High-throughput microfluidic systems accelerated by artificial intelligence for biomedical applications.

High-throughput microfluidic systems are widely used in biomedical fields for tasks like disease detection, drug testing, and material discovery. Despite the great advances in automation and throughput, the large amounts of data generated by the high-throughput microfluidic systems generally outpace the abilities of manual analysis. Recently, the convergence of microfluidic systems and artificial intelligence (AI) has been promising in solving the issue by significantly accelerating the process of data analysis as well as improving the capability of intelligent decision. This review offers a comprehensive introduction on AI methods and outlines the current advances of high-throughput microfluidic systems accelerated by AI, covering biomedical detection, drug screening, and automated system control and design. Furthermore, the challenges and opportunities in this field are critically discussed as well.

Assessment of dietary nutrient intake and its relationship to the nutritional status of patients with Crohn's Disease in Guangdong Province of China.

Introduction: Background and objectives: to investigate the association between the dietary nutrient intake and nutritional status of patients with Crohn's disease (CD). Methods: sixty CD patients who had been diagnosed but had not begun treatment were enrolled. The dietary nutrient intake was recorded after three days of 24-hour recall and was calculated using NCCW2006 software. The nutrition levels were assessed using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). Indicators included body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference, the circumference of the upper-arm muscle, triceps skinfold thickness, handgrip strength, and the circumference of both calves. Results: eighty-five per cent of CD patients did not meet the necessary energy requirements. Of these, the protein and dietary fiber intake in 63.33 % and 100 %, respectively, were below the standard of the Chinese dietary reference. Many patients had insufficient intake of vitamins, as well as other macro- and micronutrients. An inverse association was observed between the risk of malnutrition and higher levels of energy (1,590.0-2,070.6 kcal/d, OR = 0.050, 95 % CI: 0.009-0.279) and protein (55.6-70.5 g/d, OR = 0.150, 95 % CI: 0.029-0.773). Appropriate supplementation of vitamin E, calcium, and other dietary nutrients helped to reduce the risk of malnutrition. Conclusions: significant deficiencies in dietary nutrient intake were found in CD patients, and dietary intake was associated with the nutritional status of the patient. Appropriate adjustment and supplementation of nutrient intake may reduce malnutrition risk in CD patients. The gap between actual consumption and recommendation indicates a need for improved nutritional counseling and monitoring. Early relevant advice for the dietary guidance of CD patients may be beneficial for long-term effects associated with nutritional status.

Introducción: Antecedentes y objetivos: investigar la asociación entre la ingesta de nutrientes y el estado nutricional de los pacientes con enfermedad de Crohn (EC). Métodos: se reclutaron 60 pacientes de EC que habían sido diagnosticados, pero no habían iniciado ningún tratamiento. La ingesta de nutrientes se registró tras 3 días de recordatorio de 24 horas y se calculó utilizando el software NCCW2006. El estado nutricional se evaluó mediante la valoración global subjetiva generada por el paciente (PG-SGA). Los indicadores incluyeron el índice de masa corporal, la circunferencia media del brazo, la circunferencia del músculo de la parte superior del brazo, el grosor del pliegue cutáneo del tríceps, la fuerza de agarre y la circunferencia de pantorrilla. Resultados: el 85 % de los pacientes de EC no cubrieron las necesidades energéticas necesarias. De estos, las ingestas de proteína y fibra dietética en el 63,33 % y el 100 %, respectivamente, era más baja que lo que recominenda la norma de referencia dietética china. Muchos pacientes tuvieron una ingesta insuficiente de vitaminas, así como de otros macronutrientes y micronutrientes. Se observó una asociación inversa entre el riesgo de desnutrición y niveles más altos de energía (1590,0-2070,6 kcal/d, OR = 0,050, IC 95 % = 0,009-0,279) y proteínas (55,6-70,5 g/d, OR = 0,150, IC 95 % = 0,029-0,773). La suplementación adecuada de vitamina E, calcio y otros nutrientes dietéticos ayudó a reducir el riesgo de desnutrición. Conclusiones: se observaron deficiencias significativas en la ingesta de nutrientes en los pacientes con EC, y la ingesta dietética se asoció con el estado nutricional del paciente. El ajuste y la suplementación adecuados de la ingesta de nutrientes pueden reducir el riesgo de malnutrición de los pacientes con EC. La diferencia entre el consumo real y la recomendación indica la necesidad de mejorar el asesoramiento y el seguimiento nutricional. El consejo temprano pertinente para la orientación dietética de los pacientes con EC puede ser beneficioso para los efectos a largo plazo asociados al estado nutricional.

Simultaneous capture of ISG15 conjugating and deconjugating enzymes using a semi-synthetic ISG15-Dha probe.

ISG15 is a ubiquitin-like (Ubl) protein attached to substrate proteins by ISG15 conjugating enzymes whose dysregulation is implicated in a multitude of disease processes, but the probing of these enzymes remains to be accomplished. Here, we describe the development of a new activity-based probe ISG15-Dha (dehydroalanine) through protein semi-synthesis. In vitro cross-linking and cell lysate proteomic profiling experiments showed that this probe can sequentially capture ISG15 conjugating enzymes including E1 enzyme UBA7, E2 enzyme UBE2L6, E3 enzyme HERC5, the previously known ISG15 deconjugating enzyme (USP18), as well as some other enzymes (USP5 and USP14) which we additionally confirmed to impart deISGylation activity. Collectively, ISG15-Dha provides a new tool that can simultaneously capture ISG15 conjugating and deconjugating enzymes for biochemical or pharmacological studies. Electronic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s11426-022-1455-x and is accessible for authorized users.

