High‐resolution fluid dispensing techniques play a critical role in modern digital microfluidics, micro‐biosensing, and advanced fabrication. Though most of existing dispensers can achieve precise and high‐throughput fluid dispensing, they suffer from some inherent problems, such as specially fabricated dispensing micronozzles/microtips, large operating systems, low volume tunability, and poor performance for low surface tension liquids and liquids containing solid/liquid additives. Herein, the authors propose a facile, low‐frequency micro dispensing technique based on the Rayleigh–Plateau instability of singular liquid jets, which are stimulated by the air cavity collapse arising in the impact of microliter drops on non‐wetting surfaces. This novel dispensing strategy is capable to produce single microdrops of low‐viscosity liquids with a tunable volume from picoliters to nanoliters, and the operational surface tension range covers most laboratory solvents. The dispensing function is implemented without using small‐dimension nozzles/tips and enables handling diverse complex liquids. Moreover, the rather simple operating platform allows the integration of the whole dispensing function into a handy portable device with a low cost. Employing this microdispensing technique, the authors have controlled microchemical reactions, handled liquid samples in biological analysis, and fabricated smart materials and devices. The authors envision that this rational microdrop generator would find applications in various research areas.

Most sleep-staging research has focused on developing and optimizing algorithms for sleep scoring, but little attention has been paid to the effect of different electroencephalogram (EEG) derivations on sleep staging. To explore the possible effects of EEG derivations, an automatic computer method was established and confirmed by agreement analysis between the computer and two independent raters, and four fronto-parietal bipolar leads were compared for sleep scoring in rats. The results demonstrated that different bipolar electrodes have significantly different sleep-staging accuracies, and that the optimal frontal electrode for sleep scoring is located at the anterior midline.

For the electroencephalogram (EEG), topographic differences in the long-range temporal correlations would imply that these signals might be affected by specific mechanisms related to the generation of a given neuronal process. So the properties of the generators of various EEG oscillations might be investigated by their spatial differences of the long-range temporal correlations. In the present study, these correlations were characterized with respect to their topography during different vigilance states by detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The results indicated that (1) most of the scaling exponents acquired from different EEG derivations for various oscillations were significantly different in each vigilance state; these differences might be resulted from the different quantities and different locations of sleep stage-dependent generators of various neuronal processes; (2) there might be multiple generators of delta and theta over the brain and many of them were sleep stage-dependent; (3) the best site of the frontal electrode in a fronto-parietal bipolar electrode for sleep staging might be above the anterior midline cortex. We suggest that DFA analysis can be used to explore the properties of the generators of a given neuronal oscillation, and the localizations of these generators if more electrodes are involved.

No abstract

The physical and mental health of people can be enhanced through yoga, an excellent form of exercise. As part of the breathing procedure, yoga involves stretching the body organs. The guidance and monitoring of yoga are crucial to ripe the full benefits of it, as wrong postures possess multiple antagonistic effects, including physical hazards and stroke. The detection and monitoring of the yoga postures are possible with the Intelligent Internet of Things (IIoT), which is the integration of intelligent approaches (machine learning) and the Internet of Things (IoT). Considering the increment in yoga practitioners in recent years, the integration of IIoT and yoga has led to the successful implementation of IIoT-based yoga training systems. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on integrating yoga with IIoT. The paper also discusses the multiple types of yoga and the procedure for the detection of yoga using IIoT. Additionally, this paper highlights various applications of yoga, safety measures, various challenges, and future directions. This survey provides the latest developments and findings on yoga and its integration with IIoT.

Using drugs to modulate microglial function may be an effective way to treat disorders such as depression that involve impaired neurogenesis. Akebia saponin D (ASD) can cross the blood-brain barrier and exert anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects, so we wondered whether it might influence adult hippocampal neurogenesis to treat depression. We exposed C57BL/6 male mice to chronic mild stress (CMS) as a model of depressive-like behaviors, then gave them ASD (40 mg/kg) intraperitoneally once daily for 3 weeks. We investigated the effects of ASD on microglial phenotype, hippocampal neurogenesis, and animal behavior. We found that CMS upregulated pro-inflammatory factors and downregulated anti-inflammatory factors in dentate gyrus of mice, while decreasing sucrose preference and prolonging immobility time in the forced swimming test. CMS also inhibited hippocampal neurogenesis. ASD treatment induced Arg-1+ microglia and increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the dentate gyrus of CMS mice, and partially reversed all these stress effects. Conditioned medium from microglia treated with ASD and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) strongly increased levels of phospho-TrkB in neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs), while promoting their proliferation, survival and neuronal differentiation. An antagonist of TrkB blocked the pro-neurogenic, anti-depressant effects of ASD. Furthermore, ASD activated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-γ) in dentate gyrus of CMS mice as well as in primary microglial cultures treated with LPS. Blocking the PPAR-γ using GW9962 suppressed the ASD-reprogrammed Arg-1+ microglia and BDNF expression in dentate gyrus of CMS mice. Such blockade abolished the promoted effects of ASD-treated microglia on NSPC proliferation, survival and neurogenesis. The pro-neurogenic and anti-depressant effects of ASD were blocked by GW9962. These results suggested that ASD acts via the PPAR-γ pathway to induce a pro-neurogenic microglia in dentate gyrus of CMS mice that can increase BDNF expression and promote NSPC proliferation, survival, and neurogenesis. Our results justify further studies of ASD as a potential treatment for depression and may inspire new lines of research targeting the PPAR-γ pathway in disorders involving impaired neurogegammnesis.

Background: Microglia-mediated neuroinflammation contributes to major depressive disorder (MDD). Targeting microglia is a promising strategy for treating MDD. Patchouli alcohol (PA), an active component of Pogostemon cablin, has anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. Here, we investigate the microglia-mediated neurogenesis pathway in which PA ameliorates depressive-like behaviors in stress-induced animal model of depression. Methods: C57BL/6 male mice were exposed to chronic mild stress (CMS) for 4 weeks, then administered PA intraperitoneally at 10, 20 or 40 mg/kg once per day for 3 weeks. The antidepressant effects of PA were evaluated in the sucrose preference test, forced swimming test, and tail suspension test. Microglial phenotypes and activation of the NLRP3 inflammation were analyzed using RT-PCR, western blotting and immunofluorescence staining. Effects of PA on neurogenesis were analyzed in vitro and in vivo using immunofluorescence staining. Results: Behavioral assessments showed that PA alleviated depressive-like behaviors in CMS-exposed mice. CMS induced microglial activation and pro-inflammatory profiles, which were blocked by PA treatment. PA attenuated the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, leading to decreases in the levels of caspase-1, ASC, IL-1β, and IL-18 in the hippocampus of CMS-exposed mice. In primary microglia cultures, PA inhibited LPS-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation. PA rescued inflammation-inhibited neurogenesis in vivo and in vitro. Conclusions: Our results suggest that PA inhibits the NLRP3 inflammasome and ameliorates microglia-mediated neurogenesis impairment, contributing to antidepressant effects. Thus, PA may be a novel treatment for inflammation-driven mental disorders.

No abstract