Research progress in anti-renal fibrosis drugs.

Renal fibrosis is the common pathological basis for the progressive development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) caused by various etiologies. It is characterized by the persistent deposition of extracellular matrix, leading to renal tissue damage and impaired renal function, and ultimately progressing to kidney failure. Current clinical treatments for CKD mainly focus on managing the primary diseases, with no specific drugs targeting renal fibrosis.

Orthodontic treatment for substitution of impacted mandibular second molars with their adjacent wisdom teeth.

A distinctive method for extraction of the bilateral impacted mandibular second molars (MM2s) and moving the bilateral mesioangularly impacted mandibular third molars (MM3s) to the MM2 positions with appropriate occlusion by orthodontic uprighting and protraction was demonstrated in a 24-year-old woman and a 20-year-old woman, respectively. Although the surgical procedures should be performed under general anesthesia, rapid orthodontic treatment after tooth extraction aided in the initial teeth movement of the bilateral MM3s. The proposed treatment could be implemented and completed in 2 years or less.

Recent developments in two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide-based multimodal cancer theranostics.

Recent advancements in cancer research have led to the generation of innovative nanomaterials for improved diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Despite the proven potential of two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide (MoS) as a versatile platform in biomedical applications, few review articles have focused on MoS-based platforms for cancer theranostics. This review aims to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in 2D MoS cancer theranostics and emerging strategies in this field.

Sciatic nerve stimulation alleviates neuropathic pain and associated neuroinflammation in the dorsal root ganglia in a rodent model.

Background: Satellite glial cells (SGCs) in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) play a pivotal role in the formation of neuropathic pain (NP). Sciatic nerve stimulation (SNS) neuromodulation was reported to alleviate NP and reduce neuroinflammation. However, the mechanisms underlying SNS in the DRG remain unclear.

Erythrocyte-Leveraged Oncolytic Virotherapy (ELeOVt): Oncolytic Virus Assembly on Erythrocyte Surface to Combat Pulmonary Metastasis and Alleviate Side Effects.

Despite being a new promising tool for cancer therapy, intravenous delivery of oncolytic viruses (OVs) is greatly limited by poor tumor targeting, rapid clearance in the blood, severe organ toxicity, and cytokine release syndrome. Herein, a simple and efficient strategy of erythrocyte-leveraged oncolytic virotherapy (ELeOVt) is reported, which for the first time assembled OVs on the surface of erythrocytes with up to near 100% efficiency and allowed targeted delivery of OVs to the lung after intravenous injection to achieve excellent treatment of pulmonary metastases while greatly improving the biocompatibility of OVs as a drug. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) as a bridge to assemble OVs on erythrocytes also played an important role in promoting the transfection of OVs.

Virus-Protein Corona Replacement Strategy to Improve the Antitumor Efficacy of Intravenously Injected Oncolytic Adenovirus.

Intravenous administration of oncolytic adenoviruses (OVs) is a hopeful tumor therapeutic modality. However, the sharp clearance of OVs by the immune system dampens its effectiveness. Many studies have attempted to extend the circulation of intravenously administered OVs, almost all by preventing OVs from binding to neutralizing antibodies and complements in the blood, but the results have not been satisfactory.

Engineered bacterial outer membrane vesicles encapsulating oncolytic adenoviruses enhance the efficacy of cancer virotherapy by augmenting tumor cell autophagy.

Oncolytic adenovirus (Ad) infection promotes intracellular autophagy in tumors. This could kill cancer cells and contribute to Ads-mediated anticancer immunity. However, the low intratumoral content of intravenously delivered Ads could be insufficient to efficiently activate tumor over-autophagy.

Self-assembled short peptides: Recent advances and strategies for potential pharmaceutical applications.

Self-assembled short peptides have intrigued scientists due to the convenience of synthesis, good biocompatibility, low toxicity, inherent biodegradability and fast response to change in the physiological environment. Therefore, it is necessary to present a comprehensive summary of the recent advances in the last decade regarding the construction, route of administration and application of self-assembled short peptides based on the knowledge on their unique and specific ability of self-assembly. Herein, we firstly explored the molecular mechanisms of self-assembly of short peptides, such as non-modified amino acids, as well as Fmoc-modified, N-functionalized, and C-functionalized peptides.

Natural history and survival rate of familial amyloidosis with polyneuropathy: A nationwide databank.

Objective: Hereditary amyloid transthyretin (ATTRv) amyloidosis with polyneuropathy, a rare autosomal-dominant disease, has gained attention in recent years owing to treatment improvements. However, epidemiological real-world mega database of nationwide natural history and survival rates, especially with the specific mutation of Ala97Ser, are limited.

Methods: Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database contains data from over 23 million individuals; Among them, 175 ATTRv amyloidosis patients validated by rare disease registry were enrolled.

Inhibition of Tumor Metastasis by Liquid-Nitrogen-Shocked Tumor Cells with Oncolytic Viruses Infection.

Despite the superior tumor lytic efficacy of oncolytic viruses (OVs), their systemic delivery still faces the challenges of limited circulating periods, poor tumor tropism, and spontaneous antiviral immune responses. Herein, a virus-concealed tumor-targeting strategy enabling OVs' delivery toward lung metastasis via systemic administration is described. The OVs can actively infect, be internalized, and cloak into tumor cells.

Gene activation guided by nascent RNA-bound transcription factors.

Technologies for gene activation are valuable tools for the study of gene functions and have a wide range of potential applications in bioengineering and medicine. In contrast to existing methods based on recruiting transcriptional modulators via DNA-binding proteins, we developed a strategy termed Narta (nascent RNA-guided transcriptional activation) to achieve gene activation by recruiting artificial transcription factors (aTFs) to transcription sites through nascent RNAs of the target gene. Using Narta, we demonstrate robust activation of a broad range of exogenous and endogenous genes in various cell types, including zebrafish embryos, mouse and human cells.

