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Single-cell assay of transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (scATAC-seq) unbiasedly profiles genome-wide chromatin accessibility in single cells. In single-cell tumor studies, identification of normal cells or tumor clonal structures often relies on copy-number alterations (CNAs). However, CNA detection from scATAC-seq is difficult due to the high noise, sparsity, and confounding factors. Here, we describe AtaCNA, a computational algorithm that accurately detects high-resolution CNAs from scATAC-seq data. We benchmark AtaCNA using simulation and real data and find AtaCNA's superior performance. Analyses of 10 scATAC-seq datasets show that AtaCNA could effectively distinguish malignant from non-malignant cells. In glioblastoma, endometrial, and ovarian cancer samples, AtaCNA identifies subclones at distinct cellular states, suggesting an important interplay between genetic and epigenetic plasticity. Some tumor subclones only differ in small-scale (10-20 Mb) CNAs, demonstrating the importance of high-resolution CNA detection. These data show that AtaCNA can aid in integrative analysis to understand the complex heterogeneity in cancer., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests R.X. is a shareholder of GeneX Health Co., Ltd. Y.S. is a shareholder of BeiGene Co., Ltd. All financial interests are unrelated to this work., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective. Estimating the high-resolution (HR) blood flow velocity and pressure fields for the diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases remains challenging. Approach . In this study, a physics-informed neural network (PINN) with a refined mapping capability was combined with ultrafast ultrasound image velocimetry (u-UIV) to predict HR hemodynamic parameters. Specifically, the Navier-Stokes equations were encoded into the PINN to dynamically optimize the network performance under physical constraints, and a refined mapping network was added at the input to achieve data refinement. During the prediction of HR ultrasound hemodynamic parameters, only the sparse spatial coordinates in the time series were input into the PINN, and the velocity vectors generated from the u-UIV were used together with physical residuals to enhance the physical correctness of HR predictions during the iterative process. Main results. The performance of the refined mapping network was validated via simulations, with a 1.9-fold increase in the radial resolution and a 2.5-fold increase in the axial resolution. HR velocity field estimation from in vitro and in vivo data showed good agreement with theoretical values and u-UIV measurements, with micrometer-level spatial resolution (88 µ m×115 µ m for straight vessel, 75 µ m×120 µ m for stenotic vessel and 63 µ m × 79 µ m for in vivo data), while the pressure field could be inferred from physical laws. Significance. The proposed method performs well when few data samples are available and has the potential to assist in the clinical diagnosis of vascular diseases., (© 2025 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved.)

Follicle count, a pivotal metric in the adjunct diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), is often underestimated when assessed via transvaginal ultrasonography compared to MRI. Nevertheless, the repeatability of follicle counting using traditional MR images is still compromised by motion artifacts or inadequate spatial resolution. In this prospective study involving 22 PCOS patients, we employed periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) and single-shot fast spin-echo (SSFSE) T2-weighted sequences to suppress motion artifacts in high-resolution ovarian MRI. Additionally, deep learning (DL) reconstruction was utilized to compensate noise in SSFSE imaging. We compared the performance of DL reconstruction SSFSE (SSFSE-DL) images with conventional reconstruction SSFSE (SSFSE-C) and PROPELLER images in follicle detection, employing qualitative indices (blurring artifacts, subjective noise, and conspicuity of follicles) and the repeatability of follicle number per ovary (FNPO) assessment. Despite similar subjective noise between SSFSE-DL and PROPELLER as assessed by one observer, SSFSE-DL images outperformed SSFSE-C and PROPELLER images across all three qualitative indices, resulting in enhanced repeatability in FNPO assessment. These results highlighted the potential of DL reconstruction high-resolution SSFSE imaging as a more dependable method for identifying polycystic ovary, thus facilitating more accurate diagnosis of PCOS in future clinical practices., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Breath-hold T2-weighted half-Fourier acquisition single-shot turbo spin echo (HASTE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the upper abdomen with a slice thickness below 5 mm suffers from high image noise and blurring. The purpose of this prospective study was to improve image quality and accelerate imaging acquisition by using single-breath-hold T2-weighted HASTE with deep learning (DL) reconstruction (DL-HASTE) with a 3 mm slice thickness. Method: MRI of the upper abdomen with DL-HASTE was performed in 35 participants (5 healthy volunteers and 30 patients) at 3 Tesla. In a subgroup of five healthy participants, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) analysis was used after DL reconstruction to identify the smallest possible layer thickness (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 mm). DL-HASTE was acquired with a 3 mm slice thickness (DL-HASTE-3 mm) in 30 patients and compared with 5 mm DL-HASTE (DL-HASTE-5 mm) and with standard HASTE (standard-HASTE-5 mm). Image quality and motion artifacts were assessed quantitatively using Laplacian variance and semi-quantitatively by two radiologists using five-point Likert scales. Results: In the five healthy participants, DL-HASTE-3 mm was identified as the optimal slice (SNR 23.227 ± 3.901). Both DL-HASTE-3 mm and DL-HASTE-5 mm were assigned significantly higher overall image quality scores than standard-HASTE-5 mm (Laplacian variance, both p < 0.001; Likert scale, p < 0.001). Compared with DL-HASTE-5 mm (1.10 × 10 -5 ± 6.93 × 10 -6 ), DL-HASTE-3 mm (1.56 × 10 -5 ± 8.69 × 10 -6 ) provided a significantly higher SNR Laplacian variance ( p < 0.001) and sharpness sub-scores for the intestinal tract, adrenal glands, and small anatomic structures (bile ducts, pancreatic ducts, and vessels; p < 0.05). Lesion detectability was rated excellent for both DL-HASTE-3 mm and DL-HASTE-5 mm (both: 5 [IQR4-5]) and was assigned higher scores than standard-HASTE-5 mm (4 [IQR4-5]; p < 0.001). DL-HASTE reduced the acquisition time by 63-69% compared with standard-HASTE-5 mm ( p < 0.001). Conclusions : DL-HASTE is a robust abdominal MRI technique that improves image quality while at the same time reducing acquisition time compared with the routine clinical HASTE sequence. Using ultra-thin DL-HASTE-3 mm results in an even greater improvement with a similar SNR.

Drug overdoses have risen dramatically in recent years. We developed a simple nontargeted method using a disposable paper spray cartridge with an integrated solid phase extraction column. This method was used to screen for ~160 fentanyl analogs, synthetic cannabinoids, other synthetic drugs, and traditional drugs of abuse in over 300 authentic overdose samples collected at emergency departments in Indianapolis. A solid phase extraction step was implemented on the paper spray cartridge to enable subnanograms per milliliter synthetic drugs screening in plasma. Analysis was performed on a quadrupole orbitrap mass spectrometer using the sequential window acquisition of all theoretical fragment ion spectra approach in which tandem mass spectrometry was performed using 7 m/z isolation windows in the quadrupole. Calibration curves with isotopically labeled internal standards were constructed for 35 of the most frequently encountered synthetic and traditional illicit drugs by US toxicology labs. Additional qualitative-only drugs in a suspect screening list were also included. Limits of detection in plasma for synthetic cannabinoids ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 and 0.1 to 0.3 ng/mL for fentanyl and its analogs and between 1 and 5 ng/mL for most other drugs. Relative matrix effects were evaluated by determining the variation of the calibration slope in 10 different lots of biofluid and found to be between 3% and 20%. The method was validated on authentic overdose samples collected from two emergency departments in Indianapolis, Indiana, from suspected or known overdoses. Commonly detected synthetic drugs included fentanyl related substances, designer benzodiazepines such as flubromazolam, and the synthetic cannabinoid 5F-PB-22., (© 2024 The Authors. Drug Testing and Analysis published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: The angiographic features of moyamoya disease (MMD) and atherosclerosis-associated moyamoya vasculopathy (AS-MMV) are similar, but the etiology and clinical treatment strategies are different. Differentiating MMD from AS-MMV helps to choose the appropriate treatment., Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of a nomogram based on high-resolution vessel wall (HR-VWI) MRI features to differentiate MMD from AS-MMV., Study Type: Retrospective., Subjects: One hundred and two patients with MMD (N = 52) or AS-MMV (N = 50) in the training cohort (9-72 years; 54 females) and 70 patients with MMD (N = 42) or AS-MMV (N = 28) in the validation cohort (7-69 years; 33 females)., Field Strength/sequence: 3-T, three-dimensional time-of-flight MR angiography (3D-TOF-MRA), spin echo high-resolution 3D T1-weighted imaging (3D-T1WI), 3D T2-weighted imaging (3D-T2WI), and contrast-enhanced 3D-T1WI., Assessment: Image assessment was performed by three neuroradiologists (with 10, 15, and 18 years of experience). Demographic characteristic and image features were evaluated and compared. Independent factors of MMD were screened to construct a nomogram model in the training cohort. The validation cohort was used to validated its generality., Statistical Tests: Interclass correlation coefficient (ICC), kappa, t-test, χ 2 test, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, area under the curve (AUC), calibration curve and concordance index (C-index). A P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant., Results: Significant differences were observed between MMD and AS-MMV in terms of age, vessel outer diameter, vessel wall thickening pattern, maximum thickness, dot sign, and anterior cerebral artery (ACA) involved. Age, outer diameter, dot sign, and ACA involved were independent factors. The C-index was 0.886 in the training cohort and 0.859 in the validation cohort. The ROC demonstrated high diagnostic efficacy with an AUC of 0.884 in the training cohort and 0.857 in the validation cohort., Data Conclusion: A nomogram model based on age, vessel outer diameter, dot sign and ACA involved may effectively distinguish MMD from AS-MMV with good reliability and accuracy., Evidence Level: 4 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 2., (© 2024 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

