A recent study published in Engineering has unveiled a novel approach to generating functional organoids from human adult adipose tissue. These organoids were able to support human hematopoiesis in immunodeficient mice, mimicking the structural and functional complexity of native human bone marrow. The researchers found that RMF pellets, when implanted into mice, underwent endochondral ossification, forming ossicles that contained both endosteal and perivascular niches. These ossicles supported the engraftment and differentiation of human hematopoietic stem cells, demonstrating their potential as a model for studying human hematopoiesis.In addition to bone marrow organoids, the study also explored the differentiation of RMF tissues into insulin-producing islet organoids. Using a refined four-stage protocol, the researchers guided RMF cells through definitive endoderm, pancreatic progenitor, endocrine progenitor, and β-cell stages. The resulting islet organoids were capable of secreting insulin in response to glucose stimulation, with a significant increase in insulin secretion under high-glucose conditions. When transplanted into diabetic mice, these organoids rapidly vascularized and reversed hyperglycemia, maintaining normal blood glucose levels for the duration of the study.The researchers also demonstrated the ectodermal differentiation potential of RMF tissues by generating neural-like tissues. RMF pellets were induced to form neurospheres, which then differentiated into neuronal and neuroglial lineages. The cells expressed markers for neural stem cells, mature neurons, and glial cells, indicating the successful conversion of adipose tissue into neural-like tissues.This study highlights the versatility and potential of human adult adipose tissue as a source for organoid generation. By avoiding complex cell isolation and genetic manipulation, the RMF-based strategy offers a more practical and clinically relevant approach to creating functional organoids. The findings suggest that adipose tissue could serve as a valuable resource for developing therapeutic applications in regenerative medicine, particularly for conditions such as diabetes and hematological disorders.The research underscores the importance of exploring alternative sources for organoid generation, especially those that can be easily accessed and processed. As the field of regenerative medicine continues to advance, the ability to generate functional organoids from readily available tissues like adipose tissue could pave the way for more efficient and accessible treatments. Direct Differentiation of Human Adult Adipose Tissue into Multilineage Functional Organoids. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

The research, conducted by a team from Harbin Medical University, reveals that NSUN2, a member of the NOL1/NOP2/Sun domain family, significantly contributes to pathological cardiac hypertrophy by activating the LARP1-GATA4 axis, potentially offering a novel therapeutic target for heart failure. The study began with the observation that NSUN2 expression levels were significantly elevated in both human hearts with heart failure (HF) and in mouse hearts subjected to hypertrophy induced by transverse aortic constriction (TAC) and angiotensin II (Ang II) treatment. This finding prompted the researchers to investigate the specific function of NSUN2 in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Through a series of experiments involving cardiomyocyte-specific knockout and overexpression of NSUN2, the team discovered that NSUN2 plays a crucial role in regulating cardiac function and structure.In their experiments, the researchers found that cardiomyocyte-specific knockout of NSUN2 attenuated the reduced cardiac ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) observed in TAC-treated mice, while also reducing heart weight to tibial length (HW/TL) ratios. Conversely, cardiac-specific overexpression of NSUN2 led to pronounced cardiac remodeling, characterized by increased hypertrophic growth, cardiac fibrosis, and a significant decline in EF and FS. These results highlight the detrimental effects of NSUN2 overexpression on cardiac function and structure.Mechanistically, the study revealed that NSUN2 induces 5-methylcytosine (m5C) modification of La-related protein 1 (LARP1), thereby enhancing its mRNA stability. This process is mediated by Y-box binding protein 1 (YBX1). The stabilized LARP1 then interacts with GATA binding protein 4 (GATA4) mRNA, preventing its degradation and ultimately promoting a pro-hypertrophic phenotype. To validate this pathway, the researchers conducted RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays and found that LARP1 directly binds to GATA4 mRNA, protecting it from degradation.Further supporting this mechanism, the researchers demonstrated that silencing LARP1 partially attenuated TAC-induced cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Similarly, in mice with NSUN2 overexpression, knockdown of LARP1 significantly reduced the hypertrophic response, as evidenced by decreased expression of hypertrophic markers such as ANP and BNP. By analyzing RNA sequencing data, the researchers identified numerous genes with altered expression in response to NSUN2 activity, many of which are involved in pathways related to cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. This comprehensive analysis provides a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying NSUN2's effects on cardiac function.The research published in Engineering offers valuable insights into the role of NSUN2 in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Future research may focus on exploring the therapeutic potential of targeting NSUN2 and its downstream pathways to mitigate cardiac hypertrophy and improve cardiac function. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. Please check the box above to proceed. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Researchers from Kyushu University have developed an innovative computational method, called ddHodge, that can reconstruct the complex dynamics of how cells decide their fate. As reported in Nature Communications, this approach paves the way for a deeper understanding of the biological processes involved in development, regeneration, and disease. To study these mechanisms, scientists often rely on single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq)-a technology that reveals which genes are active within individual cells. While powerful, scRNA-seq is destructive, meaning that it can only provide one-time snapshots of cells, but not the evolution of their states over time. Computational methods like RNA velocity have begun to tackle this limitation by inferring both the immediate future direction of a cell and the "speed" at which it advances toward it. As current techniques cannot accurately represent this full space, they compress it into far fewer dimensions, inevitably losing important information about the data geometry. Against this backdrop, Associate Professor Kazumitsu Maehara from Kyushu University's Faculty of Medical Sciences and Professor Yasuyuki Ohkawa from Kyushu University's Medical Institute of Bioregulation have developed ddHodge, a geometry-preserving method that can more accurately reconstruct cell state dynamics. My background is in statistical science, and during my graduate training, I was exposed to HodgeRank, a method used in ranking problems such as PageRank. When I later moved into life-science research, I realized that the same mathematical idea could help interpret the complex, high-dimensional transitions in single-cell data." Kazumitsu Maehara, Associate Professor, Kyushu University's Faculty of Medical Sciences Their technique is based on Hodge decomposition, a powerful mathematical theorem, which they used to break down cells' motion across a landscape of possible states into three fundamental and measurable components. "ddHodge can be viewed as an effort to adapt techniques and concepts developed in modern mathematical sciences, such as differential geometry and numerical computation, to the practical demands of life science data analysis," explains Maehara. The proposed framework utilizes geometric principles to approximate how cell states "move" on a lower-dimensional structure while preserving the shape information embedded in high-dimensional data, which is normally lost in standard methods that rely on dimensionality reduction. This substantiated, with real-world data, the long-standing concept in developmental biology that cells differentiate by moving toward stable states and diverging away from "branching points." Moreover, by focusing on these unstable points, the researchers were able to identify key genes that drive or maintain cell state stability as cells commit to a lineage. The researchers also evaluated ddHodge's performance using data simulations, revealing that even when given partial or noisy data, ddHodge was able to reliably reconstruct cell state dynamics, with around 100 times more accuracy than other conventional approaches. Overall, ddHodge provides a reliable way to identify critical biological moments, such as the exact timing and location of cell fate decisions. This tool could support the early detection of cell states relevant to disease states or regeneration, as well as help scientists analyze large-scale datasets used in pharma and biotech discovery pipelines. Notably, ddHodge has many potential applications beyond biology and medicine. The researchers believe it could be used to provide insights into other complex processes that change over time, including material degradation, climate patterns, and socioeconomic behavior. Thus, ddHodge exemplifies how concepts from modern mathematics can be used to gain insights into processes and systems that would otherwise be obscured in giant high-dimensional datasets. Geometry-preserving vector field reconstruction of high-dimensional cell-state dynamics using ddHodge. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

