Soft, wireless periocular wearable electronics for real-time detection of eye vergence in a virtual reality toward mobile eye therapies

Ocular disorders are currently affecting the developed world, causing loss of productivity in adults and children. While the cause of such disorders is not clear, neurological issues are often considered as the biggest possibility. Treatment of strabismus and vergence requires an invasive surgery or clinic-based vision therapy that has been used for decades due to the lack of alternatives such as portable therapeutic tools. Recent advancement in electronic packaging and image processing techniques have opened the possibility for optics-based portable eye tracking approaches, but several technical and safety hurdles limit the implementation of the technology in wearable applications. Here, we introduce a fully wearable, wireless soft electronic system that offers a portable, highly sensitive tracking of eye movements (vergence) via the combination of skin-conformal sensors and a virtual reality system. Advancement of material processing and printing technologies based on aerosol jet printing enables reliable manufacturing of skin-like sensors, while a flexible electronic circuit is prepared by the integration of chip components onto a soft elastomeric membrane. Analytical and computational study of a data classification algorithm provides a highly accurate tool for real-time detection and classification of ocular motions. In vivo demonstration with 14 human subjects captures the potential of the wearable electronics as a portable therapy system, which can be easily synchronized with a virtual reality headset

Exendin-4 Protects Oxidative Stress-Induced β-Cell Apoptosis through Reduced JNK and GSK3β Activity

Oxidative stress induced by chronic hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes plays a crucial role in progressive loss of β-cell mass through β-cell apoptosis. Glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) has effects on preservation of β-cell mass and its insulin secretory function. GLP-1 possibly increases islet cell mass through stimulated proliferation from β-cell and differentiation to β-cell from progenitor cells. Also, it probably has an antiapoptotic effect on β-cell, but detailed mechanisms are not proven. Therefore, we examined the protective mechanism of GLP-1 in β-cell after induction of oxidative stress. The cell apoptosis decreased to ~50% when cells were treated with 100 µM H2O2 for up to 2 hr. After pretreatment of Ex-4, GLP-1 receptor agonist, flow cytometric analysis shows 41.7% reduction of β-cell apoptosis. This data suggested that pretreatment of Ex-4 protect from oxidative stress-induced apoptosis. Also, Ex-4 treatment decreased GSK3β activation, JNK phosphorylation and caspase-9, -3 activation and recovered the expression of insulin2 mRNA in β-cell lines and secretion of insulin in human islet. These results suggest that Ex-4 may protect β-cell apoptosis by blocking the JNK and GSK3β mediated apoptotic pathway

Randomized Trial of Stents Versus Bypass Surgery for Left Main Coronary Artery Disease 5-Year Outcomes of the PRECOMBAT Study

AbstractBackgroundIn a previous randomized trial, we found that percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was not inferior to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for the treatment of unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis at 1 year.ObjectivesThis study sought to determine the 5-year outcomes of PCI compared with CABG for the treatment of unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis.MethodsWe randomly assigned 600 patients with unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis to undergo PCI with a sirolimus-eluting stent (n = 300) or CABG (n = 300). The primary endpoint was a major adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular event (MACCE: a composite of death from any cause, myocardial infarction, stroke, or ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization) and compared on an intention-to-treat basis.ResultsAt 5 years, MACCE occurred in 52 patients in the PCI group and 42 patients in the CABG group (cumulative event rates of 17.5% and 14.3%, respectively; hazard ratio [HR]: 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.84 to 1.90; p = 0.26). The 2 groups did not differ significantly in terms of death from any cause, myocardial infarction, or stroke as well as their composite (8.4% and 9.6%; HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.52 to 1.52; p = 0.66). Ischemia-driven target vessel revascularization occurred more frequently in the PCI group than in the CABG group (11.4% and 5.5%, respectively; HR: 2.11; 95% CI: 1.16 to 3.84; p = 0.012).ConclusionsDuring 5 years of follow-up, our study did not show significant difference regarding the rate of MACCE between patients who underwent PCI with a sirolimus-eluting stent and those who underwent CABG. However, considering the limited power of our study, our results should be interpreted with caution. (Bypass Surgery Versus Angioplasty Using Sirolimus-Eluting Stent in Patients With Left Main Coronary Artery Disease [PRECOMBAT]; NCT00422968

Rapid label-free detection of <i>E. coli</i> using a novel SPR biosensor containing a fragment of tail protein from phage lambda

<p>In efforts to speed up the assessment of microorganisms, researchers have sought to use bacteriophages as a biosensing tool, due to their host-specificity, wide abundance, and safety. However, the lytic cycle of the phage has limited its efficacy as a biosensor. Here, we cloned a fragment of tail protein J from phage lambda and characterized its binding with the host, <i>E. coli</i> K-12, and other microorganism. The N-terminus of J was fused with a His-tag (6HN-J), overexpressed, purified, and characterized using anti-His monoclonal antibodies. The purified protein demonstrated a size of ∼38 kDa upon SDS-PAGE and bound with the anti-His monoclonal antibodies. ELISA, dot blot, and TEM data revealed that it specifically bound to <i>E. coli</i> K-12, but not to <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i>. The observed protein binding occurred over a concentration range of 0.01–5 μg/ml and was found to inhibit the <i>in vivo</i> adsorption of phage to host cells. This specific binding was exploited by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to generate a novel 6HN-J-functionalized SPR biosensor. This biosensor showed rapid label-free detection of <i>E. coli</i> K-12 in the range of 2 × 10⁴ −2 × 10⁹ CFU/ml, and exhibited a lower detection limit of 2 × 10⁴ CFU/ml.</p

Protein hydrogen exchange mechanism: Local fluctuations

Experiments were done to study the dynamic structural motions that determine protein hydrogen exchange (HX) behavior. The replacement of a solvent-exposed lysine residue with glycine (Lys8Gly) in a helix of recombinant cytochrome c does not perturb the native structure, but it entropically potentiates main-chain flexibility and thus can promote local distortional motions and large-scale unfolding. The mutation accelerates amide hydrogen exchange of the mutated residue by about 50-fold, neighboring residues in the same helix by less, and residues elsewhere in the protein not at all, except for Leu98, which registers the change in global stability. The pattern of HX changes shows that the coupled structural distortions that dominate exchange can be several residues in extent, but they expose to exchange only one amide NH at a time. This ‘local fluctuation’ mode of hydrogen exchange may be generally recognized by disparate near-neighbor rates and a low dependence on destabilants (denaturant, temperature, pressure). In contrast, concerted unfolding reactions expose multiple neighboring amide NHs with very similar computed protection factors, and they show marked destabilant sensitivity. In both modes, ionic hydrogen exchange catalysts attack from the bulk solvent without diffusing through the protein matrix