Bottom-Up Fabrication of Paper-Based Microchips by Blade Coating of Cellulose Microfibers on a Patterned Surface

We report a method for the bottom-up fabrication of paper-based capillary microchips by the blade coating of cellulose microfibers on a patterned surface. The fabrication process is similar to the paper-making process in which an aqueous suspension of cellulose microfibers is used as the starting material and is blade-coated onto a polypropylene substrate patterned using an inkjet printer. After water evaporation, the cellulose microfibers form a porous, hydrophilic, paperlike pattern that wicks aqueous solution by capillary action. This method enables simple, fast, inexpensive fabrication of paper-based capillary channels with both width and height down to about 10 μm. When this method is used, the capillary microfluidic chip for the colorimetric detection of glucose and total protein is fabricated, and the assay requires only 0.30 μL of sample, which is 240 times smaller than for paper devices fabricated using photolithography

Shark Tooth-Inspired Microneedle Dressing for Intelligent Wound Management

Intelligent management beyond therapeutic drug treating holds significant prospects in facilitating the recovery of intractable chronic wounds. Here, inspired by the flat and inclined structure of shark teeth, we present a shark tooth-inspired microneedle patch for intelligent wound management. By simply replicating negative molds fabricated by laser engraving and using origami, such a biomimetic microneedle patch can be fabricated easily and rapidly. The biomimetic structures endow the microneedle patch with stable adhesion during the long-term recovery process of chronic wounds. Porous ordered structures and a temperature-responsive hydrogel are utilized to construct a controllable drug release system on the microneedle patch. The microfluidic channel composed of microneedle arrays and porous ordered structures enables a microneedle patch with the capacity to analyze several inflammatory factors. In addition, MXene electronics was patterned on the microneedle patch in order to achieve sensitive motion monitoring. Also, it was demonstrated from in vivo diabetic rat experiments that recovery of full-thickness cutaneous wounds including stripe-shaped and circular wounds can be facilitated by employing the drug-loaded biomimetic microneedle patch

Adopting Intrinsic Hydrophilic Thermoplastic Starch Composites to Fabricate Antifogging Sustainable Films with High Antibiosis and Transparency

Fogging on transparent surfaces such as goggles causes a series of hazards to users. To fabricate antifogging and low-haze transparent renewable polymer materials, intrinsic hydrophilicity with high water adsorption capability of thermoplastic starch (TPS) had been adopted. Strikingly, when benzoic acid (BA) was blended with thermoplastic starch (TPS-BA), the haze of TPS-BA was only 7.8% when it suffered the cold and warm method of antifogging measurement with 87% transmittance. Simultaneously, TPS-BA achieved an 18 mm inhibition zone for Staphylococcus aureus. To reveal the antifogging mechanism of TPS-BA films, the surficial and interior structure features were evaluated by three-dimensional optical scanner, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle testing, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-dependent Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and so on. The incorporation of BA resulted in the roughness (Rq), water contact angle (WCA), and crystallinity of the TPS-BA film decreasing from 6.5 to 0.68 μm, 65.1 to 39.9°, and 13.6 to 6.3%, respectively. The amorphous matrix and smooth surface reduced the scattered light, allowing the TPS-BA film to achieve low haze performance and high transmittance. Importantly, the diversified and weakened hydrogen bonds formed among starch, BA, and glycerol could inhibit the formation of starch crystalline regions and allowed hydroxyl groups to quickly bond with water. Thus, when TPS-BA is placed in a high-humidity surrounding, an “expressway” is constructed for water molecules diffusing into the TPS-BA matrix. This novel low-haze, antifogging, sustainable, and facilely fabricated TPS with antibacterial properties is a promising candidate in disposable medical goggles to fight against COVID-19

Shark Tooth-Inspired Microneedle Dressing for Intelligent Wound Management

Intelligent management beyond therapeutic drug treating holds significant prospects in facilitating the recovery of intractable chronic wounds. Here, inspired by the flat and inclined structure of shark teeth, we present a shark tooth-inspired microneedle patch for intelligent wound management. By simply replicating negative molds fabricated by laser engraving and using origami, such a biomimetic microneedle patch can be fabricated easily and rapidly. The biomimetic structures endow the microneedle patch with stable adhesion during the long-term recovery process of chronic wounds. Porous ordered structures and a temperature-responsive hydrogel are utilized to construct a controllable drug release system on the microneedle patch. The microfluidic channel composed of microneedle arrays and porous ordered structures enables a microneedle patch with the capacity to analyze several inflammatory factors. In addition, MXene electronics was patterned on the microneedle patch in order to achieve sensitive motion monitoring. Also, it was demonstrated from in vivo diabetic rat experiments that recovery of full-thickness cutaneous wounds including stripe-shaped and circular wounds can be facilitated by employing the drug-loaded biomimetic microneedle patch

Adopting Intrinsic Hydrophilic Thermoplastic Starch Composites to Fabricate Antifogging Sustainable Films with High Antibiosis and Transparency

