preventing IUAs of a rat model, indicating their great potential in versatile postoperative adhesion prevention and other clinical applications.

Construction and characterization of two SARS-CoV-2 minigenome replicon systems.

The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic severely impacts global public health and economies. To facilitate research on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) virology and antiviral discovery, a noninfectious viral replicon system operating under biosafety level 2 containment is warranted. We report herein the construction and characterization of two SARS‐CoV‐2 minigenome replicon systems. First, we constructed the IVT‐CoV2‐Rep complementary DNA template to generate a replicon messenger RNA (mRNA) with nanoluciferase (NLuc) reporter via in vitro transcription (IVT). The replicon mRNA transfection assay demonstrated a rapid and transient replication of IVT‐CoV2‐Rep in a variety of cell lines, which could be completely abolished by known SARS‐CoV‐2 replication inhibitors. Our data also suggest that the transient phenotype of IVT‐CoV2‐Rep is not due to host innate antiviral responses. In addition, we have developed a DNA‐launched replicon BAC‐CoV2‐Rep, which supports the in‐cell transcription of a replicon mRNA as initial replication template. The BAC‐CoV2‐Rep transient transfection system exhibited a much stronger and longer replicon signal compared to the IVT‐CoV2‐Rep version. We also found that a portion of the NLuc reporter signal was derived from the spliced BAC‐CoV2‐Rep mRNA and was resistant to antiviral treatment, especially during the early phase after transfection. In summary, the established SARS‐CoV‐2 transient replicon systems are suitable for basic and antiviral research, and hold promise for stable replicon cell line development with further optimization.

DNA Damage Tolerance Pathways in Human Cells: A Potential Therapeutic Target.

DNA lesions arising from both exogenous and endogenous sources occur frequently in DNA. During DNA replication, the presence of unrepaired DNA damage in the template can arrest replication fork progression, leading to fork collapse, double-strand break formation, and to genome instability. To facilitate completion of replication and prevent the generation of strand breaks, DNA damage tolerance (DDT) pathways play a key role in allowing replication to proceed in the presence of lesions in the template. The two main DDT pathways are translesion synthesis (TLS), which involves the recruitment of specialized TLS polymerases to the site of replication arrest to bypass lesions, and homology-directed damage tolerance, which includes the template switching and fork reversal pathways. With some exceptions, lesion bypass by TLS polymerases is a source of mutagenesis, potentially contributing to the development of cancer. The capacity of TLS polymerases to bypass replication-blocking lesions induced by anti-cancer drugs such as cisplatin can also contribute to tumor chemoresistance. On the other hand, during homology-directed DDT the nascent sister strand is transiently utilised as a template for replication, allowing for error-free lesion bypass. Given the role of DNA damage tolerance pathways in replication, mutagenesis and chemoresistance, a more complete understanding of these pathways can provide avenues for therapeutic exploitation. A number of small molecule inhibitors of TLS polymerase activity have been identified that show synergy with conventional chemotherapeutic agents in killing cancer cells. In this review, we will summarize the major DDT pathways, explore the relationship between damage tolerance and carcinogenesis, and discuss the potential of targeting TLS polymerases as a therapeutic approach.

Secondary Structure of Subgenomic RNA M of SARS-CoV-2.

SARS-CoV-2 belongs to the Coronavirinae family. Like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is enveloped and possesses a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genome of ~30 kb. Genomic RNA is used as the template for replication and transcription. During these processes, positive-sense genomic RNA (gRNA) and subgenomic RNAs (sgRNAs) are created. Several studies presented the importance of the genomic RNA secondary structure in SARS-CoV-2 replication. However, the structure of sgRNAs has remained largely unsolved so far. In this study, we probed the sgRNA M model of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro. The presented model molecule includes 5′UTR and a coding sequence of gene M. This is the first experimentally informed secondary structure model of sgRNA M, which presents features likely to be important in sgRNA M function. The knowledge of sgRNA M structure provides insights to better understand virus biology and could be used for designing new therapeutics.

