Magnetically Guidable Proteinaceous Adhesive Microbots for Targeted Locoregional Therapeutics Delivery in the Highly Dynamic Environment of the Esophagus

The esophagus is a tubular-shaped muscular organ where swallowed fluids and muscular contractions constitute a highly dynamic environment. The turbulent, coordinated processes that occur through the oropharyngeal conduit can often compromise targeted administration of therapeutic drugs to a lesion, significantly reducing therapeutic efficacy. Here, magnetically guidable drug vehicles capable of strongly adhering to target sites using a bioengineered mussel adhesive protein (MAP) to achieve localized delivery of therapeutic drugs against the hydrodynamic physiological conditions are proposed. A suite of highly uniform microparticles embedded with iron oxide (IO) nanoparticles (MAP@IO MPs) is microfluidically fabricated using the genipin-mediated covalent cross-linking of bioengineered MAP. The MAP@IO MPs are successfully targeted to a specific region and prolongedly retained in the tubular-structured passageway. In particular, orally administered MAP@IO MPs are effectively captured in the esophagus in vivo in a magnetically guidable manner. Moreover, doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded MAP@IO MPs exhibit a sustainable DOX release profile, effective anticancer therapeutic activity, and excellent biocompatibility. Thus, the magnetically guidable locomotion and robust underwater adhesive properties of the proteinaceous soft microbots can provide an intelligent modular approach for targeted locoregional therapeutics delivery to a specific lesion site in dynamic fluid-associated tubular organs such as the esophagus.     

Extensive evaluation and classification of low-cost dust sensors in laboratory using a newly developed test method

An extensive evaluation of low-cost dust sensors was performed using an exponentially decaying particle concentration. A total of 264 sensors including 27 sensors with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and 237 sensors with laser lighting sources were tested. Those tested sensors were classified into 4 groups based on the deviation from the reference data obtained by a reference instrument. The response linearities of all the tested samples for PM₁, PM_2.5, and PM₁₀ were in excellent agreement with the reference instrument, except a few samples. For the measurements of PM₁ and PM_2.5, the lighting source, that is, LED or laser, did not show any significant difference in overall sensor performance. However, LED-based sensors did not perform well for PM₁₀ measurements. The 32, 24, and 16% of all the tested sensors for PM₁, PM_2.5, and PM₁₀ measurement, respectively, are in the category of Class 1 (reference instrument reading ± 20%) requirement. The performance of the low-cost dust sensors for PM₁₀ measurement was relatively less satisfactory.     

Measuring local droplet parameters using single optical fiber probe

This article proposes a new single optical fiber probe (OFP) sensor method for measuring local droplet parameters such as droplet fraction, droplet velocity, and droplet diameter. To this end, we developed a stretched conical optical fiber probe (SC-OFP) sensor that minimizes the wetting of the sensing tip at a high droplet velocity, a discrimination algorithm based on the first and second derivatives of the output of the raw signal of the OFP sensor, and a method that uses neural network training to determine local droplet velocity independently of droplet size. In the experiments conducted, the developed SC-OFP sensor measured local droplet velocity with a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) smaller than 4.1% for velocities ranging from 2 to 32 m/s, and droplet diameter with a MAPE smaller than 4.9% for diameters ranging from 0.29 to 1.78 mm.     

Scanning Probe Lithography Patterning of Monolayer Semiconductors and Application in Quantifying Edge Recombination

Scanning probe lithography is used to directly pattern monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) without the use of a sacrificial resist. Using an atomic‐force microscope, a negatively biased tip is brought close to the TMD surface. By inducing a water bridge between the tip and the TMD surface, controllable oxidation is achieved at the sub‐100 nm resolution. The oxidized flake is then submerged into water for selective oxide removal which leads to controllable patterning. In addition, by changing the oxidation time, thickness tunable patterning of multilayer TMDs is demonstrated. This resist‐less process results in exposed edges, overcoming a barrier in traditional resist‐based lithography and dry etch where polymeric byproduct layers are often formed at the edges. By patterning monolayers into geometric patterns of different dimensions and measuring the effective carrier lifetime, the non‐radiative recombination velocity due to edge defects is extracted. Using this patterning technique, it is shown that selenide TMDs exhibit lower edge recombination velocity as compared to sulfide TMDs. The utility of scanning probe lithography towards understanding material‐dependent edge recombination losses without significantly normalizing edge behaviors due to heavy defect generation, while allowing for eventual exploration of edge passivation schemes is highlighted, which is of profound interest for nanoscale electronics and optoelectronics.     

