Streamlining social media information extraction for public health research with deep learning.

OBJECTIVE: Social media-based public health research is crucial for epidemic surveillance, but most studies identify relevant corpora with keyword-matching. This study develops a system to streamline the process of curating colloquial medical dictionaries. We demonstrate the pipeline by curating a UMLS-colloquial symptom dictionary from COVID-19-related tweets as proof of concept. METHODS: COVID-19-related tweets from February 1, 2020, to April 30, 2022 were used. The pipeline includes three modules: a named entity recognition module to detect symptoms in tweets; an entity normalization module to aggregate detected entities; and a mapping module that iteratively maps entities to Unified Medical Language System concepts. A random 500 entity sample were drawn from the final dictionary for accuracy validation. Additionally, we conducted a symptom frequency distribution analysis to compare our dictionary to a pre-defined lexicon from previous research. RESULTS: We identified 498,480 unique symptom entity expressions from the tweets. Pre-processing reduces the number to 18,226. The final dictionary contains 38,175 unique expressions of symptoms that can be mapped to 966 UMLS concepts (accuracy = 95%). Symptom distribution analysis found that our dictionary detects more symptoms and is effective at identifying psychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression, often missed by pre-defined lexicons. CONCLUSIONS: This study advances public health research by implementing a novel, systematic pipeline for curating symptom lexicons from social media data. The final lexicon's high accuracy, validated by medical professionals, underscores the potential of this methodology to reliably interpret and categorize vast amounts of unstructured social media data into actionable medical insights across diverse linguistic and regional landscapes.

Fengshi Liuhe Decoction treatment for rheumatoid arthritis via the Fzd6/NF-κB signaling axis.

To explore whether Fengshi Liuhe Decoction (FLD) alleviates rheumatoid arthritis (RA) via the Fzd6/NF-κB signaling axis. We used real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and western blotting (WB) to determine the genes of the frizzled (Fzd) protein 1- Fzd protein 10 that are significantly differentially expressed between normal rat fibroblast-like synoviocyte (FLS) and collagen II-induced arthritis (CIA) rat FLS. Next, we used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to evaluate the levels of inflammatory factors in cell culture supernatant to determine the ability of FLD to ameliorate RA. Finally, we employed WB to detect the key gene expression in protein levels of the Fzd6/NF-κB signaling axis among normal rat FLS, CIA rat FLS, and FLD-treated CIA rat FLS. Our results showed that Fzd6 expression was significantly higher in CIA rat FLS at both the mRNA and protein levels than in normal rat FLS. FLD was found to downregulate Fzd6 and inflammatory factors, including COX-2, IL-8, and TNF-α, at both the mRNA and protein levels. FLD was also found to downregulate the total protein levels of Fzd6 and the NF-κB signaling pathway key gene phosphorylation of p-p65/p65 and p-IκBα/IκBα. Moreover, FLD inhibited the nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 in CIA rat FLS. FLD can alleviate inflammation of CIA rat FLS via the Fzd6/NF-κB signaling axis.

Simulation research on aerodynamic noise characteristics of a compressor under different working conditions.

The shear stress transport turbulence model is employed to conduct a detailed study of flow characteristics at the highest efficiency point and near-stall point in a full-channel 1.5-stage compressor in this paper. The simulation results for the compressor's total pressure ratio and efficiency exhibit good agreement with experimental data. Emphasis is placed on examining the internal flow structure in the tip area of the compressor rotor under near-stall conditions. The results reveal that significant differences in flow structure primarily occur in the tip area as the compressor approaches stall. Specifically, a reduction in turbulent kinetic energy is observed in a region spanning approximately 20%-60% of the chord length on the rotor suction face near-stall conditions. Two additional peak frequencies, at 0.8 and 1.6 times the blade passage frequency, are observed, and the intricate flow phenomena are elaborated at the near-stall point. The near-stall point exhibits greater noise levels than the highest efficiency point, where the intensity of the surface source increases by more than 10 dB, peaking at 20 dB. This additional peak serves as a significant supplementary noise source near the stall point, leading to a maximum increase of 33.3 dB in the free radiated sound power. The acoustic response within the duct indicates that the compressor operating at the near-stall point continues to produce substantial noise on the actual test bench, showing an average increase of 6 dB in noise levels, and the distribution of the additional peak single-tone noise at the entrance significantly differs from that observed at the highest efficiency point.

