Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer threatening women’s health globally, and high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection is the main cause of cervical cancer worldwide. Given the recurrent nature of HR-HPV infection, accurate screening is essential for its control. Since the commonly used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique is limited by professional equipment and personnel, convenient and ultrasensitive detection methods for HR-HPV are still highly needed. As new molecular detection methods, nucleic acid amplification-based biosensors have the advantages of high sensitivity, rapid operation, and portability, which are helpful for point-of-care testing in rural and remote areas. This review summarized nucleic acid biosensors for HR-HPV screening based on a variety of nucleic acid amplification strategies involved in improved PCR, loop-mediated isothermal amplification, recombinase polymerase amplification, hybridization chain reaction, catalyzed hairpin assembly, and CRISPR/Cas systems. In combination with microfluidic technology, lateral flow assays, electrochemical analysis and other sensing technologies, HR-HPV nucleic acid biosensors have the advantages of high throughput, short response time, high sensitivity and easy operation in the field. Although there are still shortcomings, such as high cost and poor reproducibility, this approach will be suitable for on-site screening of HR-HPV infection or cervical cancer and for auxiliary clinical diagnosis in complex environments and poor areas in the future.

Background: Insomnia, the most prevalent sleep disorder, is clinically defined as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep. Although many medications are effective for insomnia treatment, they carry risks of drug dependence and abuse. The microbiota-gut-brain axis (MGBA) facilitates bidirectional signaling between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system via gut microbes. Probiotics that provide mental and behavioral benefits through MGBA (psychobiotics) offer broad therapeutic potential. Methods: A non-toxic, drug-resistant strain of Lactobacillus reuteri E9 was isolated and characterized. Its effects were evaluated in a pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced zebrafish model of sleep disorder. Neurotransmitter levels (glycine, serine, taurine, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)) and gene expression of GABA/melatonin receptors were analyzed. Results: E9 significantly upregulated inhibitory neurotransmitters, including GABA, taurine, glycine, and serine (p < 0.05). In PTZ-induced zebrafish, E9 exerted sedative effects by reducing seizures and hyperactivity. Concurrently, E9 upregulated the expression of GABA receptor genes and melatonin receptor (Mtnr1aa) genes in zebrafish neural tissue. Conclusions: Lactobacillus reuteri E9 demonstrates potential as a psychobiotic for sleep disorder management by modulating key inhibitory neurotransmitters and sleep-related receptor expression via the MGBA pathway, offering a non-pharmacological alternative to conventional treatments.

Background: Heart failure (HF) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although dapagliflozin, a selective sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, has demonstrated significant cardiovascular benefits in large clinical trials, the underlying mechanisms beyond glucose lowering remain incompletely understood. Increasing evidence suggests that gut microbiota and its metabolites may contribute to HF progression through gut–heart axis interactions. Methods: In this study, a total of 135 individuals with HF were recruited, comprising 84 patients treated with dapagliflozin (Y group) and 51 receiving conventional therapy (N group). Gut microbial communities were characterized through 16S rRNA gene sequencing to evaluate compositional structure, diversity metrics, and taxa differences between groups. Untargeted metabolomic profiling of plasma samples was conducted to identify significantly altered metabolites and enriched metabolic pathways. Furthermore, the interrelationships between gut bacterial taxa and circulating metabolites were systematically explored to delineate potential microbiome–metabolome interactions. Results: Dapagliflozin treatment significantly altered gut microbial composition (p < 0.05, permutational multivariate analysis of variance [PERMANOVA]), characterized by increased Prevotella, Akkermansia, Collinsella, and Fusobacterium, and reduced Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, Subdoligranulum, and Bifidobacterium in the dapagliflozin group, whereas control-enriched taxa included Lachnoclostridium and the Ruminococcus gauvreauii group. Fourteen plasma metabolites were differentially abundant between groups, including higher levels of O-phospho-L-threonine and epiandrosterone in the dapagliflozin group, while salicyluric acid and L- (+)-rhamnose were enriched in the control group. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis indicated alterations in amino acid and one-carbon metabolism, as well as carbohydrate and steroid-related pathways. Correlation analysis revealed that Collinsella was positively associated with fludarabine phosphate (p < 0.05), whereas Akkermansia and Paraprevotella showed negative correlations with maslinic acid and phospho-L-valine, respectively (p < 0.01 to p < 0.001). Conclusion: Dapagliflozin modulates gut microbiota composition and circulating metabolic signatures in HF patients, supporting a potential gut–heart axis mechanism contributing to its cardioprotective effects.

The CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) system has emerged as a revolutionary gene-editing tool with immense potential in gene therapy, functional genomics, and beyond. However, achieving precise spatiotemporal control of gene editing in specific cells and tissues while effectively mitigating potential risks, such as off-target effects, remains a key challenge for its clinical translation. To overcome these limitations, researchers have developed innovative strategies based on chemical modifications of oligonucleotides to enhance the precision, efficiency, and controllability of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing. By introducing conditional responsive elements, such as photosensitive groups, small-molecule responsive units, and supramolecular structures, they have successfully achieved precise spatiotemporal and dose-dependent regulation of CRISPR/Cas9 function. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in gRNA regulation strategies based on chemical modifications of oligonucleotides, discussing their applications in improving the efficiency, specificity, and controllability of CRISPR/Cas9 editing. We also highlight the challenges associated with the conditional control of gRNA and offer insights into future directions for the chemical regulation of gRNA to further advance CRISPR/Cas9 technology.