To provide a polymer having a high ratio of the amount thereof present in a tumor to the amount thereof present in blood (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as a tumor/blood ratio).

The polymer has phosphorylcholine (derivative) as a side chain and has a dye (near-infrared dye) having absorption in the near-infrared wavelength region bound to the polymer.

Polymeric particles are provided for use in therapeutic and/or diagnostic procedures. The particles include poly[bis(trifluoroethoxy)phosphazene and/or a derivative thereof which may be present throughout the particles or within an outer coating of the particles. The particles may also include a core having a hydrogel formed from an acrylic-based polymer. Such particles may be provided to a user in specific selected sizes to allow for selective embolization of certain sized blood vessels or localized treatment with an active component agent in specific clinical uses. Particles of the present invention may further be provided as color-coded microspheres or nanospheres to allow ready identification of the sized particles in use. Such color-coded microspheres or nanospheres may further be provided in like color-coded delivery or containment devices to enhance user identification and provide visual confirmation of the use of a specifically desired size of microspheres or nanospheres.

The present disclosure relates to an ultrasound phantom for a focused ultrasound wave. More specifically, the present invention provides an ultrasound phantom which mimics a body so as to correspond to a speed of sound in the body, in which agarose, sucrose, polydiacetylene vesicle, and distilled water are mixed, and a specific part onto which an ultrasound wave is irradiated by a focused ultrasound transducer is gradually discolored in accordance with a temperature.

The present disclosure relates to an ultrasound phantom for a focused ultrasound wave. More specifically, the present invention provides an ultrasound phantom which mimics a body so as to correspond to a speed of sound in the body, in which agarose, sucrose, polydiacetylene vesicle, and distilled water are mixed, and a specific part onto which an ultrasound wave is irradiated by a focused ultrasound transducer is gradually discolored in accordance with a temperature.

A photoacoustic flow cytometry (PAFC) device for the in vivo detection of cells circulating in blood or lymphatic vessels is described. Ultrasound transducers attached to the skin of an organism detect the photoacoustic ultrasound waves emitted by target objects in response to their illumination by at least one pulse of laser energy delivered using at least one wavelength. The wavelengths of the laser light pulse may be varied to optimize the absorption of the laser energy by the target object. Target objects detected by the device may be unlabelled biological cells or cell products, contrast agents, or biological cells labeled with one or more contrast agents.

A photoacoustic flow cytometry (PAFC) device for the in vivo detection of cells circulating in blood or lymphatic vessels is described. Ultrasound transducers attached to the skin of an organism detect the photoacoustic ultrasound waves emitted by target objects in response to their illumination by at least one pulse of laser energy delivered using at least one wavelength. The wavelengths of the laser light pulse may be varied to optimize the absorption of the laser energy by the target object. Target objects detected by the device may be unlabelled biological cells or cell products, contrast agents, or biological cells labeled with one or more contrast agents.

A method of non-invasively detecting and purging bacterial cells using a modified photoacoustic in vivo flow cytometer device is described herein. In particular, a method of detecting bacterial cells by analyzing photoacoustic pulses emitted in response to laser pulses from a pulsed laser source and/or selectively destroying the detected bacterial cells using a non-linear photothermal response induced by a high-energy laser pulse is described herein.

A method of manufacturing a suspension of gas-filled microvesicles by reconstituting a freeze-dried product and a suspension obtained according to said method, where the freeze-dried product has been subjected to a thermal treatment

A composition for stabilizing a fluorocarbon emulsion. That composition includes phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine-PEG, and a cone-shaped lipid.

Methods of synthesizing water-soluble thiolate-protected gold nanoparticles of uniform size and conjugates thereof are disclosed. In particular, the invention relates to a method of synthesizing homogeneous, water-soluble gold nanoparticles by using a modified Brust procedure and methods of conjugating them. Gold nanoparticles, produced by the methods of the invention, are useful in various therapeutic and imaging applications where the use of gold nanoparticles having uniform structural and optical properties is desired.