In recent years, the use of various physical therapy interventions for treating heel pain and plantar fasciitis has attracted increasing attention. However, current reviews related to physical therapy for plantar fasciitis have mainly focused on the general population. These reviews are without consideration of the return-to-sport needs of athletic populations, and there remains a lack of systematic review and comprehensive discussion for addressing plantar fasciitis in athletic populations. This review searched databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane to compare the biomechanical mechanisms of heel pain and plantar fasciitis between athletic and general populations, and to summarize and evaluate clinical studies on various physical therapy interventions (such as extracorporeal shock wave therapy, dry needling, and resistance training combined with stretching) for treating heel pain and plantar fasciitis in athletic populations. The review highlights the short- and long-term effectiveness of extracorporeal shock wave therapy in relieving pain and improving the biomechanical characters of the plantar fascia in athletic populations. Nevertheless, the findings also showed that although clinical studies have demonstrated significant therapeutic effects of resistance training, stretching, and dry needling for plantar fasciitis in athletic populations, the evidence level remains low due to limitations in sample size, intervention design and study methodology. Future research should continue to investigate the biomechanical specificity of plantar fasciitis in athletic populations. Clinical studies should include larger sample sizes, conduct research across different types of sports populations, employ combined physical therapy interventions, and apply long-term follow-up assessments.

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Phosphorus is a key limiting nutrient triggering aquatic eutrophication, and duckweed with simple structure and sensitive phenotypic changes is an ideal model to explore plant phosphorus adaptive responses. This paper focuses on the morphological plasticity of duckweed exposed to low, moderate and high phosphate gradients and constructs a multi-index evaluation system for its growth status. Low phosphate restrains duckweed cell division and chlorophyll synthesis, leading to shrunken pale fronds and elongated roots for nutrient capture. Moderate phosphate supports balanced frond proliferation, stable root development and continuous biomass accumulation to form optimal growth state. High phosphate brings short-term rapid propagation but induces intraspecific competition and long-term aquatic ecological risks. Single frond counting generates biased analysis, while joint assessment of frond area, leaf color, root length and dry weight can accurately judge phosphorus stress. This study provides theoretical support for applying duckweed as bio-indicator and ecological remediation material in phosphorus-polluted water bodies.

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Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), as a benchmark platform for non-viral vectors, have become a core technology for the delivery of nucleic acid drugs (mRNA, siRNA) and gene editing tools, owing to their excellent biocompatibility, structural designability, and broad payload compatibility. Their development spans over six decades, progressing from early liposomes to innovations in ionizable lipids and further to multifunctional targeted LNPs, gradually establishing a comprehensive technological system encompassing structural design, preparation techniques, functional regulation, and clinical translation. This article systematically reviews the component design, structural engineering, preparation technologies, clinical applications, and future development directions of LNPs, aiming to provide theoretical support and practical guidance for vector development in the era of precision medicine.

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As the proportion of people in their mid-to-late years increases around the world, so too does the prevalence of multiple long-term illnesses associated with menopause, many of which involve changes in the immune system. Bulk RNA sequencing averages expression in heterogeneous cell populations and thus cannot identify which cells are changing or where those changes occur. Collectively, single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics have provided two major examples of menopausal changes, ovarian aging and atherosclerosis, showing that the immune remodeling during menopause is not a general increase in inflammation but a spatially organized process characterised by cell state, anatomical location and a local microenvironment. In the aging ovary, pyroptotic macrophages and senescent granulosa and stromal cells establish a self-reinforcing pro-inflammatory niche, while immunoglobulin-expressing cells accumulate at the ovarian periphery. In atherosclerotic plaques, activated T cells accompany macrophages that concentrate around the necrotic core, and immune recruitment localizes to discrete vascular microregions such as the vasa vasorum. Comparing the two settings shows that shared mechanisms, including cytokine and chemokine elevation, produce tissue-specific outcomes. Recognizing this spatial organization helps explain why lesion location, rather than inflammatory magnitude alone, may govern the severity of atherosclerotic disease, and identifies spatially defined immune niches as candidate targets for intervention.

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