Probiotics Bi-Enzymatic Cascade Repair System for Editing the Inflammatory Microenvironment to Boost Probiotic Therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease presents significant treatment challenges owing to its complex pathology. Although probiotics have shown promise as a therapeutic option, their effectiveness is often limited by low concentrations at sites of inflammation, exacerbated by excessive reactive oxygen species and inflammatory triggers. To address this, an innovative cascade repair system is developed to enhance probiotic therapeutic impact by modulating the intestinal microenvironment.

Bacteria-Mediated Tumor-Targeting Delivery of Multienzyme-Mimicking Covalent Organic Frameworks Promoting Pyroptosis for Combinatorial Sono-Catalytic Immunotherapy.

Pyroptosis, an inflammatory cell death, has attracted great attention for potentiating a strong immune response against tumor cells. However, developing powerful pyroptosis inducers and then activating specific pyroptosis still remains challenging. Herein, a PEG-CuP-COF@∆St nanosystem is rationally designed, consisting of PEG-CuP-COF nanozyme pyroptosis inducers and tumor-targeting bacteria of the Salmonella Typhimurium strain VNP20009 (ΔSt), with an affinity for the tumor hypoxic microenvironment.

Sonogenetics in the Treatment of Chronic Diseases: A New Method for Cell Regulation.

Sonogenetics is an innovative technology that integrates ultrasound with genetic editing to precisely modulate cellular activities in a non-invasive manner. This method entails introducing and activating mechanosensitive channels on the cell membrane of specific cells using gene delivery vectors. When exposed to ultrasound, these channels can be manipulated to open or close, thereby impacting cellular functions.

Quantitative US fat fraction for noninvasive assessment of hepatic steatosis in suspected metabolic-associated fatty liver disease.

Objectives: To evaluate the agreement between quantitative ultrasound system fat fraction (USFF) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) and the diagnostic value of USFF in assessing metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD).

Methods: The participants with or suspected of MAFLD were prospectively recruited and underwent H-MRS, USFF, and controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) measurements. The correlation between USFF and H-MRS was assessed using Pearson correlation coefficients.

Subtype prediction of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma using dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound.

Objective: The study aimed to investigate the predictive value of dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DCE-US) in differentiating small-duct (SD) and large-duct (LD) types of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC).

Methods: This study retrospectively enrolled 110 patients with pathologically confirmed ICC lesions who were subject to preoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) examinations between January 2022 and February 2023. Patients were further classified according to the subtype: SD-type and LD-type, and an optimal predictive model was established and validated using the above pilot cohort.

Photosynthetic Bacteria-Hitchhiking 2D iMXene-mRNA Vaccine to Enable Photo-Immunogene Cancer Therapy.

Therapeutic mRNA vaccines have become powerful therapeutic tools for severe diseases, including infectious diseases and malignant neoplasms. mRNA vaccines encoding tumor-associated antigens provide unprecedented hope for many immunotherapies that have hit the bottleneck. However, the application of mRNA vaccines is limited because of biological instability, innate immunogenicity, and ineffective delivery in vivo.

Interoperator reproducibility of quantitative ultrasound analysis of hepatic steatosis in participants with suspected MASLD: A prospective study.

Objectives: To evaluate the reproducibility of tissue attenuation imaging (TAI) and tissue scatter distribution imaging (TSI) measurements in adults with suspected metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) between radiologists with varying experience.

Materials And Methods: Participants with suspected MASLD were prospectively recruited. TAI and TSI were performed for each participant by two radiologists with different levels of experience.

A multi-parameter intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma scoring system based on modified contrast-enhanced ultrasound LI-RADS M criteria for differentiating intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma from hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: To develop a multi-parameter intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) scoring system and compare its diagnostic performance with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) liver imaging reporting and data system M (LR-M) criteria for differentiating ICC from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 62 high-risk patients with ICCs and 62 high-risk patients with matched HCCs between January 2022 and December 2022 from two institutions. The CEUS LR-M criteria was modified by adjusting the early wash-out onset (within 45 s) and the marked wash-out (within 3 min).