Clinical supervision: A mechanism to support person-centred practice? An integrative review of the literature.

To explore whether clinical supervision has an influence on person-centred practice. The ability to deliver person-centred care and the ability to engage in reflective practice are two key skills expected of nurses. Person-centred care shifts nurses thinking from the patient's disease state to their personhood. Clinical supervision has been proposed as a place to explore person-centred care. Person-centred practice extends person-centredness to enhance healthful relationships between care providers, services users and their significant others. An integrative literature was conducted with the key words 'clinical supervision' and 'person-centredness' within CINAHL, Medline, PsychInfo and Google Scholar. The PRISMA statement was used to report the identification, selection, appraisal and synthesis of articles and PRISMA diagram reports the selection process. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to appraise the articles, followed by a thematic analysis. The Template for Intervention Description and Replication was used to explore the concept of clinical supervision. Twelve articles met the inclusion criteria. Person-centredness and clinical supervision are not universally defined concepts. Clinical supervision in this context was mainly an adjunct to educative programmes. Clinical supervision has a positive influence on participants' person-centred attributes, but the influence on others is less clear. The clinical supervisor's qualities are pivotal to supervisions' success. Clinical supervision is a common reflective strategy used to explore nursing practice, yet as a strategy to enhance person-centred practices, is under-researched. Participants can experience person-centredness when their supervisor has person-centred attributes, an important aspect in delivering person-centred care. This review identified a gap in the literature between two common nursing concepts 'clinical supervision' and 'person-centred care/practices'. There is a need to conduct further research into the combination of these concepts to seek ways to embed person-centredness into health care and everyday nursing practice.

Rural healthcare delivery and maternal and infant outcomes for diabetes in pregnancy: A systematic review.

AimThe aim of this systematic review was to examine the literature regarding rural healthcare delivery for women with any type of diabetes in pregnancy, and subsequent maternal and infant outcomes.MethodsEight databases were searched in September 2020, including Medline, EMCare, CINAHL, EMBASE, Maternity and Infant Care, Cochrane, Rural and Remote Health and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health bibliography. Studies from high‐income countries in rural, regional or remote areas with interventions conducted during the antenatal period were included. Intervention details were reported using the template for intervention description and replication template. Two reviewers independently assessed for risk of bias using the RoB2 and ROBINS I tools.ResultsThree articles met the inclusion criteria: two conducted in Australia and one in the United States. A multidisciplinary approach was reported in two of the included studies, which were modified specifically for their respective rural settings. All three studies reported rates of caesarean section, birthweight (grams) and gestational age at birth as maternal and infant outcomes. One study was considered at moderate risk of bias, and two studies were at serious risk of bias.ConclusionThere is a significant gap in research relating to healthcare delivery for women with diabetes in pregnancy in rural areas. This lack of research is concerning given that 19% of individuals in high‐income countries reside rurally. Further research is required to understand the implications of healthcare delivery models for diabetes in pregnancy in rural areas.

A short half-life of cccDNA offer or ignite hope for hepatitis B cure under nucleos(t)ide analogues treatment

Covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the template for HBV replication. Currently, there is a lack of therapeutic drugs that directly target cccDNA. Therefore, blocking cccDNA supplements as fast as possible and reducing the existing cccDNA is the key to achieving a complete cure of chronic hepatitis B. Previous studies have suggested that cccDNA had a long half-life, but a recent study showed that it only took a few months to update cycle of cccDNA pool, and its number was much less than previously predicted. In the future, with the advent of new antiviral drugs that can completely inhibit HBV replication, it is expected that the cccDNA pool will be completely cleared due to its supplement complete blockade, so as to achieve virological cure of chronic hepatitis B.

