Intranasal influenza-vectored COVID-19 vaccines confer broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 XBB variants in hamsters.

The XBB.1.5 subvariant has garnered significant attention due to its exceptional immune evasion and transmissibility. Significantly, the evolutionary trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 has shown continual progression, with a recent global shift observed from XBB to BA.2.86, exemplified by the emergence of the predominant JN.1 subvariant. This phenomenon highlights the need for vaccines that can provide broad-spectrum antigenic coverage. In this study, we utilized a NS1-deleted (dNS1) influenza viral vector to engineer an updated live-attenuated vectored vaccine called dNS1-XBB-RBD. This vaccine encodes the receptor-binding domain (RBD) protein of the XBB.1.5 strain. Our findings demonstrate that the dNS1-XBB-RBD vaccine elicits a similar systemic and mucosal immune response compared to its prototypic form, dNS1-RBD. In hamsters, the dNS1-XBB-RBD vaccine provided robust protection against the SARS-CoV-2 immune-evasive strains XBB.1.9.2.1 and Beta. Remarkably, nasal vaccination with dNS1-RBD, which encodes the ancestor RBD gene, also effectively protected hamsters against both the XBB.1.9.2.1 and Beta strains. These results provide valuable insights about nasal influenza-vectored vaccine and present a promising strategy for the development of a broad-spectrum vaccine against COVID-19 in the future.

Both Hostile and Benevolent Sexism Predict Men's Infidelity.

Infidelity has destructive effects on romantic relationships. Several idiographic characteristics or experiences in an intimate relationship have been linked to unfaithfulness. Yet, relatively little research has been paid to investigate how sexist beliefs might sabotage relationships by incurring infidelity. The present research examined the association between men's ambivalent sexism - hostile sexism and benevolent sexism - and men's infidelity as well as women's perception of the likelihood of men's infidelity. The results showed that men's hostile sexism and benevolent sexism predicted their increased infidelity (Studies 1 and 2). In addition, the indirect association between ambivalent sexism (both hostile sexism and benevolent sexism) and infidelity was through the importance placed on power in one's intimate relationship in general (Study 2). Importantly, women were unaware of benevolently sexist men's increased infidelity, such that women rated benevolently sexist men as having a lower likelihood of engaging in infidelity than hostilely sexist men and believed benevolently sexist men's infidelity level was similar to nonsexist men (Study 3). Therefore, these findings contribute to the psychology of infidelity by revealing that ambivalent sexism, both hostile sexism and benevolent sexism, are significant predictors. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Love me, because I rely on you: Dependency-oriented help-seeking as a strategy for human mating.

Existing research has suggested a predominantly negative view of dependency-oriented help. In contrast, the current research aims to test the positive function of dependency-oriented help in intimate relationships where interpersonal dependency is valued. We hypothesized that dependency-oriented help-seeking could function in communicating liking and romantic interests and, therefore, can be instrumental in attracting mates. Our hypothesis was confirmed across nine studies (N = 2,535). For help-seekers, a mate-seeking motivation could positively predict (Study 1) and lead to (Studies 2A-4) dependency-oriented help-seeking behavior tendencies (Studies 1-2B) and actual behavior (Studies 3 and 4). For help-providers, after activating a mating goal, imagining (Studies 5A and 5B) and actually receiving (Study 6) dependency-oriented (vs. autonomy-oriented) help-seeking requests from a potential mate increased help-providers' romantic interests in that mate. Study 7 further showed the function of dependency-oriented help from the perspective of romantic competitors. As such, people in romantic relationships were more likely to see a potential competitor as a mate poacher when this person asked for dependency-oriented help from their partner. Theoretical and practical implications have been discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Subjective economic inequality evokes interpersonal objectification.

Interpersonal objectification, treating people as tools and neglecting their essential humanness, is a pervasive and enduring phenomenon. Across five studies (N = 1183), we examined whether subjective economic inequality increases objectification through a calculative mindset. Study 1 revealed that the perceptions of economic inequality at the national level and in daily life were positively associated with objectification. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated a causal relationship between subjective economic inequality and objectification in a fictitious organization and society, respectively. Moreover, the effect was mediated by a calculative mindset (Studies 3-4). In addition, lowering a calculative mindset weakened the effect of subjective inequality on objectification (Study 4). Finally, increased objectification due to subjective inequality further decreased prosociality and enhanced exploitative intentions (Study 5). Taken together, our findings suggest that subjective economic inequality increases objectification, which further causes adverse interpersonal interactions.

