Tracking targeted drug delivery is often a challenge due to limitations in the current imaging techniques. A recent study by Tokyo’s Waseda University reports a breakthrough imaging technique that allows direct and highly sensitive tracking of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) inside the body. This novel technique, which uses neutron activation of gold, could revolutionize cancer drug delivery by enabling real-time visualization of the gold nanoparticles without external tracers.

Challenging the long-standing belief that fibroblasts produce skin collagen, researchers at Okayama University have investigated collagen formation in the ‘glass-skinned’ amphibian axolotl and other vertebrates. They discovered that keratinocytes, the surface cells of the skin, are responsible for producing collagen, which is then transferred deeper to form the dermis. Later, fibroblasts migrate into this collagen layer, modifying and reinforcing its structure.

Thymic carcinoma, a rare cancer, is often associated with poor prognosis in advanced or recurrent stages. However, its rarity has delayed the development of novel pharmacotherapy. Now, researchers from Japan have evaluated the efficacy and safety of atezolizumab plus carboplatin and paclitaxel in patients with advanced or recurrent thymic carcinoma. The findings revealed that this combination exhibited a manageable safety profile and may redefine treatment strategies, offering new hope for patients with recurrent thymic cancer.

Nagoya University, Columbia University and Harvard University have made an important discovery about the relationship between hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and immune response evasion. Their findings show how certain HSCs have regulatory functions that help control the immune response, preventing excessive or harmful immune activity. This insight could be the key to developing new treatments for immune-related conditions and improving tissue regeneration techniques.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led team analyzed the historical evolution of the bureaucracy from an economic perspective and came up with surprising results about nation-building and democratization.

Kyoto, Japan -- We're all familiar with Pavlovian conditioning, in which a reward-anticipatory behavior follows a reward-predicting stimulus. Perhaps you experience it yourself when passing a café or restaurant and catching a whiff of something delectable.

Behind this mechanism is dopamine released within the striatum, the largest structure of the subcortical basal ganglia, which links motor movements and motivation. Yet it has remained unclear exactly what kind of dopamine signal is transmitted to the striatum to cause this behavior in primates.

In order to understand this dopamine signal, a team of researchers from Kyoto University and Cambridge University developed a new method of monitoring dopamine, utilizing a fluorescent dopamine sensor.

Kyoto, Japan -- As a child, did it ever occur to you that your perception of color differed from that of others? It's quite common to have this thought, but it turns out that the human color experience may be more universal than we previously believed.

In psychology and neuroscience, the relationship between subjective experience, such as how we perceive color, and physical brain activity has remained an unresolved problem. Furthermore, due to their limited language abilities, studying conscious experiences in children has posed a particular challenge.

This inspired a team of researchers at Kyoto University to establish a methodology for evaluating conscious experiences, or qualia, in young children. Focusing on their experience with color, the team developed a touch panel interface that requires only minimal language skills, making it accessible for children as young as 3 years old.