These findings reveal a complex interdependence between AQP4 and connexins, which are both significantly involved in homeostatic functions and astrogliopathologies.The microvalve is one of the most important components in microfluidics. With decades of development, the microvalve has been widely used in many industries such as life science, chemical engineering, chip, and so forth. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the progress made over the past years about microvalves based on different actuation mechanisms. According to driving sources, plenty of actuation mechanisms are developed and adopted in microvalves, including electricity, magnetism, gas, material and creature, surface acoustic wave, and so on. Although there are currently a variety of microvalves, problems such as leakage, low precision, poor reliability, high energy consumption, and high cost still exist. Problems deserving to be further addressed are suggested, aimed at materials, fabrication methods, controlling performances, flow characteristics, and applications.To get the maximum heat transfer in real applications, the surface area of the micro-features (micro-channels) needs to be large as possible. It can be achieved by producing a maximum number of micro-channels per unit area. Since each successive pair of the micro-channels contain an inter-channels fin, therefore the inter-channels fin thickness (IFT) plays a pivotal role in determining the number of micro-channels to be produced in the given area. During machining, the fabrication of deep micro-channels is a challenge. Wire-cut electrical discharge machining (EDM) could be a viable alternative to fabricate deep micro-channels with thin inter-channels fins (higher aspect ratio) resulting in larger surface area. In this research, minimum IFT and the corresponding machining conditions have been sought for producing micro-channels in copper. The other attributes associated with the micro-channels have also been deeply investigated including the inter-channels fin height (IFH), inter-channels fin radius (IFR) and the micro-channels width (MCW). The results reveal that the inter-channels fin is the most critical feature to control during the wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) of copper. Four types of fin shapes have been experienced, including the fins broken at the top end, deflected at the top end, curled bend at the top, and straight with no/negligible deflection.TiC-high Mn steel-bonded carbide with a cellular structure was designed and fabricated by powder metallurgy techniques using coarse and fine TiC particles as the hard phase. This preparation process of the alloy was designed carefully and optimized. The microstructure of the alloy was observed using a scanning electron microscope. The results show that there are two types of microstructures observed in this TiC steel-bonded carbide the coarse-grained TiC structure and fine-grained TiC structure. The transverse rupture strength and impact toughness of the alloy reach maximum values 2231 MPa and 12.87 J/cm2, respectively, when the starting weight ratio of MP-A (containing coarse TiC particles) to MP-B (containing fine TiC particles) is 6040. Hence, this study serves as a feasible and economical example to prepare a high-strength and high-toughness TiC-high Mn steel-bonded carbide with little production cost increase.Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is a well-known carcinogen and enhances oxidative stress and apoptosis and also alters several molecular pathways. Curcumin is an active ingredient of Curcuma longa, and it has potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant activity that defends cells from oxidative stress and cell death. The objectives of the present study were to explore the protective effects of curcumin against long-term administration of BaP induced disturbances in lungs of rats. Male rats were randomly divided into four groups saline control, BaP only, BaP + curcumin, and curcumin only. Lung histopathology, electron microscopy, inflammatory cytokine release, antioxidant levels, apoptosis, and cell cycle were examined. Instillation of BaP significantly increased infiltration of inflammatory cells in alveolar space and inflammatory cytokine in blood. BaP induced lung tissue alterations including mild bronchitis, scant chronic inflammatory cell infiltrate in the wall of the respiratory bronchiole, and mild intra-alveolar haemortion and antioxidants level. Thus, curcumin may be an alternative therapy for improving the outcomes of Benzo(a)pyrene-induced lung injury.Compared with conventional solid-state relays, micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) relays have the advantages of high isolation, low contact resistance, low power consumption, and abrupt switching characteristics. Nevertheless, the widespread application of MEMS relays has been limited due to the issue of the conflict between low actuation voltages and high device performance. This article presents a novel cantilever MEMS relay with an embedded contact electrode which helps to achieve a low actuation voltage (below 8 V) and high restoring force simultaneously. Meanwhile, the contact resistance is as low as around 0.4 Ω and the reliability is verified. To thoroughly investigate and analyze the novel cantilever MEMS relay, a static theoretical model of the structure was developed. Based on the model, the cantilever MEMS relay was designed and optimized. Then, the relays were fabricated by the bulk-silicon micromachining process based on the silicon-glass anodic bonding technology. BRD3308 Finally, the switching performance of the novel cantilever MEMS relay was measured. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed MEMS relay has a low actuation voltage below 8 V and high performance, which is in good agreement with the simulation results, and shows significant advantages when compared with previous reports. Therefore, the proposed MEMS relay with an embedded contact electrode is promising in practical applications.Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is an aggressive hematologic neoplastic disorder that arises from the clonal expansion of transformed T-cell or B-cell precursors. Thanks to progress in chemotherapy protocols, ALL outcome has significantly improved. However, drug-resistance remains an unresolved issue in the treatment of ALL and toxic effects limit dose escalation of current chemotherapeutics. Therefore, the identification of novel targeted therapies to support conventional chemotherapy is required. The Wnt/β-catenin pathway is a conserved signaling axis involved in several physiological processes such as development, differentiation, and adult tissue homeostasis. As a result, deregulation of this cascade is closely related to initiation and progression of various types of cancers, including hematological malignancies. In particular, deregulation of this signaling network is involved in the transformation of healthy HSCs in leukemic stem cells (LSCs), as well as cancer cell multi-drug-resistance. This review highlights the recent findings on the role of Wnt/β-catenin in hematopoietic malignancies and provides information on the current status of Wnt/β-catenin inhibitors with respect to their therapeutic potential in the treatment of ALL.