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Icariin (ICA), a natural flavonoid glucoside from traditional Chinese medicine, possesses various pharmacological properties such as anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and neuroprotective effects. Recent studies suggest its potential in treating Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the exact mechanisms of how ICA modulates neuroinflammation in AD remain unclear. In this study, oral ICA administration improved cognitive function in mice, decreasing escape latency in behavioral tests and altering protein levels related to AD pathology, including boosting acetylcholine and reducing p-tau/tau and acetylcholinesterase. Additionally, in 3 × Tg-AD mice, ICA therapy inhibited microglia and astrocyte activation and reduced inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6) at the protein level. RNA-seq analysis revealed decreased expression of Nrxn3, Meg3, and Malat1 genes in 3 × Tg-AD animals treated with ICA. Furthermore, ICA activated the Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathway, known for its role in neuroinflammation, suggesting a potential mechanism by which ICA suppresses inflammation. This study proposes Meg3 and Malat1 lncRNA as therapeutic targets against AD, offering a novel approach for combating neuroinflammation in AD through the inhibition of the Akt/GSK-3β pathway.

Ceramic/polymer composites have been widely utilized due to their outstanding dielectric and mechanical properties. The interfacial bonding between ceramic and organic phases has a significant effect on the properties of composites. Therefore, enhancing the interfacial bond strength has become a hot issue. In this work, a chemically modified PES-g-BST/PEEK composite was prepared via cold-pressing sintering. The chemical bond was constructed to connect one end of PES (polyether sulfone) with BST (barium strontium titanate) and the other end with PEEK (polyether ether ketone) by using 4,4′-Diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS), which enhanced the interface combination between ceramic fillers and organic phase. The influence of the surface grafting method and the amount of DDS on the microstructure and dielectric characteristics of the PES-g-BST/PEEK composite was investigated, and the amount of DDS was optimized. The permittivity, dielectric tunable efficiency, and dielectric tunability of the composites were improved. A chemically modified PES-g-BST/PEEK composite with improved dielectric properties and high dielectric tunability was obtained. The dielectric tunability amounts to 38.16% under a 7 kV/mm bias, accompanied by a low dielectric constant of 14.5 and a dielectric loss of 0.076 (1 kHz). This work provides a way of enhancing the interface bonding of ceramic/polymer composites to improve dielectric tunability.

Recently, robots have assisted and contributed to the biomedical field. Scaling down the size of robots to micro/nanoscale can increase the accuracy of targeted medications and decrease the danger of invasive operations in human surgery. Inspired by the motion pattern and collective behaviors of the tiny biological motors in nature, various kinds of sophisticated and programmable microrobots are fabricated with the ability for cargo delivery, bio-imaging, precise operation, etc. In this review, four types of propulsion—magnetically, acoustically, chemically/optically and hybrid driven—and their corresponding features have been outlined and categorized. In particular, the locomotion of these micro/nanorobots, as well as the requirement of biocompatibility, transportation efficiency, and controllable motion for applications in the complex human body environment should be considered. We discuss applications of different propulsion mechanisms in the biomedical field, list their individual benefits, and suggest their potential growth paths.

pH sensors with low-power and strong anti-interference are extremely important for industrial online real-time detection. Herein, a narrow channel pH sensor based on Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) with package integrated Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels is proposed. The fabricated device has shown potential advantages in improving stability and reducing power consumption in response to pH changes of the solution. The performance of the pH sensor was demonstrated where the preliminary results showed an ultra-low power (VDS = 1.0 V. Meanwhile, the sensitivity was 0.06 μA/V·pH in the range of pH = 2 to pH = 10, and the resolution of the sensor was 0.1 pH. The improvement in performance of the proposed sensor can be related to the narrow channel and microchannel, which can be attributed to better surface GaxOy in a microchannel with larger H+ and HO− concentration on the sensing surface during the detection process. The low-power sensor with excellent stability can be widely used in various unattended or harsh environments, and it is more conducive to integration and intelligence, which lays the foundation for online monitoring in vivo.

Polysulfide binding and trapping to prevent dissolution into the electrolyte by a variety of materials has been well studied in Li-S batteries. Here we discover that some of those materials can play an important role as an activation catalyst to facilitate oxidation of the discharge product, Li2S, back to the charge product, sulfur. Combining theoretical calculations and experimental design, we select a series of metal sulfides as a model system to identify the key parameters in determining the energy barrier for Li2S oxidation and polysulfide adsorption. We demonstrate that the Li2S decomposition energy barrier is associated with the binding between isolated Li ions and the sulfur in sulfides; this is the main reason that sulfide materials can induce lower overpotential compared with commonly used carbon materials. Fundamental understanding of this reaction process is a crucial step toward rational design and screening of materials to achieve high reversible capacity and long cycle life in Li-S batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]