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Objective: To examine the relationship between the level of state funding for Home-and Community-Based Services (HCBS) and state overall and dimension-specific performances in Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS). Data Sources and Study Setting: We employed state-level secondary data from the Medicaid LTSS Annual Expenditures Reports, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) State Scorecards, the U.S. Census, and Federal Reserve Economic data, spanning the timeframe of 2010-2020. Study Design: Overall state LTSS rankings, along with dimension-specific rankings, were modeled separately against state Medicaid spending on HCBS relative to total Medicaid spending on LTSS. All models were adjusted for state covariates, secular trend, and state fixed effects. Data Collection/Extraction Methods: The study sample included all 50 states and the District of Columbia. However, California, Delaware, Illinois, and Virginia were excluded from FY2019 due to missing data on Medicaid HCBS expenditures. Principal Findings: Every 10 percentage-point increase in the proportion of Medicaid LTSS spending to HCBS demonstrated 2.05 points improvement (95% confidence interval [CI]: -3.88 to 0.22, p = 0.03) in rankings for state overall LTSS system performance, 2.92 points improvement (95% CI: -4.87 to 0.98, p < 0.01) in rankings for the Choice of Setting and Provider dimension, as well as 1.73 points (95% CI: -3.14 to 0.32, p = 0.02) ranking improvement in the dimension of Effective Transitions. Conclusions: Our study suggested promising effects of increased state funding for HCBS on LTSS performance. KEYWORDS care transitions, Home- and Community-Based Services, Long-Term Services and Supports, Medicaid, quality of care, 1 | INTRODUCTION Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) encompasses diverse medical and personal care that support individuals with functional limitations and chronic illnesses. As the primary payer of LTSS in [...]

I.Introduction 145 II.Background 147 III.Analysis 153 A. An Overview of Risks Derived from the Contractual Nature of VIE Structure 153 B. Risks Imposed on Holding Companies, Markets, and Investors 155 [...]

The primary cause of the accelerated battery failure in aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) is the uncontrollable evolution of the zinc metal–electrolyte interface. In the present research on the development of multiadditives to ameliorate interfaces, it is challenging to elucidate the mechanisms of the various components. Additionally, the synergy among additive molecules is frequently disregarded, resulting in the combined efficacy of multiadditives that is unlikely to surpass the sum of each component. In this study, the “molecular synergistic effect” is employed, which is generated by two nonhomologous acid ester (NAE) additives in the double electrical layer microspace. Specifically, ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) is more inclined to induce the oriented deposition of zinc metal by means of targeted adsorption with the zinc (002) crystal plane. Methyl acetate (MA) is more likely to enter the solvated shell of Zn2+and will be profoundly reduced to produce SEI that is dominated by organic components under the “molecular synergistic effect” of EMC. Furthermore, MA persists in a spontaneous hydrolysis reaction, which serves to mitigate the pH increase caused by the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and further prevents the formation of byproducts. Consequently, the 1E1M electrolyte not only extends the cycle life of the zinc anode to 3140 cycles (1 mA h cm–2and 1 mA cm–2) but also extends the life of the Zn//MnO2full battery, with the capacity retention rate still at 89.9% after 700 cycles.

High-performance dielectric capacitors are essential for advanced electronics and electrical power systems. Nonetheless, the enhanced discharged energy density (Ud) of polymer-based dielectric films is frequently accompanied by increased conduction and polarization losses as well as reduced charge–discharge efficiency (η). In this study, a scalable “melting extrusion–hot stretching–solid-state stretching” technique was proposed to fabricate high-performance polypropylene (PP)/poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) all-organic dielectric films. During hot stretching, PET microdroplets deformed into microfibrils in situ, establishing massive parallel interfaces. The subsequent solid-state stretching induced a mesophase-to-α-crystal transition, forming a mother–daughter crystalline structure. The synergistic effect of well-aligned microfibrillar interfaces and the dense mother–daughter crystalline structure could significantly enhance the breakdown strength and capacitive storage capability by suppressing carrier transport. As a result, the as-prepared PP/PET dielectric films demonstrated an exceptional breakdown strength of 672.2 MV m–1and a maximum Udof 4.11 J cm–3with an η of as high as 92.8%. The proposed technique is demonstrated to be highly effective for structuring in situ well-aligned microfibrils and mother–daughter crystalline structures, thus promoting the development of next-generation, high-performance PP-based film capacitors.

Neutrophils are essential cells involved in inflammation. However, the specific mechanism of neutrophil chemotaxis induced by Treponema pallidumremains unknown. In this study, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were utilized as target cells to investigate the expression levels of chemokines when stimulated with different concentrations of Tp0768 (also known as TpN44.5 or TmpA, a T. palliduminfection dependent antigen). The results indicated that Tp0768 treatment enhanced neutrophil chemotaxis in HUVECs, which was closely associated with the expression levels of CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL8 (also known as interleukin-8). At the same time, the results show that the Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) signaling pathway is activated and that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress occurs. Furthermore, the findings revealed that the use of protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) and immunoglobulin-regulated enhancer 1 (IRE1) inhibitors reduced the expression levels of CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL8. Additionally, inhibiting TLR2 significantly decreased the expression levels of ER stress–related proteins (PERK and IRE1), CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL8. Consequently, neutrophil chemotaxis was significantly inhibited after treatment with TLR2, PERK, and IRE1 inhibitors. These findings shed light on the role of Tp0768 in enhancing neutrophil chemotaxis in endothelial cells, providing a foundation for further exploration of syphilis pathogenesis and offering a new direction for the diagnosis and treatment of T. palliduminfection.Tp0768 enhanced the chemotactic effect of human umbilical vein endothelial cells on neutrophils through TLR2/ER stress signaling pathway

This article proposes an asymmetric dual-polarized microstrip antenna (DPMA) with single-dimension-constraint resonant frequencies for orthogonal polarizations. Different from regular DPMAs, the orthogonal modes of the proposed antenna are only determined by a single dimension, breaking the symmetry limitations of dual-polarized (DP) antennas and leading to the irrelevant dimension for optimized radiation properties of gain and beamwidth. The proposed antenna consists of a vertical-slot-etched rectangular patch with two groups of shorting vias and a horizontal slot on the ground. By feeding two ports with differential or common modes, the antiphase TM10 or antiphase epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) modes are excited for orthogonal polarizations in extremely asymmetric structures. As an application example for mobile terminals, a circular-polarized (CP) antenna with a 90°-phase-step two-way power divider is constructed and integrated onto the upper metal bezel with a high aspect ratio for satellite communications. The measured results show an overlapped bandwidth of 40 MHz and beamwidth beyond 80° in a volume of $0.39\times 0.026\times 0.0065~\lambda _{0}^{3}$ , exhibiting the unique design approach for DP or CP antennas in extremely asymmetric platforms.

