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To better coordinate the interaction of inhalation and aerosol release, an intelligent adapter (IA) was developed for metered dose inhalers (MDIs). The adapter included three main units: a signal acquisition device, a micro-control-unit (MCU), and an actuation mechanism. To fully study the effectiveness of the intelligent adapter, an inhalation simulation experiment was done, and two bands of MDI were used for the experiment. The results indicated that, when inhalation, the intelligent adapter can press down the MDI automatically; moreover, this intelligent adapter could achieve an aerosol-release time Tr of 0.4 s for MDI A and 0.60 s for MDI B, which compares very well with the existing pure mechanical systems at 0.8 s and 1.0 s.

The 40 mm x 40 mm x 350 mm BaF2:5%Y (mole fraction) crystals were grown by vertical Bridgman method. The doping content, scintillation properties, optical properties and irradiation damage of crystal samples were studied. The Y3+ doping concentration (mole fraction) is 5. 1% ± 0. 9% within the range from 0 to 300 mm from seed end. The average light output of crystal sample is 2 100 ph / MeV, and the optimal energy resolution at 662 keV is 10. 1%. After 60Co source was used to irradiate the sample with an accumulated dose of 1 Mrad, the transmittance of the sample at 220 nm wavelength decreases from 87. 3% before irradiation to 83. 5%, the transmittance at 300 nm wavelength decreases from 91. 8% to 89. 9%. The anti-irradiation performance of BaF2:Y crystal is worse than that of BaF2 crystal. After the accumulative dose irradiation, the absorption of BaF2:Y crystal to 300 nm light is significantly enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barium fluoride (BaF2) crystal is known as the fastest scintillation crystal, which has a wide application prospect in high energy physics, nuclear physics and nuclear medicine. It is very important to suppress the slow luminescence component of BaF2 crystal for its engineering application. BaF2 crystals with high Y3+ doping concentration 5%, 8%, 10% (mole fraction) were prepared by Bridgman method, and the co-doped BaF2 fast response scintillation crystals were prepared by codoping Y3+ with alkali metal ions (Li+, Na+) to form charge compensation to eliminate the generation of interstitial F-. Then, based on the optimized 5 ns and 2 500 ns time gate width measurement methods, the effects of Y3+ doping concentration and the co-doping concentration of Y3+ and alkali metal ions (Li+, Na+) on the fast/ slow component ratio of BaF2 scintillation crystal were studied. The results show that the optical quality of the high concentration Y3+ doped BaF2 crystals is excellent, and the transmittance at 220 nm and 300 nm is higher than 90% and 92%, respectively. With the increase of Y3+ doping concentration from 0 to 10%, the slow luminescence component of BaF2 crystal decrease significantly, and the fast/ slow component ratio increase from 0.15 to 1.21. The slow luminescence component of the grown Y3+ / Li+ and Y3+ / Na+ co-doped BaF2 crystals are further decrease compared with that of the Y3+ doped BaF2 crystals, and the highest fast/ slow component ratios obtained are 1.63 and 1.61, respectively. The co-doped BaF2 fast response scintillation crystal is expected to be applied in the frontier experiments of high energy physics and nuclear physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberous sclerosis complex is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by hamartomas in multiple organ systems. Mutations in the 2 large genes TSC1 and TSC2 have been demonstrated to be associated with tuberous sclerosis complex by various mutation screening methods. Targeted next-generation sequencing for genetic analysis is performed in the current study and is proved to be less cost, labor, and time consuming compared with Sanger sequencing. Two de novo and 1 recurrent TSC2 mutation in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex were revealed. Clinical details of patients were described and the underlying mechanism of the 2 novel TSC2 mutations, c.245G>A(p.W82X) and c.5405_5408dupACTT(p.P1803Lfs*25), were discussed. These results added to variability of TSC mutation spectrum and suggest that targeted next-generation sequencing could be the primary choice over Sanger sequencing in future tuberous sclerosis complex genetic counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Radiotracers and medical imaging equipment are the two main keys to molecular imaging. While radiotracers are of great interest to research and industry, medical imaging equipment technology is blossoming everywhere. Total-body PET/CT (TB-PET/CT) has emerged in response to this trend and is rapidly gaining traction in the fields of clinical oncology, cardiovascular medicine, inflammatory/infectious diseases, and pediatric diseases. In addition, the use of a growing number of radiopharmaceuticals in TB-PET/CT systems has shown promising results. Notably, the distinctive features of TB-PET/CT, such as its ultra-long axial field of view (194 cm), ultra-high sensitivity, and capability for low-dose tracer imaging, have enabled enhanced imaging quality while reducing the radiation dose. The envisioned whole-body dynamic imaging, delayed imaging, personalized disease management, and ultrafast acquisition for motion correction, among others, are achieved. This review highlights two key factors affecting molecular imaging, describing the rapid imaging effects of radiotracers allowed at low doses on TB-PET/CT and the improvements offered compared to conventional PET/CT., Competing Interests: None., (AJNMMI Copyright © 2023.)

We radiolabeled a ligand, PSMA-617, of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) with copper-64 ( 64 Cu), to evaluate the metabolism, biodistribution, and potential of [ 64 Cu]PSMA-617 for PET imaging of prostate cancer. [ 64 Cu]PSMA-617 was synthesized by heating PSMA-617 with [ 64 Cu]CuCl 2 in buffer solution at 90°C for 5 min. In vitro uptake was determined in two cell lines of prostate cancer. In vivo regional distributions were determined in normal and tumor-bearing mice. High radiolabeling efficiency of 64 Cu for PSMA-617 yielded [ 64 Cu]PSMA-617 with >99% radiochemical purity. In vitro cellular uptake experiments demonstrated the specificity of [ 64 Cu]PSMA-617 for PSMA-positive LNCaP cells. Biodistribution observations of normal mice revealed high uptake of radioactivity in the kidney and liver. PET with [ 64 Cu]PSMA-617 visualized tumor areas implanted by PSMA-positive LNCaP cells in the mice. Two hours after the injection of [ 64 Cu]PSMA-617 into mice, a radiolabeled metabolite was observed in the blood, liver, urine, and LNCaP tumor tissues. [ 64 Cu]PSMA-617 was easily synthesized, and exhibited a favorable biodistribution in PSMA-positive tumors. Although this radioligand shows slow clearance for kidney and high liver uptake, change of its chelator moiety and easy radiolabeling may enable development of new 64 Cu or 67 Cu-labeled PSMA ligands for imaging and radiotherapy., Competing Interests: None.

Objective: Optical coherence tomography images may be distorted by motion artifacts in dynamic imaging, so it may lead to misdiagnosis in clinical diagnosis. Motion artifacts correction has become an urgent issue in optical coherence tomography imaging., Methods: Firstly, using the improved complex nonlinear diffusion preprocessing filtering reduced the noise of the sequence images, then using the image mass center aligned the distortion data in the Y direction, finally, using the method of deviation average corrected motion artifacts along the Y direction., Results: After correction, the motion artifacts in the longitudinal 2D images and the 3D image disappeared, the surface of the 2D and the 3D image became more smooth, the structure between layers of the images got clear and distinct, retinal en-face single slice image was sharp, and the fundus tissue structure could be observed., Conclusion: The algorithm of correction makes the physical structure of the retinal display truly after motion artifacts correction.