Nowadays, tumours inside the complex central nervous system remain one of the most challenging cancers to diagnose.
Different from conventional brain-imaging techniques, nearinfrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging demonstrates particular merits including being non-hazardous, offering fast feedback, and having higher sensitivity.
A research team led by Prof. ZHENG Hairong from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. LIU Bin from the University of Singapore, reported the first NIR-II fluorescent molecule with aggregation-induced-emission (AIE) characteristics for dual fluorescence and photoacoustic imaging.
Fluorescence imaging in the second NIR window (NIR-II), compared with the first NIR window (NIR-I), exhibits salient advantages of deeper penetration and higher spatiotemporal resolution, owing to further reduced photon scattering, absorption, and tissue autofluorescence in biological tissues.
Scientists designed a new donor-acceptor (D-A)-tailored NIR-II emissive AIE molecule, and formulated dots showed a high NIR-II fluorescence quantum yield up to 6.2%, owing to the intrinsic aggregation-induced emission nature of the designed molecule.
The AIE dots have been successfully used for dual NIR-II fluorescence and NIR-I photoacoustic imaging for precise non-invasive brain-tumour diagnosis. Based on the same dots, the experiments revealed that NIR-II fluorescence imaging showed a high resolution.
Meanwhile, NIR-I PA imaging intrinsically exhibited higher penetration depth than that of NIR-II fluorescence imaging, which allowed clear delineation of tumour depth in the brain.
The synergetic bimodal imaging with targeting c-RGD-decorated bright AIE nanoparticles showed precise brain-tumour diagnosis with good specificity and high sensitivity, which yielded a high S/B of 4.4 and accurately assessed the depth of tumour location inside brain tissue.
The study demonstrates the promise of NIR-II AIE molecules and their dots in dual NIR-II fluorescence and NIR-I photoacoustic imaging for precise brain cancer diagnostics.

EurekAlert
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-06/caos-nmh060818.php

Testing women for the presence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) only at the urogenital site will miss approximately 20% of STIs in women who report having receptive anal intercourse, a STD surveillance network study indicates.
“As an obstetrician-gynecologist, I thought it would be interesting to analyse data from women who report having receptive anal intercourse and see what the rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea might be,” Eloisa Llata, MD, MPH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, said in podcast prepared by the journal, Obstetrics & Gynecology.
“We found that about one in five women who reported having receptive anal intercourse will only be infected at the rectal site, so if we only screen women with a urine-based approach, we are going to miss these women and the opportunity to stop transmission,” she added.
“So this study underscores the need to ascertain a comprehensive sexual history for all patients, male and female, in order to identify risky behaviours and to test accordingly,” Llata emphasized.
The researchers collected and analysed data from the STD Surveillance Network involving 10 state and local health jurisdictions for all visits between January 2015 and December 2016.
The researchers included 94,094 visits made to STD clinics in five jurisdictions in the analysis.
A total of 7.4% of women presenting for care during a 2-year interlude reported having receptive anal intercourse.
Some 94.1% of women were tested for Chlamydia trachomatis at the urogenital site, whereas 94.5% were tested for Neisseria gonorrhea at the same site.
Fewer women, at 76.9%, were tested for the same two STIs at the rectal site.
C trachomatis positivity was 9.1%, and N gonorrhea positivity was 5.4% among women tested only at the genital site.
Results differed among women who were tested only at the rectal site. In this subgroup of women, C trachomatis was detected in 26.7% of samples and N gonorrhea in 6.1% of them.
Investigators then identified infection rates for each of the two STIs separately in women who were tested at both the genital and rectal sites.
Analysis of this subgroup of women found that 10.4% of women tested positive for C trachomatis; of these, 20.9% of women were positive for the infection at the genital site only, whereas 58.6% of women tested positive at both the genital and rectal sites.
Another 20.5% of women were positive for C trachomatis only at the rectal site.
For women who were tested at both the genital and rectal site for N gonorrhea, 4.5% of women had been infected with the STI.