Systematic Genomic Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at Xiamen International Airport and the Port of Xiamen Reveals the Importance of Incoming Travelers in Lineage Diversity.

Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still a threat to human health globally despite the World Health Organization (WHO) announcing the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Continued surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 at national borders would be helpful in understanding the epidemics of novel imported variants and updating local strategies for disease prevention and treatment. This study focuses on the surveillance of imported SARS-CoV-2 variants among travelers entering Xiamen International Airport and the Port of Xiamen from February to August 2023. A total of 97 imported SARS-CoV-2 sequences among travelers from 223 cases collected from 12 different countries and regions were identified by real-time RT-PCR. Next-generation sequencing was used to generate high-quality complete sequences for phylogenetic and population dynamic analysis. The study revealed a dominant shift in variant distribution, in which the XBB subvariant (XBB.1.5, XBB.1.16, XBB.1.9, XBB.2.3, and EG.5.1) accounted for approximately 88.8% of the sequenced samples. In detail, clades 23D and 23E accounted for 26.2% and 21.4% of the sequenced samples, respectively, while clades 23B (13.6%) and 23F (10.7%) took the third and fourth spots in the order of imported sequences, respectively. Additionally, the XBB.2.3 variants were first identified in imported cases from the mainland of Xiamen, China on 27 February 2023. The spatiotemporal analyses of recent viral genome sequences from a limited number of travelers into Xiamen provide valuable insights into the situation surrounding SARS-CoV-2 and highlight the importance of sentinel surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 variants in the national border screening of incoming travelers, which serves as an early warning system for the presence of highly transmissible circulating SARS-CoV-2 lineages.

Outcomes of structure, function and flavor of pea protein isolate treated by AC, DC and pulsed electric fields.

Based on the standpoint of low carbon footprint processing and less denaturation of plant protein ingredient, the effects of pulsed electric field (PEF), direct current electric field (DCEF), and alternating current electric field (ACEF) treatments on the structure, functional properties and volatile compounds of pea protein isolate were investigated. The results showed that the electric fields (EFs) caused both blueshifts (max. âˆ¼8 cm-1) and redshifts (max. âˆ¼7 cm-1) in the IR spectra and blueshifts (max. âˆ¼5 nm) in the UV spectra. PEF caused an increase of emulsifying activity index and a decrease of emulsion stability index to DCEF and ACEF. A total of 27 volatile compounds were identified and the EFs could cause emerging of new volatiles and disappearing of inherent volatiles potentially to modify the flavor of products. Alterations were significantly observed among the types of EF, but seldomly among the operating parameter levels in the same EF.

Shining our humanity: The benefits of awe on self-humanity.

Attributing humanness to oneself (i.e., self-humanity) can be malleable and can lead to various crucial outcomes. Researchers have not investigated whether and how awe as a self-related emotion affects people's perception of their own humanness. We proposed two competing hypotheses: awe impairs self-humanity via self-smallness, and awe promotes self-humanity via authentic-self pursuit. Across seven studies (N = 1539), we found that awe is positively related to (Studies 1 and 4) and predicts self-humanity (Studies 2a, 2b, 5, and 6). Moreover, this relationship was mediated by authentic-self pursuit (Studies 3-6) rather than self-smallness (Studies 5 and 6). The effect of awe on authentic-self pursuit and self-humanity held true among the general population (Studies 1-4 and 6) and for a disadvantaged group (i.e., blue-collar workers; Study 5). In addition, we demonstrated that the effect was not driven solely by positive emotions (Studies 1, 2b, and 6). These findings enrich the literature on awe and self-humanity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Looking beyond vaccines: Cultural tightness-looseness moderates the relationship between immunization coverage and disease prevention vigilance.

