Cross-Circulation Thrombectomy for Acute Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion from Dislodged Thrombus of a Giant Internal Carotid Aneurysm: A Case Report.

Objective: Giant aneurysms of the cavernous segment of the internal carotid artery presenting as acute ischemic stroke (AIS) are rare and often misdiagnosed. Limited treatment experience further complicates management.

Case Presentation: A 70-year-old female presented with acute right middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion due to a dislodged thrombus from a giant internal carotid aneurysm.

Clinical application values of a novel synthetic training simulator for bulbar urethral anastomosis.

Purpose: This study aimed to report a newly developed, high-fidelity synthetic simulator to simulate excision and primary anastomotic (EPA) bulbar urethroplasty and its clinical use for new practitioners in shortening the learning curve.

Material And Methods: The bulbar urethral anastomosis simulator consists of several standardized components created according to the actual size of the male patient. Interns, novice residents, and fellows inexperienced with urethral reconstruction ( = 10, 5, 5) from different medical centres were invited to participate in the training programme.

Nanoengineering-armed oncolytic viruses drive antitumor response: progress and challenges.

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) have emerged as a powerful tool in cancer therapy. Characterized with the unique abilities to selectively target and lyse tumor cells, OVs can expedite the induction of cell death, thereby facilitating effective tumor eradication. Nanoengineering-derived OVs overcome traditional OV therapy limitations by enhancing the stability of viral circulation, and tumor targeting, promising improved clinical safety and efficacy and so on.

Removal-Free and Multicellular Suspension Bath-Based 3D Bioprinting.

Suspension bath-based 3D bioprinting (SUB3BP) is effective in creating engineered vascular structures. The transfer of oxygen and nutrients via engineered vascular networks is necessary for tissue or organ survival and integration following transplantation. Existing SUB3BP techniques face challenges in fabricating hierarchical structures with multicellular organization, including issues related to suspension bath removal, restricted material choices, and low accuracy.

UCH-L1 Inhibitor Alleviates Nerve Damage Caused by Moyamoya Disease.

Background: Moyamoya disease (MMD) leads to nerve injury. Exosomes are touted as bio-shuttles for the delivery of distinct biomolecules inside the cells. Recently, UCH-L1 was shown to play a vital role in nerve injury.

RILPL2 as a potential biomarker for predicting enhanced T cell infiltration in non-small cell lung cancer.

Our previous bioinformatics analysis has revealed that Rab-interacting lysosomal protein-like 2 (RILPL2) is associated with tumor immune microenvironment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In our study, we collected 140 patients with primary NSCLC to verify the RILPL2 expression and its prognostic value, the relationship between RILPL2 expression and CD4, CD8T cell infiltration. A total of 140 patients who had been diagnosed with primary NSCLC (including 66 lung adenocarcinomas and 74 lung squamous cell carcinomas) were enrolled in our study.

Unveiling the impact of tertiary lymphoid structures on immunotherapeutic responses of clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are organized aggregates of immune cells that form under pathological conditions. However, the predictive value of TLS in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) for immunotherapies remains unclear. We comprehensively assessed the implications for prognosis and immunological responses of the TLS spatial and maturation heterogeneity in 655 ccRCC patients.

Mulberry extract upregulates cholesterol efflux and inhibits p38 MAPK-NLRP3-mediated inflammation in foam cells.

The accumulation of foam cells in arterial intima and the accompanied chronic inflammation are considered major causes of neoatherosclerosis and restenosis. However, both the underlying mechanism and effective treatment for the disease are yet to be uncovered. In this study, we combined transcriptome profiling of restenosis artery tissue and bioinformatic analysis to reveal that NLRP3 inflammasome is markedly upregulated in restenosis and that several restenosis-related DEGs are also targets of mulberry extract, a natural dietary supplement used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Impacts of different reconstruction methods on the image quality of cadmium-zinc-telluride-based single photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography pulmonary perfusion imaging.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate the impacts of different reconstruction methods [filtered back projection (FBP) and ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM)] and different filters (Butterworth filter and Gaussian filter) on the image quality in cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT)-based single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) pulmonary perfusion imaging.

