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Category: biotech/medical – Page 5

Adaptive Optimization of Vascular-Targeted Photodynamic Therapy Efficiency Based on Hyperspectral-Photoacoustic Dual-Modality Imaging Feedback

Objective: To enhance vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy (V-PDT) efficacy by integrating real-time dosimetric monitoring and adaptive irradiance modulation based on dynamic physiological feedback. Impact Statement: This study presents a closed-loop, dual-modality optical imaging-guided V-PDT platform that enables individualized, oxygen-informed irradiance control, improving therapeutic precision and efficiency. Introduction: While V-PDT is a promising, minimally invasive treatment for tumors and vascular abnormalities, its efficacy is often hindered by rapid oxygen depletion under high irradiance, leading to treatment-limiting hypoxia. Accurate, real-time assessment of both photosensitizer concentration and blood oxygenation is essential to guide optimized therapeutic strategies, yet such capability has remained elusive in clinical settings.

Abstract: In the 1960’s, megamitochondria in hepatocytes were identified in injured liver tissue

Here, Wen-Xing Ding find alterations in mitochondrial dynamics and the accumulation of large mitochondria contribute to liver tumor development in mice: https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI194441 # MASH

The EM image shows liver cells with megamitochondria (arrows) from mice lacking liver-specific dynamin-related protein 1 (Dnm1).

1Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, USA.

2Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and.

3Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA.

Paracrine Regulation and Immune System Pathways in the Inflammatory Tumor Microenvironment of Lung Cancer: Insights into Oncogenesis and Immunotherapeutic Strategies

Simple SummaryDespite massive strides taken across the board in oncology, there remain gaps in understanding the relationship between cancer cells and the body’s immune system, tissues, and signaling pathways.

Attenuating age-related decline in dendritic cell migration improves vaccine efficacy via gut-immune crosstalk

Dai and colleagues implicate defective dendritic cell migration in impaired vaccine responses in aged mice. Oral delivery of yeast-derived nanoparticles promotes migration of dendritic cells from the gut to lymph nodes and restores vaccine efficacy in aged mice.

Muscle repair may hinge on a timed metabolic ‘switch,’ study suggests

Scientists at the University of California, Irvine’s School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences have discovered how muscle stem cells “flip a switch” to rebuild damaged muscle—a finding that could help address muscle loss linked to aging, injury and widely used weight-loss medications.

The study, published this week in Nature Metabolism, shows that muscle recovery is not just about protein or exercise. It depends on timing and how muscle cells use fuel.

Researchers learned that immediately after stress, muscle stem cells temporarily slow down energy production. Instead of burning glucose for energy, they reroute it into protective repair processes to produce antioxidants that reduce inflammation. Once repairs are complete, energy production ramps back up and new muscle fibers form and strengthen.

Long-living wild mouse may hold secret to healthy aging

When it comes to health, some of our animal neighbors have extraordinary advantages. Ostriches, for example, are highly resistant to viruses, while sharks rarely develop cancer. And species like naked mole rats and bowhead whales live for astonishingly long periods of time, decades and centuries, respectively.

Researchers are now starting to understand why another species—the golden spiny mouse—seems to be unhindered by the negative health effects that typically accompany aging.

Reporting in Science Advances, researchers at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) have begun to uncover how this wild mouse, native to rocky deserts in the Middle East, resists physical, cognitive, and immunological decline while living six to seven times longer than other wild mice.

Varicella zoster virus and the central nervous system

Varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection causes varicella and herpes zoster and, rarely, severe central nervous system (CNS) complications, including encephalitis. Ogunjimi et al. review the evidence linking herpes zoster with stroke and dementia, summarize innate and adaptive immune responses to VZV-related CNS disease, and debate the consequences of vaccination.

Gut bacteria can sense their environment and it’s key to your health

Your gut bacteria are chemical detectives—sniffing out nutrients and even feeding each other to keep your microbiome thriving. Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria that constantly “sense” their surroundings to survive and thrive. New research shows that beneficial gut microbes, especially common Clostridia bacteria, can detect a surprisingly wide range of chemical signals produced during digestion, including byproducts of fats, proteins, sugars, and even DNA. These microbes use specialized sensors to move toward valuable nutrients, with lactate and formate standing out as especially important fuel sources.

The gut microbiome, also called the gut flora, plays a vital role in human health. This enormous and constantly changing community of microorganisms is shaped by countless chemical exchanges, both among the microbes themselves and between microbes and the human body. For these interactions to work, gut bacteria must be able to detect nutrients and chemical signals around them. Despite their importance, scientists still know relatively little about the full range of signals that bacterial receptors can recognize.

A key question remains. Which chemical signals matter most to beneficial gut bacteria?

Group B Streptococcal Disease

Group B streptococcus commonly colonizes the human gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts and is the single most common bacterial cause of invasive infection among newborns in the United States. Intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis is currently used to reduce the risk of group B streptococcal disease among pregnant persons and newborns. No strategies are currently available to prevent disease in later infancy or among nonpregnant adults. Vaccines against group B streptococcal disease that consist of capsular polysaccharides linked to protein antigens are in development and may provide a means of prevention for all at-risk populations.

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