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Phosphor screens have attracted increasing global interest because they can aid the acquisition of high-quality images while simultaneously reducing exposure. However, although increasing the thickness of the phosphor screen increases exposure efficiency due to scattered light, it also leads to a broader light spread, which results in poorer resolution. Hence, in this study, we implemented a reflector using a mirror-coating technique on the surface of a phosphor screen and analyzed its characteristics in terms of luminescence intensity and resolution. We present the fabrication and measurement of the phosphor screen based on a reflector containing Gd2O2S:Tb. The phosphor screen containing the reflector can be fabricated via the screen-printing method and roll-to-roll sputtering method. In particular, when compared to the condition without a reflector, Al and Cu reflectors showed improvements in luminescence intensity of 15.7% and 12.2%, respectively, as well as lower full widths at half maximum of 11.45 and 9.08, respectively. This quantitatively demonstrates that Cu and Al are suitable reflector materials to improve exposure efficiency while maintaining resolution in radiography systems. Moreover, because we did not utilize an optical assembly, which improves the transmission efficiency by matching the different refractive indices of the phosphor screen and photo-detector, we believe that the quantity of photons could be further improved if the reflectors were applied to a commercial product. Thus, future studies using single-layer anti-reflector coating techniques with optical assemblies are warranted.

In this study, we developed a Gd2O2S:Tb screen with a parylene-C-based antireflective (AR) layer and evaluated its optical and X-ray response properties; in particular, we focused on developing an AR coating layer to improve transmission efficiency. The phosphor screen with the parylene-Cbased AR layer can be fabricated via screen printing and chemical vapor deposition. In particular, experimental results obtained using the AR layer showed improvements of 1.47% in luminescence intensity, as well as a lower full width at half maximum of 9.40, compared to the case without using the AR layer. We observed that the roughness of the AR layer was higher than that of the phosphor screen; the image resolution improved owing to the narrow distribution of the secondary photons resulting from forward scattering attributable mainly to Mie scattering. These results indicate that parylene-C is suitable for developing AR coating materials to improve exposure efficiency while maintaining resolution in radiography systems. Therefore, we believe that the number of photons would be further increased if the AR layer were utilized in commercial products.

Milnacipran is a reuptake inhibitor of both serotonin and noradrenaline, used in the treatment of fibromyalgia with severe depression. However, few studies have been conducted on the efficacies of milnacipran drug on the functional connectivity of the neural network. The authors aimed to find the correlation between the drug efficacy and the changes in neural network in fibromyalgia patients. Resting-state-functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) were obtained before and after milnacipran drug administration. Graph theory indexes and small-worldness were calculated using preprocessed blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals from the rs-fMRI scans of 14 brain regions-of-interest. Statistical analyses were conducted to compare the topological network parameters. Significant changes in the neural network indexes appeared in three of the 14 brain regions-of-interest. In the pain network, the average path length on the left side of Brodmann area 32 was shortened. In the default mode network, functional connectivity changes were observed in the left lateral parietal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex. In the left lateral parietal cortex, the degree and betweenness centrality increased, whereas the clustering coefficient decreased. In the medial prefrontal cortex, local efficiency decreased. The small-worldness declined after milnacipran medication. The present results demonstrate that functional connectivity indexes in the brains of female fibromyalgia patients obtained from rs-fMRI data can be used as potential prognosis markers of milnacipran drug treatment.

The variability of the severity and regional distribution of pathological process in basal ganglia (BG) and brainstem–cerebellar systems results in clinical heterogeneity and represents the motor subtype of multiple system atrophy (MSA). This study aimed to quantify spatial patterns of multimodal MRI abnormalities in BG and stem-CB regions and define structural MRI findings that correlate with clinical characteristics. We simultaneously measured R2*, mean diffusivity (MD), and volume in the subcortical structures (BG, thalamus, brainstem–cerebellar regions) of 39 probable MSA and 22 control subjects. Principal component analysis (PCA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were performed to show a model consisting of multiple inter-dependencies. Structural MRI alterations were found to be significantly interrelated within BG as well as brainstem–cerebellar regions in MSA patients. PCA extracted four factors: three factors reflected alterations in R2*, MD and volume of the BG region including the caudate nucleus, putamen, and pallidum, and the remaining one factor represented degenerative changes in MD and volume of stem-CB region. In SEM, a latent variable reflecting brainstem–cerebellar degeneration did not show a significant correlation with the other latent variables associated with BG degeneration. Putaminal MD values and a PCA-driven factor reflecting MD values in the BG showed a significant correlation with UPDRS and UMSARS scores. Multimodal structural MRI abnormalities in MSA appear to be segregated into BG and stem-CB-related factors that can be associated with the clinical phenotype and motor severity.

