News from Science China Press

A new review in Medicine Plus traces a century of deep brain stimulation (DBS), explaining how the therapy alters pathological activity from local circuits to whole-brain networks, and mapping targets and clinical evidence across 16 neurological and psychiatric disorders. It also examines adaptive stimulation, directional leads, and biomarker-guided approaches that could make treatment more precise and personalized.

A new review in Medicine Plus outlines a transformative paradigm for luminal cancers using engineered microbe-based micro/nanorobots. Deployed via oral, suppository, or intracavitary routes, these living platforms bypass physiological barriers, colonize tumor niches, continuously synthesize therapeutics, and remodel the tumor microenvironment. Merging microbial adaptability with synthetic biology, they usher in an era of persistent, spatially controlled intervention.

A new review in Medicine Plus traces the evolution of mRNA lipid nanoparticles (mRNA-LNPs) from prophylactic vaccine vehicles to programmable therapeutic platforms. The authors detail clinical and preclinical progress across infectious disease, cancer, autoimmunity, rare genetic disease and tissue repair, while identifying key translational hurdles including extrahepatic targeting, repeat-dose immunogenicity, off-target editing risks, and scalable manufacturing.

Traditional MIC-based antibiotic susceptibility testing often misses sub-resistant bacteria, including persistent, tolerant, and heteroresistant populations, which may contribute to treatment failure and resistance evolution. Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology have developed DP-AST, a deep learning-based microfluidic rapid phenotypic AST platform inspired by the Dujiangyan irrigation system. DP-AST measures MIC, bacterial growth activity, and concentration-effect curves to identify hidden sub-resistant bacteria. The study also identified gadE as a key regulator of amikacin sub-resistance in E. coli, offering new insights for resistance mechanism studies and future clinical diagnostics.Traditional MIC-based antibiotic susceptibility testing often misses sub-resistant bacteria, including persistent, tolerant, and heteroresistant populations, which may contribute to treatment failure and resistance evolution. Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology have developed DP-AST, a deep learning-based microfluidic rapid phenotypic AST platform inspired by the Dujiangyan irrigation system. DP-AST measures MIC, bacterial growth activity, and concentration-effect curves to identify hidden sub-resistant bacteria. The study also identified gadE as a key regulator of amikacin sub-resistance in E. coli, offering new insights for resistance mechanism studies and future clinical diagnostics.Traditional MIC-based antibiotic susceptibility testing often misses sub-resistant bacteria, including persistent, tolerant, and heteroresistant populations, which may contribute to treatment failure and resistance evolution. Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology have developed DP-AST, a deep learning-based microfluidic rapid phenotypic AST platform inspired by the Dujiangyan irrigation system. DP-AST measures MIC, bacterial growth activity, and concentration-effect curves to identify hidden sub-resistant bacteria. The study also identified gadE as a key regulator of amikacin sub-resistance in E. coli, offering new insights for resistance mechanism studies and future clinical diagnostics.

Most reservoir computers are built with fixed connections. Researchers have developed a 16-kb self-rectifying memristor array that can physically reconfigure those connections as dynamics change. The hardware predicts Lorenz chaos and improves 30-day atmospheric cloud-thickness forecasting by 7.6% over a fixed-topology reservoir.