Diagnosis of suspicious breast lesions using an empirical mathematical model for dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI

The purpose of this study was to test whether an empirical mathematical model (EMM) of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) can distinguish between benign and malignant breast lesions. A modified clinical protocol was used to improve the sampling of contrast medium uptake and washout. T(1)-weighted DCE magnetic resonance images were acquired at 1.5 T for 22 patients before and after injection of Gd-DTPA. Contrast medium concentration as a function of time was calculated over a small region of interest containing the most rapidly enhancing pixels. Then the curves were fitted with the EMM, which accurately described contrast agent uptake and washout. Results demonstrate that benign lesions had uptake (P<2.0 x 10(-5)) and washout (P<.01) rates of contrast agent significantly slower than those of malignant lesions. In addition, secondary diagnostic parameters, such as time to peak of enhancement, enhancement slope at the peak and curvature at the peak of enhancement, were derived mathematically from the EMM and expressed in terms of primary parameters. These diagnostic parameters also effectively differentiated benign from malignant lesions (P<.03). Conventional analysis of contrast medium dynamics, using a subjective classification of contrast medium kinetics in lesions as "washout," "plateau" or "persistent" (sensitivity=83%, specificity=50% and diagnostic accuracy=72%), was less effective than the EMM (sensitivity=100%, specificity=83% and diagnostic accuracy=94%) for the separation of benign and malignant lesions. In summary, the present research suggests that the EMM is a promising alternative method for evaluating DCE-MRI data with improved diagnostic accuracy.     

Stopping and time reversing a light pulse using dynamic loss tuning of coupled-resonator delay lines

We introduce a light-stopping process that uses dynamic loss tuning in coupled-resonator delay lines. We demonstrate via numerical simulations that increasing the loss of selected resonators traps light in a zero group velocity mode concentrated in the low-loss portions of the delay line. The large dynamic range achievable for loss modulation should increase the light-stopping bandwidth relative to previous approaches based on refractive index tuning.     

阴离子交换树脂分离甲苯萃取ICP-AES测定铋系超导粉中的痕量镍

建立了ICP-AES测定超导粉中痕量镍的新方法。优化了仪器工作参数,对超导前驱粉中痕量镍测定时的基体干扰及干扰消除方法进行了系统研究,结果表明:大量存在的基体元素产生严重基体效应,导致测定重现性及准确度变差,实验采用分离富集方法以提高测定结果的准确度和精密度。实验中首先用阴离子交换树脂,除去Bi3+及部分Pb2+,Sr2+,Ca2+,Cu2+等基体元素;在碱性条件下再通过甲苯萃取镍与丁二酮肟的络合物、稀盐酸反萃取富集镍;对分离富集条件进行了优化。对模拟标准样品进行测定,分析结果与理论值一致,相对标准偏差为1.9%,方法检出限为0.19μg.g-1。该方法已用于超导前驱粉样品中痕量镍的分析,结果令人满意。     

Generation of radially polarized mode using an active cylindrically symmetric birefringence fiber

A class of active fiber is presented as gain mediums of fiber lasers, where a silica layer with spoke-like air slits is introduced between the active core and cladding to obtain birefringence. With an appropriate choice of the design parameters, the fiber can support only the HE₁₁ and TM₀₁ modes. Furthermore, the numerical results show that, corresponding to the optimal rare earth doping profile, the fiber lasers can output a pure TM₀₁ mode with about 79% slope efficiency without using other mode-selective elements.     

Coherent beam combining and phase noise measurements of ytterbium fiber amplifiers

Phase noise characterization of a 10-W Yb fiber amplifier is presented, and we demonstrate phase locking of two fiber amplifiers with near-perfect fringe contrast at power levels of as much as 10 W per fiber. Coherent beam combining is maintained during the turn-on transient as well as in thermal steady-state operation.     

Development of a laser photothermoacoustic frequency-swept system for subsurface imaging: theory and experiment

In conventional biomedical photoacoustic imaging systems, a pulsed laser is used to generate time-of-flight acoustic information of the subsurface features. This paper reports the theoretical and experimental development of a new frequency-domain (FD) photo-thermo-acoustic (PTA) principle featuring frequency sweep (chirp) and heterodyne modulation and lock-in detection of a continuous-wave laser source at 1064 nm wavelength. PTA imaging is a promising new technique which is being developed to detect tumor masses in turbid biological tissue. Owing to the linear relationship between the depth of acoustic signal generation and the delay time of signal arrival to the transducer, information specific to a particular depth can be associated with a particular frequency in the chirp signal. Scanning laser modulation with a linear frequency sweep method preserves the depth-to-delay time linearity and recovers FD-PTA signals from a range of depths. Preliminary results performed on rubber samples and solid tissue phantoms indicate that the FD-PTA technique has the potential to be a reliable tool for biomedical depth-profilometric imaging.     

