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Optogenetic manipulation is uniquely useful in unraveling the functional organization of neuronal circuits in the central nervous system by enabling reversible gain- or loss-of-function of discrete populations of neurons within restricted brain regions. This state-of-the-art technology can produce circuit-specific neuromodulation by overexpressing light-sensitive proteins (opsins) in particular cell types of interest. Here, we discuss the principle of optogenetic manipulation and its application in pain research using animal models, and we also discuss how to potentially use optogenetic stimulation in the treatment of migraine headache in the future.

Pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) systems based on a microelectromechanical-inertial measurement unit (MEMS-IMU) providing advantages of full autonomy and strong anti-jamming performance are becoming a feasible choice for pedestrian indoor positioning. In order to realize the accurate positioning of pedestrians in a closed environment, an improved pedestrian dead reckoning algorithm, mainly including improved step estimation and heading estimation, is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the original signal is preprocessed using the wavelet denoising algorithm. Then, the multi-threshold method is proposed to ameliorate the step estimation algorithm. For heading estimation suffering from accumulated error and outliers, robust adaptive Kalman filter (RAKF) algorithm is proposed in this paper, and combined with complementary filter to improve positioning accuracy. Finally, an experimental platform with inertial sensors as the core is constructed. Experimental results show that positioning error is less than 2.5% of the total distance, which is ideal for accurate positioning of pedestrians in enclosed environment.

In this study, to obtain a texture perception that is closer to the human sense, we designed eight bionic tongue indenters based on the law of the physiology of mandibular movements and tongue movements features, set up a bionic tongue distributed mechanical testing device, performed in vitro simulations to obtain the distributed mechanical information over the tongue surface, and preliminarily constructed a food fineness perception evaluation model. By capturing a large number of tongue movements during chewing, we analyzed and simulated four representative tongue movement states including the tiled state, sunken state, raised state, and overturned state of the tongue. By analyzing curvature parameters and the Gauss curvature of the tongue surface, we selected the regional circle of interest. With that, eight bionic tongue indenters with different curvatures over the tongue surface were designed. Together with an arrayed film pressure sensor, we set up a bionic tongue distributed mechanical testing device, which was used to do contact pressure experiments on three kinds of cookies—WZ Cookie, ZL Cookie and JSL Cookie—with different fineness texture characteristics. Based on the distributed mechanical information perceived by the surface of the bionic tongue indenter, we established a food fineness perception evaluation model by defining three indicators, including gradient, stress change rate and areal density. The correlation between the sensory assessment and model result was analyzed. The results showed that the average values of correlation coefficients among the three kinds of food with the eight bionic tongue indenters reached 0.887, 0.865, and 0.870, respectively, that is, a significant correlation was achieved. The results illustrate that the food fineness perception evaluation model is effective, and the bionic tongue distributed mechanical testing device has a good practical significance for obtaining food texture mouthfeel information.

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) technology has recently emerged as a powerful genomic editing tool with great potential for crop breeding. However, commonly used protocols for screening of CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutations are laborious, timeconsuming, and costly. In the present study we examined the applicability of high resolution melting (HRM) analysis fast screening CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutations in T0 plants and subsequent genotyping of T1 populations. Comparative analysis demonstrated that HRM analysis could identify mutant T0 plants carrying various types of mutation, including single nucleotide substitutions and short insertion/deletions, with false positive/negative rates of 0-2.78%. Furthermore, T1 plants derived from single T0 plants could be correctly genotyped by HRM analysis using WT parents and T0 plants as controls. We hence recommend the adoption of HRM analysis in CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genetic studies and breeding in rice and other crop species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]