Brain-Computer Interfaces Using Flexible Electronics: An a-IGZO Front-End for Active ECoG Electrodes.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are evolving toward higher electrode count and fully implantable solutions, which require extremely low power densities (<15mW cm). To achieve this target, and allow for a large and scalable number of channels, flexible electronics can be used as a multiplexing interface. This work introduces an active analog front-end fabricated with amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinx-Oxide (a-IGZO) Thin-Film Transistors (TFTs) on foil capable of active matrix multiplexing.

The challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR): current status and future prospects.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a critical global threat, compromising the effectiveness of antibacterial drugs as bacteria adapt and survive exposure to many classes of these drugs. This phenomenon is primarily fueled by the widespread overuse and misuse of antibacterial drugs, exerting selective pressure on bacteria and promoting the emergence of multi-resistant strains. AMR poses a top-priority challenge to public health due to its widespread epidemiological and economic implications, exacerbated not only by the diminishing effectiveness of currently available antimicrobial agents but also by the limited development of genuinely effective new molecules.

Hardware implementation of backpropagation using progressive gradient descent for in situ training of multilayer neural networks.

Neural network training can be slow and energy-expensive due to the frequent transfer of weight data between digital memory and processing units. Neuromorphic systems can accelerate neural networks by performing multiply-accumulate operations in parallel using nonvolatile analog memory. However, executing the widely used backpropagation training algorithm in multilayer neural networks requires information-and therefore storage-of the partial derivatives of the weight values preventing suitable and scalable implementation in hardware.

Measurement of the superfluid fraction of a supersolid by Josephson effect.

A new class of superfluids and superconductors with spatially periodic modulation of the superfluid density is arising. It might be related to the supersolid phase of matter, in which the spontaneous breaking of gauge and translational symmetries leads to a spatially modulated macroscopic wavefunction. This relation was recognized only in some cases and there is the need for a universal property quantifying the differences between supersolids and ordinary matter, such as the superfluid fraction, which measures the reduction in superfluid stiffness resulting from the spatial modulation.

Considering hormones as sex- and gender-related factors in biomedical research: Challenging false dichotomies and embracing complexity.

The inclusion of sex and gender considerations in biomedicine has been increasing in light of calls from research and funding agencies, governmental bodies, and advocacy groups to direct research attention to these issues. Although the inclusion of both female and male participants is often an important element, overreliance on a female-male binary tends to oversimplify the interactions between sex- and gender-related factors and health, and runs a risk of being influenced by cultural stereotypes about sex and gender. When biomedical researchers are examining how hormones associated with gender and sex may influence pathways of interest, it is of crucial importance to approach this work with a critical lens on the rhetoric used, and in ways that acknowledge the complexity of hormone physiology.