This article reports a 110.2 MHz ultra-low-power phase-locked loop (PLL) for MEMS timing/frequency reference oscillator applications. It utilizes a 6.89 MHz MEMS-based oscillator as an input reference. An ultra-low-power, high-resolution phase-frequency detector (PFD) is utilized to achieve low-noise performance. Eliminating the reset feedback path used in conventional PFDs leads to dead/blind zone-free phase characteristics, which are crucial for low-noise applications within a wide operating frequency range. The PFD operates up to 2.5 GHz and achieves a linear resolution of 100 ps input time difference (Δtin), without the need for any additional calibration circuits. The linearity of the proposed PFD is tested over a phase difference corresponding to aa Δtin ranging from 100 ps to 50 ns. At a 1 V supply voltage, it shows an error of <±1.6% with a resolution of 100 ps and a frequency-normalized power consumption (Pn) of 0.106 pW/Hz. The PLL is designed and fabricated using a TSMC 65 nm CMOS process instrument and interfaced with the MEMS-based oscillator. The system reports phase noises of -106.21 dBc/Hz and -135.36 dBc/Hz at 1 kHz and 1 MHz offsets, respectively. It consumes 6.709 μW at a 1 V supply and occupies an active CMOS area of 0.1095 mm 2 .

Technological advances in fMRI including ultra-high magnetic fields (≥ 7 T) and acquisition methods that increase spatial specificity have paved the way for studies of the human cortex at the scale of layers and columns. This mesoscopic scale promises an improved mechanistic understanding of human cortical function so far only accessible to invasive animal neurophysiology. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have applied such methods to better understand the cortical function in perception and cognition. This future perspective article asks whether closed-loop fMRI studies could equally benefit from these methods to achieve layer and columnar specificity. We outline potential applications and discuss the conceptual and concrete challenges, including data acquisition and volitional control of mesoscopic brain activity. We anticipate an important role of fMRI with mesoscopic resolution for closed-loop fMRI and neurofeedback, yielding new insights into brain function and potentially clinical applications.This article is part of the theme issue 'Neurofeedback: new territories and neurocognitive mechanisms of endogenous neuromodulation'.

The MV X-Press Pearl accident near Sri Lanka in May 2021 released several pollutants into the ocean, including 1843.3 t of urea, raising concerns about the impact on the region. This study uses a coupled ocean (NEMO)-biogeochemistry (ERSEM) model to simulate urea dispersion under various scenarios. While it doesn't directly reflect the real accident, it provides insights into the potential impact of similar chemical spills. By adjusting tracer release rates and timing, we assessed their impact on the distribution of the chemical plume. Findings show slower release rates prolong higher urea concentrations, potentially causing phytoplankton blooms, while monsoon conditions significantly affect dispersal patterns. Due to a lack of publicly available urea observations, we used particle tracking experiments validated with data on plastic nurdle beaching. This research shows how a simpler, affordable scenario approach could inform the management of chemical spills without a fully developed operational oceanographic system., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

A high-resolution and low-cost image-based water level sensor was developed using an image processing algorithm. The sensor measures water levels in six channels simultaneously. The image processing algorithm automatically identifies water level images and determines the water levels by analyzing the brightness of the images. The measured water levels were verified by comparison with the calibrated water levels using known length standards. The performance test results of the developed water level sensor were compared with those of commercial water level sensors, demonstrating a superior resolution of 0.06 mm and an inexpensive cost of USD 80. In addition, the developed sensor demonstrated an accuracy of 0.9%, a stability of 0.3%, an adjustable measurement range, and an instantaneous response time. In conclusion, the image-based water level sensor that was developed provides a reliable method for real-time visual monitoring of water levels in six channels simultaneously.

Purpose: We aim to reduce image noise in high-resolution (HR) virtual monoenergetic images (VMIs) from photon-counting detector (PCD) CT scans by developing a prior knowledge-aware iterative denoising neural network (PKAID-Net) that efficiently exploits the unique noise characteristics of VMIs at different energy (keV) levels., Approach: PKAID-Net offers two major features: first, it utilizes a lower-noise VMI (e.g., 70 keV) as a prior input; second, it iteratively constructs a refined training dataset to improve the neural network's denoising performance. In each iteration, the denoised image from the previous module serves as an updated target image, which is included in the dataset for the subsequent training iteration. Our study includes 10 patient coronary CT angiography exams acquired on a clinical dual-source PCD-CT (NAEOTOM Alpha, Siemens Healthineers). The HR VMIs were reconstructed at 50, 70, and 100 keV, using a sharp vascular kernel (Bv68) and thin (0.6 mm) slice thickness (0.3 mm increment). PKAID-Net's performance was evaluated in terms of image noise, spatial detail preservation, and quantitative accuracy., Results: PKAID-Net achieved a noise reduction of 96% compared to filtered back projection and 65% relative to iterative reconstruction, all while preserving spatial and spectral fidelity and maintaining a natural noise texture. The iterative refinement of PCD-CT data during the training process substantially enhanced the robustness of deep learning-based denoising compared to the original method, which resulted in some spatial detail loss., Conclusions: The PKAID-Net provides substantial noise reduction while maintaining spatial and spectral fidelity of the HR VMIs from PCD-CT., (© 2024 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).)

