Fine Optimization of Colloidal Photonic Crystal Structural Color for Physically Unclonable Multiplex Encryption and Anti-Counterfeiting.

Robust anti-counterfeiting techniques aim for easy identification while remaining difficult to forge, especially for high-value items such as currency and passports. However, many existing anti-counterfeiting techniques rely on deterministic processes, resulting in loopholes for duplication and counterfeiting. Therefore, achieving high-level encryption and easy authentication through conventional anti-counterfeiting techniques has remained a significant challenge. To address this, this work proposes a solution that combined fluorescence and structural colors, creating a physically unclonable multiplex encryption system (PUMES). In this study, the physicochemical properties of colloidal photonic inks are systematically adjusted to construct a comprehensive printing phase diagram, revealing the printable region. Furthermore, the brightness and color saturation of inkjet-printed colloidal photonic crystal structural colors are optimized by controlling the substrate's hydrophobicity, printed droplet volume, and the addition of noble metals. Finally, fluorescence is incorporated to build PUMES, including macroscopic fluorescence and structural color patterns, as well as microscopic physically unclonable fluorescence patterns. The PUMES with intrinsic randomness and high encoding capacity are authenticated by a deep learning algorithm, which proved to be reliable and efficient under various observation conditions. This approach can provide easy identification and formidable resistance against counterfeiting, making it highly promising for the next-generation anti-counterfeiting of currency and passports.

Additively manufactured customized microhelix motors' bursting motion in mesoscopic tubes for vessel declogging.

Magnetic microhelix motors are widely employed in various applications such as cargo transportation, drug delivery, toxic substance declogging, and cell manipulation, due to their unique adaptive magnetic manipulation capabilities. In this work, high-precision stereoscopic additive manufacturing techniques were used to produce customized microhelices with varying structural parameters, including different pitch numbers (2-4 pitches), sizes (0.1-0.25 mm), and taper angles (172°-180°). Their motion performance in mesoscopic tubes was systematically investigated. The magnetic microhelix motors' speed increases when circle numbers and taper angles decrease, while circle diameters increase. The magnetic microhelix motors' speed could achieve a 1500% enhancement reaching 0.16 mm s-1 in a 0.3 mm tube, with a pitch number of 3, diameter of 0.2 mm, and taper angle of 172°. Furthermore, their vessel declogging capability is confirmed in in vitro experiments.

Wearable Bioimpedance-Based Deep Learning Techniques for Live Fish Health Assessment under Waterless and Low-Temperature Conditions.

(1) Background: At present, physiological stress detection technology is a critical means for precisely evaluating the comprehensive health status of live fish. However, the commonly used biochemical tests are invasive and time-consuming and cannot simultaneously monitor and dynamically evaluate multiple stress levels in fish and accurately classify their health levels. The purpose of this study is to deploy wearable bioelectrical impedance analysis (WBIA) sensors on fish skin to construct a deep learning-based stress dynamic evaluation model for precisely estimating their accurate health status. (2) Methods: The correlation of fish (turbot) muscle nutrients and their stress indicators are calculated using grey relation analysis (GRA) for allocating the weight of the stress factors. Next, WBIA features are sieved using the maximum information coefficient (MIC) in stress trend evaluation modeling, which is closely related to the key stress factors. Afterward, a convolutional neural network (CNN) is utilized to obtain the features of the WBIA signals. Then, the long short-term memory (LSTM) method learns the stress trends with residual rectification using bidirectional gated recurrent units (BiGRUs). Furthermore, the Z-shaped fuzzy function can accurately classify the fish health status by the total evaluated stress values. (3) Results: The proposed CNN-LSTM-BiGRU-based stress evaluation model shows superior accuracy compared to the other machine learning models (CNN-LSTM, CNN-GRU, LSTM, GRU, SVR, and BP) based on the MAPE, MAE, and RMSE. Moreover, the fish health classification under waterless and low-temperature conditions is thoroughly verified. High accuracy is proven by the classification validation criterion (accuracy, F1 score, precision, and recall). (4) Conclusions: the proposed health evaluation technology can precisely monitor and track the health status of live fish and provides an effective technical reference for the field of live fish vital sign detection.