Tibial cortex transverse transport promotes ischemic diabetic foot ulcer healing via enhanced angiogenesis and inflammation modulation in a novel rat model.

BACKGROUND: Tibial Cortex Transverse Transport (TTT) represents an innovative surgical method for treating lower extremity diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs), yet its underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Establishing an animal model that closely mirrors clinical scenarios is both critical and novel for elucidating the mechanisms of TTT. METHODS: We established a diabetic rat model with induced hindlimb ischemia to mimic the clinical manifestation of DFUs. TTT was applied using an external fixator for regulated bone movement. Treatment efficacy was evaluated through wound healing assessments, histological analyses, and immunohistochemical techniques to elucidate biological processes. RESULTS: The TTT group demonstrated expedited wound healing, improved skin tissue regeneration, and diminished inflammation relative to controls. Marked neovascularization and upregulation of angiogenic factors were observed, with the HIF-1α/SDF-1/CXCR4 pathway and an increase in EPCs being pivotal in these processes. A transition toward anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages indicated TTT's immunomodulatory capacity. CONCLUSION: Our innovative rat model effectively demonstrates the therapeutic potential of TTT in treating DFUs. We identified TTT's roles in promoting angiogenesis and modulating the immune system. This paves the way for further in-depth research and potential clinical applications to improve DFU management strategies.

Skin-Inspired Capacitive Flexible Tactile Sensor with an Asymmetric Structure for Detecting Directional Shear Forces.

Flexible pressure sensors based on micro-/nanostructures can be integrated into robots to achieve sensitive tactile perception. However, conventional symmetric structures, such as pyramids or hemispheres, can sense only the magnitude of a force and not its direction. In this study, a capacitive flexible tactile sensor inspired by skin structures and based on an asymmetric microhair structure array to perceive directional shear force is designed. Asymmetric microhair structures are obtained by two-photon polymerization (TPP) and replication. Owing to the features of asymmetric microhair structures, different shear force directions result in different deformations. The designed device can determine the directions of both static and dynamic shear forces. Additionally, it exhibits large response scales ranging from 30 Pa to 300 kPa and maintains high stability even after 5000 cycles; the final relative capacitive change (ΔC/C0 ) is <2.5%. This flexible tactile sensor has the potential to improve the perception and manipulation ability of dexterous hands and enhance the intelligence of robots.

Circulating inflammatory cytokines and psoriasis risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a systemic immune-mediated chronic inflammatory skin disease; its systemic manifestations and periodic recurrence negatively affect a patient's quality of life. Inflammatory cytokines are known to have an important role in the onset and progression of psoriasis, however, data on the association between circulating inflammatory cytokines and psoriasis risk is inconclusive. Here, we explore the relevance of circulating proinflammatory factors to the pathogenesis of psoriasis using a meta-analysis. OBJECTIVE: To explore the association between circulating levels of inflammatory factors and psoriasis to elucidate the mechanisms underlying psoriasis and improve clinical diagnosis and treatment. METHODS: We systematically retrieved articles published in PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and the Web of Science from the establishment of each database to January 2023. The standard mean difference (SMD) in cytokine levels of individuals with psoriasis and healthy controls was used to check for correlations between circulating inflammatory factor levels and psoriasis. RESULTS: Fifty-seven studies, with data from 2838 patients, were retrieved and included in the meta-analysis. Eleven inflammatory factors were studied (circulating interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, IL-12, IL-17, IL-18, IL-22, IL-23, IL-35, IL-36, transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-ß) and gamma-interferon (IFN-γ)). Of these, IL-2 [SMD = 1.29 (95% CI: 0.61-1.97; P <0.001)], IL-17 [SMD = 0.71 (95% CI: 0.12-1.30; P = 0.018)], IL-18 [SMD = 1.27 (95% CI: 0.64-1.90; P <0.001)], and IFN-γ [SMD = 1.90 (95% CI: 1.27-2.52; P <0.001)] levels had significant correlations with psoriasis. CONCLUSION: Increased serum concentrations of the circulating inflammatory cytokines IL-2, IL-17, IL-18 and IFN-γ were significantly correlated with psoriasis.

Novel Optofluidic Imaging System Integrated with Tunable Microlens Arrays.

Optofluidic tunable microlens arrays (MLAs) can manipulate and control light propagation using fluids. Lately, their applicability to miniature lab-on-a-chip systems is being extensively researched. However, it is difficult to incorporate 3D MLAs directly in a narrow microfluidic channel using common techniques. This has resulted in limited research on variable focal length imaging with optofluidic 3D MLAs. In this paper, we propose a method for fabricating MLAs in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microchannels via electrohydrodynamic jet (E-jet) printing to achieve optofluidic tunable MLAs. Using this method, MLAs of diameters 15 to 80 µm can be fabricated in microfluidic channels with widths of 200 and 300 µm. By alternately using solutions with different refractive indices in the microchannel, the optofluidic microlenses exhibit reversible modulation properties while retaining the morphologies and refractive indices of the microlenses. The focal length of the resulting optofluidic chip can have threefold tunability, thereby achieving an imaging depth of approximately 450 µm. This outstanding advantage is useful in observing microspheres and cells flowing in the microfluidic system. Thus, the proposed optofluidic chip exhibits great potential for cell counting and imaging applications.

Customized construction of microscale multi-component biostructures for cellular applications.

In vitro biofabrication is employed in fields such as biomedicine and those using biomimetic materials. However, it suffers from drawbacks such as low resolution, applicability on a limited range of components, and difficulty in purposefully depositing specific cells in three-dimensional space. Hence, this paper proposes a digital micromirror device-based optical projection lithography (DOPL) system for producing multi-component microstructures with resolutions of tens of microns and explores the behavior of cells with these structures. The printability and mechanical properties of these microstructures were investigated to assess their reproduction quality and the ability to control their structural characteristics. The results show that when DOPL is used with polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) hydrogel, an array of micropits can be fabricated within a few minutes. Furthermore, uniform cell spheroids form rapidly with high throughput when they are seeded into the micropits. Additionally, PEGDMA and gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) were used to construct multi-component microstructures, and it was demonstrated that cells with various morphologies selectively adhere to the heterogeneous interface. In addition, DOPL could enable deposition of various cells for constructing microenvironments and for drug screening. Finally, a biomimetic peritoneal model was constructed. Overall, this work demonstrates the versatility of this system and its potential in cellular applications such as cell behavior research, drug screening, and tissue engineering.

In Situ Electrohydrodynamic Jet Printing-Based Fabrication of Tunable Microlens Arrays.

Tunable microlens arrays (MLAs) with controllable focal lengths have been extensively used in optical sensors, biochips, and electronic devices. The commonly used method is electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) that controls the contact angle of the microlens to adjust the focal length. However, the fabrication of tunable MLAs at the microscale remains a challenge because the size of MLAs is limited by the external electrodes of EWOD. In this study, a highly integrated planar annular microelectrode array was proposed to achieve an electrowetting tunable MLA. The planar microelectrode was fabricated by electrohydrodynamic jet (E-jet) printing and the liquid microlens was then deposited in situ on the microelectrode. This method could realize 36 tunable liquid microlenses with an average diameter of 24 µm in a 320 × 320 µm2 plane. The fabricated tunable MLAs with higher integration levels and smaller sizes can be beneficial for cell imaging, optofluidic systems, and microfluidic chips.

On detecting urgency in short crisis messages using minimal supervision and transfer learning.

Humanitarian disasters have been on the rise in recent years due to the effects of climate change and socio-political situations such as the refugee crisis. Technology can be used to best mobilize resources such as food and water in the event of a natural disaster, by semi-automatically flagging tweets and short messages as indicating an urgent need. The problem is challenging not just because of the sparseness of data in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, but because of the varying characteristics of disasters in developing countries (making it difficult to train just one system) and the noise and quirks in social media. In this paper, we present a robust, low-supervision social media urgency system that adapts to arbitrary crises by leveraging both labeled and unlabeled data in an ensemble setting. The system is also able to adapt to new crises where an unlabeled background corpus may not be available yet by utilizing a simple and effective transfer learning methodology. Experimentally, our transfer learning and low-supervision approaches are found to outperform viable baselines with high significance on myriad disaster datasets.

Biomimetic construction of peritoneum to imitate peritoneal metastasis using digital micromirror device-based optical projection lithography.

Currently, the mechanisms underlying the peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer cells and the function of mesothelial cells during this process are unclear, primarily due to the absence of an effective in vitro peritoneal model. In this study, we constructed a biomimetic peritoneal model using a digital micromirror device-based optical projection lithography system. This model enabled the simulation of a damaged peritoneum, which allowed for a comparison of the characteristics of an undamaged peritoneum, such as porosity, mechanical properties, and surface morphology, with those of a damaged peritoneum. Biological inertness and removability of the polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate hydrogel were exploited to fabricate an arrayed heterogeneous interface that imitated a damaged human peritoneum. The porous structure of the peritoneum was achieved by adjusting the ratio of collagen I to gelatin methacryloyl; this structure of the peritoneum might contribute to its shock absorption property. Atomic force microscopy characterization showed that the outermost layers of the model peritoneum and real peritoneum were similar in surface morphology and mechanical properties. Furthermore, we reproduced the process of peritoneal metastasis in vitro. The numbers of gastric cancer cells that adhered to the heterogeneous interface were different, and mesothelial cells played an essential role in peritoneal metastasis. Our findings indicate that this model can be utilized in preclinical drug screening and personalized therapy.

Dynamically directing cell organization via micro-hump structure patterned cell-adhered interfaces.

Cell adhesion plays an important role in cell communication, organ formation and tissue maintenance. Spatial microstructure patterning has the capability to regulate cell functions such as cell adhesion and cell proliferation as well as cellular mechanical properties. In this study, we present a simple method to fabricate micro-hump patterned interfaces based on electrohydrodynamic jet (E-jet) printing to control and direct cell organization. Micro-hump structures were rapidly fabricated by E-jet printing and arbitrary cell patterns can be achieved by selective cell adhesion induced by this surface topography. Furthermore, cellular mechanical properties were regulated by changing the density of microstructures. The technique we proposed could dynamically direct cell organization in a controlled manner, providing help for exploring the fundamental mechanism of cell adhesion and sensing.

Cross-scale additive direct-writing fabrication of micro/nano lens arrays by electrohydrodynamic jet printing.

High-quality micro/nanolens arrays (M/NLAs) are becoming irreplaceable components of various compact and miniaturized optical systems and functional devices. There is urgent requirement for a low-cost, high-efficiency, and high-precision technique to manufacture high-quality M/NLAs to meet their diverse and personalized applications. In this paper, we report the one-step maskless fabrication of M/NLAs via electrohydrodynamic jet (E-jet) printing. In order to get the best morphological parameters of M/NLAs, we adopted the stable cone-jet printing mode with optimized parameters instead of the micro dripping mode. The optical parameters of M/NLAs were analyzed and optimized, and they were influenced by the E-jet printing parameters, the wettability of the substrate, and the viscosity of the UV-curable adhesive. Thus, diverse and customized M/NLAs were obtained. Herein, we realized the fabrication of nanolens with a minimum diameter of 120 nm, and NLAs with different parameters were printed on a silicon substrate, a cantilever of atomic force microscopy probe, and single-layer graphene.