Purpose: To overcome the major challenges in diffusion MRI (dMRI) acquisition, including limited SNR, distortion/blurring, and susceptibility to motion artifacts., Theory and Methods: A novel Romer-EPTI technique is developed to achieve SNR-efficient acquisition while providing distortion-free imaging, minimal spatial blurring, high motion robustness, and simultaneous multi-TE imaging. It introduces a ROtating-view Motion-robust supEr-Resolution technique (Romer) combined with a distortion/blurring-free Echo Planar Time-resolved Imaging (EPTI) readout. Romer enhances SNR through simultaneous multi-thick-slice acquisition with rotating-view encoding, while providing high motion-robustness via a high-fidelity, motion-aware super-resolution reconstruction. Instead of EPI, the in-plane encoding is performed using EPTI readout to prevent geometric distortion, T 2 /T 2 *-blurring, and importantly, dynamic distortions that could introduce additional blurring/artifacts after super-resolution reconstruction due to combining volumes with inconsistent geometries. This further improves effective spatial resolution and motion robustness. Additional developments include strategies to address slab-boundary artifacts, achieve minimized TE and optimized readout for additional SNR gain, and increase robustness to strong phase variations at high b-values., Results: Using Romer-EPTI, we demonstrated distortion-free whole-brain mesoscale in-vivo dMRI at both 3T (500-μm isotropic [iso] resolution) and 7T (485-μm iso resolution) for the first time. Motion experiments demonstrated the technique's motion robustness and its ability to obtain high-resolution diffusion images in the presence of subject motion. Romer-EPTI also demonstrated high SNR gain and robustness in high b-value (b = 5000 s/mm 2 ) and time-dependent dMRI., Conclusion: The high SNR efficiency, improved image quality, and motion robustness of Romer-EPTI make it a highly efficient acquisition for high-resolution dMRI and microstructure imaging., (© 2024 The Author(s). Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Miniaturized spectrometers have significantly advanced real-time analytical capabilities in fields such as environmental monitoring, healthcare diagnostics, and industrial quality control by enabling precise on-site spectral analysis. However, achieving high sensitivity and spectral resolution within compact devices remains a significant challenge, particularly when detecting low-concentration analytes or subtle spectral variations critical for chemical and molecular analysis. This study introduces an innovative approach employing guided-mode resonance filters (GMRFs) to address these limitations. Functioning similarly to notch filters, GMRFs selectively block specific spectral bands while allowing others to pass, maximizing energy extraction from incident light and enhancing spectral encoding. Our design incorporates narrow band-stop filters, which are essential for accurate spectrum reconstruction, resulting in improved resolution and sensitivity. Our spectrometer delivers a spectral resolution of 0.8 nm over a range of 370-810 nm. It achieves sensitivity values that are more than ten times greater than those of conventional grating spectrometers during fluorescence spectroscopy of mouse jejunum. This enhanced sensitivity and resolution are particularly beneficial for chemical and biological applications, facilitating the detection of trace analytes in complex matrices. Furthermore, the spectrometer's compatibility with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology enables scalable and cost-effective production, fostering broader adoption in chemical analysis, materials science, and biomedical research. This study underscores the transformative potential of the GMRF-based spectrometer as an innovative tool for advancing chemical and interdisciplinary analytical applications.

Global Net Anthropogenic Nitrogen Input (NANI) at high resolution is crucial for assessing the impact of human activities on aquatic environments. Insufficient global high-resolution data sources and methods have hindered the effective examination of the global characteristics and driving forces of NANI. This study presents a general framework for calculating global NANI, providing estimates at a 5-arc-minute resolution and over 1.42 million lake basins in 2015. The results highlight the region near the Tropic of Cancer as a concentration area for high NANI and an inflection point for latitude-based accumulation variation. It also emphasizes the uneven distribution of NANI among continents, with Asia and Africa having the highest proportions, yet their high and low values are notably lower than those of Europe and South America. A similar pattern is observed in global lakes, where Asia has the smallest quantity and volume, but the highest NANI intensity. In contrast, North America and Europe have larger quantities and volumes but the lowest NANI intensity. The global distribution characteristics reveal a clustering pattern in high and low values, with 1.25 % of the area having a sum of NANI exceeding 20 %. The uncertainty analysis regarding model parameters indicates that continents with the highest NANI do not always exhibit the highest uncertainty. These results bridge the gap between global nitrogen sustainable management and anthropogenic nitrogen input. They support research on spatiotemporal changes and controlling factors of global river nutrient loads, as well as the impact of climatic factors on basin nitrogen loss and its variability., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Deep learning is progressively emerging as a vital tool for image reconstruction in light field microscopy. The present review provides a comprehensive examination of the latest advancements in light field image reconstruction techniques based on deep learning algorithms. First, the review briefly introduced the concept of light field and deep learning techniques. Following that, the application of deep learning in light field image reconstruction was discussed. Subsequently, we classified deep learning-based light field microscopy reconstruction algorithms into three types based on the contribution of deep learning, including fully deep learning-based method, deep learning enhanced raw light field image with numerical inversion volumetric reconstruction, and numerical inversion volumetric reconstruction with deep learning enhanced resolution, and comprehensively analyzed the features of each approach. Finally, we discussed several challenges, including deep neural approaches for increasing the accuracy of light field microscopy to predict temporal information, methods for obtaining light field training data, strategies for data enhancement using existing data, and the interpretability of deep neural networks., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Lin, Tian, Zhang, Zhu and Wang.)

Amidst robust global economic growth and advancing globalization, the aviation market is poised for significant expansion. Consequently, the environmental impact of aviation emissions is growing in significance. However, due to limitations in real flight data and aviation emissions index models, further clarification of the emission characteristics throughout entire flights is necessary. To better assess the emission characteristics of entire flights, this study employs real Quick Access Recorder (QAR) data and a high-precision aviation emissions index model, yielding four-dimensional emission data (time, longitude, latitude, altitude) from flights. The analysis compares QAR data with emissions from scheduled flight data (SFD) and Broadcast Automatic Correlation Monitoring (ADS-B) projections, explores seasonal variations in aviation emissions, and assesses the impact of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) on emissions reductions. For both number and mass of nvPM emissions, as well as nitrogen oxide emissions, the rankings are: ADS-B-E > SFD-E > QAR-E; for CO, SFD-E > ADS-B-E > QAR-E, particularly during the climb-cruise-descent (CCD) cycle. There are significant differences in the emission of aviation pollutants in airport area and high-altitude area in different seasons. Employing four types of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) significantly reduces both the mass and the number of nvPM emissions. Therefore, it is recommended to utilize more QAR data to refine the assessment of the environmental impact of aviation emissions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The public health concern of antibiotic residues in animal-origin food has been a long-standing issue. In this work, we present a novel method for antibiotic detection, leveraging optical weak value amplification and harnessing an indirect competitive inhibition assay, which significantly boosts the system's sensitivity in identifying small molecule antibiotics. We chose chloramphenicol as a model compound and mixed it with chloramphenicol-bovine serum albumin conjugates to bind to the chloramphenicol antibody competitively. We achieved a broad linear detection range of up to 3.24 ng/mL and a high concentration resolution of 33.20 pg/mL. To further validate the universality of our proposed detection methodology, we successfully applied it to testing gibberellin and tetracycline. Moreover, we conducted regeneration experiments and real-sample correlation studies. This study introduces a novel strategy for the label-free optical sensing of small molecule antibiotics, greatly expanding the range of applications for sensors utilizing optical weak value amplification., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Marine aerosols (MA) can be influenced by sea ice concentration, potentially playing a pivotal role in the formation of cloud condensation nuclei and exerting an impact on regional climate. In this study, a high-resolution aerosol observation system was employed to measure the concentration and size of aerosols in the floating ice region and seawater region of the Arctic Ocean during the 8th and 9th Chinese Arctic Expedition Research Cruise. The identification of aerosol sources was conducted using a modified positive definite matrix factorization method and a backward air mass trajectory model. Two types of MA including the sea-salt aerosol (SSA) and the marine biogenic aerosol (BA) were identified and their concentrations were calculated. Then the physical-chemical characteristics of MA in the floating ice region and seawater region were compared under normalized conditions (-2.5 °C < T < -0.1 °C; 5.80 m/s < WS < 10.95 m/s) to discern the impact of sea ice. A unimodal distribution was observed for MA number concentration with a dominant peak ranging from 0.5 μm to 1.0 μm in size range. The findings revealed that the presence of sea ice cover led to a significant reduction of 52.2 % in the number concentration of SSA, while exerting minimal influence on its composition. BA number concentration in the floating ice region was 33.3 % higher than that in the seawater region. Strong winds (wind speed >6.5 m/s) transported organic matter and nutrients entrapped in sea ice into the atmosphere, leading to an increase in BA concentration. However, the presence of sea ice cover hampered the exchange of biogenic gases between the ocean and air, resulting in a reduction of secondary BA formation. Our study elucidates the correlation between MA release and sea ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean, thereby establishing a theoretical foundation for climate prediction models., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The new HLA-A*36:15 allele differs from A*36:01:01:01 at position -44 in exon 1., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Reference evapotranspiration (ET 0 ) estimation is crucial for efficient irrigation planning, optimized water management and ecosystem modeling, yet it presents significant challenges, particularly when meteorological data availability is limited. This study utilized remote sensing data of land surface temperature (LST), day of year, and latitude, and employed a machine learning approach (i.e., random forest) to develop an improved remote sensing ET 0 model. The model performed excellently in 567 meteorological stations in China with an R 2 of 0.97, RMSE of 0.40, MBE of 0.00, and MAPE of 0.11 compared to the FAO-PM ET 0 ; it also performed well globally, yielding an average R 2 of 0.97 and RMSE of 0.43 across 120 sites in mid-latitude (20°-50°) regions. This model demonstrates simplicity, accuracy, robust and generalization, holding great potential for widespread application, especially in the large-scale, high-resolution estimation of ET 0 . This study will contribute to advancements in water resources management, agricultural planning, and climate change studies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The ability to detect fast responses with functional MRI depends on the speed of hemodynamic responses to neural activity, because hemodynamic responses act as a temporal low-pass filter which blurs rapid changes. However, the shape and timing of hemodynamic responses are highly variable across the brain and across stimuli. This heterogeneity of responses implies that the temporal specificity of fMRI signals, or the ability of fMRI to preserve fast information, could also vary substantially across the cortex. In this work we investigated how local differences in hemodynamic response timing affect the temporal specificity of fMRI. We used ultra-high field (7T) fMRI at high spatiotemporal resolution, studying the primary visual cortex (V1) as a model area for investigation. We used visual stimuli oscillating at slow and fast frequencies to probe the temporal specificity of individual voxels. As expected, we identified substantial variability in temporal specificity, with some voxels preserving their responses to fast neural activity more effectively than others. We investigated which voxels had the highest temporal specificity, and tested whether voxel timing was related to anatomical and vascular features. We found that low temporal specificity is only weakly explained by the presence of large veins or cerebral cortical depth. Notably, however, temporal specificity depended strongly on a voxel's position along the anterior-posterior anatomical axis of V1, with voxels within the calcarine sulcus being capable of preserving close to 25% of their amplitude as the frequency of stimulation increased from 0.05Hz to 0.20Hz, and voxels nearest to the occipital pole preserving less than 18%. These results indicate that detection biases in high-resolution fMRI will depend on the anatomical and vascular features of the area being imaged, and that these biases will differ depending on the timing of the underlying neuronal activity. While we attribute this variance primarily to hemodynamic effects, neuronal nonlinearities may also influence response timing. Importantly, this spatial heterogeneity of temporal specificity suggests that it could be exploited to achieve higher specificity in some locations, and that tailored data analysis strategies may help improve the detection and interpretation of fast fMRI responses., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interests The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Spectral polarization imaging is critical for broad applications ranging from remote sensing to biomedicine. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an imaging spectropolarimeter based on a single multifunctional metasurface. The designed metasurface accurately maps spectral and polarization information onto focal points and vortex beams, enabling simultaneous detection through intensity distributions. More specifically, spectral detection is achieved by determining the azimuthal angle of the strongest focal point, while polarization detection is accomplished by synthesizing the intensity of focal points and the interference pattern of output vortex beams. Experimental results indicate the successful reconstruction for six discrete wavelengths, with the average relative polarization error ranging from 7.85% to 13%. Additionally, the metasurface exhibits excellent imaging and edge detection capabilities owing to the focusing properties and the generation of vortex beams, achieving an imaging resolution of up to 1.4-fold wavelength and offering a new solution for a wide range of applications.

