New Carbon Materials for Multifunctional Soft Electronics.

Soft electronics are garnering significant attention due to their wide-ranging applications in artificial skin, health monitoring, human-machine interaction, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. Various soft physical sensors such as mechanical sensors, temperature sensors, and humidity sensors are the fundamental building blocks for soft electronics. While the fast growth and widespread utilization of electronic devices have elevated life quality, the consequential electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radiation pose potential threats to device precision and human health. Another substantial concern pertains to overheating issues that occur during prolonged operation. Therefore, the design of multifunctional soft electronics exhibiting excellent capabilities in sensing, EMI shielding, and thermal management is of paramount importance. Because of the prominent advantages in chemical stability, electrical and thermal conductivity, and easy functionalization, new carbon materials including carbon nanotubes, graphene and its derivatives, graphdiyne, and sustainable natural-biomass-derived carbon are particularly promising candidates for multifunctional soft electronics. This review summarizes the latest advancements in multifunctional soft electronics based on new carbon materials across a range of performance aspects, mainly focusing on the structure or composite design, and fabrication method on the physical signals monitoring, EMI shielding, and thermal management. Furthermore, the device integration strategies and corresponding intriguing applications are highlighted. Finally, this review presents prospects aimed at overcoming current barriers and advancing the development of state-of-the-art multifunctional soft electronics.

Epidemiology and Molecular Characterization of Zoonotic Gastrointestinal Protozoal Infection in Zoo Animals in China.

Zoo animals, harboring zoonotic gastrointestinal protozoal diseases, pose potential hazards to the safety of visitors and animal keepers. This study involved the collection and examination of 400 fresh fecal samples from 68 animal species, obtained from five zoos. The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence, genetic characteristics, and zoonotic potential of common gastrointestinal protists. PCR or nested PCR analysis was conducted on these samples to detect four specific parasites: Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia duodenalis, Enterocytozoon bieneusi, and Blastocystis spp. The overall prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp was 0.5% (2/400), G. duodenalis was 6.0% (24/400), Blastocystis spp. was 24.5% (98/400), and E. bieneusi was 13.5% (54/400). G. duodenalis, Blastocystis spp., and E. bieneusi were detected in all of the zoos, exhibiting various zoonotic genotypes or subtypes. G. duodenalis-positive samples exhibited three assemblages (D, E, and B). Blastocystis spp. subtypes (ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4, ST5, ST8, ST10, ST13, and ST14) and one unknown subtype (ST) were identified. A total of 12 genotypes of E. bieneusi were identified, including SC02, BEB6, Type IV, pigEBITS 7, Peru8, PtEb IX, D, CD9, EbpC, SCBB1, CM4, and CM7. Moreover, significant differences in the positive rates among different zoos were observed (p < 0.01). The findings indicate that zoo animals in China are affected by a range of intestinal protozoa infections. Emphasizing molecular identification for specific parasite species or genotypes is crucial for a better understanding of the zoonotic risk. Preventing and controlling parasitic diseases in zoos is not only vital for zoo protection and management but also holds significant public health implications.

Iron Stress Affects the Growth and Differentiation of Toxoplasma gondii.

Iron is an indispensable nutrient for the survival of Toxoplasma gondii; however, excessive amounts can lead to toxicity. The parasite must overcome the host's "nutritional immunity" barrier and compete with the host for iron. Since T. gondii can infect most nucleated cells, it encounters increased iron stress during parasitism. This study assessed the impact of iron stress, encompassing both iron depletion and iron accumulation, on the growth of T. gondii. Iron accumulation disrupted the redox balance of T. gondii while enhancing the parasite's ability to adhere in high-iron environments. Conversely, iron depletion promoted the differentiation of tachyzoites into bradyzoites. Proteomic analysis further revealed proteins affected by iron depletion and identified the involvement of phosphotyrosyl phosphatase activator proteins in bradyzoite formation.

Identification of specific antigens between Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum and application of potential diagnostic antigen TgGRA54.

Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic parasite that is very common in livestock. Meat products from livestock infected with T. gondii are one of the important transmission routes of toxoplasmosis. Rapid and reliable diagnosis is a prerequisite for the prevention and control of toxoplasmosis. Neospora caninum and T. gondii are similar in morphology and life history, and there are a large number of cross antigens between them, making clinical diagnosis of toxoplasmosis more difficult. In this study, immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry (IP-MS) was used to screen for T. gondii-specific antigens, and the specific antigen was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The specific antigen was then used to establish an indirect ELISA diagnostic method. A total of 241 specific antigens of T. gondii and 662 cross antigens between T. gondii and N. caninum were screened by IP-MS. Through bioinformatics analysis and homology comparison, seven proteins were selected for gene cloning and prokaryotic expression, and the most suitable antigen, TgGRA54, was selected to establish an indirect ELISA for T. gondii. Compared with the indirect immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT), the positive coincidence rate of the ELISA based on rTgGRA54 was 100% (72/72) and the negative coincidence rate was 80.95% (17/21). The indirect ELISA method based on TgGRA54 recombinant protein was established to detect T. gondii antibodies in bovine sera, and the recombinant protein reacted well with T. gondii positive sera from sheep, mouse, and swine, indicating that the recombinant protein is a good diagnostic antigen for T. gondii.

[Research and Development Trend of Medical Oxygen Production Equipment].

Oxygen therapy is an effective clinical method for the treatment of respiratory disorders, oxygen concentrator as a necessary medical auxiliary equipment in hospitals, its research and development has been a hot spot. The study reviewed the development history of the ventilator, introduced the two preparation technique of the oxygen generator pressure swing absorption (PSA) and vacuum pressure swing adsorption (VPSA), and analyzed the core technology development of the oxygen generator. In addition, the study compared some major brands of oxygen concentrators on the market and prospected the development trend of oxygen concentrators.

[sEMG Wireless Acquisition System Based on CC3200 and ADS1299].

A multi-channel surface electromyography wireless acquisition system is designed, which is mainly composed of ADS1299 integrated analog front-end chip and CC3200 wireless MCU of TI company. The key indicators of hardware are measured according to the industry standard, and the results are better than the industry standard, which can meet the continuous use of multi-scene tasks. This system has the advantages of high performance, low power consumption and small size. It has been applied to the detection of surface EMG signal in motion gesture recognition and has a good application value.

Molecular detection and identification of three intracellular parasites of retail mutton products in Beijing, China.

Sarcocystis spp., Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii are globally ubiquitous pathogens, and domestic sheep are considered to be one of the intermediate hosts. 83 myocardial samples of sheep were collected from 12 retail stores in Beijing, China. Sarcocystis spp., N. caninum and T. gondii were identified by PCR amplification of the 18S rRNA gene, Nc-5 gene and 529bp DNA fragment with a prevalence of 86.7% (95% CI: 77.5-93.2) and 43.4% (95% CI: 32.5-54.7) for Sarcocystis spp. and N. caninum infections, respectively, and no T. gondii was detected. The co-infection prevalence of Sarcocystis and N. caninum was 38.6% (95% CI: 28.1-49.9). Two Sarcocystis species were subtyped by analyzing 18SrRNA sequences and were identified as Sarcocystis tenella and Sarcocystis arieticanis. The prevalence of S. tenella and S. arieticanis infections was 84.3% (95% CI: 74.7-91.4) and 56.6% (95% CI: 45.3-67.5), respectively. This study shows that sheep have a high risk of infection with Sarcocystis and N. caninum, suggests that effective prevention measures are needed to avoid the spread of these parasites in sheep. Toxoplasmosis in sheep poses a threat to human and animal health and requires monitoring and preventing continuously.

[Development of a Wireless Wearable Body Temperature Measurement System Based on NTC].