A new research paper was published in Volume 17, Issue 11 of Aging-US on November 26, 2025, titled "Epigenetic aging signatures and age prediction in human skeletal muscle." In this study, first author Soo-Bin Yang and corresponding author Hwan Young Lee from Seoul National University College of Medicine investigated how DNA methylation patterns in skeletal muscle change with age. Their findings offer a new and highly accurate method for estimating a person's age, with potential applications in forensic science and aging research. Skeletal muscle is essential for movement, energy balance, and physical strength, functions that become more important to monitor as people age. This study improves our understanding of how muscle tissue changes over time at the molecular level. Unlike previous research, which mainly analyzed living individuals of European descent, this study used postmortem samples from an Asian population. "We analyzed DNA methylation profiles from 103 pectoralis major muscle samples from autopsies of South Korean individuals (18–85 years) using the Infinium EPIC array." They identified 20 DNA methylation sites, called CpGs, that were strongly associated with age. Both models were highly accurate, with average prediction errors between 3.8 and 5.5 years. The new "epigenetic clocks" outperformed existing age-prediction models designed for other tissue types. However, when applied to cardiac and uterine muscle, these models showed much lower accuracy, reinforcing the need for tissue-specific approaches in molecular age estimation. Beyond predicting age, the study also provides insight into how DNA methylation may affect muscle aging. Several of the identified CpGs were located in regions that regulate gene expression, being associated with a reduction of it in older muscle samples. Overall, this study introduces two reliable and cost-effective methods to estimate age from skeletal muscle, even when the DNA is partially degraded, making it especially useful in forensic settings. It also offers a path forward for developing future therapies that may slow age-related muscle decline and highlights how skeletal muscle aging can differ depending on population, tissue type, and anatomical location. Epigenetic aging signatures and age prediction in human skeletal muscle. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

A recent study published in Engineering has shed light on the potential therapeutic effects of dihydrotanshinone I (DHT), a compound derived from the traditional Chinese herb Salvia miltiorrhiza, on ovarian cancer. The research, conducted by a team from Zhejiang Chinese Medical University and Jiangsu Normal University, reveals that DHT can induce autophagic cell death in ovarian cancer cells by disrupting the sortilin 1 (SORT1)-mediated autophagy-lysosome pathway. This suggests that excessive autophagy activation or impaired autophagosome-lysosome fusion could lead to cancer cell death. The study investigated the effects of DHT on ovarian cancer cells, uncovering its mechanism of action through proteomic analysis and in vivo experiments.The researchers found that DHT suppressed ovarian cancer growth by targeting SORT1, a protein involved in the autophagy-lysosome pathway. In vitro experiments demonstrated that DHT promoted the formation of autophagosomes, indicated by the increased expression of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3-II (LC3-II), while inhibiting the fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes. This disruption in the autophagic flux led to the accumulation of autophagosomes and ultimately induced autophagic cell death in ovarian cancer cells.To validate these findings, the researchers utilized an orthotopic ovarian cancer model in mice. Additionally, DHT was found to decrease SORT1 expression in tumors, further supporting its role in disrupting the autophagy-lysosome pathway.The study also explored the interaction between DHT and SORT1. Co-immunoprecipitation and cellular thermal shift assays revealed that DHT directly targeted SORT1, promoting its ubiquitin-dependent degradation. This degradation of SORT1 led to the release of autophagy-related proteins ATG5 and ATG16L1, which enhanced autophagosome formation and disrupted the autophagic flux.SORT1, encoded by the SORT1 gene, is primarily located on the endoplasmic reticulum and lysosomal membranes, where it is involved in protein transport to lysosomes. Previous studies have shown that SORT1 mediates ovarian cancer progression by enhancing cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. High SORT1 expression has been detected in over 75% of clinical ovarian tumor samples, making it a promising therapeutic target.The findings of this study highlight the potential of DHT as a novel therapeutic agent for ovarian cancer. By targeting SORT1 and disrupting the autophagy-lysosome pathway, DHT induces autophagic cell death, offering a new strategy for the treatment of this deadly disease. Future research may focus on further elucidating the underlying mechanisms and exploring the clinical applications of DHT in ovarian cancer therapy. Dihydrotanshinone I Induces Autophagic Cell Death in Ovarian Cancer by Disrupting the SORT1-Mediated Autophagy–Lysosome Pathway. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Children exposed to high levels of screen time before age two showed changes in brain development that were linked to slower decision-making and increased anxiety by their teenage years, according to new research by Asst Prof Tan Ai Peng and her team from A*STAR Institute for Human Development and Potential (A*STAR IHDP) and National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, using data from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort. Published in eBioMedicine, the study tracked the same children over more than a decade, with brain imaging at multiple time points, to map a possible biological pathway from infant screen exposure to adolescent mental health. This is the first paper on screen time to incorporate measures spanning over ten years, highlighting the long-lasting consequences of screen time in infancy. Importantly, the study focuses on infancy, a period when brain development is most rapid and especially sensitive to environmental influences. This allowed them to track how brain networks developed over time rather than relying on a single snapshot. Children with higher infant screen time showed an accelerated maturation of brain networks responsible for visual processing and cognitive control. Notably, screen time measured at ages three and four did not show the same effects, underscoring why infancy is a particularly sensitive period. Accelerated maturation happens when certain brain networks develop too fast, often in response to adversity or other stimuli. During normal development, brain networks gradually become more specialised over time. However, in children with high screen exposure, the networks controlling vision and cognition specialised faster, before they had developed the efficient connections needed for complex thinking. This can limit flexibility and resilience, leaving the child less able to adapt later in life." This premature specialization came at a cost: children with these altered brain networks took longer to make decisions during a cognitive task at age 8.5, suggesting reduced cognitive efficiency or flexibility. Those with slower decision-making, in turn, reported higher anxiety symptoms at age 13. These findings suggest that screen exposure in infancy may have effects that extend well beyond early childhood, shaping brain development and behavior years later. Among children whose parents read to them frequently at age three, the link between infant screen time and altered brain development was significantly weakened. The researchers suggest that shared reading may provide the kind of enriched, interactive experience that passive screen consumption lacks, including back-and-forth engagement, language exposure, and emotional connection. "This research gives us a biological explanation for why limiting screen time in the first two years is crucial. But it also highlights the importance of parental engagement, showing that parent-child activities, like reading together, can make a real difference," said Asst Prof Tan Ai Peng, Principal Investigator at A*STAR IHDP, Clinician-Scientist at NUS, and the study's senior author. The study was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the National University Hospital of Singapore, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, and McGill University. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Announcing a new publication for Acta Materia Medica journal. Heart failure (HF) remains a major global health challenge with limited therapeutic options, thus prompting the search for novel cardioprotective agents among traditional Chinese medicines. In this study, screening of 828 herbal extracts in an oxygen glucose deprivation injury H9c2 cardiomyocyte model led to the identification of Euphorbia neriifolia L. extract (JM04) as a promising candidate. In vivo, JM04 ameliorated cardiac function and attenuated myocardial fibrosis in isoproterenol-induced HF mice, as evidenced by echocardiography and histological analysis. Network pharmacology and mechanistic studies revealed that JM04 modulated the Nrf2/ROS/HIF-1α axis by exerting free radical scavenging activity, activating the Nrf2 antioxidant pathway, restoring mTOR phosphorylation, and enhancing HIF-1α expression, thereby protecting against cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Furthermore, UPLC-MS/MS identified six active components consistent with network pharmacology predictions, thus highlighting its multicomponent and multitarget nature. Collectively, these findings demonstrated that JM04 exerts potent cardioprotective effects through integrated antioxidant and signaling modulation, and support its further development as a candidate botanical drug for HF intervention. Lu, T., et al. (2025) Euphorbia neriifolia L. extract attenuates heart failure by modulating the Nrf2/ROS/HIF-1α signaling pathway. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