ABSTRACTLeonurus japonicusHoutt is an important anti-skin pigmentation herb used in traditional Chinese medicine. However, the molecular basis for this activity is complex and not fully understood. In this study, water and ethanol extracts and polysaccharide extract from L. japonicus(LJPs) were analyzed by LC-MS/MS and HPLC-DAD separately. Cytotoxicity was analyzed by using CCK-8, antioxidant activity using flow cytometer, anti-MMPs, anti-tyrosinase and signalling pathway analysis using Western blotting to investigate their anti-melanogenesis function. The results showed that the water and ethanol extracts contained alkaloids, flavonoids, and phenolic acids. The LJPs mainly contain glucose, fucose, glucuronic acid, mannose, threonine and arginine, and structure characterization by FITR analyses indicated that LJPs have β- or α-D-glycosidic bonds and contain pyranose rings. The L. japonicusextracts displayed high cell viability at their maximum concentration. The water extract and polysaccharides significantly reduced lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) content and exhibited a cytoprotective role. Also, these extracts displayed higher matrix metalloproteinase-2 (anti-MMP-2), anti-MMP-9 and anti-tyrosinase activities. Furthermore, the polysaccharides displayed significantly greater inhibitory effect on intracellular ROS and tyrosinase protein expression than α-arbutin and ursolic acid used for the clinical treatment of skin pigmentation. This study also investigated the polysaccharide inhibition of melanin synthesis by repressing the expression of melanocytic lineage-specific transcription factor (MITF) and melanogenic enzymes via modulation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K-Akt-mTOR) and β-catenin pathways. The overall results indicate that L. japonicusis a promising candidate for anti-pigmentation treatment.

Steering is a fundamental task in interactive Virtual Reality (VR) systems. Prior work has demonstrated that movement direction can significantly influence user behavior in the steering task, and different interactive environments (VEs) can lead to various behavioral patterns, such as tablets and PCs. However, its impact on VR environments remains unexplored. Given the widespread use of steering tasks in VEs, including menu adjustment and object manipulation, this work seeks to understand and model the directional effect with a focus on barehand interaction, which is typical in VEs. This paper presents the results of two studies. The first study was conducted to collect behavioral data with four categories: movement time, average movement speed, success rate, and reenter times. According to the results, we examined the effect of movement direction and built the SθModel. We then empirically evaluated the model through the data collected from the first study. The results proved that our proposed model achieved the best performance across all the metrics (r2 > 0.95), with more than 15% improvement over the original Steering Law in terms of prediction accuracy. Next, we further validated the SθModel by another study with the change of device and steering direction. Consistent with previous assessments, the model continues to exhibit optimal performance in both predicting movement time and speed. Finally, based on the results, we formulated design recommendations for steering tasks in VEs to enhance user experience and interaction efficiency.

Reinforcement corrosion has been recognized as an influential factor in the seismic fragility, both demand and capacity models, of aging reinforced concrete (RC) bridges. For capacity models, accurate and applied prediction tools accounting for aging effects are yet to be well established. Current practices usually perform numerical analyses to obtain time-variant capacity models, which are time-consuming particularly when multi-source structural and environmental uncertainties are considered and sometimes even suffer computational non-convergence. To address these issues, this study leverages a rigorously optimized artificial neural network architecture to develop data-driven models for rapid estimates of probabilistic curvature capacity of corroded circular RC bridge columns with flexural failure modes. An extensive database of multi-level curvature limit states (i.e. slight, moderate, severe, and complete) is created through experimentally validated moment–curvature analyses. A new threshold for the moderate limit state is defined based on the strain of core concrete, rather than cover concrete, to account for the potential full erosion of the cover with drastic corrosion. The data-driven probabilistic capacity models are applied to aid the lifetime seismic fragility assessment of a typical highway bridge, where the spectral acceleration at 1.0 s (Sa-10), peak ground velocity (PGV), and Housner intensity (HI) are found consistently, for the first time, as optimal intensity measures for probabilistic demand modeling of RC columns with different extents of aging effects. For the ease of application, the database and code for the data-driven probabilistic capacity models are accessible at https://bit.ly/3uAa8EY.

Purpose Presenting a chain mediation model to investigate whether mobile phone dependence results in a reduction in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Chinese college students, through the mediating effect of chronotype and sleep quality.Design and Setting A cross-sectional survey was conducted on students from a Chinese university using a validated structured questionnaire.Sample 2014 freshmen.Measures The study measured the students’ level of mobile phone dependence using the Self-rating Questionnaire for Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use. Chronotype and sleep quality were measured by the Chinese version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively. HRQoL was evaluated using the five-level EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L), including a descriptive system and a visual analog scale (VAS).Analysis Descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, and mediation analysis.Results Mobile phone dependence had a significant negative effect on HRQoL as indicated by both the EQ-5D-5L index score and EQ-VAS score (P< .001 for both). Additionally, it was found to significantly predict chronotype (MEQ score) (β= −.546, P< .001) and sleep quality (PSQI score) (β= .163, P< .001). Chronotype negatively predict sleep quality (β= −.058, P< .001), and sleep quality was a significant negative predictor of HRQoL (EQ-5D-5L index score, β= −.008, P< .001; EQ-VAS score, β= −1.576, P< .001).Conclusion Mobile phone dependence negatively impacts students’ HRQoL through chronotype and sleep quality, and there is a chain mediating effect. Students should consider making lifestyle changes to improve their HRQoL and promote health.

Rice false smut, caused by Ustilaginoidea virens, is a devastating disease that greatly reduces rice yield and quality. However, controlling rice false smut disease is challenging due to the unique infection mode of U. virens. Therefore, there is a need for early diagnosis and monitoring techniques to prevent the spread of this disease. Lateral flow strip-based recombinase polymerase amplification (LF-RPA) overcomes the limitations of current U. virensdetection technologies, which are time-consuming, require delicate equipment, and have a high false-positive rate. In this study, we used a comparative genomics approach to identify Uv_3611, a specific gene of U. virens, as the target for the LF-RPA assay. The designed primers and probe efffectively detected the genomic DNA (gDNA) of U. virensand demonstrated no cross-reactivity with related pathogens. Under optimal conditions, the LF-RPA assay demonstrated a sensitivity of 10 pg of U. virensgDNA. Additionally, by incorporating a simplified PEG-NaOH method for plant DNA extraction, the LF-RPA assay enabled the detection of U. virensin rice spikelets within 30 min, without the need for specialized equipment. Furthermore, the LF-RPA assay successfully detected U. virensin naturally infected rice and seed samples in the field. Therefore, the LF-RPA assay is sensitive, efficient, and convenient, and could be developed as a kit for monitoring rice false smut disease in the field.

Sliding ferroelectricity enables materials with intrinsic centrosymmetric symmetry to generate spontaneous polarization via stacking engineering, extending the family of ferroelectric materials and enriching the field of low-dimensional ferroelectric physics. Vertical ferroelectric domains, where the polarization is perpendicular to atomic motion, have been discovered in twisted bilayers of inversion symmetry broken systems such as hexagonal boron nitride, graphene, and transition metal chalcogenides. In this study, we demonstrate that this symmetry breaking also induces lateral polar networks in twisted bilayer rhombohedral-stacked WSe2, as determined through symmetry considerations and vector piezoresponse force microscopy (V-PFM) results. Lateral polarization (LP) in saddle point (SP) regions forms head-to-tail triangular vortices, exhibiting elliptical domain shapes with widths up to 40 nm. The LP encloses the vertical polarization (VP), forming a network of Bloch-type merons and antimerons. Our work enhances the understanding of domain distribution and polarization orientation in moiré ferroelectrics.

Systemic administration of nanomedicines results in the activation of the complement cascade, promoting phagocytic uptake and triggering proinflammatory responses. Identifying the biomarkers that can predict the “risk” of abnormally high complement responders can improve the safety and efficacy of nanomedicines. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and dextran are two types of clinically approved polymer coatings that trigger complement activation. We performed a multifaceted analysis of the factors affecting the complement activation by PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) and dextran-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoworms (SPIO NWs) in plasma from patients with different inflammatory disease conditions and healthy donors. The complement activation (measured as deposition of the complement protein C3) varied greatly, with 29-fold and 26-fold differences for PLD and SPIO NWs, respectively. Chronic inflammation, acute infection, use of steroids, and sex had minor effects on the variable complement activation, whereas age inversely correlated with the complement activation. C-reactive protein level was not predictive of high (top 20th percentile) complement responses. Plasma concentrations of the main complement factors, as well as total IgG and IgM, showed no correlation with the activation by either nanoparticle. On the other hand, plasma concentrations of anti-PEG IgG and IgM showed a strong positive correlation with the activation by PLD. Particularly, titers of anti-PEG IgM showed the best predictive value for the “risk” of high complement activation by PLD. Titers of antidextran IgG and IgM showed a lower correlation with the activation by SPIO NWs and poor predictive value of the top 20% complement responses. Nanoparticle-bound immunoglobulins showed the best correlation with complement activation and a strong predictive value, supporting the critical role of immunoglobulins in inciting complement. The opsonization of PLD with C3 in plasma with high anti-PEG antibodies was predominantly via the alternative pathway. Characterizing the nature of nanoparticle-binding antibodies has important implications in mitigating and stratifying nanomedicine safety.

Atomically-dispersed metal-based materials represent an emerging class of photocatalysts attributed to their high catalytic activity, abundant surface active sites, and efficient charge separation. Nevertheless, the roles of different forms of atomically-dispersed metals (i.e., single-atoms and atomic clusters) in photocatalytic reactions remain ambiguous. Herein, we developed an ethylenediamine (EDA)-assisted reduction method to controllably synthesize atomically dispersed Au in the forms of Au single atoms (AuSA), Au clusters (AuC), and a mixed-phase of AuSAand AuC(AuSA+C) on CdS. In addition, we elucidate the synergistic effect of AuSAand AuCin enhancing the photocatalytic performance of CdS substrates for simultaneous CO2reduction and aryl alcohol oxidation. Specifically, AuSAcan effectively lower the energy barrier for the CO2→*COOH conversion, while AuCcan enhance the adsorption of alcohols and reduce the energy barrier for dehydrogenation. As a result, the AuSAand AuCco-loaded CdS show impressive overall photocatalytic CO2conversion performance, achieving remarkable CO and BAD production rates of 4.43 and 4.71 mmol g−1h−1, with the selectivities of 93% and 99%, respectively. More importantly, the solar-to-chemical conversion efficiency of AuSA+C/CdS reaches 0.57%, which is over fivefold higher than the typical solar-to-biomass conversion efficiency found in nature (ca. 0.1%). This study comprehensively describes the roles of different forms of atomically-dispersed metals and their synergistic effects in photocatalytic reactions, which is anticipated to pave a new avenue in energy and environmental applications.

The top metal-frame antenna (TMFA) of a smartphone independently offers limited capacity for satellite communication. This communication proposes a novel antenna booster (AB) technical architecture to enhance channel capacity and communication quality. The AB suppresses the original radiation and redirects energy to a circularly polarized (CP) radiator, significantly enhancing the gain. The AB comprising a monopole coupler (MC) and a CP patch is designed and measured for feasibility verification. Testing on a real-world smartphone shows the proposed AB achieving an impedance bandwidth (IBW) of 18.7% (1.91–2.32 GHz) and an axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 17.6% (1.87–2.32 GHz). In the Tiantong satellite’s Tx and Rx bands, it attains a peak gain of 6.1 dBic and an efficiency over 52.9%. The smartphone’s CP gain increases by about 6 dB after installing the AB, indicating the feasibility of the architecture.