The source position of irradiation is identified using a method that uses rulers and films for quality assurance (QA) in brachytherapy. However, this method involves a high probability of errors, because the scales are checked using the naked eye, and QA is indirectly performed using photographs. Lead monoxide (PbO) is widely used as a semiconductor dosimeter, because it is a photoconductor that generates electrons in response to electromagnetic waves. Moreover, PbO has excellent sensitivity to reflected rays, owing to its high atomic number (Z Pb: 82, Z O: 8) and density (ρPbO: 9.53 g/cm3). We applied PbO to a dosimeter for QA in a brachytherapy device and attempted to increase the signal stability with a parylene coating for performance improvement. Subsequently, a comparative analysis was performed with a PbO dosimeter that was not coated with parylene to determine whether the fabricated dosimeter is applicable as a dosimeter for QA of the brachytherapy device, by analyzing the reproducibility, linearity, percentage interval distance (PID), and angular dependence in the 192Ir source used for brachytherapy. The RSD of the non-parylene PbO dosimeter was 0.85%, and the RSD of the parylene PbO dosimeter was 0.40% in the reproducibility results. In the linearity evaluation results, the R 2 value of the non-parylene PbO dosimeter was 0.9996, and that of the parylene PbO dosimeter was 0.9997 In the PID evaluation results, the difference in the intensity distribution measured according to the distance due to the dose was attenuated at the coated parylene in the case of the parylene PbO dosimeter. Therefore, adjustments using correction coefficients are required for suitable performance. In the angular dependence evaluation results, the parylene PbO dosimeter had 3.44% less angular dependence than the non-parylene dosimeter at an angle of 45°. The parylene-coated PbO dosimeter showed better performance than the non-parylene-coated PbO dosimeter in terms of the reproducibility, linearity, and angular dependence. Therefore, it is considered that the parylene-coated PbO dosimeter can be implemented for QA of brachytherapy devices.

Objective To investigate the association of the APOE e4 genotype with hippocampal volume, independent of Aβ burden. Method This cross-sectional study included 71 participants with mild cognitive impairment or mild AD. All participants were divided into carriers or non-carriers of the e4 allele. The main outcome was hippocampal volume measured using structural magnetic resonance imaging; 18F-florbetaben positron emission tomography was additionally performed to investigate the association of APOE e4 genotype with hippocampal volumes, independently of Aβ burden. Analysis of covariance was conducted to compare the differences in hippocampal volumes between carriers and non-carriers of the e4 allele after controlling for global Aβ burden or local hippocampal Aβ burden. Results The APOE e4 genotype was associated with a smaller right and total hippocampal volume (right: 3160.16 ± 365.71 vs. 3365.24 ± 434.88, p Conclusion Our findings on the association of APOEe4 genotype with hippocampal volume independent of Aβ burden suggest that the APOEe4 genotype may contribute to hippocampal neurodegeneration through an Aβ-independent mechanism.

Objectives: To validate a visual rating scale reflecting sub-regional patterns of putaminal hypointensity in susceptibility-weighted imaging of patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA).Methods: Using a visual rating scale (from G0 to G3), 2 examiners independently rated putaminal hypointensities of 37 MSA patients and 21 control subjects. To investigate the correlation with the scales, R2* values and the volume of the entire putamen were measured.Results: MSA patients with parkinsonian variant had significantly higher scores than those with cerebellar variant. Visual rating scores in MSA were correlated with R2* values [General estimating equation (GEE), Wald chi-square = 25.89, corrected p < 0.001] and volume (Wald chi-square = 75.44, corrected p < 0.001). They correlated with UPDRS motor scores. Binary logistic regression analyses revealed that the visual rating scale was a significant predictor for discriminating MSA patients from controls [multivariate model adjusted for age and sex, odds ratio 52.722 (corrected p = 0.009)]. Pairwise comparison between areas under the curve (AUCs) revealed that the visual rating scale demonstrated higher accuracy than R2* values [difference between AUCs; univariate model = 0.247 (corrected p < 0.001); multivariate model = 0.186 (corrected p = 0.003)]. There were no significant differences in clinical characteristics between the high-iron group, defined as putamen with visual rating scale ≥ G2 and R2* values ≥ third quartile, and the remaining patients.Conclusion: The visual rating scale, which reflects quantitative iron content and atrophy of the putamen as well as motor severities, could be useful for the discrimination and evaluation of patients with MSA.

Background & objective Although iron accumulation is thought to be associated with neurodegenerative processes, the timing of putaminal iron deposition during the disease course of multiple system atrophy (MSA) remains unclear. We sought to investigate the temporal pattern of iron deposition in the putamen of MSA patients by calculating the conditional probabilities (CPs) of multimodal MRI changes. Methods We simultaneously measured putaminal R2*, volume and MD values of 39 probable MSA patients and 22 control subjects. The presence of significant MRI changes was defined as higher R2* and MD values, or lower volumes than cut-off values derived from mean values in control putamen. The CPs of R2* changes without MD or volume changes were then compared with those of MD or volume changes without R2* changes. Results Regardless of the cut-off values, the CPs of R2* increments without MD or volume changes were significantly lower than those for MD or volume changes without R2* increments. The associations of R2* with volume and MD values appeared in non-linear exponential and quadratic patterns, respectively. Conclusions Our findings suggest that putaminal iron accumulation would occur under volume atrophy or MD increments. Thus, iron deposition in the putamen of MSA patients is likely a secondary byproduct of neurodegeneration.

