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Received β€” 17 March 2026 ⏭

ELLA: Generative AI-Powered Social Robots for Early Language Development at Home

βœ‡cs.AI, q-bio.NC updates on arXiv.org
By: Victor Nikhil Antony Β· Shiye Cao Β· Shuning Wang Β· Chien-Ming Huang
16 March 2026 at 12:00
arXiv:2603.12508v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Early language development shapes children's later literacy and learning, yet many families have limited access to scalable, high-quality support at home. Recent advances in generative AI make it possible for social robots to move beyond scripted interactions and engage children in adaptive, conversational activities, but it remains unclear how to design such systems for pre-schoolers and how children engage with them over time in the home. We present ELLA (Early Language Learning Agent), an autonomous, generative AI-powered social robot that supports early language development through interactive storytelling, parent-selected language targets, and scaffolded dialogue. Using a multi-phased, human-centered process, we interviewed parents (n=7) and educators (n=5) and iteratively refined ELLA through twelve in-home design workshops. We then deployed ELLA with ten children for eight days. We report design insights from in-home workshops, characterize children's engagement and behaviors during deployment, and distill design implications for generative AI-powered social robots supporting early language learning at home.
Received β€” 14 March 2026 ⏭

Latilactobacillus curvatus IM01 Alleviates Allergic Airway Inflammation Through Microbial and Metabolic Crosstalk Along the Gut-Lung Axis

βœ‡(Multiomics OR Omics) AND (Lung OR gastric OR Hepatocellular)
By: Yujia He Β· Jing Liu Β· Tao Yang Β· Yuanming Huang Β· Liqiong Song Β· Zhihong Ren
14 March 2026 at 18:00

Nutrients. 2026 Mar 4;18(5):834. doi: 10.3390/nu18050834.

ABSTRACT

Background: Gut microbiota dysbiosis is critically implicated in the pathogenesis of allergic airway inflammation (AAI) via the gut-lung axis. While Latilactobacillus curvatus is a promising probiotic candidate, its specific immunomodulatory mechanisms in respiratory diseases remain poorly understood. Objective: In this study, we investigated the protective effects and underlying mechanisms of L. curvatus IM01 in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced murine AAI model using an integrated multi-omics approach. Results: Our results demonstrated that oral administration of L. curvatus IM01 significantly attenuated airway inflammation, suppressed Th2-type immune responses, and reduced serum IgE levels. Crucially, our multi-omics integration revealed a coherent gut-lung axis narrative driven by microbial and metabolic crosstalk. Specifically, 16S rRNA sequencing indicated that L. curvatus IM01 was closely linked to structural shifts in the gut microbial community, notably characterized by an enrichment trend for beneficial genera such as Odoribacter and Lactobacillus. This microbial restructuring was closely associated with a modulated cecal metabolic profile, as untargeted metabolomics exhibited a clear trend toward the restoration of key systemically active immunoregulatory metabolites, including indolelactic acid (ILA) and choline, which have been previously linked to the alleviation of AAI symptoms. Further linking this metabolic shift to respiratory immune tolerance, lung transcriptomic analysis showed that the treatment is strongly associated with the promotion of the differentiation of CD4+ T cells into Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs). Conclusions: Collectively, these findings suggest a novel potential pathway by which L. curvatus IM01 modulates the gut-lung axis through coordinated microbial and metabolic interventions, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic functional food ingredient for AAI.

PMID:41830004 | PMC:PMC12987261 | DOI:10.3390/nu18050834

Latilactobacillus curvatus IM01 Alleviates Allergic Airway Inflammation Through Microbial and Metabolic Crosstalk Along the Gut-Lung Axis

βœ‡Omics In Lung
By: Yujia He Β· Jing Liu Β· Tao Yang Β· Yuanming Huang Β· Liqiong Song Β· Zhihong Ren
14 March 2026 at 18:00

Nutrients. 2026 Mar 4;18(5):834. doi: 10.3390/nu18050834.

