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To investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of prostate‐specific membrane antigen (PSMA) imaging to make response assessment regarding novel hormone treatment and to predict the outcomes for metastatic castration‐resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients. This retrospective study enrolled 68 mCRPC patients who had daily received a novel hormone agent named abiraterone. Tc‐99m PSMA single‐photon emission computed tomography (SPECT/CT) was performed at the baseline (SPECT/CT1) and after 3‐6 months of treatment (SPECT/CT2). The treatment response was determined by visual analysis based on molecular imaging PSMA (miPSMA) scores framework and was compared with conventional biochemical analysis. We chose either the hottest lesion (target A) or five of the hottest lesions (target B) to calculate the tumor/background ratio (TBR) and the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and compared their performances in predicting progression‐free survival (PFS). Changes in PSMA expression between SPECT/CT1 and SPECT/CT2 were well associated with the results of the visual analysis. The TBR and the SUVmax of both targets were significantly associated with the baseline serum PSA level (P, We found it very accurate to evaluate the effect of abiraterone on prostate cancer using PSMA molecular imaging. PSMA imaging is expected to replace traditional imaging in prostate diagnosis and treatment

The purpose of the preliminary study was to investigate whether high specific activity (SA) of 18 F-fluoroestradiol was optimal in breast cancer diagnosis. Imaging at variable SA was conducted in a ZR-75-1 xenograft model of estrogen-receptor positive human breast cancer in 6 mice. The region of interest was manually drawn, and the percent of injected dose per gram of the tumor and muscle in the regions of interest were recorded. Tumor-to-muscle ratio (T/M) was calculated and compared in each group with different SAs. In addition, the correlation between blood estradiol and sex hormone-binding globulin and the value of T/M were also analyzed. The value of T/M increased initially with the rise of SA and it reached the peak at SA of 1.6 Ci/μmol. After that, the value fell down sharply and remained stable from SA of 3.1 Ci/μmol. The value of T/M was highest at SA of 1.6 Ci/μmol (P .05). High SA of 18 F-fluoroestradiol leads to low T/M results in breast cancer xenograft models. We should control SA in a reasonable range to obtain high-quality images.

Hydrophilic Cu3BiS3 nanoparticles (NPs) have been prepared using the thermal decomposition of precursor complexes in oily-mixed solvent followed by coating the produced Cu3BiS3 NPs with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The resulting Cu3BiS3/PVP NPs remain stable in aqueous solutions over a long period of time, and meanwhile, they show low in vitro cytotoxicity and negligible toxicity to mice in vivo. Cu3BiS3/PVP NPs could operate as an efficient dual-modal contrast agent to simultaneously enhance X-ray computed tomography imaging and photothermal imaging of tumor model in vivo. Moreover, highly efficient ablation of cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo has been successfully achieved by combining Cu3BiS3/PVP NPs with near-infrared (NIR) laser irradiation. All of the positive results in this study highlight that Cu3BiS3/PVP NPs could serve as a promising platform for cancer diagnosis and therapy.

Objectives: To investigate the value of whole-body fluorine-18 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography for the detection of metastatic bladder cancer. Methods: From December 2006 to August 2010, 60 bladder cancer patients (median age 60.5 years old, range 32–96) underwent whole body positron emission tomography/computed tomography positron emission tomography/computed tomography. The diagnostic accuracy was assessed by performing both organ-based and patient-based analyses. Identified lesions were further studied by biopsy or clinically followed for at least 6 months. Results: One hundred and thirty-four suspicious lesions were identified. Among them, 4 primary cancers (2 pancreatic cancers, 1 colonic and 1 nasopharyngeal cancer) were incidentally detected, and the patients could be treated on time. For the remaining 130 lesions, positron emission tomography/computed tomography detected 118 true positive lesions (sensitivity = 95.9%). On the patient-based analysis, the overall sensitivity and specificity resulted to be 87.1% and 89.7%, respectively. There was no difference of sensitivity and specificity in patients with or without adjuvant treatment in terms of detection of metastatic sites by positron emission tomography/computed tomography. Compared with conventional imaging modality, positron emission tomography/computed tomography correctly changed the management in 15 patients (25.0%). Conclusions: Positron emission tomography/computed tomography has excellent sensitivity and specificity in the detection of metastatic bladder cancer and it provides additional diagnostic information compared to standard imaging techniques.

A novel and flexible strategy involving hydrothermal transformation of guest-incorporated zeolite-seeded mesoporous silica spheres was proposed to prepare guest-encapsulated hollow zeolite spheres and three-dimensionally (3D) ordered macroporous zeolite monoliths. The guest species that were pre-incorporated into the mesopores of silica spheres could be spontaneously encapsulated inside the formed hollow zeolite shells by consuming silica nutrition of the original mesoporous silica cores during the hydrothermal process. A wide range of guest materials with a size ranging from nanometers to micrometers, e.g., Ag and PdO nanoparticles, and mesoporous spheres of carbon and polymer of micrometer size were successfully encapsulated into both discrete hollow zeolite spheres and 3D ordered macroporous zeolite monoliths. Such materials are expected to find a variety of applications such as catalysis, adsorption, and novel microreactors for their special structures with active species inside and zeolitic porous shell outside.

A seed-induced in-situ hydrothermal conversion technique is proposed to prepare novel hollow microspheres with zeolite/mullite composite shells from fly ash cenosphere (FAC), a solid waste with a hollow structure from coal power stations. Two groups of hollow microspheres were prepared, one with zeolite FAU/mullite composite shells and the other with zeolite LTA/mullite composite shells. The FAC in this study plays dual roles as both the template cores and the aluminosilicate nutrition contributor. The final products inherit the hollow spherical morphology of FAC and possessed bilayered shells, the outer dense shell of zeolite crystals and the inner porous shell of mullite. Such hollow zeolitic materials are expected to have many advantages in applications such as catalysis, adsorption, separation, and as releasing capsules.