A prospective comparison of three ultrasound-based techniques in quantitative diagnosis of hepatic steatosis in NAFLD.

Purpose: To investigate the correlation between different ultrasound attenuation-based techniques and to compare their diagnostic performances using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) as a reference standard.

Methods: Participants who had clinical suspicion of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) were prospectively recruited. Each subject had ultrasound with attenuation imaging (ATI) or quantitative ultrasound including tissue attenuation imaging (TAI) and tissue scatter-distribution imaging (TSI), and controlled-attenuation parameter (CAP) and H-MRS if available.

Quantitative analysis of pre-treatment dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound for assessing the response of colorectal liver metastases to chemotherapy plus targeted therapy: a dual-institutional study.

Objectives: To investigate the clinical value of pre-treatment quantitative contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in assessing the response of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) to chemotherapy plus targeted therapy.

Methods: This study retrospectively enrolled 50 CRLM patients from the Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University as the training cohort and 14 patients from Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital as the testing cohort. Patients underwent the CEUS examination before receiving chemotherapy (CAPOX, FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, or FOLFOXIRI) plus targeted therapy (Bevacizumab or Cetuximab).

Response Evaluation Using Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Unresectable Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated With Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Plus Anti-PD-1 Antibody Therapy.

Objective: The aim of the work described here was to evaluate the role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in response evaluation for unresectable advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) plus anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) antibody therapy.

Methods: A prospective cohort of consecutive patients with HCC who received combined TKI/anti-PD-1 antibody treatment for unresectable HCC between January 2022 and October 2022 was included in this study. The patients underwent unenhanced ultrasound (US) and CEUS examinations before treatment and at follow-up.

Risk stratification of gallbladder masses by machine learning-based ultrasound radiomics models: a prospective and multi-institutional study.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of machine learning (ML)-based ultrasound (US) radiomics models for risk stratification of gallbladder (GB) masses.

Methods: We prospectively examined 640 pathologically confirmed GB masses obtained from 640 patients between August 2019 and October 2022 at four institutions. Radiomics features were extracted from grayscale US images and germane features were selected.

Three-dimensional convolutional neural network model to identify clinically significant prostate cancer in transrectal ultrasound videos: a prospective, multi-institutional, diagnostic study.

Background: Identifying patients with clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) before biopsy helps reduce unnecessary biopsies and improve patient prognosis. The diagnostic performance of traditional transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) for csPCa is relatively limited. This study was aimed to develop a high-performance convolutional neural network (CNN) model (P-Net) based on a TRUS video of the entire prostate and investigate its efficacy in identifying csPCa.

Design of a self-driven probiotic-CRISPR/Cas9 nanosystem for sono-immunometabolic cancer therapy.

Reprogramming the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment is a promising strategy for improving tumor immunotherapy efficacy. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 system can be used to knockdown tumor immunosuppression-related genes. Therefore, here, a self-driven multifunctional delivery vector is constructed to efficiently deliver the CRISPR-Cas9 nanosystem for indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO1) knockdown in order to amplify immunogenic cell death (ICD) and then reverse tumor immunosuppression.

Two-dimensional shear wave elastography with two different systems for the diagnosis of breast lesions.

Background: Two-dimensional (2D) - shear wave elastography (SWE) has made promising advances in the diagnostic of breast lesions. However, few studies have assessed whether the diagnostic effectiveness of different platforms employing 2D-SWE is equal or different.

Objective: To compare the diagnostic effectiveness of 2D-SWE techniques from two different systems in differentiating malignant breast lesions from benign ones.

Clinical application of a 5G-based telerobotic ultrasound system for thyroid examination on a rural island: a prospective study.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of a 5G-based telerobotic ultrasound (US) system for thyroid examination on a rural island.

Methods: From September 2020 to March 2021, this prospectively study enrolled a total of 139 patients (average age, 58.6 ± 12.

