Comparison Study of Gold Nanohexapods, Nanorods, and Nanocages for Photothermal Cancer Treatment

Gold nanohexapods represent a novel class of optically tunable nanostructures consisting of an octahedral core and six arms grown on its vertices. By controlling the length of the arms, their localized surface plasmon resonance peaks could be tuned from the visible to the near-infrared region for deep penetration of light into soft tissues. Herein we compare the in vitro and in vivo capabilities of Au nanohexapods as photothermal transducers for theranostic applications by benchmarking against those of Au nanorods and nanocages. While all these Au nanostructures could absorb and convert near-infrared light into heat, Au nanohexapods exhibited the highest cellular uptake and the lowest cytotoxicity in vitro for both the as-prepared and PEGylated nanostructures. In vivo pharmacokinetic studies showed that the PEGylated Au nanohexapods had significant blood circulation and tumor accumulation in a mouse breast cancer model. Following photothermal treatment, substantial heat was produced in situ and the tumor metabolism was greatly reduced for all these Au nanostructures, as determined with ^(18)F-flourodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (^(18)F-FDG PET/CT). Combined together, we can conclude that Au nanohexapods are promising candidates for cancer theranostics in terms of both photothermal destruction and contrast-enhanced diagnosis

Comparison Study of Gold Nanohexapods, Nanorods, and Nanocages for Photothermal Cancer Treatment

Gold nanohexapods represent a novel class of optically tunable nanostructures consisting of an octahedral core and six arms grown on its vertices. By controlling the length of the arms, their localized surface plasmon resonance peaks could be tuned from the visible to the near-infrared region for deep penetration of light into soft tissues. Herein we compare the in vitro and in vivo capabilities of Au nanohexapods as photothermal transducers for theranostic applications by benchmarking against those of Au nanorods and nanocages. While all these Au nanostructures could absorb and convert near-infrared light into heat, Au nanohexapods exhibited the highest cellular uptake and the lowest cytotoxicity in vitro for both the as-prepared and PEGylated nanostructures. In vivo pharmacokinetic studies showed that the PEGylated Au nanohexapods had significant blood circulation and tumor accumulation in a mouse breast cancer model. Following photothermal treatment, substantial heat was produced in situ and the tumor metabolism was greatly reduced for all these Au nanostructures, as determined with ^(18)F-flourodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (^(18)F-FDG PET/CT). Combined together, we can conclude that Au nanohexapods are promising candidates for cancer theranostics in terms of both photothermal destruction and contrast-enhanced diagnosis

A prospective and randomized comparison of rigid ureteroscopic to flexible cystoscopic retrieval of ureteral stents

Abstract Background Flexible cystoscopy has become an accepted alternative for stent retrieval. However, it is associated with higher cost. Some reports have described experiences of using rigid ureteroscope to retrieve ureteral stents. We compared rigid ureteroscopic to flexible cystoscopic retrieval of ureteral stents in a prospective and randomized clinical trial. Methods Three hundred patients treated with ureteral stents between July 2012 and July 2013 were accrued in this study. These patients were divided into two groups using the random number table method. Group A, with 162 patients, had stents removed with a flexible cystoscope and Group B, with 138 patients, had stents removed with a rigid ureteroscope. All procedures were performed under topical anesthesia by the same urologist. Patients in each group were compared in terms of preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative data. Postoperative data were collected using telephone interview on the postoperative day two. The postoperative questionnaire used included three items: hematuria, irritable bladder symptoms, and pain scores. Results All the stents were retrieved successfully. No statistical differences were noted between the two groups in terms of gender, age, laterality and duration of the stents, operative time, postoperative hematuria, irritable bladder symptoms, and pain scores. The per-use cost of instrument was much higher for the flexible cystoscopic group, RMB 723.1 versus 214.3 (USD 107.9 versus 28.2), P < 0.05. Conclusion Ureteral stent retrieval using rigid ureteroscope under topical anesthesia is as safe and effective as flexible cystoscope but with a much lower cost to patients. Trial registration This study was registered with Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on March 27, 2017 (retrospective registration) with a trial registration number of ChiCTR-IOR-17010986

Safety and efficacy of retrograde intrarenal surgery for the treatment of renal stone in solitary kidney patients

Purpose: We present our experience of retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) for the treatment of renal stones in patients with solitary kidneys and evaluate the safety and efficacy of this treatment modality. Materials and methods: Between March 2011 and July 2015, the clinical records of 60 patients with renal stones in solitary kidneys who underwent RIRS were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic characteristics, preoperative urinary culture, blood biochemistry, stone location, and surface area were documented. The final stone-free rates (SFRs) were assessed one month after the last treatment session by computed tomography (CT). Preoperative, operative, and postoperative parameters were analyzed. Serum creatinine (Scr) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were measured preoperatively, one month postoperatively, and at each follow-up visit. Results: The mean stone burden was 628 ± 27.2 mm2 (range 301–1199). The mean operative time was 84.4 ± 21.3 min (range 40–115). The mean drop in postoperative hemoglobin was 0.6 ± 0.21 g/dL (range 0.1–0.7). Twelve patients (20%) required second-stage RIRS for residual stones. The SFRs after the single and second procedures were 80% and 95%, respectively. The mean preoperative Scr level was 111.6 ± 45.59 μmol/L, and the mean postoperative Scr level was 96.7 ± 34.12 μmol/L. The change was statistically significant (p = .008). The same findings were observed for GFR. The mean preoperative GFR was 65.04 ± 25.37 ml/min, and the mean postoperative GFR was 76.89 ± 27.2 ml/min (p = .023). Minor complications occurred in nine patients (15%). One patient experienced septic shock and acute renal failure due to steinstrasse. This patient required hemodialysis and percutaneous nephrostomy drainage. One patient developed perirenal abscess and was treated with percutaneous drainage. Conclusion: RIRS is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of renal stones in patients with solitary kidneys. RIRS did not adversely affect renal function at either the short-term or the long-term follow-up

Delineation and Analysis of Regional Geochemical Anomaly Using the Object-Oriented Paradigm and Deep Graph Learning—A Case Study in Southeastern Inner Mongolia, North China

This research describes an advanced workflow of an object-based geochemical graph learning approach, termed OGE, which includes five key steps: (1) conduct the mean removal operation on the multi-elemental geochemical data and then normalize them; (2) data gridding and multiresolution segmentation; (3) calculate the Moran’s I value and construct the geochemical topology graph; (4) unsupervised deep graph learning; (5) the within-object statistical analysis. The final product of OGE is an object-based anomaly score map. The performance of OGE was demonstrated by a case study involving eighteen ore-forming elements (Cu, Pb, Zn, W, Sn, Mo, F, Au, Fe2O3, etc.) in stream sediment samples in the Bayantala-Mingantu district, North China. The results showed that the OGE analysis performed at lower levels of scale greatly improved the quality of anomaly recognition: more than 80% of the known ore spots, no matter what their scales and mineral species, were predicted in less than 45% of the study area, and most of the ore spots falling outside the delineated anomalous regions occur nearby them. OGE can extract both the spatial features and compositional relationships of geochemical variables collected at irregularly distributed centroids in irregularly shaped image objects, and it outperforms other convolutional autoencoder models such as GAUGE in anomaly detection