Role of intestinal probiotics in the modulation of lipid metabolism:implications for therapeutic treatments

Currently, accumulating pieces of evidence indicate that probiotics, living in the gastrointestinal tract, play an important role in regulating host metabolism. As a tool, probiotics have great potential for treating lipid metabolism diseases. However, the relationship between probiotics and abnormal lipid metabolism is still unclear, and the mechanism of action has been become a focus of microbiome research. Therefore, taking intestinal probiotics as the starting point, this article combs the relationship between probiotics and lipid metabolism. Moreover, we discuss the underlying mechanisms of intestinal probiotics regulating lipid metabolism and summarize the therapeutic strategies for abnormal lipids metabolism. This article provides a reference for the further utilization of probiotics in the field of functional foods(food industry). Meanwhile, it will benefit the clinical diagnosis and treatment of lipid metabolism diseases.

Mechanism Interpretation of the Biological Brain Cooling and Its Inspiration on Bionic Engineering

The brain is one of the most important organs in a biological body which can only work in a relatively stable temperature range. However, many environmental factors in biosphere would cause cerebral temperature fluctuations. To sustain and regulate the brain temperature, many mechanisms of biological brain cooling have been evolved, including Selective Brain Cooling （SBC）, cooling through surface water evaporation, respiration, behavior response and using special anatomical ap- pendages. This article is dedicated to present a summarization and systematic interpretation on brain cooling strategies devel- oped in animals by classifying and comparatively analyzing each typical biological brain cooling mechanism from the per- spective of bio-heat transfer. Meanwhile, inspirations from such cooling in nature were proposed for developing advanced bionic engineering technologies especially with two focuses on therapeutic hypothermia and computer chip cooling areas. It is expected that many innovations can be achieved along this way to find out new cooling methodologies for a wide variety of industrial applications which will be highly efficient, energy saving, flexible or even intelligent.

Augmented reality technology for preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation during hepatobiliary surgery: A review of current methods

Background: Augmented reality(AR) technology is used to reconstruct three-dimensional(3D) images of hepatic and biliary structures from computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging data, and to superimpose the virtual images onto a view of the surgical field. In liver surgery, these superimposed virtual images help the surgeon to visualize intrahepatic structures and therefore, to operate precisely and to improve clinical outcomes.Data Sources: The keywords "augmented reality", "liver", "laparoscopic" and "hepatectomy" were used for searching publications in the Pub Med database. The primary source of literatures was from peer-reviewed journals up to December 2016. Additional articles were identified by manual search of references found in the key articles.Results: In general, AR technology mainly includes 3D reconstruction, display, registration as well as tracking techniques and has recently been adopted gradually for liver surgeries including laparoscopy and laparotomy with video-based AR assisted laparoscopic resection as the main technical application. By applying AR technology, blood vessels and tumor structures in the liver can be displayed during surgery,which permits precise navigation during complex surgical procedures. Liver transformation and registration errors during surgery were the main factors that limit the application of AR technology.Conclusions: With recent advances, AR technologies have the potential to improve hepatobiliary surgical procedures. However, additional clinical studies will be required to evaluate AR as a tool for reducing postoperative morbidity and mortality and for the improvement of long-term clinical outcomes. Future research is needed in the fusion of multiple imaging modalities, improving biomechanical liver modeling,and enhancing image data processing and tracking technologies to increase the accuracy of current AR methods.

N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide as prognostic marker for patients of non ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction

In this work, we analyzed only the patients of the NSTEMI (non ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction) who arrived at the hospital within 12 h after symptoms started. Using NSTEMI follow-up data within, the characteristics of the clinical data, the risk factor, and the blood tested in the hospital visit were analyzed for MACE (major adverse cardiac events) patients. MACE includes cardiac death, MI (myocardial infarction), Re-PCI, and CABG (coronary artery bypass graft). As a result, from the NSTEMI patients which can be followed up for over 12 m, NT-ProBNP (p=0.014) and age (p=0.045) are found to be the independent risk factors related to MACE. Accordingly, they can be useful for the diagnosis and prognosis for NSTEMI patients as a biomarker.

40 Hz Auditory Steady State Response to Linguistic Features of Stimuli during Auditory Hallucinations

The auditory steady state response （ASSR） may reflect activity from different regions of the brain, depending on the modulation frequency used. In general, responses induced by low rates （_〈40 Hz） emanate mostly from central structures of the brain, and responses from high rates （〉80 Hz） emanate mostly from the peripheral auditory nerve or brainstem structures. Besides, it was reported that the gamma band ASSR （30-90 Hz） played an important role in working memory, speech understanding and recognition. This paper investigated the 40 Hz ASSR evoked by modulated speech and reversed speech. The speech was Chinese phrase voice, and the noise-like reversed speech was obtained by temporally reversing the speech. Both auditory stimuli were modulated with a frequency of 40 Hz. Ten healthy subjects and 5 patients with hallucination symptom participated in the experiment. Results showed re- duction in left auditory cortex response when healthy subjects listened to the reversed speech compared with the speech. In contrast, when the patients who experienced auditory hallucinations listened to the reversed speech, the auditory cortex of left hemispheric responded more actively. The ASSR results were consistent with the behavior results of patients. Therefore, the gamma band ASSR is expected to be helpful for rapid and objective diagnosis of hallucination in clinic.

H∞ synchronization of chaotic neural networks with time-varying delays

In this paper, we investigate the problem of H∞ synchronization for chaotic neural networks with time-varying delays. A new model of the networks with disturbances in both master and slave systems is presented. By constructing a suitable Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional and using a reciprocally convex approach, a novel H∞ synchronization criterion for the networks concerned is established in terms of linear matrix inequalities （LMIs） which can be easily solved by various effective optimization algorithms. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Overexpression of Myocardin-related transcription factor-A attenuated middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion-induced apoptosis via the Mcl-1/Cyt C/cleaved caspase 3 pathway

To investigate the effect of Myocardin related transcription factor A(MRTF-A)on apoptosis induced by ischemic/reperfusion(I/R),middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion(MCAO/R)in rats were applied to mimic I/R.The neurological deficit score,cerebral infarct size,cortical neuron apoptosis and cleaved caspase 3 level were evaluated to determine the effect and the level of apoptosis by TTC straining,terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling(TUNEL)straining,Western blot and immunofuorescence staining.The myeloid cell leukemia-1(Mcl-1)expression,release of cytochrome C(Cyt C)and its colocalization with apoptotic pro-tease activating factor-1(Apaf-1)were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR(qRT-PCR),Western blot,and immunofuorescence staining.The results showed that MRTF-A over-expression could decrease the neurological deficit score and reduce cerebral infarct size(P<0.01 versus Sham).In the MRTF-A-I/R group,TUNEL-positive cells and apoptosis ratio(%)(51.61±6.17%)were significantly decreased compared to the Neg-I/R group(76.45±8.77%)at 24 h reperfusion.Meanwhile,the cleaved caspase 3 expression revealed a similar trend while the expression of Mcl-1 was the opposite.Moreover,MRTF-A overexpression significantly enhanced Mcl-1 fAuorescence intensity,which up-regulated the mRNA and protein level(P<0.05or P<0.01 versus Neg-I/R).Furthermore,MRTF-A overexpression markedly inhibited the release of Cyt C,and decreased the colocalization with Apaf-1 in the cytoplasm(P<0.05 or P<0.01.versus Neg-I/R).All the data indicated that MRTF-A overexpression could improve the neu-rological function against cerebral I/R-induced apoptosis since underlying mechanism might be involved in the Mc-1/Cyt C/cleaved caspase 3 signaling pathway.

Ultrasound Elastography of Ethanol-induced Hepatic Lesions:In Vitro Study

Objective To study the value of ultrasound elastography in evaluation of ethanol-induced lesions of liver.Methods Alcohol with a dose of 2 ml was injected into a fresh porcine liver under ultrasound guidance to create stiff necrosis.Then freehand elastography of the lesion from the identical scan plane was obtained with SONOLINE Antares system using VF10-5 probe at about every 30 seconds till 6 minutes later.The original high quality radiofrequency data were acquired through an ultrasound research interface which was provided by the ultrasound system.Then,corresponding elastograms were produced offline using cross-correlation technique and compared with gross pathology findings.Results Gray-scale sonogram showed a hyperechoic area with acoustic shadow below appeared immediately after alcohol injection.The hyperechoic area tended to be diffuse and its boundary to be illegible with time.On the contrary,the ethanol-induced lesion in elastogram appeared as a low strain hard region surrounded by high strain soft hepatic tissues,with clear but irregular boundaries.Sequential elastograms with the sketched lesion boundaries showed that the lesion area increased in the first 3 minutes after ethanol injection,and then reached a plateau which corresponding to gross specimen.Conclusion Ultrasound elastography is capable of detecting and evaluating the diffusion of ethanol-induced hepatic lesion,and more sensitive and accurate than routine sonography.