The effect of sex differences on neointimal characteristics of in-stent restenosis in drug-eluting stents: An optical coherence tomography study.

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated that there are sex-related differences in atherosclerosis. However, in terms of the nature of in-stent restenosis (ISR) neointima, the effect of gender on the results is unclear. Methods: Patients with ISR of drug-eluting stents (DES) who underwent OCT examination in Senior Department of Cardiology of the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital from March 2010 to March 2022 were included. The patients were divided into male and female groups. Results: In this study, a total of 230 DES-ISR patients and 249 DES-ISR target lesions were analyzed. OCT data showed that compared to females, males have a higher incidence of thin-cap fibrous atherosclerosis (TCFA) (37.4% [n = 77] vs. 9.3% [n = 4], p < 0.001) and in-stent neoatherosclerosis (ISNA) (82.0% [n = 169] vs. 62.8% [n = 27]). p = 0.005). In addition, a multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that male was independently associated with a higher incidence of ISNA (OR: 2.659, 95% CI: 1.239-5.707; p = 0.012) and TCFA (OR: 4.216, 95% CI: 1.370-12.976; p = 0.012). Conclusion: For DES-ISR patients, the incidence of ISNA in female was significantly lower than that in male and vulnerability of neointimal pattern is lower in female than in male.

Versatile Synthesis of Hollow-Structured Mesoporous Carbons by Enhanced Surface Interaction for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Nanoporous carbons are very attractive for various applications including energy storage. Templating methods with assembled amphiphilic molecules or porous inorganic templates are typically used for the synthesis. Amongst the different members of this family, CMK-5-like structures that are constructed to consist of sub-10 nm amorphous carbon nanotubes and ultrahigh specific surface area due to their thin pore walls, have the best properties in various respects. However, the fabrication of such hollow-structured mesoporous carbons entails elaborately tailoring the surface properties of the template pore walls and selecting specific carbon precursors. Thus, very limited cases are successful. Herein, a versatile and general silanol-assisted surface-casting method to create hollow-structured mesoporous carbons and heteroatom-doped derivatives with numerous organic molecules (e.g., furfuryl alcohol, resol, 2-thiophene methanol, dopamine, tyrosine) and different structural templates is reported. These carbon materials exhibit ultrahigh surface area (2400 m2  g-1 ), large pore volume (4.0 cm3  g-1 ), as well as satisfactory lithium-storage capacity (1460 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 ), excellent rate capability (320 mAh g-1 at 5 A g-1 ), and very outstanding cycling performance (2000 cycles at 5 A g-1 ).

Novel flexible sensing technology for nondestructive detection on live fish health/quality during waterless and low-temperature transportation.

Fish health/quality issues are increasingly attracting attention during waterless and low-temperature transportation. Nondestructive detection has become a great need for an effective method to improve fish health/quality. Currently, emerging Internet of Things, novel flexible electronics and data fusion technology have received great interest for nondestructive detection on live fish health/quality. This paper analysized nondestructive detection mechanisms using novel flexible sensing technology to achieve high-precision sensing of key parameters, and machine learning based data fusion modeling to achieve live fish health/quality nondestructive evaluation during waterless and low-temperature transportation. Recent studies on novel flexible electrochemical and physiological biosensors development and application for solving key ambient and physiological parameter sensing were summarized. The ML based data fusion modeling framework and application for live fish health/quality nondestructive evaluation was also highlighted. The future perspective is also proposed to provide promising solutions for accurate sensing of multi-parameter and real applications of live fish health/quality nondestructive detection during waterless and low-temperature transportation.

rGO-PDMS Flexible Sensors Enabled Survival Decision System for Live Oysters.

The shell-closing strength (SCS) of oysters is the main parameter for physiological activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of SCS as an indicator of live oyster health. This study developed a flexible pressure sensor system with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the substrate and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as the sensitive layer to monitor SCS in live oysters (rGO-PDMS). In the experiment, oysters of superior, medium and inferior grades were selected as research objects, and the change characteristics of SCS were monitored at 4 °C and 25 °C. At the same time, the time series model was used to predict the survival rate of live oyster on the basis of changes in their SCS characteristics. The survival times of superior, medium and inferior oysters at 4 °C and 25 °C were 31/25/18 days and 12/10/7 days, respectively, and the best prediction accuracies for survival rate were 89.32%/82.17%/79.19%. The results indicate that SCS is a key physiological indicator of oyster survival. The dynamic monitoring of oyster vitality by means of flexible pressure sensors is an important means of improving oyster survival rate. Superior oysters have a higher survival rate in low-temperature environments, and our method can provide effective and reliable survival prediction and management for the oyster industry.

Lipoprotein (a) is related to In-Stent neoatherosclerosis incidence rate and plaque vulnerability: Optical Coherence Tomography Study.

BACKGROUND: In-stent neoatherosclerosis (ISNA) is an important reason for stent failure. High lipoprotein (a) [Lp (a)] level is an independent predictor of in-stent restenosis (ISR). To date, the relationship between the level of serum Lp (a) and the incidence rate and vulnerability of ISNA has never been verified. METHODS: A total of 119 patients with 125 drug-eluting stent ISR lesions who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention guided by optical coherence tomography were enrolled in this study. According to their Lp (a) level, the patients were divided into two groups [high Lp (a) group ≥ 30 mg/dL, n = 47; or low Lp (a) group < 30 mg/dL, n = 72]. The clinical baseline, angiographic characteristics, and optical coherence tomography data of both groups were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: No significant differences in clinical and angiographic characteristics were found between the two groups (P > 0.05). The incidence rate of ISNA in the high Lp (a) group was significantly higher than that in the low Lp (a) group (94.0% [n = 47] vs. 52.0% [n = 39], P < 0.001). The incidence rate of thin-cap fibroatheroma in ISR lesions was significantly higher in the high Lp (a) group than in the low Lp (a) group (42% [n = 21] vs. 5.3% [n = 4], P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: A high Lp (a) level is associated with the high incidence rate and plaque vulnerability of ISNA.

Dual antiplatelet therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients at high bleeding risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: To date, it has not been ascertained whether shortening the duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) can benefit high bleeding risk (HBR) patients. This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to investigate the safety and efficacy of short (≤ 3 months) DAPT in HBR patients after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS: The PubMed, Embase, and Clinical Trials databases were searched from inception until November 2021 to identify studies that evaluated the safety and efficacy of short DAPT in HBR patients implanted with new-generation drug-eluting stents (DES). Primary endpoints included major bleeding, definite or probable stent thrombosis (ST), and myocardial infarction (MI), while secondary endpoints included all-cause death and ischemic stroke. Based on the fixed and random effect model, the risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence interval of each endpoint were measured. RESULTS: Five observational studies and one randomized controlled trial were included, involving 15,432 HBR patients. Short DAPT for HBR patients undergoing PCI had a lower incidence of major bleeding in comparison with standard (> 3 months) DAPT (2.3% vs. 3.2%, RR 0.64 [0.44, 0.95], p = 0.03), while short DAPT was comparable to standard DAPT with regard to definite or probable ST (0.4% vs. 0.3%, RR 1.31 [0.77, 2.23], p = 0.32) and MI (2.4% vs. 2.0%, RR 1.17 [0.95, 1.45], p = 0.14). CONCLUSIONS: Among HBR patients implanted with new-generation DES, short DAPT was associated with reduced risk of major bleeding without significantly increasing the risk of definite or probable ST and MI in comparison with standard DAPT.