Precise Subcellular Organelle Targeting for Boosting Endogenous-Stimuli-Mediated Tumor Therapy.

Though numerous external-stimuli-triggered tumor therapies, including phototherapy, radiotherapy, and sonodynamic therapy have made great progress in cancer therapy, the low penetration depth of the laser, safety concerns of radiation, the therapeutic resistance, and the spatio-temporal constraints of the specific equipment restrict their convenient clinical applications. What is more, the inherent physiological barriers of the tumor microenvironment (TME), including hypoxia, heterogeneity, and high expression of antioxidant molecules also restrict the efficiency of tumor therapy. As a result, the development of nanoplatforms responsive to endogenous stimuli (such as glucose, acidic pH, cellular redox events, and etc.) has attracted great attention for starvation therapy, ion therapy, prodrug-mediated chemotherapy, or enzyme-catalyzed therapy. In addition, nanomedicines can be modified by some targeted units for precisely locating in subcellular organelles and boosting the destroying of tumor tissue, decreasing the dosage of nanoagents, reducing side effects, and enhancing the therapeutic efficiency. Herein, the properties of the TME, the advantages of endogenous stimuli, and the principles of subcellular-organelle-targeted strategies will be emphasized. Some necessary considerations for the exploitation of precision medicine and clinical translation of multifunctional nanomedicines in the future are also pointed out.

Atomic-Level Nanorings (A-NRs) Therapeutic Agent for Photoacoustic Imaging and Photothermal/Photodynamic Therapy of Cancer.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) have emerged as effective approaches for cancer treatment. Herein, we present atomic-level scale (0.5 nm thickness) ultrathin sulfur-doped molybdenum oxide nanorings (S-MoOx A-NRs) and with surface coating of polyethylene glycol (PEG) (PEG@S-MoOx A-NRs). This nanomaterial shows high absorbance in the near-infrared (NIR) range and can be used as a sensitive photoacoustic imaging (PAI) contrast agent. Upon NIR irradiation, the particles show high photothermal conversion and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, which effectively kills cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. The PEG@S-MoOx A-NRs allow PAI and synergistic PTT/PDT therapy, which is demonstrated as a promising theranostic strategy for future cancer therapy.

Effect of electrochemotherapy in treating patients with venous malformations.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of electrochemotherapy in treating venous malformations. METHODS: Electrochemotherapy was applied to 665 patients with venous malformations of limbs and trunk, and 505 cases were followed up for half to 6 years. In this study, 228 male and 277 female patients were involved. Diagnosis was made by clinical manifestations and magnetic resonance imaging. The platinum electrodes were inserted into tumor through a trocar with plastic insulating cannula percutaneously and connected with the electrochemical therapeutic apparatus in anodes and cathodes separately. Then electricity was given. The treating voltage is 6-12 V and volume 100-180 mA, the total electricity used is in general 80-100 coulombs per 1.0 square centimeter of tumors' area. The treating time was usually from several dozen minutes to over 2 h depending on the size of the tumor. The severe cases which needed to be treated once again usually were operated after 6 months. RESULTS: The primary efficacy end point was defined as an improvement of patients' symptoms and a reduction in size of tumor 6 months after treatment. Effects were divided into 4 grades, and the efficacy rate decreased from grade 1 to grade 4. The efficacy turned out that 30.1% (152/505) of patients was classified as grade 1; 46.3% (234/505) as grade 2; 19.0% (96/505) as grade 3 and 4.6% (23/505) as grade 4. CONCLUSIONS: Electrochemotherapy shows special superiorities in treating venous malformations. It might bring a confirmed clinical efficacy with the advantages of less injury, quick recovery, simple operation and less complications.

High-temperature gating of solid-state nanopores with thermo-responsive macromolecular nanoactuators in ionic liquids.

Stimuli-responsive nanofluidic systems in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). The nanofluidic device can withstand high temperatures up to 200 °C, in which conventional water-based smart materials and nanodevices are invalid. The smart nanopores can be "irreversibly" turned off above the transition temperature of ca. 120-150 °C, actuated by the conformational change of the chemically-modified polymer brushes.

Effect of electro-acupuncture in treating patients with lingual hemangioma.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) in treating patients with lingual hemangioma (LHG). METHODS: EA therapy was applied on 36 patients by directly inserting the platinum needles into LHG through a trocar with plastic insulating cannula to protect the normal tissues and connecting the needles with the electro-chemical therapeutic apparatus of model ZAY-B. Then electricity was given until the tumor body got contracted and rigid. The result was assessed 6 months after EA was started. RESULTS: All patients were treated effectively, namely, the effective rate was 100%, with the therapeutic effect reaching grade I in 29 patients (80.6%), grade II in 7 (19.4%), and all having the function of tongue recovered to normal. CONCLUSION: EA shows special superiorities in treating LHG, proved to bring about less injury and quick recovery and being simple in operation. Especially when applied on huge LHG, it could not only remove the tumor, but also preserve the function of the tongue, so it is a brand-new approach that is likely to be accepted by patients.