Fogging on transparent surfaces such as goggles causes a series of hazards to users. To fabricate antifogging and low-haze transparent renewable polymer materials, intrinsic hydrophilicity with high water adsorption capability of thermoplastic starch (TPS) had been adopted. Strikingly, when benzoic acid (BA) was blended with thermoplastic starch (TPS-BA), the haze of TPS-BA was only 7.8% when it suffered the cold and warm method of antifogging measurement with 87% transmittance. Simultaneously, TPS-BA achieved an 18 mm inhibition zone for Staphylococcus aureus. To reveal the antifogging mechanism of TPS-BA films, the surficial and interior structure features were evaluated by three-dimensional optical scanner, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle testing, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-dependent Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and so on. The incorporation of BA resulted in the roughness (Rq), water contact angle (WCA), and crystallinity of the TPS-BA film decreasing from 6.5 to 0.68 μm, 65.1 to 39.9°, and 13.6 to 6.3%, respectively. The amorphous matrix and smooth surface reduced the scattered light, allowing the TPS-BA film to achieve low haze performance and high transmittance. Importantly, the diversified and weakened hydrogen bonds formed among starch, BA, and glycerol could inhibit the formation of starch crystalline regions and allowed hydroxyl groups to quickly bond with water. Thus, when TPS-BA is placed in a high-humidity surrounding, an “expressway” is constructed for water molecules diffusing into the TPS-BA matrix. This novel low-haze, antifogging, sustainable, and facilely fabricated TPS with antibacterial properties is a promising candidate in disposable medical goggles to fight against COVID-19

Bioinspired 3D-Printed MXene and Spidroin-Based Near-Infrared Light-Responsive Microneedle Scaffolds for Efficient Wound Management

Biomedical dressings have been comprehensively explored for wound healing; however, the complicated manufacturing process and mono-function of the dressing remain critical challenges for further applications. Here, a versatile extrusion three-dimensional (3D) printing strategy to prepare MXene and spidroin-incorporated microneedle scaffolds with photothermal responsive and self-healing properties for promoting wound healing is proposed. Inspired by the cactus, the microneedle scaffold is composed of a top porous scaffold, and microneedles whose inverse opal (IO) photonic crystal (PC) structure and the ample space between the scaffold gaps endow the microneedle scaffold with high drug-carrying capacity. Furthermore, the excellent electrical and photothermal properties of MXene allow the microneedle scaffold to perform sensitive wound movement monitoring and controlled drug release under near-infrared irradiation. Moreover, the extensive hydrogen bonding and Schiff base between the spidroin, polyurethane (PU), and aloe vera gel (avGel) molecules conferred high self-healing and mechanical performance to the microneedle scaffold. In vivo experiments with rat models of wounds have shown that drug-laden microneedle scaffolds under near-infrared (NIR) light can promote the recovery of full-skin wounds. These unique characteristics suggest that 3D-printed multifunctional microneedle scaffolds show great potential for applications in facilitating wound healing and will find widespread applications in wound management

Mussel-Inspired Electro-oxidation-Modified Three-Dimensional Printed Carriers for a Versatile Enzyme Immobilization Approach

Conventional enzyme immobilization approaches can only immobilize certain specific enzymes with poor generality. Attempts to improve the universality of enzyme types tend to impart them with more enzymatic catalysis applications. Here, inspired by mussel adhesive proteins, we present a novel eco-friendly surface carrier that was 3D printed and modified by electro-oxidation for enzyme immobilization. The carrier was fabricated through 3D printing by transforming acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material into a suitable structure (3DABS). Then, electro-oxidative modification was performed on the surface to form a polydopamine (PDA) coating (3DABS-PDA). The desired structures for the enzyme immobilization carriers were obtained through 3D printing technology, while electro-oxidation modification of the surface provided numerous and firmly covalent binding sites. Based on these features, we have demonstrated that 3D printed and electro-oxidation-modified carriers could be applied to immobilize different types of enzymes. The loading capacity of all immobilized enzymes (galV, EG5C-1, XynLK9, and kdcA) exceeded 25 mg·g–1 (37.7 mg·g–1 for galV), and after 10 reuse cycles, the substrate conversion rate of 3DABS-PDA@galV was still over 85%. The carriers can be reused after simple processing. These results indicate that 3DABS-PDA provides an efficient, sustainable, and versatile approach for enzyme immobilization and exhibits excellent value in various enzymatic catalysis applications

Data_Sheet_1_Development and evaluation clinical-radiomics analysis based on T1-weighted imaging for diagnosing neonatal acute bilirubin encephalopathy.docx

PurposeTo investigate the value of clinical-radiomics analysis based on T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) for predicting acute bilirubin encephalopathy (ABE) in neonates.MethodsIn this retrospective study, sixty-one neonates with clinically confirmed ABE and 50 healthy control neonates were recruited between October 2014 and March 2019. Two radiologists' visual diagnoses for all subjects were independently based on T1WI. Eleven clinical and 216 radiomics features were obtained and analyzed. Seventy percent of samples were randomly selected as the training group and were used to establish a clinical-radiomics model to predict ABE; the remaining samples were used to validate the performance of the models. The discrimination performance was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.ResultsSeventy-eight neonates were selected for training (median age, 9 days; interquartile range, 7–20 days; 49 males) and 33 neonates for validation (median age, 10 days; interquartile range, 6–13 days; 24 males). Two clinical features and ten radiomics features were finally selected to construct the clinical-radiomics model. In the training group, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.90 (sensitivity: 0.814; specificity: 0.914); in the validation group, the AUC was 0.93 (sensitivity: 0.944; specificity: 0.800). The AUCs of two radiologists' and the radiologists' final visual diagnosis results based on T1WI were 0.57, 0.63, and 0.66, respectively. The discriminative performance of the clinical-radiomics model in the training and validation groups was increased compared to the radiologists' visual diagnosis (P ConclusionsA combined clinical-radiomics model based on T1WI has the potential to predict ABE. The application of the nomogram could potentially provide a visualized and precise clinical support tool.</p