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Background: Digital microscopy combined with artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being implemented in health care, predominantly in advanced laboratory settings. However, AI-supported digital microscopy could be especially advantageous in primary health care settings, since such methods could improve access to diagnostics via automation and lead to a decreased need for experts on site. To our knowledge, no scoping or systematic review had been published on the use of AI-supported digital microscopy within primary health care laboratories when this scoping review was initiated. A scoping review can guide future research by providing insights to help navigate the challenges of implementing these novel methods in primary health care laboratories., Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to map peer-reviewed studies on AI-supported digital microscopy in primary health care laboratories to generate an overview of the subject., Methods: A systematic search of the databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and IEEE will be conducted. Only peer-reviewed articles in English will be considered, and no limit on publication year will be applied. The concept inclusion criteria in the scoping review include studies that have applied AI-supported digital microscopy with the aim of achieving a diagnosis on the subject level. In addition, the studies must have been performed in the context of primary health care laboratories, as defined by the criteria of not having a pathologist on site and using simple sample preparations. The study selection and data extraction will be performed by 2 independent researchers, and in the case of disagreements, a third researcher will be involved. The results will be presented in a table developed by the researchers, including information on investigated diseases, sample collection, preparation and digitization, AI model used, and results. Furthermore, the results will be described narratively to provide an overview of the studies included. The proposed methodology is in accordance with the JBI methodology for scoping reviews., Results: The scoping review was initiated in January 2023, and a protocol was published in the Open Science Framework in January 2024. The protocol was completed in March 2024, and the systematic search will be performed after the protocol has been peer reviewed. The scoping review is expected to be finalized by the end of 2024., Conclusions: A systematic review of studies on AI-supported digital microscopy in primary health care laboratories is anticipated to identify the diseases where these novel methods could be advantageous, along with the shared challenges encountered and approaches taken to address them., International Registered Report Identifier (irrid): PRR1-10.2196/58149., (©Joar von Bahr, Vinod Diwan, Andreas Mårtensson, Nina Linder, Johan Lundin. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 01.11.2024.)

Various fields, including medical and human interaction robots, gain advantages from the development of bioinspired soft actuators. Many recently developed grippers are pneumatics that require external pressure supply systems, thereby limiting the autonomy of these robots. This necessitates the development of scalable and efficient on-board pressure generation systems. While conventional air compression systems are hard to miniaturize, thermopneumatic systems that joule heat a transducer material to generate pressure present a promising alternative. However, the transducer materials of previously reported thermopneumatic systems demonstrate high heat capacities and limited surface area resulting in long response times and low operation frequencies. This study presents a thermopneumatic pressure generator using aerographene, a highly porous (>99.99%) network of interconnected graphene microtubes, as lightweight and low heat capacity transducer material. An aerographene pressurizer module (AGPM) can pressurize a reservoir of 4.2 cm 3 to ∼14 kPa in 50 ms. Periodic operation of the AGPM for 10 s at 0.66 Hz can further increase the pressure in the reservoir to ∼36 kPa. It is demonstrated that multiple AGPMs can be operated parallelly or in series for improved performance. For example, three parallelly operated AGPMs can generate pressure pulses of ∼21.5 kPa. Connecting AGPMs in series increase the maximum pressure achievable by the system. It is shown that three AGPMs working in series can pressurize the reservoir to ∼200 kPa in about 2.5 min. The AGPM's minimalistic design can be easily adapted to circuit boards, making the concept a promising fit for the on-board pressure supply of soft robots.