The concept of the radiative microstrip line antenna by breaking the symmetry of the fringing E-fields has been reported previously. Existing relevant studies are all with vertical polarization, namely the radiative fringing E-fields are orthogonal with the microstrip line. In this communication, by bending the transmission lines every half wavelength and loading blocking stubs on the same side, the L-shaped cavity-cascaded antenna array that produces horizontal fringing E-fields using a single feed can be obtained. The proposed antenna has the scalable ability along one direction to control the peak gain within a certain degree. A 12-segment cavity-cascaded antenna array with the size of $3.5 \times 0.8\lambda ^{\mathbf {2}}$ at the center operating frequency is fabricated. The measured −10-dB impedance bandwidth covers 5.12–5.35 GHz and the peak gain reaches 12.4 dBi. The proposed antenna exhibits a high aperture efficiency of 58.1%, so it is a compact and easy-to-feed antenna structure to obtain a high aperture efficiency.

In this letter, a deployable coplanar waveguide (CPW) coaxial colinear (CoCo) antenna is proposed with full coverage in the H-plane. The antenna features an ultra-thin profile of only 0.1 mm with excellent deployability. The proposed antenna consists of eight units, which are connected through metal crossover lines. The top and bottom metal layers alternate as the inner and outer conductors of the CPW. Metal bridges are introduced to mitigate the open stopband (OSB) phenomenon, which also eliminates the undesired CPW slot mode. A planar choke is designed to eliminate the effects of unbalanced coaxial feeding, ensuring consistency between the measured and simulated results. The antenna was fabricated using flexible printed circuit (FPC) technology. Within the target 4.8 GHz to 4.9 GHz band, the measured S11 is below −10 dB, and the efficiency is about 80%. The average gain in the H-plane is 5.8 dBi. The antenna shows great potential for applications in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other mobile communication devices.

Silicon-based GeSn short wave infrared (SWIR) photodetectors (PDs) were designed and fabricated, whose optical response at 2000 nm was enhanced by a carefully designed hole array photon-trapping structure. The photon-trapping structure can change the light propagation direction from being perpendicular to the PD surface to lateral directions, and the absorption efficiency is improved by optical resonance enhancement effect. The responsivity of the GeSn PD with holes array on the surface was measured to be 79.0 mA/W, which has achieved a 2.3 times enhancement at a wavelength of 2000 nm. The high-performance GeSn PDs with photon-trapping structure have offered an alternative solution for high-efficiency silicon-based SWIR detection, manifesting great potential as candidates for extended optical communication and monolithic infrared imaging focal-plane array (FPA).

As the key sector of energy consumption in China, the industrial sector contributes the most to environmental pollution and CO2emissions. With the goals of reaching the peak of CO2emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, optimizing the energy supply system of industrial enterprises is significant to achieve low-carbon development. In this study, the case of system upgrading concerning waste heat utilization in a manufacturing unit is applied. The total environmental impact of the energy supply system before and after transformation is quantified and compared based on life cycle assessment method, with “cradle to gate” as the system boundary and one year of system operation as the functional unit. It can be found that the environmental impact of the energy supply system is reduced from 4.54 to 4.14 through technical innovation. The key processes contributing to the environmental impact of the system are the refrigeration system, soft water system and boiler system. Electricity consumption of refrigeration system, NaCl of the soft water system and natural gas of the boiler system are identified as key substances. Sensitivity analysis reveals that the environmental benefits of reducing electricity consumption will be more effective than that of NaCl and natural gas. With the transformation of waste heat utilization and the increase of photovoltaic power generation, the environmental impact of the system is reduced obviously, which is significant for the low-carbon transformation of the manufacturing industry.

Development of the cerebellum requires precise regulation of granule neuron progenitor (GNP) proliferation. Although it is known that primary cilia are necessary to support GNP proliferation, the exact molecular mechanism governing primary cilia dynamics within GNPs remains elusive. Here, we establish the pivotal roles for the centrosomal kinase TTBK2 (Tau tubulin kinase-2) and the E3 ubiquitin ligase HUWE1 in GNP proliferation. We show that TTBK2 is highly expressed in proliferating GNPs under Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling, coinciding with active GNP proliferation and the presence of primary cilia. TTBK2 stabilizes primary cilia by inhibiting their disassembly, thereby promoting GNP proliferation in response to SHH. Mechanistically, we identify HUWE1 as a novel centrosomal E3 ligase that facilitates primary cilia disassembly by targeting TTBK2 degradation. Disassembly of primary cilia serves as a trigger for GNP differentiation, allowing their migration from the external granule layer (EGL) of the cerebellum to the internal granule layer (IGL) for subsequent maturation. Moreover, we have established a link between TTBK2 and SHH-type medulloblastoma (SHH-MB), a tumor characterized by uncontrolled GNP proliferation. TTBK2 depletion inhibits SHH-MB proliferation, indicating that TTBK2 may be a potential therapeutic target for this cancer type. In summary, our findings reveal the mechanism governing cerebellar development and highlight a potential anti-cancer strategy for SHH-MB.

Cuproptosis, dependent on Cu overload, presents novel opportunities for cancer therapy. Cu-based nanomaterials have shown excellent advantages for the intracellular delivery of Cu. However, the biological process of Cu nanomaterials transporting Cu ions into cancer cells remains unclear. In this study, we tracked the Cu ion release process of copper nanowires (CuNWs) and copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) at the single-cell level. CuNWs with 5-μm length and CuNPs were found to be completely internalized by cancer cells. Interestingly, CuNWs escaped from the endolysosomal system, whereas CuNPs were mainly trapped in the lysosomes. This specific intracellular distribution of CuNWs led to cytoplasmic Cu ion overload, directly damaging mitochondria and inducing dihydrolipoamide S-acetyltransferase (DLAT) protein aggregation. Through these excessive Cu ions, CuNWs triggered more efficient cuproptosis than CuNPs to further increase cell death. Thus, CuNWs are more effective in delivering Cu ions than CuNPs, providing a novel perspective for designing cuproptosis-based functional nanomaterials for cancer therapy.

This article presents a study using ResNet-50, GRU, and transfer learning to construct a marketing decision-making model and predict consumer behavior. Deep learning algorithms address the scale and complexity of consumer data in the information age. Traditional methods may not capture patterns effectively, while deep learning excels at extracting features from large datasets. The research aims to leverage deep learning to build a marketing decision-making model and predict consumer behavior. ResNet-50 analyzes consumer data, extracting visual features for marketing decisions. GRU model temporal dynamics, capturing elements like purchase sequences. Transfer learning improves performance with limited data by using pre-trained models. By comparing the model predictions with ground truth data, the performance of the models can be assessed and their effectiveness in capturing consumer behavior and making accurate predictions can be measured. This research contributes to marketing decision-making. Deep learning helps understand consumer behavior, formulate personalized strategies, and improve promotion and sales. It introduces new approaches to academic marketing research, fostering collaboration between academia and industry.

