Controllable Fabrication of Rare-Earth-Doped Gd₂O₂SO₄@SiO₂ Double-Shell Hollow Spheres for Efficient Upconversion Luminescence and Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Uniform hollow spheres of Yb and Er codoped Gd₂O₂SO₄ (noted as Gd₂O₂SO₄:Yb,Er) have been developed as novel bifunctional contrast agents for efficient upconversion optical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the first time. Gd-containing organic precursory spheres were first obtained by a facile hydrothermal process. Owing to the innate hydrophilic nature of the precursory spheres, surface modification with a layer of stable and biocompatible silica could be readily achieved through the Stöber sol–gel method and subsequent calcination. The morphology and thickness of the silica shell can be tailored by adjusting the reaction time. Compared with Gd₂O₂SO₄:Yb,Er hollow spheres without silica coating, well-dispersed Gd₂O₂SO₄:Yb,Er@SiO₂ double-shell hollow spheres could generate intense upconversion fluorescence, and showed a significant contrast enhancement of T1-weighted MRI both <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. These gadolinium oxysulfate-based hollow spheres are thus regarded as a new type of potential bimodal optical-MRI contrast agents

Table_1_From the West to the East: an evidence-based educational reform for modern medical students in traditional Chinese medicine learning.xlsx

IntroductionGenerally, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) courses are now given to modern medicine students without proper course scheduling, resulting in poor teaching results.MethodsTo analyze the main factors affecting TCM learning, we surveyed the medical students and TCM teachers from Xiangya School of Medicine of Central South University via online questionnaires. The questionnaire comprised two parts, the students' part included the basic information, the subjective cognition in TCM, the attitude toward TCM course arrangements, and the attitude toward curriculum content and the design of TCM. The teachers' part included the basic information, the attitudes and opinions on TCM course arrangements, and suggestions and views on TCM teaching reform. The related data were collected from 187 medical students divided into two groups, namely, clinical medical students and non-clinical medical students.ResultsWe found a more positive attitude toward TCM [including “Scientific nature of TCM” (P = 0.03) and “Necessity for modern medicine students to learn TCM” (P = 0.037)] in clinical medical students compared with non-clinical medical students, clinical and non-clinical medical students tended to find TCM courses difficult, and the students prefer clinical training to be better than theoretical teaching, while the teachers believe that lecture-based education should have a more significant proportion.DiscussionHence, to optimize the current TCM teaching, we conducted education reform, including differentiated teaching, hybrid teaching, and selective teaching.</p

Dual-Modality Noninvasive Mapping of Sentinel Lymph Node by Photoacoustic and Near-Infrared Fluorescent Imaging Using Dye-Loaded Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

The imaging of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs), the first defense against primary tumor metastasis, has been considered as an important strategy for noninvasive tracking tumor metastasis in clinics. In this study, we developed an imaging contrast system based on fluorescent dye-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) that integrate near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent and photoacoustic (PA) imaging modalities for efficient SLN mapping. By balancing the ratio of dye and nanoparticles for simultaneous optimization of dual-modality imaging (NIR and PA), the dye encapsulated MSNP platform was set up to generate both a moderate NIR emission and PA signals simultaneously. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms of the relevance between optical and PA properties were discovered. Subsequently, dual-modality imaging was achieved to visualize tumor draining SLNs up to 2 weeks in a 4T1 tumor metastatic model. Obvious differences in uptake rate and contrast between metastatic and normal SLNs were observed both <i>in vivo</i> and <i>ex vivo</i>. Based on all these imaging data, it was demonstrated that the dye-loaded MSNPs allow detection of regional lymph nodes <i>in vivo</i> with time-domain NIR fluorescent and PA imaging methods efficiently