Purpose: Dysphagia is common in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Yet, literature describing swallow function in PD using high-resolution manometry is limited. This study explored swallowing pressure metrics for varied bolus conditions in people with PD., Method: A solid-state unidirectional catheter was used to acquire manometric data for triplicate swallows (5 ml, 10 ml, 20 ml; IDDSI 0, 2 & 4). Penetration-aspiration severity was rated during videofluoroscopy. Patient-reported measures included PDQ-8: Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-8 and EAT-10: Eating Assessment Tool-10. Quantitative manometric swallow analysis was completed through Swallow Gateway™. Metrics were compared to published normative values and generalized linear model tests explored modulatory effects., Results: 21 participants (76% male; mean age 69.6 years, SD 7.1) with mild-moderate severity PD were studied. Two patients (9%) aspirated for single bolus thin liquid and paste trials and 15 patients (73%) scored > 3 EAT-10. Standardized PDQ-8 scores correlated with EAT-10 (p < 0.05). Abnormality in UES relaxation and distension was demonstrated by high UES integrated relaxation pressure and low UES maximum admittance (UES MaxAdm) values across varied bolus conditions. Participants demonstrated abnormally elevated pharyngeal contractility and increased post-swallow upper-esophageal sphincter (UES) contractility for thinner liquid trials. Alterations in volume and viscosity had significant effects on the bolus timing metric-distention to contraction latency. UES peak pressure measures were altered in relation to bolus viscosity., Conclusion: This study identifies early pharyngoesophageal contractile changes in relation to bolus volume and viscosity in PD patients, associated with subtle deterioration of self-reported swallow scores. Manometric evaluation may offer insight into PD-related swallowing changes and help optimize diagnostics and treatment planning., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

High-resolution soil moisture data is crucial in the development of hydrological applications as it provides detailed insights into the spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture. The emergence of advanced remote sensing technologies, alongside the widespread adoption of machine learning, has facilitated the creation of continental and global soil moisture products both at fine spatial (1 km) and temporal (daily) scales. Some of these products rely on several data sources as input (satellite, in situ, modelling), and therefore an evaluation of their actual spatial and temporal resolution is required. Nevertheless, the absence of appropriate ground monitoring networks poses a significant challenge for this assessment. In this study, five high-resolution (1 km) soil moisture products (S1-RT1, S1-COP, SMAP-Planet, SMAP-NSIDC, and ESACCI-Zheng) were analysed and evaluated throughout the Italian territory, together with a coarse resolution (12.5 km) dataset for comparison (ASCAT-HSAF). The main objective is to investigate their actual spatial and temporal resolution, and accuracy. Firstly, a cross-comparison of the products in space and time is carried out, including the use of triple collocation analysis. Secondly, an application-based assessment is implemented, considering irrigation, fire, drought, and precipitation case studies. The results clearly indicate the limitations and the potential of each product. Sentinel-1 based products (S1-COP and S1-RT1) are found able to reproduce high-resolution spatial patterns by detecting localised events for irrigation, fire, and precipitation. Their lower temporal resolution leads to accuracies lower than that of the SMAP-Planet product, and comparable with SMAP-NSIDC and ESACCI-Zheng products. However, SMAP-Planet is found to have an actual spatial resolution coarser than 1 km. The study highlights the need for further research to improve the high-resolution soil moisture products, and particularly to determine accurately the spatial resolution represented in soil moisture products. At the same time, the analysed products are found able to address high-resolution applications for the first time, opening promising activities for their operational use in hydrology and water resources management., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Luca Brocca reports financial support was provided by National Research Council of Italy. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is dependent on detailed morphology in diagnostic assessment of interstitial lung diseases. Photon-counting CT (PCCT) enables improved resolution while reducing radiation., Purpose: To compare if the image quality, detailed morphology, and radiation dose in HRCT of the lung improves with PCCT compared to energy-integrated CT (EICT)., Material and Methods: HRCT with PCCT in patients with body mass index (BMI) from normal to obese, previously examined with different EICT were included. They were evaluated in a five-step scale for image quality according to Quality Criteria for CT (Diagnostic Requirement of the ImPACT group-European standardization). In addition, ground-glass opacities, bronchiectasis, emphysema, nodules, and subpleural detailed morphology (≤1 cm from the pleural border) were evaluated by three independent thoracic and/or pediatric radiologists. Visual grading characteristics (VGC) were used for comparison of image quality and detailed morphology and Fleiss kappa for intra-observer variability. Dose-length product (DLP) and CT dose index-volume (CTDI vol ) were collected to calculate effective radiation dose., Results: HRCT with PCCT in 52 women and 48 men (mean age=67.2 ± 13.6 years; age range=27-87 years; BMI=26.9 kg/m 2 ; range=18.6-45 kg/m 2 ) previously examined with EICT (mean age=65.3 ± 13.6 years; age range=27-85 years; BMI=27 kg/m 2 ; range=18.9-45 kg/m 2 ) were included. There were significant differences in image quality for all entities in favor of PCCT. The radiation dose was reduced with PCCT by 47% in all, particularly pronounced in obese with 48.5%., Conclusion: Image quality, detailed morphology, and radiation dose, particularly in obese patients, were significantly improved in HRCT with PCCT compared to conventional EICT. The new technique enables visualization of subpleural structures., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Objective: This paper proposes an ultrasound imaging algorithm based on sub-beamformer and multi-apodization with cross-correlation (SUB-MAX), aiming to achieve high resolution close to the minimum variance (MV) beamforming with low complexity and to enhance image contrast while maintaining background quality., Methods: The output of two (N/2)-element DAS beamformers with asymmetric phase centers is subtracted, resulting in a large drop in the main-lobe amplitude, while the sidelobe maintains a relatively high amplitude level. Inspired by this characteristic, the coefficients with opposite trends compared with the subtracted output are obtained and fused with the normalized cross-correlation (NCC) weighting matrix acquired by using multi-pair received apodization, the proposed SUB-MAX obtains a new weighting matrix to weight the output of the DAS beamformer., Results: For ats&#95;wire point targets, the average full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of SUB-MAX compared with DAS, DMAS, CF, and MAX decreases by 52.7%, 43.5%, 33.3%, and 52.7%, respectively. For geabr&#95;0 cysts, the average contrast ratio (CR) of SUB-MAX compared with DAS, MV, DMAS, and CF increases by 57.7%, 86.8%, 2.5%, and 14.4%, respectively. Experiments on rat&#95;tumor dataset also indicate that SUB-MAX has a superior comprehensive imaging performance., Conclusion: The experimental results indicate that the superior comprehensive imaging performance of the proposed SUB-MAX is expected to be suitable for real-time imaging systems due to its non-reliance on covariance matrix inversion., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A high resolution, acceptable accuracy and low power consumption time-domain temperature sensor is proposed and simulated in this paper based on a 180 nm standard CMOS technology. A diode stacking structure is introduced to enhance the accuracy of the temperature sensing core. To improve the resolution of the sensor, a dual-input capacitor multiplexing voltage-to-time converter (VTC) is implemented. Additionally, a low-temperature drift voltage-mode relaxation oscillator (ROSC) is proposed, effectively reducing the large oscillation frequency drift caused by significant temperature impacts on delay errors. The simulated results show that the resolution is as high as 0.0071 °C over 0∼120 °C with +0.43 °C/-0.38 °C inaccuracy and 1.9 pJ · K 2 resolution FoM, consuming only 1.48 μW at a 1.2 V supply voltage.