This communication presents an active-passive reconfigurable antenna with 70–7200 MHz bandwidth for multiple wireless services. The active-passive reconfiguration is achieved by reusing a properly designed monopole antenna with the active-passive reconfigurable matching circuit, which is composed of a passive path and an active path. The passive path guarantees an inherent bandwidth of 923–7200 MHz for higher frequencies. The active path, achieved by a transistor biased in its ohmic region, ensures the impedance matching within 70–1200 MHz for lower frequencies. The path selection is facilitated by the cooperated design among the transistor, the p-i-n diodes, and their own bias circuits. Therefore, the proposed active-passive reconfigurable antenna achieves a total bandwidth spanning from 70 to 7200 MHz with a reflection coefficient consistently below −10 dB and validated by experiments. Such wideband performance exhibits the exciting potential for multiple-standard signal sensing to support increasing wireless services with a single antenna configuration.

A hepta-mode wideband microstrip antenna is proposed for use on the back cover of mobile terminals, targeting Wi-Fi 6/6E and ultrawideband (UWB) channels 5–11 MIMO applications. This multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) ant- enna design comprises four elements arranged in a sequential rotation pattern, each featuring four small patches with two asymmetric notches. Through proper adjustment of patch and notch dimensions, seven modes are effectively excited by a rotated L-shaped feeding probe, thereby amplifying bandwidth of the proposed antenna. In addition, size miniaturization is achieved using a circle of blind vias. To validate the design strategy, a prototype of the MIMO antenna is constructed with dimensions measuring $60.6\times 60.6\times 2$ mm3. Meeting the requirements for mobile antenna specifications, the proposed MIMO antenna covers a wide range of frequencies, including Wi-Fi 6/6E and UWB channels 5–11, with a measured −6-dB impedance bandwidth of 5.14–9.05 GHz and an isolation of over 12 dB between each antenna element. Combining broad bandwidth, compact dimensions, and a low profile, this MIMO antenna demonstrates significant potential for supporting diverse wireless services on mobile terminals.

In this article, a novel decoupling scheme based on active impedance matching is proposed for the decoupling of axial symmetrical three antennas. Three simultaneous excitation modes with the same amplitude and different phase relationships are utilized to analyze the decoupling problem. In the perspective of simultaneous excitations, the decoupling of the three antenans can be transformed into active impedance matching. Theoretical demonstration reveals that achieving decoupling for axial symmetrical three antennas necessitates matching the active impedances under the three excitations. The active impedance matching can be solved intuitively in a clear step-by-step process by exploiting the impedance characteristics of the coupled three-line and the unique field distribution under different excitation modes. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the decoupling of axial symmetric three inverted-F antennas (IFAs) is presented as an example. The achieved isolation exceeds 17 dB in the desired band with a peak isolation of 31 dB. With good isolation and a straightforward design process, the approach holds promise for future multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) antenna systems. Furthermore, the proposed method provides a new physical intuition for solving the decoupling problem of multiple antennas without the need for numerous optimizations.

This communication proposes an ultrawideband (UWB) H-plane monopulse log-periodic antenna designed for UAV applications in jamming signal detection. The main radiators are two log-periodic dipole antennas (LPDAs). Good isolation between the two LPDA elements is achieved through the common mode (CM) and differential mode (DM) cancellation methods. The spacing factor of the LPDAs, and the distance between the elements are adjusted to improve DM matching and CM matching, with the radiation patterns also considered to ensure the detection distance, correctness, and accuracy of the direction-finding system. The balanced feeding network consists of a UWB monopulse comparator, parallel lines, and tapered microstrip lines. The proposed antenna operates in a band exceeding four octaves (1.45–5.95 GHz) for both the sum and differential ports, covering the GPS band (1.575 GHz) and Wi-Fi bands (2.4, 5 GHz). It exhibits low-ripple radiation patterns, a sum beam gain above 10.5 dBi, a null depth below –20 dB, and a front-to-back ratio exceeding 14 dB.

In this letter, the redundant circulating current is identified as the key factor leading to the degradation of the efficiency of current-fed series resonant converters at light loads, which limits their performance in fuel cell vehicles. To tackle this issue, a zero-voltage switching (ZVS) critical current tracing modulation is proposed for the current-fed series resonant converter. In the proposed method, the circulating current is adjusted to trace the critical circulating current for ZVS, and the excessive loss caused by the redundant circulating current can be suppressed. Finally, a 1-kW prototype is built to verify the effectiveness of the proposed modulation, and a maximal efficiency increase of 15.1% at light load is achieved.

In large-span space communication, the current bundle delivery mechanism using the Disruption-Tolerant Networks (DTN) technique confronts huge challenges such as high packet loss rate and huge latency. These challenges incur obviously low goodput when delivering scientific and engineering data for the target missions, such as instructions, text, and images. However, the context correlations in these data are not yet excavated to resist the above challenges by current works. To address this issue, therefore, we propose a semantic-aware bundle delivery mechanism for context-dependent data via a cross-layer design on Bundle Protocol (BP) and Licklider Transmission Protocol (LTP), which has the excellent error-tolerance capability by the well-designed semantic-oriented Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) scheme. In particular, the jointed cross-layer design consists of a Semantic Blocking (SB) and Semantic Coding (SC)-based Bundle Updating (BU) mechanism and a dynamic Red/Green-part Allocation method based on Semantic Importance (RGA-SI) for bundles and segments in the two layers. Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism can reduce data latency and improve goodput from about 50% to 70% compared with the current bundle delivery mechanism in DTN with optimal segment size, especially under bad channel conditions.

