Optomagnetic Coordination Helical Robot with Shape Transformation and Multimodal Motion Capabilities.

Soft robots with magnetic responsiveness exhibit diverse motion modes and programmable shape transformations. While the fixed magnetization configuration facilitates coupling control of robot posture and motion, it limits individual posture control to some extent. This poses a challenge in independently controlling the robot's transformation and motion, restricting its versatile applications. This research introduces a multifunctional helical robot responsive to both light and magnetism, segregating posture control from movements. Light fields assist in robot shaping, achieving a 78% maximum diameter shift. Magnetic fields guide helical robots in multimodal motions, encompassing rotation, flipping, rolling, and spinning-induced propulsion. By controlling multimodal locomotion and shape transformation on demand, helical robots gain enhanced flexibility. This innovation allows them to tightly grip and wirelessly transport designated payloads, showcasing potential applications in drug delivery, soft grippers, and chemical reaction platforms. The unique combination of structural design and control methods holds promise for intelligent robots in the future.

Resolved Raman sideband cooling of a single optically trapped cesium atom.

We developed a resolved Raman sideband cooling scheme that can efficiently prepare a single optically trapped cesium (Cs) atom in its motional ground states. A two-photon Raman process between two outermost Zeeman sublevels in a single hyperfine state is applied to reduce the phonon number. Our scheme is less sensitive to the variation in the magnetic field than the commonly used scheme where the two outermost Zeeman sublevels belonging to the two separate ground hyperfine states are taken. Fast optical pumping with less spontaneous emission guarantees the efficiency of the cooling process. After cooling for 50 ms, 82% of the Cs atoms populate their three-dimensional ground states. Our scheme improves the long-term stability of Raman sideband cooling in the presence of magnetic field drift and is thus suitable for cooling other trapped atoms or ions with abundant magnetic sublevels.

Microglial Cannabinoid CB2 Receptors in Pain Modulation.

Pain, especially chronic pain, can strongly affect patients' quality of life. Cannabinoids ponhave been reported to produce potent analgesic effects in different preclinical pain models, where they primarily function as agonists of Gi/o protein-coupled cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors. The CB1 receptors are abundantly expressed in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. The central activation of CB1 receptors is strongly associated with psychotropic adverse effects, thus largely limiting its therapeutic potential. However, the CB2 receptors are promising targets for pain treatment without psychotropic adverse effects, as they are primarily expressed in immune cells. Additionally, as the resident immune cells in the central nervous system, microglia are increasingly recognized as critical players in chronic pain. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the expression of CB2 receptors is significantly increased in activated microglia in the spinal cord, which exerts protective consequences within the surrounding neural circuitry by regulating the activity and function of microglia. In this review, we focused on recent advances in understanding the role of microglial CB2 receptors in spinal nociceptive circuitry, highlighting the mechanism of CB2 receptors in modulating microglia function and its implications for CB2 receptor- selective agonist-mediated analgesia.

Elastic-inertial separation of microparticle in a gradually contracted microchannel.

Separation of microparticle in viscoelastic fluid is highly required in the field of biology and clinical medicine. For instance, the separation of the target cell from blood is an important prerequisite step for the drug screening and design. The microfluidic device is an efficient way to achieve the separation of the microparticle in the viscoelastic fluid. However, the existing microfluidic methods often have some limitations, including the requirement of the long channel length, the labeling process, and the low throughput. In this work, based on the elastic-inertial effect in the viscoelastic fluid, a new separation method is proposed where a gradually contracted microchannel is designed to efficiently adjust the forces exerted on the particle, eventually achieving the high-efficiency separation of different sized particles in a short channel length and at a high throughput. In addition, the separation of WBCs and RBCs is also validated in the present device. The effect of the flow rate, the fluid property, and the channel geometry on the particle separation is systematically investigated by the experiment. With the advantage of small footprint, simple structure, high throughput, and high efficiency, the present microfluidic device could be utilized in the biological and clinical fields, such as the cell analysis and disease diagnosis.

Efficient microfluidic enrichment of nano-/submicroparticle in viscoelastic fluid.

