Hepatic stellate cells: Three-dimensional structure,localization, heterogeneity and development

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are vitamin-A storing collagen-producing cells in hepatic lobules. The three-dimensional structure of HSCs has been demonstrated with the Golgi method, the maceration method for scanning electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Many thorn-like microprojections or spines extend from the subendothelial processes and make contacts with hepatocytes. One HSC entwines two or more sinusoids and about 20–40 hepatocytes to create a cellular unit, ‘the stellate cell unit’ or ‘stellon’. The Space of Disse is defined as the space between stellate cell-endothelial cell complex and hepatocytes. Intralobular heterogeneity of HSCs is assessed. HSCs develop from mesenchymal cells in the septum transversum. The developmental process of HSCs is reproduced partly in culture. In the lamprey abundant vitamin A is stored not only in HSCs, but in the fibroblast-like cells in the various other splanchnic organs. In vertebrates, the existence of both conventional fibroblast system in somatic tissues and vitamin A-storing cell system in splanchnic organs is suggested.     

The ultrasonic probe for the investigating of internal object structure by ultrasound transmission tomography

The main component of every device used for investigating internal object structure by Ultrasound Transmission Tomography (UTT) is a special ultrasonic probe. This paper presents the structure of model multielement ring probe for examining objects using this method in divergent ray projection geometry. The probe is made up of 1024 rectangular separate piezoelectric transducers working at frequency f=1.7 MHz, placed inside a ring with diameter D=30 cm and height h=9 cm. Each element of the probe is equipped with a quarter-wave matching layer. All the transducers function as transmitters and receivers, and can be joined in groups both during transmitting and during receiving. Some examples of admittance characteristics of a single piezoelectric transducer and examples of shapes of pulses generated and received by particular transducers were presented. Important factors affecting the measurement resolution are the sizes of the active surface of the transducers.     

Pseudo-three-dimensional reconstruction of ultrasonic images of the tongue

The purpose of the present investigation was to develop a method for the three-dimensional reconstruction of the surface of the tongue using serial ultrasonic images gathered during the production of the sustained fricative /s/. Using a phased linear array ultrasonic monitoring system, transducer position, subject position, and ultrasonic scan data were recorded simultaneously on composite video for off-line analysis. Reconstruction of a series of ultrasound images was completed using a microcomputer programmed to transform the ultrasonic image contours into three-dimensional space. Additional transformations converting the three-dimensional tongue contours into two dimensions for screen plotting were also developed. Results are discussed in light of previously reported models of the tongue surface.     

Algorithms for suppressing ultrasonic backscattering from material structure

In pulse-echo ultrasonic inspection the backscattering from the material structure appears in the received ultrasonic images as clutter, often referred to as grain noise, which impairs the inspection results. A toolbox including algorithms for suppressing ultrasonic clutter is presented in the paper. Several processing algorithms capable of suppressing grain noise have been proposed, of which the split spectrum processing (SSP) probably is the most renowned. The classical SSP technique applies a filter bank to some frequency band that has to be precisely known in advance, to obtain a set of narrow-band signals that are tested for mutual correlation using some statistical operation. A number of SSP algorithms with different statistical operations are included in the toolbox. A completely different approach is to use explicit statistical models of grain noise and defects and to design an optimal filter based on those models. A simple such algorithm, based on noncoherent detection (NCD) known from communications, is also included in the toolbox. The toolbox, implemented in Matlab, is provided with a user-friendly graphical interface facilitating comparison of the algorithms.     

