Integrating High-Performance Flexible Wires with Strain Sensors for Wearable Human Motion Detection.

Flexible electronics have revolutionized the field by overcoming the rigid limitations of traditional devices, offering superior flexibility and adaptability. Conductive ink performance is crucial, directly impacting the stability of flexible electronics. While metal filler-based inks exhibit excellent conductivity, they often lack mechanical stability. To address this challenge, we present a novel conductive ink utilizing a ternary composite filler system: liquid metal and two micron-sized silver morphologies (particles and flakes). We systematically investigated the influence of filler type, mass ratio, and sintering process parameters on the composite ink's conductivity and mechanical stability. Our results demonstrate that flexible wires fabricated with the liquid metal/micron silver particle/micron silver flake composite filler exhibit remarkable conductivity and exceptional bending stability. Interestingly, increasing the liquid metal content results in a trade-off, compromising conductivity while enhancing mechanical performance. After enduring 5000 bending cycles, the resistance change in wires formulated with a 4:1 mass ratio of micron silver particles to flakes is only half that of wires with a 1:1 ratio. This study further investigates the mechanism governing resistance variations during flexible wire bending. Additionally, we observed a positive correlation between sintering temperature and pressure with the conductivity of flexible wires. The significance of the sintering parameters on conductivity follows a descending order: sintering temperature, sintering pressure, and sintering time. Finally, we demonstrate the practical application of this technology by integrating the composite ink-based flexible wires with conductive polymer-based strain sensors. This combination successfully achieved the detection of human movements, including finger and wrist bending.

Prevalence and Genotype of Trichomonas vaginalis among Men in Xinxiang City, Henan Province, China.

Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis) could cause trichomoniasis through sexual transmission, which was globally distributed. In this study, the prevalence and phylogenetic analyses of T. vaginalis among men in Xinxiang were conducted. From October 2018 to December 2019, a total of 634 male clinical samples were collected, including 254 samples of semen, 43 samples of prostate fluid, and 337 samples of urine. These samples were examined by nested PCR and a total of 32 (5.05%) T. vaginalis-positive samples were detected. Among these samples, the positive rates of T. vaginalis in semen, prostate fluid, and urine were 7.87% (20/254), 4.65% (2/43), and 2.97% (10/337), respectively. Three actin genes were successfully isolated and sequenced from the 32 positive DNA samples, and the analysis of the sequence and phylogenetic tree showed that the three actin gene sequences exhibited 99.7%-100% homology to the published actin gene sequence (EU076580) in NCBI, and the T. vaginalis strains in the three positive samples were identified as genotype E. Our results demonstrate a notable genotype of T. vaginalis in the male population and provide insight into the performance of these genetic markers in the molecular epidemiology of trichomoniasis. However, further studies are needed to research the association between the genotype and the pathogenicity of T. vaginalis.

The Molecular Characterization and Immunity Identification of Trichomonas vaginalis Adhesion Protein 33 (AP33).

Trichomoniasis is caused by Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis), which is a widespread and serious sexually transmitted pathogen in humans. The procedure of T. vaginalis adherence to the host cell is the precondition for T. vaginalis parasitism and pathogenicity. The AP33 adhesin of T. vaginalis (TvAP33) plays a key role in the process of adhesion. In this study, the specific primers for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were designed based on the sequence of TvAP33 (GenBank Accession No. U87098.1) to amplify the open reading frame (ORF), and the ORF was inserted into pET-32a (+) to produce recombinant TvAP33 (rTvAP33). The sequence analysis indicated that the TvAP33 gene encoded a protein of 309 amino acids with 32.53 kDa, and the protein was predicted to have a high antigen index. Western blotting assay showed rTvAP33 was successfully recognized by the sera of mice experimentally infected with T. vaginalis, while native TvAP33 in the somatic extract of T. vaginalis trophozoite was as well detected by sera from rats immunized with the rTvAP33. Immunofluorescence analysis using an antibody against rTvAP33 demonstrated that the protein was expressed and located on the surface of T. vaginalis trophozoites. The recombinant protein was emulsified in Freund's adjuvant and used to immunize BALB/C mice three times at days 0, 14, and 28. The result of animal challenge experiments revealed the levels of IgG, IgG1, and IgG2a, and IL-4, IL-10, and IL17 among rTvAP33 vaccinated animals were integrally increased. Moreover, the rTvAP33 vaccinated animals were apparently prolonged survival time (26.45 ± 4.10) after challenge infection with this parasite. All these results indicated that TvAP33 could be used as vaccine candidate antigen to induce cell-mediated and humoral immunity.