The enrichment and focusing of the nano-/submicroparticle (e.g., 150-1000 nm microvesicle shed from the plasma membrane) in the viscoelastic fluid has great potentials in the biomedical and clinical applications such as the disease diagnosis and the prognostic test for liquid biopsy. However, due to the small size and the resulting weak hydrodynamic force, the efficient manipulation of the nano-/submicroparticle by the passive viscoelastic microfluidic technology remains a major challenge. For instance, a typically long channel length is often required to achieve the focusing or the separation of the nano-/submicroparticle, which makes it difficult to be integrated in small chip area. In this work, a microchannel with gradually contracted cross-section and high aspect ratio (the ratio of the height to the average width of channel) is utilized to enhance the hydrodynamic force and change the force direction, eventually leading to the efficient enrichment of nano-/submicroparticles (500 and 860 nm) in a short channel length (2 cm). The influence of the flow rate, the particle size, the solid concentration, and the channel geometry on the enrichment of the nano-/submicroparticles are investigated. With simple structure, small footprint, easy operation, and good performance, the present device would be a promising platform for various lab-chip microvesicle-related biomedical research and disease diagnosis.

Magnetoactive Soft Materials with Programmable Magnetic Domains for Multifunctional Actuators.

Despite considerable progress having been made in the research of soft actuators, there remains a grand challenge in creating a facile manufacturing process that offers both extensive programmability and exceptional actuation capabilities. Taking inspiration from uncomplicated small organisms, this work aims to develop soft actuators that can be mobilized through straightforward design and control, similar to caterpillars or inchworms. They execute intricate actions and functions to meet survival needs in the most efficient manner possible. Here, a novel soft actuator with uniformly dispersed ferromagnetic microparticles but programmatic magnetic profile distribution is proposed by a convenient magnetization process. Benefiting from its high magnetic sensitivity and good matrix flexibility, the actuator can simultaneously achieve reversible, remote, and fast programmable shape transformation and controllable movement even in a magnetic field as low as 14 Gs. Complemented by intrinsic material properties and structural configuration, actuation employing spatial magnetization profiles can facilitate multiple modes of locomotion when subjected to magnetic fields, allowing for an efficient manipulation task of both solid and liquid media. More importantly, a finite element model is developed to assist in the design of the interaction between the alternating magnetic field and the magnetic torques. This advanced soft actuator would strongly push forward major breakthroughs in key applications such as intelligent sensors, disaster rescue, and wearable devices.

Fibroblast growth factor 2 acts as an upstream regulator of inhibition of pulmonary fibroblast activation.

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling plays a crucial role in lung development and repair. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) can inhibit fibrotic gene expression and suppress the differentiation of pulmonary fibroblasts (PFs) into myofibroblasts in vitro, suggesting that FGF2 is a potential target for inhibiting pulmonary fibrosis. To gain deeper insights into the molecular mechanism underlying FGF2-mediated regulation of PFs, we performed mRNA sequencing analysis to systematically and globally uncover the regulated genes and biological functions of FGF2 in PFs. Gene Ontology analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes regulated by FGF2 were enriched in multiple cellular functions including extracellular matrix (ECM) organization, cytoskeleton formation, ß-catenin-independent Wnt signaling pathway, supramolecular fiber organization, epithelial cell proliferation, and cell adhesion. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis and cellular experiments confirmed that FGF2 can suppress ECM and actin filament organization and increase PFs proliferation. Taken together, these findings indicate that FGF2 acts as an upstream regulator of the inhibition of PFs activation and may play a regulatory role in pulmonary fibrosis.

Point-of-Care Tests for Rapid Detection of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The timely and accurate diagnosis of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection is crucial to reduce the risk of viral transmission. Therefore, the objective of this review was to evaluate the overall diagnostic accuracy of rapid point-of-care tests (POCTs) for PEDV. Studies published before 7 January 2022 were identified by searching PubMed, EMBASE, Springer Link, and Web of Science databases, using subject headings or keywords related to point of care and rapid test diagnostic for PEDV and PED. Two investigators independently extracted data, rated risk of bias, and assessed the quality using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool. The bivariate model and the hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) model were used for performing the meta-analysis. Threshold effect, subgroup analysis, and meta-regression were applied to explore heterogeneity. Of the 2908 records identified, 24 eligible studies involving 3264 specimens were enrolled in the meta-analysis, including 11 studies on evaluation of lateral flow immunochromatography assay (ICA)-based, and 13 on nucleic acid isothermal amplification (NAIA)-based POCTs. The overall pooled sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.92-0.97), 0.96 (95% CI 0.88-0.99) and 480 (95% CI 111-2074), respectively; for ICA-based POCTs and the corresponding values for NAIA-based, POCTs were 0.97 (95% CI 0.94-0.99), 0.98 (95% CI 0.91-0.99) and 1517 (95% CI 290-7943), respectively. The two tests showed highly comparable and satisfactory diagnostic performance in clinical utility. These results support current recommendations for the use of rapid POC tests when PEDV is suspected.