A microscale soft ionic power source modulates neuronal network activity.

Bio-integrated devices need power sources to operate1,2. Despite widely used technologies that can provide power to large-scale targets, such as wired energy supplies from batteries or wireless energy transduction3, a need to efficiently stimulate cells and tissues on the microscale is still pressing. The ideal miniaturized power source should be biocompatible, mechanically flexible and able to generate an ionic current for biological stimulation, instead of using electron flow as in conventional electronic devices4-6. One approach is to use soft power sources inspired by the electrical eel7,8; however, power sources that combine the required capabilities have not yet been produced, because it is challenging to obtain miniaturized units that both conserve contained energy before usage and are easily triggered to produce an energy output. Here we develop a miniaturized soft power source by depositing lipid-supported networks of nanolitre hydrogel droplets that use internal ion gradients to generate energy. Compared to the original eel-inspired design7, our approach can shrink the volume of a power unit by more than 105-fold and it can store energy for longer than 24 h, enabling operation on-demand with a 680-fold greater power density of about 1,300 W m-3. Our droplet device can serve as a biocompatible and biological ionic current source to modulate neuronal network activity in three-dimensional neural microtissues and in ex vivo mouse brain slices. Ultimately, our soft microscale ionotronic device might be integrated into living organisms.

Integrated Transcriptomic and Metabolomics Analysis of the Root Responses of Orchardgrass to Submergence Stress.

Submergence stress can severely affect plant growth. Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) is an important forage grass, and the molecular mechanisms of orchardgrass to submergence stress are not well understood. The roots of the flood-tolerant cultivar "Dian Bei" were harvested at 0 h, 8 h and 24 h of submergence stress. The combined transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses showed that ß-alanine metabolism, flavonoid biosynthesis, and biosynthesis of amino acid pathways were significantly enriched at 8 h and 24 h of submergence stress and were more pronounced at 24 h. Most of the flavonoid biosynthesis-related genes were down-regulated for the synthesis of metabolites such as naringenin, apigenin, naringin, neohesperidin, naringenin chalcone, and liquiritigenin in response to submergence stress. Metabolites such as phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan were up-regulated under stress. The predominant response of flavonoid and amino acids biosynthesis to submergence stress suggests an important role of these pathways in the submergence tolerance of orchardgrass.

Digital modelling method of coal-mine roadway based on millimeter-wave radar array.

The roadway space of coal mine is narrow, and the illumination is low and uneven. Dynamic mining is accompanied by dust and water mist. The accuracy and reliability of roadway data collected by vision and laser sensors are poor. Based on this, a digital modeling method of coal mine roadway based on millimeter-wave radar array is proposed. Firstly, aiming at the problem of complex environmental interference, combined with the characteristics of small amount of single frame data of millimeter-wave point cloud, a multi-layer filtering noise reduction processing and dynamic subgraph registration method of millimeter-wave point cloud is proposed to filter out interference points and realize single radar point cloud registration. Secondly, aiming at the problem that a single millimeter-wave radar cannot scan the complete roadway information at one time, combined with the characteristics of small elevation field of view of millimeter-wave radar, a millimeter-wave radar array acquisition system is built, and an improved iterative closest point (ICP) registration algorithm based on point cloud features is established to construct the roadway point cloud fusion model. Finally, aiming at the problem of uneven and sparse point cloud after array fusion, a Poisson surface reconstruction method based on point cloud density weighted interpolation is proposed to refine the roadway structure and realize the accurate reconstruction of digital roadway model. The experimental results show that the digital modeling method of millimeter-wave radar array can accurately obtain the information of roadway surrounding rock, the density of roadway point cloud is increased by 22.4%, and the average absolute error percentage of the width and height of the reconstructed roadway model is only 0.82% and 0.72%, which provides a new research method for the reconstruction of underground roadway and an important basis for the digital modeling method of coal mine roadway.

Integration of 3D-printed cerebral cortical tissue into an ex vivo lesioned brain slice.

Engineering human tissue with diverse cell types and architectures remains challenging. The cerebral cortex, which has a layered cellular architecture composed of layer-specific neurons organised into vertical columns, delivers higher cognition through intricately wired neural circuits. However, current tissue engineering approaches cannot produce such structures. Here, we use a droplet printing technique to fabricate tissues comprising simplified cerebral cortical columns. Human induced pluripotent stem cells are differentiated into upper- and deep-layer neural progenitors, which are then printed to form cerebral cortical tissues with a two-layer organization. The tissues show layer-specific biomarker expression and develop a structurally integrated network of processes. Implantation of the printed cortical tissues into ex vivo mouse brain explants results in substantial structural implant-host integration across the tissue boundaries as demonstrated by the projection of processes and the migration of neurons, and leads to the appearance of correlated Ca2+ oscillations across the interface. The presented approach might be used for the evaluation of drugs and nutrients that promote tissue integration. Importantly, our methodology offers a technical reservoir for future personalized implantation treatments that use 3D tissues derived from a patient's own induced pluripotent stem cells.

