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Residual nonvisible bladder cancer after proper treatment caused by technological and therapeutic limitations is responsible for tumor relapse and progression. This study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility of a solution for simultaneous detection and treatment of bladder cancer lesions smaller than one millimeter. The α5β1 integrin was identified as a specific marker in 81% of human high-grade nonmuscle invasive bladder cancers and used as a target for the delivery of targeted gold nanorods (GNRs). In a preclinical model of orthotopic bladder cancer expressing the α5β1 integrin, the photoacoustic imaging of targeted GNRs visualized lesions smaller than one millimeter, and their irradiation with continuous laser was used to induce GNR-assisted hyperthermia. Necrosis of the tumor mass, improved survival, and computational modeling were applied to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of this solution. Our study highlights the potential of the GNR-assisted theranostic strategy as a complementary solution in clinical practice to reduce the risk of nonvisible residual bladder cancer after current treatment. Further validation through clinical studies will support the findings of the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonia borane (AB) is a promising candidate as a hydrogen reservoir in terms of both dihydrogen storage and hydrogen source for transfer hydrogenation (TH) to unsaturated organic substrates. Ultrasmall Ni nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized by metal vapor synthesis (MVS) and supported on a selected covalent triazine framework (CTFPh). The physical and chemical properties of the Ni/CTFPh nanocomposite have been thoroughly investigated. Despite the high Ni loading (10 wt %), the material exhibits well-dispersed ultrasmall Ni nanoparticles (2.2 nm), unveiling the non-innocent role of the N-doped templating carrier toward NPs dispersion and stabilization. The Ni/CTFPh has shown excellent catalytic performance in the AB hydrolysis and AB transfer hydrogenation (AB-TH) for the conversion of a variety of nitroarenes, including halogen-substituted ones, into the corresponding anilines. As for the latter process, Ni/CTFPh has unveiled a remarkable catalytic efficiency, durability, and reusability under both batch and continuous-flow operative conditions. Noteworthily, whatever the catalytic process at work, Ni/CTFPh certainly ranks or even outperforms most Ni-based systems of the state-of-the-art, including its Ni/VXC analogue (Ni 10 wt % prepared by MVS technique) synthesized using a plain and undoped carbon support (i.e., Vulcan XC-72R). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The negative impact of liquid phase interferences of transition metals has plagued chemical vapor generation with tetrahydridoborate since its introduction, which was more than fifty years ago. Herein, the interference from selected transition metal ions in the generation of SbH3 and BiH3 was investigated using the hydrolysis products of NaBH4-hydridoboron intermediates (BH)-as derivatization reagents instead of NaBH4. The BH intermediates were simply generated on-line in a pre-hydrolysis coil of the instrumental set-up. Compared to NaBH4, the use of BH intermediates allowed for significantly improved tolerance to the interference of Ni(II), Co(II), and Cu(II) (tolerance limit of ≥100 mg L−1) for Bi and Sb determination in the absence of any masking agents and in a wide range of acidity. Their applicability to real complex samples was successfully demonstrated by the determination of Sb and Bi in steel and copper standard reference materials. Beyond the analytical application, this work aims to play a part in the comprehension of borohydride chemical behaviour, which is still not completely understood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saliva is an easily sampled matrix containing a variety of biochemical information, which can be correlated with the individual health status. The fast, straightforward analysis of saliva by vibrational (ATR-FTIR and Raman) spectroscopy is a good premise for large-scale preclinical studies to aid translation into clinics. In this work, the effects of saliva collection (spitting/swab) and processing (two different deproteinization procedures) were explored by principal component analysis (PCA) of ATR-FTIR and Raman data and by investigating the effects on the main saliva metabolites by reversed-phase chromatography (RPC-HPLC-DAD). Our results show that, depending on the bioanalytical information needed, special care must be taken when saliva is collected with swabs because the polymeric material significantly interacts with some saliva components. Moreover, the analysis of saliva before and after deproteinization by FTIR and Raman spectroscopy allows to obtain complementary biological information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aqueous phase reaction of trialkyloxonium tetrafluoroborates, [R.sub.3][O.sup.+]B[F.sub.4.sup.-] (R=Me, Et) has been tested in the alkylation of simple inorganic anionic substrates such as halogen ions, cyanide, thiocyanate, sulphide and several oxoanions or their corresponding oxoacids. Gaseous products were separated and identified by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Alkylated derivatives RI, RBr, RCl were obtained for iodide, bromide, and chloride, respectively, while for fluoride its conversion efficiency to RF is very poor. RCN and [R.sub.2]S were obtained for cyanide and sulphide, while thiocyanate gives RSCN as a main reaction product with a minor amount of alkylisothiocyanate, RNCS (

The complex reactivity of the system As-AH-RSH-THB (As = As(III), As(V); AH = HC1, HCIO4, [CH.sub.3]COOH; RSH = L-cysteine (Cys); THB = Na[BH.sup.4])was investigated using continuous flow (CF) hydride generation (HG) coupled either with atomic absorption (AAS) or atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS). As[H.sup.3] generation was examined in the presence of Cys by varying acidity and the type of acid, the mixing sequence, and the reaction time of reagents. The strong depression of arsane generation, which is typically observed in the range of acidity of 0.2-2 M HCI, can be addressed to the low reaction rate of thiolborane, hydroboron complexes, or both toward those As(III) substrates that are formed in the same reaction environment. The simultaneous presence of Cys-borane and As(III)-Cys species is at the origin of the gap of the arsane generation efficiency in the 0.2-2 M HCI acidity range. The selective formation of Cys-borane complexes, which are formed faster than As(III)-thiol complexes, can be achieved by a careful choice of the mixing sequence of the reagents. The simultaneous mixing of sample, Cys, and THB is able to reduce substantially the gap of the arsane generation efficiency in the 0.2-2 M HC1 acidity range. These properties were employed to implement a simple method for selective determination of As(III) in samples containing inorganic arsenic: (i) Total inorganic arsenic is determined by sample treatment with 0.2 M Cys for 30 min, acidity 0.1 M HC1, followed by CF-HGAFS; (ii) As(III) is selectively determined in 0.005 M [CH.sub.3]COOH in the presence of Cys using a chemifold setup allowing the simultaneous mixing of sample, 0.2 M Cys and 0.1 M THB. The selectivity, measured from the ratio between the slopes of calibration graphs As(III)/As(V), is 220. The interference effects of Cu(II), Fe(III), Ni(II), Co(II), Ag(I), Pd(II), and Pt(1V) can be kept under control using the simultaneous mixing of all the reagents. The tolerance toward the interferences was almost the same as that obtained by allowing the formation of As(III)-Cys complexes (offline sample pretreatment with Cys for 30 min). The method was tested with the application to the natural waters and mineral well waters analysis employing CF-HG-AFS.