This work presents a novel ΣΔ analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architecture for a high-resolution sensor interface. The concept is to reduce the effect of kT/C noise generated by the loop filter by placing the gain stage in front of the loop filter. The proposed architecture effectively reduces the kT/C noise power from the loop filter by as much as the squared gain of the added gain stage. The gain stage greatly relaxes the loop filter's sampling capacitor requirements. The target resolution is 20 bit. The sampling frequency is 512 kHz, and the oversampling ratio (OSR) is only 256 for a target resolution. Therefore, the proposed ΔΣ ADC structure allows for high-resolution ADC design in an environment with a limited OSR. The proposed ADC designed in 65 nm CMOS technology operates at supply voltages of 1.2 V and achieves a peak signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and Schreier Figure of Merit (FoMs) of 117.7 dB and 180.4 dB, respectively.

Accurate labeling of specific layers in the human cerebral cortex is crucial for advancing our understanding of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Building on recent advancements in ultra-high-resolution ex vivo MRI, we present a novel semi-supervised segmentation model capable of identifying supragranular and infragranular layers in ex vivo MRI with unprecedented precision. On a dataset consisting of 17 whole-hemisphere ex vivo scans at 120 $\mu $m, we propose a Multi-resolution U-Nets framework that integrates global and local structural information, achieving reliable segmentation maps of the entire hemisphere, with Dice scores over 0.8 for supra- and infragranular layers. This enables surface modeling, atlas construction, anomaly detection in disease states, and cross-modality validation while also paving the way for finer layer segmentation. Our approach offers a powerful tool for comprehensive neuroanatomical investigations and holds promise for advancing our mechanistic understanding of progression of neurodegenerative diseases., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Purpose: QSM provides insight into healthy brain aging and neuropathologies such as multiple sclerosis (MS), traumatic brain injuries, brain tumors, and neurodegenerative diseases. Phase data for QSM are usually acquired from 3D gradient-echo (3D GRE) scans with long acquisition times that are detrimental to patient comfort and susceptible to patient motion. This is particularly true for scans requiring whole-brain coverage and submillimeter resolutions. In this work, we use a multishot 3D echo plannar imaging (3D EPI) sequence with shot-selective 2D CAIPIRIHANA to acquire high-resolution, whole-brain data for QSM with minimal distortion and blurring., Methods: To test clinical viability, the 3D EPI sequence was used to image a cohort of MS patients at 1-mm isotropic resolution at 3 T. Additionally, 3D EPI data of healthy subjects were acquired at 1-mm, 0.78-mm, and 0.65-mm isotropic resolution with varying echo train lengths (ETLs) and compared with a reference 3D GRE acquisition., Results: The appearance of the susceptibility maps and the susceptibility values for segmented regions of interest were comparable between 3D EPI and 3D GRE acquisitions for both healthy and MS participants. Additionally, all lesions visible in the MS patients on the 3D GRE susceptibility maps were also visible on the 3D EPI susceptibility maps. The interplay among acquisition time, resolution, echo train length, and the effect of distortion on the calculated susceptibility maps was investigated., Conclusion: We demonstrate that the 3D EPI sequence is capable of rapidly acquiring submillimeter resolutions and providing high-quality, clinically relevant susceptibility maps., (© 2024 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

In this review, we summarize the latest advances in the design of optical frequency-domain reflectometers (OFDRs), digital signal processing, and sensors based on special optical fibers. We discuss state-of-the-art approaches to improving metrological characteristics, such as spatial resolution, SNR, dynamic range, and the accuracy of determining back reflection coefficients. We also analyze the latest achievements in the OFDR-based sensors: the accuracy of spatial localization of the impact, the error in detecting temperatures, deformation, and other quantities, and the features of separate measurement of various physical quantities. We also pay attention to the trend of mutual integration of frequency-domain optical reflectometry methods with time-domain optical reflectometry, which provides completely new sensing possibilities. We believe that this review may be useful to engineers and scientists focused on developing a lab setup, complete measurement instrument, or sensing system with specific requirements.