Medical phantoms mimic aspects of procedures like computed tomography (CT), ultrasound (US) imaging, and surgical practices. However, the materials for current commercial phantoms are expensive and the fabrication with these is complex and lacks versatility. Therefore, existing material solutions are not suitable for creating patient-specific phantoms. We present a novel and cost-effective material system (utilizing ubiquitous sodium alginate hydrogel and coconut fat) with independently and accurately tailorable CT, US, and mechanical properties. By varying the concentration of alginate, cross-linker, and coconut fat, the radiological parameters and the elastic modulus were adjusted independently in a wide range. The independence was demonstrated by creating phantoms with features hidden in US, while visible in CT imaging and vice versa. This system is particularly beneficial in resource-scarce areas since the materials are cheap (<$ 1 USD/kg) and easy to obtain, offering realistic and versatile phantoms to practice surgeries and ultimately enhance patient care., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following competing financial interest(s): The authors HQ, JB, RA, and LS have filed a Germany patent under the number DE 10 2022 133 558.5., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Phenanthracene nanotubes with arylene-ethynylene-butadiynylene rims and phenanthracene walls are synthesized in a modular bottom-up approach. One of the rims carries hexadecyloxy side chains, mediating the affinity to highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. Molecular dynamics simulations show that the nanotubes are much more flexible than their structural formulas suggest: In 1 2 , the phenanthracene units act as hinges that flip the two macrocycles relative to each other to one of two possible sites, as quantum mechanical models suggest and scanning tunneling microscopy investigations prove. Unexpectedly, both theory and experiment show for 1 3 that the three phenanthracene hinges are deflected from the upright position, accompanied by a deformation of both macrocycles from their idealized sturdy macroporous geometry. This flexibility together with their affinity to carbon-rich substrates allows for an efficient host-guest chemistry at the solid/gas interface opening the potential for applications in single-walled carbon nanotube-based sensing, and the applicability to build new sensors for the detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene via nitroaromatic markers is shown.

This study demonstrated the importance of identifying the optimal balance of hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties in amphiphilic coatings to achieve fouling-release (FR) performance that surpasses that of traditional hydrophobic marine coatings. While there have been many reports on fouling-release properties of amphiphilic surfaces, the offered understanding is often limited. Hence, this work is focused on further understanding of the amphiphilic surfaces. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were used to create a series of noncross-linked amphiphilic additives that were then added to a hydrophobic-designed siloxane-polyurethane (SiPU) FR system. After being characterized by ATR-FTIR, XPS, contact angle analysis, and AFM, the FR performance was evaluated by using different marine organisms. The assessments showed that the closer the hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties in a system reached a relatively equalized level, the more desirable the FR performance of the coating system became. A balanced ratio of hydrophilicity-hydrophobicity in the system at around 10-15 wt % of each component had the best FR performance and was comparable to or better than commercial FR coatings.

The modular synthesis of a series of nanoscale phenylene bicyclophanes with an intraannular orthogonal pillar is described. The compounds are obtained by a Suzuki cross-coupling condensation and are characterized by mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy as well as in situ scanning tunneling microscopy at the solid/liquid interface of highly ordered pyrolytic graphite. In addition, their structures and conformations are supported by quantum chemical calculations, also after adsorption to the substrate. A set of two alkyl chain substitution patterns as well as a combination of both were investigated with respect to their ability to form extended 2D-crystalline superstructures on graphite. It shows that not the most densely packed surface coverage gives the most stable structure, but the largest number of alkyl chains per molecule determines the structural robustness to alterations at the pillar functionality., (© 2023 The Authors. Chemistry - A European Journal published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Plasma IL-6 is elevated after myocardial infarction (MI) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Which cardiac cell type preferentially contributes to IL-6 expression and how its production is regulated are largely unknown. Here, we studied the cellular source and purinergic regulation of IL-6 formation in a murine MI model. We found that IL-6, measured in various cell types in post-MI hearts at the protein level and by quantitative PCR and RNAscope, was preferentially formed by cardiac fibroblasts (CFs). Single-cell RNA-Seq (scRNA-Seq) in infarcted mouse and human hearts confirmed this finding. We found that adenosine stimulated fibroblast IL-6 formation via the adenosine receptor A2bR in a Gq-dependent manner. CFs highly expressed Adora2b and rapidly degraded extracellular ATP to AMP but lacked CD73. In mice and humans, scRNA-Seq revealed that Adora2B was also mainly expressed by fibroblasts. We assessed global IL-6 production in isolated hearts from mice lacking CD73 on T cells (CD4-CD73-/-), a condition known to be associated with adverse cardiac remodeling. The ischemia-induced release of IL-6 was strongly attenuated in CD4-CD73-/- mice, suggesting adenosine-mediated modulation. Together, these findings demonstrate that post-MI IL-6 was mainly derived from activated CFs and was controlled by T cell-derived adenosine. We show that purinergic metabolic cooperation between CFs and T cells is a mechanism that modulates IL-6 formation by the heart and has therapeutic potential.

