Search

Background: It is extremely essential to accurately differentiate pheochromocytoma from Adrenal incidentalomas (AIs) before operation, especially biochemical tests were inconclusive. We aimed to evaluate the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features to differentiate pheochromocytomas among adrenal tumors, among which the consequences of biochemical screening tests of catecholamines and/or catecholamine metabolites are positive. Methods: With institutional review board approval, this study retrospectively compared 35 pheochromocytoma (PHEO) patients with 27 non-pheochromocytoma(non-PHEO) patients between January 2022 to September 2023, among which the consequences of biochemical screening tests of catecholamines and/or catecholamine metabolites are positive. T test was used for the independent continuous data and the chi-square test was used for categorical variables. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were applied to find the independent variate of the features to differentiate PHEO from non-PHEO and ROC analysis was applied to evaluate the diagnostic value of the independent variate. Results: We found that the T2-weighted (T2W) signal intensity in patients with pheochromocytoma was higher than other adrenal tumors, with greatly significant (p < 0.001). T2W signal intensity ratio (T2W nodule-to-muscle SI ratio) was an independent risk factor for the differential diagnosis of adrenal PHEOs from non-PHEOs. This feature alone had 91.4% sensitivity and 81.5% specificity to rule out pheochromocytoma based on optimal threshold, with an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC‑ROC) of 0.910(95% C I: 0.833–0.987). Conclusion: Our study confirms that T2W signal intensity ratio can differentiate PHEO from non-PHEO, among which the consequences of biochemical screening tests of catecholamines and/or catecholamine metabolites are positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In this study, we explored the diagnostic performances of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI), 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and combination of 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and mpMRI (mpMRI + PET/CT) for extracapsular extension (ECE). Based on the analyses above, we tested the feasibility of using mpMRI + PET/CT results to predict T staging in prostate cancer patients. Methods: By enrolling 75 patients of prostate cancer with mpMRI and 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT before radical prostatectomy, we analyzed the detection performances of ECE in mpMRI, 68 Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and mpMRI + PET/CT on their lesion images matched with their pathological sample images layer by layer through receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis. By inputting the lesion data into Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS), we divided the lesions into different PI-RADS scores. The improvement of detecting ECE was analyzed by net reclassification improvement (NRI). The predictors for T staging were evaluated by using univariate and multivariable analysis. The Kappa test was used to evaluate the prediction ability. Results: One hundred three regions of lesion were identified from 75 patients. 50 of 103 regions were positive for ECE. The ECE diagnosis AUC of mpMRI + PET/CT is higher than that of mpMRI alone (ΔAUC = 0.101; 95% CI, 0.0148 to 0.1860; p < 0.05, respectively). Compared to mpMRI, mpMRI + PET/CT has a significant improvement in detecting ECE in PI-RADS 4–5 (NRI 36.1%, p < 0.01). The diagnosis power of mpMRI + PET/CT was an independent predictor for T staging (p < 0.001) in logistic regression analysis. In patients with PI-RADS 4–5 lesions, 40 of 46 (87.0%) patients have correct T staging prediction from mpMRI + PET/CT (κ 0.70, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The prediction of T staging in PI-RADS 4–5 prostate cancer patients by mpMRI + PET/CT had a quite good performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ vaccination can elicit systemic antitumor immunity to potentiate immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in poorly immunogenic tumors. Herein, an immunogenic cell death (ICD) inducer for in situ vaccination, which is based on a mitochondria‐targeting modification of fenofibric acid (FFa), a lipid‐lowering drug with potential inhibitory efficacy of respiratory complex I is developed. Mitochondria‐targeting FFa (Mito‐FFa) inhibits complex I efficiently and increases mitochondrial ROS (mtROS) generation, which further triggers endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress with unprecedented calreticulin (CRT) exposure on tumor cellular membranes. Moreover, the generated mtROS also oxidizes mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and promotes it leakage into the cytoplasm for cGAS‐STING‐dependent type I interferon (IFN‐I) secretion. The synchronous CRT exposure and IFN‐I secretion successively improve the uptake of tumor antigens, maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) and cross‐priming of CD8+ T cells. In a poorly immunogenic 4T1 tumor model, a single intratumoral (i.t.) Mito‐FFa injection turns immune‐cold tumors into hot ones and elicits systemic tumor‐specific CD8+ T cells responses against primary and metastatic tumors. Furthermore, the synergistic effect with PD‐L1 blockade and good bio‐safety of i.t. Mito‐FFa administration suggest the great translational potential of Mito‐FFa in tumor immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which clarified the ionization mechanism in low-pressure argon-mercury discharges for mercury lamps. Calculation of ionization rate; Measurement of electron density and electron temperature; Ionization processes and rate formulas.

