Focal nodular hyperplasia of the liver: diffusion and perfusion MRI characteristics

Purpose

To present diffusion and perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics of focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) of the liver.

Materials and Methods

Thirty-five patients with 52 FNHs (21 were pathologically-confirmed) underwent MRI at 1.5-T device. MR diffusion [diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)] was performed using a free-breathing single-shot, spin-echo, echo-planar sequence with b gradient factor value of 500 s/mm². MR perfusion [perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI)] consisted of a 3D free-breathing LAVA sequence repeated up to 5 minutes after injection of 7 mL Gd-BOPTA (MultiHance, Bracco, Italy) and 20 mL saline flush at a flow rate of 4 mL/s. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and time-signal intensity curve (TSIC) were obtained for both normal liver and each FNH by two reviewers in conference; maximum enhancement (ME) percentage, time to peak enhancement (TTP), and maximal slope (MS) were also calculated.

Results

On DWI mean ADC value was 1.624×10^− 3 mm²/s for normal liver and 1.629×10^− 3 mm²/s for FNH. ADC value for each FNH and the normal liver was not statistically different (P= .936). On PWI, TSIC-Type 1 (quick and marked enhancement and quick decay followed by slowly decaying) was observed in all 52 FNHs, and TSIC-Type 2 (fast enhancement followed by slowly decaying plateau) in all normal livers. The mean ME, TTP and MS values were significantly different for FNH and normal liver (P= .005).

Conclusion

FNHs of the liver showed typical diffusion and perfusion MRI characteristics in all cases. On the ADC map, we could get similar value between the FNHs and the background parenchyma. On the perfusion imaging, FNHs showed a different pattern distinguished from the background liver.     

Lower Bounds for the Height and Size of the Ideal Class Group in CM-Fields

 We prove that, under the assumption of the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, the exponent of the ideal class group of a CM-field goes to infinity with its absolute discriminant. This gives a positive answer to a question raised by Louboutin and Okazaki [4]. Received September 10, 2001; in revised form April 5, 2002     

Optimal Operations Management and Network Planning of a District Heating System with a Combined Heat and Power Plant

District heating plants are becoming more common in European cities. These systems make it possible to furnish users with warm water while locating the production plants in the outskirts having the double benefit of lowering the impact of pollution on the center of the city and achieving better conversion performances. In order to amortize the costs throughout the year, the system often includes a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, to exploit the energy during the summer as well, when the demand for warm water decreases. A linear programming model for the optimal resource management of such a plant is presented and some results for a real case are reported. A distribution network design problem is also addressed and solved by means of mixed integer linear programming.     

Complex classical fields: An example

We study complex, classical, scalar fields within a new framework introduced in a previous work. We replace the usual functional integral by a complex functional arising from a boosted Hamiltonian. We generalize the Feynman–Kac relation to this setting, and use it to establish the spectral condition on a cylinder. We consider also positive-temperature states.     

The behavior of differential forms under purely inseparable extensions

Let F be a field of characteristic 2. In this paper we give a complete computation of the kernel of the homomorphism $H_2^{m+1}(F)?H_2^{m+1}(L)$ induced by scalar extension, where $L/F$ is a purely inseparable extension (of any degree), $H_2^{m+1}(F)$ is the cokernel of the Artin–Schreier operator $?:{\mathrm{\Omega }}_F^m?{\mathrm{\Omega }}_F^m/\mathrm{d}{\mathrm{\Omega }}_F^{m?1}$ given by: $x\frac{\mathrm{d}{x}_1}{x_1}\wedge ?\wedge \frac{\mathrm{d}{x}_m}{x_m}?(x^2?x)\frac{\mathrm{d}{x}_1}{x_1}\wedge ?\wedge \frac{\mathrm{d}{x}_m}{x_m}+\mathrm{d}{\mathrm{\Omega }}_F^{m?1}$, where ${\mathrm{\Omega }}_F^m$ is the space of absolute m-differential forms over F and d is the differential operator. Other related results are included.     

Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics for ELTs: constraints and limitations

We present how enlarging the size of a telescope from the current 10 meter telescope to the future 100 meter Extremely Large Telescopes increases the complexity of a classical or multiconjugate adaptive optics instrument. We point out elements or parameters of the system for which it is critical to propose new ideas as solutions and we study the effect of the increase of the diameter on the point spread function of an MCAO and a Ground Layer AO system. To cite this article: R. Ragazzoni et al., C. R. Physique 6 (2005).     

Varieties with small discriminant variety

Let be a smooth complex projective variety, let be an ample and spanned line bundle on , defining a morphism and let be its discriminant locus, the variety parameterizing the singular elements of . We present two bounds on the dimension of and its main component relying on the geometry of . Classification results for triplets reaching the bounds as well as significant examples are provided.

     

Temperature dependence of the Ho L2‐edge XMCD spectra of Ho6Fe23

An X‐ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) study performed at the Ho L_2,3‐edges in Ho₆Fe₂₃ as a function of temperature is presented. It is demonstrated that the anomalous temperature dependence of the Ho L₂‐edge XMCD signal is due to the magnetic contribution of Fe atoms. By contrast, the Ho L₃‐edge XMCD directly reflects the temperature dependence of the Ho magnetic moment. By combining the XMCD at both Ho L₂‐ and L₃‐edges, the possibility of determining the temperature dependence of the Fe magnetic moment is demonstrated. Then, both μ_Ho(T) and μ_Fe(T) have been determined by tuning only the absorption L‐edges of Ho. This result opens new possibilities of applying XMCD at these absorption edges to obtain quantitative element‐specific magnetic information that is not directly obtained by other experimental tools.     

Free MVn-algebras

In this note we characterize free algebras in varieties of MV-algebras generated by a finite chain L _n as algebras of continuous functions from the spectrum of the Boolean skeleton of the free algebra into L _n . Received May 9, 2006; accepted in final form May 15, 2007.     

Stable equivalences of graded algebras

We extend the notion of stable equivalence to the class of locally finite graded algebras. For such an algebra Λ, we focus on the Krull–Schmidt category gr_Λ of finitely generated -graded Λ-modules with degree 0 maps, and the stable category obtained by factoring out those maps that factor through a graded projective module. We say that Λ and Γ are graded stably equivalent if there is an equivalence that commutes with the grading shift. Adapting arguments of Auslander and Reiten involving functor categories, we show that a graded stable equivalence α commutes with the syzygy operator (where defined) and preserves finitely presented modules. As a result, we see that if Λ is right noetherian (resp. right graded coherent), then so is any graded stably equivalent algebra. Furthermore, if Λ is right noetherian or k is artinian, we use almost split sequences to show that a graded stable equivalence preserves finite length modules. Of particular interest in the nonartinian case, we prove that any graded stable equivalence involving an algebra Λ with socΛ=0 must be a graded Morita equivalence.