Seroprevalence of Infection in Patients with Hyperlipidemia: A Case-Control Study.

Background: is one of the soil-transmitted helminths (STH) in tropical and subtropical regions. The role of lipid profile has been investigated in the survival of larval stages of helminths, but there is limited information about the role of lipid profiles and strongyloidiasis. Hence, we aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of infection in patients with hyperlipidemia is compared with the nonhyperlipidemia.

Machine learning approaches to predict the need for intensive care unit admission among Iranian COVID-19 patients based on ICD-10: A cross-sectional study.

Background & Aim: Timely identification of the patients requiring intensive care unit admission (ICU) could be life-saving. We aimed to compare different machine learning algorithms to predict the requirements for ICU admission in COVID-19 patients.

Methods: We screened all patients with COVID-19 at six academic hospitals in Tehran comprising our study population.

Hybrid Zwitterionic Hydrogels with Encoded Differential Swelling and Programmed Deformation for Small-Scale Robotics.

Stimuli-responsive shape-morphing hydrogels with self-healing and tunable physiochemical properties are excellent candidates for functional building blocks of untethered small-scale soft robots. With mechanical properties similar to soft organs and tissues, such robots enable minimally invasive medical procedures, such as cargo/cell transportation. In this work, responsive hydrogels based on zwitterionic/acrylate chemistry with self-healing and stimuli-responsiveness are synthesized.

A Three-Year Investigation on Corpses Referred to Legal Medicine Organization from An Iranian General Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: A Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) is a legal and enforceable document issued by the attending physician. However, according to the instructions, in many cases such as sudden, unexplained, and extraordinary deaths, along with some uncommon causes, such as cases suspicious of murder, the deceased patient must be referred to the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization (ILMO). Moreover, the unnecessary referral of corpses to ILMO can increase the workload of the staff, finally confronting the family of the deceased with high emotional and financial costs.

Immune Cell-Based Microrobots for Remote Magnetic Actuation, Antitumor Activity, and Medical Imaging.

Translating medical microrobots into clinics requires tracking, localization, and performing assigned medical tasks at target locations, which can only happen when appropriate design, actuation mechanisms, and medical imaging systems are integrated into a single microrobot. Despite this, these parameters are not fully considered when designing macrophage-based microrobots. This study presents living macrophage-based microrobots that combine macrophages with magnetic Janus particles coated with FePt nanofilm for magnetic steering and medical imaging and bacterial lipopolysaccharides for stimulating macrophages in a tumor-killing state.

The role of extracellular vesicles in immune cell exhaustion and resistance to immunotherapy.

Introduction: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound nanoparticles for intercellular communication. Subtypes of EVs, namely exosomes and microvesicles transfer diverse, bioactive cargo to their target cells and eventually interfere with immune responses. Despite being a promising approach, cancer immunotherapy currently faces several challenges including immune resistance.

Acoustic Trapping and Manipulation of Hollow Microparticles under Fluid Flow Using a Single-Lens Focused Ultrasound Transducer.

Microparticle manipulation and trapping play pivotal roles in biotechnology. To achieve effective manipulation within fluidic flow conditions and confined spaces, it is necessary to consider the physical properties of microparticles and the types of trapping forces applied. While acoustic waves have shown potential for manipulating microparticles, the existing setups involve complex actuation mechanisms and unstable microbubbles.

Acoustic Streaming-Induced Multimodal Locomotion of Bubble-Based Microrobots.

Acoustically-driven bubbles at the micron scale can generate strong microstreaming flows in its surrounding fluidic medium. The tunable acoustic streaming strength of oscillating microbubbles and the diversity of the generated flow patterns enable the design of fast-moving microrobots with multimodal locomotion suitable for biomedical applications. The acoustic microrobots holding two coupled microbubbles inside a rigid body are presented; trapped bubbles inside the L-shaped structure with different orifices generate various streaming flows, thus allowing multiple degrees of freedom in locomotion.

Machine Learning Models for Predicting Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss Outcome: A Systematic Review.

Background: Machine Learning models have been applied in various healthcare fields, including Audiology, to predict disease outcomes. The prognosis of sudden sensorineural hearing loss is difficult to predict due to the variable course of the disease. Hence, researchers have attempted to utilize ML models to predict the outcome of patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Programmable nanocomposites of cellulose nanocrystals and zwitterionic hydrogels for soft robotics.

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels have garnered significant attention as a versatile class of soft actuators. Introducing anisotropic properties, and shape-change programmability to responsive hydrogels promises a host of opportunities in the development of soft robots. Herein we report the synthesis of pH-responsive hydrogel nanocomposites with predetermined microstructural anisotropy, shape-transformation, and self-healing.

Machine Learning-Based Shear Optimal Adhesive Microstructures with Experimental Validation.

Bioinspired fibrillar structures are promising for a wide range of disruptive adhesive applications. Especially micro/nanofibrillar structures on gecko toes can have strong and controllable adhesion and shear on a wide range of surfaces with residual-free, repeatable, self-cleaning, and other unique features. Synthetic dry fibrillar adhesives inspired by such biological fibrils are optimized in different aspects to increase their performance.

Predicting the COVID-19 mortality among Iranian patients using tree-based models: A cross-sectional study.

Background And aims: To explore the use of different machine learning models in prediction of COVID-19 mortality in hospitalized patients.

Materials And Methods: A total of 44,112 patients from six academic hospitals who were admitted for COVID-19 between March 2020 and August 2021 were included in this study. Variables were obtained from their electronic medical records.

Mixed fermentation and electrospray drying for the development of a novel stabilized wheat germ powder containing highly viable probiotic cultures.

Nondairy fermented probiotic powder was developed based on stabilized wheat germ through mixed fermentation ( and ) and electrospraying process. In the first step, the effect of mixed fermentation on lipase and lipoxygenase activity of wheat germ was investigated. The results showed a significant reduction in the activity of both enzymes (82.

Association between Food Insecurity and Vision Impairment among Older Adults: A Pooled Analysis of Data from Six Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Objectives: Food insecurity has gained attention as a potential risk factor for vision impairment. However, research on this topic is limited. This objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between food insecurity and visual impairment among adults aged 50 years or older using data from six low-and middle-income countries (LMIC).

Designing Covalent Organic Framework-Based Light-Driven Microswimmers toward Therapeutic Applications.

While micromachines with tailored functionalities enable therapeutic applications in biological environments, their controlled motion and targeted drug delivery in biological media require sophisticated designs for practical applications. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), a new generation of crystalline and nanoporous polymers, offer new perspectives for light-driven microswimmers in heterogeneous biological environments including intraocular fluids, thus setting the stage for biomedical applications such as retinal drug delivery. Two different types of COFs, uniformly spherical TABP-PDA-COF sub-micrometer particles and texturally nanoporous, micrometer-sized TpAzo-COF particles are described and compared as light-driven microrobots.

Endoplasmic Reticulum as a Therapeutic Target in Cancer: Is there a Role for Flavonoids?

Flavonoids are classified into subclasses of polyphenols, a multipurpose category of natural compounds which comprises secondary metabolites extracted from vascular plants and are plentiful in the human diet. Although the details of flavonoid mechanisms are still not realized correctly, they are generally regarded as antimicrobial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative; anti-mutagenic; anti-neoplastic; anti-aging; anti-diabetic, cardio-protective, etc. The anti-cancer properties of flavonoids are evident in functions such as prevention of proliferation, metastasis, invasion, inflammation and activation of cell death.

Prognostic and diagnostic values of non-coding RNAs as biomarkers for breast cancer: An umbrella review and pan-cancer analysis.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women. The incidence and morbidity of BC are expected to rise rapidly. The stage at which BC is diagnosed has a significant impact on clinical outcomes.

Reduced rotational flows enable the translation of surface-rolling microrobots in confined spaces.

Biological microorganisms overcome the Brownian motion at low Reynolds numbers by utilizing symmetry-breaking mechanisms. Inspired by them, various microrobot locomotion methods have been developed at the microscale by breaking the hydrodynamic symmetry. Although the boundary effects have been extensively studied for microswimmers and employed for surface-rolling microrobots, the behavior of microrobots in the proximity of multiple wall-based "confinement" is yet to be elucidated.

Improvement of stability and antioxidant activity of wheat germ by mixed fermentation versus single fermentation.

Wheat germ is a high-nutrient by-product from the milling industry with very limited optimal consumption due to its short shelf life. The severe activity of endogenous lipase and lipoxygenase is associated with the release of fatty acids which are responsible for the rancidity and shelf-life deficiency. Reducing these enzymes activity is essential for prolonging the wheat germ shelf-life.

Real-time 3D optoacoustic tracking of cell-sized magnetic microrobots circulating in the mouse brain vasculature.

Mobile microrobots hold remarkable potential to revolutionize health care by enabling unprecedented active medical interventions and theranostics, such as active cargo delivery and microsurgical manipulations in hard-to-reach body sites. High-resolution imaging and control of cell-sized microrobots in the in vivo vascular system remains an unsolved challenge toward their clinical use. To overcome this limitation, we propose noninvasive real-time detection and tracking of circulating microrobots using optoacoustic imaging.

Soft actuators for real-world applications.

Inspired by physically adaptive, agile, reconfigurable and multifunctional soft-bodied animals and human muscles, soft actuators have been developed for a variety of applications, including soft grippers, artificial muscles, wearables, haptic devices and medical devices. However, the complex performance of biological systems cannot yet be fully replicated in synthetic designs. In this Review, we discuss new materials and structural designs for the engineering of soft actuators with physical intelligence and advanced properties, such as adaptability, multimodal locomotion, self-healing and multi-responsiveness.

High shear rate propulsion of acoustic microrobots in complex biological fluids.

Untethered microrobots offer a great promise for localized targeted therapy in hard-to-access spaces in our body. Despite recent advancements, most microrobot propulsion capabilities have been limited to homogenous Newtonian fluids. However, the biological fluids present in our body are heterogeneous and have shear rate-dependent rheological properties, which limit the propulsion of microrobots using conventional designs and actuation methods.