Applying the ALARA concept to the evaluation of vesicoureteric reflux

The voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) is a widely used study to define lower urinary tract anatomy and to diagnose vesicoureteric reflux (VUR) in children. We examine the technical advances in the VCUG and other examinations for reflux that have reduced radiation exposure of children, and we give recommendations for the use of imaging studies in four groups of children: (1) children with urinary tract infection, (2) siblings of patients with VUR, (3) infants with antenatal hydronephrosis (ANH), and (4) children with a solitary functioning kidney. By performing examinations with little to no radiation, carefully selecting only the children who need imaging studies and judiciously timing follow-up examinations, we can reduce the radiation exposure of children being studied for reflux

Potential impact of various surface ligands on the cellular uptake and biodistribution characteristics of red, green, and blue emitting Cu nanoclusters

Surface functionalization has a prominent influence on tuning/manipulating the physicochemical properties of nanometer scaled materials. Ultrasmall sized nanoclusters with very few atoms have received enormous attention due to their bright fluorescence, biocompatibility, lower toxicity, good colloidal stability and strong photostability. These properties make them suitable for diagnostic applications. In this work, we intend to study the effect of surface functional ligands on their biodistribution both in vitro and in vivo organelle systems for bioimaging applications.Published versionS. C. acknowledges the financial support from University Grant Commission-Department of Atomic Energy (UGC-DAE) Consortium for Scientific Research, (UGC-DAE-CRS/2021-22/02/513) and Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) under State University Research Excellence (SUR/2022/001424)

Multimodal Imaging Probe Development for Pancreatic beta Cells: From Fluorescence to PET

Pancreatic beta cells are responsible for insulin secretion and are important for glucose regulation in a healthy body and diabetic disease patient without prelabeling of islets. While the conventional biomarkers for diabetes have been glucose and insulin concentrations in the blood, the direct determination of the pancreatic beta cell mass would provide critical information for the disease status and progression. By combining fluorination and diversity-oriented fluorescence library strategy, we have developed a multimodal pancreatic beta cell probe PiF for both fluorescence and for PET (positron emission tomography). By simple tail vein injection, PiF stains pancreatic beta cells specifically and allows intraoperative fluorescent imaging of pancreatic islets. PiF-injected pancreatic tissue even facilitated an antibody-free islet analysis within 2 h, dramatically accelerating the day-long histological procedure without any fixing and dehydration step. Not only islets in the pancreas but also the low background of PiF in the liver allowed us to monitor the intraportal transplanted islets, which is the first in vivo visualization of transplanted human islets without a prelabeling of the islets. Finally, we could replace the built-in fluorine atom in PiF with radioactive 18F and successfully demonstrate in situ PET imaging for pancreatic islets. © 2020 American Chemical Societ