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Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is one of the effective methods of radiation therapy for the treatment of tumors such as malignant glioma. Boronophenylalanine (10B-BPA) solution has been used as a potential boron carrier for such a treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate 4-borono-2-[18F]-fluoro-l-phenylalanine-fructose ([18F]FBPA-F) in rats injected in the brain with glioma using in vivo small animal positron emission tomography (PET) imaging (microPET). Male Fischer 344 rats with F98 glioma in the left brain were used for these studies. Dynamic PET imaging of [18F]FBPA-F was performed on the 13th day after tumor inoculation. Arterial blood sampling was performed to obtain an input function for tracer kinetic modeling. The accumulation ratios of [18F]FBPA-F for the glioma-to-normal brain approached 3. The uptake characteristics of BPA-F and [18F]FBPA-F were similar. The results indicate that 4 h after BPA-F injection would be the optimal irradiation time for BNCT. Rate constants were estimated using a three-compartment model. This study provides useful information for the clinical application of BNCT in patients with brain tumors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: TaOxNy thin films were prepared using DC reactive sputtering of Ta target with the variation of (O2 +N2)/Ar ratio, followed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 800 °C for 5 min. During RTA, the amorphous structure of the as-deposited films would transform to crystallized phases that might contain either TaON, or Ta2O5, or both. With the increase of (O2 +N2)/Ar ratio, Ta2O5 phase becomes more dominant, while TaON was formed in an opposite way. Elemental analysis also shows the same trend. Hydrophilicity and optical properties of these films were found to be dependent on phases formed after annealing. The optical band gap was measured and calculated to be in the range of 2.43 eV (510 nm) to 3.94 eV (315 nm). The films with low band gap values exhibited super hydrophilicity behavior under visible light irradiation, mainly due to their light absorption had been extended to visible light range. Clearly, it was due to the existence of TaON phase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]