Recently, the level set has become a popular method in many research fields. The main reason is that it can be modified into many variants. One such case is our proposed method. We describe a contrast-enhancement method to segment the hippocampal region from the background. However, the hippocampus region has quite similar intensities to the neighboring pixel intensities. In addition, to handle the inhomogeneous intensities of the hippocampus, we used a bias correction before hippocampal segmentation. Thus, we developed a contrast-enhanced bias-corrected distance-regularized level set (CBDLS) to segment the hippocampus in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It shows better performance than the distance-regularized level set evolution (DLS) and bias-corrected distance-regularized level set (BDLS) methods in 33 MRI images of one normal patient. Segmentation after contrast enhancement and bias correction can be done more accurately than segmentation while not using a bias-correction method and without contrast enhancement.

Purpose This study suggests a noninvasive and repetitive measurement method using 1 H magnetic resonance spectroscopy to monitor changes in cellular metabolites within a single sample. Methods Longitudinal acquisition of cellular metabolites from three-dimensional cultured human osteosarcoma (MG-63) cells was conducted using 3.0 Tesla 1 H MRS for 2 weeks at three time points: days 1, 7, and 14. During the MR spectroscopy (MRS) scan, cell specimen temperatures were kept constant at 37°C by a lab-developed magnetic resonance compatible thermostatic device. A DNA assay and live/dead staining of the cell specimens were carried out at each time point to verify the MRS measurements. Results Cell viability in the proposed device did not significantly differ from that of cells in a conventional incubator (P = 0.946). Cell proliferation and choline concentration increased during the first week, but remained constant during the second week. Lactate did not change during the first week, but increased during the second week. Likewise, cell viability remained constant until day 7, then decreased. Conclusion The proposed MRS technique results in a survivable environment for longitudinal studies of cells and provides a new way to measure metabolomic changes over time in single specimens of cells. Magn Reson Med 76:1912-1918, 2016. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

With increasingly strict regulations regarding patient exposure, research on digital radiography technology has recently focused on indirect methods that can produce high-quality images for a low radiation dose. In particular, medical imaging systems based on indirect methods universally use rare-earth metal phosphors, because of their high atomic number and excellent luminescence efficiency. Thus, various studies aiming to improve the luminescence efficiency of phosphors have been conducted. Despite this research, however, the current luminescence efficiencies are insufficient. Here, we report a basic study aiming to develop a phosphor screen containing a three-quarter-wave optical-thickness layer to improve the light transmission efficiency. Specifically, the fabrication and measurement of a Gd2O2S:Tb phosphor screen containing a single three-quarter-wave optical-thickness layer is presented. The screen is fabricated via a screen-printing and spin-coating method. Based on histograms of the degree of luminescence and the pixel values, we demonstrate that the light transmission efficiency is improved by the three-quarter-wave optical-thickness layer. Note that analysis of the full width at half maximum of the pixel value distribution reveals the possibility of resolution loss when obtaining medical images. Overall, the results of this study confirm that the light transmission efficiency can be improved through use of a single-layer anti-reflection coating. However, because the emission spectrum of the Gd2O2S:Tb screen is in the 480-600-nm band, it is necessary to expand the areas exhibiting the lowest reflectance to the wavelengths at the edge of this band. Thus, further study should be conducted to optimize the optical thickness.

OBJECTIVE Increasing evidence has suggested that epilepsy is a network disease. Graph theory is a mathematical tool that allows for the analysis and quantification of the brain network. We aimed to evaluate the influences of duration of epilepsy on the topological organization of brain network in focal epilepsy patients with normal MRI using the graph theoretical analysis based on diffusion tenor imaging. METHODS We prospectively enrolled 66 patients with focal epilepsy (18/66 patients were newly diagnosed) and 84 healthy subjects. All of the patients with epilepsy had normal MRI on visual inspection. All of the subjects underwent diffusion tensor imaging that was analyzed using graph theory to obtain network measures. RESULTS The measures of characteristic path length and small-worldness in the patients with focal epilepsy were significantly decreased, even after multiple corrections (P

Objective We evaluated the differences in brain morphology among patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy according to the occurrence of absence seizures. Materials and methods Twenty-one juvenile myoclonic epilepsy patients with (n = 6) and without (n = 15) absence seizures were enrolled. We analyzed whole-brain T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging using FreeSurfer 5.1. Measures of cortical morphology, such as thickness, surface area, volume, and curvature, and the volumes of subcortical structures, the cerebellum, and cerebrum, were compared between the groups. Moreover, we quantified correlations between clinical variables and each measures of abnormal brain morphology. Results Compared to normal controls, patients without absence seizures demonstrated thinning of the cortical thickness in the right hemisphere, including the post-central, lingual, orbitofrontal, and lateral occipital cortex. Compared to normal controls, patients with absence seizures had more widespread thinning of the cortical thickness, including the right post-central, lingual, orbitofrontal, and lateral occipital cortexes as well as the right inferior temporal cortex. Additionally, the volume of cerebellar white matter in patients without absence seizures was significantly smaller than that in normal controls. Patients with absence seizures had a much smaller cerebellar white matter volume than normal controls or patients without absence seizures. Moreover, there was significantly positive correlation between the age of seizure onset and the volume of cerebellar white matter in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Conclusions We demonstrated that there were significant brain morphology differences in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy according to the presence of absence seizures. These findings support the hypothesis that juvenile myoclonic epilepsy may be a heterogeneous syndrome.

