Soft robots demonstrate remarkable potential in medical applications owing to their minimally invasive nature, exceptional controllability, and shape-adaptive capabilities. However, existing control systems primarily rely on a single permanent magnet or electromagnetic coil for actuation, resulting in limited robotic motion capabilities, weak electromagnetic field gradient forces, and bulky magnetic drive systems. These constraints substantially hinder the robot's flexibility and functional expandability. To address these constraints, this study proposes a highly integrated hybrid electromagnetic coil permanent magnet actuation system. This innovative design enables actuation force amplification and synergistic regulation of locomotion, deformation, and orientation. Experimental validation confirms the broad operational capacity of the miniature ferrofluidic robot (MFR), including controllable motion-deformation coupling within multiscale luminal structures and active directional control in biomimetic gastric models. Leveraging the MFR's robust deformation and locomotion abilities, the empowerment mechanism for passive structures significantly enhanced compatibility with mechanical systems. Based on this mechanism, we achieved the transportation of larger-mass simulated drug particles by empowering passive delivery systems. To further validate the functionality of MFR, we developed an MFR-based capsule that achieves precise temporal and spatial control of drug release through experiments involving magnetothermal effect-accelerated release of simulated drugs and selective occlusion in simulated blood vessels. These advancements markedly enhanced the application potential of microrobots in complex and confined clinical environments.

Magnetic miniature robots have shown great potential in biomedical applications in recent years. However, a challenge remains in which it is difficult for magnetic miniature robots to achieve balanced capabilities for multimodal locomotion and fluidic manipulation in various environments. Here, we report a magnetic shaftless propeller-like millirobot (MSPM) that possesses the capabilities of rotating-based multimodal 3-dimensional motion and cargo transportation with untethered manipulation. The MSPM utilizes the propulsion and pumping capabilities of the propeller structure to achieve fluidic manipulation. The shaftless propeller structures are designed to achieve omnidirectional locomotion through rolling, propelling, and tumbling. Additionally, the shaftless 3-blade propeller is used to perform a pumping function to achieve controllable transportation of fluids and particles. We anticipate that the MSPM holds great potential as a minimally invasive device for thrombosis treatment and targeted medicine delivery.

In recent years, several serious traffic accidents have exposed the severity of safety issues in autonomous driving technology. Traditional decision-making methods are unable to address potential risky behaviors caused by the functional insufficiencies or machine performance limitations, and human intervention is still needed. This study proposes an intelligent safety decision-making algorithm with passengers' risk assessment by analyzing passenger physiological states online using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). This algorithm is developed based on twin-delayed deep deterministic policy gradient (TD3), and it can overcome the functional insufficiencies of traditional TD3 and guide TD3 using passengers' risk assessment by analyzing passenger physiological states online while confronting risky scenarios. Three experiments have been conducted in autonomous emergency braking, front vehicle cutting-in, and pedestrian crossing scenarios. The results show that the proposed algorithm demonstrates faster convergence and superior safety and comfort performance compared with traditional TD3. This study highlights the applicability of fNIRS technology in enhancing the safety and comfort of autonomous vehicles in the future.

Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is a novel and promising therapeutic intervention for symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (sICAS). This study aimed to evaluate sex differences in stroke recurrence among patients with sICAS and assess the efficacy of RIC in the RICA (chronic remote ischemic conditioning in patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis) trial. The RICA trial was a multicenter, randomized clinical trial conducted across 84 stroke centers in China. Patients with sICAS were randomly assigned on a 1:1 ratio to receive either RIC intervention or sham RIC intervention once daily for 12 months. The primary endpoint was ischemic stroke recurrence. The median follow-up duration was 3.5 years. Of the 3,033 patients enrolled in the RICA trial, 1,079 (35.58%) were women. Female patients were generally older (mean [SD] age 62.9 [8.8] years versus 60 [9.2] years) and had a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and a higher body mass index than male patients. No significant difference was observed in ischemic stroke recurrence risk between female and male patients during a median follow-up of 3.5 years (20.5% versus 16.6%, adjusted hazard ratio, 1.18; [95% CI, 0.97 to 1.42]). However, RIC significantly reduced the risk of ischemic stroke recurrence in male patients, while no similar effect was observed in female patients (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.88; [95% CI, 0.58 to 1.32]; P for interaction = 0.379). No significant sex-based differences were observed in ischemic stroke recurrence among patients with sICAS over the 3.5-year follow-up period. RIC may have better therapeutic benefits for male patients with good compliance.

Birds achieve remarkable flight performance by flexibly morphing their wings during different flight stages. However, due to the lack of experimental data on the free morphing of wings and the complexity of coupled motion in aerodynamics studies, the intricate kinematic changes and aerodynamic mechanisms of wings during various flight stages still need to be explored. To address this issue, we collected comprehensive data on free-flight pigeons (Columba livia). We categorized the wing kinematic parameters during the takeoff, leveling flight, and landing stages into 5 kinematics parameters: flap, twist, sweep, fold, and bend. Based on this, we established a 3-dimensional pigeon wing model, defined its coupled motion using rotation matrices, and then used the computational fluid dynamics method to simulate the coupled motion in the 3 flight stages. We analyzed and compared the kinematic parameter changes, aerodynamic forces, and flow structures. It is found that, within a wingbeat cycle, pigeons during the takeoff stage cause the leading-edge vortex to attach earlier, enhancing instantaneous lift to overcome gravity and achieve ascending. During the leveling flight stage, the pigeon's average lift becomes stable, ensuring a steady flight posture. In the landing stage, the pigeon increases the wing area facing the airflow to maintain a stable landing posture, achieving a more minor, consistent average lift while increasing drag. This study enhances our understanding of birds' flight mechanisms and provides theoretical guidance for developing efficient bio-inspired flapping-wing aerial vehicles.

Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent malignant tumors in men worldwide, and early diagnosis is essential to improve patient survival. This review provides a comprehensive discussion of recent advances in prostate cancer biomarkers, including molecular, cellular, and exosomal biomarkers. The potential of various biomarkers such as gene fusions (TMPRSS2-ERG), noncoding RNAs (SNHG12), proteins (PSA, PSMA, AR), and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the diagnosis, prognosis, and targeted therapies of prostate cancer is emphasized. In addition, this review systematically explores how multi-omics data and artificial intelligence technologies can be used for biomarker discovery and personalized medicine applications. In addition, this review provides insights into the development of specific probes, including fluorescent, electrochemical, and radionuclide probes, for sensitive and accurate detection of prostate cancer biomarkers. In conclusion, this review provides a comprehensive overview of the status and future directions of prostate cancer biomarker research, emphasizing the potential for precision diagnosis and targeted therapy.

Tumors significantly impact individuals' physical well-being and quality of life. With the ongoing advancements in optical technology, information technology, robotic technology, etc., laser technology is being increasingly utilized in the field of tumor treatment, and laser ablation (LA) of tumors remains a prominent area of research interest. This paper presents an overview of the recent progress in tumor LA therapy, with a focus on the mechanisms and biological effects of LA, commonly used ablation lasers, image-guided LA, and robotic-assisted LA. Further insights and future prospects are discussed in relation to these aspects, and the paper proposed potential future directions for the development of tumor LA techniques.

Human cooperation relies on key features of social interaction in order to reach desirable outcomes. Similarly, human-robot interaction may benefit from integration with human-human interaction factors. In this paper, we aim to investigate brain-to-brain coupling during motor imagery (MI)-based brain-computer interface (BCI) training using eye-contact and hand-touch interaction. Twelve pairs of friends (experimental group) and 10 pairs of strangers (control group) were recruited for MI-based BCI tests concurrent with electroencephalography (EEG) hyperscanning. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) was estimated to measure cortical activation, and interbrain functional connectivity was assessed using multilevel statistical analysis. Furthermore, we compared BCI classification performance under different social interaction conditions. In the experimental group, greater ERD was found around the contralateral sensorimotor cortex under social interaction conditions compared with MI without any social interaction. Notably, EEG channels with decreased power were mainly distributed around the frontal, central, and occipital regions. A significant increase in interbrain coupling was also found under social interaction conditions. BCI decoding accuracies were significantly improved in the eye contact condition and eye and hand contact condition compared with the no-interaction condition. However, for the strangers' group, no positive effects were observed in comparisons of cortical activations between interaction and no-interaction conditions. These findings indicate that social interaction can improve the neural synchronization between familiar partners with enhanced brain activations and brain-to-brain coupling. This study may provide a novel method for enhancing MI-based BCI performance in conjunction with neural synchronization between users.

Nanopipette-based observation of intracellular biochemical processes is an important approach to revealing the intrinsic characteristics and heterogeneity of cells for better investigation of disease progression or early disease diagnosis. However, the manual operation needs a skilled operator and faces problems such as low throughput and poor reproducibility. This paper proposes an automated nanopipette-based microoperation system for cell detection, three-dimensional nonovershoot positioning of the nanopipette tip in proximity to the cell of interest, cell approaching and proximity detection between nanopipette tip and cell surface, and cell penetration and detection of the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). A robust focus algorithm based on the number of cell contours was proposed for adherent cells, which have sharp peaks while retaining unimodality. The automated detection of adherent cells was evaluated on human umbilical cord vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and NIH/3T3 cells, which provided an average of 95.65% true-positive rate (TPR) and 7.59% false-positive rate (FPR) for in-plane cell detection. The three-dimensional nonovershoot tip positioning of the nanopipette was achieved by template matching and evaluated under the interference of cells. Ion current feedback was employed for the proximity detection between the nanopipette tip and cell surface. Finally, cell penetration and electrochemical detection of ROS were demonstrated on human breast cancer cells and zebrafish embryo cells. This work provides a systematic approach for automated intracellular sensing for adherent cells, laying a solid foundation for high-throughput detection, diagnosis, and classification of different forms of biochemical reactions within single cells.

Biohybrid micro- and nanorobots are integrated tiny machines from biological components and artificial components. They can possess the advantages of onboard actuation, sensing, control, and implementation of multiple medical tasks such as targeted drug delivery, single-cell manipulation, and cell microsurgery. This review paper is to give an overview of biohybrid micro- and nanorobots for smart drug delivery applications. First, a wide range of biohybrid micro- and nanorobots comprising different biological components are reviewed in detail. Subsequently, the applications of biohybrid micro- and nanorobots for active drug delivery are introduced to demonstrate how such biohybrid micro- and nanorobots are being exploited in the field of medicine and healthcare. Lastly, key challenges to be overcome are discussed to pave the way for the clinical translation and application of the biohybrid micro- and nanorobots.