To summarize the research activities of the “clinical research group heavy ion therapy”, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG, KFO 214), on the impact of intrinsic tumor characteristics (grading, hypoxia) on local tumor control after carbon …

C utaneous involvement occurs in 25% to 30% of patients with sarcoidosis.1 Effective treat- ment of the disease has historically been challenging given a lack of an objective, reproduc- ible marker of disease activity. Here we present a case using …

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as powerful regulators of cardiac development and disease. However, our understanding of the importance of these molecules in cardiac fibrosis is limited. Using an integrated genomic screen, we identified Wisper …

Low rates of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) maturation prevent optimal fistula use for hemodialysis; however, the mechanism of venous remodeling in the fistula environment is not well understood. We hypothesized that the embryonic venous determinant Eph-B4 …

Protein kinase B2 (AKT2) is implicated in diverse process of cardiomyocyte signaling including survival and metabolism. However, the role of AKT2 in myocardium development and the signaling pathway is rarely understood. Therefore, we sought to determine …

Thrombosis is a main cause of acute cardiovascular events, and detecting thrombi in small arteries via noninvasive im- aging remains challenging. In this study, we employed a novel imaging method, photoacoustic imaging (PAI), to study thrombosis in a …

BACKGROUND Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) has recently been identified as a novel and independent risk factor for promoting atherosclerosis through inducing vascular inflammation. However, the exact mechanism is currently unclear. Studies have established …

Aims Cardiac inflammation has been suggested to be regulated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). However, due to the lack of methodology to surgically eliminate the myocardial SNS in mice, neuronal control of cardiac inflammation remains ill-defined. …

Homozygous mutations in the aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) gene result in a severe depletion of its namesake protein, triggering a debilitating and often fatal form of infantile Parkinsonism known as AADC deficiency. AADC deficient patients …

The master cytokine TGF-β mediates tissue fibrosis associated with inflammation and tissue injury. TGF-β induces fibroblast activation and differentiation into myofibroblasts that secrete extracellular matrix proteins. Canonical TGF-β signaling mobilizes …