Intrinsically stretchable bioelectronic devices based on soft and conducting organic materials have been regarded as the ideal interface for seamless and biocompatible integration with the human ...body. A remaining challenge is to combine high mechanical robustness with good electrical conduction, especially when patterned at small feature sizes. We develop a molecular engineering strategy based on a topological supramolecular network, which allows for the decoupling of competing effects from multiple molecular building blocks to meet complex requirements. We obtained simultaneously high conductivity and crack-onset strain in a physiological environment, with direct photopatternability down to the cellular scale. We further collected stable electromyography signals on soft and malleable octopus and performed localized neuromodulation down to single-nucleus precision for controlling organ-specific activities through the delicate brainstem.
The discovery and elucidation of genetic codes has profoundly changed not only biology but also many fields of science and engineering. The fundamental building blocks of life comprises of four ...simple deoxyribonucleotides and yet their combinations serve as the carrier of genetic information that encodes for proteins that can carry out many biological functions due to their unique functionalities. Inspired by nature, the functionalities of DNA molecules have been used as a capping ligand for controlling morphology of nanomaterials, and such a control is sequence dependent, which translates into distinct physical and chemical properties of resulting nanoparticles. Herein, an overview on the use of DNA as engineered codes for controlling the morphology of metal nanoparticles, such as gold, silver, and Pd‐Au bimetallic nanoparticles is provided. Fundamental insights into rules governing DNA controlled growth mechanisms are also summarized, based on understanding of the affinity of the DNA nucleobases to various metals, the effect of combination of nucleobases, functional modification of DNA, the secondary structures of DNA, and the properties of the seed employed. The resulting physical and chemical properties of these DNA encoded nanomaterials are also reviewed, while perspectives into the future directions of DNA‐mediated nanoparticle synthesis are provided.
This Review summarizes the use of sequence‐specific DNA molecules as engineered “codes” for controlling the morphology of metal nanoparticles. Insights into rules governing DNA‐controlled growth mechanisms and the properties of these DNA‐coded nanoparticles are described. Furthermore, a look into what the future holds for DNA‐mediated nanoparticle synthesis is discussed.
A deep-learning-based approach for recognizing integrated circuit (IC) packaging type is presented in this paper. The objective of this work is to design a deep-learning method that can recognize ...multiple types of packaging per detection, performing counting operations, and calculating the centre location of an IC with its tilting angle. The transfer learning from model You-Only-Look-Once (YOLO) v5 was chosen because it has been trained with the coco dataset and has a more reliable feature extraction system than the other models. In order to extract data from images, OpenCV was used, which allows the deep learning model to perform more efficient analysis of the input data. Apart from that, the principal component analysis (PCA) was used to estimate the angle of the IC in order to determine the rotation of each IC for the purpose of tilting adjustment. The developed model has an average confidence score of 85% and is capable of operating in a variety of conditions, as demonstrated by ANOVA analysis.
Purpose
– Nutrition labels bridge communication between food manufacturers and consumers and are instrumental in shaping food choices and dietary habits. Gaining insight into the factors associated ...with nutrition label use precedes evaluating the effectiveness of these labels. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the socio-demographic and lifestyle factors associated with nutrition label use among multi-ethnic Malaysian adults.
Design/methodology/approach
– Data from the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (n=39,506) on nutrition label use was analysed. Logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the factors associated with reading nutrition labels, adjusted for confounders.
Findings
– The findings show that females, young adults aged between 18 and 30 years, Malays, tertiary educated, singles, employed individuals, physically active adults and non-smokers were significantly associated with increased odds of nutrition label use.
Research limitations/implications
– Causality could not be established due to the cross-sectional study design. The scope of the data collected limited investigations to the socio-demographic and lifestyle factors associated with nutrition label use. Future research measuring consumers’ attention, motivation and comprehension of nutrition label use and subsequent food selection should be conducted.
Practical implications
– Health promotion efforts targeted towards promoting the use of nutrition label among males, older adults aged between 31 and 40 years, ethnic minorities, primary educated, widowed/divorced individuals, unemployed, physically inactive and smokers are recommended.
Originality/value
– This nationwide study provides valuable insights into the socio-demographic and lifestyle factors significantly associated with nutrition label use among Malaysian adults.
Highlights • DNAzymes are an emerging class of metal ions sensors with high selectivity. • Recent progress has been made in using DNAzymes for environmental detection of metal ions with high ...sensitivity. • Cellular imaging of metal ions in living cells using DNAzymes with high temporal control has also been reported.
