Explore the vast range of titles available.

Epidermal growth factor is an excellent drug for promoting wound healing; however, its conventional administration strategies are associated with pharmacodynamic challenges, such as low transdermal permeability, reduction, and receptor desensitization. Here, we develop a microneedle-based self-powered transcutaneous electrical stimulation system (mn-STESS) by integrating a sliding free-standing triboelectric nanogenerator with a microneedle patch to achieve improved epidermal growth factor pharmacodynamics. We show that the mn-STESS facilitates drug penetration and utilization by using microneedles to pierce the stratum corneum. More importantly, we find that it converts the mechanical energy of finger sliding into electricity and mediates transcutaneous electrical stimulation through microneedles. We demonstrate that the electrical stimulation applied by mn-STESS acts as an “adjuvant” that suppresses the reduction of epidermal growth factor by glutathione and upregulates its receptor expression in keratinocyte cells, successfully compensating for receptor desensitization. Collectively, this work highlights the promise of self-powered electrical adjuvants in improving drug pharmacodynamics, creating combinatorial therapeutic strategies for traditional drugs. The use of epidermal growth factor for wound healing is limited by transdermal permeability, reduction, and receptor desensitization. Here the authors develop a microneedle-based self-powered transcutaneous electrical stimulation system to overcome these challenges.

Harvesting biomechanical energy from cardiac motion is an attractive power source for implantable bioelectronic devices. Here, we report a battery-free, transcatheter, self-powered intracardiac pacemaker based on the coupled effect of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction for the treatment of arrhythmia in large animal models. We show that the capsule-shaped device (1.75 g, 1.52 cc) can be integrated with a delivery catheter for implanting in the right ventricle of a swine through the intravenous route, which effectively converts cardiac motion energy to electricity and maintains endocardial pacing function during the three-week follow-up period. We measure in vivo open circuit voltage and short circuit current of the self-powered intracardiac pacemaker of about 6.0 V and 0.2 μA, respectively. This approach exhibits up-to-date progress in self-powered medical devices and it may overcome the inherent energy shortcomings of implantable pacemakers and other bioelectronic devices for therapy and sensing. Harvesting biomechanical energy from cardiac motion is an attractive power source for implantable bioelectronic devices. Here, the authors report a battery-free, transcatheter, self-powered intracardiac pacemaker for the treatment of arrhythmia in large animal models.

Tissue repair and reconstruction are a clinical difficulty. Bioelectricity has been identified as a critical factor in supporting tissue and cell viability during the repair process, presenting substantial potential for clinical application. This review delves into various sources of electrical stimulation and identifies appropriate electrode materials for clinical use. It also highlights the biological mechanisms of electrical stimulation at both the subcellular and cellular levels, elucidating how these interactions facilitate the repair and regeneration processes across different organs. Moreover, specific electrode materials and stimulation sources are outlined, detailing their impact on cellular activity. The future development trends are projected from two perspectives: the optimization of equipment performance and the fulfillment of clinical demands, focusing on the feasibility, safety, and cost‐effectiveness of technologies. This review discusses various types of electrical stimulation sources and materials, delving into the roles and mechanisms of electrical stimulation therapy in plastic surgery for tissue repair. This work broadens the clinical perspective of electrical stimulation, covering diverse repair needs from bone to soft tissues, and provides insights into future advancements in equipment optimization and clinical applications.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe neurological disease, often accompanied by impaired lower limb motor function and muscle atrophy. Epidural electrical stimulation (EES) has been demonstrated promising for SCI therapy in ways of rehabilitation by facilitating the recovery of lower limb motor abilities. However, EES necessitates a considerable consumption of electrical energy and exhibits large individual differences in treatment. Nanogenerators (NGs) based on a novel power generation technology, are capable of transforming mechanical energy into electrical power. This mechanic‐driven electrical stimulation has been reported effective in several types of neuromodulations, but not in EES to enable SCI rehabilitation. This study explores the efficacy of a hybrid‐NG (H‐NG) to elicit hindlimb locomotion in rats via EES on the spinal cord, in comparison with a commercial stimulus generator (SG). The results reveal that H‐NG can activate the spinal cord and induce hindlimb locomotion with much lower electrical parameters and much smaller individual differences than SG. In addition, benefiting from the miniature size of the H‐NG, an implantable EES system is constructed in vivo, enabling a self‐driven and rational‐controlled EES pattern. The proposed H‐NG‐based EES system provides a new strategy for optimized and personalized treatment for SCI patients. A hybrid nanogenerator (H‐NG) has been developed to be applied in epidural electrical stimulation (EES). Compared with a commercial stimulus generator (SG), the H‐NG can elicit hindlimb locomotion in rats with much lower electrical parameters and much smaller individual differences. The proposed H‐NG‐based EES system provides a promising treatment technology for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients.

Radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation has emerged as an effective alternative for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF), but ablation lesions will result in swelling and hematoma of local surrounding tissue, triggering inflammatory cell infiltration and increased release of inflammatory cytokines. Some studies have shown that the inflammatory response may be related to the early occurrence of AF. The most direct way to inhibit perioperative inflammation is to use anti-inflammatory drugs such as glucocorticoids. Here, we prepared polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles loaded with budesonide (BUD) and delivered them through irrigation of saline during the onset of ablation. Local high temperature promoted local rupture of PLGA nanoparticles, releasing BUD, and produced a timely and effective local myocardial anti-inflammatory effect, resulting in the reduction of acute hematoma and inflammatory cell infiltration and the enhancement of ablation effect. Nanoparticles would also infiltrate into the local myocardium and gradually release BUD ingredients to produce a continuous anti-inflammatory effect in the next few days. This resulted in a decrease in the level of inflammatory cytokine IL-6 and an increase of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. This study explored an extraordinary drug delivery strategy to reduce ablation-related inflammation, which may prevent early recurrence of AF.

Electronic skin that is deformable, self-healable, and self-powered has high competitiveness for next-generation energy/sense/robotic applications. Herein, we fabricated a stretchable, self-healable triboelectric nanogenerator (SH-TENG) as electronic skin for energy harvesting and tactile sensing. The elongation of SH-TENG can achieve 800% (uniaxial strain) and the SH-TENG can self-heal within 2.5 min. The SH-TENG is based on the single-electrode mode, which is constructed from ion hydrogels with an area of 2 cm × 3 cm, the output of short-circuit transferred charge (Qsc), open-circuit voltage (Voc), and short-circuit current (Isc) reaches ~6 nC, ~22 V, and ~400 nA, and the corresponding output power density is ~2.9 μW × cm−2 when the matching resistance was ~140 MΩ. As a biomechanical energy harvesting device, the SH-TENG also can drive red light-emitting diodes (LEDs) bulbs. Meanwhile, SH-TENG has shown good sensitivity to low-frequency human touch and can be used as an artificial electronic skin for touch/pressure sensing. This work provides a suitable candidate for the material selection of the hydrogel-based self-powered electronic skin.

In cutaneous cosmetology surgery, local injection or coated anesthetics are generally used to provide analgesia at the treatment site to achieve painless operation. Due to the barrier of corneum, topical cream may cause uncertain dosage and delayed analgesia. Local injection has problems such as pain, infection, and misoperation. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a painless and rapid administration method for local anesthesia. Here, a lidocaine/hyaluronic acid bubble microneedle patch (Lido/HA bMNP) was prepared for rapid drug delivery and efficient analgesia. The bubble structure between microneedles (MNs) and the backing layer allowed the MNs to efficiently penetrate into the skin and remove from the backing layer under shear force to rapidly complete the administration. Drugs were quickly released with the dissolution of HA within 15 s, which immediately played an analgesic effect and lasted for 1 h. Lido/HA bMNP could deliver precise doses to the skin in an extremely short time, which had the advantages of convenient operation, high biosafety, rapid onset of analgesia, and reasonable pain relief time. This patch provided an alternative way for local anesthesia and it was a promising transdermal drug delivery method for the realization of high quality and efficiency “painless medical beauty”.

Pressure pipelines, as special pressure-bearing equipment, are widely used in industries such as petroleum, petrochemicals, chemicals, and electricity. They often operate in environments characterized by high temperatures, high pressures, and corrosive media. Once accidents occur, they can have catastrophic consequences. This paper focuses on the analysis of cracks discovered during regular inspections of a feed pipeline in a hydrogenation unit. Macroscopically, there are approximately 12 cracks, with lengths ranging from 10 to 20 mm, propagating from the outer surface inward but not penetrating the pipe wall. Analytical results show that the material composition, hardness, mechanical properties, and metallographic structure all meet standard requirements, with no signs of material degradation. Subsequently, scanning electron microscopy was used to analyze the corrosion products at the crack tips, revealing a high content of chlorine elements. It is inferred that the cracks on the parent material of the pipe are due to chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking, where the cracks initiate from pits on the external surface of the pipeline and propagate inward and axially under the stress corrosion induced by chlorides. Finally, the paper proposes corresponding suggestions for subsequent management, emphasizing the need to control the surface quality of pipelines to avoid deep pits and to inspect and repair the pipeline’s insulation aluminum jacket to prevent rainwater infiltration.

Pressure class special equipment is essential to the operation of a petrochemical production plant. Any failure in this equipment can lead to disastrous consequences. Therefore, during maintenance, it is crucial for technicians to quickly identify equipment problems, analyze their causes, and address them promptly to ensure safe operation. This paper takes a phenol acetone plant (PA) extraction tower as an example, for the penetration test found in the cladding cracks, to carry out background investigation, macro-inspection, spectral analysis, hardness testing, ferrite testing, and metallurgical testing. After comprehensive analysis, it is believed that the surface crack of the cladding layer is caused by chloride stress corrosion cracking, which is caused by improper welding process in the manufacturing process, resulting in large residual stress and intergranular sensitization of 300 series stainless steel. At the same time, according to the actual situation of the site, opinions on disposal and suggestions for subsequent use are given, which provides a reference for the inspection and testing of similar equipment.