Synthetic Conditions, Physical Properties, and Antibacterial Activities of Silver Nanoparticles with Exopolysaccharides of a Medicinal Fungus.

Natural polysaccharides are attractive and promising biomacromolecules for the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with a broad spectrum of useful functions. This study aims to evaluate the synthetic conditions and physical properties of Ag NPs using three fractions of exopolysaccharide (EPS), namely EPS-1, EPS-2, and EPS-3, produced by a medicinal fungus known as Cs-HK1, with variations in their chemical composition and molecular weight. Each of the EPS fractions had a unique set of optimal synthetic conditions (reaction time course, temperature, and reagent concentration), resulting in a specific range of Ag NP size distributions. The Ag NPs synthesized with the EPS-1 fraction had the smallest particle size (~160 nm) and the most significant antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli (Gram-) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram+), with a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.2 mg/mL on E. coli and 0.075 mg/mL on S. aureus. The results proved the success of the scheme of this green synthesis scheme with all three EPS fractions and the potential antibacterial application of EPS-coated Ag NPs.

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of the gene expression and underlying molecular mechanism of submergence stress response in orchardgrass roots.

Introduction: Submergence stress creates a hypoxic environment. Roots are the first plant organ to face these low-oxygen conditions, which causes damage and affects the plant growth and yield. Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) is one of the most important cold-season forage grasses globally. However, their submergence stress-induced gene expression and the underlying molecular mechanisms of orchardgrass roots are still unknown. Methods: Using the submergence-tolerant 'Dianbei' and submergence-sensitive 'Anba', the transcriptomic analysis of orchardgrass roots at different time points of submergence stress (0 h, 8 h, and 24 h) was performed. Results: We obtained 118.82Gb clean data by RNA-Seq. As compared with the control, a total of 6663 and 9857 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in Dianbei, while 7894 and 11215 DEGs were detected in Anba at 8 h and 24 h post-submergence-stress, respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis obtained 986 terms, while Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis obtained 123 pathways. Among them, the DEGs in plant hormones, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and Ca2+ signal transduction were significantly differentially expressed in Dianbei, but not in Anba. Discussion: This study was the first to molecularly elucidate the submergence stress tolerance in the roots of two orchardgrass cultivars. These findings not only enhanced our understanding of the orchardgrass submergence tolerance, but also provided a theoretical basis 36 for the cultivation of submergence-tolerant forage varieties.

One-pot synthesis of biocompatible Te@phenol formaldehyde resin core-shell nanowires with uniform size and unique fluorescent properties by a synergized soft-hard template process.

One-pot hydrothermal process has been developed to synthesize uniform Te@phenol formaldehyde resin core-shell nanowires with unique fluorescent properties. A synergistic soft-hard template mechanism has been proposed to explain the formation of the core-shell nanowires. The Te@phenol formaldehyde resin core-shell nanowires display unique fluorescent properties, which give strong luminescent emission in the blue-violet and green regions with excitation wavelengths of 270 nm and 402 nm, respectively.

Hydrogel Interferometry for Ultrasensitive and Highly Selective Chemical Detection.

Developing ultrasensitive chemical sensors with small scale and fast response through simple design and low-cost fabrication is highly desired but still challenging. Herein, a simple and universal sensing platform based on a hydrogel interferometer with femtomol-level sensitivity in detecting (bio)chemical molecules is demonstrated. A unique local concentrating effect (up to 109 folds) in the hydrogel induced by the strong analyte binding and large amount of ligands, combined with the signal amplification effect by optical interference, endows this platform with an ultrahigh sensitivity, specifically 10-14 m for copper ions and 1.0 × 10-11 mg mL-1 for glycoprotein with 2-4 order-of-magnitude enhancement. The specific chemical reactions between selected ligands and target analytes provide high selectivity in detecting complex fluids. This universal principle with broad chemistry, simple physics, and modular design allows for high performance in detecting wide customer choices of analytes, including metal ions and proteins. The scale of the sensor can be down to micrometer size. The nature of the soft gel makes this platform transparent, flexible, stretchable, and compatible with a variety of substrates, showing high sensing stability and robustness after 200 cycles of bending or stretching. The outstanding sensing performance grants this platform great promise in broad practical applications.