Direct 4D printing of functionally graded hydrogel networks for biodegradable,untethered,and multimorphic soft robots

Recent advances in functionally graded additive manufacturing(FGAM)technology have enabled the seamless hybridization of multiple functionalities in a single structure.Soft robotics can become one of the largest beneficiaries of these advances,through the design of a facile four-dimensional(4D)FGAM process that can grant an intelligent stimuli-responsive mechanical functionality to the printed objects.Herein,we present a simple binder jetting approach for the 4D printing of functionally graded porous multi-materials(FGMM)by introducing rationally designed graded multiphase feeder beds.Compositionally graded cross-linking agents gradually form stable porous network structures within aqueous polymer particles,enabling programmable hygroscopic deformation without complex mechanical designs.Furthermore,a systematic bed design incorporating additional functional agents enables a multi-stimuli-responsive and untethered soft robot with stark stimulus selectivity.The biodegradability of the proposed 4D-printed soft robot further ensures the sustainability of our approach,with immediate degradation rates of 96.6%within 72 h.The proposed 4D printing concept for FGMMs can create new opportunities for intelligent and sustainable additive manufacturing in soft robotics.

Transverse myelitis after infection with varicella zoster virus in patient with normal immunity: A case report

BACKGROUND Varicella zoster virus(VZV)is a human neurotropic and double-stranded DNA alpha-herpes virus.Primary infection with VZV usually occurs during childhood,manifesting as chickenpox.Reactivation of latent VZV can lead to various neurological complications,including transverse myelitis(TM);although cases of the latter are very rare,particularly in newly active VZV infection.CASE SUMMARY We report here an unusual case of TM in a middle-aged adult immunocompetent patient that developed concomitant to an active VZV infection.The 46-year-old male presented with painful vesicular eruption on his left chest that had steadily progressed to involvement of his back over a 3-d period.Cerebrospinal fluid testing was denied,but findings from magnetic resonance imaging and collective symptomology indicated TM.He was administered antiviral drugs and corticosteroids immediately but his symptom improvement waxed and waned,necessitating multiple hospital admissions.After about a month of repeated treatments,he was deemed sufficiently improved for hospital discharge to home.CONCLUSION VZV myelitis should be suspected when a patient visits the outpatient pain clinic with herpes zoster showing neurological symptoms.

Massive hemothorax following internal jugular vein catheterization under ultrasound guidance:A case report

BACKGROUND Hemothorax is a rare but life-threatening complication of central venous catheterization.Recent reports suggest that ultrasound guidance may reduce complications however,it does not guarantee safety CASE SUMMARY A 75-year-old male patient was admitted for laparoscopic radical nephrectomy.Under ultrasound guidance,right internal jugular vein catheterization was successfully achieved after failure to aspirate blood from the catheter in the first attempt.Sudden hypotension developed after surgical positioning and persisted until the end of the operation,lasting for about 4 h.In the recovery room,a massive hemothorax was identified on chest radiography and computed tomography.The patient recovered following chest tube drainage of 1.6 L blood.CONCLUSION Hemothorax must be suspected when unexplained hemodynamic instability develops after central venous catheterization despite ultrasound guidance.So the proper use of ultrasound is important.

ASpediaFI:Functional Interaction Analysis of Alternative Splicing Events

Alternative splicing(AS)regulates biological processes governing phenotypes and diseases.Differential AS(DAS)gene test methods have been developed to investigate important exonic expression from high-throughput datasets.However,the DAS events extracted using statistical tests are insufficient to delineate relevant biological processes.In this study,we developed a novel application,Alternative Splicing Encyclopedia:Functional Interaction(ASpediaFI),to systemically identify DAS events and co-regulated genes and pathways.ASpediaFI establishes a heterogeneous interaction network of genes and their feature nodes(i.e.,AS events and pathways)connected by coexpression or pathway gene set knowledge.Next,ASpediaFI explores the interaction network using the random walk with restart algorithm and interrogates the proximity from a query gene set.Finally,ASpediaFI extracts significant AS events,genes,and pathways.To evaluate the performance of our method,we simulated RNA sequencing(RNA-seq)datasets to consider various conditions of sequencing depth and sample size.The performance was compared with that of other methods.Additionally,we analyzed three public datasets of cancer patients or cell lines to evaluate how well ASpediaFI detects biologically relevant candidates.ASpediaFI exhibits strong performance in both simulated and public datasets.Our integrative approach reveals that DAS events that recognize a global co-expression network and relevant pathways determine the functional importance of spliced genes in the subnetwork.ASpediaFI is publicly available at https://bioconductor.org/packages/ASpediaFI.