ABSTRACT

Background: Gut microbiota dysbiosis is critically implicated in the pathogenesis of allergic airway inflammation (AAI) via the gut-lung axis. While Latilactobacillus curvatus is a promising probiotic candidate, its specific immunomodulatory mechanisms in respiratory diseases remain poorly understood. Objective: In this study, we investigated the protective effects and underlying mechanisms of L. curvatus IM01 in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced murine AAI model using an integrated multi-omics approach. Results: Our results demonstrated that oral administration of L. curvatus IM01 significantly attenuated airway inflammation, suppressed Th2-type immune responses, and reduced serum IgE levels. Crucially, our multi-omics integration revealed a coherent gut-lung axis narrative driven by microbial and metabolic crosstalk. Specifically, 16S rRNA sequencing indicated that L. curvatus IM01 was closely linked to structural shifts in the gut microbial community, notably characterized by an enrichment trend for beneficial genera such as Odoribacter and Lactobacillus. This microbial restructuring was closely associated with a modulated cecal metabolic profile, as untargeted metabolomics exhibited a clear trend toward the restoration of key systemically active immunoregulatory metabolites, including indolelactic acid (ILA) and choline, which have been previously linked to the alleviation of AAI symptoms. Further linking this metabolic shift to respiratory immune tolerance, lung transcriptomic analysis showed that the treatment is strongly associated with the promotion of the differentiation of CD4+ T cells into Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs). Conclusions: Collectively, these findings suggest a novel potential pathway by which L. curvatus IM01 modulates the gut-lung axis through coordinated microbial and metabolic interventions, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic functional food ingredient for AAI.

PMID:41830004 | PMC:PMC12987261 | DOI:10.3390/nu18050834

Harnessing pyroptosis in breast cancer therapy: immunological mechanisms and emerging biomaterial strategies

βœ‡Cell Death Discovery nature.com science feeds
By: Richmond Kwame Frimpong Asiedu Β· Mahamadou Souley Abdou Β· Rongbin Wei Β· Zhongdang Xiao Β· Bing Li Β· Ming Hu
12 March 2026 at 08:00

Cell Death Discovery, Published online: 12 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41420-026-02996-1

Harnessing pyroptosis in breast cancer therapy: immunological mechanisms and emerging biomaterial strategies
Received β€” 25 February 2026 ⏭

Safe and Interpretable Multimodal Path Planning for Multi-Agent Cooperation

βœ‡cs.AI, q-bio.NC updates on arXiv.org
By: Haojun Shi Β· Suyu Ye Β· Katherine M. Guerrerio Β· Jianzhi Shen Β· Yifan Yin Β· Daniel Khashabi Β· Chien-Ming Huang Β· Tianmin Shu
24 February 2026 at 13:00
arXiv:2602.19304v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Successful cooperation among decentralized agents requires each agent to quickly adapt its plan to the behavior of other agents. In scenarios where agents cannot confidently predict one another's intentions and plans, language communication can be crucial for ensuring safety. In this work, we focus on path-level cooperation in which agents must adapt their paths to one another in order to avoid collisions or perform physical collaboration such as joint carrying. In particular, we propose a safe and interpretable multimodal path planning method, CaPE (Code as Path Editor), which generates and updates path plans for an agent based on the environment and language communication from other agents. CaPE leverages a vision-language model (VLM) to synthesize a path editing program verified by a model-based planner, grounding communication to path plan updates in a safe and interpretable way. We evaluate our approach in diverse simulated and real-world scenarios, including multi-robot and human-robot cooperation in autonomous driving, household, and joint carrying tasks. Experimental results demonstrate that CaPE can be integrated into different robotic systems as a plug-and-play module, greatly enhancing a robot's ability to align its plan to language communication from other robots or humans. We also show that the combination of the VLM-based path editing program synthesis and model-based planning safety enables robots to achieve open-ended cooperation while maintaining safety and interpretability.
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