An agile multimodal microrobot with architected passively morphing wheels.

Multimodal microrobots are of growing interest due to their capabilities to navigate diverse terrains, with promising applications in inspection, exploration, and biomedicine. Despite remarkable progress, it remains challenging to combine the attributes of excellent maneuverability, low power consumption, and high robustness in a single multimodal microrobot. We propose an architected design of a passively morphing wheel that can be stabilized at distinct geometric configurations, relying on asymmetric bending stiffness of bioinspired tentacle structures.

Establishment of an immortalized sheep mammary epithelial cell line for studying milk fat and protein synthesis.

The mammary gland, crucial for milk production in mammals, presents challenges for in vitro study due to its complex structure and limited cell lifespan. We addressed this by introducing the SV40 large T antigen into primary mammary epithelial cells (MECs) from sheep, creating an immortalized T-tag MEC line. This line, stable for over 50 passages, maintained typical epithelial cell morphology during long-term culture.

Arginine Biosynthesis Mediates Wulingzhi Extract Resistance to Busulfan-Induced Male Reproductive Toxicity.

Busulfan, an indispensable medicine in cancer treatment, can cause serious reproductive system damage to males as a side effect of its otherwise excellent therapeutic results. Its widespread use has also caused its accumulation in the environment and subsequent ecotoxicology effects. As a Chinese medicine, Wulingzhi (WLZ) has the effects of promoting blood circulation and improving female reproductive function.

Paternal obesity induces subfertility in male offspring by modulating the oxidative stress-related transcriptional network.

Background/objective: The effects of fathers' high-fat diet (HFD) on the reproductive health of their male offspring (HFD- F1) remain to be elucidated. Parental obesity is known to have a negative effect on offspring fertility, but there are few relevant studies on the effects of HFD-F1 on reproductive function.

Methods: We first succeeded in establishing the HFD model, which provides a scientific basis in the analysis of HFD-F1 reproductive health.

Exploring novel function of Gpx5 antioxidant activity: Assisting epididymal cells secrete functional extracellular vesicles.

Glutathione peroxisomal-5 (Gpx5) promotes the elimination of HO or organic hydrogen peroxide, and plays an important role in the physiological process of resistance to oxidative stress (OS). To directly and better understand the protection of Gpx5 against OS in epididymal cells and sperm, we studied its mechanism of antioxidant protection from multiple aspects. To more directly investigate the role of Gpx5 in combating oxidative damage, we started with epididymal tissue morphology and Gpx5 expression profiles in combination with the mouse epididymal epithelial cell line PC1 (proximal caput 1) expressing recombinant Gpx5.

Maslinic acid supplementation prevents di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate-induced apoptosis via PRDX6 in peritubular myoid cells of Chinese forest musk deer.

Chinese forest musk deer (FMD), an endangered species, have exhibited low reproductive rates even in captivity due to stress conditions. Investigation revealed the presence of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), an environmental endocrine disruptor, in the serum and skin of captive FMDs. Feeding FMDs with maslinic acid (MA) has been observed to alleviate the stress response and improve reproductive rates, although the precise molecular mechanisms remain unclear.

Exosomes from porcine serum as endogenous additive maintain function of boar sperm during liquid preservation at 17 °C in vitro.

The supplementation of sperm culture media with serum is quite common, and improves both sperm survival and motility. However, the link between serum and sperm remains poorly understood. The present study is the first investigation of the effects on sperm quality and function of endogenous porcine serum exosomes in medium used for culturing boar sperm.

Inversely engineered biomimetic flexible network scaffolds for soft tissue regeneration.

Graft-host mechanical mismatch has been a longstanding issue in clinical applications of synthetic scaffolds for soft tissue regeneration. Although numerous efforts have been devoted to resolve this grand challenge, the regenerative performance of existing synthetic scaffolds remains limited by slow tissue growth (comparing to autograft) and mechanical failures. We demonstrate a class of rationally designed flexible network scaffolds that can precisely replicate nonlinear mechanical responses of soft tissues and enhance tissue regeneration via reduced graft-host mechanical mismatch.

Genetic and histological relationship between pheromone-secreting tissues of the musk gland and skin of juvenile Chinese forest musk deer ( Flerov, 1929).

: The musk glands of adult male Chinese forest musk deer ( Flerov, 1929) (FMD), which are considered as special skin glands, secrete a mixture of sebum, lipids, and proteins into the musk pod. Together, these components form musk, which plays an important role in attracting females during the breeding season. However, the relationship between the musk glands and skin of Chinese FMD remains undiscovered.

