Entries by Katy

Staphyloxanthin Photolysis Potentiates Low Concentration Silver Nanoparticles in Eradication of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

The rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, e.g., methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has resulted in a widespread search for alternative treatments not reliant on traditional antibiotics. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have long been known to exhibit antimicrobial activity against a wide variety of bacterial species. However, the clinical application of AgNPs as an alternative to antibiotics has been limited […]

Towards clinical photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging: Probe improvement and real-time graphical user interface

Photoacoustic imaging is a non-invasive and non-ionizing biomedical technique that has been investigated widely for various clinical applications. By taking the advantages of conventional ultrasound imaging, hand-held operation with a linear array transducer should be favorable for successful clinical translation of photoacoustic imaging. In this paper, we present new key updates contributed to the previously […]

Mutual impact of clinically translatable near-infrared dyes on photoacoustic image contrast and in vitro photodynamic therapy efficacy

Photodynamic therapy (PDT), a spatially localized phototoxic therapy that involves irradiation of a photosensitizer (PS) with specific wavelengths of light, has shown exceptional promise in impacting cancer treatment outcomes, particularly oral cancer. To reduce PDT outcome variability, attempts toward image-guided personalized PDT are being pursued by monitoring PS uptake either via fluorescence or photoacoustic imaging […]

Defeating relapsed and refractory malignancies through a nano-enabled mitochondria-mediated respiratory inhibition and damage pathway

Hypoxia, which frequently reduces the sensitivity to many therapeutic interventions, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and phototherapy, has been acknowledged as an important reason for poor prognosis. Burgeoning evidences have proved that the tumor hypoxia microenvironment can reduce the therapeutic effect on tumor through inhibiting the drug efficacy, limiting immune cell infiltration of tumors and accelerating tumor […]

Ultrafast ultrasound imaging of surface acoustic waves induced by laser excitation compared with acoustic radiation force

Two generation mechanisms—optical perturbation and acoustic radiation force (ARF)—were investigated where high frame rate ultrasound imaging was used to track the propagation of induced SAWs. We compared ARF-induced SAWs with laser-induced SAWs generated by laser beam irradiation of the uniformly absorbing tissue-like viscoelastic phantom, where light was preferentially absorbed at the surface. We also compared […]

Kinetic study of the oxidation reaction of 4‐methylphenyl radical

A kinetic study of the reaction of the 4-methylphenyl radical (4-C6H4CH3) with the oxygen molecule was conducted using experimental and theoretical approaches. The absorption spectrum for the λ = 266 nm photolysis of the 4-C6H4CH3X (X = Cl, Br)/N2/O2 mixture was measured in the wavelength range of λ = 503-512 nm using N2 as the buffer gas at a total pressure of 40 Torr using a cavity […]

Improving antibiotics’ penetration and efficiency for treating biofilm infections by laser-induced vapor nanobubbles

An important reason for the decreased sensitivity of bacteria towards antibiotics is their capability to form so-called biofilms. The increased tolerance of sessile cells is multifactorial and includes reduced penetration rate and potency of antibiotics through dense biofilms. Strategies that have the ability to interfere with the integrity of biofilms and allowing a better penetration […]

Dual-drug loaded phase-changing nanodroplets for image-guided tumor therapy

Phase-changing nanodroplets are sub-micron constructs with perfluorocarbon liquid cores that can be remotely vaporized with optical or acoustic energy to form gaseous microbubbles and expel their contents. This process can generate shock waves, shear forces, and microstreams in the interstitial tumor space, enhancing intratumoral drug delivery1. Furthermore, the resulting microbubbles can act as ultrasound contrast […]

Vascular recognition system based on photoacoustic detection

Currently, biometrics are widely used in recognition technology; however, biometric recognition systems are vulnerable to malicious spoofing attacks. Thus, the security of such systems requires enhancements. This paper reports a novel vascular recognition system based on simple photoacoustic imaging to resist spoofing attacks. The amplitude and the delay of the maximum-value arrival time of the […]

Empirical assessment of laser safety for photoacoustic-guided liver surgeries

Photoacoustic imaging is a promising technique to provide guidance during multiple surgeries and procedures. One challenge with this technique is that major blood vessels in the liver are difficult to differentiate from surrounding tissue within current safety limits, which only exist for human skin and eyes. In this paper, we investigate the safety of raising […]