We established a photoacoustic imaging (PAI) system that can provide variable gain at different depths. The PAI system consists of a pulsed laser with an optical parametric oscillator working at a 728 nmwavelength and an imaging-acquisition-and-processing unit with an ultrasound transducer. Avoltage-controlled attenuator was used to realize variable gain at different depths when acquiring PAI signals. The proof-of-concept imaging results for variable gain at different depths were achieved using specific phantoms. Both resolution and optical contrast obtained through the results of variable gain for a targeted depth range are better than those of constant gain for all depths. To further testify the function, we imaged the sagittal section of the body of in vivo nude mice. In addition, we imaged an absorption sample embedded in a chicken breast tissue, reaching a maximum imaging depth of ~4.6 cm. The results obtained using the proposed method showed better resolution and contrast than when using 50 dB gain for all depths. The depth range resolution was ~1 mm, and the maximum imaging depth of our system reached ~4.6 cm. Furthermore, blood vessels can be revealed and targeted depth range can be selected in nude mice imaging.

Recent studies in oncology have addressed the importance of detecting circulating tumor cell clusters because circulating tumor cell clusters might survive and metastasize more easily than single circulating tumor cells. Signals with larger peak widths detected by in vivo flow cytometer (IVFC) have been used to identify cell clusters in previous studies. However, the accuracy of this criterion might be greatly degraded by variance in blood flow and the rolling behaviors of circulating tumor cells. Here, we propose a criterion and algorithm to distinguish cell clusters from single cells. In this work, we first used area-based and volume-based models for single fluorescent cells. Simulating each model, we analyzed the corresponding morphology of IVFC signals from cell clusters. According to the Rayleigh criterion, the valley between two adjacent peak signals from two distinguishable cells should be lower than 73.5% of the peak values. A novel signal processing algorithm for IVFC was developed based on this criterion. The results showed that cell clusters can be reliably identified using our proposed algorithm. Intravital imaging was also performed to further support our algorithm. With enhanced accuracy, IVFC is a powerful tool to study circulating cell clusters.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a disabling condition characterized by orthostatic intolerance with tachycardia in the absence of drop-in blood pressure. A custom-built near-infrared spectroscopy device (NIRS) is applied to monitor the muscle oxygenation, noninvasively in patients undergoing incremental head-up tilt table (HUT). Subjects (6 POTS patients and 6 healthy controls) underwent 30 mins of 70fl on a HUT. The results showed a significant difference in deoxyhemoglobin (Hb), change-in-oxygenation (ΔO_xy) and blood volume (ΔBV) between patients and healthy controls. However, oxyhemoglobin (HbO₂) showed a significantly faster rate of change in the healthy controls during the first 10 mins of the tilt and during the recovery. This NIRS muscle oximetry tool provides quantitative measurements of blood oxygenation monitoring in diseases such as POTS.

As unsafe components in herbal medicine (HM), saccharides can affect not only the drug appearance and stabilization, but also the drug efficacy and safety. The present study focuses on the in-line monitoring of batch alcohol precipitation processes for saccharide removal using nearinfrared (NIR) spectroscopy. NIR spectra in the 4000–10,000-cm_{-1 wavelength range are acquired in situ using a transflectance probe. These directly acquired spectra allow characterization of the dynamic variation tendency of saccharides during alcohol precipitation. Calibration models based on partial least squares (PLS) regression have been developed for the three saccharide impurities, namely glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Model errors are estimated as the root-meansquare errors of cross-validation (RMSECVs) of internal validation and root-mean-square errors of prediction (RMSEPs) of external validation. The RMSECV values of glucose, fructose, and sucrose were 1.150, 1.535, and 3.067 mgmL-11, and the RMSEP values were 0.711, 1.547, and 3.740 mg  mL-11, respectively. The correlation coefficients (r) between the NIR predictive and the reference measurement values were all above 0.94. Furthermore, NIR predictions based on the constructed models improved our understanding of sugar removal and helped develop a control strategy for alcohol precipitation. The results demonstrate that, as an alternative process analytical technology (PAT) tool for monitoring batch alcohol precipitation processes, NIR spectroscopy is advantageous for both efficient determination of quality characteristics (fast, in situ, and requiring no toxic reagents) and process stability, and evaluating the repeatability.}

In order to improve the diagnosis and analysis ability of 3D spiral CT and to reconstruct the contour of 3D spiral CT damage image, a contour reconstruction method based on sharpening template enhancement for 3D spiral CT damage image is proposed. This method uses the active contour LasSO model to extract the contour feature of the 3D spiral CT damage image and enhances the information by sharpening the template enhancement technique and makes the noise separation of the 3D spiral CT damage image. The spiral CT image was processed with ENT, and the statistical shape model of 3D spiral CT damage image was established. The gradient algorithm is used to decompose the feature to realize the analysis and reconstruction of the contour feature of the 3D spiral CT damage image, so as to improve the adaptive feature matching ability and the ability to locate the abnormal feature points. The simulation results show that in the 3D spiral CT damage image contour reconstruction, the proposed method performs well in the feature matching of the output pixels, shortens the contour reconstruction time by 20/ms, and provides a strong ability to express the image information. The normalized reconstruction error of CES is 30%, which improves the recognition ability of 3D spiral CT damage image, and increases the signal-to-noise ratio of peak output by 40 dB over other methods.

The bactericidal effect of laser radiation with a quartz fiber-based transmission system with a strong absorption coating converter against bacteria associated with urological stones has been studied. Gram-negative rod Escherichia coli and the Gram-positive coccus Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium were used in this study. Each bacterial species was treated by continuous-wave near infrared laser coupled with bare fiber tip or strongly absorption coating fiber tip. After treatment, the temperature of bacterial suspension was measured. In addition, the temperature distribution was analyzed. It has been shown that using laser with a strongly absorption coating fiber tip results in significant bactericidal effect. The decrease of the amount of E. coli and S. epidermidis was 100% after treatment with an output power of 6W of radiation at a wavelength of 0.97 _m for 40 s. Number of S. aureus and Ent. faecium colony-forming unit was reduced to 70% after same exposure. The peak temperature of bacterial suspension was 86_C after treatment by laser with a strongly absorption coating fiber tip. Laser with a strongly absorption coating fiber tip provides large-scale hydrodynamic flows directed away from the fiber tip. The laser with a strongly absorption coating fiber tip has bactericidal effect. The main role is associated with the effect of high temperature, which, in the form of flow in a liquid medium, affects bacteria.

Adriamycin (doxorubicin), a common cancer chemotherapeutic drug, can be used to induce a model of chronic progressive glomerular disease in rodents. In our studies, we evaluated renal changes in a rat model after Adriamycin injection using two-photon microscopy (TPM), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and Doppler OCT (DOCT). Taking advantage of deep penetration and fast scanning speed for three-dimensional (3D) label-free imaging, OCT/DOCT system was able to reveal glomerular and tubular pathology noninvasively and in real time. By imaging renal pathology following the infusion of fluorophore-labeled dextrans of different molecular weights, TPM can provide direct views of glomerular and tubular flow dynamics with the onset and progression of renal disease. Specifically, glomerular permeability and filtration, proximal and distal tubular flow dynamics can be revealed. 6–8 weeks after injection of Adriamycin, TPM and OCT/DOCT imaging revealed glomerular sclerosis, compromised flow across the glomerular wall, tubular atrophy, tubular dilation, and variable intra-tubular flow dynamics. Our results indicate that TPM and OCT/DOCT provide real-time imaging of renal pathology in vivo that has not been previously available using conventional microscopic procedures.

The growth characteristics of Aspergillus parasiticus incubated on two culture media were examined using shortwave infrared (SWIR, 1000–2500 nm) hyperspectral imaging (HSI) in this work. HSI images of the A. parasiticus colonies growing on rose bengal medium (RBM) and maize agar medium (MAM) were recorded daily for 6 days. The growth phases of A. parasiticus were indicated through the pixel number and average spectra of colonies. On score plot of the first principal component (PC1 T and PC2, four growth zones with varying mycelium densities were identified. Eight characteristic wavelengths (1095, 1145, 1195, 1279, 1442, 1655, 1834 and 1929 nm) were selected from PC1 loading, average spectra of each colony as well as each growth zone. Furthermore, support vector machine (SVM) classifier based on the eight wavelengths was built, and the classification accuracies for the four zones (from outer to inner zones) on the colonies on RBM were 99.77%, 99.35%, 99.75% and 99.60% and 99.77%, 99.39%, 99.31% and 98.22% for colonies on MAM. In addition, a new score plot of PC2 and PC3 was used to differentiate the colonies incubated on RBM and MAM for 6 days. Then characteristic wavelengths of 1067, 1195, 1279, 1369, 1459, 1694, 1834 and 1929 nm were selected from the loading of PC2 and PC3. Based on them, a new SVM model was developed to differentiate colonies on RBM and MAM with accuracy of 100.00% and 99.99%, respectively. In conclusion, SWIR hyperspectral image is a powerful tool for evaluation of growth characteristics of A. parasiticus incubated in different culture media.

Soluble microneedles (MNs) have recently become an efficient and minimally invasive tool in transdermal drug delivery because of their excellent biocompatibility and rapid dissolution. However, direct monitoring of structural and functional changes of MNs in vivo to estimate the efficiency of insulin delivery is difficult. We monitored the dissolution of MNs to obtain structural imaging of MNs' changes by using optical coherence tomography (OCT). We also observed the effect of MNs on microvascular conditions with laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and measured the blood perfusion of skin to obtain functional imaging of MNs. We determined the performance of two soluble MN arrays made from polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinyl alcohol/ polyvinylpyrolidone (PVA/PVP) by calculating the cross-sectional areas of the microchannels in mouse skin as a function of time. Moreover, the change in blood glucose before and after using MNs loaded with insulin was evaluated as an auxiliary means to demonstrate the ability of the soluble MNs to deliver insulin. Results showed that the structural imaging of these MNs could be observed in vivo via OCT in real time and the functional imaging of MNs could be showed using LSCI. OCT and LSCI are potential tools in monitoring MNs structural and functional changes.