Background: Cardiac T1 mapping is valuable for evaluating myocardial fibrosis, yet its resolution and acquisition efficiency are limited, potentially obscuring visualization of small pathologies., Purpose: To develop a technique for high-resolution cardiac T1 mapping with a less-than-100-millisecond acquisition window based on radial MOdified Look-Locker Inversion recovery (MOLLI) and a calibrationless space-contrast-coil locally low-rank tensor (SCC-LLRT) constrained reconstruction., Study Type: Prospective., Subjects/phantom: Sixteen healthy subjects (age 25 ± 3 years, 44% females) and 12 patients with suspected cardiomyopathy (age 57 ± 15 years, 42% females), NiCl2-agar phantom., Field Strength/sequence: 3-T, standard MOLLI, radial MOLLI, inversion-recovery spin-echo, late gadolinium enhancement., Assessment: SCC-LLRT was compared to a conventional locally low-rank (LLR) method through simulations using Normalized Root-Mean-Square Error (NRMSE) and Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM). Radial MOLLI was compared to standard MOLLI across phantom, healthy subjects, and patients. Three independent readers subjectively evaluated the quality of T1 maps using a 5-point scale (5 = best)., Statistical Tests: Paired t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, intraclass correlation coefficient analysis, linear regression, Bland-Altman analysis. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant., Results: In simulations, SCC-LLRT demonstrated a significant improvement in NRMSE and SSIM compared to LLR. In phantom, both radial MOLLI and standard MOLLI provided consistent T1 estimates across different heart rates. In healthy subjects, radial MOLLI exhibited a significantly lower mean T1 (1115 ± 39 msec vs. 1155 ± 36 msec), similar T1 SD (74 ± 14 msec vs. 67 ± 23 msec, P = 0.20), and similar T1 reproducibility (28 ± 18 msec vs. 22 ± 15 msec, P = 0.34) compared to standard MOLLI. In patients, the proposed method significantly improved the sharpness of myocardial boundaries (4.50 ± 0.65 vs. 3.25 ± 0.43), the conspicuity of papillary muscles and fine structures (4.33 ± 0.74 vs. 3.33 ± 0.47), and artifacts (4.75 ± 0.43 vs. 3.83 ± 0.55). The reconstruction time for a single slice was 5.2 hours., Data Conclusion: The proposed method enables high-resolution cardiac T1 mapping with a short acquisition window and improved image quality., Evidence Level: 1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 1., (© 2024 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Context: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D) is associated with an increased risk of fragility fracture despite normal areal bone mineral density (BMD). The contribution of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PN) to volumetric BMD (vBMD) and bone microarchitecture in T2D is not explored., Objective: To assess vBMD and microarchitectural properties of bone using high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) in patients of T2D with or without PN., Design: This is a cross-sectional study of patients of T2D divided into two groups [patients with T2D without PN (Group A) and T2D with PN (Group B)]. All patients underwent clinical examination, biochemical evaluation, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and HR-pQCT of the radius and tibia., Results: A total of 296 patients were included in the study [Group A (n = 98), Group B (n = 198)]. HR-pQCT demonstrated a significant difference in total vBMD[mg/cm 3 ] at tibia (291.6 ± 61.8 vs. 268.2 ± 63.0; p-0.003); cortical vBMD[mg/cm 3 ] at tibia [912.5 (863.3, 962.4) vs. 853.8 (795.3, 913.2) p-0.000], among groups A and B respectively. Among the microarchitecture parameters, there was a significant difference in cortical porosity at the tibia (2.5% ±1.7% vs. 3%±1.7%; p-0.004), trabecular number[mm -1 ] at the tibia [1.080 (0.896, 1.237) vs. 1.140 (0.983, 1.286), p-0.045] and trabecular thickness[mm] at the radius [0.228 (0.217, 0.247) Vs. 0.238 (0.224, 0.253); p-0.006], among groups A and B respectively., Conclusion: Despite comparable areal BMD, T2D patients with PN have diminished vBMD and deteriorated skeletal microarchitecture, compared to those without PN., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Research Trust of DiabetesIndia (DiabetesIndia) and National Diabetes Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation (N-DOC). Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The collaboration of Yale, the University of California, Davis, and United Imaging Healthcare has successfully developed the NeuroEXPLORER, a dedicated human brain PET imager with high spatial resolution, high sensitivity, and a built-in 3-dimensional camera for markerless continuous motion tracking. It has high depth-of-interaction and time-of-flight resolutions, along with a 52.4-cm transverse field of view (FOV) and an extended axial FOV (49.5 cm) to enhance sensitivity. Here, we present the physical characterization, performance evaluation, and first human images of the NeuroEXPLORER. Methods: Measurements of spatial resolution, sensitivity, count rate performance, energy and timing resolution, and image quality were performed adhering to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) NU 2-2018 standard. The system's performance was demonstrated through imaging studies of the Hoffman 3-dimensional brain phantom and the mini-Derenzo phantom. Initial 18 F-FDG images from a healthy volunteer are presented. Results: With filtered backprojection reconstruction, the radial and tangential spatial resolutions (full width at half maximum) averaged 1.64, 2.06, and 2.51 mm, with axial resolutions of 2.73, 2.89, and 2.93 mm for radial offsets of 1, 10, and 20 cm, respectively. The average time-of-flight resolution was 236 ps, and the energy resolution was 10.5%. NEMA sensitivities were 46.0 and 47.6 kcps/MBq at the center and 10-cm offset, respectively. A sensitivity of 11.8% was achieved at the FOV center. The peak noise-equivalent count rate was 1.31 Mcps at 58.0 kBq/mL, and the scatter fraction at 5.3 kBq/mL was 36.5%. The maximum count rate error at the peak noise-equivalent count rate was less than 5%. At 3 iterations, the NEMA image-quality contrast recovery coefficients varied from 74.5% (10-mm sphere) to 92.6% (37-mm sphere), and background variability ranged from 3.1% to 1.4% at a contrast of 4.0:1. An example human brain 18 F-FDG image exhibited very high resolution, capturing intricate details in the cortex and subcortical structures. Conclusion: The NeuroEXPLORER offers high sensitivity and high spatial resolution. With its long axial length, it also enables high-quality spinal cord imaging and image-derived input functions from the carotid arteries. These performance enhancements will substantially broaden the range of human brain PET paradigms, protocols, and thereby clinical research applications., (© 2024 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.)

Background and Objective: The high incidence of nodular thyroid pathology has led to growing concern about the economic impact that this pathology represents on the healthcare system. There are conclusive data about the cost-effectiveness of high-resolution units for nodular thyroid pathology; however, their implementation is not homogeneous in the Endocrinology and Nutrition services of our country. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the economic impact of the implementation of the high-resolution thyroid nodule unit (HRTNU) in our center., Patients and Methods: The present work is a prospective, observational and descriptive study carried out in 1314 patients (82% women, mean age 58 years ds = 11) evaluated at the HRTNU during the period of August 2022-August 2023. Demographic data (age and sex) were analyzed, referral center and consultation type, number of total consultations and neck ultrasound performed, number of fine needle aspiration (FNAB) performed, and cytology results were analyzed., Results: In the period from August 2022 to August 2023, a total of 1314 patients were evaluated (neck ultrasound and clinical consultation) and a total of 133 FNAB were performed, of which only 2.26% were non-diagnostic. Compared to the percentage of unsatisfactory FNAB from the previous year August 2021-July 2022 of 25%, a mean saving of 9931.43 euros was estimated. 84.47% of the patients evaluated for the first time by the HRTNU were discharged, estimating a mean saving of 133,200 euros., Conclusions: The implementation of a HRTNU at the Endocrinology and Nutrition departments, coordinated with primary and specialized care, is a cost-effectiveness alternative, as it reduces the number of medical consultations and is accompanied by a higher rate of diagnostic FNAB., (Copyright © 2024 SEEN and SED. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

The new HLA-DRB3*03:69 allele differs from DRB3*03:01:01:03 by change of C → G in exon 3., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The screening of drugs in plasma and urine often requires initial extraction (such as liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction) before the samples are submitted to instrumental analyses. These extraction procedures are often laborious and time-consuming. In this manuscript, a high-throughput automated assay based on liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) suitable for use as an initial testing procedure covering multiple classes of compounds prohibited in horse racing is described. The assay requires a 600-μL plasma aliquot, which is subjected to solid phase extraction (SPE) using OASIS HLB 96-well SPE with Biotage Extrahera system, evaporation, and reconstitution in a 96-well collection plate. LC-HRMS analyses were carried out on a Thermo Q-Exactive Mass spectrometer coupled with Thermo UHPLC system equipped with Thermo Accela ALS 2.4.0 autosampler linked to ACE Excel column. Drug targets were detected by retention time and accurate mass, with a mass tolerance window of 5 ppm in positive and negative ionization mode. The screening method was validated for over 300 drug targets in a 13-min run. Validation data including sensitivity, specificity, extraction recovery, and precision are presented. As the method employs full-scan mass spectrometry, unlimited number of drug targets can theoretically be incorporated into this method., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Infant meningitis remains a severe burden on global health, particularly for young infants. Traditional ultrasound imaging techniques are limited in spatial resolution to visualize white blood cells (WBCs) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is considered a well-established marker for meningitis detection. This work presents a novel platform that uses high-resolution ultrasound to detect the backscatter signals from microscopic CSF WBCs through the anterior fontanelle of neonates and young infants. The whole system was built around a custom probe that allows for a 20 MHz focused transducer to be mechanically controlled to map the area of interest in the CSF. Data processing can be performed internally in the device without the need to extract the images for further analysis. The in vitro feasibility of the proposed solution was evaluated in imaging 7 μm particle suspensions at different concentrations relevant to meningitis diagnosis ranging from 7- to 646-particles (pp)/μL. The experimental tests were conducted from a simple setup using a sample container to a more realistic setup based on an anatomical phantom of the neonatal head. The results show high-quality images, where 7 μm particles can be resolved for the different concentrations.

The advancement of medical imaging has profoundly impacted our understanding of the human body and various diseases. It has led to the continuous refinement of related technologies over many years. Despite these advancements, several challenges persist in the development of medical imaging, including data shortages characterized by low contrast, high noise levels, and limited image resolution. The U-Net architecture has significantly evolved to address these challenges, becoming a staple in medical imaging due to its effective performance and numerous updated versions. However, the emergence of Transformer-based models marks a new era in deep learning for medical imaging. These models and their variants promise substantial progress, necessitating a comparative analysis to comprehend recent advancements. This review begins by exploring the fundamental U-Net architecture and its variants, then examines the limitations encountered during its evolution. It then introduces the Transformer-based self-attention mechanism and investigates how modern models incorporate positional information. The review emphasizes the revolutionary potential of Transformer-based techniques, discusses their limitations, and outlines potential avenues for future research.

Objective. Intan Technologies' integrated circuits (ICs) are valuable tools for neurophysiological data acquisition, providing signal amplification, filtering, and digitization from many channels (up to 64 channels/chip) at high sampling rates (up to 30 kSPS) within a compact package (⩽9× 7 mm). However, we found that the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) in the Intan RHD2000 series ICs can produce artifacts in recorded signals. Here, we examine the effects of these ADC artifacts on neural signal quality and describe a method to detect them in recorded data. Approach. We identified two types of ADC artifacts produced by Intan ICs: 1) jumps, resulting from missing output codes, and 2) flatlines, resulting from overrepresented output codes. We identified ADC artifacts in neural recordings acquired with Intan RHD2000 ICs and tested the repeated performance of 17 ICs in vitro . With the on-chip digital-signal-processing disabled, we detected the ADC artifacts in each test recording by examining the distribution of unfiltered ADC output codes. Main Results. We found larger ADC artifacts in recordings using the Intan RHX data acquisition software versions 3.0-3.2, which did not run the necessary ADC calibration command when the inputs to the Intan recording controller were rescanned. This has been corrected in the Intan RHX software version 3.3. We found that the ADC calibration routine significantly reduced, but did not fully eliminate, the occurrence and size of ADC artifacts as compared with recordings acquired when the calibration routine was not run ( p < 0.0001). When the ADC calibration routine was run, we found that the artifacts produced by each ADC were consistent over time, enabling us to sort ICs by performance. Significance. Our findings call attention to the importance of evaluating signal quality when acquiring electrophysiological data using Intan Technologies ICs and offer a method for detecting ADC artifacts in recorded data., (© 2024 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

The contamination of paper products by various chemicals has been reported on a global level, but to date, no published research has investigated pharmaceutical contamination of paper-based products. In this study, pharmaceutical analysis was conducted on 42 samples collected from various points of the recycled paper value chain in Cape Town, South Africa, which included the various grades that may be included in the manufacturing of recycled paperboard. The analysis was achieved by ultrasonic-assisted extraction of paper samples before detection by UHPLC-Q Orbitrap. Quantification limits ranged from 1.15 pg/g for ketoprofen to 46.07 pg/g for methocarbamol. Pharmaceuticals identified in newspaper samples were dexamethasone, ketoprofen, and 17β-estradiol. The latter was also detected in paper shopping bags (up to 697.49 ng/g), infant bathtub packaging (280.62 ng/g), battery packaging (137.43 ng/g), and an egg carton (170.47 ng/g). Carbamazepine was also prominent with its concentration reaching 13.02 ng/g in a vegetable box. Suspect screening tentatively identified 14 additional pharmaceuticals in paper samples, with minocycline, prazepam, and anabolic steroids appearing more prominently. This pioneering study indicated that unintentional pharmaceutical exposure had expanded beyond environmental media to consumer products., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Nondumiso Mofokeng reports funding was provided by Mpact Operations Pty (Ltd). All other authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

2-Benzylbenzimidazoles, or "nitazenes", are a class of novel synthetic opioids (NSOs) that are increasingly being detected alongside fentanyl analogs and other opioids in drug overdose cases. Nitazenes can be 20× more potent than fentanyl but are not routinely tested for during postmortem or clinical toxicology drug screens; thus, their prevalence in drug overdose cases may be under-reported. Traditional analytical workflows utilizing liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) often require additional confirmation with authentic reference standards to identify a novel nitazene. However, additional analytical measurements with ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) may provide a path toward reference-free identification, which would greatly accelerate NSO identification rates in toxicology laboratories. Presented here are the first IMS and collision cross section (CCS) measurements on a set of fourteen nitazene analogs using a structures for lossless ion manipulations (SLIM)-orbitrap MS. All nitazenes exhibited two high intensity baseline-separated IMS distributions, which fentanyls and other drug and druglike compounds also exhibit. Incorporating water into the electrospray ionization (ESI) solution caused the intensities of the higher mobility IMS distributions to increase and the intensities of the lower mobility IMS distributions to decrease. Nitazenes lacking a nitro group at the R1 position exhibited the greatest shifts in signal intensities due to water. Furthermore, IMS-MS/MS experiments showed that the higher mobility IMS distributions of all nitazenes possessing a triethylamine group produced fragment ions with m / z 72, 100, and other low intensity fragments while the lower mobility IMS distributions only produced fragment ions with m / z 72 and 100. The IMS, solvent, and fragmentation studies provide experimental evidence that nitazenes potentially exhibit three gas-phase protomers. The cyclic IMS capability of SLIM was also employed to partially resolve four sets of structurally similar nitazene isomers (e.g., protonitazene/isotonitazene, butonitazene/isobutonitazene/secbutonitazene), showcasing the potential of using high-resolution IMS separations in MS-based workflows for reference-free identification of emerging nitazenes and other NSOs.

The aim of this study was to identify and quantify artifacts produced by commonly used dental restorative materials in both standard and high-resolution cone beam computed tomographic imaging. In this in vitro study, 25 different dental materials were placed in holes (3 mm in diameter × 2 mm thick) prepared in the center of 10 × 10-mm polymethyl methacrylate plates. The specimens, along with a control plate prepared with an unfilled hole, were scanned at standard and high resolutions. The gray values (GVs) of the specimens were measured at 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-mm distances from the material surfaces, and in 8 different directions, resulting in 32 measurements per specimen. The absolute value of the difference (ΔGV) between the GV of each measurement point on the specimen disc and the GV of the corresponding point on the control disc was considered to be the number of artifacts at that point. The median ΔGV of each material was calculated, and the materials were then ranked in terms of artifact formation using the Kruskal-Wallis test. At standard resolution, the greatest numbers of artifacts were caused by AH 26 root canal sealer and Heraenium S nickel-chromium alloy, and the fewest were caused by Whitepost DC #3 glass fiber post and ChemFil Superior glass ionomer cement. At high resolution, the greatest numbers of artifacts were found in amalgam (admix; SDI) and Heraenium S, and the fewest in Whitepost DC and GC Initial enamel porcelain. The median ΔGV values at standard and high resolutions were 46.0 and 57.0, respectively. High and standard resolutions were significantly different in terms of artifact formation (P = 0.001; Wilcoxon test). AH 26 sealer was the only material that demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in artifact formation at high resolution compared with standard resolution (P = 0.05; Wilcoxon test). The number of artifacts produced by dental materials at both resolutions decreased with an increasing distance from the surface of the material., Competing Interests: No conflicts of interest reported.

