Effects of chronic unpredictable mild stress on gut sensation and function in male mice.

Stress has been linked to the development of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and various methods have been explored to model IBS in combination with other stimuli. However, it remains unclear whether stress alone can induce IBS in animals. This study aimed to investigate the impact of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) on gastrointestinal sensation and function in mice and assess the potential of CUMS as a modeling approach for IBS. To evaluate the mice's behavior, we conducted open field test, sucrose preference test and weighed the mice, revealing that CUMS indeed induced anxiety and depression in the mice and caused weight loss. Further analyses, including fecal analysis, a total gastrointestinal transport test, and a colon propulsion test, demonstrated that CUMS led to abnormal defecation and disruptions in gastrointestinal motility in the mice. Additionally, the abdominal withdrawal reflex test indicated an increase in visceral sensitivity in CUMS-exposed mice. Histological examination using hematoxylin and eosin staining revealed no significant histological alterations in the colons of CUMS-exposed mice, but it did show a minor degree of inflammatory cell infiltration. In summary, the findings suggest that CUMS can replicate IBS-like symptoms in mice, offering a novel top-down approach to modeling IBS.

Smart Cup for In-Situ 3D Measurement of Wall-Mounted Debris via 2D Sensing Grid in Production Pipelines.

The accumulation of separated out impurities from pipeline transported medium onto the pipe wall is a major cause of downtime maintenance of oil and gas production systems. To regularly scrub off wall-mounted debris and probe the severity, pipeline inspection gauges (PIG) are the state-of-the-art tools developed for the task, using the pressure differential across the device as the driving force, and tag-along sensing equipment for wall defects measurement. Currently, the PIG propulsion and sensing tasks are realized by separate compartments, limited to large diameter operations. In this work, a soft solution for medium to small diameter pipelines has been demonstrated. The smart cup with integrated sensing grid is proposed to achieve integrated wall-mounted debris dimensional measurement, without the need of additional sensors. To achieve the goal, this work starts from the mathematical modelling of the geometric problem, to new fabrication procedures, experimental setup, and finally finishes with validation results. Initial results have shown that using the proposed smart cup, the wall-mounted debris can be detected, with modelling error maxed at 5.1%, and deformation detection accuracy between 1.18% and 1.92% with respect to the outer diameter.

Analysis on the factors associated with COVID-19 infection among Chinese residents after the implementation of the 10 new rules to optimize COVID-19 response: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the status of COVID-19 infection and the associated factors among Chinese residents after the implementation of the 10 New Rules to optimize COVID response. Methods: Participants were recruited using convenience sampling. The study used self-filled questionnaires to examine COVID-19 infection and associated factors among Chinese residents, from December 29, 2022, to January 2, 2023. For the statistical analysis, descriptive and quantitative analyses were used. The potential risk factors for COVID-19 infection were identified by multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results: After the adjustments in control strategies against COVID-19, the infection rate of COVID-19 was high among respondents, and 98.4% of individuals who tested positive showed symptoms including cough, fever, fatigue, headache, sore throat, nasal congestion, sputum production, muscle and joint pain, and runny nose. The main problems respondents reported were the shortage of drugs and medical supplies, the increased burden on families, and the unreliable information source of COVID-19 infection. Logistic regression showed that isolating patients with COVID-19 at home was associated with a lower risk of COVID-19 infection (OR = 0.58, 95%CI: 0.42-0.81). Conclusion: COVID-19 infection among residents is closely related to age, gender, and epidemic prevention measures. The government needs to strengthen education for individuals and centrally manage and properly address difficulties that may arise during COVID-19.

Embodied airflow sensing for improved in-gust flight of flapping wing MAVs.

Flapping wing micro aerial vehicles (FWMAVs) are known for their flight agility and maneuverability. These bio-inspired and lightweight flying robots still present limitations in their ability to fly in direct wind and gusts, as their stability is severely compromised in contrast with their biological counterparts. To this end, this work aims at making in-gust flight of flapping wing drones possible using an embodied airflow sensing approach combined with an adaptive control framework at the velocity and position control loops. At first, an extensive experimental campaign is conducted on a real FWMAV to generate a reliable and accurate model of the in-gust flight dynamics, which informs the design of the adaptive position and velocity controllers. With an extended experimental validation, this embodied airflow-sensing approach integrated with the adaptive controller reduces the root-mean-square errors along the wind direction by 25.15% when the drone is subject to frontal wind gusts of alternating speeds up to 2.4 m/s, compared to the case with a standard cascaded PID controller. The proposed sensing and control framework improve flight performance reliably and serve as the basis of future progress in the field of in-gust flight of lightweight FWMAVs.

Long-term effect of mobile phone-based education and influencing factors of willingness to receive HPV vaccination among female freshmen in Shanxi Province, China.

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to characterize the long-term effect of mobile-based education on Chinese female freshmen and disclose the possible predictors of their willingness to get vaccinated based on the information-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model. METHODS: We randomly assigned 509 participants to a 7-day mobile-based educational intervention or control group and collected information about general information, health, and sexual behavior, HPV vaccination intention and action, HPV-related knowledge, cognition, and behavioral skill by an online self-administrated questionnaire at baseline, post-intervention, and at the 1-month and 3-month follow-ups. RESULTS: The intervention arm showed an improvement in IMB scores after education. Despite the persistent improvement in knowledge, the improvement in their motivation and behavioral skills decreased at the 1-month and 3-month follow-ups. Participants' vaccination willingness was elevated after the baseline survey in both the intervention and control groups, while the overall appointment/vaccination rate was only 3.73% 3 months later. The intention to get vaccinated was associated with knowing HPV (adjusted OR: 2.37, 95% CI: 1.44 - 3.89), perceiving more barriers (adjusted OR: 2.16, 95% CI: 1.44 - 3.25), higher subjective norms (adjusted OR: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.26 - 3.32), and having more behavioral skills (adjusted OR: 2.95, 95% CI: 1.79 - 4.87). CONCLUSION: Seven-day mobile-based education was effective to increase IMB model scores among female freshmen. However, the improvement in motivation and behavioral skills was not persistent. Information, perceived barriers, subjective norms, and behavioral skills were discovered to be influencing factors of vaccination intention. Future research with longer, more convenient, and more tailored education to the main influencing factors is warranted.