Advancements in vaccination technologies mitigate disease transmission risks but may inadvertently suppress the behavioral immune system, an evolved disease avoidance mechanism. Applying behavioral immune system theory and utilizing robust big data analytics, we examined associations between rising vaccination coverage and government policies, public mobility, and online information seeking regarding disease precautions. We tested whether cultural tightness-looseness moderates the relationship between mass immunization and disease prevention vigilance. Comprehensive time series analyses were conducted using American data (Study 1) and international data (Study 2), employing transfer function modeling, cross-correlation function analysis, and meta-regression analysis. Across both the US and global analyses, as vaccination rates rose over time, government COVID-19 restrictions significantly relaxed, community mobility increased, and online searches for prevention information declined. The relationship between higher vaccination rates and lower disease prevention vigilance was stronger in culturally looser contexts. Results provide initial evidence that mass immunization may be associated with attenuated sensitivity and enhanced flexibility of disease avoidance psychology and actions. However, cultural tightness-looseness significantly moderates this relationship, with tighter cultures displaying sustained vigilance amidst immunization upticks. These findings offer valuable perspectives to inform nuanced policymaking and public health strategies that balance prudent precautions against undue alarm when expanding vaccine coverage worldwide.

STNet: shape and texture joint learning through two-stream network for knowledge-guided image recognition.

Introduction: The human brain processes shape and texture information separately through different neurons in the visual system. In intelligent computer-aided imaging diagnosis, pre-trained feature extractors are commonly used in various medical image recognition methods, common pre-training datasets such as ImageNet tend to improve the texture representation of the model but make it ignore many shape features. Weak shape feature representation is disadvantageous for some tasks that focus on shape features in medical image analysis. Methods: Inspired by the function of neurons in the human brain, in this paper, we proposed a shape-and-texture-biased two-stream network to enhance the shape feature representation in knowledge-guided medical image analysis. First, the two-stream network shape-biased stream and a texture-biased stream are constructed through classification and segmentation multi-task joint learning. Second, we propose pyramid-grouped convolution to enhance the texture feature representation and introduce deformable convolution to enhance the shape feature extraction. Third, we used a channel-attention-based feature selection module in shape and texture feature fusion to focus on the key features and eliminate information redundancy caused by feature fusion. Finally, aiming at the problem of model optimization difficulty caused by the imbalance in the number of benign and malignant samples in medical images, an asymmetric loss function was introduced to improve the robustness of the model. Results and conclusion: We applied our method to the melanoma recognition task on ISIC-2019 and XJTU-MM datasets, which focus on both the texture and shape of the lesions. The experimental results on dermoscopic image recognition and pathological image recognition datasets show the proposed method outperforms the compared algorithms and prove the effectiveness of our method.

Intranasal influenza-vectored COVID-19 vaccine restrains the SARS-CoV-2 inflammatory response in hamsters.

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants and "anatomical escape" characteristics threaten the effectiveness of current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. There is an urgent need to understand the immunological mechanism of broad-spectrum respiratory tract protection to guide broader vaccines development. Here we investigate immune responses induced by an NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored intranasal COVID-19 vaccine (dNS1-RBD) which provides broad-spectrum protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants in hamsters. Intranasal delivery of dNS1-RBD induces innate immunity, trained immunity and tissue-resident memory T cells covering the upper and lower respiratory tract. It restrains the inflammatory response by suppressing early phase viral load post SARS-CoV-2 challenge and attenuating pro-inflammatory cytokine (Il6, Il1b, and Ifng) levels, thereby reducing excess immune-induced tissue injury compared with the control group. By inducing local cellular immunity and trained immunity, intranasal delivery of NS1-deleted influenza virus vectored vaccine represents a broad-spectrum COVID-19 vaccine strategy to reduce disease burden.

We Need Tough Brothers and Sisters in a Tight World: Cultural Tightness Leads to a Preference for Dominant and Muscular Leaders.

Cultural tightness is characterized by strong norms and harsh punishments for deviant behaviors. We hypothesized that followers in tight (vs. loose) cultures would more strongly prefer muscular leaders. This hypothesis was confirmed across seven studies (N = 1,615) employing samples from the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. Using actual political leaders, we demonstrated that the tighter the state's culture was, the more muscular the elected governor was (Study 1). Temporarily situating participants in a tight (vs. loose) culture made them select a leader higher on muscularity but not on body fat, and the effects obtained occurred for both male and female leaders (Studies 2-3B). In addition, we demonstrated the mediating role of authoritarianism and a preference for a dominant leadership in this process (Studies 4-5B). These results demonstrate the importance of considering the interface between culture and the physical appearance of leaders.

High Social Mobility Leads to Delayed Reproduction.

Many important family decisions, such as when to have offspring, essentially manifest different life history strategies, ranging from slow to fast ones. The current research examined how one critical societal factor, social mobility (i.e., the shift of socioeconomic status in a society), may contribute to such slow (vs. fast) life history strategies. With four multi-method studies, including archival data at the national level, a large-sample survey (N = 6787), and experimental studies (N = 497), we found that a high level of social mobility predicted and resulted in delayed reproduction. Specifically, a high level of social mobility, indexed by both objective reality and subjective perception, predicted individuals' positive future expectations. This further leads them to focus on long-term goals and foster a slow life history strategy, i.e., preferring delayed reproduction. Theoretical implications are discussed.

Permitting immoral behaviour: A generalized compensation belief hypothesis.

When are we more likely to permit immoral behaviours? The current research examined a generalized compensation belief hypothesis that individuals, as observers, would morally tolerate and accept someone paying forward unfair treatment to an innocent person as a means to compensate for the perpetrator's previously experienced mistreatment. Across five experiments (N = 1107) based on economic games (Studies 1-4) and diverse real-life scenarios (Study 5), we showed that participants, as observing third parties, were more likely to morally permit and engage in the same negative act once they knew about previous maltreatment of the perpetrator. This belief occurred even when the content of received and paid-forward maltreatment was non-identical (Study 2), when the negative treatment was received from a non-human target (Study 3) and when the maltreatment was intangible (e.g. material loss) or relational (e.g. social exclusion; Study 5). Perceived required compensation mediated the effect of previous maltreatment on moral permission (Studies 4 and 5). The results consistently suggest that people's moral permission of immoral behaviours is influenced by perpetrator's previous mistreatment, contributing to a better understanding of the nature and nuances of our sense of fairness and contextualized moral judgement.

Influenza A (H6N6) viruses isolated from chickens replicate in mice and human lungs without prior adaptation.

The H6H6 subtype avian influenza virus (AIV) is currently prevalent in wild birds and poultry. Its host range has gradually expanded to mammals, such as swines. Some strains have even acquired the ability to bind to human-like SAα-2,6 Gal receptors, thus increasing the risk of animal to human transmission. To investigate whether the H6N6 AIV can overcome interspecies barriers from poultry to mammals and even to humans, we have assessed the molecular characteristics, receptor-binding preference, replication in mice and human lungs of three chicken-originated H6N6 strains. Among these, the A/CK/Zhangzhou/346/2014 (ZZ346) virus with the P186T, H156R, and S263G mutations of the hemagglutinin molecule showed the ability to bind to avian-like SAα-2,3 Gal and human-like SAα-2,6 Gal receptors. Moreover, H6N6 viruses, especially the ZZ346 strain, could replicate and infect mice and human lungs. Our study showed the H6N6 virus binding to both avian-like and human-like receptors, confirming its ability to cross the species barrier to infect mice and human lungs without prior adaptation. This study emphasizes the importance of continuous and intense monitoring of the H6N6 evolution in terrestrial birds.

Influence of Plug Rotational Speed on Microstructure and Texture of the Recrystallized Zone of a Friction Plug Weld Joint for AA6082-T6.

Experiments of friction plug weld AA6082-T6 aluminum alloy hole defects were carried out by using the method of friction auxiliary heating between the shaft shoulder and base metal. The grain refinement of the joint's re-crystallized zone was significant, and there was obvious preferred orientation. Under the condition of other constant parameters, the rotational speed of the plug increases as the grain size of RZ increases and the component of High Angle Grain Boundaries decreases. The effect of a high deformation rate on dynamic re-crystallization is greater than that of high deformation temperature. The deformation texture component increased from 1600 r/min to 2000 r/min, while the re-crystallization texture component increased first and then decreased.

Women's Self-Objectification Under Competition When They Believe Sex Is Power.

Competitions are ubiquitous and their psychological consequences for women have not received sufficient attention. For this research, we tested whether competition, in either work settings or a broader form of competition for resources, would interact with the sex is power belief to result in self-objectification among women. This prediction was confirmed by a series of studies (N = 1416), including correlational studies, a quasi-experiment, and fully controlled experiments, with samples including company employees, MBA students with work experience, college students currently competing in a job market, and Mechanical Turkers. Competition (or a sense of competition) as a feature of the working environment (Study 1), a real state in life (Study 2), or a temporarily activated state (Studies 3-5) resulted in self-objectification among women who believe sex is power (Study 1) or who enter such a mindset (Studies 2-5). This effect further impaired the pursuit of personal growth (Studies 4 and 5).

A live attenuated virus-based intranasal COVID-19 vaccine provides rapid, prolonged, and broad protection against SARS-CoV-2.

Remarkable progress has been made in developing intramuscular vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); however, they are limited with respect to eliciting local immunity in the respiratory tract, which is the primary infection site for SARS-CoV-2. To overcome the limitations of intramuscular vaccines, we constructed a nasal vaccine candidate based on an influenza vector by inserting a gene encoding the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, named CA4-dNS1-nCoV-RBD (dNS1-RBD). A preclinical study showed that in hamsters challenged 1 d after single-dose vaccination or 9 months after booster vaccination, dNS1-RBD largely mitigated lung pathology, with no loss of body weight. Moreover, such cellular immunity is relatively unimpaired for the most concerning SARS-CoV-2 variants, especially for the latest Omicron variant. In addition, this vaccine also provides cross-protection against H1N1 and H5N1 influenza viruses. The protective immune mechanism of dNS1-RBD could be attributed to the innate immune response in the nasal epithelium, local RBD-specific T cell response in the lung, and RBD-specific IgA and IgG response. Thus, this study demonstrates that the intranasally delivered dNS1-RBD vaccine candidate may offer an important addition to the fight against the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and influenza infection, compensating limitations of current intramuscular vaccines.

An exchange orientation results in an instrumental approach in intimate relationships.

Although the possession of instrumentality (i.e., partner B being useful to partner A's goal pursuit) can facilitate relationship satisfaction, taking an instrumental approach (i.e., A focusing on B's usefulness and seeing B as a tool to facilitate personal goal attainment) is (often) considered as a callous and depersonalized approach to forming relationships. The current research examined whether adopting an exchange orientation amplifies the tendency for people to take an instrumental approach via the motive to maximize self-gain. Four studies (N = 1446) utilizing samples across different countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and China, supported this hypothesis. Specifically, during relationship initiation, an exchange (vs. non-exchange) orientation made participants place higher importance on instrumentality rather than traits facilitating intimacy and bonding (Study 1). For established relationships, participants who chronically adopted an exchange orientation (Study 2) and who were temporarily induced to do so (vs. control; Study 3) were more likely to view their significant other as a tool. The final quasi-experiment (Study 4) showed that requiring or being required to offer a bride price - an embodiment of exchange orientation - predicted instrumentality in marriage and subsequently impaired relationship satisfaction. Implications are discussed.

The Association between COVID-19-Related Wellbeing with Materialism and Perceived Threat.

The ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound impact on people's wellbeing. Here, we proposed that an individual characteristic might be associated with wellbeing; that is, materialism. Specifically, we conducted three studies (total N = 3219) to examine whether people with high levels of materialism would experience poorer wellbeing (i.e., anxiety and depression, in the current case). The results showed that materialism was positively associated with depression (Studies 1A, 1B and 2) and anxiety (Study 2). Moreover, such a relationship was mediated by people's perceived threat of COVID-19 (Study 2). These findings were observed in both Chinese and American people. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical contributions.

Dominate others, hurt self: Social dominance orientation predicts depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic threatens physical and psychological health. We examined whether social dominance orientation (SDO), a preference for inequality among social groups, contributes to mental health during the pandemic. In particular, we predicted that people high in SDO would experience higher levels of depression than others low in SDO. Our results (N = 2008) showed that SDO was positively associated with depression. In addition, participants' perceived lifestyle changes moderated the association between SDO and depression. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the current work.