RATIONALE: Diaphragm weakness in critically ill patients prolongs ventilator dependency and duration of hospital stay, and increases mortality and health care costs. The mechanisms underlying diaphragm weakness include cross-sectional fiber atrophy and …

Circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) - plasma-based noncoding RNAs that control post-transcriptional gene expression - mediate processes that underlie phenotypic plasticity to exercise. The relationship and biologic relevance between c-miRNA expression and …

Mitochondrial dynamics imbalance associates with several cardiovascular diseases. However, the role of mitochondrial dynamics in TLR4 activation mediated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) progress remains unknown. A model of experimental autoimmune myocarditis …

Reliable cell tracking is essential to understand the fate of stem cells following implantation, and thus promote the clinical application of stem cell therapy. Dual or multiple modal imag- ing modalities mediated by different types of multifunctional …

Background: Fukutin-related protein (FKRP) mutations are the most common cause of dystroglycanopathies known to cause both limb girdle and congenital muscular dystrophy. The P448Lneo− mouse model has a knock-in mutation in the FKRP gene and develops …

Cardiomyopathy is one of the characteristic features of cancer. In this study, we establish a suitable model to study breast cancer-induced cardiomyopathy in mice. We used Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma cells to induce subcutaneous tumor in 129/SvJ mice and …

Background: Post-infarction cardiovascular remodeling and heart failure are the leading cause of myocardial infarction (MI)-driven death during the past decades. Experimental observations have involved intestinal microbiota in the susceptibility to MI in …

Background: Theranostic perfluorocarbon nanoprobes have recently attracted attention due to their fascinating versatility in integrating diagnostics and therapeutics into a single system. Furthermore, although 17β-estradiol (E2) is a potential …

Development of versatile nanoscale platforms for cancer diagnosis and therapy is of great importance for applications in translational medicine. In this work, we present the use of γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) nanogels (NGs) to load polypyrrole (PPy) for …

Cardiomyopathy is a common complication associated with increased mortality in sepsis, but lacks specific therapy. Here, using genetic and pharmacological approaches, we explored the therapeutic effect of α2A-adrenergic receptor (AR) blockade on septic …