This study aimed to investigate the clinical and radiological findings in patients with transient global amnesia and to evaluate structural abnormalities using voxel-based morphometry. The subjects were diagnosed with transient global amnesia. For the voxel-based morphometry analyses, Statistical Parametric Mapping, running on the MATLAB platform (MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA), was employed to analyze the structural differences between patients with transient global amnesia and control subjects. Eighty patients met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-three patients (29%) were men, and 57 patients (71%) were women. There were significantly more women among the transient global amnesia patients compared with the general Korean population. MRI revealed hippocampal cavities in 41 patients (51%), and the incidence of such cavities was significantly different from that of the control subjects (24%). There were no differences in the clinical factors between the patients with and without hippocampal cavities. Diffusion-weighted imaging was performed in 54 patients, and 13 patients (24%) exhibited high signal intensity in the hippocampus. There were also no differences in the clinical factors between the patients with and without high signal intensities in the hippocampus on diffusion-weighted imaging. Twenty-six patients underwent three-dimensional volumetric T1-weighted imaging that produced results suitable for voxel-based morphometry, and these patients presented with gray matter volume reductions in the hippocampus, cingulum, and cerebellum. There were significant structural differences in the limbic structures between patients with transient global amnesia and the control subjects that might have contributed to vulnerability of the memory pathways of the patients with transient global amnesia.

Aims The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the effects of vitamin B12 and homocysteine on brain volume are influenced by apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype. We examined the effects in each subgroup (APOE e4 carriers and non-carriers) of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and healthy normal controls. Methods Forty participants with AD and 20 healthy normal controls were recruited from memory impairment clinics at Pusan National University Hospital in Korea. All participants were APOE genotyped and underwent magnetic resonance imaging, including 3-D volumetric images for grey matter (GM) volume. A multiple regression model integrated into statistical parametric mapping was used to see if there was any correlation between vitamin B12 or homocysteine and GM volume in each subgroup (APOE e4 carriers and non-carriers) of AD patients and healthy normal controls. Results There was a significant positive correlation between serum concentrations of vitamin B12 and regional GM volume in APOE e4 carriers with AD but not in non-carriers. We also found that there was a significant negative correlation between serum concentrations of homocysteine and regional GM volume in APOE e4 non-carriers with AD but not in carriers (P < 0.001, uncorrected for multiple comparisons; extent threshold = 100 voxel). Conclusion The present findings suggest that the effects of vitamin B12 and homocysteine on GM volume might be influenced by APOE genotype.

Background: We evaluated the cortical morphology in patients with orthostatic intolerance. Methods: Thirty patients with orthostatic intolerance, as well as age- and sex-matched normal controls, were enrolled in this study. We divided the patients into orthostatic hypotension (n = 22) and postural tachycardia syndrome (n = 8) groups based on their response to a head-up tilt table test. We analyzed whole-brain T1-weighted MRI images using FreeSurfer 5.1. The measures of cortical morphology were compared between the groups. Results: The cortical thickness in the right hemisphere, including the medial orbitofrontal, peri-calcarine, post-central, inferior temporal, and lateral occipital cortex, and in the peri-calcarine cortex of the left hemisphere was thinned in patients with orthostatic hypotension compared to normal controls. The other measures of cortical morphology, including the surface area, volume, and curvatures, did not differ between patients with orthostatic hypotension and normal controls. However, none of the measures of cortical morphology differed between patients with postural tachycardia syndrome and normal controls. Conclusions: We demonstrated that the cortical morphology significantly changed in patients with orthostatic hypotension but not in patients with postural tachycardia syndrome compared to normal controls. These findings support the hypothesis that orthostatic intolerance is a heterogeneous syndrome.

Objective This study proposes an automated diagnostic method to classify patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) of degenerative etiology using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers. Methods Twenty-seven patients with subjective memory impairment (SMI), 18 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 27 patients with AD participated. MRI protocols included three dimensional brain structural imaging and diffusion tensor imaging to assess the cortical thickness, subcortical volume and white matter integrity. Recursive feature elimination based on support vector machine (SVM) was conducted to determine the most relevant features for classifying abnormal regions and imaging parameters, and then a factor analysis for the top-ranked factors was performed. Subjects were classified using nonlinear SVM. Results Medial temporal regions in AD patients were dominantly detected with cortical thinning and volume atrophy compared with SMI and MCI patients. Damage to white matter integrity was also accredited with decreased fractional anisotropy and increased mean diffusivity (MD) across the three groups. The microscopic damage in the subcortical gray matter was reflected in increased MD. Classification accuracy between pairs of groups (SMI vs. MCI, MCI vs. AD, SMI vs. AD) and among all three groups were 84.4% (±13.8), 86.9% (±10.5), 96.3% (±4.6), and 70.5% (±11.5), respectively. Conclusion This proposed method may be a potential tool to diagnose AD pathology with the current clinical criteria.

