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Silicosis, a prevalent occupational disease caused by exposure to silica particles, currently lacks effective treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with its millennia of clinical application, offers potential therapeutic solutions. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of astragaloside IV (ASV) combined with quercetin (QUE) in silicosis, particular focus on their possible mechanisms involving autophagy modulation and pyroptosis regulation. Rat silicosis models were established through silica particle exposure to evaluate the therapeutic effects of ASV and QUE coadministration over 28 days. We assessed pulmonary inflammatory and fibrotic markers while simultaneously analyzing autophagy and pyroptosis-related indicators to elucidate the underlying mechanism. The ASV and QUE combination therapy significantly ameliorated silicosis pathology, demonstrating marked anti-inflammatory effects through the reduction of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) levels, while effectively attenuating pulmonary fibrosis as shown by decreased α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and hydroxyproline (HYP) concentrations following 28 days of treatment. Mechanistic investigations revealed enhanced autophagy activity, evidenced by upregulated microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) II/I ratio and Beclin1 expression coupled with downregulated sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1/P62), along with suppressed pyroptosis as indicated by reduced interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-18 (IL-18), and Caspase-1 levels. ASV combined with QUE could alleviate silica-induced pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis in rats, with the protective mechanism potentially mediated through enhanced autophagy activation and suppressed pyroptosis pathway.

Artificial skin, also known as bioinspired electronic skin (e-skin), refers to intelligent wearable electronics that imitate the tactile sensory function of human skin and identify the detected changes in external information through different electrical signals. Flexible e-skin can achieve a wide range of functions such as accurate detection and identification of pressure, strain, and temperature, which has greatly extended their application potential in the field of healthcare monitoring and human-machine interaction (HMI). During recent years, the exploration and development of the design, construction, and performance of artificial skin has received extensive attention from researchers. With the advantages of high permeability, great ratio surface of area, and easy functional modification, electrospun nanofibers are suitable for the construction of electronic skin and further demonstrate broad application prospects in the fields of medical monitoring and HMI. Therefore, the critical review is provided to comprehensively summarize the recent advances in substrate materials, optimized fabrication techniques, response mechanisms, and related applications of the flexible electrospun nanofiber-based bio-inspired artificial skin. Finally, some current challenges and future prospects are outlined and discussed, and we hope that this review will help researchers to better understand the whole field and take it to the next level.

Ionic hydrogels outperform existing rigid and bulky electronics with many remarkable advantages including great flexibility, high conductivity, exceptional biocompatibility, and transparency, making them ideal materials for wearable human–machine interfaces (HMIs). However, traditional HMIs typically rely on external power sources, which impose limitations in terms of device size and weight, thereby compromising the user experience in HMIs. The advent of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) employing ionic hydrogels has introduced a sustainable energy solution for self-powered HMIs. These TENGs can harvest the electrical energy resulting from the migration of ions induced by mechanical motion, thereby offering a sustainable energy solution for applications in wearable HMIs. Hence, the development of ionic hydrogels-based TENGs holds immense potential for the advancement of self-powered HMIs. This review first introduces the latest achievements in the fabrication of ionic hydrogel-based TENGs using diverse materials, including synthetic polymers, natural polymers, and low-dimensional materials. Then different working principles and modes of the ionic hydrogel-based TENGs are elucidated. Subsequently, the applications of these TENGs in self-powered HMIs are discussed, such as robot control, medical applications, electronic device control, and other applications. Finally, the current status and future prospects of ionic hydrogel-based TENGs in self-powered HMIs are summarized. We hope that this review will provide inspiration for the future development of self-powered human–machine interfaces utilizing ionic hydrogels-based TENGs.

As a small molecule, hydrogen is colorless, odorless and lightest. Many studies conducted that hydrogen can protect almost every organ, including the brain, heart muscle, liver, small intestine, and lungs. To verify whether high concentrations of hydrogen (HCH) has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities on respiratory system, we product a systematic review and meta-analysis. We investigated MEDLINE-PubMed, Cochrane Library, ScienceDirect, Wiley and SpringerLink database and selected in vivo studies related to the anti-inflammatory or antioxidant effects of HCH in the lung diseases which were published until September 2023. We firstly identified 437 studies and only 12 met the inclusion criteria. They all conducted in rodents. The results showed that HCH had a positive effect on the reduction of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-8, malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reactive oxygen species (ROS); but there is no effect on IL-6, we speculated that may contribute to the test results for different body fluids and at different points in time. This meta-analysis discovered the protective effects on inflammation and oxidative stress, but whether there exists more effects on reduction of inflammatory and oxidant mediators needs to be further elucidated.

In recent years, the interest in medical monitoring for human health has been rapidly increasing due to widespread concern. Hydrogels are widely used in medical monitoring and other fields due to their excellent mechanical properties, electrical conductivity and adhesion. However, some of the non-degradable materials in hydrogels may cause some environmental damage and resource waste. Therefore, organic renewable natural polymers with excellent properties of biocompatibility, biodegradability, low cost and non-toxicity are expected to serve as an alternative to those non-degradable materials, and also provide a broad application prospect for the development of natural-polymer-based hydrogels as flexible electronic devices. This paper reviews the progress of research on many different types of natural-polymer-based hydrogels such as proteins and polysaccharides. The applications of natural-polymer-based hydrogels in body movement detection and biomedical monitoring are then discussed. Finally, the present challenges and future prospects of natural polymer-based hydrogels are summarized.