Broad-spectrum and powerful neutralization of bacterial toxins by erythroliposomes with the help of macrophage uptake and degradation.

Anti-virulence strategy has been considered as one of the most promising approaches to combat drug-resistant bacterial infections. Pore-forming toxins (PFTs) are the largest class of bacterial toxins, inflicting their virulence effect through creating pores on the cell membrane. However, current solutions for eliminating PFTs are mostly designed based on their molecular structure, requiring customized design for different interactions.

A Nanozyme-Immobilized Hydrogel with Endogenous ROS-Scavenging and Oxygen Generation Abilities for Significantly Promoting Oxidative Diabetic Wound Healing.

Non-healing wound is a common complication of diabetic patients associated with high morbidity and mortality. Engineered therapeutic hydrogels have enviable advantages in tissue regeneration, however, they are suboptimal for the healing of diabetic wounds characterized by reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and chronic hypoxia. Here, a unique biological metabolism-inspired hydrogel, for ameliorating this hostile diabetic microenvironment, is presented.

Metallic Scaffold with Micron-Scale Geometrical Cues Promotes Osteogenesis and Angiogenesis via the ROCK/Myosin/YAP Pathway.

The advent of precision manufacturing has enabled the creation of pores in metallic scaffolds with feature size in the range of single microns. In orthopedic implants, pore geometries at the micron scale could regulate bone formation by stimulating osteogenic differentiation and the coupling of osteogenesis and angiogenesis. However, the biological response to pore geometry at the cellular level is not clear.

Sciatic nerve stimulation alleviates acute neuropathic pain via modulation of neuroinflammation and descending pain inhibition in a rodent model.

Background: Neuropathic pain (NP) is characterized by abnormal activation of pain conducting pathways and manifests as mechanical allodynia and thermal hypersensitivity. Peripheral nerve stimulation is used for treatment of medically refractory chronic NP and has been shown to reduce neuroinflammation. However, whether sciatic nerve stimulation (SNS) is of therapeutic benefit to NP remains unclear.

Boarding Oncolytic Viruses onto Tumor-Homing Bacterium-Vessels for Augmented Cancer Immunotherapy.

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) have been widely used as anticancer therapeutics because of their systemic immune responses during viral replication. However, the low enrichment of OVs within tumors and limited immune activation have hindered their clinical application. Herein, we proposed the concept of bacteria-assisted targeting of OVs to tumors, with liposome-cloaked oncolytic adenoviruses (OAs) conjugated onto tumor-homing BL21 (designated as -lipo-OAs) for enhanced cancer immunotherapy.

Emerging systemic delivery strategies of oncolytic viruses: A key step toward cancer immunotherapy.

Oncolytic virotherapy (OVT) is a novel type of immunotherapy that induces anti-tumor responses through selective self-replication within cancer cells and oncolytic virus (OV)-mediated immunostimulation. Notably, talimogene laherparepvec (T-Vec) developed by the Amgen company in 2015, is the first FDA-approved OV product to be administered via intratumoral injection and has been the most successful OVT treatment. However, the systemic administration of OVs still faces huge challenges, including pre-existing neutralizing antibodies and poor targeting delivery efficacy.

Impact of vaccination on the COVID-19 pandemic in U.S. states.

Governments worldwide are implementing mass vaccination programs in an effort to end the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccination program in its early stage and predicted the path to herd immunity in the U.S.

Assessing the quality of electronic medical records as a platform for resident education.

Background: Previous studies have assessed note quality and the use of electronic medical record (EMR) as a part of medical training. However, a generalized and user-friendly note quality assessment tool is required for quick clinical assessment. We held a medical record writing competition and developed a checklist for assessing the note quality of participants' medical records.

GGC Repeat Expansion of in Taiwanese Patients With Inherited Neuropathies.

Background And Objectives: The GGC repeat expansion in the 5' untranslated region of was recently identified as the cause of neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID), which may manifest with peripheral neuropathy. The aim of this study is to investigate its contribution to inherited neuropathy.

Methods: This cohort study screened patients with molecularly undiagnosed Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) and healthy controls for the GGC repeat expansion in using repeat-primed PCR and fragment analysis.

Targeting lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsin S reveals immunomodulatory therapeutic strategy for oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy (OIPN) is a common adverse effect that causes delayed treatment and poor prognosis among colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. However, its mechanism remains elusive, and no effective treatment is available. We employed a prospective cohort study of adult patients with pathologically confirmed stage III CRC receiving adjuvant chemotherapy with an oxaliplatin-based regimen for investigating OIPN.

Engineering extracellular vesicles with platelet membranes fusion enhanced targeted therapeutic angiogenesis in a mouse model of myocardial ischemia reperfusion.

Unlabelled: Therapeutic angiogenesis is one promising strategy for the treatment of ischemic heart disease, which is the leading cause of death globally. In recent years, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have quickly gained much attention as a cell-free approach to stimulate angiogenesis. However, clinical applications of EVs are limited by their insufficient targeting capability.

A Simplified Diagnostic Classification Scheme of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy.

Unlabelled: . The main purpose of this study was to develop a simple automatic diagnostic classification scheme for chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Methods: This was a prospective cohort study that enrolled patients with colorectal or gynecologic cancer post chemotherapy for more than 1 year.

Cortical Excitability by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as Biomarkers for Seizure Controllability in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Objective: To investigate whether indicators of cortical excitability are good biomarkers of seizure controllability in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).

Materials And Methods: Three groups of subjects were recruited: those with poorly controlled (PC) TLE (N = 41), well-controlled (WC) TLE (N = 71), and healthy controls (N = 44). Short- and long-latency recovery curves were obtained by paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation.