Profiling the immune vulnerability landscape of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus

The outbreak of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) rapidly spread from Wuhan, China to more than 150 countries, areas, or territories, causing staggering numbers of infections and deaths. In this study, bioinformatics analyses were performed on 5,568 complete genomes of SARS-CoV-2 virus to predict the T cell and B cell immunogenic epitopes of all viral proteins, which formed a systematic immune vulnerability landscape of SARS-CoV-2. The immune vulnerability and genetic variation profiles of SARS-CoV were compared with those of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. In addition, a web portal was developed to broadly share the data and results as a resource for the research community. Using this resource, we showed that genetic variations in SARS-CoV-2 are associated with loss of B cell immunogenicity, an increase in CD4+ T cell immunogenicity, and a minimum loss in CD8+ T cell immunogenicity, indicating the existence of a curious correlation between SARS-CoV-2 genetic evolutions and the immunity pressure from the host. Overall, we present an immunological resource for SARS-CoV-2 that could promote both therapeutic/vaccine development and mechanistic research.

Effect of air bag on the outcome of abdominal withdrawal reflex test / 中国比较医学杂志

Objective To optimize the preparation of air bag materials for abdominal withdrawal reflex test.Methods To measure the diameters of different pressue-air bags by digital vernier caliper and X ray imaging.Using the pain threshold (3 points) as a criterion to test the pressure values of different air bags in the rats with corresponding visceral pain sensitivity.Results With the increasing pressure, the changes of the diameter of round latex balloon were uniform and gentle, and could meet the pressure range used in the experiment (20~80 mmHg).The threshold of visceral pain in rats was near the nociceptive stimulus value,and would not cause irreversible damage to the rat intestinal tract.Conclusions Air bag made from round latrex ballon is an ideal tool to be used in abdominal withdrawal reflex test in rats.

A summary of measurement methods for abdominal withdrawal reflex test / 中国比较医学杂志

Abdominal withdrawal reflex (AWR) test, which evaluates the behavioral response of animals through expanding the intestinal tract, is the most widely used method to assess animal's visceral sensitivity in recent years.However, as AWR experimental operation involves many factors, it''s hard to find a commonly recognized operating procedure.Through review of literature of AWR experimental measuring methods, this article summarizes the basic steps of AWR operation.Meanwhile, it scrutinizes the differences of various measuring methods in relevant factors, including expansion method and airbag method, with special operating suggestions to them.Hopefully, this article will provide an option to future researchers who will use this method to evaluate animal''s visceral sensitivity, and provide a necessary foundation for the standardization of the experimental operation.