Sphingomonas hankyongensis sp. nov. isolated from tap water.

A Gram reaction-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile, translucent and rod-shaped bacterium (designated W1-2-4(T)) isolated from tap water was characterized by a polyphasic approach to clarify its taxonomic position. Strain W1-2-4(T) was observed to grow optimally at 25-30 °C and at pH 6.5 on nutrient agar. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain W1-2-4(T) belongs to the genus Sphingomonas and is most closely related to the Sphingomonas fennica K101(T) (95.3 % similarity). The G+C content of genomic DNA was 67.1 mol%. Chemotaxonomic data [major ubiquinone-Q-10, major polyamine-homospermidine, major fatty acids-summed feature 8 (comprising C18:1 ω7c/ω6c), C16:0 and C14:0 2OH] supported the affiliation of strain W1-2-4(T) to the genus Sphingomonas. Strain W1-2-4(T) could be differentiated genotypically and phenotypically from the recognized species of the genus Sphingomonas. The novel isolate therefore represents a novel species, for which the name Sphingomonas hankyongensis sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain W1-2-4(T) (=KACC 18308(T) = LMG 28595(T)).

A Hybrid Anchoring Technology Composed of Reinforced Flexible Shells for a Knee Unloading Exosuit.

Soft robotic wearables have emerged as an ergonomic alternative to rigid robotic wearables, commonly utilizing tension-based actuation systems. However, their soft structure's natural tendency to buckle limits their use for compression bearing applications. This study presents reinforced flexible shell (RFS) anchoring, a compliant, low-profile, ergonomic wearable platform capable of high compression resistance. RFS anchors are fabricated with soft and semirigid materials that typically buckle under compressive loads. Buckling is overcome using the wearer's leg as a support structure, reinforcing the shells with straps, and minimizing the space between the shells and the wearer's skin-enabling force transmission orders of magnitude larger. RFS anchoring performance was evaluated comparatively by examining the shift-deformation profiles of three identically designed braces fabricated with different materials: rigid, strapped RFS, and unstrapped RFS. The unstrapped RFS severely deformed before 200 N of force could be applied. The strapped RFS successfully supported 200 N of force and exhibited a nearly identical transient shift-deformation profile with the rigid brace condition. RFS anchoring technology was applied to a compression-resistant hybrid exosuit, Exo-Unloader, for knee osteoarthritis. Exo-Unloader utilizes a tendon-driven linear sliding actuation system that unloads the medial and lateral compartments of the knee. Exo-Unloader can deliver 200 N of unloading force without deforming, as indicted by its similar transient shift-deformation profile with a rigid unloader baseline. Although rigid braces effectively withstand and transmit high compressive loads, they lack compliance; RFS anchoring technology expands the application of soft and flexible materials to compression-based wearable assistive systems.

Body-powered variable impedance: An approach to augmenting humans with a passive device by reshaping lifting posture.

The movement patterns appropriate for exercise and manual labor do not always correspond to what people instinctively choose for better comfort. Without expert guidance, people can even increase the risk of injury by choosing a comfortable posture rather than the appropriate one, notably when lifting objects. Even in situations where squatting is accepted as a desirable lifting strategy, people tend to choose the more comfortable strategy of stooping or semisquatting. The common approach to correcting lifting posture, immobilizing vulnerable joints via fixation, is insufficient for preventing back injuries sustained from repetitive lifting. Instead, when lifting small but heavy objects, the entire kinetic chain should cooperate to achieve a series of squat-lifting patterns. Inspired by the observation that force fields affect the coordination of voluntary human motion, we devised a passive exosuit embedded with a body-powered variable-impedance mechanism. The exosuit adds impedance to the human joints according to how far the wearer's movement is from the squat-lifting trajectories so that it hinders stooping but facilitates squatting. In an experiment that entailed lifting a small 10-kg box, 10 first-time users changed their voluntary lifting motion closer to squatting on average. Simulation results based on recorded kinematic and kinetic data showed that this postural change reduced the compression force, shear force, and moment on the lumbosacral joint. Our work demonstrates the potential of using an exosuit to help people move in a desirable manner without requiring a complicated, bulky mechanical system.

Handheld mechanical cell lysis chip with ultra-sharp silicon nano-blade arrays for rapid intracellular protein extraction.

This paper presents a handheld mechanical cell lysis chip with ultra-sharp nano-blade arrays fabricated by simple and cost effective crystalline wet etching of (110) silicon. The ultra-sharp nano-blade array is simply formed by the undercutting of (110) silicon during the crystalline wet etching process. Cells can be easily disrupted by the silicon nano-blade array without the help of additional reagents or electrical sources. Based on the bench-top test of the proposed device, a handheld mechanical cell lysis chip with the nano-blade arrays is designed and fabricated for direct connection to a commercial syringe. The direct connection to a syringe provides rapid cell lysis, easy handling, and minimization of the lysate dead volume. The protein concentration in the cell lysate obtained by the proposed lysis chip is quantitatively comparable to the one prepared by a conventional chemical lysis method.

Fabrication of a bio-MEMS based cell-chip for toxicity monitoring.

A bio-MEMS based cell-chip that can detect a specific toxicity was fabricated by patterning and immobilizing bioluminescent bacteria in a microfluidic chip. Since the emitted light intensity of bioluminescent bacteria changed in response to the presence of chemicals, the bacteria were used as the toxicity indicator in this study. A pattern of immobilized cells was successfully generated by photolithography, utilizing a water-soluble and negatively photosensitive polymer, PVA-SbQ (polyvinyl alcohol-styrylpyridinium) as an immobilization material. Using the recombinant Escherichia coli (E. coli) strain, GC2, which is sensitive to general toxicity, the following were investigated for the immobilization: an acceptable dose of long-wavelength UV light, the biocompatibility of the polymer, and the effect of the chip-environment. We found that 10 min of UV light exposure, the toxicity of polymer (SPP-H-13-bio), and the other chip-environment did not inhibit cell metabolism significantly for making a micro-cell-chip. Detection of a specific toxicity was demonstrated by simply immobilizing the bioluminescent bacteria, DK1, which increased bioluminescence in the presence of oxidative damage in the cells. An injection of hydrogen peroxide of 0.88 mM induced 10-fold increase in bioluminescent intensity confirming the capability of the chip for toxicity monitoring.

Optical characteristics of a refractive optical attenuator with respect to the wedge angles of a silicon optical leaker.

We design, fabricate, and characterize the micromachined refractive variable optical attenuator (VOA) with a wedge-shaped silicon optical leaker (SOL). The vertical structures of the VOA device can be simply fabricated by deep reactive ion etching with no sidewall metallization, and the 8 degrees angled fibers are employed for a high return loss even in air-ambient conditions. The SOL successively transmits and refracts part of the incident light far outside the acceptance angle of the output fiber, showing an effective optical attenuation. The fabricated VOA gives high optical performances, such as a response time of 6 ms, a return loss of 39 dB, an insertion loss of 0.6 dB, an attenuation range of 43 dB, and a polarization-dependent loss (PDL) of a 10% attenuation level, including a wavelength-dependent loss. The optical characteristics of the VOA are also theoretically investigated with respect to the wedge angles of the SOL. The experimental characteristics are in good agreement with the theoretical values calculated, considering light scattered from the endface of an optical fiber and sidewall of the SOL. The PDL estimation was confirmed especially to sufficiently explain the fundamental characteristic of the PDL for the refractive VOA.