Optical-driven miniature robots: driving mechanism, applications and future trends.

Miniature robots can complete complex tasks at the micro-scale, which have shown great application potential in fields such as biomedicine and environmental monitoring. As a renewable energy source, light is widely used in energy and information transmission. With the maturity of beam modulation and optical microscope technology, optical-driven miniature robots have become a hot topic in the field of miniature robotics due to their programmable nature, high resolution, non-contact nature, high precision, and good biocompatibility.

Rnai-mediated knockdown of nuclear receptors impairs cuticle formation by disrupting chitin metabolic pathway in Holotrichia oblita.

Nuclear receptors (NRs) are ligand-regulated transcription factors that play crucial roles in insect growth and development. However, their functions in Holotrichia oblita Faldermann remain uncharacterized. In this study, we identified and characterized three HoNRs from H.

The powerbend distribution provides a unified model for the species abundance distribution across animals, plants and microbes.

Remarkably, almost every ecological community investigated to date is composed of many rare species and a few abundant species. While the precise nature of this species abundance distribution is believed to reflect fundamental ecological principles underlying community assembly, ecologists have yet to identify a single model that comprehensively explains all species abundance distributions. Recent studies using large datasets have suggested that the logseries distribution best describes animal and plant communities, while the Poisson lognormal distribution is the best model for microbes, thereby challenging the notion of a unifying species abundance distribution model across the tree of life.

Wearable Medical Devices: Application Status and Prospects.

Electronic skin (E-skin) refers to a portable medical or health electronic device that can be worn directly on the human body and can carry out perception, recording, analysis, regulation, intervention and even treatment of diseases or maintenance of health status through software support. Its main features include wearability, real-time monitoring, convenience, etc. E-skin is convenient for users to wear for a long time and continuously monitors the user's physiological health data (such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, etc.

Detecting branching rate heterogeneity with tree balance statistics in lineage tracing trees.

Understanding variation in cellular growth rates among cells in tumors is crucial for predicting cancer progression and interpreting tumor-derived genetic data. Advances in lineage tracing technologies enable the reconstruction of high-resolution, single-cell phylogenies of cancer cell populations, but methods to detect cellular growth rate differences on these phylogenies remain limited. Tree balance statistics offer a way forward, but it is unknown if and how these statistics are distorted when applied to phylogenetic reconstructions built from lineage tracing data, and if these distortions limit the utility of tree balance statistics to distinguish between evolutionary scenarios characterized by variable or homogeneous cellular growth rates.

Light-driven soft microrobots based on hydrogels and LCEs: development and prospects.

In the daily life of mankind, microrobots can respond to stimulations received and perform different functions, which can be used to complete repetitive or dangerous tasks. Magnetic driving works well in robots that are tens or hundreds of microns in size, but there are big challenges in driving microrobots that are just a few microns in size. Therefore, it is impossible to guarantee the precise drive of microrobots to perform tasks.

A Bionic Venus Flytrap Soft Microrobot Driven by Multiphysics for Intelligent Transportation.

With the continuous integration of material science and bionic technology, as well as increasing requirements for the operation of robots in complex environments, researchers continue to develop bionic intelligent microrobots, the development of which will cause a great revolution in daily life and productivity. In this study, we propose a bionic flower based on the PNIPAM-PEGDA bilayer structure. PNIPAM is temperature-responsive and solvent-responsive, thus acting as an active layer, while PEGDA does not change significantly in response to a change in temperature and solvent, thus acting as a rigid layer.

Accounting for 16S rRNA copy number prediction uncertainty and its implications in bacterial diversity analyses.

16S rRNA gene copy number (16S GCN) varies among bacterial species and this variation introduces potential biases to microbial diversity analyses using 16S rRNA read counts. To correct the biases, methods have been developed to predict 16S GCN. A recent study suggests that the prediction uncertainty can be so great that copy number correction is not justified in practice.

Model Checking Fuzzy Computation Tree Logic Based on Fuzzy Decision Processes with Cost.

In order to solve the problems in fuzzy computation tree logic model checking with cost operator, we propose a fuzzy decision process computation tree logic model checking method with cost. Firstly, we introduce a fuzzy decision process model with cost, which can not only describe the uncertain choice and transition possibility of systems, but also quantitatively describe the cost of the systems. Secondly, under the model of the fuzzy decision process with cost, we give the syntax and semantics of the fuzzy computation tree logic with cost operators.

Microbial genomic trait evolution is dominated by frequent and rare pulsed evolution.