Well-defined surface catalytic sites for solar CO reduction: heterogenized molecular catalysts and single atom catalysts.

Exciting progress has been made in the area of solar fuel generation by CO reduction. New photocatalytic materials containing well-defined surface catalytic sites have emerged in recent years, including heterogenized molecular catalysts and single atom catalysts. This Feature Article summarizes our recent research in this area, together with brief discussions of relevant literature.

Programming 3D curved mesosurfaces using microlattice designs.

Cellular microstructures form naturally in many living organisms (e.g., flowers and leaves) to provide vital functions in synthesis, transport of nutrients, and regulation of growth.

A soft microrobot with highly deformable 3D actuators for climbing and transitioning complex surfaces.

The climbing microrobots have attracted growing attention due to their promising applications in exploration and monitoring of complex, unstructured environments. Soft climbing microrobots based on muscle-like actuators could offer excellent flexibility, adaptability, and mechanical robustness. Despite the remarkable progress in this area, the development of soft microrobots capable of climbing on flat/curved surfaces and transitioning between two different surfaces remains elusive, especially in open spaces.

Comparative transcriptome provides insights into differentially expressed genes between testis and ovary of Onychostoma macrolepis in reproduction period.

The Onychostoma macrolepis (O. macrolepis) is a rare and endangered fishery species inhabiting the river of Qinling Mountains and some flowing freshwaters in China. The declining population of O.

An Anti-Fatigue Design Strategy for 3D Ribbon-Shaped Flexible Electronics.

Three-dimensional (3D) flexible electronics represent an emerging area of intensive attention in recent years, owing to their broad-ranging applications in wearable electronics, flexible robots, tissue/cell scaffolds, among others. The widely adopted 3D conductive mesostructures in the functional device systems would inevitably undergo repetitive out-of-plane compressions during practical operations, and thus, anti-fatigue design strategies are of great significance to improve the reliability of 3D flexible electronics. Previous studies mainly focused on the fatigue failure behavior of planar ribbon-shaped geometries, while anti-fatigue design strategies and predictive failure criteria addressing 3D ribbon-shaped mesostructures are still lacking.

Single-site binding of pyrene to poly(ester-imide)s incorporating long spacer-units: prediction of NMR resonance-patterns from a fractal model.

Co-polycondensation of the diimide-based diols ,'-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)hexafluoroisopropylidene-diphthalimide, (HFDI), and ,'-bis(2-hydroxy-ethyl)naphthalene-1,4,5,8-tetracarboxylic-diimide, (NDI), with aliphatic diacyl chlorides ClOC(CH) COCl ( = 5 to 8) affords linear copoly(ester-imide)s. Such copolymers interact with pyrene supramolecular binding of the polycyclic aromatic at NDI residues. This interaction results in upfield complexation shifts and sequence-related splittings of the NDI H NMR resonances, but gives a very different final resonance-pattern from the copolymer where = 2.

Palmitoylated GLB1L4 transfers via exosomes to maintain sperm function in rat epididymis.

Epididymal specific proteins play a crucial role in sperm maturation. Some of the post-translational modified proteins are transported from the caput to the cauda of the epididymis through exosomes which regulate the function of sperm in cauda epididymis. Rat beta-galactosidase-1-like protein 4 (GLB1L4) expressed specifically in the caput epididymis, localizes on the sperm; however, the regulatory ways in which GLB1L4 protein interacts with sperm to maintain sperm function are unclear.

Bioinspired design and assembly of a multilayer cage-shaped sensor capable of multistage load bearing and collapse prevention.

Flexible bioinspired mesostructures and electronic devices have recently attracted intense attention because of their widespread application in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), reconfigurable electronics, health-monitoring systems, etc. Among various geometric constructions, 3D flexible bioinspired architectures are of particular interest, since they can provide new functions and capabilities, compared to their 2D counterparts. However, 3D electronic device systems usually undergo complicated mechanical loading in practical operation, resulting in complex deformation modes and elusive failure mechanisms.

Voltammetric immunoassay of human IgG based on the release of cadmium(II) from CdS nanocrystals deposited on mesoporous silica nanospheres.

The authors describe a nanocomposite that was obtained by in-situ deposition of CdS nanocrystals on mesoporous silica nanospheres (MSNs), and its use in an electrochemical immunoassay of human immunoglobulin G (HIgG). The MCN/CdS nanocomposite was covalently modified with the antibodies against HIgG and then employed in a voltammetric immunoassay at antibody-functionalized magnetic beads. Through sandwich immunoreaction, the MCN/CdS nanoprobes are quantitatively captured onto the magnetic beads where numerous Cd(II) ions are released in an acidic solution.