Novel radical‐responsive MRI contrast agent based on paramagnetic liposomes

A novel, radical responsive MRI contrast agent based on a gadolinium chelate conjugated to a liposome through a disulfide linker was synthesized, with the aim of pursuing the in vivo mapping of radicals. The liposome was prepared by incorporating a thiol‐activated phospholipid, which was subsequently reacted with a gadolinium chelate containing a free thiol group. The long reorientational motion of the supramolecular adduct endows the paramagnetic agent with a relaxivity significantly higher than that of the free complex. The disulfide bond represents a radical‐sensitive moiety and a large decrease in contrast efficacy (T₁ relaxivity) is shown upon its cleavage. A preliminary assessment of the system was made by means of in vitro gamma‐irradiation and thiol–disulfide bond exchange with dithiothreitol. Both methods showed a clear dose‐dependent decrease in T₁‐relaxivity. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mathematical topographical correction of XPS images using multivariate statistical methods

For rough heterogeneous samples, the contrast observed in XPS images may result from both changes in elemental or chemical composition and sample topography. Background image acquisition and subtraction are frequently utilized to minimize topographical effects so that images represent concentration variations in the sample. This procedure may significantly increase the data acquisition time. Multivariate statistical methods can assist in resolving topographical and chemical information from multispectral XPS images. Principal component analysis (PCA) is one method for identification of the highest correlation/variation between the images. Topography, which is common to all of the images, will be resolved in the first most significant component. The score of this component contains spatial information about the topography of the surface, whereas the loading is a quantitative representation of the topography contribution to each elemental/chemical image. The simple‐to‐use self‐modelling mixture analysis (Simplisma) method is a pure variable method that searches for the source of most differences in the data and therefore has the potential to distinguish between chemical and topographical phases in images. The mathematical background correction scheme is developed and validated by comparing results to the experimental background correction for samples with differing degrees of topography. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Surface profile measurement of low-frequency vibrating objects using temporal analysis of fringe pattern

A simple and accurate algorithm (phase scanning method) is proposed for 3D surface contouring and dynamic response determination of a vibrating object. A sinusoidal fringe pattern is projected onto a low-frequency vibrating object by a programmable liquid crystal display projector. The fringe patterns are captured by a high-speed CCD camera with a telecentric gauging lens. Phase values are evaluated point by point using phase scanning method. From the phase values of each point on the object, the contour of the specimen at different instants of vibration can be retrieved. In this paper, a small vibrating coin is used to demonstrate the validity of the method and the experimental results are compared with test results on a stationary coin using four-step phase shifting and fast Fourier transform methods. The technique is especially useful in applications where the vibrating object has a complicated shape.     

斐索型光学合成孔径系统近轴成像条件研究

从几何光学理论出发，详细推导了斐索型光学合成孔径成像系统的近轴非相干成像条件，即子望远系统的角放大率等于系统的线性缩放因子。对于焦平面上的像点而言，合成孔径成像系统可等效为一个带有特殊形状孔径光阑的望远系统，这要求该孔径光栏的开口形状和位置分布与合成孔径成像系统各子系统孔径大小和位置分布相一致。我们由此得到了斐索型合成孔径成像系统的主要约束条件。     

激光水下扫描成像系统的图像修正机理

同步扫描系统可以克服后向散射，但同时也产生了两种非线性，一是扫描线速度的非线性，一是由于距离对光能衰减造成的非线性，两种非线性都需要修正，本文从原理上讨论水下激光成像时能量衰减的修正原理与修正方法，并给出仿真结果。     

大焦深成像系统仿真实验研究

如何增大非相干光学成像系统的焦深是应用光学研究领域的热点问题.本文对采用高次非球面光学掩模板与图像处理相结合增大成像光学系统焦深的新方法进行了深入分析,建立了大焦深成像系统仿真实验模型,并进行了大焦深成像系统仿真实验.实验结果证明了该方法在维持原相对孔径的同时使光学系统在较大的离焦范围内有好的成像质量.实际应用中还要综合考虑模板参量、信噪比等关键因素.     

Analytical study of a flattened Gaussian beam through multi-apertured optical imaging systems of B = 0

By using the methods of the matrix decomposition and expansion of the hard-edged aperture function into a finite sum of complex Gaussian functions, the recurrence propagation expressions for a flattened Gaussian beam (FGB) through multi-apertured optical imaging systems of B = 0 are derived and illustrated with numerical examples. Comparisons with the straightforward numerical integration of the Collins formula and with the previous work are made. It is shown that the main advantages of our methods and results are the more accuracy and great reduction of computer time.     

Level of nodes in increasing trees revisited

Simply generated families of trees are described by the equation T(z) = ϕ(T(z)) for their generating function. If a tree has n nodes, we say that it is increasing if each node has a label ∈ { 1,…,n}, no label occurs twice, and whenever we proceed from the root to a leaf, the labels are increasing. This leads to the concept of simple families of increasing trees. Three such families are especially important: recursive trees, heap ordered trees, and binary increasing trees. They belong to the subclass of very simple families of increasing trees, which can be characterized in 3 different ways. This paper contains results about these families as well as about polynomial families (the function ϕ(u) is just a polynomial). The random variable of interest is the level of the node (labelled) j, in random trees of size n ≥ j. For very simple families, this is independent of n, and the limiting distribution is Gaussian. For polynomial families, we can prove this as well for j,n → ∞ such that n − j is fixed. Additional results are also given. These results follow from the study of certain trivariate generating functions and Hwang's quasi power theorem. They unify and extend earlier results by Devroye, Mahmoud, and others. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2007     

Endoscopic Observation of Tissue by Narrowband Illumination

We propose a new illumination method for a medical endoscope: narrow band imaging (NBI), in which the spectral bandwidth of the filtered light is narrowed. To confirm how the spectral specifications of the filtered light influence a reproduced image, an experiment was conducted observing the endoscopic images of the back mucosa of a human tongue. In addition, the effect of NBI on endoscopic images was investigated through preliminary clinical tests in colonoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. It has been shown that NBI can enhance the capillary pattern and the crypt pattern on the mucosa. These patterns are useful features for diagnosing an early cancer.     

Echo planar imaging of perfluorocarbons

Emulsions of perfluorotributylamine (FTBA) and perflubron were evaluated for their utility in ¹⁹F echo planar imaging. Fluorine images of the emulsions were obtained in a phantom and two mice that had been predosed. Both agents, but particularly perflubron, show potential for fluorine echo planar studies because of the long spin-spin relaxation times of the CF₃ resonances. High resolution thin slice images obtained in as little as 26.6 ms are presented.