Variants in voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) genes are implicated in seizures, epilepsy, and neurodevelopmental disorders, constituting a significant aspect of hereditary epilepsy in the Chinese population. Through retrospective analysis utilizing next-generation sequencing (NGS), we examined the genotypes and phenotypes of VGSC-related epilepsy cases from a cohort of 691 epilepsy subjects. Our findings revealed that 5.1% of subjects harbored VGSC variants, specifically 22 with SCN1A, 9 with SCN2A, 1 with SCN8A, and 3 with SCN1Bvariants; no SCN3Avariants were detected. Among these, 14 variants were previously reported, while 21 were newly identified. SCN1A variant carriers predominantly presented with Dravet Syndrome (DS) and Genetic Epilepsy with Febrile Seizures Plus (GEFS + ), featuring a heightened sensitivity to fever-induced seizures. Statistically significant disparities emerged between the SCN1A-DS and SCN1A-GEFS+ groups concerning seizure onset and genetic diagnosis age, incidence of status epilepticus, mental retardation, anti-seizure medication (ASM) responsiveness, and familial history. Notably, subjects with SCN1A variants affecting the protein’s pore region experienced more frequent cluster seizures. All SCN2Avariants were of de novo origin, and 88.9% of individuals with SCN2Avariations exhibited cluster seizures. This research reveals a significant association between variations in VGSC-related genes and the clinical phenotype diversity of epilepsy subjects in China, emphasizing the pivotal role of NGS screening in establishing accurate disease diagnoses and guiding the selection of ASM.

Background: Autologous arteriovenous fistulae (AVFs) are the best type of vascular access in patients with kidney failure. However, the conventional technique has a high failure rate. We performed a randomised controlled trial to investigate whether the no-touch technique has a higher maturation and patency rate than that of the conventional technique for creating AVFs. Methods: This study was a single-centre randomised controlled trial involving patients with kidney failure requiring an AVF for haemodialysis access. A total of 179 patients undergoing their first radial artery-cephalic fistula were randomized 1:1 to the no-touch technique (n= 90) or conventional technique (n= 89). The maturation and patency rate of the two techniques were compared and analysed. Results: The preoperative baseline data showed no differences between groups. When comparing the no-touch technique to the conventional technique, the maturation rate was 93% vs. 89% and the 1-year primary function patency was 72% vs. 62%, respectively. Factors associated with AVF failure included age > 55 years (OR = 2.417, 95% CI 1.242–4.703), female sex (OR = 2.149, 95% CI 1.099–4.202), and vein diameter ≤ 1.8 mm (OR = 3.664, 95% CI 1.714–7.832). For patients with small veins the maturation rate was 92.98% vs. 80% and the 1-year primary function patency was 68.42% vs. 40% for the no-touch technique and conventional technique, respectively. Conclusions: The no-touch technique has a higher maturation and patency rate than the conventional technique for creating an autologous AVF, especially in patients with small veins. This technique may provide a better outcome for patients with small cephalic veins. Graphical abstract:

Improper tool trajectory selection during CFRP curved component milling can lead to sudden changes in instantaneous cutting parameters, such as fiber cutting angle, resulting in significant machining damage and profile deviation. In this paper, a novel tool trajectory planning method for CFRP curved component milling is proposed. The key innovation of this method lies in considering the effect of tool variable inclination on fiber removal behavior. Employing the developed method, the influence of trajectories under different tool inclination angles on the milling quality of CFRP surfaces is thoroughly investigated. The results indicate that, to minimize machining damage, an inclination angle within 10° is recommended when the fiber cutting direction is in the range of 0°-60° and 150°-180°. For fiber cutting directions falling within 60°-150°, it is recommended to select an inclination angle above 25°. Additionally, the novel tool trajectory planning method decreases CFRP surface profile errors by over 20 %.

Stamp forming of complex structures in continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTPs) poses intricate molding challenges, particularly in surface quality maintenance. Dry spot defects, prevalent in such structures significantly compromise part rigidity, posing a pressing challenge in CFRTPs' practical application. This study focuses on multi-prismatic array structures, proposing a method to mitigate these defects in CFRTPs stamp forming. Forming simulations revealed the underlying causes of dry spot formation, leading to the optimization of two critical structural parameters: the chamfer radius (R) and the draft angle (θ). Simulation results indicated a substantial reduction in dry spot area, decreasing from 10 % to 0.28 % after optimization. Subsequent forming experiments confirmed the effectiveness of this approach, yielding multi-prismatic array samples with minimal dry spot. This strategy presents a novel and efficient means to address dry spot defects in complex CFRTPs parts stamp forming.

AbstractNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in the world, whose pathologic features include dysregulated glucose homeostasis and lipid accumulation. Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor α (PPARα) is a key regulator of fatty acid metabolism and ketogenesis due to its regulatory pathways involve activating fatty acid uptake, accelerating fatty acid oxidation, inhibiting gluconeogenesis, and suppressing inflammation and fibrosis. Therefore, PPARα is considered as a potential target for the treatment of NAFLD and some agonists have entered clinical trials, which drove us to discover more novel PPARα agonists. In current work, new 3H-benzo[b] [1,4] diazepine PPARα agonists were identified from the ChemDiv database by pharmacophore modeling, molecular docking, derivative structure search, and bioassays, where compound LY-2 and its derivatives (LY-10∼LY-19) were discovered to promote the expression of PPARα downstream gene, carnitine palmitoyl transterase-1 α (cpt1α). Among these active compounds, the EC50value of LY-2 against increasing cpt1α was 2.169 μΜ. Furthermore, the effect of LY-2 on cpt1α was weakened when PPARα knock down, which confirmed that it is a PPARα agonist again. Finally, the results from molecular dynamics simulations and binding free energy calculations showed that π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions played key roles in the binding of LY-2 and PPARα protein and their complex maintained a stable structure to facilitate LY-2 to have a better binding affinity with PPARα protein. Taken together, compound LY-2 might be a novel lead compound for the development of potent PPARα agonists.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Rhombiferan (Echinoderm) fossils from the Lower Ordovician Liexi fauna in the South China Block are identified as Cheirocystis liexiensisn. sp. Details of the stem, theca and brachioles are preserved. Cheirocystis liexiensisis characterized by plates with single axial ridges and outer proximal stem ossicles with two smooth annular flanges, the lower curved downwards. The earliest Cheirocrinidae in the South China Block was from the Tremadocian in Jiangnan Slope, then migrated to the margin of Jiangnan Slope during Floian, and finally to the intra-platform during Middle–Upper Ordovician. Spatial-temporal distribution of the cheirocrinid fossils throughout the Lower to Upper Ordovician units in the South China suggests probably a slow westward biogeographic migration of cheirocrinids. Newly discovered Lagerstätten, such as the Liexi fauna, allow tests of geographical bias in our knowledge of the fossil record. Such testing should become routine.