Temperature dependent ultrasonic characterization of biological media

Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) is an imaging technique that can be used to quantify tissue microstructure giving rise to scattered ultrasound. Other ultrasonic properties, e.g., sound speed and attenuation, of tissues have been estimated versus temperature elevation and found to have a dependence with temperature. Therefore, it is hypothesized that QUS parameters may be sensitive to changes in tissue microstructure due to temperature elevation. Ultrasonic backscatter experiments were performed on tissue-mimicking phantoms and freshly excised rabbit and beef liver samples. The phantoms were made of agar and contained either mouse mammary carcinoma cells (4T1) or chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) as scatterers. All scatterers were uniformly distributed spatially at random throughout the phantoms. All the samples were scanned using a 20-MHz single-element f/3 transducer. Quantitative ultrasound parameters were estimated from the samples versus increases in temperature from 37 °C to 50 °C in 1 °C increments. Two QUS parameters were estimated from the backscatter coefficient [effective scatterer diameter (ESD) and effective acoustic concentration (EAC)] using a spherical Gaussian scattering model. Significant increases in ESD and decreases in EAC of 20%-40% were observed in the samples over the range of temperatures examined. The results of this study indicate that QUS parameters are sensitive to changes in temperature.     

Tomographic reconstruction of asymmetric soot structure from multi-angular scanning

A tomographic deconvolution technique using the Fourier transformation has been applied for the reconstruction of asymmetric soot structure. Local soot volume fraction distribution can be identified from line-of-sight integrated data using light extinction measurements with multi-angular scanning. A peak-following interpolation technique was adopted to effectively increase the number of scanning angles. The results showed that the peak-following interpolation has improved the accuracy of reconstruction compared to the arithmetic interpolation in determining the local soot volume fraction. The measurement from a laser-induced incandescence technique substantiated the validity of the reconstruction technique.     

On the information completeness of quantum tomograms

We address the problem of information completeness of quantum measurements in connection to quantum state tomography and with particular concern to quantum symplectic tomography. We put forward some non-trivial situations where informatively incomplete set of tomograms allows as well the state reconstruction provided to have some a priori information on the state or its dynamics. We then introduce a measure of information completeness and apply it to symplectic quantum tomograms.     

Three-dimensional display of ultrasonic images using a fly's-eye lens.

In order to form a three-dimensional image from a set of two-dimensional cross-sectional ultrasonic images, a simple method making use of a fly's-eye lens in proposed. The depth perception obtained from the reconstructed image using the fly's-eye lens is analysed and an optical configuration that maximizes the depth perception is devised. With this configuration, the synthesis of a three-dimensional image is performed by using a simple object. Results of the experiment show clearly the three-dimensional aspect of the reconstructed image.     

超声检测中的结构噪声

结构噪声是超声脉冲在介质结构上激发产生的一种特殊噪声，它严重妨碍超声检测，是超声检测的基本限制因素之一；但也可被利用进行某些检测。本文综述了有关结构噪声的基本研究，抑制或降低结构噪声的方法，以及在结构噪声背景下进行超声检测和利用结构噪声进行超声检测的有关工作。     

Application of stochastic analysis to ultrasonic echoes--estimation of attenuation and tissue heterogeneity from peaks of echo envelope

A study of the statistics of ultrasound speckle indicates that the noise-to-signal ratio (NSR) of the echo envelope peaks (EEP) in a B scan is monotonically related to the variance of the mean power of the backscattered echoes. If it is assumed that the backscattered echoes all have the same mean power, the NSR of the EEP's in a B scan will be expected to reach a theoretical minimum value NSR0 (0.40 approximately 0.42). In practical situations, the variance of the mean power of the echoes is increased due to the presence of both attenuation (including beam spreading) and the spatial variation in the backscattering cross section (BCS) of the tissue. Accordingly, the measured value of the NSR of the EEP's is expected to be greater than the NSR0. In principle, the effects of beam pattern and the attenuation can be compensated for by system calibration and a depth-related gain function, respectively. The attenuation coefficient of the tissue may then be obtained by adjusting the gain function to minimize the NSR of the EEP's. Due to the random nature of the heterogeneity of diseased tissue, the effect of the variation in the BCS, however, cannot be compensated for by the depth-related gain function. Therefore, the minimum value of the NSR indicates the spatial variation in the BCS and may finally correlate to the disease state of the tissue.     

Self-action of ultrasonic beams for biological applications.

