Novel Smart N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirator with Real-time Adaptive Fit Functionality and Wireless Humidity Monitoring for Enhanced Wearable Comfort

The widespread emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed our lifestyle, and facial respirators have become an essential part of daily life. Nevertheless, the current respirators possess several limitations such as poor respirator fit because they are incapable of covering diverse human facial sizes and shapes, potentially diminishing the effect of wearing respirators. In addition, the current facial respirators do not inform the user of the air quality within the smart facepiece respirator in case of continuous long-term use. Here, we demonstrate the novel smart N-95 filtering facepiece respirator that incorporates the humidity sensor and pressure sensory feedback-enabled self-fit adjusting functionality for the effective performance of the facial respirator to prevent the transmission of airborne pathogens. The laser-induced graphene (LIG) constitutes the humidity sensor, and the pressure sensor array based on the dielectric elastomeric sponge monitors the respirator contact on the face of the user, providing the sensory information for a closed-loop feedback mechanism. As a result of the self-fit adjusting mode along with elastomeric lining, the fit factor is increased by 3.20 and 5 times at average and maximum respectively. We expect that the experimental proof-of-concept of this work will offer viable solutions to the current commercial respirators to address the limitations.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, submitted for possible publicatio

Evogliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor, attenuates pathological retinal angiogenesis by suppressing vascular endothelial growth factor-induced Arf6 activation

Retinal disease: How anti-diabetic drug can help eyes Pathological retinal angiogenesis, the damaging formation of new blood vessels in the retina, which is associated with various diseases including diabetes, could be reduced using the anti-diabetic drug evogliptin to inhibit the effects of a vascular growth factor. Researchers in South Korea led by Wonhee Suh and Koung Li Kim at Chung-Ang University in Seoul investigated the molecular mechanism underlying evogliptin’s effects. In studies using mice and cultured human cells they found that evogliptin inhibited the activation of signaling molecules that mediate the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor. They also identified an enzyme in the signaling pathway that is directly inhibited by evogliptin. The results offer molecular level insights into the additional benefit gained from using evogliptin to treat diabetes, distinct from the drug’s established effects in lowering blood glucose

Bioinspired Soft Robotic Fish for Wireless Underwater Control of Gliding Locomotion

Animal locomotion offers valuable references as it is a critical component of survival as animals adapting to a specific environment. Especially, underwater locomotion poses a challenge because water exerts a high antagonistic drag force against the direction of progress. However, marine vertebrates usually use much lower aerobic energy for locomotion than aerial or terrestrial vertebrates due to their unique intermittent gliding locomotion. None of the prior works demonstrate the locomotive strategies of marine vertebrates. Herein, an untethered soft robotic fish capable of reconstructing the marine vertebrates’ effective locomotion and traveling underwater by controlling localized buoyancy with thermoelectric pneumatic actuators is introduced. The actuators enable both heating and cooling to control a localized buoyancy while providing a substantial driving force to the system. Besides mimicking the locomotion, the bidirectional communication system enables the untethered delivery of commands to the underwater subject and real‐time acquisition of the robotic fish's physical information. Underwater imaging validates the fish's practical use as a drone, allowing for inspecting the aquatic environment that is not easily accessible to humans. Future work studies the operation of the robotic fish as a collective swarm to examine a broader range of the underwater area and conduct various strategic missions