Mechanical regulation and electric stimulation hold great promise in skin tissue engineering for manipulating wound healing. However, the complexity of equipment operation and stimulation implementation remains an ongoing challenge in clinical applications. Here, we propose a programmable and skin temperature–activated electromechanical synergistic wound dressing composed of a shape memory alloy-based mechanical metamaterial for wound contraction and an antibacterial electret thin film for electric field generation. This strategy is successfully demonstrated on rats to achieve effective wound healing in as short as 4 and 8 days for linear and circular wounds, respectively, with a statistically significant over 50% improvement in wound closure rate versus the blank control group. The optimally designed electromechanical synergistic stimulation could regulate the wound microenvironment to accelerate healing metabolism, promote wound closure, and inhibit infection. This work provided an effective wound healing strategy in the context of a programmable temperature-responsive, battery-free electromechanical synergistic biomedical device.

Here, we demonstrate that thermoacoustic imaging (TAI) is able to image human blood vessels in vivo without the use of any contrast agent. By optimizing the polarization direction of the antenna used, the microwave energy deposition in blood vessels is significantly enhanced, allowing the in vivo acquisition of thermoacoustic vascular images. Specifically, the fore arms of two adult male volunteers were imaged, and the blood vessels 5.5 mm below the skin in the forearm were recovered by TAI in both cross- and sagittal sections. Ultrasound imaging was used to cross-validate the images of blood vessels thermoacoustically imaged. The results obtained suggest that TAI may have the potential to become a new tool for examining vascular diseases.

Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy stands as an innovative neurostimulation modality that has demonstrated both efficacy and safety in improving brain function. This therapy exerts multifaceted influences on neurons, blood vessels, and their intricate interplay known as neurovascular coupling (NVC). Growing evidence indicates that NVC may present a promising target for PBM intervention. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying its therapeutic benefits remain to be fully understood. This review aims to elucidate the potential metabolic pathways and signaling cascades involved in the modulatory effects of PBM, while also exploring the extensive repertoire of PBM applications in neurologic and psychiatric conditions. The prospects of PBM within the realm of NVC investigation are intensively considered, providing deeper insights into the powerful capabilities of PBM therapy and its potential to revolutionize neurostimulation treatments.

It is very important to develop a new therapeutic strategy to cope with the increasing morbidity and mortality of chronic kidney disease (CKD). As a kind of physical therapy, low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) has remarkable anti-inflammatory and repair-promoting effects and is expected to become a new therapeutic method for CKD. This study aims to clarify the treatment effect of LIPUS on CKD-related renal inflammation and fibrosis, and to further explore the potential signal network of LIPUS treatment for ameliorating chronic renal injury. A rat model simulating the progress of CKD was established by twice tail-vein injection of Adriamycin (ADR). Under anesthesia, bilateral kidneys of CKD rats were continuously stimulated by LIPUS for four weeks. The parameters of LIPUS were 1.0 MHz, 60 mW/cm², 50% duty cycle and 20 min/d. LIPUS treatment effectively inhibited ADR-induced renal inflammation and fibrosis, and improved CKD-related to oxidative stress and ferroptosis. In addition, the therapeutic effect of LIPUS is closely related to the regulation of TGF-β₁/Smad and Nrf2/keap1/HO-1 signalling pathways. This study provides a new direction for further mechanism research and lays an important foundation for clinical trials.

Liver function reserve (LFR) plays an extensive and important role in patients with liver disease. Indocyanine green (ICG) clearance test is the standard diagnostic approach for LFR evaluation which was performed by spectrophotometry or pulse dye densitometry (PDD). Spectrophotometry is the gold standard, it's invasive and not real-time. PDD is non-invasive, but accuracy of PDD is controversial. Taken spectrophotometry as the reference standard, this study investigated the accuracy of photoacoustic imaging (PAI) method for LFR assessment and compared to PDD in healthy volunteers. The results demonstrated a strong correlation between PAI method and spectrophotometry (r = 0.9649, p < 0.0001). No significant difference was shown in ICG clearance between PAI and spectrophotometry method (rate constant k1 vs. k2, 0.001158 +-0.00042 vs. 0.001491 +- 0.00045, p = 0.0727; half-life t1 vs. t2, 601.2 s vs. 474.4 s, p = 0.1450). These results indicated that PAI may be valuable as a noninvasive, accurate diagnostic tool for LFR assessment in human.

With the rapid development of modern communication technology, spectrum resources have become non-renewable and precious resources, and the terahertz frequency band has entered people's vision. Nowadays, terahertz communication technology has become one of the core technologies for future high-capacity and high-rate communication. This paper discusses and analyzes the core technologies related to the field of terahertz communication. We introduce the characteristics, domestic and international comparisons and development trends of the core devices for terahertz communication, and also introduce and discuss the terahertz solid-state frequency mixing communication system, terahertz direct modulation communication system, and terahertz optoelectronic communication system. Finally, we summarize the development of terahertz communication technology and the outlook of future applications.