Deep autoencoder as an interpretable tool for Raman spectroscopy investigation of chemical and extracellular vesicle mixtures.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a powerful tool that provides valuable insight into the molecular contents of chemical and biological samples. However, interpreting Raman spectra from complex or dynamic datasets remains challenging, particularly for highly heterogeneous biological samples like extracellular vesicles (EVs). To overcome this, we developed a tunable and interpretable deep autoencoder for the analysis of several challenging Raman spectroscopy applications, including synthetic datasets, chemical mixtures, a chemical milling reaction, and mixtures of EVs.

A Review of In Vitro and In Silico Swallowing Simulators: Design and Applications.

Swallowing is a primary and complex behaviour that transports food and drink from the oral cavity, through the pharynx and oesophagus, into the stomach at an appropriate rate and speed. To understand this sophisticated behaviour, a tremendous amount of research has been carried out by utilising the in vivo approach, which is often challenging to perform, poses a risk to the subjects if interventions are undertaken and are seldom able to control for confounding factors. In contrast, in silico (computational) and in vitro (instrumental) methods offer an alternate insight into the process of the human swallowing system.

Biomimetic Closed-Loop Control of a Novel Soft Gastric Simulator Toward Emulating Antral Contraction Waves.

Soft gastric simulators are biomimetic modules that can reproduce the antral contraction waves (ACWs). Along with providing information concerning stomach contents, stomach simulators enable experts to evaluate the digestion process of foods and drugs. Traditionally, open-loop control approaches were implemented on stomach simulators to produce ACWs.

A Chewing Study of Abuse-Deterrent Tablets Containing Polyethylene Oxide Using a Robotic Simulator.

Abuse-deterrent formulations (ADFs) refer to formulation technologies aiming to deter the abuse of prescription drugs by making the dosage forms difficult to manipulate or extract the opioids. Assessments are required to evaluate the performance of the drugs through different routes including injection, ingestion, and insufflation and also when the drugs are manipulated. Chewing is the easiest and most convenient way to manipulate the drugs and deserves investigation.

Chemical and microbiological characterization of two traditional Mongolian high-fat dairy products produced in Xilin Gol, China.

Mongolian butter and Tude are traditional high-fat dairy products produced in Xilin Gol, China, which have unique chemical and microbiological characteristics. Mongolian Tude is made from Mongolian butter, dreg, and flour. In this study, the traditional manufacturing process of Mongolian butter and Tude was investigated for the first time.

Conversion of Surface Residual Alkali to Solid Electrolyte to Enable Na-Ion Full Cells with Robust Interfaces.

The deposition of volatilized Na on the surface of the cathode during sintering results in the formation of surface residual alkali (NaOH/Na CO NaHCO ) in layered cathode materials, leading to serious interfacial reactions and performance degradation. This phenomenon is particularly evident in O3-NaNi Cu Mn Ti O (NCMT). In this study, a strategy is proposed to transform waste into treasure by converting residual alkali into a solid electrolyte.

Manifold Learning Enables Interpretable Analysis of Raman Spectra from Extracellular Vesicle and Other Mixtures.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as promising diagnostic and therapeutic candidates in many biomedical applications. However, EV research continues to rely heavily on in vitro cell cultures for EV production, where the exogenous EVs present in fetal bovine (FBS) or other required serum supplementation can be difficult to remove entirely. Despite this and other potential applications involving EV mixtures, there are currently no rapid, robust, inexpensive, and label-free methods for determining the relative concentrations of different EV subpopulations within a sample.

Determination of the microbial community of traditional Mongolian cheese by using culture-dependent and independent methods.

Mongolian cheese is not only a requisite source of food for the nomadic Mongolian but also follows a unique Mongolian dairy artisanal method of production, possessing high nutritional value and long shelf-life. In this study, the ancient technique for the production of Mongolian cheese was investigated. The nutritional value of Mongolian cheese was characterized by its high-protein content (30.

SoRSS: A Soft Robot for Bio-Mimicking Stomach Anatomy and Motility.

A human stomach is an organ in the digestive system that breaks down foods by physiological digestion, including mechanical and chemical functions. The mechanical function is controlled by peristaltic waves generated over the stomach body, known as antral contraction waves (ACW). The stomach's physiological digestion is essential to sustain nutrition and health in humans.

Identifying genotypes in the muscle from sheep breeds indigenous to Xilingol, and establishment of a Man real-time PCR technique to distinguish alleles.

The muscle from Xilingol indigenous sheep breeds are famous in China, and the genotype in this population remains uncharacterized. In this study, SNPs in the locus were investigated by pyrosequencing, and an optimized PCR-RFLP technique was generated to identify SNPs. In addition, an efficient technique for high-throughput identification of SNPs in was optimized using Man real-time PCR and breed-conservative primers and SNP-specific probes.

Finite-Time Contraction Control of a Ring-Shaped Soft Pneumatic Actuator Mimicking Gastric Pathologic Motility Conditions.

Soft gastric simulators are the latest gastric models designed to imitate gastrointestinal (GI) functions in actual physiological conditions. They are used in tests for examining the drug and food behaviors in the GI tract. As the main motility function of the GI tract, the peristalsis can be altered in some gastric disorders, for example, by being delayed or accelerated.

