Publications by authors named "Zhou Zhihang"

Background: The emerging incidence of pathogenic liver conditions is turning into a major concern for global health. Induction of pyroptosis in hepatocytes instigates cellular disintegration, which in turn liberates substantial quantities of pro-inflammatory intracellular substances, thereby accelerating the advancement of liver fibrosis. Consequently, directing therapeutic efforts towards inhibiting pyroptosis could potentially serve as an innovative approach in managing inflammation related chronic hepatic disorders.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) play a pivotal role in cancer metastasis and hold considerable potential for clinical diagnosis, therapeutic monitoring, and prognostic evaluation. Nevertheless, the limited quantity of CTCs in liquid biopsy samples poses challenges for comprehensive downstream analysis. In vitro culture of CTCs can effectively address the issue of insufficient CTC numbers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background & Aims: Abnormal expression of long noncoding RNAs is strongly linked to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). However, the precise molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This study explores the roles of noncoding RNA activated by DNA damage (NORAD)/miR-511-3p/Rho-associated protein kinase 2 (Rock2) axis and the NORAD/ROCK2 interaction in the development of MASLD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Breaking the constraints of thrombin during storage and in vivo applications remains challenging because of its low stability and sensitivity to environmental temperature and acidity. Herein, an artificial plateletoid is developed for in situ thrombin generation through a co-incubation approach with plasma in vitro, utilizing a silk fibroin/Ca interface, to enhance the activity and stability of the generated thrombin. Notably, the enzymatic activity of the plateletoid thrombin platform is as high as 30 U g, leading to rapid clotting within 55 s, and it persisted for at least 90 days at as high as 37 °C.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sulfur microbial diet (SMD) is a dietary pattern closely related to the intestinal load of sulfur-metabolizing microbes in humans. Diet and microbes may play an important role in the carcinogenesis of esophagus. However, epidemiological studies on SMD and esophageal cancer (EC) risk are scarce.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly lethal form of cancer, with research indicating that metabolic changes play a key role in its development.
  • - Carbamoyl phosphate synthase 1 (CPS1), important for urea cycle regulation, is found to be low in HCC tissue and linked to worse disease outcomes.
  • - CPS1 has a dual role: it inhibits cancer cell invasion while promoting cell growth through the regulation of key intracellular pathways, suggesting its potential as a target in HCC treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Esophagogastric variceal bleeding (EVB) is a major cause of death related to cirrhosis, and while endoscopic therapy is the primary treatment, the use of prophylactic endotracheal intubation (PEI) before endoscopy is debated.
  • - A study involving 119 patients found that those who received PEI had significantly lower rebleeding rates within 24 hours (1.2% vs. 12.6%) and 6 weeks post-surgery, though PEI didn't affect the overall mortality rate.
  • - Key risk factors for rebleeding included variceal diameter greater than 1.5 cm and high creatinine levels or international normalized ratio,
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality. Although multi-kinase inhibitors can prolong the overall survival of late-stage HCC patients, the emergence of drug resistance diminishes these benefits, ultimately resulting in treatment failure. Therefore, there is an urgent need for novel and effective drugs to impede the progression of liver cancer.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study assessed the use of the derived neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (dNLR) as a tool to predict outcomes for patients with locally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma (LAOSCC) undergoing TPF chemotherapy.
  • A total of 224 participants were analyzed, and findings revealed that a dNLR value above 1.555 negatively impacted overall and disease-free survival.
  • The research concluded that patients with stage III disease and a low dNLR are more likely to benefit from TPF induction chemotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: To determine the relationship between effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and quality of working life (QWL) among medical caregivers and the mediating role of job burnout.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey. A total of 787 medical caregivers at seven hospitals from Sichuan and Chongqing, China, between May to September 2023 were included in this observational study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Helicobacter pylori infection in the stomach is the key reason for gastric mucosal bleeding. Eliminating gastric Helicobacter pylori by oral treatment remains difficult due to the presence of the gastric mucosal layer, which acts as a physical barrier to drugs via oral administration. In this study, a magnetic-navigable microneedle drug delivery platform (MNsD) for oral administration, featuring differential dual-mode drug release rate, was designed to fulfil rapid gastric hemostasis and overcome the gastric barriers for long-lasting Helicobacter pylori inhibition in stomach.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) play a critical role as initiators in tumor metastasis, which unlocks an irreversible process of cancer progression. Regarding the fluid environment of intravascular CTCs, a comprehensive understanding of the impact of hemodynamic shear stress on CTCs is of profound significance but remains vague. Here, we report a microfluidic circulatory system that can emulate the CTC microenvironment to research the responses of typical liver cancer cells to varying levels of fluid shear stress (FSS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), crucial in facilitating the transport of diverse molecular cargoes for intercellular communication, have shown great potential in diagnostics, therapeutics, and drug delivery. The challenge of developing effective preparation methods for EVs is heightened by their intrinsic heterogeneity and complexity. Here, a novel strategy for high EV enrichment is developed by utilizing EV-affinitive-modified cellulose nanofibrils.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - A study was conducted to explore the relationship between low-fat dietary patterns and lung cancer risk in adults aged 55 and older, using data from over 98,000 participants in the PLCO Cancer Screening Trial who had no prior cancer history.
  • - Researchers assessed participants' diets with a food frequency questionnaire and calculated a low-fat diet score to analyze the impact of different types of fat on lung cancer incidence over an average follow-up of 8.8 years.
  • - The findings revealed that individuals with higher adherence to a low-fat diet had a lower risk of developing lung cancer, particularly non-small cell lung cancer, compared to those with lower adherence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Head and neck carcinoma treatment is shifted toward the combination of therapy causing immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and immunogenic cell death. In this study, a CSFRi-chimeric TAM-targeting extracellular vesicle (EV@CSFRi) platform is developed and designed an intracellular protoporphyrin conjugated with RVRR peptide sequence for furin-cleavage to perform Golgi-targeting and generating ROS (GT-RG). The graphical abstract illustrates the self-assembly of GT-RG nanoparticles into nanofiber through the hydrophily of RVRR and hydrophobicity of RG, and the red line indicates the site of furin cleavage.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Early rebleeding is a significant complication of endoscopic treatment for esophagogastric variceal hemorrhage (EGVH). However, a reliable predictive model is currently lacking.

