A Photothermal Therapy Strategy for Monitoring Real-Time Temperature in Kidney Cancers by Injecting Gold Nanorods with Phosphors.

Photothermal ablation therapy (PTA) has been widely reported; however, it is not possible to predict the internal temperature of the tumor in real time that causes ineffective treatment and normal tissue burns. Here, we have designed a photothermal therapy strategy under real-time temperature monitoring by injecting gold nanorods (AuNRs) and NaYF₄: Yb ₄ phosphors to monitor the temperature inside the tumor. Our experiments confirm the effectiveness of this strategy, which is expected to be an aid in the development of real-time temperature monitoring and effective photothermal therapy for the treatment of cancers.

Inhalation of Ultrafine Zinc Particles Impaired Cardiovascular Functions in Hypertension-Induced Heart Failure Rats With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

Although it is possible for inhalation of ultrafine particles to impair human health, its effect is not clear in patients with HFpEF. This study investigated cardiac and hemodynamic changes in hypertension-induced rats of HFpEF after inhaling ultrafine zinc particles for a while. Multiple experimental measurements were carried out in DSS rats fed with high salt (HS) and low salt (LS) diets as well as HS diet with the inhalation of ultrafine zinc particles (defined as HP).

Perfusion Computer Tomography Assessment of the Effect of Angiotensin II On Blood Flow Distribution in Rabbits with Intrarenal VX2 Tumors.

Background/aims: Unlike other organs, which only have one set of capillary network, the renal microvasculature consists of two sets of capillary network series connected by efferent arterioles. Angiotensin II constricts the efferent glomerular artery. Hence, renal tumor blood flow (BF) distribution may be different from tumors in other organs.

Surface-adaptive zwitterionic nanoparticles for prolonged blood circulation time and enhanced cellular uptake in tumor cells.

Unlabelled: Recently, zwitterionic materials have been developed as alternatives to PEG for prolonging the circulation time of nanoparticles without triggering immune responses. However, zwitterionic coatings also hindered the interactions between nanoparticles and tumor cells, leading to less efficient uptake of nanoparticles by cancer cells. Such effect significantly limited the applications of zwitterionic materials for the purposes of drug delivery and the development to novel therapeutic agents.

The Structure-function remodeling in rabbit hearts of myocardial infarction.

Animal models are of importance to investigate basic mechanisms for ischemic heart failure (HF). The objective of the study was to create a rabbit model through multiple coronary artery ligations to investigate the postoperative structure-function remodeling of the left ventricle (LV) and coronary arterial trees. Here, we hypothesize that the interplay of the degenerated coronary vasculature and increased ventricle wall stress relevant to cardiac fibrosis in vicinity of myocardial infarction (MI) precipitates the incidence and progression of ischemic HF Echocardiographic measurements showed an approximately monotonic drop of fractional shortening and ejection fraction from 40% and 73% down to 28% and 58% as well as persistent enlargement of LV cavity and slight mitral regurgitation at postoperative 12 weeks.

Morphometric and hemodynamic analysis of atherosclerotic progression in human carotid artery bifurcations.

Although atherosclerosis has been widely investigated at carotid artery bifurcation, there is a lack of morphometric and hemodynamic data at different stages of the disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the lesion difference in patients with carotid artery disease compared with healthy control subjects. The three-dimensional (3D) geometry of carotid artery bifurcation was reconstructed from computed tomography angiography (CTA) images of Chinese control subjects (n = 30) and patients with carotid artery disease (n = 30).

Growth, ageing and scaling laws of coronary arterial trees.

Despite the well-known design principles of vascular systems, it is unclear whether the vascular arterial tree obeys some scaling constraints during normal growth and ageing in a given species. Based on the micro-computed tomography measurements of coronary arterial trees in mice at different ages (one week to more than eight months), we show a constant exponent of 3/4, but age-dependent scaling coefficients in a length-volume scaling law (Lc=K(length-volume) · Vc³/⁴; Lc is the crown length, Vc is the crown volume, K(length-volume) is the age-dependent scaling coefficient) during normal growth and ageing. The constant 3/4 exponent represents the self-similar fractal-like branching pattern (i.