Metastasis is the main cause of tumor-related death, and the dispersal of tumor cells through the circulatory system is a critical step in the metastatic process. Early detection and analysis of ...circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is therefore important for early diagnosis, prognosis, and effective treatment of cancer, enabling favorable clinical outcomes in cancer patients. Accurate and reliable methods for isolating and detecting CTCs are necessary to obtain this clinical information. Over the past two decades, microfluidic technologies have demonstrated great potential for isolating and detecting CTCs from blood. The present paper reviews current advanced microfluidic technologies for isolating CTCs based on various biological and physical principles, and discusses their fundamental advantages and drawbacks for subsequent cellular and molecular assays. Owing to significant genetic heterogeneity among CTCs, microfluidic technologies for isolating individual CTCs have recently been developed. We discuss these single-cell isolation methods, as well as approaches to overcoming the limitations of current microfluidic CTC isolation technologies. Finally, we provide an overview of future innovative microfluidic platforms.
To apply strain sensor as wearable and stretchable electronics, we fabricated cost-effective and stretchable Ag nanoparticle (NP) electrodes on polyurethane (PU) by using simple screen printing. By ...wavy and horseshoe-type patterning of the Ag NP electrode as a function of line width, we fabricated the stretchable electrodes simply, with low sheet resistances of 1.64–2.85 Ohm/square at room temperature. The screen-printed Ag NP electrodes with 3-mm line width showed a constant resistance change until the strain of 20% (wavy pattern) and 15% (horseshoe pattern). The stretchability of 15–20% is relatively small compared with other stretchable materials. Considering inorganic Ag NP electrodes, the stretchability of 15–20% is fairly high and acceptable in fabrication of stretchable electronics. In addition, a very small critical inner and outer bending radius below 1 mm indicates that the screen-printed Ag NP electrodes could also be used as highly flexible electrodes. A possible stretching mechanism was suggested to understand the good flexibility and stretchability of screen-printed Ag NP electrodes on PU substrate. Furthermore, we applied screen-printed Ag NP electrodes as stretchable interconnects for light-emitting diodes and as stretchable electrodes for strain sensors. Successful detection of human motion by wearable strain sensors indicates the potential of Ag NP electrodes as a stretchable electrode for wearable and stretchable sensors.
•Cost-effective and stretchable Ag nanoparticle (NP) electrode coated on polyurethane substrate.•Simple, low fabrication costs, and high-speed entire non-vacuum deposition process.•The screen-printed Ag NP electrodes showed a constant resistance change until the strain of 20% (wavy pattern).•The Ag NP based strain sensor showed high response to strain change.
Although factors initiating the inflammatory response to monosodium urate crystals have been identified, the role of the gut microbiota and their metabolites on gout remains unknown. This study aimed ...to investigate the changes in both gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) according to inflammatory states of gout in the same patients.
This study enrolled 20 patients with gout in the acute state who had active joints and were followed up until the recovery state with no active joints. Blood and fecal samples were simultaneously collected within 3 days for each disease state. The stool microbiome was analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing, and serum SCFAs were measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Differences in the gut microbiome and serum SCFAs were compared between the acute and recovery states.
Beta diversity of the microbiome was significantly different between the acute and recovery states in terms of weighted UniFrac distance. In the recovery state, Prevotellaceae (p = 0.006) and the genus Prevotella (p = 0.009) were significantly enriched, whereas Enterobacteriaceae (p = 0.019) and its derivative genus Shigella (p = 0.023) were significantly decreased compared to the acute state. Similarly, the levels of acetate were dramatically increased in the recovery state compared to the acute state (p < 0.010). The levels of propionate and butyrate tended to increase but without statistical significance.
Substantial alterations of bacterial composition with the promotion of SCFA formation (especially acetate) were found after treatment in patients with gouty arthritis.
Master transcription factors reprogram cell fate in multicellular eukaryotes. Pioneer transcription factors have prominent roles in this process because of their ability to contact their cognate ...binding motifs in closed chromatin. Reprogramming is pervasive in plants, whose development is plastic and tuned by the environment, yet little is known about pioneer transcription factors in this kingdom. Here, we show that the master transcription factor LEAFY (LFY), which promotes floral fate through upregulation of the floral commitment factor APETALA1 (AP1), is a pioneer transcription factor. In vitro, LFY binds to the endogenous AP1 target locus DNA assembled into a nucleosome. In vivo, LFY associates with nucleosome occupied binding sites at the majority of its target loci, including AP1. Upon binding, LFY 'unlocks' chromatin locally by displacing the H1 linker histone and by recruiting SWI/SNF chromatin remodelers, but broad changes in chromatin accessibility occur later. Our study provides a mechanistic framework for patterning of inflorescence architecture and uncovers striking similarities between LFY and animal pioneer transcription factor.
Abstract
We investigated the deposition rate effect on the optical, electrical, and morphological characteristics of thermally evaporated WO
3−x
/Ag/WO
3−x
(WAW) multilayer electrodes. By controlling ...the deposition rate of the WO
3−x
and Ag layers, we can control the interface structure between WO
3−x
and Ag and improve both the optical and electrical properties of the thermally evaporated WAW multilayer electrodes. At the optimized deposition rate of WO
3−x
(2.5 Å/sec) and Ag (10 Å/sec), the symmetric WAW multilayer exhibited a high optical transmittance of 92.16% at a 550 nm wavelength and low sheet resistance of 3.78 Ω/square. During repeated bending, rolling, and twisting, there was no resistance change indicating the superior flexibility of WAW multilayer electrodes. As a promising application of the WAW multilayer electrodes, we suggested the transparent and flexible thin film heaters (TFHs) to substitute the high cost indium tin oxide-based TFHs. In comparison to the ITO-based TFHs, the WAW based TFHs showed higher convective heat transfer property and higher saturation temperatures are achieved at lower input voltages due to lower sheet resistance. This indicates that the WAW multilayer is suitable as the electrode for high performance transparent and flexible TFHs.
