Developing a screening method for 196 doping compounds using dried blood spots (DBS), Tasso, and Volumetric Absorptive Microsampling (VAMS) instead of traditional urine testing has significant societal impacts. This advancement addresses a critical gap in anti-doping measures, where athletes can misuse pharmaceutical drugs as performance enhancers without immediate detection. Effective …

Approximately 2 million Achilles tendon sports-related injuries are diagnosed yearly of which over 250,000 require surgical intervention. During the healing process, after this surgical repair, the formation of scar tissue will dominate over well-aligned collagen fibers found at the native attachment. This scar tissue is weaker than the native tissue …

A significant health concern globally is the widespread lack of vitamin D, especially among individuals struggling with obesity. However, the reasons for this deficiency in obese individuals and the effects of weight loss, particularly through bariatric surgery, are not fully understood. Therefore, our study aims to clarify these matters. We …

1. Summary BACKGROUND: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked neuromuscular disease characterized by progressive muscle wasting and early death. Inflammation, muscle necrosis and fibrosis form the main pathological manifestations, but impaired mitophagy is also linked with DMD. Molecular therapies are entering the clinic, yet are not able to cure …

1. Summary Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a severe X-linked recessive disorder, characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and lowered life expectancy (30-40 years) due to mutations in the DMD gene. Impaired mitophagy has been discovered to be a major contributor to the disease progression, becoming the therapeutic target in …

The prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is rapidly rising in several regions worldwide, fueled by sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy dietary habits, and escalating obesity rates. This condition, characterized by the accumulation of fat in the liver, not only poses significant toll on individual health and well-being but also …

Despite extensive research, standard treatment for Marfan syndrome (MFS) is mainly limited to slowing down thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) progression by administering beta-blockers and/or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). When indicated prophylactic aortic root surgery can be performed to lower the chance of dissection and potentially lethal rupture of the aorta. …

Organoids are a type of 3D tissue culture derived from stem cells, recapitulating the architecture and composition of the tissue of origin. The extracellular matrix (ECM) used to embed and support organoid growth in vitro strongly influences their development. To date, the most used matrix is Matrigel. Matrigel is derived …

Our research focuses on the discovery of small molecules (compounds), which can disrupt the interaction between MEF2C and DNA. When there is an overexpression of MEF2C it causes a challenging form of blood cancer called immature acute leukemia. Previously, targeting transcription factors such as MEF2C seemed impossible because of their …

This study in peptide characterization plays a pivotal role in advancing the accuracy and efficiency of peptide identification. Even though this research is fundamental, each step forward in understanding peptides and proteins brings us closer to practical applications in drug development, biomarker discovery, and new diagnostic tools. The incorporation of …