The Middle Devonian Qujing Formation at its type locality in eastern Qujing City, Yunnan was investigated for the first time. At the Wutaishan section, the formation is characterized by fossiliferous limestone and marls with massive terrigenous inputs. About 1292 individual specimens and several fragmented stringocephalid brachiopods were collected and systematically identified in this study. They are assigned into 18 species of 13 genera from 9 families in 6 orders. Undispiriferoidesspecies and their detailed internal structures are for the first time illustrated, with a new species Undispiriferoides qujingensisbeing established. We recognize the assemblages of Stringocephalusand Ambothyris-Spinatrypa. The former is characterized by Stringocephalus burtiniand accompanied with plenty of Meristella kütsingensis, M. flayelli, and Desquamatiasp. that are commonly present in the middle Givetian in South China. Whereas the latter is identified in the late Givetian and mainly contains small-sized, smooth spiriferides (e.g., Emanuella takwanensis, Ambothyris panxiensis) and atrypides Spinatrypa. The brachiopod assemblages in the section were largely correlated with environmental parameters and ecological factors in the near-shoal belt, where alternating clastic and marine carbonate depositions were disrupted by sea-level fluctuations. The Stringocephalusfauna favorably diversified in reefal and carbonate-dominated substrates and was replaced by the soft-bottom dwelling habitants of the Ambothyris-Spinatrypaassemblage, coinciding with multiple and progressive sea-level fluctuations in the Givetian.

Studies have increasingly focussed on the relationship between periodontitis (PD) and preeclampsia (PE). However, conclusions have not been consistent, and it is unclear whether any causal relationship exists between them and whether causality is bidirectional. This study employed Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis to investigate the potential bidirectional causal relationship between PD and PE.

The CD44gene is a critical factor in animal physiological processes and has been shown to affect insulin resistance and fat accumulation in mammals. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted on its precise functions in lipid metabolism and adipogenic differentiation in beef cattle. This study analyzed the expression of CD44and miR-199a-3p during bovine preadipocyte differentiation. The luciferase reporter assay demonstrated that CD44was a direct target of miR-199a-3p. Increased accumulation of lipid droplets and triglyceride levels, altered fatty acid metabolism, and accelerated preadipocyte differentiation were all caused by the upregulation of miR-199a-3p or a reduction in CD44expression. CD44knockdown upregulated the expression of adipocyte-specific genes (LPLand FABP4) and altered the levels of lipid metabolites (SOPC, l-arginine, and heptadecanoic acid). Multiomics highlights enriched pathways involved in energy metabolism (MAPK, cAMP, and calcium signaling) and shifts in mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis, indicating that CD44plays a regulatory role in lipid metabolism. The findings show that intracellular lipolysis, glycolysis, mitochondrial respiration, fat deposition, and lipid droplet composition are all impacted by miR-199a-3p, which modulates CD44in bovine adipocytes.

This article presents a compact wideband circular-polarized (CP) antenna with wide beamwidth for low-orbit direct satellite-to-handset communication. In this design, an asymmetric tri-dipole antenna is proposed and integrated onto the upper bezel of mobile terminal. The contributions of the asymmetry are with three aspects: 1) the antenna is composed of asymmetrical dipoles to generate circular polarization, i.e., a folded dipole for horizontal polarization (HP) and two bent dipoles for vertical polarization (VP); 2) the two bent dipoles are also asymmetrical to improve both impedance and axial ratio (AR) bandwidths; and 3) for each bent dipole, the two arms are asymmetrically designed to enhance the beamwidth for low-orbit range coverage. To validate, a prototype of the proposed antenna was fabricated and tested, indicating gratifying circular polarization performance of −6-dB impedance bandwidth of 680 MHz, 3-dB AR bandwidth of 140 MHz, and 3-dB beamwidth beyond 92° in a volume of $0.88\times 0.07\times 0.005\lambda _{0}^{3}$ at the center frequency of 3.8 GHz. With the merits of compact size, wide bandwidth, and wide beamwidth, this asymmetric tri-dipole CP antenna exhibits potential for mobile terminal applications of low-orbit satellite communications.

In this letter, a CP antenna for satellite communication on a smartphone is proposed. The antenna is designed based on the proposed narrowed crossed dipole, which has a significantly smaller size compared to the conventional one. Only one of the dipoles is excited directly; the other works as a parasitic element. By adjusting the lengths of the dipoles, CP radiation is realized. Finally, a matching circuit based on a coupled microstrip line and a balun chip for balanced feeding is introduced. A prototype of the proposed antenna was fabricated and tested to validate the concept. The measured bandwidth with S11 &lt; −10 dB for the antenna is (2.47 to 2.51) GHz [covering the S-band of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System of (2483.5 to 2500) MHz]. Besides, the measured 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth is about 1.4%. The maximum gain is 1.9 dBic, and the efficiency is higher than 78% over the operating band. The proposed antenna shows great potential in the satellite communication application for the smartphone.

To equip data-driven dynamic chemical process models with strong interpretability, we develop a light attention–convolution–gate recurrent unit (LACG) architecture with three sub-modules—a basic module, a brand-new light attention module, and a residue module—that are specially designed to learn the general dynamic behavior, transient disturbances, and other input factors of chemical processes, respectively. Combined with a hyperparameter optimization framework, Optuna, the effectiveness of the proposed LACG is tested by distributed control system data-driven modeling experiments on the discharge flowrate of an actual deethanization process. The LACG model provides significant advantages in prediction accuracy and model generalization compared with other models, including the feedforward neural network, convolution neural network, long short-term memory (LSTM), and attention-LSTM. Moreover, compared with the simulation results of a deethanization model built using Aspen Plus Dynamics V12.1, the LACG parameters are demonstrated to be interpretable, and more details on the variable interactions can be observed from the model parameters in comparison with the traditional interpretable model attention-LSTM. This contribution enriches interpretable machine learning knowledge and provides a reliable method with high accuracy for actual chemical process modeling, paving a route to intelligent manufacturing.

The formation of holes in epithelial tissue is essential for development, but it can also be associated with epithelial barrier dysfunction and cancer progression. Here we show that active cell contraction in epithelioid monolayer tissues derived from human embryonic stem cells can spontaneously launch a morphological transition cascade consisting of hole nucleation, coalescence and network formation. Accumulated tissue-level tensile stresses drive hole expansion from isotropic round expansion to local fracture of intercellular junctions. This is followed by fast crack propagation, which is later suppressed by the self-organized supracellular actomyosin ring and accompanied by crack blunting and a fracture-to-rounding transition. During hole coalescence, we find a fracture–slip mechanism that enables layer-by-layer breaking of the multicellular bridge but without inducing excessive cell deformation. Our multiscale theory captures these experimental observations and predicts that substrate rigidity sensing and adhesion of cells compete with cellular contraction to mediate the morphological dynamics. These findings suggest that living tissues may coordinate the mechanics across molecular, cellular and tissue scales to drive topological changes while reducing the risk of mechanical damage to cells.

To investigate the role of co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory molecules on immune tolerance in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), this study mapped the immune cell heterogeneity in the bone marrow of ITP at the single-cell level using Cytometry by Time of Flight (CyTOF). Thirty-six patients with ITP and nine healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. As soluble immunomodulatory molecules, more sCD25 and sGalectin-9 were detected in ITP patients. On the cell surface, co-stimulatory molecules like ICOS and HVEM were observed to be upregulated in mainly central memory and effector T cells. In contrast, co-inhibitory molecules such as CTLA-4 were significantly reduced in Th1 and Th17 cell subsets. Taking a platelet count of 30×109L−1as the cutoff value, ITP patients with high and low platelet counts showed different T cell immune profiles. Antigen-presenting cells such as monocytes and B cells may regulate the activation of T cells through CTLA-4/CD86 and HVEM/BTLA interactions, respectively, and participate in the pathogenesis of ITP. In conclusion, the proteomic and soluble molecular profiles brought insight into the interaction and modulation of immune cells in the bone marrow of ITP. They may offer novel targets to develop personalized immunotherapies.

The early development of the endosperm is crucial for balancing the allocation of maternal nutrients to offspring. This process is believed to be evolutionarily associated with genomic imprinting, resulting in parentally biased allelic gene expression. Beyond FertilizationIndependentSeed(FIS) genes, the number of imprinted genes involved in early endosperm development and seed size determination remains limited. This study introduces early endosperm-expressed HAIKU(IKU) downstream Candidate F-box 1(ICF1) and ICF2as maternally expressed imprinted genes (MEGs) in Arabidopsis thaliana. Although these genes are also demethylated by DEMETER (DME) in the central cell, their activation differs from the direct DME-mediated activation seen in classical MEGssuch as the FISgenes. Instead, ICFmaternal alleles carry pre-established hypomethylation in their promoters, priming them for activation by the WRKY10 transcription factor in the endosperm. On the contrary, paternal alleles are predominantly suppressed by CG methylation. Furthermore, we find that ICFgenes partially contribute to the small seed size observed in ikumutants. Our discovery reveals a two-step regulatory mechanism that highlights the important role of conventional transcription factors in the activation of imprinted genes, which was previously not fully recognized. Therefore, the mechanism provides a new dimension to understand the transcriptional regulation of imprinting in plant reproduction and development.

Ultrafast fiber lasers over gigahertz (GHz) repetition rates have attracted substantial attention due to their wide range of applications. Harmonic mode-locking (HML) is an effective method to scale the repetition rate to GHz level. Our study experimentally confirms the formation process and evolution of GHz harmonic pulses in an anomalous dispersion laser operated in L-band by adopting the emerging multimode inference-based hybrid-fiber modulation device while optimizing intra-cavity dispersion, nonlinearity, and pulse polarization. Our findings reveal that the GHz pulse formation undergoes three phases in sequence, namely a multiple-pulse soliton bunch in burst mode, conversion to an HML pulse, and formation of the GHz pulse train with equal periodic interval distributions. The combined effect of the nonlinear multimode interference on intra-cavity pulses in temporal, frequency, and space domains, including coherent mode superposition, spectral filtering, and mode selection in composite fiber structures, may be associated with high-order pulse splitting. The maximum repetition rate of the laser is as high as 1.112 GHz, corresponding to the 103rd harmonic of the fundamental frequency. These results contribute to understanding the nonlinear characteristics of multimode interference equivalent mode-locked devices and provide valuable reference for promoting the development of the high-repetition-rate laser sources with high performance, low cost, and simple manufacture.

The presence of pesticide and herbicide residues on fruits and vegetables poses significant health risks, making it a major concern for consumers worldwide. We engineered Cu2+-chelated chitosan nanocrystal (Cu2+-ChNC), a 1D porous material, from nanocrystals of chitin, derived from fishery waste, such as shrimp and crab shells. These nanocrystals are scaffolded by Cu2+ions, forming a unique nanochannel structure with a diameter of about 1.5 nm. Our Cu2+-ChNCs have shown exceptional efficiency in absorbing common chemical residues, such as glyphosate and chlorpyrifos. Additionally, applying an aqueous Cu2+-ChNC suspension to fruits and vegetables significantly extends their shelf life, thanks to the antimicrobial properties of Cu2+ions. The synthesis process of Cu2+-ChNC is scalable, and the full process only employs materials and chemicals recognized as safe in food by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Our research indicates that Cu2+-ChNC is a promising material for effectively removing residues and enhancing the postharvest preservation of fruits and vegetables.

The chemical synthesis of anthocyanins, especially delphinidin-3-O-glucoside and petunidin-3-O-glucoside, is preferable due to the challenges associated with their extraction and purification. However, the reported methods for the synthesis are scarce and intricate. Our research focused on exploring a one-step ester-to-ketone process and optimizing the ring formation reaction, simplifying and improving the overall synthesis strategy. Through these attempts, we were able to achieve higher production yields of delphinidin-3-O-glucoside and petunidin-3-O-glucoside. According to the results of DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP, the antioxidant activity of anthocyanins was increased with the number of B ring hydroxyl substituent. Additionally, both delphinidin-3-O-glucoside and petunidin-3-O-glucoside exhibited no cytotoxicity effects, highlighting their potential for safe application in various fields.