Structure,transport and magnetic properties of the double perovskite (Ca<Subscript>2-2x</Subscript>Sr<Subscript>2x</Subscript>)FeMoO<Subscript>6</Subscript>

In this paper we report the results of a detailed investigation of the double perovskite (Ca_2-2xSr_2x)FeMoO₆ system. Chemical size effects on structural, electrical, and magnetic properties caused by the substitution of isovalent, larger Sr ions into the smaller Ca sites, resulting in (Ca_2-2xSr_2x)FeMoO₆, have been examined. The compounds crystallize in the monoclinic space group P2₁/n for 0.0x<0.2, the orthorhombic space group Pbnm for 0.2x<0.4, and the tetragonal space group I4/m and I4/mmm for x0.4. Examination of the resistivity of all compounds reveals a metallic behavior which is well described by a Tⁿ dependence except for x=1.0. These n values change from 1 to 2 as T decreases lower than T_c. This is indicative of a variation in the transport mechanism at T_c. The ferrimagnetic transition temperature T_c increases with increasing x from 318 (x=0.0) to 393 K (x=1.0). For all samples, the saturation magnetization at 82 K obeys M_s3.5_B/(formula unit), compared to a theoretical spin-only moment of 4_B/(formula unit) for a perfectly ordered compound. PACS 74.25.Fy; 74.25.Ha     

Role of cross section on the stability and electronic structure of Ag-doped ZnO nanowires

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) exhibit tunable physical properties intrinsically related to their reduced dimensionality, quantum size effect, morphology, and surface effects. By using density functional theory, we investigated the cross-sectional effect on the electronic structure of Ag-doped ZnO NWs. Three types of NWs have been considered: hexagonal cross-sectional ZnO NWs with zigzag and armchair surfaces, respectively, and triangular cross-sectional ZnO NW with zigzag surface. The results show that Ag prefers to substitute surface Zn atoms and induces typical p-type characteristic for all kinds of NWs. Moreover, single Ag doping could create a much shallower acceptor with a smaller hole effective mass in triangular ZnO NW than in the two hexagonal ZnO NWs. With the increase of Ag concentration, the p-type doping becomes much less effective overall. However, double Ag substituting in the zigzag surface of triangular ZnO NW improves the p-type properties, while substituting in the angle site seriously damage the p-type conduction. As the triangular ZnO NWs and prismatic ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized recently, on the basis of our results, we expect that effective p-type could be achieved via incorporating Ag in triangular ZnO NWs experimentally.     

Husimi Operator for Describing Probability Distribution of Electron States in Uniform Magnetic Field Studied by Virtue of Entangled State Representation

For the first time we introduce an operator Δ _h (γ,ε;κ) for studying Husimi distribution function in phase space (γ,ε) for electron’s states in uniform magnetic field, where κ is the Gaussian spatial width parameter. The marginal distributions of the Husimi function are Gaussian-broadened version of the Wigner marginal distributions. Using the Wigner operator in the entangled state 〈λ | representation we find that Δ _h (γ,ε;κ) is just a pure squeezed coherent state density operator | γ,ε〉 _{κ κ} 〈γ,ε |, which brings much convenience for studying Husimi distribution, so we name Δ _h (γ,ε;κ) the Husimi operator. We then derive Husimi operator’s normally ordered form that provides us with an operator version to examine various properties of the Husimi distribution. Work supported by the National Natural Science Foundation under the grant: 10775097.     

Design of different bandwidth dispersive mirrors

Dispersive mirrors in the wavelength range of 960–1110 nm, 700–900 nm, 950–1150 nm, 600–900 nm, 900–1200 nm, 600–1000 nm and 550–1050 nm are designed, respectively. From the design results, we analyse the choice of material and the approach to dispersion compensation. Furthermore, along with the increase of bandwidth, interaction between group delay dispersion (GDD) oscillation and high reflectivity, and influence of bandwidth on both GDD ripple and reflectivity are discussed.