The Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology

SHENZHEN, China, June 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BrightMD Fair China 2023, with the theme "Bringing Together Cutting-edge Innovation to Create A Smart Manufacturing Hub", was held on June 8-10 at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian District, Shenzhen. The exhibition, recognized as a prominent global gathering for the high-performance medical device industry, covered the entire ecosystem encompassing production, education, research, medicine, capital, government and management. The event drew the participation of more than 1,000 clinical doctors, hospital equipment managers, over 300 high-performance medical device manufacturers, 20 universities and research organizations, as well as 100 renowned hospitals. These contributors showcased a remarkable array of over 500 scientific research achievements. The event provided a platform for in-depth discussions on cutting-edge medical equipment-related topics and facilitated the exploration of potential collaborative opportunities. Under the aegis of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government, the exhibition was co-hosted by the China Association of Medical Equipment, the National Innovation Centre for Advanced Medical Devices and the Shenzhen Association of Medical Devices. BrightMD Fair China served as a platform that brought together some of the world's leading industry players, including over 300 high-performance medical device companies from around the world. The companies showcased innovative products, which adhered to the highest international technology standards. Notable exhibitors included Mindray, Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co., Ltd, GE HealthCare, China National Medical Device Co., Ltd, Siemens Healthineers, Shenzhen Anke High-tech Co., Ltd, Mevion Medical Systems and Edan Instruments. The medical device industry thrives on collaborative innovation fostered by universities and research institutions. During the exhibition, the National Innovation Centre for Advanced Medical Devices and the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) joined forces to set up a booth. The booth was divided into the four elements or sections that drive the industry: Medical equipment, Innovation, Incubation and the Ecosystem. Within the sections, over 50 innovative R&D achievements were on display, including key components of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines, a 5.0T whole-body magnetic resonance imaging system and a high-resolution MR-compatible PET imaging system. The business concentration in Shenzhen has established a strong foundation for the city's growth and progress. The city is currently home to over 1,500 medical equipment manufacturers, including globally renowned providers, with Siemens and Philips serving as prime examples. Among these manufacturers, 19 are publicly listed companies and 13 boast an annual output value exceeding 1 billion yuan. Notably, Shenzhen's exports of medical monitors and ECG machines now account for over 40% of China's total. Locally produced high-end medical equipment, including nuclear magnetic resonance, in vitro diagnostic and ultrasound machines, have attained international competitiveness. With well-developed supporting infrastructure and numerous advantages, Shenzhen's mechanical processing, electronic information and software engineering sectors can offer robust support for the sustainable development of the city's high-end medical device sector. BrightMD Fair China - Hong Kong, scheduled to take place at AsiaWorld-Expo on June 20-23, 2023, aims to foster collaboration and synergy between the high-end medical device sectors in Shenzhen and Hong Kong while facilitating in-depth collaborations among medical device clusters worldwide. The ultimate goal is to expedite the quality growth of strategic emerging industries in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The 5,000-square meter exhibition is expected to attract over 100 exhibitors. Positioned as a communication and exchange platform for the global high-end medical device industry, the Hong Kong event will focus on three themes: advancing the global expansion of Shenzhen-based medical device firms and forging partnerships with leading international innovation resources, facilitating the growth of the Chinese medical device market by supporting domestic manufacturers in implementing international expansion strategies, and attracting multinational brands to the Greater Bay Area while facilitating investment cooperation and fostering communication. SOURCE National Innovation Centre for Advanced Medical Devices