MedScapehttps://tinyurl.com/y7hayez8

An innovative technique that uses mammography to determine the biological tissue composition of a tumour could help reduce unnecessary breast biopsies, according to a new study.
Mammography has been effective at reducing deaths from breast cancer by detecting cancers in their earliest, most treatable stages. However, many women are called back for additional diagnostic imaging and, in many cases, biopsies, for abnormal findings that are ultimately proven benign. Research estimates this recall rate to be more than 10 percent in the United States.
“The callback rate with mammography is much higher than ideal,” said the study’s first author, Karen Drukker, PhD, research associate professor from the Department of Radiology at the University of Chicago. “There are costs and anxiety associated with recalls, and our goal is to reduce these costs but not miss anything that should be biopsied.”
Dr. Drukker and colleagues recently studied a new technique called three-compartment breast (3CB) imaging. John Shepherd, PhD, currently at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, and his team developed 3CB while he was at the University of California in San Francisco. By measuring the water, lipid and protein tissue composition throughout the breast, 3CB might provide a biological signature for a tumour. For instance, more water in the tumour tissue might indicate angiogenesis.
For the study, the researchers acquired dual-energy mammograms from 109 women with breast masses that were suspicious or highly suggestive of a malignancy immediately prior to biopsy. The ensuing biopsies showed 35 masses to be invasive cancers, while the remaining 74 were benign.
3CB images were derived from the dual-energy mammograms and analysed along with mammography radiomics developed by Maryellen L. Giger, PhD, and her team at the University of Chicago for use in computer-aided diagnosis on breast images.
The combination of 3CB image analysis and radiomics improved the positive predictive value in breast masses deemed suspicious. The combined method improved positive predictive value from 32 percent for visual interpretation alone to almost 50 percent, with an almost 36 percent reduction in biopsies. The 3CB-radiomics method missed one of the 35 cancers, for a 97 percent sensitivity rate.
“These results are very promising,” Dr. Drukker said. “Combining 3CB image analysis with mammography radiomics, the reduction in recalls was substantial.”
Dr. Drukker said the combined 3CB-radiomics approach has the potential to play an increasingly prominent role in breast cancer diagnosis and perhaps also screening. She noted that 3CB can easily be added to mammography without requiring extensive modifications of existing equipment.
“The patient is already getting the mammography, plus we get all this extra information with only a 10 percent additional dose of radiation,” she said.

Radiological Society of North Americahttps://tinyurl.com/ychyg9wa

A new Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Accelerator Programme as part of new Calls for proposals was launched in July by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI). Of the other topics launched in the Calls, many address brain disorders (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, major depression) and immune-mediated diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis and lupus as well as inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s and colitis, and skin diseases like dermatitis and psoriasis). Among other things, the topics aim to make clinical trials more patient-centric, contribute to medicines safety, and apply blockchain technologies to the drug development and health sectors.
The Calls for proposals launched in July (IMI2 – Calls 15 and 16) have a total budget of EUR 434 million. Around half of this comes from Horizon 2020, the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation. The other half comes from EFPIA companies and IMI Associated Partners; these do not receive any funding from IMI but contribute to projects, mainly through ‘in-kind’ contributions (e.g. researchers’ time).
The aim of the new IMI AMR Accelerator is to progress the development of new medicines to treat or even prevent resistant bacterial infections in Europe and worldwide. The programme comprises three pillars. A Capability Building Network will coordinate the programme and carry out research to strengthen the scientific basis in the AMR field, while the Tuberculosis Drug Development Network will work to accelerate the discovery of new combinations of drugs to treat TB. Finally, Portfolio Building Networks will support collaborative efforts to discover, develop and advance new and innovative agents to prevent or treat AMR. The scope of the AMR Accelerator is broad; under one structure, it will address many of the scientific challenges of AMR, and it will support the development of new ways to prevent AMR (including vaccines) and treatments (including new antibiotics). More broadly, the IMI AMR Accelerator also contributes to the European action plan on AMR, which includes a chapter on boosting research, development and innovation for AMR.

The 42^nd IHF World Hospital Congress returns to Australia October 10th after more than 20 years with health leaders from more than 40 countries joining together at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre for three days of discussions, hosted by the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association (AHHA), with support from Queensland Health’s Clinical Excellence Division.
‘A big g’day to health leaders from around the world here in Brisbane eager to learn from each other over the next three days and return home inspired to improve the way we deliver healthcare to meet 21^st century needs and expectations’, said AHHA Board Chair Dr Deborah Cole.
The World Hospital Congress, under the umbrella of the International Hospital Federation (IHF), is a unique event that brings health leaders from around the globe together annually to share views and experiences, network and develop excellence in healthcare and hospital leadership. Over the last three years the event has been held in Taipei, Durban and Chicago, and it now heads to Australia for the first time since 1997.
‘Over three days, the World Hospital Congress will delve in and unpack the themes of value-based healthcare, integrated care beyond the four walls of the hospital and the data and technology needed to support this transformation’, said IHF President Dr Francisco Balestrin.
‘If you are interested in value-based healthcare you will hear from the concept co-creator and innovation expert Professor Elizabeth Teisberg who will provide her insights into the evolution that needs to take place in healthcare’, said Dr Cole. ‘She will be joined by health leaders who are implementing value-based healthcare in Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore, Denmark and Australia.
‘If you are interested in integrated care you can learn from Nigel Edwards, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust on the UK experiences in his keynote address. Dr Robert Pearl, Forbes Magazine contributor and former Permanente Medical Group Chief Executive Officer, will discuss the transformation required for integrated healthcare to maximise the health of people and communities.
‘If you are interested in the impact of data and technology on healthcare delivery you can learn what Spain is achieving with health apps, how Zambia is using technological innovations to provide better quality of care in low resource settings and how the Mayo Clinic in the USA has used technology to review and improve opioid prescribing’, said Dr Cole.
‘We are on the cusp of big changes in healthcare services around the world that will bring great benefits to patients, as well as to clinical staff and administrators’, said Dr Balestrin. ‘Let’s learn from each other and make this future happen.’

www.hospitalcongress2018.com
www.ahha.asn.au
www.ihf-fih.org