On the macroevolutionary time scale, does trait evolution proceed gradually or by rapid bursts (pulses) separated by prolonged periods of stasis or slow evolution? Although studies have shown that pulsed evolution is prevalent in animals, our knowledge about the tempo and mode of evolution across the tree of life is very limited. This long-standing debate calls for a test in bacteria and archaea, the most ancient and diverse forms of life with unique population genetic properties. Using a likelihood-based framework, we show that pulsed evolution is not only present but also prevalent and predominant in microbial genomic trait evolution.

Modeling Pulsed Evolution and Time-Independent Variation Improves the Confidence Level of Ancestral and Hidden State Predictions.

Ancestral state reconstruction is not only a fundamental tool for studying trait evolution, but also very useful for predicting the unknown trait values (hidden states) of extant species. A well-known problem in ancestral and hidden state predictions is that the uncertainty associated with predictions can be so large that predictions themselves are of little use. Therefore, for meaningful interpretation of predicted traits and hypothesis testing, it is prudent to accurately assess the uncertainty of the predictions.

Identification of Novel Risk Loci for Behçet's Disease-Related Uveitis in a Chinese Population in a Genome-Wide Association Study.

Objective: To explore susceptibility loci associated with uveitis in Behçet's disease (BD).

Methods: We conducted a 2-stage study, consisting of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) stage and a replication stage, in a Chinese population. The GWAS stage included 978 cases with BD-related uveitis and 4,388 controls, and the replication stage included 953 cases with BD-related uveitis and 2,129 controls.

Apple cider vinegar soaks do not alter the skin bacterial microbiome in atopic dermatitis.

Introduction: Atopic dermatitis is a common skin disease characterized by altered cutaneous immunity in which patients often exhibit lower skin microbiota diversity compared to healthy skin and are prone to colonization by Staphylococcus aureus. Apple cider vinegar has been shown to have antibacterial effects; however, its effects on the skin microbiome have not previously been well-described.

Objectives: We aimed to examine the effects of topical dilute apple cider vinegar soaks on Staphylococcus aureus abundance, skin bacterial microbiome composition, and skin bacterial microbiome diversity in atopic dermatitis participants compared to healthy skin.

Tuberculosis Exposure With Risk of Behçet Disease Among Patients With Uveitis.

Importance: Although experimental studies support the hypothesis that exposure of infectious agents may trigger an aberrant immune response and contribute to noninfectious uveitis, the association of a definite pathogen with human noninfectious uveitis conditions appears not to have been well established in a population.

Objective: To evaluate associations of tuberculosis infection with risk of several noninfectious uveitis conditions.

Design, Setting, And Participants: These mendelian randomization and observational analyses were conducted with the genetic data of a Chinese cohort enrolled between April 2008 and January 2018 and a Japanese cohort enrolled between January 2002 and June 2009.

The haplotypes of various TNF related genes associated with scleritis in Chinese Han.

Background: Several studies have stated that TNF-α participates in the pathogenesis of scleritis, but also in several systemic autoimmune diseases and vasculitis, of which some are associated with scleritis. Earlier GWAS and SNP studies have confirmed that multiple SNPs of TNF related genes are associated with many immune-mediated disorders. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of TNF related gene polymorphisms with scleritis in Chinese Han.

Dopamine Signaling in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Enables Weight Gain Associated with Hedonic Feeding.

The widespread availability of energy-dense, rewarding foods is correlated with the increased incidence of obesity across the globe. Overeating during mealtimes and unscheduled snacking disrupts timed metabolic processes, which further contribute to weight gain. The neuronal mechanism by which the consumption of energy-dense food restructures the timing of feeding is poorly understood.

Innate Immune Response and Outcome of Clostridium difficile Infection Are Dependent on Fecal Bacterial Composition in the Aged Host.

Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a serious threat for an aging population. Using an aged mouse model, we evaluated the effect of age and the roles of innate immunity and intestinal microbiota.

Methods: Aged (18 months) and young (8 weeks) mice were infected with C difficile, and disease severity, immune response, and intestinal microbiome were compared.

Comparison of end-of-life tire treatment technologies: a Chinese case study.

The aim of this paper is to compare different end-of-life tire (ELT) treatment technologies in China from an environmental and economic perspective. Four treatment technologies were evaluated: ambient grinding, devulcanization, pyrolysis and illegal tire oil extraction. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied to evaluate the potential environmental impact of each treatment based on the Eco-indicator 99 (Hierarchist approach) method provided by GaBi 4 software.