Flexible biomimetic block copolymer composite for temperature and long-wave infrared sensing.

Biological compounds often provide clues to advance material designs. Replicating their molecular structure and functional motifs in artificial materials offers a blueprint for unprecedented functionalities. Here, we report a flexible biomimetic thermal sensing (BTS) polymer that is designed to emulate the ion transport dynamics of a plant cell wall component, pectin.

Nurse in patients' health status assessment: Data from a pilot study assessing agreement among nurse and gastroenterologist in computing IBD-clinical scores.

Introduction: Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) are chronic, systemic Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBDs) that need a multidisciplinary approach involving not only different medical specialists but also qualified nurses.

Aim: We evaluated the concordance between IBD-nurse and physician in computing Clinical Activity Scores in IBD-patients treated with biologics.

Methods: We enrolled all consecutive IBD-patients treated with biologics in two referral centers for IBD-care.

Biomimetic temperature-sensing layer for artificial skins.

Artificial membranes that are sensitive to temperature are needed in robotics to augment interactions with humans and the environment and in bioengineering to improve prosthetic limbs. Existing flexible sensors achieved sensitivities of <100 millikelvin and large responsivity, albeit within narrow (<5 kelvin) temperature ranges. Other flexible devices, working in wider temperature ranges, exhibit orders of magnitude poorer responses.