The thalamus plays an important role in the modulation of both focal and generalized seizures, but the mechanisms related to seizures may be different among epilepsy syndromes. The aim of this study is to investigate the thalamic atrophy in different epilepsy syndromes. We enrolled a total of 72 patients with epilepsy (22 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis, 21 patients with extra-temporal lobe epilepsy, and 29 patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy). We analyzed structural volumes of the brain with FreeSurfer 5.1 software, and compared them among subgroups of epilepsy and normal control subjects. Moreover, we quantified correlations between the duration of epilepsy and the structural volumes with age and sex as covariates. The volumes of the ipsilateral hippocampus in temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis were significantly smaller than those in extra-temporal lobe epilepsy and normal control subjects [analysis of variance (ANOVA), p 0.001]. Although the volumes of the ipsilateral thalamus were not different from those of normal control subjects, the volumes of the ipsilateral thalamus were negatively correlated with duration of epilepsy in temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (r = -0.5, p = 0.02). However, the volumes of interest in extra-temporal lobe epilepsy and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy were not different from those in normal control subjects, and none of these structures were correlated with duration of epilepsy. These findings suggest that the role of the thalamus may be different in thalamo-limbic circuits among epilepsy syndromes.

Aims An association between white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and cognitive dysfunction has long been recognized. However, subjects with identically appearing WMH on magnetic resonance imaging present with a wide variance in cognitive function ranging from normal cognition to dementia. The aim of this study was to compare cortical atrophy and integrity of white matter of patients with subcortical vascular dementia of Binswanger type (SVaD-BT) with those of the normal cognition group with WMH (ncWMH). Methods Eleven patients with SVaD-BT and 11 age-, sex-, education- and grade of WMH-matched ncWMH underwent magnetic resonance imaging, including 3-D volumetric images for cortical atrophy and diffusion tensor imaging for integrity of white matter. Results Compared to ncWMH, SVaD-BT patients showed cortical atrophies in frontal (i.e. frontal pole, precentral gyrus and frontal medial cortex) and occipital areas (i.e. lingual gyrus) followed by atrophies in temporal (i.e. fusiform cortex and middle temporal gyrus) areas. Along with cortical atrophies, reduced integrity with low fractional anisotropy and high mean diffusivity values in genu and splenium of the corpus callosum were detected in SVaD-BT patients. Conclusions Our findings suggest that cognitive decline from ncWMH to SVaD-BT may be associated with cortical atrophy and reduced integrity of white matter.

Hippocampus is an important part of brain which is related with early memory storage and spatial navigation. By observing the anatomy of hippocampus, some brain diseases effecting human memory (e.g. Alzheimer, schizophrenia, etc.) can be diagnosed and predicted earlier. The diagnosis process is highly related with hippocampus segmentation. In this paper, hippocampus segmentation using Active Shape Model, which not only works based on image intensity, but also by using prior knowledge of hippocampus shape and intensity from the training images, is proposed. The results show that ASM is applicable in segmenting hippocampus from whole brain MR image. It also shows that adding more images in the training set results in better accuracy of hippocampus segmentation.

A right-handed 68-year-old man presented with acute-onset memory impairment. Before the event, he was doing well in his daily life. He had a history of hypertension. On the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery, his verbal memory functions exhibited significant impairments (31.82 percentile for immediate recall, 1.09 percentile for delayed recall, and 2.22 percentile for delayed copy). A brain MRI revealed an acute infarction in the left mammillary body (figure 1), and CT angiography revealed focal stenosis of the bilateral posterior cerebral arteries (figure 2).

There have been various studies showing increased iron levels in parkinsonian disorders. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate topographical differences of brain iron deposition between progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and the parkinsonian variant of multiple system atrophy (MSA-p) with SWI images.A total of 11 patients with PSP, 12 with MSA-p, 15 with Parkinson's disease (PD), and 20 age-matched healthy controls underwent SWI of the brain. Mean phase shift values of the red nucleus (RN), substantia nigra (SN), head of the caudate nucleus (CN), globus pallidus (GP), putamen (PUT), and thalamus (TH) were calculated and compared between groups. A voxel-based analysis of the processed SWI was performed to determine topographical differences of iron-related hypointense signals in PUT, GP, and TH.Patients with PSP and MSA-p had significantly higher levels of iron deposition than control and PD groups. Comparing patients with PSP and MSA-p, differences were found in iron concentrations of the RN, SN, GP, and TH, which were higher in the PSP group. However, iron levels in the PUT were higher in the MSA group (p0.05). The area under curve (AUC) indicated that the PUT was the most valuable nucleus in differentiating MSA-p from PSP and PD according to phase shift values (AUC=0.836). Meanwhile the GP (AUC=0.869) and TH (AUC=0.884) were the two most valuable nuclei in differentiating PSP from MSA-p and PD. Voxel-based analysis showed subregional differences in iron-related hypointense signals in the PUT, GP, and TH between MSA-p and PSP groups. Patients with MSA-p had significant increases of iron-related hypointense signals in the posterolateral PUT and adjacent lateral aspect of the GP, whereas the PSP group had increased hypodense signals in the anterior and medial aspects of the GP and TH.Our data demonstrate that pathological iron accumulations are more prevalent and severe in PSP compared to MSA-p. The distribution of high-iron-content regions in this study reflects pathoanatomically relevant sites. This finding allows for the use of MRI-based brain iron mapping as a technique to indirectly identify pathological changes.