Theoretical and experimental investigations of powerful ultrasonic beams self-focusing in liquids are described. Calculations of the conditions to observe self-action as a result of sound-induced heating of liquids are reported. The effects of controlled self-action of ultrasonic waves in high-viscosity liquids are demonstrated in experiments. A hydrodynamic mechanism of the acoustic dispersion technique is developed. The rate of this process, as a function of ultrasound intensity, including the effects of self-focusing and self-transparency, is evaluated.     

Three-dimensional structure of low-density nuclear matter

We numerically explore the pasta structures and properties of low-density nuclear matter without any assumption on the geometry. We observe conventional pasta structures, while a mixture of the pasta structures appears as a metastable state at some transient densities. We also discuss the lattice structure of droplets.     

Three-dimensional holographic reconstruction of two-dimensional image information from serial sections and its applications in biomedicine

An experimental study to synthesize holographically two-dimensional projections of serial sections at various depths into three-dimensional images is described. The effects caused by the position, size and resolution of virtual images during reconstruction are analysed, and the advantages and limitations of this method are discussed. An application of this experimental method — the three-dimensional reconstruction of serial sections of a newt embryo — is presented.     

Determination of the internal structure of valons

We determine the internal structure functions of the valons introduced by Hwa and coworkers, using low-p _t data and Regge model constraints. Our calibration reaction is the fragmentation processp→π^? observed in 70 GeV/cK ⁺ p interactions. The fitted valon structure parameters are used to make successful predictions for various other fragmentation processes (p→π⁺ andp→K ⁺). A comparison with experimental data of the DISvW ₂ (x)-values implied by this same fit, indicates that soft processes probe the nucleon typically at aQ ²-value of ～1 GeV². This finding supports the hypothesis that soft hadronic reactions are useful (and often unique) tools to learn about hadron quark structure.     

Preliminary investigation of heterogeneity in the microzone of composites by laser ultrasonic probe measurements

We carry out a preliminary investigation of heterogeneity in the microzone of composites by using a laser ultrasonic probe to measure the time-of- flight (TOF) of the laser-excited longitudinal (L-) and transverse (S-) waves that propagate within the samples. The influence of the number of fibers on the inhomogeneity of the TOF is observed. The results show that the heterogeneity of the TOF in a small region within a composite can be observed with a resolution of 2 ns in time and 50 m in space. The S-wave is better than the L-wave for examining the heterogeneity. The change in the TOF for the sample with two fibers is smaller than that for the sample with one fiber. PACS 62.65.+k; 43.35.+d; 42.62.-b; 81.70.Cv; 81.05.-t     

Three-dimensional structure of the Lagrangian acceleration in turbulent flows

We report experimental results on the three-dimensional Lagrangian acceleration in highly turbulent flows. Tracer particles are tracked optically using four silicon strip detectors from high energy physics that provide high temporal and spatial resolution. The components of the acceleration are shown to be statistically dependent. The probability density function of the acceleration magnitude is comparable to a log-normal distribution. Assuming isotropy, a log-normal distribution of the magnitude can account for the observed dependency of the components. The time dynamics of the acceleration components is found to be typical of the dissipation scales, whereas the magnitude evolves over longer times, possibly close to the integral time scale.     

Three-dimensional confinement in the conduction band structure of InP

Strong quantum confinement in InP is observed to significantly reduce the separation between the direct and indirect conduction band states. The effects of three-dimensional confinement are investigated by tailoring the initial separation between conduction band states using quantum dots (QDs) of different sizes and hydrostatic pressure. Analyses of the QD emission spectra show that the X(1c) states are lowest in energy at pressures of approximately 6 GPa, much lower than in the bulk. The transition to the X(1c) states can be explained by either a sequence of gamma-L and L-X crossings, or by the crossover between strongly coupled gamma and X states.     

Black hole thermodynamics from a possible model for internal structure

Treating a black hole as a relativistic gas of microblack holes (planckions) which have fermionic character, expressions for some thermodynamic quantities are obtained. These have the same structure as those obtained by Hawking by other considerations.