Two-dimensional spectroscopic imaging for pretreatment evaluation of prostate cancer: comparison with the step-section histology after radical prostatectomy

Purpose

To minimize user and vendor dependence of the spectrum processing of prostate spectra, to measure the ratio of choline (Cho) plus creatine (Cr) to citrate (Cit) in the prostate tissue of normal volunteers and cancer patients, and to compare the results with pathologic findings after radical prostatectomy.

Materials and methods

Four healthy volunteers and 13 patients with prostate cancer were measured. Measurements were performed using two-dimensional magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) and endorectal coil. A standard vendor's spectrum processing approach has been modified. An original feature of this methodology was the combination of vendor-optimized and user-independent spectrum preprocessing in the scanner and user-independent quantitation in the environment of an MRUI software package. (Cho+Cr)/Cit ratio was used for the classification of prostate tissue. Results were compared with histopathology after radical prostatectomy.

Results

Eight of 13 cancer patients were classified as suspicious or very suspicious for cancer at spectroscopy, three were ambiguous for cancer and two patients were evaluated as false negative. A considerable overlap of metabolite ratios at various Gleason score was found.

Conclusion

The proposed spectrum processing has the potential to improve the accuracy and user independency of the (Cho+Cr)/Cit quantitation. This study confirmed the previous results that a considerable overlap of (Cho+Cr)/Cit ratios exists at various Gleason score levels.     

直肠癌及直肠正常组织的IR和1H及31P NMR谱研究

对12例直肠组织的红外光谱图进行了测定,并对6例直肠癌变及正常组织的固体1H和31P NMR谱与另外6例直肠癌变及正常组织的液体1H和31P-NMR谱进行研究.结果表明,(1)直肠癌变和正常组织的红外光谱中存在明显差异.(2)在固体1H和31P NMR谱中,1H NMR谱上癌组织的脂肪酸与水相关的特征峰面积的比值I(5+6+7)/I(1+2+3+4)明显变低,依据I(5+6+7)/I(1+2+3+4)比值可区分癌变与正常组织.31P NMR谱上,癌变组织的最强峰的化学位移明显向高场偏移.(3)在液体1H和31P NMR谱中,1H NMR谱上癌组织中3.20处峰强较正常组织高,表明与癌变密切相关的胆碱类化合物包括游离的胆碱、磷酸胆碱及甘油磷酸胆碱等的量增大.31P NMR谱上,癌变组织的强度最大峰的化学位移分别为1.18,1.26,1.29,1.37,正常组织的化学位移为1.70和2.18,癌变组织的强度最大峰的化学位移明显向高场偏移.通过癌变与正常组织代谢物1H NMR谱峰强度和1P NMR谱峰化学位移的差异,可以区分直肠癌变和正常组织,核磁共振1H和31P NMR谱技术可能发展成为一种诊断直肠癌的新方法.     

Experiments and analysis of infrared quantum cutting luminescence phenomena of Ho/Yb codoped nanophase oxyfluoride vitroceramics

The infrared quantum cutting phenomenon, which is an international hot research field, of Ho³⁺Yb³⁺: oxyfluoride vitroceramics (FOV) was studied in the present paper. It was found from the fluorescence spectroscopy experiments that the excitation spectrum of 973.0 nm fluorescence of Yb³⁺ ion is very similar to the absorption and excitation spectra of Ho³⁺ ion. It suggests that the energy transfer from Ho³⁺ ion to Yb³⁺ ion is very efficient. Then, all the possible important energy transfer passages were analyzed. It was found that the energy transfers {⁵G₄(Ho³⁺)→⁵F₅(Ho³⁺), ²F_7/2(Yb³⁺)→²F_5/2(Yb³⁺)} and {⁵F₅(Ho³⁺)→⁵I₇(Ho³⁺), ²F_7/2(Yb³⁺)→²F_5/2(Yb³⁺)} result in the effective two-photon quantum cutting 973.0 nm fluorescence of Yb³⁺ ion when ⁵G₄ or ³K₇ or the above energy level of Ho³⁺ ion are excited. Finally, the quantum efficiency η_QE,1%Yb=43.0% and η_QE,5%Yb=171.7% of two-photon quantum cutting was calculated for Ho(0.5)Yb(1):FOV and Ho(0.5)Yb(5):FOV respectively. This research would be beneficial for the enhancement of solar cell efficiency.     

中温固体氧化物燃料电池的基本性质测量

介绍了固体氧化物燃料电池的工作原理,测量了中温薄膜固体氧化物燃料电池的开路电压、放电曲线及功率曲线,并分析了电池内阻随电流密度的变化.     

低能N离子注入对蚕豆根尖细胞的诱变效应

为了研究低能N离子束的细胞遗传学效应, 以不同剂量的N离子束对蚕豆种子的种胚进行辐照, 观察分析根尖细胞的微核率、 有丝分裂指数和染色体畸变效应。 研究发现, 离子束的注入抑制了根尖细胞的有丝分裂, 干扰了正常的有丝分裂过程, 引发了染色体的结构、 行为和数目畸变; 随着离子注入剂量的增加, 微核率增加、 有丝分裂指数降低、 染色体畸变率增加。 In order to study the cytogenetic effects of low energy nitrogen ion irradiation, broad bean seed embryo was irradiated by different doses of nitrogen ions. Micronucleus rate, mitotic index and chromosome aberration in root tip cells were analyzed. The results showed that the injection of ions inhibited mitosis of root tip cells, interfered the normal process of mitosis, caused aberrations of chromosome structure, behavior and number. The frequency of micronucleus and chromosomal aberrations increased with the increasing radiation dosage, while mitotic index decreased.     

