Publications by authors named "Ju Jun"

Optogenetics is a valuable tool for studying the mechanisms of neurological diseases and is now being developed for therapeutic applications. In rodents and macaques, improved channelrhodopsins have been applied to achieve transcranial optogenetic stimulation. While transcranial photoexcitation of neurons has been achieved, noninvasive optogenetic inhibition for treating hyperexcitability-induced neurological disorders has remained elusive.

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1D moisture-enabled electric generators (MEGs) hold great promise for powering electronic textiles, but their current limitations in power output and operational duration restrict their application in wearable technology. This study introduces a high-performance yarn-based moisture-enabled electric generator (YMEG), which comprises a carbon-fiber core, a cotton yarn active layer with a radial gradient of poly(4-styrensulfonic acid) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PSSA/PVA), and an aluminum wire as the outer electrode. The unique design maintains a persistent moisture gradient between the interior and exterior electrodes, enhancing performance through the continuous proton diffusion from PSSA and Al⁺ ions from the aluminum wire.

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Seawater batteries (SWBs) are green aqueous power sources with great potential in marine applications. So far, SWBs are mainly built on rigid substrates, which hinders their adaptability to marine textile applications. Herein, we constructed a rechargeable yarn-shaped SWB consisting of nickel hexacyanoferrate (Ni-HCF)-modified carbon yarn (positive electrode), glass fiber diaphragm, and polyimide (PI)-modified carbon yarn (negative electrode).

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Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are extracellular matrix which mostly surround the inhibitory neurons. They are changed in several brain diseases, such as autism spectrum disorder, but the mechanism of PNNs degradation is still unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of microglial cells in regulating PNNs levels.

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Far-red lights (FRs), with a wavelength range between 700 and 800 nm, have substantial impacts on plant growth, especially horticultural crops. Previous studies showed conflicting results on the effects of FRs on vegetable growth and quality. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis on the influence of FRs on vegetable growth, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview of their effects on the growth and nutritional indicators of vegetables.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the role of IKKε in inflammation after a myocardial infarction (MI) using IKKε knockout mice, revealing that these mice experience worse cardiac outcomes compared to wild-type mice.
  • IKKε KO mice showed increased inflammation, greater cardiac fibrosis, and lower heart function due to alterations in cardiac macrophages, indicating a shift towards a more damaging macrophage-myofibroblast transition.
  • The research suggests that restoring p-p38 levels with 5-azacytidine (5-Aza) may help manage inflammation and reduce the detrimental macrophage transition, highlighting a potential therapeutic target for heart disease.
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Sustaining crop production and food security are threatened by a burgeoning world population and adverse environmental conditions. Traditional breeding methods for vegetable crops are time-consuming, laborious, and untargeted, often taking several years to develop new and improved varieties. The challenges faced by a long breeding cycle need to be overcome.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the reflux symptom index (RSI) and reflux symptom score (RSS) in diagnosing laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD) in hospitalized patients.
  • A total of 52 patients participated, where their RSI and RSS scores were compared against multi-time point salivary pepsin tests to determine diagnostic accuracy.
  • Results showed that RSS had higher sensitivity and specificity than RSI, making it a more reliable screening tool for LPRD according to the analysis.
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Non-invasive brain stimulation therapy for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has shown beneficial effects. Recently, we and others demonstrated that visual sensory stimulation using rhythmic 40 Hz light flicker effectively improved cognitive deficits in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and stroke. However, whether rhythmic visual 40 Hz light flicker stimulation can ameliorate behavioral deficits in ASD remains unknown.

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Objectives: To investigate the effects of antenatal corticosteroid (ACS) therapy in pregnant women on the brain development of preterm infants using amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG).

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 211 preterm infants with a gestational age of 28 to 34 weeks. The infants were divided into an ACS group (131 cases) and a control group (80 cases) based on whether antenatal dexamethasone was given for promoting fetal lung maturity.

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Thread-based microfluidic colorimetric sensors have been deemed a potential tool that may be incorporated into textiles for non-invasive sweat analysis. Nevertheless, their poor performance significantly limits their practical uses in sweat glucose detection down to 20 μM. Herein, a microfluidic glucose sensing device containing a salt-responsive thread is developed for the highly sensitive detection of glucose in human sweat.

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Depressive disorder is a psychiatric condition that is characterized by the core symptoms of anhedonia and learned helplessness. Myelination loss was recently found in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of patients with depression and animal models, but the mechanism of this loss is unclear. In our previous study, chronic restraint stress (CRS) mice showed depressive-like symptoms.

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Objective: To investigate the diagnostic value of symptom questionnaires, sign questionnaires, and the combination of 2 questionnaires for laryngopharyngeal reflux disease (LPRD).