The Metaverse is a multi-user virtual world that combines physical reality with digital virtual reality. The three basic technologies for building the Metaverse are immersive technologies, artificial ...intelligence, and blockchain. Companies are subsequently making significant investments into creating an artificially intelligent Metaverse, with the consequence that cybersecurity has become more crucial. As cybercrime increases exponentially, it is evident that a comprehensive study of Metaverse security based on artificial intelligence is lacking. A growing number of distributed denial-of-service attacks and theft of user identification information makes it necessary to conduct comprehensive and inclusive research in this field in order to identify the Metaverse’s vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This article provides a summary of existing research on AI-based Metaverse cybersecurity and discusses relevant security challenges. Based on the results, the issue of user identification plays a very important role in the presented works, for which biometric methods are the most commonly used. While the use of biometric data is considered the safest method, due to their uniqueness, they are also susceptible to misuse. A cyber-situation management system based on artificial intelligence should be able to analyze data of any volume with the help of algorithms. To prepare researchers who will pursue this topic in the future, this article provides a comprehensive summary of research on cybersecurity in the Metaverse based on artificial intelligence.
Summary
Chromatin remodeling ATPases and their associated complexes can alter the accessibility of the genome in the context of chromatin by using energy derived from the hydrolysis of ATP to change ...the positioning, occupancy and composition of nucleosomes. In animals and plants, these remodelers have been implicated in diverse processes ranging from stem cell maintenance and differentiation to developmental phase transitions and stress responses. Detailed investigation of their roles in individual processes has suggested a higher level of selectivity of chromatin remodeling ATPase activity than previously anticipated, and diverse mechanisms have been uncovered that can contribute to the selectivity. This review summarizes recent advances in understanding the roles and activities of chromatin remodeling ATPases in plants.
Significance Statement
Chromatin remodelers can change the chromatin state and accessibility of the genomic DNA in response to cues. Recent data suggest how their dynamic activity is achieved.
Various wearable electronic devices have been developed for extensive outdoor activities. The key metrics for these wearable devices are high touch sensitivity and good mechanical and thermal ...stability of the flexible touchscreen panels (TSPs). Their dielectric constants (k) are important for high touch sensitivities. Thus, studies on flexible and transparent cover layers that have high k with outstanding mechanical and thermal reliabilities are essential. Herein, an unconventional approach for forming flexible and transparent cellulose nanofiber (CNF) films is reported. These films are used to embed ultralong metal nanofibers that serve as nanofillers to increase k significantly (above 9.2 with high transmittance of 90%). Also, by controlling the dimensions and aspect ratios of these fillers, the effects of their nanostructures and contents on the optical and dielectric properties of the films have been studied. The length of the nanofibers can be controlled using a stretching method to break the highly aligned, ultralong nanofibers. These nanofiber‐embedded, high‐k films are mechanically and thermally stable, and they have better Young's modulus and tensile strength with lower thermal expansion than commercial transparent plastics. The demonstration of highly sensitive TSPs using high‐k CNF film for smartphones suggests that this film has significant potential for next‐generation, portable electronic devices.
Transparent and flexible cellulose films with a high dielectric performance using ultralong metal nanofibers are key attributes for flexible touchscreen panels (TSPs). High‐dielectric‐constant (k) CNF films using ultralong silver nanofibers have outstanding optical transmittance (≈90%) with high‐k values (k = 9.2 at 120 kHz). A TSP that is protected with a high‐k CNF film shows high touch sensitivity.
A cost-effective, simple to use, and automated technique that can provide real-time feedback control for droplet generation is required to obtain droplets with high-throughput, stability, and ...uniformity. This study introduces a disposable droplet generation microfluidic device (dDrop-Chip) that can simultaneously control both droplet size and production rate in real time. The dDrop-Chip consists of a reusable sensing substrate and a disposable microchannel that can be assembled using vacuum pressure. It also integrates a droplet detector and a flow sensor on-chip, enabling real-time measurement and feedback control of droplet size and sample flow rate. The dDrop-Chip has the additional advantage of being disposable, which can prevent chemical and biological contamination, due to low manufacturing cost by the film-chip technique. We demonstrate benefits of the dDrop-Chip by controlling droplet size at a fixed sample flow rate and the production rate at a fixed droplet size using real-time feedback control. The experimental results show that the dDrop-Chip consistently generates monodisperse droplets with a length of 219.36 ± 0.08 μm (CV 0.036%) at a production rate of 32.38 ± 0.48 Hz using the feedback control, while without feedback control, there is a significant deviation in droplet length (224.18 ± 6.69 μm, CV 2.98%) and production rate (33.94 ± 1.72 Hz) despite the use of identical devices. Therefore, the dDrop-Chip is a reliable, cost-effective, and automated technique for generating droplets of controlled size and production rate in real time, making it suitable for various droplet-based applications.
The dDrop-Chip is a disposable microfluidic device that uses real-time feedback control to simultaneously control droplet size and production rate, providing high-throughput, stability, and uniformity.
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