太阳能电池陷光结构辐射特性研究

本文分析了不同微结构、电池厚度对太阳能电池光损失的影响,提出了一种新的电池陷光结构。运用时域有限差分法(FDTD)仿真了该类太阳能电池陷光结构中光传输过程,获得了不同波源入射下陷光结构电池的储能特性和光捕获特性,优化设计了最佳陷光结构并分析了其光捕获性能。     

Application of high-resolution magic-angle spinning NMR spectroscopy to define the cell uptake of MRI contrast agents

A new method, based on proton high-resolution magic-angle spinning ((1)H HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy, has been employed to study the cell uptake of magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents (MRI-CAs). The method was tested on human red blood cells (HRBC) and white blood cells (HWBC) by using three gadolinium complexes, widely used in diagnostics, Gd-BOPTA, Gd-DTPA, and Gd-DOTA, and the analogous complexes obtained by replacing Gd(III) with Dy(III), Nd(III), and Tb(III) (i.e., complexes isostructural to the ones of gadolinium but acting as shift agents). The method is based on the evaluation of the magnetic effects, line broadening, or induced lanthanide shift (LIS) caused by these complexes on NMR signals of intra- and extracellular water. Since magnetic effects are directly linked to permeability, this method is direct. In all the tests, these magnetic effects were detected for the extracellular water signal only, providing a direct proof that these complexes are not able to cross the cell membrane. Line broadening effects (i.e., the use of gadolinium complexes) only allow qualitative evaluations. On the contrary, LIS effects can be measured with high precision and they can be related to the concentration of the paramagnetic species in the cellular compartments. This is possible because the HR-MAS technique provides the complete elimination of bulk magnetic susceptibility (BMS) shift and the differentiation of extra- and intracellular water signals. Thus with this method, the rapid quantification of the MRI-CA amount inside and outside the cells is actually feasible.     

Wet-chemical treatment and electronic interface properties of silicon solar cell substrates

On textured n-type silicon substrates for solar cell manufacturing, the relation between light trapping behavior, structural imperfections, energetic distribution of interface state densities and interface recombination losses were investigated by applying surface sensitive techniques. The field-modulated surface photovoltage (SPV), in-situ photoluminescence (PL) measurements, total hemispherical UV-NIR-reflectance measurements and electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to yield detailed information on the influence of wet-chemical treatments on preparation induced micro-roughness and electronic properties of polished and textured silicon substrates. It was shown that isotropic as well as anisotropic etching of light trapping structures result in high surface micro-roughness and density of interface states. Removing damaged surface layers in the nm range by wet-chemical treatments, the density of these states and the related interface recombination loss can be reduced. In-situ PL measurements were applied to optimise HF-treatment times aimed at undamaged, oxide-free and hydrogen-terminated substrate surfaces as starting material for subsequent solar cell preparations.      

Laboratory set-up for X-ray diffraction at high pressures

We describe here a simple set-up for X-ray diffraction under high pressure using a diamond anvil cell employing a sealed tube. The set-up works in angular dispersive geometry and is built using rather common components that are available in a research laboratory. We show that using this set-up one can routinely acquire good-quality data for the determination of structural properties under pressure and the equations of state. Technical details are presented along with examples of experimental results for sodium chloride and LiV₂O₄.     

Enhancing the performance of thin film CdS/PbS photovoltaic solar cells

This work investigates dependence of the short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, fill factor and efficiency of a thin film CdS/PbS solar cell on thickness of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layer, thickness of window layer (CdS), concentration of uncompensated acceptors (width of space-charge region), carrier lifetime in PbS and the reflectivity from metallic back contact. The effect of optical losses, front and rear recombination losses as well as the recombination losses on space-charge region are also considered in this study. As a result, by thinning the front contact layer indium tin oxide from 400 to 100 nm and window layer (CdS) from 200 to 100 nm it is possible to reduce the optical losses from 32 to 20%. The effect of electron lifetime on the internal and external quantum efficiency can be neglected at high width of the space-charge region. The maximum current density of 18.4 mA/cm² is achieved at wide space-charge region (concentration of uncompensated acceptors = 10¹⁵ cm^?3) and the longest lifetime (τ_n = 10^?6 s) where the optical and recombination losses are about 55%. The maximum efficiency of 5.17%, maximum open-circuit voltage of 417 mV and approximately fixed fill factor of 74% are yielded at optimum conditions such as: electron lifetime = 10^?6 s; concentration of uncompensated acceptors = 10¹⁶ cm^?3; thickness of TCO = 100 nm; thickness of CdS = 100 nm; velocity of surface and rear recombination = 10⁷ cm/s and thickness of absorber layer = 3 μm. When the reflectance from the back contact is 100%, the cell parameters improve and the cell efficiency records a value of 6.1% under the above conditions.