Impact of Cell Layout on Bandwidth of Multi-Frequency Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer Array.

Piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs) show considerable promise for application in ultrasound imaging, but the limited bandwidth of the traditional PMUTs largely affects the imaging quality. This paper focuses on how to arrange cells with different frequencies to maximize the bandwidth and proposes a multi-frequency PMUT (MF-PMUT) linear array. Seven cells with gradually changing frequencies are arranged in a monotonic trend to form a unit, and 32 units are distributed across four lines, forming one element.

Assessing the relationships of 1,400 blood metabolites with abdominal aortic aneurysm: a Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is one of the most dangerous types of vascular diseases worldwide. Metabolic disturbance affects disease risk and provide underlying therapeutic targets. Previous studies have reported an association between metabolic disorders and AAA.

Intravenous injection of PCSK9 gain-of-function mutation in C57BL/6J background mice on Angiotensin II-induced AAA.

Objective: This study was performed to compare the incidence of Angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) between intravenous and intraperitoneal injection of AAV8.mPCSK9 in wild-type (WT) mice with C57BL/6J background and the pathological differences of above model in WT and ApoE mice.

Design: Male WT mice were injected intraperitoneally or intravenously with either a AAV8.

The molecular mechanisms of peptidyl-prolyl isomerase Pin1 and its relevance to kidney disease.

Pin1 is a member of the peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerase subfamily and is widely expressed in various cell types and tissues. Alterations in Pin1 expression levels play pivotal roles in both physiological processes and multiple pathological conditions, especially in the onset and progression of kidney diseases. Herein, we present an overview of the role of Pin1 in the regulation of fibrosis, oxidative stress, and autophagy.

Activation of the Nrf-2/HO-1 signalling axis can alleviate metabolic syndrome in cardiovascular disease.

: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is widely observed in modern society. CVDs are responsible for the majority of fatalities, with heart attacks and strokes accounting for approximately 80% of these cases. Furthermore, a significant proportion of these deaths, precisely one-third, occurs in individuals under 70.

A risk model for the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Introduction: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains a critical disease, characterized by a high fatality rate in several countries. In clinical practice, the incidence of AMI is increased in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, the early diagnosis of AMI in the above group of patients is still poor.

Preclinical safety evaluation of a bivalent inactivated EV71-CA16 vaccine in mice immunized intradermally.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is a common acute viral infectious disease that poses a serious threat to the life and health of young children. With the development of an effective inactivated EV71 vaccine, CA16 has become the main pathogen causing HFMD. Effective and safe vaccines against this disease are urgently needed.

The molecular mechanisms of cuproptosis and its relevance to cardiovascular disease.

Recently, cuproptosis has been demonstrated to be a new non-apototic cell death mode that is characterized by copper dependence and the regulation of mitochondrial respiration. Cuproptosis is distinct from known cell death modes such as apoptosis, necrosis, pyroptosis, or ferroptosis. Excessive copper induces cuproptosis by promoting protein toxic stress reactions via copper-dependent anomalous oligomerization of lipoylation proteins in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and reducing iron-sulfur cluster protein levels.

Sleep quality was associated with adverse reactions after coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination among healthcare workers: A longitudinal paired study.

Background: Many countries have currently relied on various types of vaccines for the public to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The adverse reactions (ARs) after vaccination may affect vaccination coverage and confidence. However, whether sleep quality was associated with ARs after vaccination remains unclear.

Evaluation of Immunogenicity and Clinical Protection of SARS-CoV-2 S1 and N Antigens in Syrian Golden Hamster.

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic continues to be a global public crisis affecting human health. Many research groups are developing different types of vaccines to suppress the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and some vaccines have entered phase III clinical trials and have been rapidly implemented. Whether multiple antigen matches are necessary to induce a better immune response remains unclear.

Characterization of the Immunologic Phenotype of Dendritic Cells Infected With Herpes Simplex Virus 1.

Due to viral envelope glycoprotein D binding to cellular membrane HVEM receptor, HSV-1 can infect certain dendritic cells, which becomes an event in the viral strategy to interfere with the host's immune system. We previously generated the HSV-1 mutant strain M6, which produced an attenuated phenotype in mice and rhesus monkeys. The attenuated M6 strain was used to investigate how HSV-1 infection of dendritic cells interferes with both innate and adaptive immunity.

HSV-1 Infection of Epithelial Dendritic Cells Is a Critical Strategy for Interfering with Antiviral Immunity.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), an α subgroup member of the human herpesvirus family, infects cells via the binding of its various envelope glycoproteins to cellular membrane receptors, one of which is herpes virus entry mediator (HVEM), expressed on dendritic cells. Here, HVEM gene-deficient mice were used to investigate the immunologic effect elicited by the HSV-1 infection of dendritic cells. Dendritic cells expressing the surface marker CD11c showed an abnormal biological phenotype, including the altered transcription of various immune signaling molecules and inflammatory factors associated with innate immunity after viral replication.

Preclinical immunological evaluation of an intradermal heterologous vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 variants.

The recent emergence of COVID-19 variants has necessitated the development of new vaccines that stimulate the formation of high levels of neutralizing antibodies against S antigen variants. A new strategy involves the intradermal administration of heterologous vaccines composed of one or two doses of inactivated vaccine and a booster dose with the mutated S1 protein (K-S). Such vaccines improve the immune efficacy by increasing the neutralizing antibody titers and promoting specific T cell responses against five variants of the RBD protein.

Effects of nicorandil on systemic inflammation and oxidative stress induced by percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with coronary heart disease.

Objective: The present study investigated the effects of a bolus intracoronary injection of nicorandil on systemic inflammation and oxidative stress induced by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).

Methods: Patients undergoing coronary angiography (CAG) were enrolled into the CAG group (n = 30). Patients undergoing PCI were randomly divided into the PCI (n = 30) and PCI + nicorandil groups (n = 30).

Waning antibodies from inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccination offer protection against infection without antibody-enhanced immunopathology in rhesus macaque pneumonia models.

Inactivated coronaviruses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), as potential vaccines have been reported to result in enhanced respiratory diseases (ERDs) in murine and nonhuman primate (NHP) pneumonia models after virus challenge, which poses great safety concerns of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) for the rapid wide application of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in humans, especially when the neutralizing antibody levels induced by vaccination or initial infection quickly wane to nonneutralizing or subneutralizing levels over the time. With passive transfer of diluted postvaccination polyclonal antibodies to mimic the waning antibody responses after vaccination, we found that in the absence of cellular immunity, passive infusion of subneutralizing or nonneutralizing anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies could still provide some level of protection against infection upon challenge, and no low-level antibody-enhanced infection was observed. The anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG-infused group and control group showed similar, mild to moderate pulmonary immunopathology during the acute phase of virus infection, and no evidence of vaccine-related pulmonary immunopathology enhancement was found.

Ameliorated immunity elicited by intradermal inoculation in individuals vaccinated with inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

In clinical trials, antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were almost eliminated in participants six months after immunization with an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The short duration of antibody persistence is an urgent problem. In this study, the problem was solved by intradermal inoculation with trace antigen.

Association Between Stent Implantation and Progression of Nontarget Lesions in a Rabbit Model of Atherosclerosis.

Background: Progression of nontarget lesions (NTLs) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been reported. However, it remains unknown whether progression of NTLs was causally related to stenting. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that stent implantation triggers acute phase response and systemic inflammation which may be associated with progression of NTLs.

Immunological evaluation of an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in rhesus macaques.

Because of the relatively limited understanding of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathogenesis, immunological analysis for vaccine development is needed. Mice and macaques were immunized with an inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine prepared by two inactivators. Various immunological indexes were tested, and viral challenges were performed on day 7 or 150 after booster immunization in monkeys.

Molecular Cloning and Expression Analysis of Enolase in the Rhipicephalus microplus (Acari: Ixodidae).

Rhipicephalus microplus is the main blooding-sucking ectoparasite of bovines and is regarded as important vectors of animal diseases such as Babesiosis. Mining protective antigens of R. microplus to develop antitick vaccine is the most potential tick control strategy.