Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which are a unique class of hybrid porous materials built from metal ions and organic linkers, have attracted significant research interest in recent years. Compared with conventional porous materials, MOFs exhibit a variety of advantages, including a large surface area, a tunable pore size and shape, an adjustable composition and structure, biodegradability, and versatile functionalities, which enable MOFs to perform as promising platforms for drug delivery, molecular imaging, and theranostic applications. In this article, the recent research progress related to nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (NMOFs) is summarized with a focus on synthesis strategies and drug delivery, molecular imaging, and theranostic applications. The future challenges and opportunities of NMOFs are also discussed in the context of translational medical research. More effort is warranted to develop clinically translatable NMOFs for various applications in nanomedicine.

Study Objectives: To explore the regional brain activities in patients with chronic primary insomnia (PCPIs) and their sex differences. Methods: Forty-two PCPIs (27 females, 15 males) and 42 good sleepers (GSs; 24 females, 18 males) were recruited. Six PCPIs (3 males, 3 females) were scanned twice by MRI to examine the test-retest reliability. Amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) method was used to assess the local brain features. The mean signal values of the different ALFF areas were analyzed with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Simple linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between clinical features and different brain areas. Results: Both female and male PCPIs showed higher ALFF in the temporal lobe and occipital lobe, especially in female PCPIs. Female PCPIs had lower ALFF in the bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and bilateral limbic lobe; however, male PCPIs showed lower ALFF in the left occipital gyrus. The mean signal value of the cerebellum in female PCPIs showed negative correlations with negative emotions. Compared with male PCPIs, female PCPIs showed higher ALFF in the bilateral middle temporal gyrus and lower ALFF in the left limbic lobe. The different areas showed high testretest stability (Clusters of contiguous volumes ≥ 1080 mm 3 with an intraclass correlation coefficient ≥ 0.80) and high degree of sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions: Female PCPIs showed more regional brain differences with higher and lower ALFF responses than male PCPIs. However, they shared analogous excessive hyperarousal mechanism and wide variations in aberrant brain areas. I NTRO DUCTI O NPatients with chronic primary insomnia (PCPIs), who underwent the subjective experience of chronically disturbed sleep, sleep loss, non-refreshing sleep, and heightened arousal in bed with impaired quality of life, showed a decreased ability to disengage from external information processing at sleep onset.1-3 Occasional episodes of insomnia symptoms are reported in half of all adults, while chronic insomnia is prevalent in 10-15% of the adult population. 4 In spite of a recent increase in neuroimaging research into PCPIs, it has not gleaned a consistent conclusion about its neuropathology after reviewing the neuroimaging studies of primary insomnia, especially with regard to the structural studies of brain alterations. 5 The results of structural studies are either contradictory or required replication. Altena et al. found that PCPIs had a smaller volume of reduced gray matter in the precuneus and left orbitofrontal cortex which strongly correlated with the subjective severity of insomnia, but increased gray matter volume was not found. 6 Joo et al. demonstrated significantly reduced gray matter concentrations in the dorsolateral prefrontal and pericentral cortices, superior temporal gyrus, and cerebellum, and decreased gray matter volumes in the medial frontal lobe and middle temporal lobe in PCPIs compared with good sleepers (GSs), ...

No abstract