Photosensitization reactions for the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) play crucial roles in many applications, including energy conversion, organic waste decomposition, and photodynamic therapy (PDT). Using near-infrared (NIR) light for photosensitization is attractive because NIR excitation offers deeper penetration through various media such as wastewater and biological tissues. However, conventional approaches for NIR photosensitization are hampered by low conversion efficiency and...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia. It is a progressive disease beginning with mild memory loss and possibly leading to loss of the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to the environment. It involves parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language and can seriously affect a person’s ability to carry out daily activities. AD has become an increasingly severe public health and social problem. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, one patien...

When we are provoked or threatened, anger often arises and it is even accompanied by certain aggressive behaviors. In the biological chain, stalking and hunting are quite common in the natural world. Aggression is a core strategy in the law of survival of the fittest. Most animals have evolved specific neural circuits to regulate aggressive behavior. Then how do brain circuits manage anger and govern aggression?The armed forces in the brainThe research team led by academician DUAN Shumin an...

The research team led by Prof. PING Yuan from the Zhejiang University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences published their study in the journal Science Advances. They developed a dissolvable microneedle (MN) patch that can mediate transdermal co-delivery of CRISPR-Cas9–based genome-editing agents and glucocorticoids for the effective treatment of inflammatory skin disorders (ISDs).ISDs represent one of the most persistent diseases that are generally characterized by the activation o...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...