In patients who survive myocardial infarction, many go on to develop congestive heart failure (CHF). Despite ongoing efforts to develop new approaches for postinfarction therapy, there are still no effective therapeutic options available to CHF patients. …

MicroRNAs play a crucial role in the regulation of pathological cardiac remodeling and heart failure. Previously, we found that overexpression of miR-221 induces heart failure in mice. The miR-222 and miR-221 share the same gene cluster, however, the role …

Aneurysm-osteoarthritis syndrome characterized by unpredictable aortic aneurysm formation, is caused by SMAD3 mutations. Smad3 is part of the Smad2/3/4 transcription factor, essential for TGF-β-activated transcription. Although TGF-β-related gene …

Previous studies have demonstrated a significantly lower level of Hand1 in ischemic cardiomyopathy than in normal heart tissue. The role of decreased Hand1 in myocardial infarction remains unclear. This study was designed to investigate the effects of …

The incidence of cognitive impairment in cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients has increased, adversely impacting quality of life and imposing a significant economic burden. Brain imaging of CVD patients has detected changes in the hippocampus, a brain …

Tumor hypoxia is known to be one of critical reasons that limit the efficacy of cancer therapies, particularly photodynamic therapy (PDT) and radiotherapy (RT) in which oxygen is needed in the process of cancer cell destruction. Herein, taking advantages …

We propose a saline injection-based method to quantify blood flow velocity in vivo with acoustic-resolution photoacoustic tomography. By monitoring the saline–blood interface propagating in the blood vessel, the flow velocity can be resolved. We first …

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a leading global health concern. Due to limited imaging and therapeutic options, PAD and other ischemia-related diseases may benefit from the use of long circulating nanoparticles as imaging probes and/or drug delivery …

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is an emerging hybrid optical- ultrasound based imaging technique that can be used to visualize optical absorbers in deep tissue. Free organic dyes can be used as PA contrast agents to concurrently provide additional …

Gold nanoparticles (AuNP) have been proposed for many applications in medicine. Although large AuNP (> 5.5??nm) are desirable for their longer blood circulation and accumulation in diseased tissues, small AuNP …