Measures the Hg[sup+] ion density on the tube axis in the low-pressure argon-mercury discharge lamp under various bath temperatures and discharge currents with a modified absorption method. Radial distribution of the Hg[sup+] ion density; Schematic diagram of the actual discharge tube; Bath temperature dependencies of the Hg[sup+] ground-state ion density.

Presents a study that developed a method for the measurement of the state density of mercury in low-pressure positive-column argon-mercury discharge. Methodology; Examination of the bath temperature dependence of the state density of mercury; Effect of the depletion of mercury on the accuracy of the density measurement.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an emerging effective treatment for cancer. However, the great promise of PDT for bladder cancer therapy has not yet been realized because of tumor hypoxia. To address this challenge, we fabricated O 2 -generating HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs (HSA for human serum albumin, Ce6 for chlorin e6, and NPs for nanoparticles) to overcome tumor hypoxia and thus enhance the photodynamic effect for bladder cancer therapy. Methods: The HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs were prepared. We investigated the O 2 generation of NPs in vitro and in vivo . The orthotopic bladder cancer model in C57BL/6 mice was established for in vivo study, and dual-modal imaging of NPs were demonstrated. Therapeutic efficacy of NPs for bladder cancer was evaluated. Results: HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs had an excellent performance in generating O 2 in vitro upon reaction with H 2 O 2 at endogenous levels. Moreover, 1 O 2 generation was increased two-fold by using HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs instead of HSA-Ce6 NPs in the presence of H 2 O 2 under 660 nm laser irradiation. In vitro cell viability assays showed that HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs themselves were non-toxic but greatly enhanced PDT effects on bladder cancer cells under laser irradiation. In vivo near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging suggested the excellent bladder tumor-targeting property of HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs. O 2 content in orthotopic bladder cancer was increased 3.5-fold after injection of HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs as compared with pre-injection. Given the excellent tumor-targeting ability and negligible toxicity, HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs were then used to treat orthotopic bladder cancer by PDT. The PDT with HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs showed remarkably improved therapeutic efficacy and significantly prolonged lifetime of mice as compared with controls. Conclusion: This study not only demonstrated the great potential of HSA-MnO 2 -Ce6 NPs for bladder cancer photodynamic ablation but also provided a new therapeutic strategy to overcoming tumor hypoxia., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Catalytic nanomaterials with intrinsic enzyme-like activities, called nanozymes, have recently attracted significant research interest due to their unique advantages relative to natural enzymes and conventional artificial enzymes. Among the nanozymes developed, particular interests have been devoted to nanozymes with peroxidase mimicking activities because of their promising applications in biosensing, bioimaging, biomedicine, etc. Till now, lots of functional nanomaterials have been used to mimic peroxidase. However, few studies have focused on the Ni-based nanomaterials for peroxidase mimics. In this work, we obtained the porous LaNiO 3 nanocubes with high peroxidase-like activity by inducing its 3+ oxidation state in LaNiO 3 perovskite and optimizing the morphology of LaNiO 3 perovskite. The peroxidase mimicking activity of the porous LaNiO 3 nanocubes with Ni 3+ was about 58~fold and 22~fold higher than that of NiO with Ni 2+ and Ni nanoparticles with Ni 0 . More, the porous LaNiO 3 nanocubes exhibited about 2-fold higher activity when compared with LaNiO 3 nanoparticles. Based on the superior peroxidase-like activity of porous LaNiO 3 nanocubes, facile colorimetric assays for H 2 O 2 , glucose, and sarcosine detection were developed. Our present work not only demonstrates a useful strategy for modulating nanozymes' activities but also provides promising bioassays for clinical diagnostics., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.