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•Understand the fundamental principles of photon upconversion in lanthanide-doped nanocrystals.•Introduce the general strategies for the synthesis of lanthanide-doped upconverting ...nanocrystals.•Achieve tunable and enhanced upconversion emission through nanostructural engineering.•Summarize the emerging applications of lanthanide-doped nanocrystals from nanophotonics to bioscience.
Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles enable anti-Stokes emission via nonlinear processes, where low-energy excitation photons in the near-infrared window can be upconverted into high-energy emission ones in the visible or ultraviolet regions. The past decade has seen great success in the high-quality synthesis of upconversion nanoparticles with controlled structure, crystalline phase, size, and shape. The unique capacity of upconversion nanocrystals to undertake near-infrared excitation, amalgamated with their excellent luminescent characteristics, such as massive anti-Stokes spectral shift, sharp emission band, multicolor emission, and long luminescence lifetime, makes these nanomaterials prime candidates for a plethora of applications. Herein, we review the field of upconversion nanoparticles from the perspectives of fundamental luminescence mechanisms, new synthetic routes, and current practical approaches to tuning emission color and enhancing upconversion efficiency. In particular, we highlight the recent advances in utilizing upconversion nanocrystals for bioimaging, therapy, biosensing, neuroscience, super-resolution imaging, photoswitching, and lasing applications. We also discuss the key challenges and issues that are critical for the further implementation of upconversion nanoparticles in diverse settings.
We report a novel tunneling field effect transistor (TFET) fabricated with a high-k/metal gate stack and using nickel silicide to create a special field-enhancing geometry and a high dopant density ...by dopant segregation. It produces steep subthreshold swing (SS) of 46 mV/dec and high I ON /I OFF ratio (~10 8 ) and the experiment was successfully repeated after two months. Its superior operation is explained through simulation. For the first time convincing statistical evidence of sub-60mV/dec SS is presented. More than 30% of the devices show sub-60mV/dec SS after systemic data quality checks that screen out unreliable data.
Spatial and temporal distributions of metal ions in vitro and in vivo are crucial in our understanding of the roles of metal ions in biological systems, and yet there is a very limited number of ...methods to probe metal ions with high space and time resolution, especially in vivo. To overcome this limitation, we report a Zn2+-specific near-infrared (NIR) DNAzyme nanoprobe for real-time metal ion tracking with spatiotemporal control in early embryos and larvae of zebrafish. By conjugating photocaged DNAzymes onto lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), we have achieved upconversion of a deep tissue penetrating NIR 980 nm light into 365 nm emission. The UV photon then efficiently photodecages a substrate strand containing a nitrobenzyl group at the 2′-OH of adenosine ribonucleotide, allowing enzymatic cleavage by a complementary DNA strand containing a Zn2+-selective DNAzyme. The product containing a visible FAM fluorophore that is initially quenched by BHQ1 and Dabcyl quenchers is released after cleavage, resulting in higher fluorescent signals. The DNAzyme–UCNP probe enables Zn2+ sensing by exciting in the NIR biological imaging window in both living cells and zebrafish embryos and detecting in the visible region. In this study, we introduce a platform that can be used to understand the Zn2+ distribution with spatiotemporal control, thereby giving insights into the dynamical Zn2+ ion distribution in intracellular and in vivo models.
Exercise confers protection against obesity, type 2 diabetes and other cardiometabolic diseases
. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that mediate the metabolic benefits of physical ...activity remain unclear
. Here we show that exercise stimulates the production of N-lactoyl-phenylalanine (Lac-Phe), a blood-borne signalling metabolite that suppresses feeding and obesity. The biosynthesis of Lac-Phe from lactate and phenylalanine occurs in CNDP2
cells, including macrophages, monocytes and other immune and epithelial cells localized to diverse organs. In diet-induced obese mice, pharmacological-mediated increases in Lac-Phe reduces food intake without affecting movement or energy expenditure. Chronic administration of Lac-Phe decreases adiposity and body weight and improves glucose homeostasis. Conversely, genetic ablation of Lac-Phe biosynthesis in mice increases food intake and obesity following exercise training. Last, large activity-inducible increases in circulating Lac-Phe are also observed in humans and racehorses, establishing this metabolite as a molecular effector associated with physical activity across multiple activity modalities and mammalian species. These data define a conserved exercise-inducible metabolite that controls food intake and influences systemic energy balance.
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