Twin Meander Coil

Energy-efficient and unconstrained wearable sensing platforms are essential for ubiquitous healthcare and activity monitoring applications. This paper presents Twin Meander Coil for wirelessly connecting battery-free on-body sensors to a textile-based reader knitted into clothing. This connection is based on passive inductive telemetry (PIT), wherein an external reader coil collects data from passive sensor coils via the magnetic field. In contrast to standard active sensing techniques, PIT does not require the reader to power up the sensors. Thus, the reader can be fabricated using a lossy conductive thread and industrial knitting machines. Furthermore, the sensors can superimpose information such as ID, touch, rotation, and pressure on its frequency response. However, conventional PIT technology needs a strong coupling between the reader and the sensor, requiring the reader to be small to the same extent as the sensors' size. Thus, applying this technology to body-scale sensing systems is challenging. To enable body-scale readout, Twin Meander Coil enhances the sensitivity of PIT technology by dividing the body-scale meander-shaped reader coils into two parts and integrating them so that they support the readout of each other. To demonstrate its feasibility, we built a prototype with a knitting machine, evaluated its sensing ability, and demonstrated several applications.

Amphidinium stirisquamtum sp. nov. (Dinophyceae), a new marine sand-dwelling dinoflagellate with a novel type of body scale

Amphidinium species are amongst the most abundant benthic dinoflagellates in marine intertidal sandy ecosystems. Some of them produce a variety of bioactive compounds that have both harmful effects and pharmaceutical potential. In this study, Amphidinium cells were isolated from intertidal sand collected from the East China Sea. The two strains established were subjected to detailed examination by light, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The vegetative cells had a minute, irregular, and triangular-shaped epicone deflected to the left, thus fitting the description of Amphidinium sensu stricto. These strains are distinguished from other Amphidinium species by combination characteristics: (1) longitudinal flagellum inserted in the lower third of the cell; (2) icicle-shaped scales, 276 ± 17 nm in length, on the cell body surface; (3) asymmetrical hypocone with the left side longer than the right; and (4) presence of immotile cells. Therefore, they are described here as Amphidinium stirisquamtum sp. nov. The molecular tree inferred from small subunit rRNA, large subunit rRNA, and internal transcribed spacer-5.8S sequences revealed that A. stirisquamtum is grouped together with the type species of Amphidinium, A. operculatum, in a fully supported clade, but is distantly related to other Amphidinium species bearing body scale. Live A. stirisquamtum cells greatly affected the survival of rotifers and brine shrimp, their primary grazers, making them more susceptible to predation by the higher tropic level consumers in the food web. This will increase the risk of introducing toxicity, and consequently, the bioaccumulation of toxins through marine food webs.

Identify. Quantify. Predict. Why Immunologists Should Widely Use Molecular Imaging for Coronavirus Disease 2019

Molecular imaging using PET/CT or PET/MRI has evolved from an experimental imaging modality at its inception in 1972 to an integral component of diagnostic procedures in oncology, and, to lesser extent, in cardiology and neurology, by successfully offering in-vivo imaging and quantitation of key pathophysiological targets or molecular signatures, such as glucose metabolism in cancerous disease. Apart from metabolism probes, novel radiolabeled peptide and antibody PET tracers, including radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have entered the clinical arena, providing the in-vivo capability to collect target-specific quantitative in-vivo data on cellular and molecular pathomechanisms on a whole-body scale, and eventually, extract imaging biomarkers possibly serving as prognostic indicators. The success of molecular imaging in mapping disease severity on a whole-body scale, and directing targeted therapies in oncology possibly could translate to the management of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), by identifying, localizing, and quantifying involvement of different immune mediated responses to the infection with SARS-COV2 during the course of acute infection and possible, chronic courses with long-term effects on specific organs. The authors summarize current knowledge for medical imaging in COVID-19 in general with a focus on molecular imaging technology and provide a perspective for immunologists interested in molecular imaging research using validated and immediately available molecular probes, as well as possible future targets, highlighting key targets for tailored treatment approaches as brought up by key opinion leaders.

Endoscopy-assisted magnetic navigation of biohybrid soft microrobots with rapid endoluminal delivery and imaging

High-precision delivery of microrobots at the whole-body scale is of considerable importance for efforts toward targeted therapeutic intervention. However, vision-based control of microrobots, to deep and narrow spaces inside the body, remains a challenge. Here, we report a soft and resilient magnetic cell microrobot with high biocompatibility that can interface with the human body and adapt to the complex surroundings while navigating inside the body. We achieve time-efficient delivery of soft microrobots using an integrated platform called endoscopy-assisted magnetic actuation with dual imaging system (EMADIS). EMADIS enables rapid deployment across multiple organ/tissue barriers at the whole-body scale and high-precision delivery of soft and biohybrid microrobots in real time to tiny regions with depth up to meter scale through natural orifice, which are commonly inaccessible and even invisible by conventional endoscope and medical robots. The precise delivery of magnetic stem cell spheroid microrobots (MSCSMs) by the EMADIS transesophageal into the bile duct with a total distance of about 100 centimeters can be completed within 8 minutes. The integration strategy offers a full clinical imaging technique–based therapeutic/intervention system, which broadens the accessibility of hitherto hard-to-access regions, by means of soft microrobots.

A NEW SPECIES OF Lankascincus GREER, 1991 (REPTILIA : SCINCIDAE) FROM THE RAKWANA HILLS OF SRI LANKA

A new species of the endemic scincid lizard genus Lankascincus from the Rakwana hills of Sri Lanka, is described. The new species is distinguished from its congeners by possessing the following combination of characters: maximum SVL less than 35.0 mm, prefrontals in broad contact, seven supralabials, last supralabial scale split, 24 mid-body scale rows, 46–48 paravertebrals, 49–51 ventrals, 13–16 lamellae on fourth toe, and a conspicuous dark brown band from snout to mid-tail, gradually fading posteriad. The number of palpebral scales around eye is used as a meristic character in the genus Lankascincus for the first time.