Flexible strain sensors have been widely used in wearable electronic devices for body physical parameter capturing. However, regardless of the stretchability of the sensing material, the resolution of small strain changes or the hysteresis between loading/unloading states has always limited the various applications of these sensors. In this paper, a microfluidic flexible strain sensor was achieved by introducing liquid metal eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) embedded into a wave-shaped microchannel elastomeric matrix (300 μm width × 70 μm height). The microfluidic sensor can withstand a strain of up to 320%, and the hysteresis performance was also improved from 6.79 to 1.02% by the wave-patterned structure which can restrain the viscoelasticity of the elastomer effectively. Moreover, an enhanced wave-shaped strain sensor was fabricated by increasing the length of the microfluidic channel; it has high sensitivity (GF = 4.91) and resolution, and even as low as 0.09% strain change could be detected, which is capable of resolving microdeformation; besides, the enhanced wave-shaped strain sensor exhibits quick response time (t = 116 ms), long-term stability, and durability under periodic dynamic load. As an example of potential applications, the enhanced flexible sensor showed excellent mechanical compliance and was successfully applied as a conceptual wearable device for distinctively monitoring various kinds of human body and robot activities, such as the different states of the finger, neck, breathing chest, robot's joint, and so forth. The flexible waveshaped strain sensor has great promising applications for wearable electronics, motion recognition, healthcare, and soft robotics.

There is growing attention and rapid development on flexible electronic devices with electronic materials and sensing technology innovations. In particular, strain sensors with high elasticity and stretchability are needed for several potential applications including human entertainment technology, human-machine interface, personal healthcare, and sports performance monitoring, etc. This article presents recent advancements in the development of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based flexible resistive strain sensors for wearable applications. First of all, the article shows that PDMS-based stretchable resistive strain sensors are successfully fabricated by different methods, such as the filtration method, printing technology, micromolding method, coating techniques, and liquid phase mixing. Next, strain sensing performances including stretchability, gauge factor, linearity, and durability are comprehensively demonstrated and compared. Finally, potential applications of PDMS-based flexible resistive strain sensors are also discussed. This review indicates that the era of wearable intelligent electronic systems has arrived.

Intestinal bacterial communities play a pivotal role in promoting host health; therefore, the disruption of intestinal bacterial homeostasis could result in disease. However, the effect of the occurrences of disease on intestinal bacterial community assembly remains unclear. To address this gap, we compared the multifaceted ecological differences in maintaining intestinal bacterial community assembly between healthy and diseased shrimps. The neutral model analysis shows that the relative importance of neutral processes decreases when disease occurs. This pattern is further corroborated by the ecosphere null model, revealing that the bacterial community assembly of diseased samples is dominated by stochastic processes. In addition, the occurrence of shrimp disease reduces the complexity and cooperative activities of species-to-species interactions. The keystone taxa affiliated with Alphaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria in healthy shrimp gut shift to Gammaproteobacteria species in diseased shrimp. Changes in intestinal bacterial communities significantly alter biological functions in shrimp. Within a given metabolic pathway, the pattern of enrichment or decrease between healthy and deceased shrimp is correlated with its functional effects. We propose that stressed shrimp are more prone to invasion by alien strains (evidenced by more stochastic assembly and higher migration rate in diseased shrimp), which, in turn, disrupts the cooperative activity among resident species. These findings greatly aid our understanding of the underlying mechanisms that govern shrimp intestinal community assembly between health statuses.

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In the recent years, fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) has emerged as a new modality for staging non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the diagnostic value of 18 F-FDG PET/CT in detecting metastatic lesions in NSCLC patients. Meta-analysis methods were used to pool sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likehood ratios, diagnostic odd ratios and to construct a summary receiver-operating characteristic curve. Data from included studies were pooled to compare the diagnostic accuracy between PET/CT and PET or CT alone in nodal staging. Totally, 56 studies involving 8,699 patients met the inclusion criteria. Lung cancer is the leading cause of tumor-related deaths worldwide, and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for about 80% of all lung cancers. 1 The current criteria for staging NSCLC is based on the TNM system, 2 which determines treatment options and predicts survival. 3 So, staging NSCLC is important, and accurate clinical methods are in great need. Various diagnostic methods have been used for staging NSCLC. [4][5][6][7] Computed tomography (CT) has been widely used to evaluate the nodal status of lung cancer based on the size or shape of the lymph nodes. 8 However, the sensitivity and the specificity were relatively low, because the lymph node size may not correlate with the presence of metastatic disease. 9 Based on the fact that malignant cells show higher rates of glycolysis than most surrounding normal structures, 10 fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) has been introduced and developed as an effective modality for tumor staging in a variety of cancers. 11 However, PET has relatively poor spatial resolution, thus limits its anatomical localization of lesions. 12 Mediastinoscopy, endobronchial and endoscopic ultrasound, and other surgical procedures are frequently used for thoracic nodal evaluation in lung cancer, but these techniques are invasive and cumbersome. 7,13 In the past recent years, 18 F-FDG PET/CT has emerged as a new modality for staging NSCLC patients. 4,14 The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 18 F-FDG PET/CT in detecting metastases in NSCLC patients. Material and Methods Selection criteriaSelection criteria were given as follows: (1) 18 F-FDG PET/CT was used for the evaluation of lymph node (LN) metastases or extrapulmonary metastases in NSCLC; (2) histologic assessment should be applied as reference standard for LN metastases; for studies evaluated extrathoracic metastases, other reference standards such as imaging modality, radiological and clinical follow-up were also applied; (3) absolute numbers of true-positive (TP), false-positive (FP), true-

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Extractable and unextractable proanthocyanidins (EPAs and UEPAs) from leaves of bayberry were characterized. Both EPAs and UEPAs were analyzed by acid catalysis in the presence of excess phloroglucinol. The main cleavage product, epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate-(4β→2)-phloroglucinol, was successfully identified. The EPAs were of the prodelphinidin type. In fact, epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG) and traces of epigallocatechin (EGC) were detected as the extension units, but only EGCG was present in the terminal units. All of the compounds exhibited a 2,3-cis configuration, and >98% of them were galloylated. The mean degree of polymerization (mDP) of bayberry leaf EPAs was 6.5, and the most abundant EPAs were the polymers, with mDP values of 9.5−26.7. The UEPAs were highly polymerized prodelphinidins consisting of EGCG and traces of EGC. In addition, EGCG, three EPA dimers, and two trimers were identified. The EPAs and UEPAs consisted mostly of EGCG, which is unusual in the plant kingdom.

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