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1 Micro artificial muscles help to realize a variety of high-performance micro robots
Recently, the research team of Associate Professor Wang Hongqiang of the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering of Southern University of Science and Technology proposed a new design and processing method of micro artificial muscles, which realizes micro artificial muscles with high flexibility, high controllability and high cross-scale performance. Based on this miniature artificial muscle, a variety of high-performance micro-robots can be realized. In the study, Wang Hongqiang et al. used this miniature artificial muscle to design a micro-crawling robot imitating earthworms and a micro-medical robot imitating intestinal peristalsis, and conducted experiments.
The earthworm-like miniature crawling robot is made by attaching steel needles to micro-artificial muscles that mimic the body hair of earthworms, enabling precise movement without the need for sensing. After the miniature camera is installed, it can enter the narrow pipe for inspection work. And it is very "dedicated", even after being trampled on, it can naturally recover and continue to work (the secret of its dedication is actually its flexibility is very good). The micro-medical robot of imitation intestinal peristalsis is a micro-starter based on a micro-artificial muscle attached to a medical device to mimic the peristalsis of smooth muscle on the intestinal wall of an animal. It can assist with surgical treatment, for example, attaching it to an endoscope, driving a knife or needle for precise cutting and biopsy sampling.
Overall, the research results - micro artificial muscles have very good application prospects, and may be used for non-invasive surgery, internal detection of industrial equipment, post-disaster search and rescue, etc. in the future. The relevant research results were published in the international journal of Robotics Research, an authoritative journal in the field of robotics.
Thesis Link:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02783649211002545
2 Researchers discover new species of rare parasitic wasps
Researchers from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University and South China Agricultural University have discovered new species of rare parasitic wasps (parasitic wasps) - giant spot parasitic wasps and pseudo-black belt parasitic crayfish.
Giant spot to send a small wasp
Pseudo-black-banded chelated wasps
The parasitic wasp is a very rare type of parasitic wasp, and only more than 50 species are known in the world, and less than 10 species are known in China. Previous studies have shown that the hermit wasps prefer high-altitude woodlands in warm areas and low-altitude woodlands in colder areas, but the new species of giant-spotted hermit wasps found in this study are produced in the South China Botanical Garden and Yunkaishan, both of which belong to warm low-altitude areas. This suggests that the range of habitats that the host wasps can adapt to is much larger than originally thought.
The parasitic wasp is a type of repararasitic wasp (double parasitism), that is, "the body of the crawfish that parasitizes on the leafhopper", does it look a bit circumstantial? In fact, the cet bees parasitize on the body of the leafhopper, and the parasitized wasps parasitize the body of the cet. That is to say, the cet wasp is the natural enemy of the leafhopper, an important pest of agriculture and forestry, and the paramitted wasp is the natural enemy of the cet bee. Crawfish have been used in the biological control of leafhoppers, and the parasitic wasps as heavy parasitic bees of crayfish will reduce the effect of crayfish in controlling leafhoppers.
In a sense, the parasitic wasp can also be considered a pest, which is of great significance for the study of its species diversity. For example, as a natural enemy of the cet, the presence of the hermit wasp means that the cetfish species and populations are large and have a role in naturally controlling pests.
https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/44/4/883?etoc
3 Studies provide new targets for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia
Thyroid hormones have a strong cholesterol-lowering effect, and revealing their mechanisms of action that regulate cholesterol metabolism can help find new strategies for treating hypercholesterolemia. The research group of Ying Hao, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed the role and mechanism of liver miR-378 regulated by thyroid hormones in regulating serum total cholesterol levels, providing a new target for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia.
The researchers screened the microRNAs regulated by thyroid hormones in mouse livers and found that miR-378 was positively regulated by thyroid hormones. miR-378 can reduce serum total cholesterol levels by increasing the conversion and excretion of liver cholesterol to bile acids, speeding up the clearance of cholesterol in the body.
The findings showed that overexpressing miR-378 in mouse livers and only needing to upregulate miR-378 levels twice (within the normal physiological fluctuation range) was able to significantly reduce serum total cholesterol levels and combat diet-induced hypercholesterolemia. The research was published at Theranostics.
https://www.thno.org/v11p4363.htm
4 Put on a special coat of probiotics to maintain the homeostasis of the intestinal flora
By giving probiotics a penetrating coat, a functional coat rich in β dextran, the liu's research group at Shanghai Jiao Tong University enhanced the resistance of the intestinal microbiota to environmental interference factors, thereby maintaining the homeostasis of the intestinal flora. The results were published at Science Advances.
The human gut microbiome is composed of 100 trillion microorganisms, which play an important role in host immune regulation, nutrient metabolism, resistance to pathogens and maintenance of the structural integrity of the intestinal barrier, etc. Maintaining intestinal microflora homeostasis is of great significance for disease prevention and control.
Studies have shown that fecal transplantation and oral probiotic preparations can promote the remodeling of flora homeostasis, but fecal transplantation has problems such as low safety factor and low patient compliance due to invasive manipulation characteristics and unclear flora composition. Although oral probiotic preparations are easy to operate and have a high safety factor, their bioavailability is low and their disease prevention and control effect is limited.
Liu Guanyao's research team put on a functional coat rich in β dextrans for probiotics, β dextran can be recognized by the receptors of M cells and thus promote the uptake of M cells, which can induce the mucosal immune response, protect probiotics from gastrointestinal environmental stimulation, improve oral utilization, and prevent the occurrence of diseases related to intestinal flora disorders.
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/20/eabf0677.full
5 Multifunctional hydrogels have been found to assist in the treatment of dynamic burn wounds
Burns are one of the most damaging skin traumas, and when severe, can even kill the injured person. Dynamic burn wounds in the groin and joints have special requirements for hydrogel dressings due to their high-frequency movement characteristics, but the excipients on the market cannot meet this special requirement for the time being.
Through molecular and chemical structure design, Professor Fan Daidi's research group of Northwest University proposed for the first time a physico-chemical double-crosslinked multifunctional hydrogel with shape adaptability, injectable self-healing properties and strong adhesion for dynamic burn wounds. The hydrogel has good biocompatibility, biodegradability, antibacterial properties and hemostasis properties, and can significantly promote burn wound healing by reducing the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and promoting angiogenesis and collagen deposition, which can shorten the healing time to 13 days.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0142961221001940?via%3Dihub
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