Hyaluronic acid-functionalized supramolecular nanophotosensitizers for targeted photoimmunotherapy of triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is recognized as a particularly aggressive subtype of breast cancer that is devoid of effective therapeutic targets. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have demonstrated promising results in TNBC treatment. Nonetheless, most patients either develop resistance to ICIs or fail to respond to them initially.

Loneliness and Social and Emotional Support Among Sexual and Gender Minority Caregivers.

Importance: Sexual and gender minority (SGM) adults in the US are more likely than their non-SGM counterparts to provide informal care to their family members and/or friends. Caregiving can impose substantial physical, mental, and social connection issues on caregivers.

Objective: To examine the associations among loneliness, lack of social and emotional support, sexual orientation, gender identity, and informal caregiving status.

Telehealth service use and quality of care among US adults with diabetes: A cross-sectional study of the 2022 health information national trends survey.

Objective: To characterise telehealth use, reasons for using or not using telehealth and the factors associated with telehealth use among US adults with diabetes.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: Data were sourced from the 2022 Health Information National Trends Survey.

PEGylated BODIPY Photosensitizer for Type I Dominant Photodynamic Therapy and Afterglow Imaging.

Type I photodynamic therapy (PDT) exhibits outstanding therapeutic effects in hypoxic environments in tumors, but the design of type I photosensitizers (PSs), especially those with simple structures but dramatic properties, remains a challenge. Herein, we report a design strategy for developing type I PSs in one molecule with afterglow luminescence. As a proof concept, a 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) PS (BIP) bearing water-soluble poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) chains is synthesized, and BIP can self-assemble into nanoparticles (BIPNs).

Paclitaxel prodrug nanoparticles boost antitumor efficacy via hitchhiking of human serum albumin.

Improving drug delivery efficacy is the key point for enhancing the therapeutic index of medicines. Herein, we report fatty chain conjugated paclitaxel (PTX) prodrugs with a disulfide bond as linker. The formed prodrugs can self-assemble into stable nanoparticles in aqueous solutions, and rapidly transform into long-circulating nanocomplexes via the non-covalent binding to serum albumin in blood, enabling efficient drug delivery and robust antitumor effect.

Paclitaxel Prodrug Enables Glutathione Depletion to Boost Cancer Treatment.

Herein, we constructed a paclitaxel (PTX) prodrug (PA) by conjugating PTX with acrylic acid as a cysteine-depleting agent. The as-synthesized PA can assemble with diacylphosphatidylethanolamine-PEG to form stable nanoparticles (PA NPs). After endocytosis into cells, PA NPs can specifically react with cysteine and trigger release of PTX for chemotherapy.

A pontine-specific axonal niche supports de novo gliomagenesis.

Unlabelled: Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs), a major type of pediatric high-grade gliomas located in the pons, are the leading cause of death in children with brain cancer. A subset (20-25%) of DIPGs harbor a lysine 27-to-methionine (K27M) mutation in , which encodes histone H3.1, and an activating mutation.

The balance between helper T 17 and regulatory T cells in osteoimmunology and relevant research progress on bone tissue engineering.

Background: Bone regeneration is a well-regulated dynamic process, of which the prominent role of the immune system on bone homeostasis is more and more revealed by recent research. Before fully activation of the bone remodeling cells, the immune system needs to clean up the microenvironment in facilitating the bone repair initiation. Furthermore, this microenvironment must be maintained properly by various mechanisms over the entire bone regeneration process.

Quantitatively analyzing the dissociation and release of disulfide-containing organic nanoparticles.

The disintegration of nanoparticles and drug release are important and imperative for nanoparticle formulations of therapeutic agents. However, quantitatively monitoring the drug release of nanomedicines is a major challenge. In this work, boron-dipyrromethene (BDP) was applied as a model drug to study the disassembly of nanoparticles and drug release.

Ferrocene-Conjugated Paclitaxel Prodrug for Combined Chemo-Ferroptosis Therapy of Cancer.

Herein, we developed a paclitaxel prodrug (PSFc) through the conjugation of paclitaxel (PTX) and ferrocene a redox-responsive disulfide bond. PSFc displays acid-enhanced catalytic activity of Fenton reaction and is capable of forming stable nanoparticles (PSFc NPs) through the assembly with distearoyl phosphoethanolamine-PEG. After being endocytosed, PSFc NPs could release PTX to promote cell apoptosis in response to overexpressed redox-active species of tumor cells.

Viscosity-activated carbon dots for noninvasive disease diagnosis, therapeutic efficacy assessment and anticancer drug screening.

Abnormal levels of intracellular microviscosity have a close relationship with some diseases and pathologies. Therefore, quantitative imaging of viscosity at the cellular and organ levels is beneficial for disease diagnosis, curative effect evaluation, and anticancer drug screening. Herein, we synthesized viscosity-activated orange-red emitting carbon dots (named as LP-CDs) from lignin and p-phenylenediamine using a one-step method, whose fluorescence intensity, lifetime, and quantum yield significantly increase with rising viscosity.