The periaqueductal gray (PAG) is a small midbrain structure that surrounds the cerebral aqueduct, regulates brain-body communication, and is often studied for its role in "fight-or-flight" and "freezing" responses to threat. We used ultra-high-field 7 T fMRI to resolve the PAG in humans and distinguish it from the cerebral aqueduct, examining its in vivo function during a working memory task ( N  = 87). Both mild and moderate cognitive demands elicited spatially similar patterns of whole-brain blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response, and moderate cognitive demand elicited widespread BOLD increases above baseline in the brainstem. Notably, these brainstem increases were not significantly greater than those in the mild demand condition, suggesting that a subthreshold brainstem BOLD increase occurred for mild cognitive demand as well. Subject-specific masks were group aligned to examine PAG response. In PAG, both mild and moderate demands elicited a well-defined response in ventrolateral PAG, a region thought to be functionally related to anticipated painful threat in humans and nonhuman animals-yet, the present task posed only the most minimal (if any) "threat," with the cognitive tasks used being approximately as challenging as remembering a phone number. These findings suggest that the PAG may play a more general role in visceromotor regulation, even in the absence of threat., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interests., (Copyright © 2024 Fischbach et al.)

The impact of global climate change on mountainous regions with significant elevational gaps is complex and often unpredictable. In particular, alpine grassland ecosystems, are experiencing changes in their spatial patterns along elevational gradients, which increases their vulnerability to degradation. Therefore, a more detailed understanding of spatiotemporal changes in alpine grassland productivity along elevational gradients and an elevation-dependent characterization of the effects of climatic variables on grassland productivity dynamics are essential. Thus, we conducted a study in the Tibetan Plateau, where we collected 2251 above-ground biomass (AGB) observations collected from 1986 to 2020. Mean annual temperature (TMP), annual precipitation (PRE), interannual precipitation variability (CVP), and snowmelt (SNMM) were chosen as influential variables. Using the Random Forest algorithm, we generated an AGB raster dataset covering the period 1989-2020 based on earth observation data at 30 m resolution to examine the dynamics of alpine grasslands and their response to climate change with respect to elevation. The results showed that the AGB of alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau was 49.17 g/m 2 . We observed an increasing trend in grassland AGB at high elevations, with a growth rate of about 0.28 g/m 2 per year within the interval of 3100-4800 m. However, above the elevation of approximately 4400-4600 m, we observed a decoupling trend between grassland AGB and TMP. Moreover, at most elevations, the proportion of maximum partial correlation coefficients for CVP, PRE, and SNMM surpassed that of TMP. We found the dominant role of precipitation variability on grassland AGB dynamics, with 22.80 % and 18.86 % for CVP+ and CVP-, respectively. The proportion of CVP+ did not vary much at different elevations, whereas the proportion of CVP- increased with elevation, varying between 12.85 and 30.25 %. In the future, precipitation on the Tibetan plateau is expected to increase, potentially reversing its original positive impact., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: This study aims to develop a high-resolution whole-brain multi-parametric quantitative MRI approach for simultaneous mapping of myelin-water fraction (MWF), T 1 , T 2 , and proton-density (PD), all within a clinically feasible scan time., Methods: We developed 3D visualization of short transverse relaxation time component (ViSTa)-MRF, which combined ViSTa technique with MR fingerprinting (MRF), to achieve high-fidelity whole-brain MWF and T 1 /T 2 /PD mapping on a clinical 3T scanner. To achieve fast acquisition and memory-efficient reconstruction, the ViSTa-MRF sequence leverages an optimized 3D tiny-golden-angle-shuffling spiral-projection acquisition and joint spatial-temporal subspace reconstruction with optimized preconditioning algorithm. With the proposed ViSTa-MRF approach, high-fidelity direct MWF mapping was achieved without a need for multicompartment fitting that could introduce bias and/or noise from additional assumptions or priors., Results: The in vivo results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed acquisition and reconstruction framework to provide fast multi-parametric mapping with high SNR and good quality. The in vivo results of 1 mm- and 0.66 mm-isotropic resolution datasets indicate that the MWF values measured by the proposed method are consistent with standard ViSTa results that are 30× slower with lower SNR. Furthermore, we applied the proposed method to enable 5-min whole-brain 1 mm-iso assessment of MWF and T 1 /T 2 /PD mappings for infant brain development and for post-mortem brain samples., Conclusions: In this work, we have developed a 3D ViSTa-MRF technique that enables the acquisition of whole-brain MWF, quantitative T 1 , T 2 , and PD maps at 1 and 0.66 mm isotropic resolution in 5 and 15 min, respectively. This advancement allows for quantitative investigations of myelination changes in the brain., (© 2023 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

The identification of nanoparticles within heterogeneous mixtures poses significant challenges due to the similarity in physical properties among different nanomaterials. Here, we present electrochemically assisted high-resolution plasmonic scattering interferometric microscopy (HR-PSIM). This technique allows for the high-throughput identification of nanoparticles by accurately measuring the refractive index of individual nanoparticles without interference from background signals. Through elimination of parabolic scattering interference and employing electrochemical modulation, HR-PSIM demonstrates high spatial resolution and stability against background noise, enabling the differentiation of nanoparticles with closely matched refractive indices, such as Au and Ag nanoparticles. The efficacy of this method is demonstrated through its application in real-time, label-free imaging of nanoparticle electrochemical activity, providing a platform for the precise and high-throughput characterization of nanomaterials. The robustness of our approach against electrochemical interference and its high spatial resolution mark a significant advancement in the field of nanomaterial analysis, promising wide-ranging applications in nanoparticle research and beyond.

Surface NO 2 pollution can result in serious health consequences such as cardiovascular disease, asthma, and premature mortality. Due to the extensive spatial variation in surface NO 2 , the spatial resolution of a NO 2 dataset has a significant impact on the exposure and health impact assessment. There is currently no long-term, high-resolution, and publicly available NO 2 dataset for China. To fill this gap, this study generated a NO 2 dataset named RBE-DS-NO2 for China during 2005-2020 at 1 km and daily resolution. We employed the robust back-extrapolation via a data augmentation approach (RBE-DA) to ensure the predictive accuracy in back-extrapolation before 2013, and utilized an improved spatial downscaling technique (DS) to refine the spatial resolution from 10 km to 1 km. Back-extrapolation validation based on 2005-2012 observations from sites in Taiwan province yielded an R 2 of 0.72 and RMSE of 10.7 μg/m 3 , while cross-validation across China during 2013-2020 showed an R 2 of 0.73 and RMSE of 9.6 μg/m 3 . RBE-DS-NO2 better captured spatiotemporal variation of surface NO 2 in China compared to the existing publicly available datasets. Exposure assessment using RBE-DS-NO2 show that the population living in non-attainment areas (NO 2  ≥ 30 μg/m 3 ) grew from 376 million in 2005 to 612 million in 2012, then declined to 404 million by 2020. Unlike this national trend, exposure levels in several major cities (e.g., Shanghai and Chengdu) continued to increase during 2012-2020, driven by population growth and urban migration. Furthermore, this study revealed that low-resolution dataset (i.e., the 10 km intermediate dataset before the downscaling) overestimated NO 2 levels, due to the limited specificity of the low-resolution model in simulating the relationship between NO 2 and the predictor variables. Such limited specificity likely biased previous long-term NO 2 exposure and health impact studies employing low-resolution datasets. The RBE-DS-NO2 dataset enables robust long-term assessments of NO 2 exposure and health impacts in China., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is an advanced microwave imaging technology that provides all-weather and all-day target information. However, as spaceborne SAR resolution improves, traditional echo signal models based on airborne SAR design become inadequate due to the curved orbit, Earth rotation, and increased propagation distance. In this study, we propose an accurate range model for high-resolution spaceborne SAR by analyzing motion trajectory and Doppler parameters from the perspective of the space geometry of spaceborne SAR. We evaluate the accuracy of existing range models and propose an advanced equivalent squint range model (AESRM) that accurately fits the actual range history and compensates for high-order term errors by introducing third-order and fourth-order error terms while maintaining the simplicity of the traditional model. The proposed AESRM's concise two-dimensional frequency spectrum form facilitates the design of imaging algorithms. Point target simulations confirm the effectiveness of the proposed AESRM, demonstrating significant improvements in fitting accuracy for range histories characterized by nonlinear trajectories. The developed AESRM provides a robust foundation for designing imaging algorithms and enables higher resolution and more accurate radar imaging.