Body temperature is an important physiological parameter of the human body and is used in medicine to reflect the physiological state and health status of the human body. At present, the commonly used clinical thermometers on the market are mainly divided into contact and non-contact types. Most of them are used for rapid body temperature measurement, and it is not easy to monitor body temperature changes in real time. This article introduces a new wearable wireless body temperature monitoring system based on NTC, which senses through NTC. The temperature changes are amplified and filtered, zeroed, and calibrated, and then the temperature data is uploaded to the mobile phone APP via Bluetooth in real time to achieve real-time accurate measurement of body temperature.

[Portable Multi Channel EEG Signal Acquisition System].

This study introduces a portable multi-channel EEG signal acquisition system. The system is mainly composed of EEG electrode connector, signal conditioning circuit, EEG acquisition part, main control MCU and power supply part. The low-power EEG acquisition front-end ADS1299 and STM32 are used to form the signal acquisition and data communication part. The collected EEG signal can be transmitted to the PC for real-time display. After relevant tests, the system has small volume, low power consumption, high signal-to-noise ratio, and meets the requirements of portable wearable medical devices.

[An Adaptive Method for Detecting and Removing EEG Noise].

To solve the problem of real-time detection and removal of EEG signal noise in anesthesia depth monitoring, we proposed an adaptive EEG signal noise detection and removal method. This method uses discrete wavelet transform to extract the low-frequency energy and high-frequency energy of a segment of EEG signals, and sets two sets of thresholds for the low-frequency band and high-frequency band of the EEG signal. These two sets of thresholds can be updated adaptively according to the energy situation of the most recent EEG signal. Finally, we judge the level of signal interference according to the range of low-frequency energy and high-frequency energy, and perform corresponding denoising processing. The results show that the method can more accurately detect and remove the noise interference in the EEG signal, and improve the stability of the calculated characteristic parameters.

[Miniature Non-invasive Blood Pressure Measurement and Verification System].

Mercury sphygmomanometer based on traditional auscultation method is widely used in primary medical institutions in China, but a large amount of blood pressure data can not be directly recorded and applied in scientific research analysis, meanwhile auscultation data is the clinical standard to verify the accuracy of non-invasive electronic sphygmomanometer. Focusing on this, we designed a miniature non-invasive blood pressure measurement and verification system, which can assist doctors to record blood pressure data automatically during the process of auscultation. Through the data playback function,the software of this system can evaluate and verify the blood pressure algorithm of oscillographic method, and then continuously modify the algorithm to improve the measurement accuracy. This study introduces the hardware selection and software design process in detail. The test results show that the system meets the requirements of relevant standards and has a good application prospect.

[Infrared Sensor ZTP-135SR and Its Application in Infrared Body Temperature Measurement].

Body temperature is an essential physiological parameter. Conducting non-contact, fast and accurate measurement of temperature is increasing important under the background of COVID-19. The study introduces an infrared temperature measurement system based on the thermopile infrared temperature sensor ZTP-135SR. Extracting original temperature date of sensor, post-amplification and filter processing have been performed to ensure accuracy of the system. In addition, the temperature data of environmental compensation which obtained by polynomial fitting is added to the system to further improve measurement accuracy.

Prevalence and associated risk factors of Neospora caninum infection among cattle in mainland China: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Neospora caninum, an intracellular protozoan, has attracted much attention because of the etiology of reproductive disorders in cattle. Although numerous relevant studies have been published, the overall prevalence of Neospora caninum infection among cattle in mainland China is still unknown, and associated risk factors need to be evaluated to establish preventive measures. We systematically searched four databases for epidemiologic studies that investigated the prevalence and associated risk factors of this parasite among cattle in mainland China. A total of 33,945 cattle from 51 studies were tested. The pooled prevalence of Neospora caninum among cattle in mainland China was 13.69% (95% CI: 10.86%-17.12%) through the random-effects model, which showed high heterogeneity, I2 = 98%. The analysis showed that Neospora infection-positive cows were 2.42 times more likely to abort than infection-negative cows (OR 2.42; 95% CI: 2.07-2.84). Our analysis indicated that Neospora-infection is widely distributed among cattle in China, which reinforces the importance of adequate prevention and control strategies to reduce economic losses for the cattle industry.