Multimodal Data for the Detection of Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease.

Freezing of gaits (FOG) is a very disabling symptom of Parkinson's Disease (PD), affecting about 50% of PD patients and 80% of advanced PD patients. Studies have shown that FOG is related to a complex interplay between motor, cognitive and affective factors. A full characterization of FOG is crucial for FOG detection/prediction and prompt intervention. A protocol has been designed to acquire multimodal physical and physiological information during FOG, including gait acceleration (ACC), electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), and skin conductance (SC). Two tasks were designed to trigger FOG, including gait initiation failure and FOG during walking. A total number of 12 PD patients completed the experiments and produced a length of 3 hours and 42 minutes of valid data including 2 hours and 14 minutes of normal gait and 1 hour and 28 minutes of freezing of gait. The FOG episodes were labeled by two qualified physicians. The multimodal data have been validated by a FOG detection task.

Additively Manufactured Flexible Electronics with Ultrabroad Range and High Sensitivity for Multiple Physiological Signals' Detection.

Flexible electronics can be seamlessly attached to human skin and used for various purposes, such as pulse monitoring, pressure measurement, tensile sensing, and motion detection. Despite their broad applications, most flexible electronics do not possess both high sensitivity and wide detection range simultaneously; their sensitivity drops rapidly when they are subjected to even just medium pressure. In this study, ultrabroad-range, high-sensitivity flexible electronics are fabricated through additive manufacturing to address this issue. The key to possess high sensitivity and a wide detection range simultaneously is to fabricate flexible electronics with large depth-width ratio circuit channels using the additive manufacturing inner-rinsing template method. These electronics exhibit an unprecedented high sensitivity of 320 kPa-1 over the whole detection range, which ranges from 0.3 to 30,000 Pa (five orders of magnitude). Their minimum detectable weight is 0.02 g (the weight of a fly), which is comparable with human skin. They can stretch to over 500% strain without breaking and show no tensile fatigue after 1000 repetitions of stretching to 100% strain. A highly sensitive and flexible electronic epidermal pulse monitor is fabricated to detect multiple physiological signals, such as pulse signal, breathing rhythm, and real-time beat-to-beat cuffless blood pressure. All of these signals can be obtained simultaneously for detailed health detection and monitoring. The fabrication method does not involve complex expensive equipment or complicated operational processes, so it is especially suitable for the fabrication of large-area, complex flexible electronics. We believe this approach will pave the way for the application of flexible electronics in biomedical detection and health monitoring.

Locomotion of an untethered, worm-inspired soft robot driven by a shape-memory alloy skeleton.

Soft, worm-like robots show promise in complex and constrained environments due to their robust, yet simple movement patterns. Although many such robots have been developed, they either rely on tethered power supplies and complex designs or cannot move external loads. To address these issues, we here introduce a novel, maggot-inspired, magnetically driven "mag-bot" that utilizes shape memory alloy-induced, thermoresponsive actuation and surface pattern-induced anisotropic friction to achieve locomotion inspired by fly larvae. This simple, untethered design can carry cargo that weighs up to three times its own weight with only a 17% reduction in speed over unloaded conditions thereby demonstrating, for the first time, how soft, untethered robots may be used to carry loads in controlled environments. Given their small scale and low cost, we expect that these mag-bots may be used in remote, confined spaces for small objects handling or as components in more complex designs.

Facile Gold-Nanoparticle Boosted Graphene Sensor Fabrication Enhanced Biochemical Signal Detection.

Graphene has been considered as an excellent biochemical sensors' substrate material because of its excellent physical and chemical properties. Most of these sensors have employed enzymes, antibodies, antigens, and other biomolecules with corresponding recognition ability as recognition elements, to convert chemical signals into electrical signals. However, oxidoreductase enzymes that grow on graphene surfaces are affected significantly by the environment and are easily inactivated, which hinders the further improvement of detection sensitivity and robusticity. A gold-boosted graphene sensor was fabricated by the in situ electrochemical deposition of inorganic gold nanoparticles on vertical graphene nanosheets. This approach solves the instability of biological enzymes and improves the detection performance of graphene-based sensors. The uric acid sensitivity of the gold-boosted electrode was 6230 µA mM-1 cm-2, which is 6 times higher than the original graphene electrode. A 7 h GNSs/CC electrode showed an impressive detection performance for ascorbic acid, dopamine, and uric acid, simultaneously. Moreover, it exhibited a reliable detection performance in human serum in terms of uric acid. The possible reason could be that the vertical aliened graphene nanosheet acts as a reaction active spot. This 3D graphene-nanosheet-based doping approach can be applied to a wide variety of inorganic catalytic materials to enhance their performance and improve their durability in aspects such as single-atom catalysis and integration of multiple catalytic properties.

Suppression of the caspase-1/GSDMD-mediated pyroptotic signaling pathway through dexamethasone alleviates corneal alkali injuries.

The pathological mechanism of corneal injuries mediated by alkali burns are associated with Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor (NLR) family pyrin domain containing 3 protein (NLRP3)-related corneal sterile inflammation. Whether the executive protein gasdermin D (GSDMD) of pyroptosis mediated by the NLRP3 inflammasome is present in alkali-induced corneal lesions remains unclear. Dexamethasone (Dex) is a commonly used drug for ocular surface diseases that can maintain corneal transparency and anti-inflammatory effects by topical administration. Here, we presented evidence that the effect of Dex on the pyroptosis-related caspase-1/GSDMD pathway in corneal alkali burns (CABs). We assessed the clinical manifestations and histological characteristics of the placebo group, 0.05% Dex group, 0.1% Dex group on day 3 or day 7 postburn and the control group (healthy corneas). The expression of factors (including NLRP3, caspase-1, cleaved-caspase-1, GSDMD, GSDMD-N termini, pro-interleukin(IL)-1ß, IL-1ß, pro-IL-18 and IL-18) involved in the pyroptosis related caspase-1/GSDMD signaling pathway was demonstrated by molecular experiments in CAB. Alkali burns can upregulate the originally relatively dim expression of NLRP3, caspase-1, cleaved-caspase-1, GSDMD, GSDMD-N, pro-IL-1ß, pro-IL-18, IL-1ß and IL-18 in the healthy corneal epithelium and stroma. However, Dex can reverse the enhanced expression at the two timepoints. Corneal sterile inflammation can activate the NLRP3 inflammasome through the innate immune response mechanism and then activate the pyroptosis-related caspase-1/GSDMD signaling pathway. In addition, Dex can inhibit pyroptosis through this pathway.

Circ_0000745 regulates NOTCH1-mediated cell proliferation and apoptosis in pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia through adsorbing miR-193b-3p.

BACKGROUND: T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a highly proliferative hematologic malignancy. Circular RNA hsa_circ_0000745 (circ_0000745) has been reported as an oncogene in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, whether circ_0000745 can drive T-ALL progression by controlling notch receptor 1 (NOTCH1) expression is unclear. METHODS: Relative expression of circ_0000745 and NOTCH1 in bone marrow (BM) samples and T-ALL cells was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Loss- and gain-of-function experiments were executed to evaluate the effects of circ_0000745 and NOTCH1 on T-ALL cell proliferation and apoptosis. The microRNAs (miRs) that might jointly interact with circ_0000745 and NOTCH1 were predicted by bioinformatics analysis and verified by dual-luciferase reporter and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays. RESULTS: Circ_0000745 and NOTCH1 were overexpressed in T-ALL BM and T-ALL cells. Functionally, both circ_0000745 and NOTCH1 overexpression promoted T-ALL cell proliferation and curbed T-ALL cell apoptosis. In contrast, both circ_0000745 and NOTCH1 silencing restrained T-ALL cell proliferation and induced T-ALL cell apoptosis. Furthermore, circ_0000745 could control T-ALL cell proliferation and apoptosis through regulating NOTCH1 expression. Importantly, circ_0000745 regulated NOTCH1 expression by sponging miR-193b-3p. CONCLUSION: Our findings proposed a novel model in which circ_0000745 promoted cell proliferation and curbed cell apoptosis via upregulating NOTCH1 through serving as a miR-193b-3p sponge in T-ALL.

Graphene-Based Flexible Sensors for Simultaneous Detection of Ascorbic Acid, Dopamine, and Uric Acid.

Many diseases are closely related to abnormal concentrations of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), and uric acid (UA). Therefore, the detection of these small molecules is significant for monitoring life metabolism and healthy states. Electrochemical detection has been widely used to detect small molecules due to its good selectivity, high sensitivity, and good economics. Fabrication and application are two sides of the coin, and we cannot give up one for the other. Graphene (GN) is a very suitable material for electrochemical sensing due to its excellent catalytic performance and large specific surface area. It possesses many excellent properties but cannot hold itself alone due to its nanoscale thickness. Herein, we have fabricated three-dimensional (3D) GN nanosheets (GNSs) on flexible carbon cloth (CC) by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The GNSs/CC can successfully detect AA, DA, and UA simultaneously. We find that these GNSs/CC sensors show good performance with 7 h CVD modification. The linear ranges of AA, DA, and UA are 0.02-0.1, 0.0005-0.02, and 0.0005-0.02 mM, respectively. The detection sensitivity rates of AA, DA, and UA are 5,470, 60,500, and 64,000 µA mM-1 cm-2, respectively. Our GNSs/CC flexible sensors can be successfully applied in the human serum for UA detection. The result matches with commercial sensors very well.

Preliminary Study on Fish Scale Collagen Lamellar Matrix as Artificial Cornea.

To construct a novel artificial cornea biomaterial, a method to prepare collagen lamellar matrix was developed in this study using grass carp scales as raw materials. The relationship between the structure of fish scale collagen lamellar matrix and the optical and mechanical properties was analyzed, and co-culture of it and rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) was performed to preliminarily analyze the cellular compatibility of fish scale collagen lamellar matrix. The results show that the grass carp scales could be divided into base region, lateral region and parietal region according to the surface morphology. The inorganic calcium in the surface layer could be effectively removed by decalcification, and the decalcification rate could reach 99%. After etching treatment, homogeneous collagen lamellar matrix could be obtained. With the decalcification and etching treatment, the water content of the sample increased gradually, but the cross-linking treatment had no obvious effect on the water content of fish scale collagen lamellar matrix. Fish scale collagen lamellar matrix has good transparency, refractive index, mechanical properties and cellular compatibility, which may represent a prospect for the construction of cornea tissue engineering products.

A facile fabrication of conjugated fluorescent nanoparticles and micro-scale patterned encryption via high resolution inkjet printing.

Conjugated fluorescent materials are getting more and more attention in the biomedical arena due to their high fluorescence intensity, non-bleaching and good biocompatibility. However, conjugated fluorescent materials are still not widely used in the field of anti-counterfeiting and pattern encryption due to their extremely low solubility and enormous difficulties in processing. Here, we use a facile approach to fabricate conjugated polymer fluorescent nanoparticles through a classic micro-emulsion method to address these issues. The particle size, loading materials and fluorescence intensity can be tuned as demanded. Later, these particles are transformed into invisible inks for inkjet printers to achieve micro-scale pattern encryption. These patterns show an ultra-high accuracy of around 30 micrometres. They can be used as QR codes for information encryption with 3 times more information encryption and great anti-counterfeiting ability. Finally, we establish an identification recognition system to check their validity. The scenario is the patient identification system of a hospital. The results show that these tags can be read in less than 3 seconds and they can last for 12 months at least. This facile approach holds great potential and bright prospects in the field of privacy protection, information encryption and anti-counterfeiting.