Cardiovascular diseases are the leading global cause of death, driven by the increasing prevalence of obesity, dyslipidemia, and metabolic disorders. Lipid overload induces cardiomyocyte injury and arrhythmogenesis, yet the dynamic electrophysiological mechanisms underlying lipid-induced cardiotoxicity are poorly understood, primarily due to the limited temporal resolution of conventional screening techniques. In this study, we established a microelectrode array (MEA)-based biosensing platform for continuous, real-time recording of extracellular field potentials (EFPs) in cardiomyocytes. Using this system, we characterized the concentration- and time-dependent electrophysiological impairment induced by palmitic acid (PA) and cholesterol. Both lipids caused markedly reduced EFP amplitude and firing rate, while inducing irregular electrical discharges and calcium transient disruptions, indicative of impaired excitation–contraction coupling. Notably, the platform revealed distinct injury patterns: PA predominantly suppressed the firing rate, suggesting disturbances in pacemaking and calcium cycling, whereas cholesterol more rapidly attenuated EFP amplitude, pointing to direct membrane and ion channel dysfunction. Furthermore, we employed the platform to evaluate the cardioprotective potential of curcumin. Curcumin pretreatment (10-20µM) maintained EFP amplitude and firing rate, attenuated TNF-α elevation, and improved calcium homeostasis, indicating dual anti-inflammatory and calcium-stabilizing effects. Western blot analysis revealed compensatory upregulation of Cav1.2 and calmodulin under lipotoxic conditions, which was normalized by curcumin, providing molecular-level support for the observed cardioprotection. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that the MEA-based biosensing platform enables real-time quantification of lipid-induced electrophysiological dysfunction and provides a powerful tool for mechanistic studies, cardiotoxicity screening, and cardioprotective drug discovery.

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is highly acknowledged for its ability to convert wet food waste into high calorific value hydrochar at a fast rate. However, the liquid by-product from the process, named HTC wastewater, contains high level of chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 40,000-55,000 mg/L. This HTC wastewater can greatly pollute the environment if it was released without a proper treatment, and hinder the industrial application of HTC technology. In this study, hydrochar was produced via HTC process at 250 degrees C, and KOH activation was employed to further improve the physical structure of the hydrochar to prepare activated carbon (AC). The obtained AC had the mesoporous structure with specific surface area of 1807.42 m2/g. The AC was used to catalyze persulfate (PS) oxidation for the degradation of HTC wastewater. The experiment of catalytic persulfate degradation of HTC wastewater was designed by the central composite design (CCD) method, and optimized by using response surface method (RSM). The experimental results were statistically discussed by the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimal condition determined by CCD model was PS dosage = 6.20 mmol, temperature = 32.47 degrees C, and pH value = 3.69, achieving a COD removal efficiency of 78.94%. The hydrochar catalyzed persulfate degradation of HTC wastewater caused a great reduction of its pollution degree, which can be a promising pretreatment for HTC wastewater with minimal effort and cost.

Advanced machine intelligence is empowered not only by the ever-increasing computational capability for information processing but also by sensors for collecting multimodal information from complex environments. However, simply assembling different sensors can result in bulky systems and complex data processing. Herein, it is shown that a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) imager can be transformed into a compact multimodal sensing platform through dual-focus imaging. By combining lens-based and lensless imaging, visual information, chemicals, temperature, and humidity can be detected with the same chip and output as a single image. As a proof of concept, the sensor is equipped on a micro-vehicle, and multimodal environmental sensing and mapping is demonstrated. A multimodal endoscope is also developed, and simultaneous imaging and chemical profiling along a porcine digestive tract is achieved. The multimodal CMOS imager is compact, versatile, and extensible and can be widely applied in microrobots, in vivo medical apparatuses, and other microdevices.

Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) was adopted to treat oilfield sludge and produce syngas. The effect of temperature (400-450 & DEG;C), reaction time (30-90 min) and catalyst addition on syngas production and residual products during SCWG of oilfield sludge was studied. When increasing SCWG temperature from 400 to 450 & DEG;C with reaction time of 60 min, the H2 yield and the selectivity of H2 increased significantly from 0.53 mol/kg and 75.53% to 0.98 mol/kg and 78.09%, respectively. It is noteworthy that when the reaction time was too long, CO2 and CO were converted to CH4 with the consumption of H2 via methanation reaction. The addition of Ni/Al2O3 catalyst can substantially promote the production of high-quality syngas from SCWG of oilfield sludge. The H2 yield and its selectivity at 450 & DEG;C and 60 min were as high as 1.37 mol/kg and 84.05% with 10Ni/Al catalyst. Moreover, the catalysts with bimetal loading (Fe-Ni, Rb-Ni or Ce-Ni) were found to be beneficial for improving gasification efficiency, H2 yield, and the degradation of organic compounds. Among them, 5 wt% Rb on 10Ni/Al catalyst performed the best

There is an increasing demand for monitoring ammonia in livestock farming, which can prevent livestock products from being contaminated by bacteria and viruses. As a prospective material for resistive sensors, polypyrrole still suffers from low sensitivity and poor selectivity. Herein, polypyrrole/zinc-tetra(p-sulfonylphenyl) porphyrin (Pzt) loaded on ITO-PET is successfully synthesized by a one-step mild electrodeposition route. In the hybrid, Zntpp particles are anchored on the PPy network, forming a ravine-like nanostructure that is ideal for gas detection, and the response performances have supported this hypothesis. Remarkably, the optimal Pzt demonstrates an outstanding response value of 104.3 (S/%) toward ammonia with a response/recovery time of 42/223 s, compared with that of PPy (7.2 in response and 47/230 s). The mechanical properties and stabilities have been studied, and the limit of detection for Pzt is calculated to be ~8.63 ppm, which enables trace ammonia in livestock farming. Additionally, the mechanism is attributed to p-n heterojunction. Furthermore, a wireless sensor device that consists of a Pzt sensory unit, a microcomputer and a Bluetooth module is assembled, and the concentration information can be read precisely in real-time by a smartphone, indicating the great application prospects in the field of livestock farming.

Breath acetone (BrAce) level is an indicator of lipid oxidation rate, which is crucial for evaluating the status of ketoacidosis, ketogenic diet, and fat burning during exercise. Despite its usefulness, detecting BrAce accurately is challenging because exhaled breath contains an enormous variety of compounds. Although many sensors and devices have been developed for BrAce measurement, most of them were tested with only synthetic or spiked breath samples, and few can detect low concentration BrAce in an online manner, which is critical for extending application areas and the wide acceptance of the technology. Here, we show that online detection of BrAce can be achieved using a metal oxide semiconductor acetone sensor. The high accuracy measurement of low concentration BrAce was enabled by separating major interference gases utilizing their large diffusion coefficients, and the accuracy is further improved by the correction of humidity effect. We anticipate that the approach can push BrAce measurement closer to being useful for various applications.

Random urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) is highly correlated with 24-hour urine albumin, which is of great significance for the diagnosis of nephropathy, diabetes, hyperglycemia, and hypertension. In this study, we developed a battery-free, wireless, and flexible electrochemical tag for in situ quantification of urinary ACR. A flexible circuit electrochemical board is integrated with chronoamperometry (CA) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) for the detection of creatinine and albumin, respectively. Near field communication (NFC) module is applied for wireless power obtaining and data transmission. A disposable screen-printed flexible electrode array connected with the circuit board, including a non-enzymatic sensor for creatinine detection and an electrochemical immunosensor was applied for albumin detection. Within the effective working distance (1 ~ 2 cm), ACR sensing platform could be powered wirelessly by the NFC-enabled smartphone via electromagnetic coupling, performing real-time urine ACR detection and data transmission. The tag showed high consistency with clinical laboratory methods to several synthetic urine samples. This platform provides a rapid and convenient method for the detection of urinary biochemical substance, such as ACR, which has a broad prospect in mobile health and point-of-care testing (POCT).

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of food waste can produce hydrochar for further utilization as high-quality fuel or carbon materials, but the by-product of liquid effluent, named HTC wastewater, has a high chemical oxygen demand (COD) content and other organic pollutants. This study focused on the feasibility of Fenton oxidation combined with activated carbon (AC) to reduce COD in HTC wastewater. The effects of different parameters including pH, dosage of hydrogen peroxide, molar ratio of Fe 2+ /H 2 O 2 , and reaction time were tested and discussed. Eventually, through the optimized Fenton oxidation (pH = 3, H 2 O 2 dosage = 1.5 mol/L, Fe 2+ /H 2 O 2 = 1:15, reaction time = 60 min) combined optimized AC adsorption process (AC dosage = 30 g/L), the COD value reduced from 42,000 mg/L to 3075 mg/L, indicating a COD removal efficiency of 92.7% and a color removal ratio of 91.9%, respectively. The comparison of GC/MS (gas chromatography mass spectrometer) and FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectrometer) of liquid residual from different treatment methods also indicated that the types of organic substances in HTC wastewater were significantly reduced through Fenton oxidation and AC adsorption.

