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Developing glucose‐responsive microneedle patches with features of simple preparation, high insulin loading, and safety has a great contribution to the treatment of diabetic patients. In this work, a novel glucose‐responsive core–shell microneedle patch is prepared from biocompatible materials by a facile process. The exterior glucose‐responsive shell is composed of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and ɛ‐polylysine modified with phenylboronic acid , and the inner flexible core is prepared by pure PVA loaded with insulin. The shell shows superior glucose‐induced swelling and controlled insulin release ability due to the decomposition of borate ester bonds under the synergistic effect of glucose and water. The microneedle patch also features flexibility and high insulin loading capacity (36 IU cm−2). It shows high puncture efficiency (92%) and maintains a relatively complete morphology after being removed, enabling to reduce material residues in the skin. Moreover, the microneedle patch reveals a good hypoglycemic effect in diabetic rats, achieves a hypoglycemic rate similar to that of direct injection after swelling, and works effectively to prevent excess insulin transmission. The high glucose‐responsive ability, simple preparation, high loading capacity, rapid hypoglycemic speed, high conformability to skin, and low component dissolution make this microneedle patch a suitable candidate for diabetic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In two masked priming experiments with Chinese characters, orthographic priming effects were observed in lexical decision and naming tasks despite the fact that the primes were phonologically unrelated to the target characters. Data suggest that the recovery of lexical information for Chinese characters does not depend on the prior activation of phonological information. (Author/VWL)

Problem: Premature birth is a common obstetric complication but its pathogenesis is unclear. Inflammation at the maternal‐fetal interface in preterm labor leads to the infiltration of neutrophils, which promotes inflammatory responses and induces the degradation of extracellular matrix and cell apoptosis, thus contributing to preterm labor. It is unclear whether neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), a functional form of neutrophils, are involved in preterm labor. Methods of Study: After collecting amniotic membranes from research objects, we localized NETs by immunofluorescence and evaluated the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐9 and MMP‐2 by western blotting. Primary human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) subjected to treatment with NETs, 5‐ethynyl‐20‐deoxyuridine cell proliferation assay, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay, western blotting, and flow cytometry apoptosis assay were used to determine the effects of NETs on hAECs. We also elucidated possible mechanisms underlying the effects. Results: Compared with normal term women, NETs infiltration and MMP‐9 expression in the amniotic membrane from preterm women had increased. Thereafter, NETs might suppress the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of hAECs. Furthermore, after NETs treatment, the mitochondrial membrane potential was significantly decreased, ERK1/2 phosphorylation expression was upregulated and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was increased in hAECs. Changes in cell proliferation, LDH release, and cell apoptosis level due to NETs could be reversed by ROS inhibitor or ERK phosphorylation inhibitors. Conclusions: NETs can promote the apoptosis of hAECs via ERK1/2 pathways dependent on ROS release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light‐guided soft actuators with dynamic polymer networks have drawn much attention in recent years. However, the application of such actuators is limited by their synthetic strategies, polymer structures, and shape‐morphing modes. This work reports a new class of liquid crystalline elastomer (LCE) actuators crosslinked by mussel‐inspired catechol‐Fe (III) complexes. The actuators are mechanically strong while being self‐healable, shape‐reprogrammable, and reprocessable. Importantly, the formation of catechol‐Fe (III) complexes enables the single‐component LCE network to exhibit outstanding photothermal effects without any light‐absorbing additives. Thus, actuators with designable structures and complex shape‐morphing capabilities can be readily programmed with mechanical force coupled with either environmental heating or NIR light irradiation. Furthermore, the material platform provides a robust and flexible way to fabricate actuators with different dimensional structures varying from 1D to 3D. The LCE shows great potential in robotic fields, and as a proof‐of‐concept, a crawling robot, C‐Bot, is specially designed. The robot is capable of moving untethered both on solid‐substrate and water surfaces under the guidance of light based on the mechanisms of shape‐morphing and Marangoni propulsion, respectively. Surprisingly, different from the vast majority of previously reported LCE‐based robots, the C‐Bot is strong enough to carry a heavy load while moving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) seriously endangers the health and life of elderly individuals worldwide. However, despite all scientific efforts, at the moment there are no effective clinical treatment options for AD. In this work, the effect of the class I histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACI) BG45 on synapse-related proteins was investigated in primary neurons from APP/PS1 transgenic mice. The results showed that BG45 can upregulate the expression of synaptotagmin-1 (SYT-1) and neurofilament light chain (NF-L) in primary neurons. In vivo, the APPswe/PS1dE9 (APP/PS1) transgenic mice were treated with BG45 (30 mg/kg) daily for 12 days. Behavioral testing of BG45-treated APP/PS1 mice showed improvements in learning and memory. BG45 can alleviate damage to the dendritic spine and reduce the deposition of Aβ. Similar to the in vitro results, synapse-related proteins in the prefrontal cortex were increased after BG45 treatment. Proteomic analysis results highlighted the differences in the biological processes of energy metabolism and calmodulin regulation in APP/PS1 mice with or without BG45 treatment. Further verification demonstrated that the effect of BG45 on synapses and learning and memory may involve the CaMKII/ITPKA/Ca2+ pathway. These results suggest that class I HDACI BG45 might be a promising drug for the early clinical treatment of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]