Highly Bendable and Rotational Textile Structure with Prestrained Conductive Sewing Pattern for Human Joint Monitoring

Human joints have respective ranges of motion and joint forces corresponding to each kind of joint; this necessitates considerations of the characteristics of human joints to fabricate wearable strain sensors conformable to the human body, and capable of precisely monitoring complex motions of the human body. In the present study, the “all textile‐based highly stretchable structure” that is capable of precisely sensing motions (folding and rotation) of the human joints (finger, wrist, elbow, spine, and knee) is fabricated by optimizing patterns (straight, blind, and zigzag) of conductive yarns employed as the conductive part of the strain sensor, and several textile substrates (braided elastic fabric, knit fabric, and woven fabric), having preferable elasticity and conformability employed for the fabrication of strain sensors suitable for human joints. In particular, the technology, enabling the prestraining of textile substrate, is exploited to fabricate a strain sensor that is capable of outputting selective signals corresponding to the folding motion of the spinal joint over a predetermined angle of motion, and the gait pattern of the wearer of the sensor, attached to his or her knee joint doing folding and rotational motions, is analyzed.     

Correlations between histopathologic and dermoscopic findings in Korean actinic keratosis

Skin biopsy for AK diagnosis is usually performed on only a limited part of the whole lesion. Therefore, a clinical diagnosis is important. According to a study, there is no significant correlation between histopathological and clinical classification system. We examined the correlation between microscopic information and dermoscopic findings to deduce if dermoscopic information reflects histopathologic grade severity. Forty seven patients with histologically confirmed AK were enrolled and positive ratio of red pseudonetwork, rosette, red background and targetoid signs, white‐to‐yellow scale, white structureless area, and pigmentation from dermoscopic findings were investigated. Furthermore, viable epidermal thickness, vessel lumen dimensions, existence and thickness of ortho‐ and parakeratosis, degree of sola elastosis, flag sign existence, and Roewert‐Huber classification were measured as histologic findings. Red background did not show a significant correlation with vascular dimension or viable epidermal thickness. When targetoid sign was present, vascular dimension was significantly larger but showed no correlation with viable epidermal thickness, parakeratosis or orthokeratosis. Solar elastosis level was significantly higher when white‐to‐yellow scale was present. According to Spearman's correlation analysis, ortho/parakeratotic thickness showed correlations with each other. The negative correlation between viable epidermal thickness and vascular dimension was also shown. Roewert‐Huber histologic AK classification showed no correlation with any factors we checked. Factors considered to be characteristic features of AK in dermoscopy seemed unassociated with histologic AK classification and additional research is needed to determine degree of dysplasia of AK lesions using dermoscopy.     

Effect of composite coating with poly-dopamine/PCL on the corrosion resistance of magnesium

We report the use of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly-dopamine (PD) as a protective coating that inhibits corrosion of the underlying magnesium metal. The PD coating layer also improved the adhesion of the PCL layer, which has been found to have a significant effect on corrosion behavior. In this study, electrochemical methods were employed to investigate the corrosion behavior of Mg after applying PCL composite coatings. Potentiodynamic polarization measurements determined that the PCL coating pretreated with PD effectively inhibited metal corrosion. In addition, the coating layer with improved adhesion has shown the possibility of inhibiting metal corrosion.     

Quantitative measurements of nanoparticle layer thicknesses near the contact line region after droplet drying-out

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Confocal fringe patterns of evaporating sessile drops have provided initial evidence of the presence of a sub-micron thin liquid film emanating from...     

Dansameum regulates hepatic lipogenesis and inflammation in vitro and in vivo

Food Science and Biotechnology - Although the clinical guidelines for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) therapy recommended hepato-protection and exercise to reduce body weight, no...