Scientists explore the source of well-being and happiness
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2284963
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2021-04-12
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Serotonin, dopamine and endorphins are the three most important substances for human happiness. Among them, Serotonin, or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), is a messenger molecule that produces a sense of well-being and happiness and is therefore also known as the “happy hormone”. Fluctuations in its level are often associated with emotional changes. For example, 5-HT deficiency can lead to depression. However, the biological mechanism as to how 5-HT generates a sense of well-being has yet to be dec...
Hollow AgAu-DTTC-BSA: a promising imaging assisted photothermal agent
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2021-04-02
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Surgical resection is currently the primary treatment option for most malignant tumors. However, it remains to be a formidable challenge to remove tumor lesions in a precise and thorough manner. Recurrent abdominal malignancies, such as colon and ovarian cancers, are highly invasive and metastatic, and can migrate to surrounding tissues and critical organs in an immersive way. For this reason, imaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ar...
ZJU scientists discover a new neural circuit of prosocial behavior
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/english/2021/0330/c65147a2272782/page.psp
2021-03-17
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We live in a highly socialized world with immense mental pressure. Prosocial behavior accounts for a large amount of our daily life and is fundamental to our physical and mental health. However, social disorder is a commonly symptom observed in various neurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders, while placing a heavy burden on the families and society of patients. Therefore, it is urgent to decipher the neural mechanisms underlying prosocial behavior in terms of both .T...
New targets for asthma inflammation treatment
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/english/2021/0330/c65147a2272707/page.psp
2021-03-14
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As one of the most common chronic diseases, there are nearly 400 million asthma patients worldwide, and more than 60 million asthma patients in China. In this concern, prevention and treatment of asthma is in the spotlight of public health and medical care issues. More than half of asthma patients are caused by type 2 immune response dominated by allergic-induced TH2 cells. Many immune cell components including eosinophils play important roles in allergic inflammation. The main pathological feat...
ZJU scientists reveal novel mechanisms of herpes simplex virus 1 latency
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2021-03-12
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HSV-1 is an infectious pathogen that widely infects humans. Normally, it exists in the human body in a latent state., When it becomes active, it may cause many diseases such as cold sores, herpetic keratitis, neonatal herpes and encephalitis. An important feature of HSV-1 is that after infection of peripheral tissues, it enters neurons to undergo latent infection, thereby evading host immunity. When the host is immunocompromised or under stress, the latent virus reactivates to undergo recurrent ...
New targets of anti-tuberculosis medicine
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2272465
/english/2021/0329/c65147a2272465/page.psp
2021-03-11
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Tuberculosis (TB) is a pulmonary infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium (Mtb). According to the latest WHO report, there were more than 10 million new cases and 1.2 million deaths worldwide in 2019. China is a country with a high burden of TB. Effective prevention and control of TB in early stage is of great importance. However, current TB diagnosis methods and efficiency of medicine effects are far from satisfactoryThe research team led by LI Jicheng from the Zhejiang University School...
Raman imaging technique in intraoperative assessment and photothermal ablation of tumor margins
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/english/2021/0302/c65147a2254002/page.psp
2021-03-01
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Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) imaging technique is marked by its superb sensitivity, minimal background interference, and minimal damage to normal tissues for biomedical application. Moreover, the Raman probe has the advantages of high specificity and ultra-low signal interference, thus showing immense promise in the biomedical field. Due to its special application context, most of current researches are primarily focused on in vitro cancer diagnosis, which is confined to the diagnosi...
Scientists discover the story behind the substrate-specific recognition of IKKs
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2021-02-26
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The nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), a protein complex that regulates gene transcription, is widely present in eukaryotic cells. It can specifically bind to promoters or enhancers to promote the transcription and expression of multiple genes. The NF-κB signaling pathway is closely bound up with the immune response and critical pathophysiological processes such as cell proliferation, transformation, and apoptosis. The classic NF-κB pathway is dominated by the role of IKKβ, which phosphorylates Iκ...
ZJU scientists develop macromolecular drug for cancer therapy via extracellular calcification
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2021-02-25
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Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality. Chemotherapy is still the most commonly used treatment for cancer patients. It typically relies on drug endocytosis and inhibits tumor cell proliferation via intracellular pathways. However, most chemotherapy drugs damage normal cells since they work by affecting the physiological processes of cell proliferation. The side effects of systemic chemotherapy used to treat cancer are often severe and may damage the tumor‐bearing host, especially the i...
ZJU scientists discover new mechanism of HBV-ACLF
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/english/2021/0224/c65147a2251541/page.psp
2021-02-24
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Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) develops in patients with chronic liver diseases, regardless of the presence of cirrhosis and represents the common final pathway leading to death. The short-term mortality rate amounts to 50-90% due to the fact that the cause of hepatocyte injury and the pathway involved in ACLF progression remain elusive. The chronic liver failure (CLIF) Consortium Acute-On-Chronic Liver Failure in Cirrhosis (CANONIC) study indicated that an intense systemic inflammatory r...