Multicolor Tuning of Perylene Diimides Dyes for Targeted Organelle Imaging In Vivo.

The adjustment of the emission wavelengths and cell permeability of the perylene diimides (PDI) for multicolor cell imaging is a great challenge. Herein, based on a bay-region substituent engineering strategy, multicolor perylene diimides () were rationally designed and synthesized by introducing azetidine substituents on the bay region of PDIs. With the fine-tuned electron-donating ability of the azetidine substituents, these showed high brightness, orange, red, and near infrared (NIR) fluorescence along with Stokes shifts increasing from 35 to 110 nm.

Hospital Patient Experience: Exploring Hospitals as Shifters and Sustainers Over Time.

Background And Objectives: Patient experience is a key factor in measuring hospital performance, and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey tool is used to assess patient perceptions. Hospitals with positive patient experience tend to have a better quality of clinical care, lower readmission and mortality rates, and an overall shorter inpatient length of stay. Studies have identified several organizational determinants of high- and low-rated patient experiences, including hospital size, type, staffing levels, and patient demographics.

Tumor associated antigens combined with carbon dots for inducing durable antitumor immunity.

Although therapeutic nanovaccines have made a mark in cancer immunotherapy, the shortcomings such as poor homing ability of lymph nodes (LNs), low antigen presentation efficiency and low antitumor efficacy have hindered their clinical transformation. Accordingly, we prepared advanced nanovaccines (CMB and CMC) by integrating carbon dots (CDs) with tumor-associated antigens (B16F10 and CT26). These nanovaccines could forwardly target tumors harbouring LNs, induce strong immunogenicity for activating cytotoxic T cells (CTLs), thereby readily eliminating tumor cells and suppressing primary/distal tumor growth.

Inpatient Palliative Care and Healthcare Utilization Among Older Patients With Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD) and High Risk of Mortality in U.S. Hospitals.

. Despite the potential of palliative care (PC) to enhance the quality of life for patients with advanced dementia, there is limited knowledge of its inpatient utilization patterns. This study investigated inpatient PC consultation utilization patterns and evaluated its impact on hospital length of stay (LOS) and medical costs among older patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia who were at a high risk of mortality (ADRD-HRM).

COVID-19 booster vaccine uptake and reduced risks for long-COVID: A cross-sectional study of a U.S. adult population.

Long-COVID (having symptoms lasting 3 months or longer post-infection) is an emerging public health concern, yet research on whether COVID-19 booster vaccines can mitigate this condition is limited. This study examined associations between booster uptake and long-COVID prevalence among U.S.

Patterns and Reasons for Being Uninsured Among Sexual Minority Adults Before and After the Affordable Care Act Implementation.

We aimed to identify the self-reported reasons for being uninsured and sociodemographic factors associated with uninsurance among lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) adults before and after the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We analyzed the 2013-2018 National Health Interview Survey data using multivariable logistic regression models to estimate the odds of being uninsured and the prevalence of self-reported reasons for not having insurance among LGB adults aged 18-64 years. The study included 2124 LGB adults.

Identification and drug resistance of pathogen of ulcerative skin disease and its immune responses and protective efficacy after vaccination in a giant spiny frog, Quasipaa spinosa.

Objective: In order to explore the pathogen of the ulcerative skin disease in giant spiny frog (Quasipaa spinosa), and to provide theoretical basis for the prevention and control of the disease in practical production, this study was carried out to isolate and identify the pathogenic bacteria from the sick frogs suffering from rotting skin disease and to carry out the immunization test of the inactivated vaccine.

Methods: Physiological and biochemical characterization, and molecular biology of the pathogenic bacteria were identified, and drug screening and immunization responses were also carried out.

Results: The dominant bacterium QS01 was isolated from the lesions of diseased giant spiny frogs, which was confirmed to be the causative agent of the rotting skin disease of giant spiny frogs by artificial regression infection test.

Telehealth Utilization During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among People With Functional Disabilities in the U.S.: A Preliminary Analysis of National Health Interview Survey 2020 Data.

Introduction: Telehealth has been widely promoted and adopted at multiple levels in the U.S. healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marijuana use disorder among adults with functional disabilities-A US population-based cross-sectional study.

Background And Objectives: Recent studies suggest a growing trend in marijuana use, compared to a stable prevalence of marijuana use disorder among US adults over the first 15 years of the 21st century. This study investigated the recent patterns of marijuana use disorder among people with disabilities (PWD).

Methods: We extracted a nationally representative sample (N = 209,058) from the 2015-2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health data set and examined associations by functional disability status (any disability, disability by type, and number of disabling limitations) with marijuana use disorder using a series of independent multivariable logistic regression models.