Oilfield sludge is a kind of hazardous waste. In this study, supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) was used to treat oilfield sludge. The effect of operating parameters was investigated, including temperature (390-450 degrees C), reaction time (5-30 min), oxidation coefficients (OC, 1.0-5.0) and Ni/Al2O3 catalyst. The experimental results showed that higher temperature and higher oxidation coefficient favored the degradation of oilfield sludge. Carbon in oilfield sludge was mainly converted to gas phase, for instance, 63.6% of carbon was converted to gas at 5.0 OC, 20 min and 450 degrees C without catalyst. The removal efficiency of total organic carbon (TRE) could be up to 96.0% at 450 degrees C, 20 min, and 4.0 OC without catalyst. Furthermore, the addition of Ni-based catalysts could also improve TRE. TRE and carbon conversion efficiency (CE) were 95.2% and 68.2% at 1.5 OC, 20 min and 450 degrees C with 20Ni/Al catalyst addition, respectively, which were higher than that of without catalyst (89.5% and 33.8%). The characterization and regeneration of catalyst were also carried out. Catalyst Ni/Al2O3 had good reliability, the TRE of 92.5% and the catalytic recovery efficiency of 52.6% were observed after three cycles.

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) can convert food waste into carbon fuel, thus to provide renewable energy. The wastewater, derived from HTC of food waste, contains complex organic pollutants, with a high COD value and low BOD/COD, which is not feasible for direct anaerobic fermentation. This work studied coagulation combined activated carbon (AC) adsorption to reduce the COD in HTC wastewater to promote its biodegrad-ability. The experimental results indicated that poly aluminum ferric sulphate (PAFS) and polyacrylamide (PAM) are the optimal coagulant and coagulant aid, respectively. With the dosage for PAFS, PAM, and AC was 6 g/L, 10 mg/L, 30 g/L, respectively, it can achieve 68.41% of the COD removal ratio, and promote the transmittance of the wastewater from 23% to 89%. Xarthene, carbamide, ferulic acid and inorganic compounds composed of calcium, magnesium, and aluminum plasma from the sediment were detected by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), which proved the synergistic effect between coagulation and AC adsorption. The typical pollutants in HTC wastewater were reduced from 19 to 8 kinds after treatment. BOD/COD ratio also increased from 0.30 in wastewater to 0.75 in liquid residual after treatment, improved for subsequent biochemical treatment. Therefore, the coagulation combined adsorption treatment is thought as a promising method in HTC wastewater pre-treatment, and a possible prerequisite in the industrial utilization of food waste HTC technology.

Background: It has been shown that autoimmune diseases are associated with psychiatric disorders in epidemiological studies. The acute psychiatric disorder patients have higher frequency of autoantibodies in the blood, including antinuclear antibodies, anti-thyroid peroxidase, and thyroglobulin [thyroid antibody carriers]. However, large clinical studies with more relevant control groups in China are few. Methods: This was a retrospective study. A total of 1669 sera were tested for autoantibodies in the clinical laboratory of the Fourth Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine from October 2016 to March 2021. All data available during this time period were analyzed. Only the first entry for each patient from inpatient care units was used for analysis. The clinical information and laboratory data of patients were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Results: A significantly lower prevalence of antinuclear antibodies was observed in the healthy control group than in the patient group (21.7% vs 28.8%, P < .05). There was a significant difference in the prevalence of antinuclear antibodies between thyroglobulin-antibody carriers and thyroid peroxidaseantibody- and thyroglobulin-antibody-seronegative individuals in the unipolar depressive disorder group (P < .05). A positive anti-thyroid peroxidase test was significantly associated with patients having nonaffective psychoses (P < .05). Conclusion: The results showed that psychiatric disorders were associated with antinuclear antibodies and thyroid autoantibodies in our large sample of patients admitted to acute psychiatric hospitalization, and autoimmune autoantibodies were potential biomarkers of psychotic disorders. The results might lead to new research directions for the study of psychiatric disorders in the future.

BACKGROUNDPancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal malignant tumors with no valid biomarkers for early diagnosis. We evaluated the value of PD-1, PD-L1, PD-L2, CD28, B7-1, and B7-H5 for diagnosing PC.METHODSWe measured serum soluble PD-1, PD-L1, PD-L2, CD28, B7-1, and B7-H5, and serum carbohydrate antigen (CA)19-9 levels in 87 patients with PC, 27 patients with benign pancreatic disease, and 20 healthy volunteers. We evaluated the diagnostic value of CA19-9, PD-1, PD-L1, PD-L2, CD28, B7-1, B7-H5.RESULTSPatients with PC had significantly higher serum CA19-9, PD-L1, PD-L2, and B7-H5. Combined detection (CA19-9 + PD-L1 + PD-L2 + B7-H5) had much higher sensitivity than single CA19-9 detection.CONCLUSIONSSerum soluble PD-L1, PD-L2, and B7-H5 might be novel potential biomarkers for diagnosing PC; their combination with serum CA19-9 might improve diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.

Natural glycoside toxins, one of the most ubiquitous toxins in food of plant origin, cause serious health threat on humans and livestock. Evaluation of their health risk is of great significance. We proposed a non-enzymatic sensor based on reduced graphene oxide/gold nanoparticles/boronic acid nano-composites for their rapid and simple detection. The nano-composites were integrally synthesized in liquid dispersion. Gold nanoparticles, which were reduced from chlomauric acid, nucleated and grew on graphene oxide films directly. 4-mercaptophenylboronic acid self-assembled with gold nanoparticles through gold-sulfur bond. With reduction of graphene oxide through cyclic voltammetry, the nano-composites were then one step modified onto the working electrodes as sensing layer. Glycoalkaloids, common glycoside toxins in potatoes, were detected with the functionalized screen-printed electrodes. Electrochemical differential pulse voltammetry was applied for the detection. The sensor exhibited good stability in at least four weeks with a wide detection range from 10 mu M to 1000 mu M. The limit of detection was as low as 3.4 mu M. The developed sensor was successfully applied to the detection of glycoalkaloids in real potato samples. As a proof of concept, the disposable sensor with high sensitivity and selectivity exhibited great application potential for the risk control of natural glycoside toxins in food.

Real-time monitoring wound status and providing timely therapies with smart wound dressing is a promising way to treat wound infections and accelerate the healing process. Herein, to establish a closed-loop monitoring and treatment system, a fully integrated, battery-free, and wireless smart wound dressing for wound infection detection and on-demand drug delivery is developed using flexible electronics. The smart wound dressing integrated with the near field communication module can realize wireless power harvest and data transmission, on-site signal processing, and drug delivery control, through the miniaturized circuit and smartphone. The temperature, pH, and uric acid of the wound is detected simultaneously by the developed sensors to assess wound conditions. Meanwhile, the drug delivery electrode in the dressing is used to provide on-demand infection treatment by the electrically controlled antibiotics delivery. Through in vitro antibacterial experiments and in situ animal studies, it is shown that the dressing can effectively inhibit bacterial growth and accelerate wound healing, which fully validates its effectiveness in the wound treatment. Utilizing the advantages of near-field communication and flexible electronics, the battery-free and integrated design of sensing and treatment provides a promising solution for the development of a closed-loop biomedical system integrating monitoring, diagnosis, and therapy.

The pH of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract has strong correlation with many GI diseases. In this study, a wireless and ingestible capsule system for monitoring GI pH was reported. Iridium oxide was electrodeposited on the screen-printed electrode (SPE) to form the pH sensor, which had the high sensitivity and wide detection range for H+. The rigid-flexible composited printed circuit board (RFPCB) technique was used to design the capsule detection circuit. Both of them were encapsulated into the 3D-printed capsule structure. With the biocompatibility treatment, the entire capsule system could be obtained, whose diameter and height were -14.5 mm and -26 mm, respectively. The capsule system could be ingested into the GI tract to perform real-time pH detection of biofluids, and the detected signal could be wirelessly transmitted to the external receiving device, which could be smartphone, personal computer, or the auxiliary circuit for wireless communication. In the in vivo evaluation of large animal, the capsule system could detect the pH of GI tract in real time, whose detection results were close to that of the professional pH instrument. Thus, the capsule system had the practical application potential of assisting in the clinical diagnosis of GI diseases.

As a severe stage of cancers, peritoneal carcinomatosis should be frequently monitored by means of ascites analysis. Nevertheless, the analysis process is traumatic and time-consuming in clinical practice. In this study, an implantable platinum nanotree microelectrode with a wireless, battery-free and flexible electrochemical patch was developed for in vivo and real-time peritoneal glucose detection to monitor peritoneal carcinomatosis. As the core of implantable microelectrode, platinum trees were synthesized by one-step electrodeposition method and highly sensitive to glucose detection. The platinum nanotree microelectrode was implantable in peritoneal cavity in minimally invasive way. A flexible circuit patch could execute electrochemical test and realize wireless power harvesting and data interaction with a near field communication (NFC)-enabled smartphone. The whole system could detect glucose dynamics in vivo in rat peritoneal cavity. Furthermore, the accuracy of this system was validated in ascites of patients. In this way, the system could offer hassle-free, rapid and minimally invasive opportunities toward peritoneal carcinomatosis monitoring.

Wearable and flexible biosensing devices have been widely developed for in situ detections. Cortisol is a vital biomarker which plays crucial regulatory role in numerous physiological processes of the human body. Here, a wireless, battery-free, and flexible integrated patch is developed for real-time on-body sweat cortisol detection. The patch integrated with all-printed flexible electrochemical immunosensor, which was used to detect cortisol through differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The near field communication (NFC) module on the patch enables wireless power harvesting and data interaction with an NFC-enabled smartphone, which makes the patch get rid of rigid batteries and realize epidermal on-body testing. Multiple in situ detections on volunteers' sweat on the surface of skin showed that the flexible integrated patch could reflect the circadian rhythm of the body's sweat cortisol level changes in relaxed mood or under stress, which could be confirmed with the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. In this way, the patch provides a rapid-detecting, convenient, and non-invasive sensing solution for in situ analysis of sweat cortisol, which can be applied for the personalized mental health management.

Cortisol is commonly used as a significant biomarker of psychological or physical stress. With the accelerated pace of life, non-invasive cortisol detection at the point of care (POC) is in high demand for personal health monitoring. In this paper, an ultrasensitive immunosensor using gold nanoparticles/molybdenum disulfide/gold nanoparticles (AuNPs/MoS2/AuNPs) as transducer was explored for non-invasive salivary cortisol monitoring at POC with the miniaturized differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) system based on a smartphone. Covalent binding of cortisol antibody (CORT-Ab) onto the AuNPs/MoS2/AuNPs transducer was achieved through the self-assembled monolayer of specially designed polyethylene glycol (PEG, SH-PEG-COOH). Non-specific binding was avoided by passivating the surface with ethanolamine. The miniaturized portable DPV system was utilized for human salivary cortisol detection. A series current response of different cortisol concentrations decreased and exhibited a linear range of 0.5–200 nM, the detection limit of 0.11 nM, and high sensitivity of 30 μA M−1 with a regression coefficient of 0.9947. Cortisol was also distinguished successfully from the other substances in saliva. The recovery ratio of spiked human salivary cortisol and the variation of salivary cortisol level during one day indicated the practicability of the immunosensor based on the portable system. The results demonstrated the excellent performance of the smartphone-based immunosensor system and its great potential application for non-invasive human salivary cortisol detection at POC.

Compared with traditional drug delivery methods, transdermal drug delivery has many advantages in avoiding the side effects in gastrointestinal tract, reducing the fluctuations in drug concentration, and improving patients’ compliance. Among them, electrically controlled drug delivery is a promising solution. This work presents a wireless, battery-free and wearable device with electrically controlled drug delivery capability. The electronic component of the device is a flexible circuit board with a temperature sensor and a near-field communication module. With the help of smartphone, the device could wirelessly obtain energy and implement data transmission. The drug delivery component is a paper-based electrode modified with polypyrrole, in which non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug sodium salicylate was encapsulated. The applied potential for electrically controlled drug delivery was more negative than −0.6 V. The drug release dose and release rates could be controlled by applying potentials with different amplitudes and durations through this device. It provided a minimalized wearable transdermal drug delivery platform for monitoring diseases such as gout. This wearable device shows promising potential in develop closed-loop drug delivery and monitoring systems for the treatment of various diseases.