The Occurrence and Meta-Analysis of Investigations on Sarcocystis Infection among Ruminants (Ruminantia) in Mainland China.

Sarcocystis is a zoonotic pathogen that threatens public health and the quality of food safety. To determine the Sarcocystis spp. prevalence in ruminants (Ruminantia) in China, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. Data were collected from English databases (PubMed and Web of Science) and Chinese databases (Chinese Web of knowledge (CNKI), Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals (VIP) and Wan Fang databases). A total of 20,301 ruminants from 54 publications were evaluated. The pooled prevalence of Sarcocystis spp. among ruminants in mainland China was 65% (95% CI: 57-72%). Our results indicate that sarcocystosis is prevalent in ruminants, which show significant geographical differences. Therefore, it there is a need for continuous monitoring of infections of Sarcocystis spp. in ruminants to reduce the threat to human health and economic losses to the animal industry.

Sevoflurane induces inflammation in primary hippocampal neurons by regulating Hoxa5/Gm5106/miR-27b-3p positive feedback loop.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a normal condition that develops after surgery with anesthesia, leading to deterioration of cognitive functions. However, the mechanism of POCD still remains unknown. To elucidate the POCD molecular mechanism, sevoflurane was employed in the present study to generate neuroinflammation mice model. Sevoflurane treatment caused inflammatory markers IL6, IL-10 and TNF-α high expression in primary hippocampal neurons and blood samples. Long non-coding RNA Gm5106 was found to be increased after being stimulated with sevoflurane. Silencing Gm5106 inhibited neuron inflammation. In the meanwhile, Gm5106 was identified as a direct target of miR-27b-3p that was inhibited by sevoflurane and related to inflammation suppression. In addition, transcription factor (TF) Hoxa5 was validated to activate Gm5106 through two binding motifs in the promoter region after sevoflurane exposure. Furthermore, miR-27b-3p also directly targeted Hoxa5 3'UTR, which affected nuclear Hoxa5 protein served as TF. Hoxa5 protein instead of 3'UTR reduced miR-27b-3p, in which Gm5106 knocking down abrogated this effect. In conclusion, sevoflurane induces neuroinflammation through increasing long non-coding RNA Gm5106, which is transcriptionally activated by Hoxa5 and directly targeted by miR-27-3p. Apart from that, Hoxa5, Gm5106, and miR-27b-3p form a positive feedback loop in sevoflurane stimulation.

[Development Progress of Ventilator].

Ventilator is an indispensable emergency medical equipment in hospitals. The global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has highlighted the importance of the ventilator, which has attracted the attention and research on ventilators of all countries in the world. This article reviews the development history of the ventilator, briefly introduces the main air circuit structure and working principle of the ventilator, and then deeply analyzes the key technologies of this device. In addition, it compares some major brands of ventilators from several aspects in the market. Finally, the development trend and perspective of ventilators are presented.

Enhanced surfactant supramicellar assembly by hydrophobic dopants.

The light scattering peak (LS peak) near the surfactant critical micelle concentration (cmc) demonstrates that low hydrophobic dopant levels can cause supramolecular assembly of surfactants into metastable structures much more massive than dopant-free micelles. These supramicellar assemblies (SA) exist over the entire LS peak region, which extends from above the cmc down to well below the cmc. Dodecanol (D) was the dopant, and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and dodecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (DTABr) were the surfactants in this work. Well above the cmc dopant is solubilized by micelles. The SA appear above the cmc, dependent on dopant level and solution ionic strength, as seen by an abrupt increase in LS. Hence, the micelles do not simply release their hydrophobic payload at the cmc; rather, the dopant causes a morphological change from normal micelles above the LS peak concentration regime into SA as the LS regime is entered from above the cmc. Below the cmc the LS peak has a cutoff concentration corresponding to the solubility limit of dodecanol in water, which can be termed a "critical supramicellar assembly concentration" (csac). A three-component model is proposed that self-consistently yields maximum micellar dopant loading, SA mass, and dopant solubility in solution. The constancy of SA molar mass under widely different ionic strength and dopant levels conditions is surprising and not currently understood.