Some foods and medicines, such as many COVID-19 vaccines, must be kept cold. As a step toward a robust, stable technique that could indicate when these products exceed safe limits, researchers report a class of brilliantly colored microcrystals in materials that become colorless over a wide range of temperatures and response times. As a proof of concept, the team packaged the color-changing materials into a vial lid and QR code. Some foods and medicines, such as many COVID-19 vaccines, must be kept cold. As a step toward a robust, stable technique that could indicate when these products exceed safe limits, researchers in ACS Nano report a class of brilliantly colored microcrystals in materials that become colorless over a wide range of temperatures and response times. As a proof of concept, the team packaged the color-changing materials into a vial lid and QR code. Walk-in freezers and refrigerated trucks generally maintain their set temperatures, but accidents can happen. Wireless sensors can monitor the temperature of individual products, but these devices produce a lot of electronic waste. Recently, researchers have suggested using materials that act as visual indicators to provide this information with less waste. Yet some current options using colorful reactions or dyes produce hues that can fade. Or they only track above-freezing temperatures, which isn't useful for some COVID-19 vaccines that can actually start breaking down below freezing -- above -4 or -94 degrees Fahrenheit. So, Yadong Yin, Xuemin Du and colleagues wanted to develop a better color-changing material with tunable melting to track a wide range of temperatures. The researchers used structural colors, instead of dyes, for their indicator system. The team made glycerol-coated silicon dioxide nanoparticles, which appeared bright green or red when they clustered together into microcrystals in water. Next, they created liquids with variable melting points by mixing different proportions of polyethylene glycol or ethylene glycol and water. When these two parts were put together, they could produce an irreversible color loss when the temperature-triggered solution melted and the microcrystals broke apart. The materials could be customized to track temperature exposures from -94 to +99 degrees Fahrenheit that lasted from a few minutes to multiple days. In other experiments, the two-part indicator systems were packaged into flexible round vial labels and a QR code. These systems were very sensitive and successfully indicated when the materials got too warm. The researchers say that structural color-changing materials hold promise for the diverse scenarios encountered in medical cold supply chains. The authors acknowledge funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key R&D Program of China, the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Guangdong Regional Joint Fund-Key Project, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Health Informatics, the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology and the Fundamental Research Program of Shenzhen.

To date most research on obesity has focused on studying those with a high body mass index (BMI), but a research group is now taking a different approach. The scientists looked at individuals with a very low BMI. Their findings reveal that these individuals are actually considerably less active than people with a BMI in the normal range, contrary to speculation that they have a metabolism that makes them naturally more active. Additionally, they eat less food than those with a normal BMI. To date most research on obesity has focused on studying those with a high body mass index (BMI), but a research group in China is taking a different approach. In a study published July 14 in the journal Cell Metabolism, the scientists looked at individuals with a very low BMI. Their findings reveal that these individuals are actually considerably less active than people with a BMI in the normal range, contrary to speculation that they have a metabolism that makes them naturally more active. Additionally, they eat less food than those with a normal BMI. "We expected to find that these people are really active and to have high activity metabolic rates matched by high food intakes," says corresponding author John Speakman, a professor at the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology in China and the University of Aberdeen in the UK. "It turns out that something rather different is going on. They had lower food intakes and lower activity, as well as surprisingly higher-than-expected resting metabolic rates linked to elevated levels of their thyroid hormones." The investigators recruited 173 people with a normal BMI (range 21.5 to 25) and 150 who they classified as "healthy underweight" (with a BMI below 18.5). They used established questionnaires to screen out people with eating disorders as well as those who said they intentionally restrained their eating and those who were infected with HIV. They also excluded individuals who had lost weight in the past six months potentially related to illness or were on any kind of medication. They did not rule out those who said they "exercised in a driven way," but only 4 of 150 said they did. The participants were monitored for two weeks. Their food intake was measured with an isotope-based technique called the doubly-labeled water method, which assesses energy expenditure based on the difference between the turnover rates of hydrogen and oxygen in body water as a function of carbon dioxide production. Their physical activity was measured using an accelerometry-based motion detector. The investigators found that compared with a control group that had normal BMIs, the healthy underweight individuals consumed 12% less food. They were also considerably less active, by 23%. At the same time, these individuals had higher resting metabolic rates, including an elevated resting energy expenditure and elevated thyroid activity. "Although these very lean people had low levels of activity, their markers of heart health, including cholesterol and blood pressure, were very good," says first author Sumei Hu, currently at the Beijing Technology and Business University. "This suggests that low body fat may trump physical activity when it comes to downstream consequences." The investigators acknowledge some limitations on this research, including the fact that although they measured food intake, they didn't measure what the participants were actually eating or their feelings of satiation or satiety. The team is now expanding its research, including studies that include these measures. They also plan to look at genetic differences between normal weight and healthy underweight individuals. Preliminary analysis suggests single nucleotide polymorphisms in certain genes that might play a role. When these genetic changes were replicated in mice, the animals had some aspects of the phenotype that was observed in human subjects. "The next stage is to understand more about the phenotype itself and understand the mechanisms that generate it more clearly," says Speakman. This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.