Publications by authors named "J-T Liu"

Background Interest in microwave ablation (MWA) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) use for treating secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is rising; however, ablation outcomes in patients with SHPT are not well characterized. Purpose To assess the response of parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcium, phosphorus, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels to US-guided parathyroid MWA and RFA and the safety of these treatments in participants with SHPT. Materials and Methods This prospective multicenter cohort study, conducted from September 2017 to March 2022, included participants with SHPT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rationale And Objectives: To develop an automatic deep-radiomics framework that diagnoses and stratifies prostate cancer in patients with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels between 4 and 10 ng/mL.

Materials And Methods: A total of 1124 patients with histological results and PSA levels between 4 and 10 ng/mL were enrolled from one public dataset and two local institutions. An nnUNet was trained for prostate masks, and a feature extraction module identified suspicious lesion masks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Based on the success of cancer immunotherapy, personalized cancer vaccines have emerged as a leading oncology treatment. Antigen presentation on MHC class I (MHC-I) is crucial for the adaptive immune response to cancer cells, necessitating highly predictive computational methods to model this phenomenon. Here, we introduce HLApollo, a transformer-based model for peptide-MHC-I (pMHC-I) presentation prediction, leveraging the language of peptides, MHC, and source proteins.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Approximately 20% of patients with shingles develop postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). We investigated the role of gut microbiota in shingle- and PHN-related pain. Patients with shingles or PHN exhibited significant alterations in their gut microbiota with microbial markers predicting PHN development among patients with shingles.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cardiac fibrosis, characterized by excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition in the myocardium, is an important target for heart disease treatments. (paternally expressed gene 3) is an imprinted gene expressed from the paternal allele, and de novo purine biosynthesis (DNPB) is a crucial pathway for nucleotide synthesis. However, the roles of PW1 and DNPB in ECM production by cardiac fibroblasts during myocardial ischemia are not yet understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Short-term and long-term adverse events could occur after general anesthesia (GA) and the specific mechanism driving these effects has not yet been well-characterized. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the global effect of GA on DNA methylation in the cell-free DNA (cfDNA) of surgical lung-nodule patients.

Methods: This large retrospective cohort study enrolled 1,006 surgical lung nodule patients (529 pre-anesthesia, and 477 post-anesthesia).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Subacute and chronic subdural hematomas are common and frequently recur after surgical evacuation. The effect of adjunctive middle meningeal artery embolization on the risk of reoperation remains unclear.

Methods: In a prospective, multicenter, interventional, adaptive-design trial, we randomly assigned patients with symptomatic subacute or chronic subdural hematoma with an indication for surgical evacuation to undergo middle meningeal artery embolization plus surgery (treatment group) or surgery alone (control group).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We report the discovery of an imidazopyridine series of IRAK1/4/pan-FLT3 kinase inhibitors. Optimization of this series has produced compound which displays potent and selective inhibition of IRAK1, IRAK4, FLT3, and all mutant forms of FLT3, as well as good in vitro ADME and pharmacokinetic properties. In a mouse xenograft model of AML, produces survival prolongation equal to that of Gilteritinib, the leading marketed FLT3 inhibitor currently used to treat AML.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The antimicrobial activity of histones was discovered in the 1940s, but their mechanism of action is not fully known. Here we show that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is susceptible to histone H1 (H1), even in the presence of divalent cations and serum. Through selective evolution and a genome-wide screen of a transposon library, as well as physiological and pharmacological experiments, we elucidated how H1 kills MRSA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

DNA replication stress is a threat to genome integrity. The large SNF2-family of ATPases participates in preventing and mitigating DNA replication stress by employing their ATP-driven motor to remodel DNA or DNA-bound proteins. To understand the contribution of these ATPases in genome maintenance, we undertook CRISPR-based synthetic lethality screens in human cells with three SNF2-type ATPases: SMARCAL1, ZRANB3, and HLTF.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Mutations in genes encoding spliceosome components result in craniofacial structural defects in humans, referred to as spliceosomopathies. The SF3b complex is a crucial unit of the spliceosome, but model organisms generated through genetic modification of the complex do not perfectly mimic the phenotype of spliceosomopathies. Since the phenotypes are suggested to be determined by the extent of spliceosome dysfunction, an alternative experimental system that can seamlessly control SF3b function is needed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Dual immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) using CTLA4 and PD-(L)1 inhibitors shows improved anti-tumor effectiveness and immune toxicity compared to PD-(L)1 inhibitors alone in advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients.
  • Patients with mutations in STK11 and/or KEAP1 genes benefit more from the combination treatment compared to those receiving only PD-(L)1 inhibitors, as shown in the POSEIDON trial.
  • The loss of KEAP1 serves as a strong predictor for the success of dual ICB, as it leads to a more favorable outcome by changing the tumor's immune environment to better engage CD4 and CD8 T cells for anti-tumor activity. *
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Advanced urothelial cancer displays significant genetic diversity and involves complex interactions between internal and external mutagens, which contributes to its deadly nature.
  • The study revealed that APOBEC3-induced mutations occur early during tumor development, while chemotherapy leads to a surge of later mutations, with both processes affecting the structure of extrachromosomal DNA.
  • Findings emphasized the role of circular ecDNA in the development of treatment resistance, specifically through CCND1 amplifications, highlighting key mechanisms that can inform future cancer therapies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been treated with targeted therapy, immunotherapy, or a combination of both, however, the overall clinical efficacy is still unsatisfactory. Hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAIC), as a localized treatment modality, has demonstrated favorable therapeutic efficacy in patients with advanced HCC accompanied by portal vein tumor thrombus and extensive intrahepatic metastasis. In recent years, the combination of HAIC with immune and targeted therapy has gradually gained acceptance in East Asian countries.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Insulators are -regulatory elements that separate transcriptional units, whereas silencers are elements that repress transcription regardless of their position. In plants, these elements remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we use the massively parallel reporter assay Plant STARR-seq with short fragments of eight large insulators to identify more than 100 fragments that block enhancer activity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Accurate, non-invasive, and cost-effective methods are essential for improving the diagnosis and management of pulmonary nodules discovered through low-dose computed tomography (LDCT).
  • Researchers conducted genome-wide methylation sequencing of lung tissues to create a panel of 263 DNA methylation regions and applied this to blood cell-free DNA (cfDNA) analysis across two patient cohorts.
  • They developed a machine learning model that integrates 40 cfDNA methylation biomarkers, age, and CT imaging features, which successfully reduces unnecessary surgeries for benign nodules while promoting timely treatment for lung cancer patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Influenza remains a global public health concern. Understanding the vaccination-induced response in an aging population, which is susceptible and at high risk, is essential for disease prevention and control. Here, we report findings on the safety and immunogenicity of a quadrivalent influenza split-virion vaccine (15 µg/subtype/0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Heart failure is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Elevated intracardiac pressures and myocyte stretch in heart failure trigger the release of counter-regulatory natriuretic peptides, which act through their receptor (NPR1) to affect vasodilation, diuresis and natriuresis, lowering venous pressures and relieving venous congestion. Recombinant natriuretic peptide infusions were developed to treat heart failure but have been limited by a short duration of effect.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • High-order diffraction (HOD) often causes ghosting and efficiency loss in optical microstructures, making it a challenge for large-scale applications.
  • The study presents a new method for independently manipulating HODs using an analytical formula, enabling finer control of optical focus without the need for complex subwavelength structures.
  • Experimental results showcase significant advances, achieving a dry resolution of 190 nm in confocal imaging and a direct-writing resolution of 400 nm through laser-ablation lithography, representing notable improvements in visible-light microscopy techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • In June 2019, a patient in Inner Mongolia developed severe symptoms after a tick bite, leading to the discovery of a new virus named Wetland virus (WELV) through advanced genetic testing.
  • Active surveillance identified 17 cases of WELV infection across multiple regions in China, with patients exhibiting a range of nonspecific symptoms and laboratory abnormalities.
  • WELV was isolated from various ticks and animals, and studies showed that it can cause serious illness in mice, indicating a potential tick vector for the virus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In the quest for efficient supercapacitor materials, manganese-based layered oxide cathodes stand out for their cost-effectiveness and high theoretical capacity. However, their progress is hindered by the Jahn-Teller (J-T) distortion due to the unavoidable Mn to Mn reduction during ion storage processes. Our study addresses this challenge by stabilizing the KMnO cathode through strategic Mg substitution.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF