BackgroundOptical imaging (OI) techniques such as bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging have been widely used to track diseases in a non-invasive manner within living subjects. These techniques generally require bioluminescent and fluorescent probes. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of using radioactive probes for in vivo molecular OI.Methodology/Principal FindingsBy taking the advantages of low energy window of light (1.2–3.1 eV, 400–1000 nm) resulting from radiation, radionuclides that emit charged particles such as β+ and β− can be successfully imaged with an OI instrument. In vivo optical images can be obtained for several radioactive probes including 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose ([18F]FDG), Na18F, Na131I, 90YCl3 and a 90Y labeled peptide that specifically target tumors.Conclusions/SignificanceThese studies demonstrate generalizability of radioactive OI technique. It provides a new molecular imaging strategy and will likely have significant impact on both small animal and clinical imaging.

A new method to illuminate quantum dots (QDs) by radiation luminescence as an internal light source is reported. The excited QDs can produce fluorescence for both in vitro and in vivo imaging. This study provides an alternate strategy for the design of self‐illuminated optical imaging agents. Radiation‐luminescence‐excited QDs can also be readily adapted for dual‐modality imaging.

The tumor ecosystem of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is poorly characterized. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we profile transcriptomes of 158,577 cells from 11 patients’ paratumors, localized/advanced tumors, initially-treated/recurrent lymph nodes and radioactive iodine (RAI)-refractory distant metastases, covering comprehensive clinical courses of PTC. Our data identifies a “cancer-primed” premalignant thyrocyte population with normal morphology but altered transcriptomes. Along the developmental trajectory, we also discover three phenotypes of malignant thyrocytes (follicular-like, partial-epithelial-mesenchymal-transition-like, dedifferentiation-like), whose composition shapes bulk molecular subtypes, tumor characteristics and RAI responses. Furthermore, we uncover a distinct BRAF-like-B subtype with predominant dedifferentiation-like thyrocytes, enriched cancer-associated fibroblasts, worse prognosis and promising prospect of immunotherapy. Moreover, potential vascular-immune crosstalk in PTC provides theoretical basis for combined anti-angiogenic and immunotherapy. Together, our findings provide insight into the PTC ecosystem that suggests potential prognostic and therapeutic implications.

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The performance of the CZE method evaluated in terms of precision, limits of detection, accuracy and quantification were comparable and in good agreement with those obtained by the HPLC method, with the advantage of shorter analysis time and lower cost.

The fluidal jet turbulator has been a novel perturbation generator in the pulse-detonation engines research field for the past few years. In this paper, an experiment is performed to study the deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) process in a detonation chamber with a reactive transverse methane-oxygen mixture jet in crossflow (JICF). The jet injection arrangement is fundamentally investigated, including single jet and various double jets patterns. Corresponding two-dimensional direct numerical simulations with a multistep chemical kinetics mechanism are employed for analyzing details in the flow field, and the interaction between the vortex and flame temporal evolution is characterized. Both the experiments and simulations demonstrate that the JICF can distinctly accelerate flame propagation and shorten the DDT time and distance. The vortex stream induced by the jet distorts and wrinkles the flame front resulting in local flame acceleration. Moreover, the double jet patterns enhance flame acceleration more than the single jet injection because of the intrinsic counterrotating vortex pairs and enhanced turbulence intensity.

Abstract. Reporter gene/reporter probe technology is one of the most important techniques in molecular imaging. Lately, many reporter gene/reporter probe systems have been coupled to different imaging modalities such as positron emission tomography (PET) and optical imaging (OI). It has been recently found that OI techniques could be used to monitor radioactive tracers in vitro and in living subjects. In this study, we further demonstrate that a reporter gene/nuclear reporter probe system [herpes simplex virus type-1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-tk) and 9-(4-18 F-fluoro- Molecular imaging combines molecular biology and medical imaging, allowing the visualization of cellular processes in living subjects at the molecular level. Reporter gene/reporter probe technology is a powerful molecular imaging technique that provides a generalizable method for noninvasive imaging of protein expression, protein function, and protein-protein interaction.

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