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Light-sheet fluorescent microscopy has become the leading technique for in vivo imaging in the fields of disease, medicine, and cell biology research. However, designing proper illumination for high image resolution and optical sectioning is challenging. Another issue is geometric constraints arising from the multiple bulky components for illumination and detection. Here, we demonstrate that those issues can be well addressed by integrating nanophotonic meta-lens as the illumination component for LSFM. The meta-lens is composed of 800-nm-thick GaN nanostructures and is designed for a light-sheet well-adapted to biological specimens such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). With the meta-lens, the complexity of the LSFM system is significantly reduced, and it is capable of performing multicolor fluorescent imaging of live C. elegans with cellular resolution. Considering the miniature size and plane geometry of the meta-lens, our system enables a new design for LSFM to acquire in vivo images of biological specimens with high resolution.

The PI3K signaling pathway plays an essential role in cancer cell proliferation and survival. PI3K pathway inhibitors are now FDA-approved as a single agent treatment or in combination for solid tumors such as renal cell carcinoma or breast cancer. However, despite the high prevalence of PI3K pathway alterations in gynecological cancers and promising preclinical activity in endometrial and ovarian cancer models, PI3K pathway inhibitors showed limited clinical activity in gynecological cancers. In this review, we provide an overview on resistance mechanisms against PI3K pathway inhibitors that limit their use in gynecological malignancies, including genetic alterations that reactivate the PI3K pathway such as PIK3CA mutations and PTEN loss, compensatory signaling pathway activation, and feedback loops causing the reactivation of the PI3K signaling pathway. We also discuss the successes and limitations of recent clinical trials aiming to address such resistance mechanisms through combination therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To explore the factors related to hospital‐to‐home transitional self‐monitoring blood glucose behaviour among patients with diabetes‐related foot ulcer. Background: The 30‐day readmission rate of patients with diabetes‐related foot ulcer can be reduced when good glycaemic control is achieved. The practice of self‐monitoring blood glucose promotes optimal glycaemic control. Design A comparative descriptive study. Methods: In this study, 200 participants, who had been hospitalized due to diabetes‐related foot ulcer, were recruited from August 2017 to July 2018. Before participants were discharged from the hospital, psychosocial factors (family support, threat belief, self‐efficacy and knowledge) and pre‐hospitalization self‐monitoring blood glucose behaviour were collected using a structured questionnaire. Then, after discharge, self‐monitoring blood glucose behaviour delivery was collected again. Results: Five variables explained 47% of the variance in the delivery of self‐monitoring of blood glucose at home. The delivery of hospital‐to‐home transitional self‐monitoring blood glucose behaviour was more likely for individuals with higher pre‐discharge self‐efficacy, higher post‐discharge self‐efficacy, more attention to pre‐hospitalization glycaemic status and post‐discharge insulin usage and those without an insensitive foot. Conclusion: Self‐monitoring blood‐glucose behaviour should be promoted among post‐discharge patients with diabetes‐related foot ulcer. The modifiable factors identified in this study can be integrated into the discharge plan. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Patients with diabetes‐related foot ulcer have higher 30‐day readmission rates than the general inpatient population. Such readmissions can be prevented when good glycaemic control is achieved.As a centrepiece of diabetes self‐management, self‐monitoring blood glucose practice promotes optimal glycaemic control.Although there have been several survey studies of self‐monitoring blood glucose practice among patients with diabetes, to our knowledge, no study has used longitudinal data to explore the self‐monitoring of blood glucose behaviour. In addition, no study has explored hospital‐to‐home transitional self‐monitoring of blood glucose among patients with diabetes. What this paper adds? After participants were discharged from the hospital, approximately one‐fourth did not perform self‐monitoring of blood glucose at home.The delivery of hospital‐to‐home transitional self‐monitoring blood glucose practice was more likely for individuals with higher pre‐discharge self‐efficacy, higher post‐discharge self‐efficacy, more attention to pre‐hospitalization glycaemic status and post‐discharge insulin usage as well as for those without an insensitive foot.Self‐efficacy of self‐monitoring of blood glucose is the most powerful predictor of hospital‐to‐home transitional self‐monitoring blood‐glucose practice. The implications of this paper: For patients with less attention paid to their glycaemic status previously and with impaired foot sensation, an intensive discharge plan should be provided to promote their self‐monitoring blood‐glucose practice.To promote self‐monitoring blood‐glucose practice, strategies to improve self‐efficacy related to self‐monitoring of blood glucose should be integrated into the discharge plan and subsequent follow‐up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the methodologies available to dissect genetic regulation of the nervous systems in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. These techniques encompass genetic screens and genetic tools to unravel the spatial-temporal contribution of genes on neural structure and function. Unbiased genetic screens on random mutations induced by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) or target gene silencing by genome-wide RNA interference (RNAi) help progress our understanding of the genetic control of neural development and functions. Complement to unbiased genetic approaches, gene- and protein-targeted manipulation by Cre/LoxP recombination system and auxin-inducible degron (AID) protein degradation system, respectively, helps identify tissues/cells and the time window critical for gene and protein function during the proper execution of a particular behavior. Considering the remarkable conservation of genetic pathways between C. elegans and mammalian systems, elucidating the genetic underpinnings of neural functions and learning behaviors in C. elegans may furnish invaluable insights into analogous processes in more complex organisms. As shown in the following chapter, leveraging these diverse methodologies enable researchers to elucidate the intricate network governing neural function and structure, laying the foundation for innovating strategies to ameliorate cognitive alterations., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Behavioral plasticity is subjected to various sensory stimuli, experiences, and physiological states, representing the temporal and spatial patterns of neural circuit dynamics. Elucidation of how genes and neural circuits in our brain actuate behavioral plasticity requires functional imaging during behavioral assays to manifest temporal and spatial neural regulation in behaviors. The exploration of the nervous systems of Caenorhabditis elegans has catalyzed substantial scientific advancements in elucidating the mechanistic link between circuit dynamics and behavioral plasticity. The analyses of the nervous system of C. elegans have technologically flourished owing to the development of optogenetic instruments and fluorescent protein-based imaging compatible with its optically transparent body and the understanding of its completely revealed neural connectome and gene expression profiles at single-neuron resolution (The C. elegans Neuronal Gene Expression Map & Network, CeNGEN project). Using examples of the two temperature learning behaviors in C. elegans, this chapter delves into a selection of pivotal imaging tools, including genetically encoded calcium indicators, biosensors for second messenger imaging, and their usage in freely moving worms that have propelled our grasp of sensory representation in C. elegans neural circuits. To further connect the circuit dynamics to behavioral plasticity, this chapter will focus on technological advancements enabling simultaneous imaging and tracking system together with methodologies to quantify multiple behavioral elements of freely behaving C. elegans in a dynamic environment., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)