BACKGROUND: Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease is a congenital defect that affects 0.5% to 1.2% of the population and is associated with comorbidities including ascending aortic dilation and calcific aortic valve stenosis. To date, although a few causal …

Melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer due to its high rate of metastasis, frequently to the brain. Brain metastases are incurable; therefore, understanding melanoma brain metastasis is of great clinical importance. We used a mouse model of spontaneous …

The identification of spatiotemporally restricted Ca2+ signals, Ca2+ sparks, was instrumental for our understanding of cardiac Ca2+ homeostasis. High-speed 2D confocal imaging enables acquisition of such Ca2+ sparks with high-content information but their …

Contrast-enhanced photoacoustics and ultrasonics are complementary methods of bioimaging. In this study, a flow-focusing junction microfluidic device is used for the generation of uniform microbubbles …

Natural particles ranging from various cell membranes to nascent proteins are highly optimized for their specific functions in vivo and possess features that are desired in drug delivery carriers. However, the current endeavor in research on bioparticles …

Background and objective: Stem cell (SC) therapy exhibits promising therapeutic efficiency against cardiovascular disease. The thymus adipose tissue (TAT) is familiar to cardiac surgeons with sternotomy; however, the application of TAT in SC therapy …

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a vascular remodeling disease of cardiopulmonary units. No cure is currently available due to an incomplete understanding of vascular remo- deling. Here we identify CD146-hypoxia-inducible transcription factor 1 …

The placenta performs many physiological functions critical for development. Insufficient placental perfusion, due to improper vascular remodelling, has been linked to many pregnancy-related diseases. To study longitudinal in vivo placental perfusion, we …

Highly specific and effective cancer phototherapy remains as a great challenge. Herein, a smart nanoplatform (TENAB NP) sequentially responsive to light, low pH and hypoxia is demonstrated for multi-mode imaging guided synergistic cancer therapy with …

Aims: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrinopathy that is suggested to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease. How PCOS may lead to adverse cardiac outcomes is unclear and here we hypothesized that prenatal exposure to …