In December 2019, the outbreak of pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to a serious pandemic in China and other countries worldwide. So far, more than 460,000 confirmed cases were diagnosed in nearly 190 countries, causing globally over 20,000 deaths. Currently, the epidemic is still spreading and there is no effective means to prevent the infection. Vaccines are proved to be the most effective and economical means to prevent and control infectious diseases. Several countries, companies, and institutions announced their programs and progress on vaccine development against the virus. While most of the vaccines are under design and preparation, there are some that have entered efficacy evaluation in animals and initial clinical trials. This review mainly focused on the progress and our prospects on field of vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2.
2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is a virus identified as the cause of the outbreak of pneumonia first detected in Wuhan, China. Investigations on the transmissibility, severity, and other features associated with this virus are ongoing. Currently, there is no vaccine or therapeutic antibody to prevent the infection, and more time is required to develop an effective immune strategy against the pathogen. In contrast, specific inhibitors targeting the key protease involved in replication and proliferation of the virus are the most effective means to alleviate the epidemic. The main protease of SARS-CoV is essential for the life cycle of the virus, which showed 96.1% of similarity with the main proteaseof 2019-nCoV, is considered to be an attractive target for drug development. In this study, we have identified 4 small molecular drugs with high binding capacity with SARS-CoV main protease by high-throughput screening based on the 8,000 clinical drug libraries, all these drugs have been widely used in clinical applications with guaranteed safety, which may serve as promising candidates to treat the infection of 2019-nCoV.
There is growing attention and rapid development on flexible electronic devices with electronic materials and sensing technology innovations. In particular, strain sensors with high elasticity and stretchability are needed for several potential applications including human entertainment technology, human-machine interface, personal healthcare, and sports performance monitoring, etc. This article presents recent advancements in the development of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based flexible resistive strain sensors for wearable applications. First of all, the article shows that PDMS-based stretchable resistive strain sensors are successfully fabricated by different methods, such as the filtration method, printing technology, micromolding method, coating techniques, and liquid phase mixing. Next, strain sensing performances including stretchability, gauge factor, linearity, and durability are comprehensively demonstrated and compared. Finally, potential applications of PDMS-based flexible resistive strain sensors are also discussed. This review indicates that the era of wearable intelligent electronic systems has arrived.
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