A predictive model for Covid-19 spread - with application to eight US states and how to end the pandemic.

A compartmental model is proposed to predict the coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) spread. It considers: detected and undetected infected populations, social sequestration, release from sequestration, plus reinfection. This model, consisting of seven coupled equations, has eight coefficients which are evaluated by fitting data for eight US states that make up 43% of the US population. The evolution of Covid-19 is fairly similar among the states: variations in contact and undetected recovery rates remain below 5%; however, variations are larger in recovery rate, death rate, reinfection rate, sequestration adherence and release rate from sequestration. Projections based on the current situation indicate that Covid-19 will become endemic. If lockdowns had been kept in place, the number of deaths would most likely have been significantly lower in states that opened up. Additionally, we predict that decreasing contact rate by 10%, or increasing testing by approximately 15%, or doubling lockdown compliance (from the current ~15% to ~30%) will eradicate infections in Texas within a year. Extending our fits for all of the US states, we predict about 11 million total infections (including undetected), and 8 million cumulative confirmed cases by 1 November 2020.

Synthesis and thermoluminescence properties of rare earth-doped NaMgBO3 phosphor.

Rare earth (Dy(3+) and Sm(3+))-doped sodium magnesium borate (NaMgBO3) is synthesized by solution combustion synthesis method keeping their thermoluminescence properties in mind. The reaction produced very stable crystalline NaMgBO3:RE (RE = Dy(3+), Sm(3+)) phosphors. The phosphors are exposed to (60)Co gamma-ray radiations dose of varying rate from 5 to 25 Gy, and their TL characteristics with kinetic parameters are studied. NaMgBO3:Dy(3+) phosphor shows two peaks for lower doping concentration of Dy(3+) while it reduced to single peak for the higher concentrations of activator Dy(3+). NaMgBO3:Dy(3+) shows the major glow peak around 200 °C while NaMgBO3:Sm(3+) phosphors show two well-separated glow peaks at 200 and 332 °C respectively. The thermoluminescence intensity of these phosphors was compare with the commercially available TLD-100 (Harshaw) phosphor. The TL responses for gamma-ray radiations dose were found to be linear from 5 to 25 Gy for both phosphors while the fading in each case is calculated for the tenure of 45 days.

Probing the mechanical properties of brain cancer cells using a microfluidic cell squeezer device.

Despite being invasive within surrounding brain tissues and the central nervous system, little is known about the mechanical properties of brain tumor cells in comparison with benign cells. Here, we present the first measurements of the peak pressure drop due to the passage of benign and cancerous brain cells through confined microchannels in a "microfluidic cell squeezer" device, as well as the elongation, speed, and entry time of the cells in confined channels. We find that cancerous and benign brain cells cannot be differentiated based on speeds or elongation. We have found that the entry time into a narrow constriction is a more sensitive indicator of the differences between malignant and healthy glial cells than pressure drops. Importantly, we also find that brain tumor cells take a longer time to squeeze through a constriction and migrate more slowly than benign cells in two dimensional wound healing assays. Based on these observations, we arrive at the surprising conclusion that the prevailing notion of extraneural cancer cells being more mechanically compliant than benign cells may not apply to brain cancer cells.