A series of benzoic and terephthalic acid derivatives and their corresponding ethyl esters have been synthesized. These are decorated with dendritic units carrying alkoxy chains that differ in the number of alkoxy groups and/or their substitution pattern. These molecules were deposited from solution on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite, and the resulting supramolecular surface patterns have been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy at the solid/liquid interface. Thus, we were able to perform a systematic study on the influence of orthogonal functional groups governing the supramolecular assembly, that is, the alkoxy chains of dendritic units and the carboxylic acid (ester) functions, on the intermolecular interactions, that is, van der Waals interactions and hydrogen bonding between the adsorbed species that drive the pattern formation.

Grooming may be an effective technique to control marine biofouling without damaging the coating or discharging active ingredients into the environment. This study assessed the grooming performance of three experimental biocide-free siloxane polyurethane (SiPU) fouling-release coatings. Coatings were statically immersed in Port Canaveral, Florida, and groomed every two weeks for five months using three different brush types. The ungroomed panels became heavily fouled with biofilm, tubeworms, barnacles, and bryozoans. Two of the brushes were able to control the fouling with a coverage of <5%. The commercial silicone elastomer coating was damaged from grooming procedures, while the SiPU coatings were not. Laboratory biological assays were carried out and mirrored the grooming results. Through surface characterization techniques, it was concluded that the coatings were unaffected by the grooming procedures. This study shows that marine fouling on durable SiPU fouling-release coatings can be controlled via grooming without damage or changing the surface properties.

For a long time, leaderless secreted proteins (LLSP) were neglected as artifacts derived from dying cells. It is now generally accepted that secretion of LLSP-as a part of the collective term unconventional protein secretion (UPS) - is an evolutionarily conserved process and that these LLSP are actively and selectively secreted from living cells bypassing the classical endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi pathway. However, the mechanism of UPS pathways, as well as the number of LLSP and which part of a protein is involved in the selection of LLSPs for secretion, are still enigmatic and await clarification. Secretomics-a proteomics-based approach to identify and quantify all proteins secreted by a cell-is inherently unbiased toward a particular secretion pathway and offers the opportunity to shed light on the UPS. Here, we will evaluate and present recent results of proteomic workflows allowing to obtain high-confident secretome data. Additionally, we address that cell culture conditions largely affect the composition of the secretome. This has to be kept in mind to control cell culture induced artifacts and adaptation stress in serum free conditions. Evaluation of click chemistry for secretome analysis of cells under serum-containing conditions showed a significant change in the cellular proteome with longer incubation time upon treatment with non-canonical amino acid azidohomoalanine. Finally, we showed that the number of LLSP far exceeds the number of secreted proteins annotated in Uniprot and ProteinAtlas. Thus, secretomics in combination with sophisticated microbioanalytical and sample preparation methods is well suited to provide a comprehensive picture of UPS., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Poschmann, Bahr, Schrader, Stejerean-Todoran, Bogeski and Stühler.)

BACKGROUND This retrospective study used the Harris hip score (HHS) and range of motion (ROM) to compare gait before and after total hip arthroplasty using the modular S-ROM® hip prosthesis in 23 patients treated at a single center. MATERIAL AND METHODS For this study, 23 patients with severe hip deformity, who were treated with a total hip replacement using the S-ROM® modular hip system by DePuy® in the period from 2003 until 2008, underwent a 3-dimensional gait analysis before and after surgery. Values were compared with a validated data set of healthy subjects. Gait analysis took place using 8 infrared cameras (50 Hz), 2 force platforms of Advanced Medical Technology, Inc. (AMTI)®, and the Vicon® 512 system. The HHS and ROM of the hip joint were determined preoperatively and postoperatively. The follow-up period was 16.7±15.2 months. RESULTS A healthy gait pattern is characterized by an even stride length of both legs in relation to body height and relative symmetry of certain gait phases. These characteristics are influenced by the range of motion of the hip joint and by pelvic tilt. Symmetry could be achieved postoperatively in the stance phase and in the single-leg stance phase. However, the gait phases could not normalize. HHS and ROM improved postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS The findings from this retrospective study showed that ROM and HHS significantly improved following THA with the S-ROM® hip prosthesis, but that gait did not completely return to normal.