Current microfluidic platforms for reverse engineering of cornea.

According to the World Health Organization, corneal blindness constitutes 5.1% of global blindness population. Surgical outcomes have been improved significantly in the treatment of corneal blindness.

Current and Future Perspectives on Microfluidic Tear Analytic Devices.

Most current invasive analytic devices for disease diagnosis and monitoring require the collection of blood, which causes great discomfort for patients and may potentially cause infection. This explains the great need for noninvasive devices that utilize other bodily fluids like sweat, saliva, tears, or urine. Among them, eye tears are easily accessible, less complex in composition, and less susceptible to dilution.

Urine biopsy technologies: Cancer and beyond.

Since the discovery of circulating tumor cells in 1869, technological advances in the study of biomarkers from liquid biopsy have made it possible to diagnose disease in a less invasive way. Although blood-based liquid biopsy has been used extensively for the detection of solid tumors and immune diseases, the potential of urine-based liquid biopsy has not been fully explored. Advancements in technologies for the harvesting and analysis of biomarkers are providing new opportunities for the characterization of other disease types.

CYP2D6 allele frequencies, copy number variants, and tandems in the population of Hong Kong.

Background: CYP2D6 plays a crucial role in drug metabolism of several drugs. It is known to be highly polymorphic with enzymatic activity ranging from poor to ultrarapid metabolic rates. While the frequencies of CYP2D6 alleles are generally known in different Asian populations, data on frequencies of the copy number variations (CNV) and tandems in CYP2D6 in which they occur are less well studied in these populations.

p63 regulates cell proliferation and cell cycle progression‑associated genes in stromal cells of giant cell tumor of the bone.

Giant cell tumor of bone (GCT) is a destructive neoplasm of uncertain etiology that affects the epiphyseal ends of long bones in young adults. GCT stromal cells (GCTSCs) are the primary neoplastic cells of this tumor and are the only proliferating cell component in long-term culture, which recruits osteoclast-like giant cells that eventually mediate bone destruction. The oncogenesis of GCT and factors driving the neoplastic stromal cells to proliferate extensively and pause at an early differentiation stage of pre-osteoblast lineage remain unknown.

Inhibition of osteoporosis in rats fed with sugar cane wax.

Rats fed on a restricted, semi-purified diet containing a 50%-reduced level of carbohydrate and oil, but normal levels of protein, minerals and vitamins, exhibited osteoporosis. However, rats fed on this restricted diet, but containing sugar cane wax, did not exhibit this bone disease. Sugar cane wax, containing a long-chain carbohydrate with an OH radical, prevented the development of osteoporosis via a non-estrogenic mechanism.