Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B

Energy metabolism is fundamental for life. It encompasses the utilization of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins for internal processes, while aberrant energy metabolism is implicated in many diseases. In the present study, using three-dimensional (3D) printing from polycarbonate via fused deposition modeling, we propose a multi-nuclear radiofrequency (RF) coil design with integrated 1 H birdcage and interchangeable X-nuclei (2 H, 13 C, 23 Na, and 31 P) single-loop coils for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)...

Brain diseases affect millions of people and have a huge social and economic impact. The use of neural probes for studies in animals has been the main approach to increasing knowledge about neural network functioning. Ultimately, neuroscientists are trying to develop new and more effective therapeutic approaches to treating neurological disorders. The implementation of neural probes with multifunctionalities (electrical, optical, and fluidic interactions) has been increasing in the last few years, leading to the creation of devices with high temporal and spatial resolution...

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent sustained cardiac arrhythmia among humans, with its incidence increasing significantly with age. Despite the high frequency of AF in clinical practice, its etiology and management remain elusive. To develop effective treatment strategies, it is imperative to comprehend the underlying mechanisms of AF; therefore, the establishment of animal models of AF is vital to explore its pathogenesis. While spontaneous AF is rare in most animal species, several large animal models, particularly those of pigs, dogs, and horses, have proven as invaluable in recent years in advancing our knowledge of AF pathogenesis and developing novel therapeutic options...

The technology of three-dimensional (3D) printing emerged in the late 1970s and has since undergone considerable development to find numerous applications in mechanical engineering, industrial design, and biomedicine. In biomedical science, several studies have initially found that 3D printing technology can play an important role in the treatment of diseases in hepatopancreatobiliary surgery. For example, 3D printing technology has been applied to create detailed anatomical models of disease organs for preoperative personalized surgical strategies, surgical simulation, intraoperative navigation, medical training, and patient education...

Acral melanoma (AM) is the most common histologic subtype of melanoma in dark-skinned patients and is associated with a worse prognosis and a high mortality rate, largely due to the inconspicuous nature of early-stage lesions, which can lead to late diagnosis. Because of the overlapping clinical and histopathological features of AM with other forms of cutaneous melanomas, early detection of AM requires a multidisciplinary approach that integrates various diagnostic modalities, including clinical examination, dermoscopy, histopathology, molecular testing, radiological imaging, and blood tests...

Recently, the substance P (SP)/neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R) system has been found to be involved in various human pathophysiological disorders including the symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Besides, studies in the oncological field have demonstrated an intricate correlation between the upregulation of NK-1R and the activation of SP/NK-1R system with the progression of multiple carcinoma types and poor clinical prognosis. These findings indicate that the modulation of SP/NK-1R system with NK-1R antagonists can be a potential broad-spectrum antitumor strategy...

In the post-antibiotic era, the overuse of antimicrobials has led to a massive increase in antimicrobial resistance, leaving medical doctors few or no treatment options to fight infections caused by superbugs. The use of bacteriophages is a promising alternative to treat infections, supplementing or possibly even replacing antibiotics. Using phages for therapy is possible, since these bacterial viruses can kill bacteria specifically, causing no harm to the normal flora. However, bacteria have developed a multitude of sophisticated and complex ways to resist infection by phages, including abortive infection and the clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) system...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies and is a major cause of cancer-related mortalities worldwide (Forner et al., 2018; He et al., 2023). Sarcopenia is a syndrome characterized by an accelerated loss of skeletal muscle (SM) mass that may be age-related or the result of malnutrition in cancer patients (Cruz-Jentoft and Sayer, 2019). Preoperative sarcopenia in HCC patients treated with hepatectomy or liver transplantation is an independent risk factor for poor survival (Voron et al...

Magnesium-doped calcium silicate (CS) bioceramic scaffolds have unique advantages in mandibular defect repair; however, they lack antibacterial properties to cope with the complex oral microbiome. Herein, for the first time, the CS scaffold was functionally modified with a novel copper-containing polydopamine (PDA(Cu2+‍ )) rapid deposition method, to construct internally modified (*P), externally modified (@PDA), and dually modified (*P@PDA) scaffolds. The morphology, degradation behavior, and mechanical properties of the obtained scaffolds were evaluated in vitro...

Pancreatic cancer is among the most malignant cancers, and thus early intervention is the key to better survival outcomes. However, no methods have been derived that can reliably identify early precursors of development into malignancy. Therefore, it is urgent to discover early molecular changes during pancreatic tumorigenesis. As aberrant glycosylation is closely associated with cancer progression, numerous efforts have been made to mine glycosylation changes as biomarkers for diagnosis; however, detailed glycoproteomic information, especially site-specific N -glycosylation changes in pancreatic cancer with and without drug treatment, needs to be further explored...

Gorham-Stout disease (GSD) is a sporadic chronic disease characterized by progressive bone dissolution, absorption, and disappearance along with lymphatic vessel infiltration in bone-marrow cavities. Although the osteolytic mechanism of GSD has been widely studied, the cause of lymphatic hyperplasia in GSD is rarely investigated. In this study, by comparing the RNA expression profile of osteoclasts (OCs) with that of OC precursors (OCPs) by RNA sequencing, we identified a new factor, semaphorin 3A (Sema3A), which is an osteoprotective factor involved in the lymphatic expansion of GSD...

5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) type 3 receptor (5-HT3 R) is the only type of ligand-gated ion channel in the 5-HT receptor family. Through the high permeability of Na+ , K+ , and Ca2+ and activation of subsequent voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs), 5-HT3 R induces a rapid increase of neuronal excitability or the release of neurotransmitters from axon terminals in the central nervous system (CNS). 5-HT3 Rs are widely expressed in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), amygdala (AMYG), hippocampus (HIP), periaqueductal gray (PAG), and other brain regions closely associated with anxiety reactions...

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a leading factor driving mortality worldwide. Iron, an essential trace mineral, is important in numerous biological processes, and its role in CVDs has raised broad discussion for decades. Iron-mediated cell death, namely ferroptosis, has attracted much attention due to its critical role in cardiomyocyte damage and CVDs. Furthermore, ferritinophagy is the upstream mechanism that induces ferroptosis, and is closely related to CVDs. This review aims to delineate the processes and mechanisms of ferroptosis and ferritinophagy, and the regulatory pathways and molecular targets involved in ferritinophagy, and to determine their roles in CVDs...

Regulatory T (Treg) cells are a special immunosuppressive subset of cluster of differentiation 4-positive (CD4+‍ )‍-T lymphocytes and play a pivotal role in the establishment of immune homeostasis in vivo (Zhang et al., 2021). The transcription factor forkhead box protein P3 (Foxp3) is the master marker of Treg cells, which is highly expressed in Treg cells and is also essential for their suppressive function (Hori et al., 2003). In addition to Foxp3, other regulators of Treg cells have been discovered (Wu et al...

Ganoderma lucidum is a mushroom widely used for its edible and medicinal properties. Primary bioactive constituents of G. lucidum are ganoderic triterpenoids (GTs), which exhibit important pharmacological activity. Abscisic acid (ABA), a plant hormone, is associated with plant growth, development, and stress responses. ABA can also affect the growth, metabolism, and physiological activities of different fungi and participates in the regulation of the tetracyclic triterpenes of some plants. Our findings indicated that ABA treatment promoted GT accumulation by regulating the gene expression levels (squalene synthase (sqs), 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (hmgr), and lanosterol synthase (ls)), and also activated cytosolic Ca2+ channels...

Eukaryotic organisms constantly face a wide range of internal and external factors that cause damage to their DNA. Failure to accurately and efficiently repair these DNA lesions can result in genomic instability and the development of tumors (Canela et al., 2017). Among the various forms of DNA damage, DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are particularly harmful. Two major pathways, non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR), are primarily responsible for repairing DSBs (Katsuki et al., 2020; Li and Yuan, 2021; Zhang and Gong, 2021; Xiang et al...

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is currently prevalent in populations throughout the world, and 56%‍-94% of the global population is seropositive for CMV. CMV infection mainly affects immunocompromised hosts. In these cases, it can cause significant symptoms, tissue-invasive disease, and many sequelae including death (Dioverti and Razonable, 2016). The vast majority of healthy adults with CMV infection experience an asymptomatic course; when symptomatic, it manifests as a mononucleosis-like syndrome in approximately 10% of patients (Sridhar et al...

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a prevalent malignant tumor affecting the head and neck region (Leemans et al., 2018). It is often diagnosed at a later stage, leading to a poor prognosis (Muzaffar et al., 2021; Li et al., 2023). Despite advances in OSCC treatment, the overall 5-year survival rate of OSCC patients remains alarmingly low, falling below 50% (Jehn et al., 2019; Johnson et al., 2020). According to statistics, only 50% of patients with oral cancer can be treated with surgery. Once discovered, it is more frequently at an advanced stage...

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, vaccines help control the spread of infection. To date, 47 vaccines have been approved, with another 227 candidates in various stages of development. In the short period of time since the beginning of their use, evidence has begun to emerge of complications following vaccination in the form of the development or exacerbation of a number of pathological conditions (Block et al., 2022; Haseeb et al., 2022). For example, a population-based study in France identified 1612 cases of myocarditis and 1613 cases of pericarditis requiring hospital treatment within five months of vaccination (le Vu et al...

Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that seriously endangers women's lives. The prognosis of breast cancer patients differs among molecular types. Compared with other subtypes, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has been a research hotspot in recent years because of its high degree of malignancy, strong invasiveness, rapid progression, easy of recurrence, distant metastasis, poor prognosis, and high mortality. Many studies have found that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays an important role in the occurrence, proliferation, migration, recurrence, chemotherapy resistance, and other characteristics of TNBC...