Evaluation of a polarization-enhanced laparoscopy prototype for improved intra-operative visualization of peritoneal metastases.

Despite careful staging, the accuracy for preoperative detection of small distant metastases remains poor, creating a clinical need for enhanced operative staging to detect occult peritoneal metastases. This study evaluates a polarization-enhanced laparoscopy (PEL) prototype and assesses its potential for label-free contrast enhancement of peritoneal metastases. This is a first-in-human feasibility study, including 10 adult patients who underwent standard staging laparoscopy (SSL) for gastrointestinal malignancy along with PEL.

Label-free, multi-parametric assessments of cell metabolism and matrix remodeling within human and early-stage murine osteoarthritic articular cartilage.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by the progressive deterioration of articular cartilage, involving complicated cell-matrix interactions. Systematic investigations of dynamic cellular and matrix changes during OA progression are lacking. In this study, we use label-free two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) and second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging to assess cellular and extracellular matrix features of murine articular cartilage during several time points at early stages of OA development following destabilization of medial meniscus surgery.

Riboflavin depletion promotes longevity and metabolic hormesis in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Riboflavin is an essential cofactor in many enzymatic processes and in the production of flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). Here, we report that the partial depletion of riboflavin through knockdown of the C. elegans riboflavin transporter 1 (rft-1) promotes metabolic health by reducing intracellular flavin concentrations.

Polarization enhanced laparoscope for improved visualization of tissue structural changes associated with peritoneal cancer metastasis.

A polarization enhanced laparoscopy (PEL) imaging system was developed to examine the feasibility of utilizing PEL to augment conventional white light laparoscopy (WLL) in the visualization of peritoneal cancer metastases. The system includes a modified tip to illuminate tissue with linearly polarized light and elements in the detection path enabling recording of corresponding images linearly co- and cross-polarized relative to the incident light. WLL and PEL images from optical tissue phantoms with features of distinct scattering cross-section confirm the enhanced sensitivity of PEL to such characteristics.

Polarization gating technique extracts depth resolved fluorescence redox ratio in oral cancer diagnostics.

Mortality of oral cancer is often due to late diagnosis. Effective non-invasive diagnostic techniques may increase the survival rate based on an earlier diagnosis..

Monitoring Breast Cancer Response to Treatment Using Stokes Shift Spectroscopy of Blood Plasma.

With the emerging trend of personalized cancer treatment, there is a need to develop noninvasive/minimally invasive techniques for treatment monitoring. In this regard, in this work fluorescence analysis of blood plasma of breast cancer patients has been used for the evaluation of response to treatment. This approach delivers information not only about the change in biochemical constituents but also about the altered metabolic pathway.

Synchronous Luminescence Spectroscopy as a Tool in the Discrimination and Characterization of Oral Cancer Tissue.

High incidence of oral cancer is primarily due to ongoing tobacco epidemic. In this work, synchronous luminescence spectroscopy (SLS) has been used to characterize and discriminate oral cancer tissue. Spectral deconvolution method is employed to compute the fluorescence intensity, peak wavelength, and full width half maxima for different endogenous fluorophores.