Ultrasound-Controlled CRISPR/Cas9 System Augments Sonodynamic Therapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Sonodynamic therapy (SDT), relying on the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), is a promising clinical therapeutic modality for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) due to its noninvasiveness and high tissue-penetration depth, whereas the oxidative stress and antioxidative defense system in cancer cells significantly restrict the prevalence of SDT. Herein, we initially identified that was immediately activated during SDT, which further inhibited SDT efficacy. To address this intractable issue, an ultrasound remote control of the cluster regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) release system (HMME@Lip-Cas9) was meticulously designed and constructed, which precisely knocks down to alleviate the adverse effects and augment the therapeutic efficiency of SDT.

Quantitative assessment of crystal dissolution in gout during urate-lowering therapy with computer-aided MicroPure imaging: a cohort study.

Background: To evaluate whether MicroPure imaging, an ultrasound (US) image-processing technique with computer-aided analysis, can quantitatively detect crystal dissolution during urate-lowering therapy (ULT) in gout.

Methods: This was a prospective study of gout patients requiring ULT. The first metatarsophalangeal joints were examined using US and MicroPure before and after 3 months of ULT.

Biodegradable and Excretable 2D W C i-MXene with Vacancy Ordering for Theory-Oriented Cancer Nanotheranostics in Near-Infrared Biowindow.

MXenes, a new class of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, have shown enormous potential for biological applications. Notably, the development of 2D MXenes in nanomedicine is still in its infancy. Herein, a distinct W C i-MXene with multiple theranostic functionalities, fast biodegradation, and satisfactory biocompatibility is explored.

Sono-Controllable and ROS-Sensitive CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing for Augmented/Synergistic Ultrasound Tumor Nanotherapy.

The potential of the cluster regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-associated protein 9 (Cas9)-based therapeutic genome editing is severely hampered by the difficulties in precise regulation of the in vivo activity of the CRISPR-Cas9 system. Herein, sono-controllable and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-sensitive sonosensitizer-integrated metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), denoted as P/M@CasMTH1, are developed for augmented sonodynamic therapy (SDT) efficacy using the genome-editing technology. P/M@CasMTH1 nanoparticles comprise singlet oxygen ( O )-generating MOF structures anchored with CRISPR-Cas9 systems via O -cleavable linkers, which serve not only as a delivery vector of CRISPR-Cas9 targeting MTH1, but also as a sonoregulator to spatiotemporally activate the genome editing.

Reactive oxygen species scavenging and inflammation mitigation enabled by biomimetic prussian blue analogues boycott atherosclerosis.

Background: As one typical cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis severely endanger people' life and cause burden to people health and mentality. It has been extensively accepted that oxidative stress and inflammation closely correlate with the evolution of atherosclerotic plaques, and they directly participate in all stages of atherosclerosis. Regarding this, anti-oxidation or anti-inflammation drugs were developed to enable anti-oxidative therapy and anti-inflammation therapy against atherosclerosis.

Tyrosinase-activated prodrug nanomedicine as oxidative stress amplifier for melanoma-specific treatment.

Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive skin cancers, posing severe threat to human health. Tyrosinase, overexpressed in melanoma cells, is a specific in-situ weapon to augment the therapeutic efficacy of melanoma-specific treatment by in-situ accelerating the activation of anti-melanoma prodrugs. Herein, we developed a tyrosinase-triggered oxidative stress amplifier, denoted as APAP@PEG/HMnO, to achieve synergistic chemotherapy and amplified oxidative stress for melanoma-specific treatment.

In situ phase-changeable 2D MXene/zein bio-injection for shear wave elastography-guided tumor ablation in NIR-II bio-window.

Localized tumor photothermal cancer ablation is a minimally invasive therapeutic modality for combating cancer, but it often suffers from low therapeutic efficacy and poor precision due to the poor accumulation and non-uniform distribution of used photothermal-conversion agents in tumor tissue via the typical intravenous administration. To address this, an injectable and phase-changeable composite bio-injection consisting of biocompatible two-dimensional (2D) niobium carbide (Nb2C) MXene and the plant-originating protein, zein, has been engineered for near infrared (NIR)-II-triggered tumor photothermal ablation. Zein can respond to aqueous microenvironments and also external photo-triggers from the NIR-II bio-window (1064 nm), and transforms into a solid bio-implant after solvent exchange between ethanol and water.