Shell microelectrode arrays (MEAs) for brain organoids.

Brain organoids are important models for mimicking some three-dimensional (3D) cytoarchitectural and functional aspects of the brain. Multielectrode arrays (MEAs) that enable recording and stimulation of activity from electrogenic cells offer notable potential for interrogating brain organoids. However, conventional MEAs, initially designed for monolayer cultures, offer limited recording contact area restricted to the bottom of the 3D organoids. Inspired by the shape of electroencephalography caps, we developed miniaturized wafer-integrated MEA caps for organoids. The optically transparent shells are composed of self-folding polymer leaflets with conductive polymer-coated metal electrodes. Tunable folding of the minicaps' polymer leaflets guided by mechanics simulations enables versatile recording from organoids of different sizes, and we validate the feasibility of electrophysiology recording from 400- to 600-µm-sized organoids for up to 4 weeks and in response to glutamate stimulation. Our studies suggest that 3D shell MEAs offer great potential for high signal-to-noise ratio and 3D spatiotemporal brain organoid recording.

[Nursing Experiences Applying Swanson's Caring Theory to Assist a Family Confronting the Impact of an Infant With CHARGE Syndrome].

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nurses who applied Swanson's Caring Theory to assist coping in a family of an infant with CHARGE Syndrome. The patient was born with multiple organ hypoplasia and was diagnosed using genetic testing with CHARGE syndrome. The shock and sadness, coupled with returning home for care and the long and endless journey of rehabilitation, were the most significant challenges and pressures for the parents when taking care of the patient. The author used interviews, texting apps, and observations to collect data, and completed the recording process between September 21st and December 3rd, 2020. Based on the data, the primary nursing problem was caregiver role strain. The process of nursing was summarized as (1) the impact stage, when the family first faces the child's diagnosis of a rare disease; (2) the transition stage from the hospital to the home in the care situation; and (3) the re-impact stage when the child experiences developmental delays. Swanson's Caring Theory was applied in this study to guide nursing care. The five caring processes outlined in Swanson's Caring Theory include knowing, being with, doing for, enabling, and maintaining belief. The authors used these caring processes at every stage to provide an individualized caring plan that included attentively listening to parents' ideas, encouraging parents to express personal perceptions, providing strategies to enhance parents' caring skills, and establishing positive beliefs to improve confidence. Nursing personnel may apply Swanson's Caring Theory to assist families of children with rare diseases to not only gain positive beliefs in a grieving situation but also achieve a rewarding life.

Controlled Silanization: High Molecular Regularity of Functional Thiol Groups on Siloxane Coatings.

A comparative study on deposition and molecular regularity of two organosilanes, i.e., commercially available (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) and newly developed mercaptopropylsilatrane (MPS), was conducted in this work. MPTMS and MPS were applied to modify silicon surfaces to characterize their deposition kinetics, surface morphology, thickness, and elemental composition and the reactivity of thiol end groups based on gold-thiol and thiol-ene chemistries. MPS possesses a tricyclic caged structure and a transannular N → Si dative bond, making it chemically stable and controllable to avoid fast hydrolysis and aggregation in solution. The results indicate that MPS allows faster deposition and better formation of thin and homogeneous films than MPTMS. More importantly, the functional thiol groups on MPS coatings enable immobilization of a large amount of gold nanoparticles and effective thiol-ene photopolymerization with zwitterionic sulfobetaine acrylamide. Postmodification on silanized surfaces with MPS endows excellent plasmonic and antifouling properties, potentially leading to valuable applications to biosensing and biomaterials. The work demonstrated the feasibility and applicability of the functional silatrane molecule for surface silanization in a controlled manner.

Glycan Stimulation Enables Purification of Prostate Cancer Circulating Tumor Cells on PEDOT NanoVelcro Chips for RNA Biomarker Detection.

A glycan-stimulated and poly(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene)s (PEDOT)-based nanomaterial platform is fabricated to purify circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood samples of prostate cancer (PCa) patients. This new platform, phenylboronic acid (PBA)-grafted PEDOT NanoVelcro, combines the 3D PEDOT nanosubstrate, which greatly enhances CTC capturing efficiency, with a poly(EDOT-PBA-co-EDOT-EG3) interfacial layer, which not only provides high specificity for CTC capture upon antibody conjugation but also enables competitive binding of sorbitol to gently release the captured cells. CTCs purified by this PEDOT NanoVelcro chip provide well-preserved RNA transcripts for the analysis of the expression level of several PCa-specific RNA biomarkers, which may provide clinical insights into the disease.