Neo-train: study protocol and feasibility results for a two-arm randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of supervised exercise during neoadjuvant chemotherapy on tumour response in patients with breast cancer.

Background: Prehabilitation with exercise interventions during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is effective in reducing physical and psychosocial chemotherapy-related adverse events in patients with cancer. In preclinical studies, data also support a growth inhibitory effect of aerobic exercise on the tumour microenvironment with possible improved chemotherapy delivery but evidence in human patients is limited. The aim of the study here described is to investigate if supervised exercise with high-intensity aerobic and resistance training during NACT can improve tumour reduction in patients with breast cancer.

Patient-Related Characteristics Associated with Treatment Modifications and Suboptimal Relative Dose Intensity of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Patients with Breast Cancer-A Retrospective Study.

Background: Reduced relative dose intensity (RDI) of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in patients with breast cancer may compromise treatment outcome and survival. We examined patient-related characteristics associated with treatment modifications and suboptimal RDI and tumour response in patients with breast cancer.

Methods: In this observational study, electronic medical records were reviewed retrospectively for female patients with breast cancer scheduled for NACT at a university hospital in Denmark between 2017 and 2019.

Single Cell Analysis of Stored Red Blood Cells Using Ultra-High Throughput Holographic Cytometry.

Holographic cytometry is introduced as an ultra-high throughput implementation of quantitative phase imaging of single cells flowing through parallel microfluidic channels. Here, the approach was applied for characterizing the morphology of individual red blood cells during storage under regular blood bank conditions. Samples from five blood donors were examined, over 100,000 cells examined for each, at three time points.

Reconstruction of angle-resolved backscattering through a multimode fiber for cell nuclei and particle size determination.

We demonstrate reconstruction of angle-resolved optical backscattering after transmission through a multimode fiber. Angle-resolved backscattering is an important tool for particle sizing, and has been developed as a diagnostic modality for detecting epithelial precancer. In this work, we fully characterized the transfer function of a multimode fiber using a plane-wave illumination basis across two dimensions.

Quantitative phase imaging of erythrocytes under microfluidic constriction in a high refractive index medium reveals water content changes.

Changes in the deformability of red blood cells can reveal a range of pathologies. For example, cells which have been stored for transfusion are known to exhibit progressively impaired deformability. Thus, this aspect of red blood cells has been characterized previously using a range of techniques.

Shear Modulus Measurement by Quantitative Phase Imaging and Correlation with Atomic Force Microscopy.

Many approaches have been developed to characterize cell elasticity. Among these, atomic force microscopy (AFM) combined with modeling has been widely used to characterize cellular compliance. However, such approaches are often limited by the difficulties associated with using a specific instrument and by the complexity of analyzing the measured data.

Invited Article: Digital refocusing in quantitative phase imaging for flowing red blood cells.

Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) offers high optical path length sensitivity, probing nanoscale features of live cells, but it is typically limited to imaging just few static cells at a time. To enable utility as a biomedical diagnostic modality, higher throughput is needed. To meet this need, methods for imaging cells in flow using QPI are in development.

Active intracellular transport in metastatic cells studied by spatial light interference microscopy.

Spatiotemporal patterns of intracellular transport are very difficult to quantify and, consequently, continue to be insufficiently understood. While it is well documented that mass trafficking inside living cells consists of both random and deterministic motions, quantitative data over broad spatiotemporal scales are lacking. We studied the intracellular transport in live cells using spatial light interference microscopy, a high spatiotemporal resolution quantitative phase imaging tool.