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Chronic wounds represent a major health risk for diabetic patients. Regeneration of such wounds requires regular medical treatments over periods that can extend for several months or more. Schemes for monitoring the healing process can provide important feedback to the patient and caregiver. Although qualitative indicators such as malodor or fever can provide some indirect information, quantitative measurements of the wound bed have the potential to yield important insights. The work presented here introduces materials and engineering designs for a wireless system that captures spatio-temporal temperature and thermal transport information across the wound continuously throughout the healing process. Systematic experimental and computational studies establish the materials aspects and basic capabilities of this technology. In vivo studies reveal that both the temperature and the changes in this quantity offer information on wound status, with indications of initial exothermic reactions and mechanisms of scar tissue formation. Bioresorbable materials serve as the foundations for versions of this device that create possibilities for monitoring on and within the wound site, in a way that bypasses the risks of physical removal.

BackgroundThis study aimed to determine the correlation of plasma asprosin with anthropometric and metabolic parameters in Korean children and adolescents.MethodsThis single-center study included 109 Korean children and adolescents: 62 (56.9%) obese participants with a body mass index (BMI) ≥95th percentile and 47 (43.1%) healthy controls with BMI between the 15th and 85th percentile. Metabolic parameters were measured, including fasting blood glucose, fasting insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), triglyceride and glucose (TyG) index, and lipid profiles.ResultsPlasma asprosin levels were higher in the obese group than in the control group (mean 87.0 vs. 69.3 ng/mL; p = 0.001) and in the IR group than in the non-IR group (mean 98.6 vs. 70.2 ng/mL; p < 0.001). Plasma asprosin levels were not associated with sex or pubertal stage. Plasma asprosin levels were positively correlated with BMI SDS (r = 0.34; p = 0.002), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (r = 0.25; p = 0.02), glucose (r = 0.33; p = 0.002), insulin (r = 0.44; p < 0.001), HOMA-IR (r = 0.47; p < 0.001), triglyceride (TG) (r = 0.33; p = 0.003), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (r = -0.29; p = 0.008), and TyG index (r = 0.38; p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that plasma asprosin levels were independently associated with HOMA-IR (p < 0.001) and TG/HDL cholesterol ratio (p < 0.001).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated an association between plasma asprosin levels and obesity and insulin resistance in Korean children and adolescents.

There is a global and increasing demand for natural ingredients that support the human immune response. In this study, the immunomodulatory effect and mechanism of action of rice bran extract fermented by Lentinus edodes was investigated. The potential immunomodulatory effect of fermented rice bran (FRB) and processed rice bran (RB) was evaluated using male BALB/c mice whose immunity was lowered by Cyclophosphamide (CY). The changes in the weight of the thymus and the spleen, immunoglobulins, and cytokine expressions were measured as biomarkers of immunomodulating potential after 14 days of oral administration of FRB and RB (0.5 g/kg-body weight (b.w.), respectively). The FRB and RB groups treated with CY resulted in increased weight of the thymus (1.73 ± 0.40 and 1.45 ± 0.43 mg/g-b.w., respectively) compared to the CY-treated control group (1.05 ± 0.36 mg/g-b.w.). The levels of the immunoglobulin (Ig) G in the group treated with FRB (21.98 ± 2.17, p < 0.01) were significantly increased when compared to the RB group (18.48 ± 1.52 μg/mL, p < 0.01). The expression of serum cytokines, including IL-1α (p < 0.05), IL-2 (p < 0.05), IL-6 (p < 0.001), IL-12 p70 (p < 0.01), IFN-γ (p < 0.01), and TNF-α (p < 0.01) were also significantly increased by the administration of FRB (0.5 g/kg-b.w.). Similarly, the expression of spleen cytokines, including IL-1α (p < 0.05), IL-2 (p < 0.05), IFN-γ (p < 0.01), and TNF-α (p < 0.05), was also significantly increased in the group receiving the FRB (0.5 g/kg-b.w.). The natural killer cell (NK) cell activities at a 1:25 ratio of YAC-1 cells to splenocytes were significantly increased in positive control red ginseng extract 0.5 g/kg (38.64 ± 2.13%, p < 0.05), FRB (34.85 ± 3.45%, p < 0.05), and RB (25.00 ± 4.18%), compared to that of negative control CY group (12.67 ± 3.23%). These results suggest that FRB administration could stimulate the innate immune system by increasing the expression of cytokines in splenocytes and serum, especially IFN-γ, IL-2, and IL-12 (p70), which are associated with TNF-α and NK cell activities. The above results could provide the biochemical rationale to further evaluate the use of FRB for immunomodulatory applications.

Temporary cardiac pacemakers used in periods of need during surgical recovery involve percutaneous leads and externalized hardware that carry risks of infection, constrain patient mobility and may damage the heart during lead removal. Here we report a leadless, battery-free, fully implantable cardiac pacemaker for postoperative control of cardiac rate and rhythm that undergoes complete dissolution and clearance by natural biological processes after a defined operating timeframe. We show that these devices provide effective pacing of hearts of various sizes in mouse, rat, rabbit, canine and human cardiac models, with tailored geometries and operation timescales, powered by wireless energy transfer. This approach overcomes key disadvantages of traditional temporary pacing devices and may serve as the basis for the next generation of postoperative temporary pacing technology.

Recently developed methods for transforming 2D patterns of thin-film materials into 3D mesostructures create many interesting opportunities in microsystems design. A growing area of interest is in multifunctional thermal, electrical, chemical, and optical interfaces to biological tissues, particularly 3D multicellular, millimeter-scale constructs, such as spheroids, assembloids, and organoids. Herein, examples of 3D mechanical interfaces are presented, in which thin ribbons of parylene-C form the basis of transparent, highly compliant frameworks that can be reversibly opened and closed to capture, envelop, and mechanically restrain fragile 3D tissues in a gentle, nondestructive manner, for precise measurements of viscoelastic properties using techniques in nanoindentation. Finite element analysis serves as a design tool to guide selection of geometries and material parameters for shape-matching 3D architectures tailored to organoids of interest. These computational approaches also quantitate all aspects of deformations during the processes of opening and closing the structures and of forces imparted by them onto the surfaces of enclosed soft tissues. Studies of cerebral organoids by nanoindentation show effective Youngs moduli in the range from 1.5 to 2.5 kPa depending on the age of the organoid. This collection of results suggests broad utility of compliant 3D mesostructures in noninvasive mechanical measurements of millimeter-scale, soft biological tissues.

The stealth performance of submarines is closely related to their hull forms. In this study, an optimization method based on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) was developed to design submarine hull forms, aimed at maximizing the stealth performance. The DRL optimization technique relied on the decision-making process of an agent for determining actions resulting in changes in the hull form, using stealth performance as the reward. The stealth performance of the submarine was evaluated through a Target Strength (TS) analysis model. Additionally, functional constraints of the examined hull forms were implemented in the optimization process, including geometric constraints related to the hull form and dynamic stability constraints pertaining to the hydrodynamic maneuvering characteristics. The TS of the final optimized hull form was 6.5 dB lower than that of the base model, indicating remarkable stealth performance and improved maneuverability. These results validated the effectiveness of the proposed DRL-based optimization method.