Great efforts have been devoted so far to combine nano-magnetic hyperthermia (NMH) and nano-photothermal therapy (NPTT) to achieve encouraging additive therapeutic performance in vitro and in vivo with limitation to direct intratumoral injection and no guidance of multimodality molecular imaging. In this study, we developed a novel multifunctional theranostic nanoplatform (MNP@PES-Cy7/2-DG) consisting of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PES), This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Cyanine7 (Cy7) and 2-Deoxyglucose-PEG (2-DG). And then we applied them for combined photo-magnetic hyperthermia therapy under intravenous administration which was simultaneously guided by tri-modality molecular imaging. Remarkably, nanoparticles were found aggregated mainly in the cytoplasm of tumor cells in vitro and in vivo, and exhibited stealth-like behavior with a long second phase blood circulation half-life of 20.38 ± 4.18 h.Under the guidance of photoacoustic/near-infrared fluorescence/magnetic resonance tri-modality imaging, tumors could be completely eliminated under intracellular photo-magnetic hyperthermia therapy with additive therapeutic effect due to precise hyperthermia. This study may promote a further exploration of such platform for clinical application.

Esophageal patients' depression and hopelessness could also affect caregivers' depression and hopelessness despite the social support that family caregivers have. Psychosocial interventions should be planned to both Chinese patients and caregivers considering the predictors found in this study.

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To fabricate a highly biocompatible nanoplatform enabling synergistic therapy and real-time imaging, novel Au@Bi 2 S 3 core shell nanobones (NBs) (Au@Bi 2 S 3 NBs) with Au nanorods as cores were synthesized. The combination of Au nanorods with Bi 2 S 3 film made the Au@Bi 2 S 3 NBs exhibit ultrahigh photothermal (PT) conversion efficiency, remarkable photoacoustic (PA) imaging and high computed tomography (CT) performance; these Au@Bi 2 S 3 NBs thus are a promising nanotheranostic agent for PT/PA/CT imaging. Subsequently, poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)-modified Au@Bi 2 S 3 NBs (Au@Bi 2 S 3 -PVP NBs) were successfully loaded with the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX), and a satisfactory pH sensitive release profile was achieved, thus revealing the great potential of Au@Bi 2 S 3 -PVP NBs in chemotherapy as a drug carrier to deliver DOX into cancer cells. Both in vitro and in vivo investigations demonstrated that the Au@Bi 2 S 3 -PVP NBs possessed multiple desired features for cancer therapy, including extremely low toxicity, good biocompatibility, high drug loading ability, precise tumor targeting and effective accumulation. Highly efficient ablation of the human liver cancer cell HepG2 was achieved through Au@Bi 2 S 3 -PVP NB-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT). As both a contrast enhancement probe and therapeutic agent, Au@Bi 2 S 3 -PVP NBs provided outstanding NIR-triggered multi-modal PT/PA/CT imaging-guided PTT and effectively inhibited the growth of HepG2 liver cancer cells via synergistic chemo/PT therapy.

Mild hyperthermia has shown great advantages when combined with chemotherapy. The development of a multifunctional platform for the integration of mild hyperthermia capability into a drug-loading system is a key issue for cancer multimodality treatment application. Herein, a facile one-pot in situ fabrication protocol of docetaxel (DTX)-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)/polypyrrole (PPy) nanocomposites was developed. While the PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) allow efficient drug loading, the PPy nanobulges embedded within the surface of the PLGA NPs, formed by in situ pyrrole polymerization without the introduction of other template agents, can act as ideal mediators for photoinduced mild hyperthermia. Physiochemical characterizations of the as-prepared nanocomposites, including structure, morphology, photothermal effects, and an in vitro drug release profile, were systematically investigated. Further, 2-deoxyglucose-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was anchored onto the surface of the nanocomposites to endow the nanoplatform with targeting ability to tumor cells, which resulted in a 17-fold increase of NP internalization within human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) as competed with PEG-modified nanocomposites. Mild hyperthermia can be successfully mediated by the nanoplatform, and the temperature can be conveniently controlled by careful modulation of the PPy contents within the nanocomposites or the laser power density. Importantly, we have demonstrated that MCF-7 cells, which are markedly resistant to heat treatment of traditional water-bath hyperthermia, became sensitive to the PLGA/PPy nanocomposite-mediated photothermal therapy under the same mild-temperature hyperthermia. Moreover, DTX-loaded PLGA/PPy-nanocomposite-induced mild hyperthermia can strongly enhance drug cytotoxicity to MCF-7 cells. Under the same thermal dose, photoinduced hyperthermia can convert the interaction between hyperthermia and drug treatment from interference to synergism. This is the first report on the one-pot synthesis of PLGA/PPy nanocomposites by in situ pyrrole polymerization, and such a multifunctional nanoplatform is demonstrated as a high-potential agent for photoinduced mild hyperthermia and enhanced chemotherapy.

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Nano-treating is a novel concept wherein a low percentage of nanoparticles is used for microstructural control and property tuning in metals and alloys. The nano-treating of AA7075 was investigated to control its microstructure and improve its structural stability for high performance. After treatment with TiC nanoparticles, the grains were significantly refined from coarse dendrites of hundreds of micrometers to fine equiaxial ones smaller than 20 μm. After T6 heat treatment, the grains, with an average size of 18.5 μm, remained almost unchanged, demonstrating an excellent thermal stability. It was found that besides of growth restriction factor by pinning behavior on grain boundries, TiC nanoparticles served as both an effective nucleation agent for primary grains and an effective secondary phase modifier in AA7075. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of nano-treated AA7075 were improved over those of the pure alloy. Thus, nano-treating provides a new method to enhance the performance of aluminum alloys for numerous applications.