Aims: To identify risk factors for rebleeding within 6 weeks and establish a nomogram for predicting early rebleeding after endoscopic treatment of EVGH.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To retrospectively compare the differences in the surgical efficacy and prognosis of laparoscopic pyeloplasty for hydronephrosis caused by symptomatic versus asymptomatic ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) in children and determine whether clinical symptoms affect the surgical outcome and prognosis.

Methods: Children who underwent laparoscopic pyeloplasty in our hospital from January 2018 to December 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The children were divided into symptomatic and asymptomatic groups according to their main symptoms.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lansoprazole, a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI), is the primary therapy for peptic ulcers (PU). Potassium competitive acid blockers (P-CAB) offer an alternative for acid suppression. However, the efficacy and safety of P-CABs lansoprazole in the management of PU has not been evaluated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a chronic, non-infectious inflammatory disease of the nasal mucosa, primarily mediated by specific immunoglobulin E (IgE), affecting approximately 10%-20% of the world's population. While immunofluorescence (IF) staining has long been a standard technique for detecting disease-specific protein expression, conventional IF techniques are limited in their ability to detect the expression levels of three or more proteins in the same sample. Consequently, multicolor IF techniques have been developed in recent years, which allow the simultaneous labeling of multiple targets in cells or tissues.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: There is little prospective evidence exists about whether adherence to a diabetes risk reduction diet (DRRD) is related to a significant reduction in renal cancer risk. We sought to clarify whether adherence to DRRD was associated with a reduced risk of renal cancer in a US population.

Methods: A population-based cohort of 101,755 American adults was identified from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: The emergence of resistant strains has greatly reduced the eradication rate of (HP) in conventional bismuth-containing quadruple therapy. Meanwhile, the new 7-day dual therapy with vonoprazan (VPZ) and amoxicillin (AMO) failed to achieve the expected therapeutic effect in China.

Patients And Methods: A total of 256 untreated HP-infected patients are included in this non-inferiority clinical trial.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Sulfur microbial diet (SMD), related to the enrichment of sulfur-metabolizing gut bacteria, has been confirmed to be linked to an elevated risk of early-onset colorectal adenoma in young females. However, it remains unclear whether SMD is associated with the risk of colorectal adenoma in older people, who are at greater risk for colorectal cancer.

Methods: All data on participants in this study were retrieved from the intervention arm of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) cancer screening test.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nuclear factor I B (NFIB) plays an important role in tumors. Our previous study found that NFIB can promote colorectal cancer (CRC) cell proliferation in acidic environments. However, its biological functions and the underlying mechanism in CRC are incompletely understood.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterised by hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and insulin resistance. The role of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)-regulated pyroptosis in NAFLD development remains largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether NAFLD development is controlled by lncRNA growth-arrest specific transcript 5 (GAS5)/miR-28a-5p/membrane associated ring-CH-type finger 7 (MARCH7)-mediated pyroptosis using in vivo and in vitro models.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Despite the possible contribution of dairy products to the development or prevention of cancers, there is a lack of epidemiological evidence linking low-fat dairy consumption to the risk of developing lung cancer. This research was conducted to fill this knowledge gap.

Methods: The data for this research were collected from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF