Described herein is a method for detecting changes in blood flow in a tissue portion and/or body portion of an individual. The method can be used to detect any sort of pathology, trauma or insult which results in blood flow change. Specifically, this method uses hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI to detect xenon perfusion changes in tissues such as brain tissue that corresponds to changes in blood flow, for example, changes caused by functional activities of the brain or regions of the body where blood flow may be compromised.

Dual-modality contrast agents are disclosed herein, having the general formula:

##STR00001##

R.sub.1 includes a chelating moiety that is chelated to a Mn.sup.2+ isotope. The disclosed contrast agents differentially target a wide range of malignant tumor tissues, and can be simultaneously used as contrast agents for both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission topography (PET) imaging. Accordingly, the disclosed contrast agent can be used in diagnosing and monitoring solid tumor cancers.

A composition in the form of a water-in-oil emulsion comprising: from 20% to 40% (v/v) of aqueous phase, in the form of droplets, comprising an anti-cancer agent and a densifying agent chosen from the complexes of nonionic macrocyclic chelate with a paramagnetic metal, from 60% to 80% (v/v) of lipid phase comprising an iodized oil and at least one surfactant of formula (I) in a proportion, by weight of surfactant relative to the total volume of the composition, of 0.3% to 5%, formula (I) of said surfactant being the following: ##STR00001##
in which: s is 0 or 1, m is an integer from 2 to 30, R.sub.1 represents a group of formula (II) ##STR00002## in which n is an integer from 4 to 10, o is an integer from 1 to 4, p is an integer from 3 to 7, q is an integer from 2 to 10, and r is 0 or 1, R.sub.2 represents a hydrogen atom or is identical to R.sub.1, and each R.sub.3 independently represents a hydrogen atom or is identical to R.sub.1.

Radiation therapy or radiotherapy (RT) is a powerful treatment where precision and accuracy is crucial. Image Guided Radiotherapy (IGRT) facilitates more accurate position verification, correcting for anatomic changes related to internal organ movement. IGRT thereby helps reduce toxicity of radiotherapy and increases relapse-free survival. An inter-correlation point with a fixed position and volume (a marker) can be applied to indicate the point of treatment clearly in both imaging modalities and to localize and track tumors in real time. In this study, we present the development of a marker based on lactose octaacetate:octapropionate 1:1 containing 3 mM PLA-DTPA(Gd), 40% triglyceride, 5% propylene carbonate and 10% XSAIB (sucrose based CT-contrast agent). The injectable marker had high CT contrast (>1000 HU) and displayed clearly visible, stable T.sub.1 contrast enhancement (T.sub.10.900 ms) in the rim over at least 3 weeks with clinically observable resolution.

Theranostic agents useful for imaging and treating metastatic cancer are provided. The theranostic agents comprise a TMTP1 peptide conjugated to an albumin binding moiety to prolong circulation lifetime and a chelating agent to allow complexation of a diagnostic metal ion with the theranostic agent. The theranostic agent can be conjugated, for example, to a positron-emitting metal radionuclide suitable for PET imaging such as .sup.64Cu, .sup.68Ga, .sup.44Sc, .sup.86Y, .sup.89Zr, or .sup.82Rb; or a gamma-emitting metal radionuclide suitable for single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging such as .sup.67Ga, .sup.99mTc, .sup.111In, or .sup.177Lu. Alternatively, theranostic agents can be conjugated with a paramagnetic metal ion suitable for use in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) such as manganese (e.g., Mn.sup.2+), iron (e.g., Fe.sup.3+, Fe.sup.2+) or gadolinium (e.g., Gd.sup.3+). Such theranostic agents show selective uptake by metastatic cancer cells and are useful for PET, SPECT, or MRI imaging of metastatic cells in vitro and in vivo.

The present invention provides a peptide comprising the amino acid sequence of any of the formulas (I)-(III) below: (I) an amino acid sequence of (X1)[D]P[D](X2)[D] wherein X1 is W or F, X2 is S or T, and each amino acid symbol immediately followed by symbol [D] is a D form of the amino acid, (II) an amino acid sequence of P[D]T[D](X).sub.n F[D] wherein (X).sub.n is any amino acid in the number of n selected independently of each other, n is an integer of 0-4, and the symbol [D] is as defined above, (III) an amino acid sequence that is a Retro-inverso of the amino acid sequence of any of the aforementioned (I) and the aforementioned (II);
and a conjugate containing the peptide and a functional part.

The present invention relates to a nanographene-supported metal and/or metal oxide nanoparticle composite, and method for preparing same, and uses thereof. Specifically, the present invention relates to the uses of nanographene-supported metal and/or metal oxide nanoparticle composite as catalytic material, in electrocatalysis, as catalyst for gas-phase chemical reactions, as slurry catalyst for liquid-phase chemical reactions, for water purification and waste water treatment, in the treatment of cancerous tumors, and/or in Magnetic Resonance Imagery. The present invention finds applications in the industrial technical field, in particular in the material, chemical and pharmaceutical technical fields.

The present invention relates to a nanographene-supported metal and/or metal oxide nanoparticle composite, and method for preparing same, and uses thereof. Specifically, the present invention relates to the uses of nanographene-supported metal and/or metal oxide nanoparticle composite as catalytic material, in electrocatalysis, as catalyst for gas-phase chemical reactions, as slurry catalyst for liquid-phase chemical reactions, for water purification and waste water treatment, in the treatment of cancerous tumors, and/or in Magnetic Resonance Imagery. The present invention finds applications in the industrial technical field, in particular in the material, chemical and pharmaceutical technical fields.

Salicylic acid-based polymeric CEST contrast agents targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen, pharmaceutical composition comprising the same and methods of use thereof are disclosed.

Methods and compositions for detecting and diagnosing sexually transmitted infections using a string of epitopes (SOE) specific for detection of causative microorganisms are provided. The antigenic epitopes may be single epitope sequences, a plurality of epitope sequences joined by amino acid linkers to form a series of epitopes (SOE), or nucleotide sequences encoding one or more SOEs and host cells harboring said SOE nucleotide sequences. SOEs specific for highly immunogenic regions of proteins from Trichomonas, Treponema and Neisseria species are provided. SOEs to detect the presence of Trichomonas species comprise regions from Trichomonas aldolase, GAPDH, -enolase and -actinin proteins. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising SOEs can also be used as vaccines or to elicit an immune response to specific microorganisms.