Study Design: Prospective, single-centered.

Setting: Seventy-seven patients who were hospitalized in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery from October 2022 to April 2023 were included.

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The infarcted heart undergoes irreversible pathological remodeling after reperfusion involving left ventricle dilation and excessive inflammatory reactions in the infarcted heart, frequently leading to fatal functional damage. Extensive attempts have been made to attenuate pathological remodeling in infarcted hearts using cardiac patches and anti-inflammatory drug delivery. In this study, we developed a paintable and adhesive hydrogel patch using dextran-aldehyde (dex-ald) and gelatin, incorporating the anti-inflammatory protein, ANGPTL4, into the hydrogel for sustained release directly to the infarcted heart to alleviate inflammation.

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Objective: Bone metabolism can be influenced by a range of factors. We selected children with self-limited epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (SeLECTS) and lifestyles similar to those of healthy children to control for the confounding factors that may influence bone metabolism. We aimed to identify the specific effects of epilepsy and/or anti-seizure medications (ASMs) on bone metabolism.

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Myocardial infarction (MI) is a major cause of death worldwide. After the occurrence of MI, the heart frequently undergoes serious pathological remodeling, leading to excessive dilation, electrical disconnection between cardiac cells, and fatal functional damage. Hence, extensive efforts have been made to suppress pathological remodeling and promote the repair of the infarcted heart.

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The purple tomato variety 'Indigo Rose' (InR) is favored due to its bright appearance, abundant anthocyanins and outstanding antioxidant capacity. is associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis in 'Indigo Rose' plants. However, residual anthocyanins still present in seedlings and fruit peel indicated there was an anthocyanin induction pathway that is independent of HY5 in plants.

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The yarn-based sweat-activated battery (SAB) is a promising energy source for textile electronics due to its excellent skin compatibility, great weavability, and stable electric output. However, its power density is too low to support real-time monitoring and wireless data transmission. Here, we developed a scalable, high-performance sweat-based yarn biosupercapacitor (SYBSC) with two symmetrically aligned electrodes made by wrapping hydrophilic cotton fibers on polypyrrole/poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (styrenesulfonate)-modified stainless steel yarns.

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Article Synopsis
  • Aberrant expression of GPR158 is linked to various central nervous system diseases, but its role is unclear due to insufficient biological understanding and tools.
  • Researchers created a mouse model with tagged GPR158, which showed no behavioral abnormalities and was predominantly expressed in neurons, specifically enriched in certain types of neurons within key brain regions.
  • The study identified potential interacting proteins and explored their roles in synaptic function, suggesting that this mouse model can help clarify GPR158's biological and pharmacological significance.
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Substantial evidence demonstrates that schizophrenia patients have altered cerebral microcirculation. However, little is known regarding how cerebral microcirculatory blood flow (microCBF) changes in schizophrenia. Here, using time-lapse two-photon imaging of individual capillaries, we demonstrated a substantial decrease in cerebral microcirculation in a mouse model of schizophrenia.

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Atherosclerosis, the leading cause of death, is a vascular disease of chronic inflammation. We recently showed that angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) promotes cardiac repair by suppressing pathological inflammation. Given the fundamental contribution of inflammation to atherosclerosis, we assessed the role of ANGPTL4 in the development of atherosclerosis and determined whether ANGPTL4 regulates atherosclerotic plaque stability.

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Perineuronal nets (PNNs) which mostly surround the parvalbumin (PV) neurons, have been shown to play critical roles in neural plasticity. Recently, PNNs have been shown to regulate fear-associated memory, but the molecular mechanism is still unclear. In this study, we found that removal of PNNs in vivo using chondroitinase ABC (ChABC) injection resulted in reduced firing rate of PV neurons and decreased inhibitory synaptic transmission in both PV neurons and excitatory neurons in the CA1 hippocampus.

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Therapeutic hypothermia at 32-34 °C during or after cerebral ischaemia is neuroprotective. However, peripheral cold sensor-triggered hypothermia is ineffective and evokes vigorous counteractive shivering thermogenesis and complications that are difficult to tolerate in awake patients. Here, we show in mice that deep brain stimulation (DBS) of warm-sensitive neurones (WSNs) in the medial preoptic nucleus (MPN) produces tolerable hypothermia.

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Intensive research has focused on minimizing the infarct area and stimulating endogenous regeneration after myocardial infarction. Our group previously elucidated that apicidin, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, robustly accelerates the cardiac commitment of naïve mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) through acute loss of YAP1. Here, we propose the novel regulation of YAP1 in MSCs.

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