IMPACT OF DYNAMICAL HYDRATION SHELL AROUND HA PROTEIN ON NONLINEAR CONCENTRATION DEPENDENT T-RAYS ABSORPTION

T rays is sensitive to covalently cross linked proteins and can be used to probe unique dynamic properties of water surrounding a protein.In this paper,we demonstrate the unique abeorption properties of the dynamic hydnation shells deternined by hemagglutinin(HA)protein in ter-ahertz frequency.We study the changes arising fom diferent concentrations in detail and show that nonlinear absorption coefficient is induced by the dynamic hydration water.The binary and ternary component model were used to interpret the nonlinearity absorption behaviors and predict the thickness of the hydration shells around the HA protein in aquous phase.

DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A 20 MHz ANNULAR ARRAY FOR MEDICAL ULTRASOUND

Most high frequency(>15MHz)medical ultrasound systems are based on single element transducers mechanically scanned.These systems can provide images with excellent resolution.However,single element transducers are often limited by the fixed focal point and small depth of field.Annular arrays consisting of concentric rings of elements are focused electronically.These arrays are desirable to avoid the fixed focal point of the single element transducers and improve the depth of field.This paper reports the design,fabrication,and characterization of a 5-element equal-area annular array transducer.After electrical impedance matching,the average center frequency was 20MHz and-6 dB bandwidths ranged from 34 to 42%.The ILs for the matched annuli ranged from 6.1 to 26.5 dB.

Microfluidic Chip Method for Multi-SNPs Genotyping in Individual Risk Assessment of Micronutrient Deficiency

Research on nutrigenomics has accumulated sufficient data in the past two decades that have dem on strated phe no types of single n ucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) betwee n healthy and micronutrient-deficient populations. For instance, Zhang et al. showed that the genes MTHFR C677T, MTRR A66G, and MTR A2756G were the genetic factors resp on sible for low absorptio n and bioavailability of vitamins such as folate, B6/ and B12. It has also been reported that these nutrients are closely associated with the prevale nee of neural tube defects in newborn infants。

Fast infectious diseases diagnostics based on microfuidic biochip system

Molecular diagnostics is one of the most important tools currently in use for clinical pathogen detection due to its high sensitivity,specificity,and low consume of sample and reagent is keyword to low cost molecular diagnostics.In this paper,a sensitive DNA isothermal amplifi-cation method for fast clinical infectious diseases diagnostics at aM concentrations of DNA was developed using a polycarbonate(PC)microfuidic chip.A portable confocal optical fuo-rescence detector was specifically developed for the microfuidic chip that was capable of highly sensitive real-time detection of amplified products for sequence-specific molecular identification near the optical diffraction limit with low background.The molecular diagnostics of Listeria monocytogenes with nucleic acid extracted from stool samples was performed at a minimum DNA template concentration of 3.65 aM,and a detection limit of less than five copies of genomic DNA.Contrast to the general polymerase chain reaction(PCR)at eppendorf(EP)tube,the detection time in our developed method was reduced from 1.5h to 45 min for multi-target parallel detection,the consume of sample and reagent was dropped from 25μL to 1.45μL.This novel microfuidic chip system and method can be used to develop a micro total analysis system as a clinically relevant pathogen molecular diagnostics method via the amplification of targets,with potential applications in biotechnology,medicine,and clinical molecular diagnostics.

Enhancement of Tumor Regression by Coulomb Nanoradiator Effect in Proton Treatment of Iron-Oxide Nanoparticle-Loaded Orthotopic Rat Glioma Model: Implication of Novel Particle Induced Radiation Therapy

Background: Proton-impact metallic nanoparticles, inducing low-energy electrons emission and characteristic X-rays termed as Coulomb nanoradiator effect (CNR), are known to produce therapeutic enhancement in proton treatment on experimental tumors. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of CNR-based dose enhancement on tumor growth inhibition in an iron-oxide nanoparticle (FeONP)-loaded orthotopic rat glioma model. Methods: Proton-induced CNR was exploited to treat glioma-bearing SD rat loaded with FeONP by either fully-absorbed single pristine Bragg peak (APBP) or spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP) 45-MeV proton beam. A selected number of rats were examined by MRI before and after treatment to obtain the size and position information for adjusting irradiation field. Tumor regression assay was performed by histological analysis of residual tumor in the sacrificed rats 7 days after treatment. The results of CNR-treated groups were compared with the proton alone control. Results: Intravenous injection of FeONP (300 mg/kg) elevated the tumor concentration of iron up to 37 μg of Fe/g tissue, with a tumor-to-normal ratio of 5, 24 hours after injection. The group receiving FeONP and proton beam showed 65% - 79% smaller tumor volume dose-dependently compared with the proton alone group. The rats receiving FeONP and controlled irradiation field by MR imaging demonstrated more than 95% - 99% tumor regression compared with MRI-determined initial tumor size. Conclusions: Proton-impact FeONP produced therapeutic enhancement compared with proton alone in an orthotopic rat glioma model at a selected temporal point after treatment. Single BP proton beam could induce CNR- based dose enhancement and produce enhanced tumor regression that was comparable to SOBP treatment despite inhomogeneous tumor dose in the APBP-treated tumor. These results may suggest emergence of novel Particle Induced Radiation Therapy (PIRT) on malignant glioma.

BIODEGRADABLE POLYMERS WITH A PHOSPHORYL-CONTAINING BACKBONE:TISSUE ENGINEERING AND CONTROLLED DRUG DELIVERY APPLICATIONS

This review provides a glimpse of the potential of the biodegradable phos-phoryl-containing polymers in medical applications. Undoubtedly these polymerspossess unique properties that are yet to be fully understood. Many areas warrantfurther investigation and much optimization remains to be done. The fascinatingchemistry of phosphorus poses interesting hurdles but at the same time leavesample room for polymer scientists to exercise their creativity in designinginteresting biomaterials. As the mutual understanding between basic and clinicalscientists on the need of medical devices and the capabilities of these newbiomaterials expands, imaginative application of new biomaterials to other medi-cal applications can be expected.

Study on Robot Grasping System of SSVEP-BCI Based on Augmented Reality Stimulus

Although notable progress has been made in the study of Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential(SSVEP)-based Brain-Computer Interface(BCI),several factors that limit the practical applications of BCIs still exist.One of these factors is the importability of the stimulator.In this study,Augmented Reality(AR)technology was introduced to present the visual stimuli of SSVEP-BCI,while the robot grasping experiment was designed to verify the applicability of the AR-BCI system.The offline experiment was designed to determine the best stimulus time,while the online experiment was used to complete the robot grasping task.The offline experiment revealed that better information transfer rate performance could be achieved when the stimulation time is 2 s.Results of the online experiment indicate that all 12 subjects could control the robot to complete the robot grasping task,which indicates the applicability of the AR-SSVEP-humanoid robot(NAO)system.This study verified the reliability of the AR-BCI system and indicated the applicability of the AR-SSVEP-NAO system in robot grasping tasks.

Overview of recognition methods for SSVEP-based BCIs in World Robot Contest 2022: MATLAB undergraduate group

The steady-state visual evoked potential(SSVEP)-based speller has emerged as a widely adopted paradigm in current brain–computer interface(BCI) systems due to its rapid processing and consistent performance across different individuals. Calibration-free SSVEP algorithms, as opposed to their calibration-based counterparts, offer clear and intuitive mathematical principles, making them accessible to novice developers. During the World Robot Contest(WRC)2022, participants in the undergraduate category utilized various approaches to accomplish target detection in the calibration-free setting, successfully implementing the algorithms using MATLAB.The winning approach achieved an average information transfer rate of 198.94 bits/min in the final test, which is notably high given the calibration-free scenario. This paper presents an introduction to the underlying principles of the selected methods, accompanied by a comparison of their effectiveness through analysis of results from both the final test and offline experiments. Additionally, we propose that the youth competition of WRC could serve as an ideal starting point for beginners interested in studying and developing their own BCI systems.

Multiphase flow physics of room temperature liquid metals and its applications

Multiphase flow existing everywhere in the motion evolution of nature,industrial processes,and daily life,has been an interdisciplinary cutting-edge frontier covering rather diverse disciplines.Traditional multiphase flow of high melting metals typically involves gas/vapor-liquid two-phase fluidics which usually requests intense energy processes and therefore limits their applications to a large extent.Different from this,the newly emerging room-temperature liquid metals(RTLMs)with fascinating metallic fluidic properties and multifunctional behaviors,not only well resolve the existing challenges facing conventional technologies,but also open up a series of new scientific and engineering subjects.Especially the conceptual introduction of multiphase composites endows liquid metal with many unconventional fluidic capabilities.To further push forward the advancement of this new area,the present article is dedicated to systematically outlining the scientific category of RTLMs multiphase flow physics and interpreting its fundamental and practical issues.The vision is to provide insights into promising developmental directions of RTLMs multiphase flow and thus facilitate synergetic research and progress among different disciplines.First,the traditional metal multiphase flow was briefly introduced.Then,we summarized the physics of RTLMs multiphase flow,the common types of liquid metals,the basic physical and chemical properties of their multiphase flow and governing equations,etc.Following that,various typical driving modalities and manipulation methods of RTLMs were illustrated.Finally,important implementations of RTLMs multiphase flow into thermal management,energy harvesting,catalysis,soft machines,biomedicine,and printed electronics were discussed.Overall,the multiphase flow physics of RTLMs is currently still in its incubation stage and there exist tremendous opportunities and challenges which are worth further pursuing in the coming time.

Injectable bone marrow microniches by co-culture of HSPCs with MSCs in 3D microscaffolds promote hematopoietic reconstitution from acute lethal radiation

Hematopoietic syndrome of acute radiation syndrome(h-ARS)is an acute illness resulted from the damage of bone marrow(BM)microenvironment after exposure to radiation.Currently,the clinical management of h-ARS is limited to medication-assisted treatment,while there is still no specific therapy for the hematopoietic injury from high-dose radiation exposure.Our study aimed to assemble biomimetic three-dimensional(3D)BM microniches by co-culture of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells(HSPCs)and mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)in porous,injectable and viscoelastic microscaffolds in vitro.The biodegradable BM microniches were then transplanted in vivo into the BM cavity for the treatment of h-ARS.We demonstrated that the maintenance of HSPCs was prolonged by co-culture with MSCs in the porous 3D microscaffolds with 84μm in pore diameter and 11.2 kPa in Young’s modulus compared with 2D co-culture system.Besides,the minimal effective dose and therapeutic effects of the BM microniches were investigated on a murine model of h-ARS,which showed that the intramedullary cavity-injected BM microniches could adequately promote hematopoietic reconstitution and mitigate death from acute lethal radiation with a dose as low as 1000 HSPCs.Furthermore,the mRNA expression of Notch1 and its downstream target gene Hes1 of HSPCs were increased when co-cultured with MSCs,while the Jagged1 expression of the co-cultured MSCs was upregulated,indicating the significance of Notch signaling pathway in maintenance of HSPCs.Collectively,our findings provide evidence that biomimetic and injectable 3D BM microniches could maintain HSPCs,promote hematopoiesis regeneration and alleviate post-radiation injury,which provides a promising approach to renovate conventional HSPCs transplantation for clinical treatment of blood and immune disorders.

Ultrasoft,sensitive fiber-like sensor by assembly of bacterial cellulose(BC)nanofibrils and BC molecules for biocompatible strain sensing

The development of implantable bioelectronics is driven by emerging applications including continuous health monitoring and human-machine interfacing.The mechanical mismatch between implanted bioelectronics and tissues not only compromises device accuracy,but also causes interference with tissues undesirably.To address this issue,it is necessary to develop ultrasoft and biocompatible fiber strain sensor with proper stretchability and sensitivity.Here,we fabricate a bacterial cellulose-based sensing fiber which possesses the stretchability and elastic modulus(~102 kPa)close to those of soft tissues.In addition,such fiber has high sensitivity to tiny tensile force/strain(8.8×10^(−3)N/2.5%)and low cell cytotoxicity.These excellent properties make the bacterial cellulose(BC)-based sensing fiber an excellent candidate of implantable bioelectric devices for monitoring subtle motions of organs.We demonstrate this by applying it for continuous monitoring of human pulse and bullfrog heartbeats.The(BC/oxBC)@PANI(ox=oxidized and PANI=polyaniline)fibers can further be woven into an array sensor and serve more complex sensing functions,such as multipoint force perception and shape recognition as demonstrated.