Methods: A combinations including FBP with Butterworth filter, OSEM with Butterworth filter (OSEM + Butterworth filter ), and OSEM with Gaussian filter (OSEM + Gaussian filter) were used during SPECT image reconstruction. Visual and quantitative parameters [root mean square (RMS) noise, contrast and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR)] were used to evaluate image quality.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α regulates the interleukin-6 production by B cells in rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disease characterised by bone destruction and systemic inflammation, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a therapeutic target for treating it. The study aimed at investigating the sources of IL-6 and the influence of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) on IL-6 production by B cells in RA patients.

Methods: The phenotype of IL-6-producing cells in the peripheral blood of RA patients was analysed using flow cytometry.

Integrated identification of growth pattern and taxon of bacterium in gut microbiota via confocal fluorescence imaging-oriented single-cell sequencing.

Despite the fast progress in our understanding of the complex functions of gut microbiota, it is still challenging to directly investigate the in vivo microbial activities and processes on an individual cell basis. To gain knowledge of the indigenous growth/division patterns of the diverse mouse gut bacteria with a relatively high throughput, here, we propose an integrative strategy, which combines the use of fluorescent probe labeling, confocal imaging with single-cell sorting, and sequencing. Mouse gut bacteria sequentially labeled by two fluorescent d-amino acid probes in vivo were first imaged by confocal microscopy to visualize their growth patterns, which can be unveiled by the distribution of the two fluorescence signals on each bacterium.

COVID-19 metabolism: Mechanisms and therapeutic targets.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) dysregulates antiviral signaling, immune response, and cell metabolism in human body. Viral genome and proteins hijack host metabolic network to support viral biogenesis and propagation. However, the regulatory mechanism of SARS-CoV-2-induced metabolic dysfunction has not been elucidated until recently.

Engineering Enzyme-Cleavable Oligonucleotides by Automated Solid-Phase Incorporation of Cathepsin B Sensitive Dipeptide Linkers.

Oligonucleotides containing cleavable linkers have emerged as versatile tools to achieve stimulus-responsive and site-specific cleavage of DNA. However, the limitations of previously reported cleavable linkers including photolabile and disulfide linkers have restricted their applications in vivo. Inspired by the cathepsin B-sensitive dipeptide linkers in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) such as Adcetris, we have developed Val-Ala-02 and Val-Ala-Chalcone phosphoramidites for the automated synthesis of enzyme-cleavable oligonucleotides.

Advanced microfluidic devices for fabricating multi-structural hydrogel microsphere.

Hydrogel microspheres are a novel functional material, arousing much attention in various fields. Microfluidics, a technology that controls and manipulates fluids at the micron scale, has emerged as a promising method for fabricating hydrogel microspheres due to its ability to generate uniform microspheres with controlled geometry. With the development of microfluidic devices, more complicated hydrogel microspheres with multiple structures can be constructed.

Interfacing droplet microfluidics with antibody barcodes for multiplexed single-cell protein secretion profiling.

Multiplexed protein secretion analysis of single cells is important to understand the heterogeneity of cellular functions and processes in healthy and disease states. However, current single-cell platforms, such as microwell-, microchamber-, or droplet-based assays, suffer from low single-cell occupancy, waste of reagents, limited sensitivity, or inability to perform necessary operations, To overcome these drawbacks, we present an integrated droplet microfluidic device that interfaces with spatially patterned antibody barcodes for multiplexed single-cell secretome analysis. The trapping array of 100 picoliter-sized isolation chambers could achieve >80% single-cell capture efficiency with >90% viability.

Supranutritional selenium suppresses ROS-induced generation of RANKL-expressing osteoclastogenic CD4 T cells and ameliorates rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: The benefit of Se supplementation in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been tested in clinical trials, but results remain inconclusive. The objective of this study was to specifically investigate the potential benefit of supranutritional Se by examining human samples from an area with supranutritional Se intake and testing a mouse model of RA.

Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from RA patients ( = 57) and healthy controls (HC,  = 71) from an area of supranutritional Se intake (Enshi, Hubei, China) were analysed by flow cytometry.

Sustained low-dose interleukin-2 therapy alleviates pathogenic humoral immunity via elevating the Tfr/Tfh ratio in lupus.

Objectives: Low-dose interleukin-2 (IL-2) has shown promising clinical benefits in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but how this therapy alleviates pathogenic humoral immunity remains not well understood. The dilemma is that IL-2 can suppress both follicular helper and regulatory T (Tfh and Tfr) cells, which counteract each other in regulating autoantibody production.

Methods: Female NZB/W F1 mice received recombinant human IL-2 (3 × 10 IU/dose) in three treatment regimens: (1) short, daily for 7 days; (2) medium, daily for 14 days, and (3) long, every second day for 28 days.

Mechanism underlying the regulation of lncRNA ACTA2-AS1 on CXCL2 by absorbing miRNA-532-5p as ceRNA in the development of ovarian cancer.

Objective: To explore the mechanism underlying the regulation of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) ACTA2-AS1 on CXCL2 as a ceRNA of miR-532-5p in the progression of ovarian cancer (OC).

Methods: A qRT-PCR assay was carried out for analyzing the expression changes of ACTA2-AS1, miR-532-5p, as well as CXCL2 in OC tissues and corresponding healthy paracancerous tissues HOSEpiC (human ovarian epithelial cells), and OC cells. OC cells were grouped and transfected, and the fluorescent in situ hybridization was adopted for evaluating ACTA2-AS1 in the cells.

Comprehensive evaluation of methods for small extracellular vesicles separation from human plasma, urine and cell culture medium.

One of the challenges that restricts the evolving extracellular vesicle (EV) research field is the lack of a consensus method for EV separation. This may also explain the diversity of the experimental results, as co-separated soluble proteins and lipoproteins may impede the interpretation of experimental findings. In this study, we comprehensively evaluated the EV yields and sample purities of three most popular EV separation methods, ultracentrifugation, precipitation and size exclusion chromatography combined with ultrafiltration, along with a microfluidic tangential flow filtration device, Exodisc, in three commonly used biological samples, cell culture medium, human urine and plasma.

SOX4 maintains the stemness of cancer cells via transcriptionally enhancing HDAC1 revealed by comparative proteomics study.

Background: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the root of human cancer development and the major cause of treatment failure. Aberrant elevation of SOX4, a member of SOX (SRY-related HMG-box) family transcription factors, has been identified in many types of human cancer and promotes cancer development. However, the role of SOX4 in CSCs, especially at a proteome-wide level, has remained elusive.

SKP1 promotes YAP-mediated colorectal cancer stemness via suppressing RASSF1.

Background: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been recognized as an important drug target, however, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully understood. SKP1 is a traditional drug target for cancer therapy, while, whether SKP1 promotes colorectal cancer (CRC) stem cells (CRC-SCs) and the underlying mechanisms have remained elusive.

Methods: Human CRC cell lines and primary human CRC cells were used in this study.

Tailored Lipoprotein-Like miRNA Delivery Nanostructure Suppresses Glioma Stemness and Drug Resistance through Receptor-Stimulated Macropinocytosis.

Glioma initiating cells (GICs) function as the seed for the propagation and relapse of glioma. Designing a smart and efficient strategy to target the GICs and to suppress the multiple signaling pathways associated with stemness and chemoresistance is essential to achieving a cancer cure. Inspired by the metabolic difference in endocytosis between GICs, differentiated glioma cells, and normal cells, a tailored lipoprotein-like nanostructure is developed to amplify their internalization into GICs through receptor-stimulated macropinocytosis.

PTPRU, As A Tumor Suppressor, Inhibits Cancer Stemness By Attenuating Hippo/YAP Signaling Pathway.

Background: PTPRU is an important signaling molecule that regulates a variety of cellular processes; however, the role of PTPRU in cancer development has remained elusive. Here, we report that PTPRU serves as a tumor suppressor that inhibits cancer stemness by attenuating Hippo/YAP signaling pathway.

Methods: Primary cancer cells and cell line cells were used in the study.