Publications by authors named "Z-W Qu"

Micro-stereolithography (μSL) is an advanced additive manufacturing technique that enables the fabrication of highly precise microstructures with fine feature resolution. One of the primary challenges in μSL is achieving and maintaining precise focus throughout the fabrication process. For the successful application of μSL, it is essential to maintain the sample surface within a focal depth of several microns.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is a significant concern for heart disease, but there's currently no effective treatment to minimize this type of heart damage.
  • This study recruited patients with acute myocardial infarction to examine the impact of plasma RIPK3 levels before and after treatment, using both patient data and lab experiments on cells and mouse models.
  • Elevated RIPK3 levels post-treatment were linked to worse outcomes, and experiments showed that RIPK3 worsens heart injury by triggering inflammation, suggesting its role as a damaging molecule that could be targeted for therapy.
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Phenylketonuria (PKU), hereditary tyrosinemia type 1 (HT1), and mucopolysaccharidosis type 1 (MPSI) are autosomal recessive disorders linked to the phenylalanine hydroxylase () gene, fumarylacetoacetate hydrolase () gene, and alpha-L-iduronidase () gene, respectively. Potential therapeutic strategies to ameliorate disease include corrective editing of pathogenic variants in the and genes and, as a variant-agnostic approach, inactivation of the 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase () gene, a modifier of HT1, via adenine base editing. Here we evaluated the off-target editing profiles of therapeutic lead guide RNAs (gRNAs) that, when combined with adenine base editors correct the recurrent P281L variant, R408W variant, or W402X variant or disrupt the gene in human hepatocytes.

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The emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, commonly with many mutations in S1 subunit of spike (S) protein are weakening the efficacy of the current vaccines and antibody therapeutics. This calls for the variant-proof SARS-CoV-2 vaccines targeting the more conserved regions in S protein. Here, we designed a recombinant subunit vaccine, HR121, targeting the conserved HR1 domain in S2 subunit of S protein.

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Background And Purpose: Conventionally, early treatment response to stereotactic radiotherapy in intracranial tumors is often determined by structural MR imaging. Tissue sodium concentration is altered by cellular integrity and energy status in cells. In this study, we aimed to investigate the feasibility of sodium MR imaging at 7T for the preliminary evaluation of radiotherapeutic efficacy for intracranial tumors.

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Purpose: Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) and autosomal dominant optic atrophy (ADOA) are the two commonest forms of hereditary optic neuropathy. The aim of this study was to comprehensively investigate the incidence and spectrum of mutations in patients with suspected hereditary optic neuropathy by combining mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome-wide and targeted exon sequencing.

Methods: A cohort of 1101 subjects were recruited to participate in the study, comprising 177 families (177 probands and their family members, a total of 537 subjects, including 254 patients) and 164 sporadic cases with suspected hereditary optic neuropathy, and 400 unrelated control subjects for genetic analysis: all subjects (including control subjects) underwent a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination and were subjected to sequencing analysis of mtDNA genome-wide and targeted exon.

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Rationale: Vascular progenitor cells play key roles in physiological and pathological vascular remodeling-a process that is crucial for the regeneration of acellular biodegradable scaffolds engineered as vital strategies against the limited availability of healthy autologous vessels for bypass grafting. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms driving vascular progenitor cells recruitment and differentiation could help the development of new strategies to improve tissue-engineered vessel grafts and design drug-targeted therapy for vessel regeneration.

Objective: In this study, we sought to investigate the role of Dkk3 (dickkopf-3), recently identified as a cytokine promotor of endothelial repair and smooth muscle cell differentiation, on vascular progenitor cells cell migration and vascular regeneration and to identify its functional receptor that remains unknown.

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Sex differences have been reported in a number of pain conditions. Women are more sensitive to most types of painful stimuli than men, and estrogen plays a key role in the sex differences in pain perception. However, it is unclear whether there is a sex difference in acidosis-evoked pain.

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Periplasmic Skp facilitates folding and membrane insertion of many outer membrane proteins (OMPs) into the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. We have examined the binding sites of outer membrane protein A (OmpA) from Escherichia coli in its complexes with the membrane protein chaperone Skp and with Skp and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) by site-directed fluorescence spectroscopy. Single-Trp OmpA mutants, W(n)-OmpA, with tryptophan at position n in the polypeptide chain were isolated in the unfolded form in 8 M urea.

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