Fabrication of Waterproof Artificial Compound Eyes with Variable Field of View Based on the Bioinspiration from Natural Hierarchical Micro-Nanostructures.

Planar and curved microlens arrays (MLAs) are the key components of miniaturized microoptical systems. In order to meet the requirements for advanced and multipurpose applications in microoptical field, a simple manufacturing method is urgently required for fabricating MLAs with unique properties, such as waterproofness and variable field-of-view (FOV) imaging. Such properties are beneficial for the production of advanced artificial compound eyes for the significant applications in complex microcavity environments with high humidity, for instance, miniature medical endoscopy. However, the simple and effective fabrication of advanced artificial compound eyes still presents significant challenges. In this paper, bioinspired by the natural superhydrophobic surface of lotus leaf, we propose a novel method for the fabrication of waterproof artificial compound eyes. Electrohydrodynamic jet printing was used to fabricate hierarchical MLAs and nanolens arrays (NLAs) on polydimethylsiloxane film. The flexible film of MLAs hybridized with NLAs exhibited excellent superhydrophobic property with a water contact angle of 158°. The MLAs film was deformed using a microfluidics chip to create artificial compound eyes with variable FOV, which ranged from 0° to 160°.

Spatial Manipulation and Assembly of Nanoparticles by Atomic Force Microscopy Tip-Induced Dielectrophoresis.

In this article, we present a novel method of spatial manipulation and assembly of nanoparticles via atomic force microscopy tip-induced dielectrophoresis (AFM-DEP). This method combines the high-accuracy positioning of AFM with the parallel manipulation of DEP. A spatially nonuniform electric field is induced by applying an alternating current (AC) voltage between the conductive AFM probe and an indium tin oxide glass substrate. The AFM probe acted as a movable DEP tweezer for nanomanipulation and assembly of nanoparticles. The mechanism of AFM-DEP was analyzed by numerical simulation. The effects of solution depth, gap distance, AC voltage, solution concentration, and duration time were experimentally studied and optimized. Arrays of 200 nm polystyrene nanoparticles were assembled into various nanostructures, including lines, ellipsoids, and arrays of dots. The sizes and shapes of the assembled structures were controllable. It was thus demonstrated that AFM-DEP is a flexible and powerful tool for nanomanipulation.

A rapid and automated relocation method of an AFM probe for high-resolution imaging.

The atomic force microscope (AFM) is one of the most powerful tools for high-resolution imaging and high-precision positioning for nanomanipulation. The selection of the scanning area of the AFM depends on the use of the optical microscope. However, the resolution of an optical microscope is generally no larger than 200 nm owing to wavelength limitations of visible light. Taking into consideration the two determinants of relocation-relative angular rotation and positional offset between the AFM probe and nano target-it is therefore extremely challenging to precisely relocate the AFM probe to the initial scan/manipulation area for the same nano target after the AFM probe has been replaced, or after the sample has been moved. In this paper, we investigate a rapid automated relocation method for the nano target of an AFM using a coordinate transformation. The relocation process is both simple and rapid; moreover, multiple nano targets can be relocated by only identifying a pair of reference points. It possesses a centimeter-scale location range and nano-scale precision. The main advantages of this method are that it overcomes the limitations associated with the resolution of optical microscopes, and that it is label-free on the target areas, which means that it does not require the use of special artificial markers on the target sample areas. Relocation experiments using nanospheres, DNA, SWCNTs, and nano patterns amply demonstrate the practicality and efficiency of the proposed method, which provides technical support for mass nanomanipulation and detection based on AFM for multiple nano targets that are widely distributed in a large area.