A novel approach to prepare reticulated porous TiN ceramics with high strength and high porosity by in-situ synthesis

Titanium nitride (TiN) with high porosity (90%) was successfully in-situ prepared by a novel approach with the combination of carbothermic reduction nitriding method and replication template method. The microstructure of porous TiN prepared with different temperature and phenolic resin (PF) content were revealed by XRD, Raman spectrum, SEM, TEM, respectively. The results show that when the mass ratio of PF and TiO2 is 1:2 and the sintering temperature is 1850 ℃, porous TiN with high purity and ideal strength could be synthesized. In addition, the synthesis path and thermodynamic mechanism of porous TiN were analyzed by TG-DSC and Gibbs free energy calculation. The mechanical properties and corrosion resistance were preliminarily explored.

Sensitive visualization of SARS-CoV-2 RNA with CoronaFISH.

The current COVID-19 pandemic is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus contains a single linear RNA segment that serves as a template for transcription and replication, leading to the synthesis of positive and negative-stranded viral RNA (vRNA) in infected cells. Tools to visualize vRNA directly in infected cells are critical to analyze the viral replication cycle, screen for therapeutic molecules, or study infections in human tissue. Here, we report the design, validation, and initial application of FISH probes to visualize positive or negative RNA of SARS-CoV-2 (CoronaFISH). We demonstrate sensitive visualization of vRNA in African green monkey and several human cell lines, in patient samples and human tissue. We further demonstrate the adaptation of CoronaFISH probes to electron microscopy. We provide all required oligonucleotide sequences, source code to design the probes, and a detailed protocol. We hope that CoronaFISH will complement existing techniques for research on SARS-CoV-2 biology and COVID-19 pathophysiology, drug screening, and diagnostics.

The My Strengths Training for Life™ program: Rationale, logic model, and description of a strengths-based intervention for young people experiencing homelessness

Traditionally, UK housing services have focused on providing temporary accommodation, identifying risk factors, and preventing negative outcomes to young people experiencing homelessness. However, deficit approaches may lead young people to becoming dependent on services and face greater marginalization and stigmatization. Meeting long-standing calls to focus more on young people’s positive attributes and abilities, the My Strengths Training for Life™ (MST4Life™) program was developed as a community partnership with a large housing service. This paper describes the rationale, logic model, and content of the MST4Life™ program using the TIDieR (Template for Intervention Description and Replication) checklist. MST4Life™ is a strengths-based and experiential psychoeducation intervention for young people aged 16–24 years who are homeless or at risk. Grounded in positive youth development and basic psychological needs theory, its aim is to provide meaningful opportunities for participants to recognize, use, and further develop their mental skills and strengths. In turn, enhancing intentional self-regulation is expected to improve physical, mental, and social health and wellbeing, and support positive transitions to independent living. The potential long-term impacts include a reduction in the number of young people returning as homeless, lower rates of mental illness and mortality, and a cost saving to the public purse.

A one-step platform for screening high-efficient and minimal off-target CRISPR/Cas13 crRNAs to eradicate SARS-CoV-2 virus for treatment of COVID-19 patients

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new respiratory illness caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and now spreads globally. Currently, therapeutics and effective treatment options remain scarce and there is no proven drug to treat COVID-19. Targeting the positive-sense RNA genome and viral mRNAs of SARS-CoV-2 to simultaneously degrade viral genome templates for replication and viral mRNAs for essential gene expression would be a strategy to completely realize virus elimination. Type VI CRISPR enzymes Cas13 have recently been identified as programmable RNA-guided, RNA-targeting Cas proteins with nuclease activity that allows for RNA cleavage and degradation. The precise viral RNA detection and antiviral application of the CRISPR/Cas13 system depend on high-efficient and minimal off-target crRNAs. Although a computer-based algorithm has been applied for the design of crRNAs targeting SRAS-CoV-2, the experimental screening system to identify optimal crRNA is not available. We develop a one-step experimental screening system to identify high-efficient crRNAs with minimal off-target effects for CRISPR/Cas13-based SARS-CoV-2 elimination. This platform provides the foundation for CRISPR/Cas13-based diagnostics and therapeutics for COVID-19. This platform is versatile and could also be applied for crRNAs screening for other RNA viruses.