Neurological electronic skin (E-skin) can process and transmit information in a distributed manner that achieves effective stimuli perception, holding great promise in neuroprosthetics and soft robotics. Neurological E-skin with multifunctional perception abilities can enable robots to precisely interact with the complex surrounding environment. However, current neurological E-skins that possess tactile, thermal, and visual perception abilities are usually prepared with rigid materials, bringing difficulties in realizing biologically synapse-like softness. Here, we report a soft multifunctional neurological E-skin (SMNE) comprised of a poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofiber polymer semiconductor-based stretchable synaptic transistor and multiple soft artificial sensory receptors, which is capable of effectively perceiving force, thermal, and light stimuli. The stretchable synaptic transistor can convert electrical signals into transient channel currents analogous to the biological excitatory postsynaptic currents. And it also possesses both short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity that mimics the human memory system. By integrating a stretchable triboelectric nanogenerator, a soft thermoelectric device, and an elastic photodetector as artificial receptors, we further developed an SMNE that enables the robot to make precise actions in response to various surrounding stimuli. Compared with traditional neurological E-skin, our SMNE can maintain the softness and adaptability of biological synapses while perceiving multiple stimuli including force, temperature, and light. This SMNE could promote the advancement of E-skins for intelligent robot applications.

Metallic mesh is an important technic approach to realize the stealth of the electro-optical radar. This paper demonstrates the designing thoughts of metallic mesh, and in the conclusion, this paper achieves the integrated design method by analysing electromagnetic shielding, permeability and so on. By using this method, a metallic mesh designing with high electromagnetic shielding is designed, which will make the aircraft gain better stealth effect in combat.

Ionic hydrogels possess great advantages over traditional electronic devices due to their notable properties such as excellent flexibility, high conductivity, and tunable gel structure, making them widely employed in electronic skins for electrophysiological monitoring. However, conventional electronic skins are usually easy to detach from the skin and suffer from stress fatigue due to frequent body movements, impeding user experience in health monitoring. Therefore, the fabrication of ionic hydrogels with certain unique properties could address these issues, offering broad prospects for ionic hydrogels. This review first introduces the fabrication materials for ionic hydrogels. Then the unique properties of ionic hydrogels in adhesiveness, self-healing, and recyclability are discussed. Subsequently, the applications of ionic hydrogels in electrophysiological monitoring are summarized. Finally, we give an outlook on the current status and future prospects of ionic hydrogel-based electronic skins. Hopefully this work will contribute insights into the advance of ionic hydrogel-based electronic skins. Graphical abstract This review introduces the fabrication materials for ionic hydrogels. The unique properties of ionic hydrogels in adhesiveness, self-healing, and recyclability are discussed. Subsequently, the applications of ionic hydrogels in electrophysiological monitoring are summarized. Finally, we give an outlook on the current status and future prospects of ionic hydrogel-based electronic skins. It is expected that continued efforts in material design, device integration will shape the future of ionic hydrogel advancements, enabling new possibilities in healthcare monitoring.

Background Patient‐based real‐time quality control (PBRTQC) has gained attention because of its potential to continuously monitor the analytical quality in situations wherein internal quality control (IQC) is less effective. Therefore, we tried to investigate the application of PBRTQC method based on an artificial intelligence monitoring (AI‐MA) platform in quality risk monitoring of Down syndrome (DS) serum screening. Methods The DS serum screening item determination data and relative IQC data from January 4 to September 7 in 2021 were collected. Then, PBRTQC exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) and moving average (MA) procedures were built and optimized in the AI‐MA platform. The efficiency of the EWMA and MA procedures with intelligent and traditional control rules were compared. Next, the optimal EWMA procedures that contributed to the quality assurance of serum screening were run and generated early warning cases were investigated. Results Optimal EWMA and MA procedures on the AI‐MA platform were built. Comparison results showed the EWMA procedure with intelligent QC rules but not traditional quality rules contained the best efficiency. Based on the AI‐MA platform, two early warning cases were generated by using the optimal EWMA procedure, which finally found were caused by instrument failure. Moreover, the EWMA procedure could truly reflect the detection accuracy and quality in situations wherein traditional IQC products were unstable or concentrations were inappropriate. Conclusions The EWMA procedure built by the AI‐MA platform could be a good complementary control tool for the DS serum screening by truly and timely reflecting the detection quality risks. During the period of early‐warning occurrence, the traditional internal quality control (IQC) method did not trigger the quality control rules, such as 1‐3s or 2‐2s. However, the patient‐based real‐time quality control (PBRTQC) exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) procedure with intelligent QC rules in the artificial intelligence monitoring (AI‐MA) platform could accurately provide warning signals before the emergence of realistic warning events caused by machine malfunction, which proved that the PBRTQC procedure built up by the AI‐MA platform could be used as a complementary quality control tool for the traditional IQC method to monitor the overall process of experiment.