COVID-19 hospitalization rates rise exponentially with age,inversely proportional to thymic T-cell production

Here, we report that COVID-19 hospitalization rates follow an exponential relationship with age, doubling for every 16 years of age or equivalently increasing by 4.5% per year of life (R² = 0.98). This mirrors the well-studied exponential decline of both thymus volume and T-cell production, which halve every 16 years. COVID-19 can therefore be added to the list of other diseases with this property, including those caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MERS-CoV, West Nile virus, Streptococcus pneumoniae and certain cancers, such as chronic myeloid leukaemia and brain cancers. In addition, the incidence of severe disease and mortality due to COVID-19 are both higher in men, consistent with the degree to which thymic involution (and the decrease in T-cell production with age) is more severe in men compared to women. Since these properties are shared with some non-contagious diseases, we hypothesized that the age dependence does not come from social-mixing patterns, i.e. that the probability of hospitalization given infection rises exponentially, doubling every 16 years. A Bayesian analysis of daily hospitalizations, incorporating contact matrices, found that this relationship holds for every age group except for the under 20s. While older adults have fewer contacts than young adults, our analysis suggests that there is an approximate cancellation between the effects of fewer contacts for the elderly and higher infectiousness due to a higher probability of developing severe disease. Our model fitting suggests under 20s have 49–75% additional immune protection beyond that predicted by strong thymus function alone, consistent with increased juvenile cross-immunity from other viruses. We found no evidence for differences between age groups in susceptibility to infection or infectiousness to others (given disease state), i.e. the only important factor in the age dependence of hospitalization rates is the probability of hospitalization given infection. These findings suggest the existence of a T-cell exhaustion threshold, proportional to thymic output and that clonal expansion of peripheral T-cells does not affect disease risk. The strikingly simple inverse relationship between risk and thymic T-cell output adds to the evidence that thymic involution is an important factor in the decline of the immune system with age and may also be an important clue in understanding disease progression, not just for COVID-19 but other diseases as well.     

北京冬奥会推动国内制冷行业可持续发展

二氧化碳制冷技术和提升氨制冷安全体系是绿色制冷的重要支撑,北京冬奥会大量采用绿色制冷技术,不仅推动国内制冷行业可持续发展,而且将对2030年碳达峰和2060年碳中和产生深远影响.     

测井资料在优选压裂层位中的应用

压裂是低孔、低渗油层改造的主要增产措施。根据常规测井资料、岩石物理实验分析数据及试油成果。研究储层四性关系，确定区块的低孔、低渗储层评价标准。进一步对油层进行分类，有针对性地为油层压裂提供施工层位和准确的储层参数。通过商543区块实例，阐述了选择压裂层位的方法。     

RF磁控溅射制备钛酸锶钡BST纳米薄膜

钛酸锶钡(BST)薄膜作为一种高K介质材料在微电子和微机电系统等领域具有广阔的应用前景,人们已对BST薄膜的制备工艺技术和介电性能进行了大量的研究。BST纳米薄膜的制备工艺直接影响和决定着薄膜的介电性能(介电常数、漏电流密度、介电强度等)。对RF磁控反应溅射制备BST纳米薄膜的工艺技术进行了综述。从溅射靶的制备、溅射工艺参数的优化、热处理、薄膜组分的控制,及制备工艺对介电性能的影响等方面,对现有研究成果进行了较全面的总结。     

Ru/MCM-41催化剂上苯的液相加氢反应

 以Si-MCM-41、Al-MCM-41(1) (n(Si)/n(Al)=15)、Al-MCM-41(2) (n(Si)/n(Al)=10)以及用NH4NO3或HAc的醇溶液分别与Si-MCM-41离子交换所得的H-MCM-41(N)和H-MCM-41(H)为载体制备了系列Ru/MCM-41催化剂。采用N2吸附、XRD和H2-TPR表征了负载Ru前后催化剂的结构及Ru在各种载体表面上的分散状态。以0.5%（质量分数）苯的环己烷溶液为模型化合物，在298K、3.0MPa反应条件下，考察了上述催化剂的苯液相加氢反应性能，并与Ru/HY、Ru/H和Pt/MCM-41催化剂进行了比较。结果表明，载体MCM-41的n(Si)/n(Al)和表面化学组成等性质对Ru在其表面上的分散状态、还原性及催化性能均有影响。对苯的转化率与反应时间的关系曲线进行拟合，发现其遵循一级动力学方程，加氢反应速率常数按照Ru/Al-MCM-41(2)相似文献   

自动生成XML测试脚本的类测试

针对手工编写测试脚本工作量大且容易出错的问题，提出了以XML文档描述测试脚本，利用DOM技术自动生成测试脚本的方法。在此基础上，设计了一个类测试框架，并用一个实例描述了其具体的流程。     

探地雷达在地下管线探测中的应用

探地雷达技术是如今适应快速、准确、无损地探测地下障碍物而迅速发展的电磁技术。文中介绍了探地雷达的工作原理及工作方式，并通过结合工程实例来探讨探地雷达在地下管线探测中的广泛应用。     

油气操作成本预测方法研究

油气操作成本在油气生产中占有较大的比重，油气操作成本的高低直接影响油田开发的经济效益。为了有效地控制油田油气操作成本，根据影响油气操作的因素，将油气操作成本按其影响因素进行分类，对基本运行费和油气处理费采用回归预测的方法，通过对相关数据的收集，建立对应的数学模型进行预测，对其他各项操作成本，采用单位费用和计划工作量进行预测，最后进行汇总，得到油气操作成本，其预测结果可作为油气操作成本计划制订的依据。该方法简单、操作性强，预测效果较好，在油田可以推广使用。     

七里北地区钻井工程地质特征及提高钻速的技术途径

七里北潜伏构造南邻渡口河、北邻铁山坡,这些构造均在飞仙关鲕滩钻获良好的天然气,具有很好的勘探前景。七里北1井钻探表明,该井在飞仙关地层获天然气80×104m3,但储层埋藏深度达5600m,且侏罗系地层的钻井工程地质条件与相邻构造有显著差异,钻井速度低和钻具事故多这两大问题突出,严重制约了探井钻井速度。认真分析了七里北1井的钻井工程地质特征,有针对性地提出提高飞仙关探井钻井速度的技术途径,有利于解决钻井工程面临的突出问题,对加快该地区飞仙关鲕滩气藏的勘探速度有着重要意义。     

层序单元体系域划分及勘探意义

体系域是层序地层学理论体系中的重要概念，在隐蔽油气藏的勘探中，勘探家们极为重视低位体系域。但体系域的成因意义、是否有不同级别层序的体系域以及如何划分，在实际工作中认识不一致。结合勃海湾盆地的勘探实例，分析体系域的成因机制、组合特征和勘探规律，认为：体系域是基准面变化等因素作用的产物，不同级别的层序都发育着与其对应的体系域：一般情况下，三级层序对应的体系域单元与含油气层的规模相匹配，但四级层序对应的体系域才是隐蔽油气藏赋存的有利部位。图5参6。