Tendon and ligament (T/L) have been known to be obviously different from each other in tissue level. However, due to the overlapping gene markers, distinction in cellular level has not been clearly verified yet. Recently, the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has shown the potential to detect biological markers in cellular level. Therefore, in this study we applied a non-invasive technique based on NMR spectroscopy to establish biomarkers to distinguish between T/L fibroblasts. In addition the cellular morphologies and gene expression patterns were also investigated for comparison through optical microscopy and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). No difference was observed from morphology and real-time PCR results, either as expected. However, we found clear differences in their metabolomic spectra using 1H NMR spectroscopy. The calculated integral values of fatty acids (with chemical shifts at ~0.9, 1.26, 1.59, 2.05, 2.25, and 2.81 ppm), lactate (~1.33 ppm), and leucine (~2.72 ppm) were significantly different between the two types of fibroblasts. To be specific tendon group exhibited higher level of the metabolite than ligament group. In conclusion, in-cell metabolomic evaluation by NMR technique used in this study is believed to provide a promising tool in distinguishing cell types, especially T/L cells, which cannot be classified by conventional biological assays.

Although juvenile myoclonic epilepsy has been considered as a disorder of thalamo-cortical circuit, it is not determined the causality relationship between thalamus and cortex. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether juvenile myoclonic epilepsy is a disorder of thalamus or cortex. Twenty-nine patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and 20 normal controls were enrolled in this study. In addition, we included 10 patients with childhood absence epilepsy as a disease control group. Using whole-brain T1-weighted MRIs, we analyzed the volumes of the structures, including hippocampus, thalamus, and total cortex, with FreeSurfer 5.1. We also investigated the effective connectivity among these structures using SPSS Amos 21 based on these volumetric measures. The structural volumes in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy were not different from those in normal controls. There was a statistically significant effective connectivity from the total cortex to the thalamus in the patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. In addition, a significant effective connectivity from the hippocampus to the ipsilateral thalamus was revealed. Unlike the patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, neither the patients with childhood absence epilepsy nor normal controls had a significant effective connectivity from the total cortex to the thalamus or from the thalamus to the cortex. The connectivity of brain in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy could be different from that in patients with childhood absence epilepsy, and the cortex rather than the thalamus might play a critical role in the pathogenesis of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

The substantial improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can be achieved with small-size samples or low-field MRI system by high-temperature superconducting(HTS) RF coil. The typical HTS RF coil made of HTS thin film is expensive and is limited the coil geometry to planar surface coil. In this study, commercial Bi-2223 HTS tapes was used as RF coil for a 0.35T permanent MRI system. It has advantages of both much lower cost and easier fabrication over HTS thin film coil. SNR gain of the image obtained from the HTS RF coil over a conventional Cu RF coil at room temperature was about 2.4-fold and 1.9-fold using the spin echo pulse sequence and gradient echo pulse sequence respectively.

The purpose of this study was to produce a metabolomic profile of a human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) pellet sample to identify biomarkers of adipogenic differentiation using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. hMSC adipogenesis was monitored over four cycles of differentiation; one cycle consisted of treatment with adipogenic induction medium for 3 days followed by adipogenic maintenance medium for 1 day. Adipogenesis in control hMSCs was confirmed by Oil Red O staining. A NMR micro-imaging machine with a zqpr pulse (total volume) sequence was used to examine the metabolic changes in the cell pellet samples. Several lipid peaks were predominant among the various metabolite peaks in the NMR spectroscopy data. In particular, the lipid methylene (-[CH2]n-) signal at 1.3 ppm increased 3.6-fold during the first cycle, 15.7-fold during the second cycle, and 28.3-fold during the third cycle. Our findings indicate that NMR spectral peaks related to lipid metabolites can be used as a biomarker of hMSC adipogenesis.

An interactive wireless-game device based on multi-channel electromyogram has been developed to help rehabilitation of patients with hemiplegia. The device is able to provide a visual feedback and rehabilitation motivations to the patients. The game contents were made according to the number of applied channels and, their level and speed can also be controlled depending on the recovery states of patients. Patient satisfaction survey was conducted to evaluate the necessity and usefulness of the proposed device after playing the game. The results show that the proposed system is expected to give hemiplegia patients exciting and effective rehabilitation chances, if more diverse and specialized rehabilitation games are developed.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of organism vigor information solution(OVIS) on the animal cell growth and to set up a condition for cell culture. We investigated the reactions on the MG-63 and MCF-7 cell line in mixture culture media with various amount of REVIEW solution, which is an example among various OVIS. DMEM-HG was used as basic media. The concentration range of the mixture was limited from 0% to 15%. MTT assay is used for cell viability test. The cell was incubated for 14days and the MTT assay was performed on day 1, 3, 7, 10 and 14 throughout the experiment. We used the ELISA reader to measure the Optical Density(O.D) at 595 nm wavelength filter. MCF-7 was linearly proliferated according to culture time and concentrations of OVIS. On the other hand, MG-63 cells were measured the highest O.D value at 12%. The growth rates of both cells cultured in mixed culture media with OVIS are much higher than those in only basic media, DMEMHG, after 14days. It was confirmed that cell cultured at OVIS grows rapidly at certain period although cells showed a negative effect in initial stage.

Purpose: To evaluate the temporal and spatial resolution of magnetic resonance (MR) temperature imaging when using the proton resonance frequency (PRF) method combined with the keyhole technique. Materials and Methods: Tissue-mimicking phantom and swine muscle tissue were microwave-heated by a coaxial slot antenna. For the sake of MR hardware safety, MR images were sequentially acquired after heating the subjects using a spoiled gradient (SPGR) pulse sequence. Reference raw (k-space) data were collected before heating the subjects. Keyhole temperature images were reconstructed from full k-space data synthesized by combining the peripheral phase-encoding part of the reference raw data and the center phase-encoding keyhole part of the time sequential raw data. Each keyhole image was analyzed with thermal error, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was compared with the self-reference (nonkeyhole) images according to the number of keyhole phase-encoding (keyhole-data size) portions. Results: In applied keyhole temperature images, smaller keyhole-data sizes led to more temperature error increases, but the SNR did not decreased comparably. Additionally, keyhole images with a keyhole-data size of

In this study, the authors compared the k -Nearest Neighbor ( k -NN), Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA), and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) algorithms for the classification of wrist-motion directions such as up, down, right, left, and the rest state. The forearm EMG signals for those motions were collected using a two-channel electromyogram(EMG) system. Thirty normal volunteers participated in this study. Thirty features with a time-window size of 166 ms per feature during a 5-s forearm muscle motion were extracted from the gathered EMG signals. The difference absolute mean value (DAMV) was used to construct a feature map and the LDA, QDA, and k -NN algorithms were used to classify the directions of the signal. The recognition rates were 84.9% for k -NN, 82.4% for QDA, and 81.1% for LDA. There was a statistically significant difference between the k -NN and LDA algorithms ( P

This study was intended toward the evaluation of the correlation between the quenching coefficients and the counting efficiency for the physical quenching phenomenon and the effects of the properties of the standard sources for quenching on the tritium radioactivity concentration in the process of analyzing the tritium radioactivity concentration. Accordingly, a series of standard sources for quenching was prepared using three types of vials with different properties used for correction by the quenching phenomenon; the calculated values of the counting efficiency of a series of standard sources for quenching, relative errors in the counting values, uncertainty, and properties of the quenching correction curve were evaluated. On the basis of the results, nine samples (three glass-vial-type samples, three plastic-vial-type samples, and three Teflon-vial-type samples) were obtained and evaluated by applying Parameter Groups 1, 2, and 3, for which the efficiency was calibrated using the WinQ program in accordance with the properties of a series of standard sources for quenching. The results of this study are expected to serve as an aid in accurately understanding the standard sources for quenching, counting, and analyzing environmental samples that are subject to counting and analysis.

In this study, a gelatin conjugated Pluronic® thermosensitive polymer(Gelatin-Pluronic, GP) was synthesized by the direct coupling of gelatin to monocarboxylated Pluronic®(MP) and characterized. The use of thermosensitive polymers has recently been proposed for many applications including tissue engineering, gene therapy, novel drug delivery systems, implantable devices, such as scaffolds for cartilage regeneration and nanotechnology. Water soluble thermosensitive GP was developed as an injectable scaffold using EDC/NHS as a coupling reagent for catilage regeneration. 1H NMR, and FTIR were used to characterize the chemical structure of the modified gelatins. The GP solution showed a reversible sol-gel transition behavior around body temperature. The cell viability was evaluated using methylthiazolyldiphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The optical density (O.D.) of GP was significantly higher than that of Pluronic® at 1, 3 and 5 days, indicating that the cell viability on GP was better than on Pluronic®. Therefore, the GP copolymer can be used as an injectable cell-containing scaffold owing to its thermally reversible properties and good biocompatibility.

Polycrystalline lead oxide (PbO) film is an excellent candidate material for a direct conversion X-ray detector. However, the thick-bulky film tends to significantly reduce the charge collection efficiency for recombination process, and the effective number of electron-hole pairs is lower than that of thin film, because it is difficult to fabricate high-dense and thick PbO films. In this paper, we first synthesized nano-sized PbO particles that could be used in a novel high-efficiency flat panel X-ray detector using a simple solution/combustion method. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, and field emission scanning electron microscopy were used to analyze the component ratio and morphology of the PbO particles as a function of annealing temperature. Then, 150-µm-thick PbO films were deposited on glass substrates using a particle-in-binder method at room temperature. The influences of annealing before deposition on the X-ray detection characteristics of the PbO films were investigated in detail. The key parameters–the dark current, X-ray sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio, and signal decay–were measured. The annealing conditions strongly affected the electrical properties of the PbO films. The X-ray sensitivity of films annealed in oxygen gas increased dramatically with increasing annealing temperatures up to 500 °C.

Amorphous selenium (a-Se) film has the potential to fulfill the requirements of a novel x-ray image detector because of its good photo-to-dark impedance ratio, large area coverage, and low temperature deposition. In this work were studied the structural, optical and electrical properties of thermally- evaporated a-Se film for the phosphor-light modulator (PLM). From the x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy experimental results, the deposited film had an amorphous phase without any re-crystallization or defects. Also, the light absorption in widely visible range of 400 ~ 630 nm was over 95 %. From the electrical measurements, the low dark current density of 2.8 nA/cm2 was obtained at 10 V/㎛. The x-ray sensitivity of the 270㎛-Gd2O3:Eu phosphor coupled 20㎛-Se film was 7.31 nC/cm2-mR. From such experimental results, the novel x-ray detector which incorporates phosphor coupled x-ray light modulator, makes an operation at low x-ray exposure possible, therefore, the applications as a medical imaging detector are shown below.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between brain regional gray matter volume and two subtypes of psychotic symptoms, namely paranoid and misidentification subtypes, in antipsychotic-naive mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Forty AD patients with psychotic symptoms and 25 AD patients without psychotic symptoms were assessed for cognitive and functional impairment. Presence and subtype of psychotic symptoms were assessed by using the delusion and hallucination subscale of the Korean Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI). Structural MRI images were acquired on a 3 T scanner, and were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) for automated analysis. The misidentification subtype is associated with more severe gray matter atrophy, and paranoid subtype is associated with less severe gray matter atrophy compared to non-psychosis group. These results suggest that the misidentification, the paranoid subtype and the non-psychosis group have a distinct neural correlation.

This study suggests a noninvasive and repetitive measurement method usingLongitudinal acquisition of cellular metabolites from three-dimensional cultured human osteosarcoma (MG-63) cells was conducted using 3.0 TeslaCell viability in the proposed device did not significantly differ from that of cells in a conventional incubator (P = 0.946). Cell proliferation and choline concentration increased during the first week, but remained constant during the second week. Lactate did not change during the first week, but increased during the second week. Likewise, cell viability remained constant until day 7, then decreased.The proposed MRS technique results in a survivable environment for longitudinal studies of cells and provides a new way to measure metabolomic changes over time in single specimens of cells. Magn Reson Med 76:1912-1918, 2016. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Survivors from cardiorespiratory arrest may develop neurologcal complications, such as post-hypoxic myoclonus (PHM). The hronic type of PHM is known as Lance–Adams syndrome (LAS), hich begins within days to weeks following an episode of anoxia 1]. LAS is characterized by myoclonus, which is triggered by intenional action or external stimuli and relieved at resting state or leep [1]. Several investigations have been performed to determine he pathogenesis of LAS. The loss of the neurotransmitter serotonin ithin the inferior olive has been believed to be an important causal actor for LAS, and gamma-aminobutyric acid may also be involved n the genesis of LAS [2–4]. Recently, neuroimaging has been used o detail the anatomical and pathophysiological basis of LAS [2,3]. evertheless, the pathogenesis of LAS has been not determined. We encountered a patient with LAS and performed resting state unctional MRI (rs-fMRI) to investigate the pathogenesis of LAS.

Objective The purpose of this study was to determine whether gray matter volumes are associated with treatment response of psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Method Risperidone, which is commonly used as an atypical antipsychotic drug, was administered in a clinical setting for 6 weeks from April 2012 to February 2013 to 25 antipsychotic-naive AD patients with psychosis, diagnosed according to Jeste and Finkel's proposed diagnostic criteria for psychosis of Alzheimer's disease. Psychotic symptoms were rated with the Korean version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI) at baseline and at 6 weeks, and treatment response was defined as the change in K-NPI score from baseline to 6 weeks. Gray matter volumes were measured with magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry at baseline. Age, gender, years of education, total intracranial volume, apolipoprotein E genotype, dosage of risperidone, the baseline scores on the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination, and the baseline psychotic and nonpsychotic symptoms scores on the K-NPI were measured as covariates of no interest. Results We found that treatment response of psychotic symptoms to risperidone in antipsychotic-naive AD patients was positively associated with both left and right putamina, left parahippocampal gyrus, and left amygdala volume after controlling covariates of no interest (uncorrected P 100 voxels). Conclusions Therefore, we conclude that gray matter volumes of putamina, left parahippocampal gyrus, and left amygdala are associated with treatment response of psychotic symptoms after 6 weeks of treatment with risperidone in antipsychotic-naive AD patients with psychosis. These results suggest that the volumes of specific gray matter regions probably contribute to treatment response of psychotic symptoms in AD patients. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01198093.