These practices require teachers to design challenging tasks, encourage open-ended reasoning, and engage students in active knowledge construction. In the study led by Bellibaş from the Department of Public Policy, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, researchers have analyzed data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018, covering 48 countries and economies. Using multilevel modeling, the findings show that teacher collaboration is a significant predictor of the use of cognitive activation strategies, even after controlling for teacher characteristics and school contexts. Their work was made available online on June 2, 2025, and was published in Volume 8, Issue 4 of journal ECNU Review of Education in November, 2025. "Such collective endeavors, through positive interactions, could promote innovative teaching strategies and foster their motivation to transform classroom instruction," state Bellibaş et al. The study also identifies the moderating role of collective teacher innovativeness, which can be defined as teachers' shared openness to new ideas and their willingness to experiment with new teaching approaches. In schools where innovativeness is high, the positive impact of collaboration on innovative teaching practices becomes notably stronger. Factors such as school size, location, and socio-economic composition also affect the prevalence of cognitively activating practices, raising equity concerns. The study highlights the importance of fostering both collaboration and an innovative school climate to improve instructional quality globally. Encouraging collaborative professional cultures and fostering school environments that support innovation may lead to more widespread adoption of high-impact teaching strategies. "Our findings underscore that simply encouraging collaboration is not enough; we must also actively cultivate an innovative school climate where teachers feel empowered to experiment with new ideas, ultimately leading to a more equitable and widespread adoption of high-impact teaching strategies worldwide," emphasize Bellibaş et al. Would Teachers' Professional Collaboration Promote Cognitively Activating Teaching Practices? GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Despite major therapeutic advances, breast cancer remains prone to recurrence, particularly in patients with early-stage disease who appear disease-free after treatment. Follow-up care still relies largely on imaging and serum markers, tools that struggle to detect microscopic disease. These gaps have driven interest in liquid biopsy technologies that can monitor cancer at the molecular level through a simple blood draw. Based on these challenges, there is a pressing need to develop minimal residual disease (MRD)-based strategies that enable earlier, more precise monitoring of breast cancer recurrence. In the review published (DOI: 10.20892/j.issn.2095-3941.2025.0431)online on November 28, 2025, researchers from the Cancer Hospital of China Medical University and the Cancer Hospital of Dalian University of Technology examine how minimal residual disease detection is reshaping breast cancer management. Published in Cancer Biology & Medicine, the article brings together clinical evidence, technological advances, and biological insights to show how ctDNA-based MRD testing can detect residual disease, anticipate relapse, and guide treatment decisions. The review positions MRD monitoring as a key step toward more adaptive, precision-oriented breast cancer care. The review outlines two major ctDNA-based MRD detection strategies. Tumor-informed approaches analyze a patient's original tumor to design personalized assays capable of detecting ctDNA at extremely low levels, sometimes down to parts per million. Tumor-agnostic approaches, which rely on fixed gene or methylation panels, trade some sensitivity for speed, standardization, and broader accessibility. Across multiple clinical studies, ctDNA positivity after surgery consistently signals a dramatically higher risk of recurrence and shorter survival. In many cases, molecular relapse is detected 8 to 15 months before radiographic evidence appears. In the neoadjuvant setting, ctDNA dynamics closely track treatment response: early clearance predicts favorable outcomes, while persistent detection suggests resistance. Importantly, recent trials show that MRD-guided treatment adjustments—such as switching endocrine therapies or intensifying targeted regimens—can significantly extend progression-free survival. Together, these findings support MRD not just as a prognostic marker, but as an active decision-making tool that bridges the gap between standard treatment protocols and individualized care. According to the authors, MRD detection fundamentally changes how clinicians think about relapse risk. "ctDNA allows us to detect cancer activity that imaging simply cannot capture," they explain. By revealing molecular relapse early, MRD monitoring opens a critical window for intervention, when disease burden is still low. Looking ahead, MRD-guided monitoring could redefine post-treatment care in breast cancer. Patients with persistent ctDNA may be candidates for early therapeutic escalation, while those who remain MRD-negative could safely avoid unnecessary toxicity. Beyond clinical practice, MRD offers powerful advantages for drug development and clinical trials by identifying high-risk populations and enabling earlier outcome assessment. As technologies mature and costs decline, ctDNA-based MRD testing is expected to move from specialized settings into routine care, shifting breast cancer management from delayed detection toward timely, precision-driven intervention. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Clinically, the condition is marked by persistent proteinuria and a gradual decline in kidney filtration capacity. Current first-line therapies, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, typically slow renal function decline; however, sustained improvement is uncommon, and treatment-related adverse effects may limit long-term use. Based on these challenges, there is a need to explore alternative or complementary treatments that can protect renal function by targeting inflammatory mechanisms. Researchers from Guang'anmen Hospital of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, together with collaborators from multiple traditional Chinese medicine hospitals across China, reported (DOI: 10.1093/pcmedi/pbaf031) on November 14, 2025, in Precision Clinical Medicine the results of a multicenter, randomized, double-blind clinical trial evaluating a traditional Chinese herbal formula for diabetic kidney disease with macroalbuminuria. Mechanistic investigations combining proteomics, single-cell transcriptomics, and animal models were conducted to uncover inflammation-related pathways underlying the clinical effects. The trial showed that both treatments achieved similar reductions in 24-hour urinary protein, a standard marker of kidney damage. However, patients receiving the herbal formulation experienced significantly better preservation of kidney function. Their estimated glomerular filtration rate increased over the treatment period, while it declined in the comparison group, and serum creatinine levels decreased rather than rising. Bayesian statistical analysis further supported a high probability that the herbal therapy provided meaningful renal benefits. To understand why these differences occurred, the researchers conducted mechanistic studies. Olink inflammation proteomic profiling identified significant reductions in circulating inflammatory mediators, particularly CX3CL1 and MCP-1, following treatment. Single-nucleus RNA sequencing of diabetic mouse kidneys revealed that these molecules are predominantly expressed in endothelial, mesangial, and tubular cells—key players in kidney inflammation and fibrosis. Treatment suppressed their expression in specific cell populations, suggesting a cell-type-resolved anti-inflammatory effect. Together, the clinical and experimental results indicate that the therapy may protect kidney function by dampening inflammation-driven injury rather than acting solely through hemodynamic control. "Many existing therapies slow decline, but few demonstrate an actual increase in filtration capacity. By integrating clinical trials with molecular and single-cell analyses, we were able to link these functional benefits to specific inflammatory pathways. This systems-level approach strengthens confidence that the observed effects are biologically meaningful and not simply statistical variation." If confirmed in longer and larger trials, these findings could expand treatment options for patients with diabetic kidney disease, particularly those who cannot tolerate standard medications or remain at high residual risk. The study highlights inflammation as a viable therapeutic target and suggests that multi-component therapies may exert synergistic effects on complex disease pathways. Beyond this specific formulation, the work provides a framework for integrating traditional medicine with modern clinical trials and omics technologies. Randomized controlled clinical trial of Shenzhuo Formula in the treatment of macroalbuminuria in diabetic kidney disease and its inflammation-modulating mechanisms. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Two complementary studies reveal how an insufficient supply of energy in macrophages, key immune cells in artery walls, drives the progression of atherosclerosis - and how this knowledge could lead to better diagnostics and future therapies. The University of Eastern Finland was centrally involved in both studies. Although the role of cholesterol in plaque formation has long been a central focus, scientists increasingly recognise that the immune system plays a decisive role in determining whether plaques remain stable or become unstable and thus prone to rupture, which can lead to heart attacks or strokes. The researchers also identified new ways to detect dangerous plaques. Inside artery plaques, they ingest fats, remove dying cells and help repair damaged tissue. But to perform these protective tasks, macrophages require energy. In the first study, published in Nature Metabolism, the researchers discovered that macrophages rely heavily on glutamine uptake from their environment to fuel their restorative functions. When this gateway is blocked, macrophages lose energy and perform poorly, resulting in plaques that are larger and more unstable, which is a known risk factor for heart attacks and strokes in people. Reduced activity of this pathway was linked to more dangerous plaque features also in human artery samples. These findings suggest that restoring or supporting macrophage metabolism could one day help stabilise plaques and prevent heart attacks or strokes." By studying macrophages with advanced single-cell technologies, the researchers identified protein markers such as TREM2, FOLR2 and SLC7A7 that highlight high-risk plaques. Based on these markers, PET imaging could be used to detect inflammatory plaque activity rather than just the size of the plaques. The researchers also found that soluble TREM2 in the blood may help distinguish between stable and symptomatic plaques, raising the possibility of a future blood test to identify patients at highest risk. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Intestinal Stem Cells (ISCs) derived from a patient's own cells have garnered significant attention as a new alternative for treating intractable intestinal diseases due to their low risk of rejection. However, clinical application has been limited by safety and regulatory issues arising from conventional culture methods that rely on animal-derived components (xenogeneic components). A KAIST research team has developed an advanced culture technology that stably grows ISCs without animal components while simultaneously enhancing their migration to damaged tissues and regenerative capabilities. KAIST announced on December 23rd that a joint research team—led by Professor Sung Gap Im from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Dr. Tae Geol Lee from the Nano-Bio Measurement Group at the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science and Dr. Mi-Young Son from the Stem Cell Convergence Research Center at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology has developed a polymer-based culture platform that dramatically improves the migration and regeneration of ISCs in a xenogeneic-free environment. To overcome obstacles in the clinical application of stem cell therapies—such as the risk of virus transmission to patients when using substances derived from mouse fibroblasts or Matrigel—the joint research team developed "PLUS" (Polymer-coated Ultra-stable Surface). This polymer-based culture surface technology functions effectively without any animal-derived materials. Notably, it maintains identical culture performance even after being stored at room temperature for three years, securing industrial scalability and storage convenience for stem cell therapeutics. Proteomics Analysis: A method used to simultaneously analyze the types and quantitative changes of all proteins present within a cell or tissue. Specifically, the team confirmed that increased expression of cytoskeleton-binding and actin-binding proteins leads to a stable restructuring of the internal cellular architecture. Real-time observations using holotomography microscopy revealed that ISCs cultured on PLUS exhibited a migration speed approximately twice as fast as those on conventional surfaces. Furthermore, in a damaged tissue model, the cells demonstrated outstanding regenerative performance, repairing more than half of the damage within a single week. This proves that PLUS activates the cytoskeletal activity of stem cells, thereby boosting their practical tissue regeneration capabilities. The newly developed PLUS culture platform is evaluated as a technology that will significantly enhance the safety, mass production, and clinical feasibility of ISCs derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). By elucidating the mechanism that simultaneously strengthens the survival, migration, and regeneration of stem cells in a xenogeneic-free environment, the team has established a foundation to fundamentally resolve safety, regulatory, and productivity issues in stem cell therapy. This research provides a synthetic culture platform that eliminates the dependence on xenogeneic components—which has hindered the clinical application of stem cell therapies—while maximizing the migration and regenerative capacity of stem cells. The research findings were published online on November 26th in Advanced Materials, the leading academic journal in materials science. KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) Tailored Xenogeneic‐Free Polymer Surface Promotes Dynamic Migration of Intestinal Stem Cells. GLP-1 agonists are pivotal in obesity care, promoting weight loss and addressing related health issues, with a focus on personalized, holistic treatment. Guillaume Bentzinger, Luis Carrillo, Philippe Robin, and Alejandro Bara-Estaún Discover how AI, flow chemistry, and NMR come together in the PiPAC project to revolutionize scalable and autonomous API production. News-Medical.Net provides this medical information service in accordance with these terms and conditions. Please note that medical information found on this website is designed to support, not to replace the relationship between patient and physician/doctor and the medical advice they may provide. Hi, I'm Azthena, you can trust me to find commercial scientific answers from News-Medical.net. Registered members can chat with Azthena, request quotations, download pdf's, brochures and subscribe to our related newsletter content. A few things you need to know before we start. While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles. Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.