Classification of Preeclamptic Placental Extracellular Vesicles Using Femtosecond Laser Fabricated Nanoplasmonic Sensors.

Placental extracellular vesicles (EVs) play an essential role in pregnancy by protecting and transporting diverse biomolecules that aid in fetomaternal communication. However, in preeclampsia, they have also been implicated in contributing to disease progression. Despite their potential clinical value, current technologies cannot provide a rapid and effective means of differentiating between healthy and diseased placental EVs.

A Biologically Inspired Ring-Shaped Soft Pneumatic Actuator for Large Deformations.

Biomimicry of the stomach's peristaltic contractions can be challenging in the design, modeling, and control of a soft actuator. The mimicking of organ contractions advances our knowledge of the digestive system and analyzes the biological behavior by testing with a physical robot. This article proposes a ring-shaped soft pneumatic actuator (RiSPA) as a segment of the digestive tract.

A glutamic acid-based traceless linker to address challenging chemical protein syntheses.

Native chemical ligation (NCL) enables the total chemical synthesis of proteins. However, poor peptide segment solubility remains a frequently encountered challenge. Here we introduce a traceless linker that can be temporarily attached to Glu side chains to overcome this problem.

Space curvature-inspired nanoplasmonic sensor for breast cancer extracellular vesicle fingerprinting and machine learning classification.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are micro and nanoscale lipid-enclosed packages that have shown potential as liquid biopsy targets for cancer because their structure and contents reflect their cell of origin. However, progress towards the clinical applications of EVs has been hindered due to the low abundance of disease-specific EVs compared to EVs from healthy cells; such applications thus require highly sensitive and adaptable characterization tools. To address this obstacle, we designed and fabricated a novel space curvature-inspired surfaced-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate and tested its capabilities using bioreactor-produced and size exclusion chromatography-purified breast cancer EVs of three different subtypes.

Improved triplex real-time PCR with endogenous control for synchronous identification of DNA from chicken, duck, and goose meat.

The authentication and labeling of meat products, concerning origins and species, are key to fair trade and to protect consumer interests in the market. We developed an improved triplex real-time PCR approach to simultaneously identify chicken, duck, and goose DNA in meat, including an endogenous control to avoid false negatives. Our method specifically detected DNA from chicken, duck, and goose, and showed no cross-reaction with DNA extracted from other meat types.

A snapshot study of the microbial community dynamics in naturally fermented cow's milk.

Natural fermentation of milk is a prerequisite in the production of traditional dairy products and is considered a bioresource of fermentative microorganisms and probiotics. To understand the microbial dynamics during distinct fermentative phases, the roles of different microbes, and the relationship between bacteria and fungi, microbial community dynamics was investigated by culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches. Natural, static fermentation of milk induces the formation of the underlying curds and the superficial sour cream (Zuohe in the Mongolian language).

Comparative study of physicochemical composition and microbial community of Khoormog, Chigee, and Airag, traditionally fermented dairy products from Xilin Gol in China.

Due to their outstanding nutritional and functional properties, the traditionally fermented dairy products (TFDP) from camel, mare, and cow gained universal praise during their long history of production. In this study, the physicochemical composition and microbial communities of Khoormog, Chigee, and Airag, the TFDP from Xilin Gol in China, were investigated and compared. The physicochemical analysis revealed a higher content of total solid content, protein, and fat in Khoormog (12.

Simultaneous detection of ovine and caprine DNA in meat and dairy products using triplex Man real-time PCR.

In this study, we report a new approach for the detection of ovine and caprine DNA in meat and dairy products using real-time PCR protocol. Our new approach is based on the use of endogenous control and species-specific Man fluorescence probes. With this methodology, we specifically detected ovine and caprine DNA in meat and dairy products, with limits of detection of 0.

Decoding multiclass motor imagery EEG from the same upper limb by combining Riemannian geometry features and partial least squares regression.

Objective: Due to low spatial resolution and poor signal-to-noise ratio of electroencephalogram (EEG), high accuracy classifications still suffer from lots of obstacles in the context of motor imagery (MI)-based brain-machine interface (BMI) systems. Particularly, it is extremely challenging to decode multiclass MI EEG from the same upper limb. This research proposes a novel feature learning approach to address the classification problem of 6-class MI tasks, including imaginary elbow flexion/extension, wrist supination/pronation, and hand close/open within the unilateral upper limb.

RoSE: A Robotic Soft Esophagus for Endoprosthetic Stent Testing.

Soft robotic systems are well suited for developing devices for biomedical applications. A bio-mimicking robotic soft esophagus (RoSE) is developed as an testing device of endoprosthetic stents for dysphagia management. Endoprosthetic stent placement is an immediate and cost-effective therapy for dysphagia caused by malignant esophageal strictures from esophageal cancer.

SoGut: A Soft Robotic Gastric Simulator.

The human stomach breaks down and transports food by coordinated radial contractions of the gastric walls. The radial contractions periodically propagate through the stomach and constitute the peristaltic contractions, also called the gastric motility. The force, amplitude, and frequency of peristaltic contractions are relevant to massaging and transporting the food contents in the gastric lumen.