Effect of dual-frequency clutter suppression in harmonic Doppler detection

Background

High-frequency Doppler imaging is highly potential for detection of blood flow in microcirculation. In a swept-scan system, however, the spectral broadening of tissue clutter limits the detectability of low-velocity flow signal. Conventionally, the scanning speed of transducer has to be reduced to alleviate the clutter interference but at the cost of imaging frame rate. For example, the blood velocity of 0.5 mm/s becomes detectable only with a scanning speed lower than 1 mm/s. In this study, an alternative method is examined by suppressing the clutter magnitude to reduce the interference to flow signal without sacrificing scanning speed.

Methods

The method of third harmonic (3f₀) transmit phasing can suppress the tissue harmonic clutter by transmitting at the fundamental and the additional 3f₀ frequencies to achieve mutual cancellation between the frequency-sum and the frequency-difference components of the second harmonic signal. With 3f₀ transmit phasing, the cut-off frequency of wall filtering can be reduced to preserve low-velocity flow without compromising the frame rate.

Results

Our results indicate that the 3f₀ transmit phasing effectively reduces the harmonic clutter magnitude and thus improves the flow signal-to-clutter ratio. Compared to the conventional counterpart, the clutter-suppressed color flow and power Doppler images show fewer clutter artifacts and is capable of detecting more low-velocity flow of microbubbles. The resultant color-pixel-density also improves with clutter suppression.

Conclusion

For the swept-scan high-frequency (>20 MHz) system, 3f₀ transmit phasing is capable of providing effective clutter suppression. With the same achievable scanning speed, the resultant Doppler image has higher sensitivity for low-velocity flow and is less susceptible to clutter artifacts.     

颗粒有序堆积多孔介质对流换热实验研究

本文采用"瞬态单吹反问题研究方法"对颗粒有序堆积多孔介质内的强制对流换热进行了实验研究。详细研究了颗粒堆积方式变化对多孔介质内对流换热的影响,并对均匀与非均匀颗粒堆积多孔介质内的对流换热特性进行了对比分析。研究表明:通过对颗粒进行合理有序堆积,可以使相应多孔介质内的压降显著降低,其综合换热效率明显提高;通过拟合获得了颗粒有序堆积多孔介质内的宏观流动换热实验关联式,其形式与传统经验公式(Ergun公式和Wakao公式)一致,但部分模型参数值远低于传统经验公式。     

Optimization of the in-line X-ray phase-contrast imaging setup considering edge-contrast enhancement and spatial resolution

Employing the approximation theory based on refraction and the definition of the total point-spread-function of the imaging system, the variation in the edge contrast of simple model samples is discussed with different source-to-sample and sample-to-detector distances, which actually means different spatial resolutions of the imaging system. The experiments were carried out with the Beamline 4W1A imaging setup at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility for simple model and insect samples. The results show that to obtain clear phase-contrast images of biologic tissues for the X-ray in-line imaging setup, with determined parameters such as the size of the X-ray source, the pixel size of the detector and the fixed source-to-sample distance, there is a range of optimized sample-to-detector distances. The analysis method discussed in this article can be helpful in optimizing the setup of X-ray in-line phase-contrast imaging.     

模拟短脉冲激光在介质中传输的扩散综合有限元法

建立有限元模型,通过求解瞬态辐射传输方程模拟短脉冲激光在半透明介质中的传输.针对散射占优性半透明介质内辐射传输求解效率较差的问题,采用扩散综合加速迭代算法,提高计算效率,缩短计算时间.结果表明:采用精确解析式描述脉冲激光散射源项的求解策略可以获得准确的计算结果,精确地模拟快速变化的波前,不会产生数值扩散和数值振荡.此外,扩散综合迭代算法的计算时间仅为源项迭代的50%~60%.     

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.     

双光子光折变介质中非相干耦合光伏孤子族

为了得到双光子非相干耦合光伏孤子族的结果,采用数值模拟方法,对稳态情况下多束互不相干的光束在双光子光伏光折变晶体中的传播进行了研究。结果表明:具有相同偏振和相同波长的多束互不相干的入射光束可在晶体中形成双光子非相干耦合光伏孤子族。当入射光束中仅包含两个分量时,孤子族就转化为光伏孤子对。并用双光子光伏光折变晶体Cu:KNSBN和LiNbO3进行了分析说明。研究结果可为空间光孤子理论的发展提供理论依据。     

A new method of detecting interferogram in differential phase-contrast imaging system based on special structured x-ray scintillator screen

An x-ray scintillator screen with a special structure,functioning as detector and analyser grating,was proposed for collecting the interferogram of differential phase contrast imaging without absorption grating and difficulty of fabrication by a state of the art technique.On the basis of phase grating diffraction,a detecting model of the scintillator screen was built for analysing the phase and absorption information of objects.According to the analysis,a new method of phase retrievals based on two-images and the optimal structure of screen were presented.     

Density limits imposed by the microstructure of magnetic recording media

The fundamental limit of magnetic recording density on conventional media is set by the grain size. Once this grain size limit is reached, only a reduction of the grain size allows an increased SNR and thus an increased areal density. It is shown that, whilst maintaining thermal stability, scaling demands that the required anisotropy energy density K is proportional to the areal density, or the square of the areal density if the medium thickness reaches the critical thickness (A is the exchange stiffness of the material). Recording onto materials with such a high anisotropy requires some form of a write-assist. It is furthermore shown that the grain size limit cannot be obtained with intergranular exchange present, and six different requirements are listed that constitute ideal media. An alternative path for increasing areal density of magnetic recording is to use patterned media, where each bit contains only one grain. In this case, written-in errors dominate system performance and the maximum achievable areal density is estimated to be about 6 Tbit/in². Patterned media need to exhibit narrow distributions of their physical and structural properties with standard deviations of the order of 5% or less.     

Ultrasound triggered cell death in vitro with doxorubicin loaded poly lactic-acid contrast agents

Traditional chemotherapy generally results in systemic toxicity, which also limits drug levels at the area of need. Two ultrasound contrast agents (UCA), with diameters between 1–2 μm in diameter and shell thicknesses of 100–200 nm, composed of poly lactic-acid (PLA), one loaded by surface adsorption and the other loaded by drug incorporation in the shell, were compared in vitro for potential use in cancer therapy. These poly lactic-acid (PLA) UCA platforms contain a gas core that in an ultrasound (US) field can cause the UCA to oscillate or rupture. Following a systemic injection of drug loaded UCA with external application of US focused at the area of interest, this platform could potentially increase drug toxicity at the area of need, while protecting healthy tissue through microencapsulation of the drug. In vitro toxicity in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells of the surface-adsorbed and shell-incorporated doxorubicin (Dox) loaded UCA were examined at 5 MHz insonation using a pulse repetition frequency of 100 Hz at varying pressure amplitudes. Both platforms resulted in equivalent cell death compared to free Dox and US when insonated at peak positive pressure amplitudes of 1.26 MPa and above. While no significant changes in cell death were seen for surface adsorbed Dox-UCA with or without insonation, cell death using the platform with Dox incorporated within the shell increased from 16.12% to 25.78% (p = 0.0272), approaching double the potency of the platform when insonated at peak positive pressure amplitudes of 1.26 MPa and above. This mechanism is believed to be the result of UCA rupture at higher insonation pressure amplitudes, resulting in more exposed drug and shell surface area as well as increased cellular uptake of Dox containing polymer shell fragments. This study has shown that a polymer UCA with drug housed within the shell may be used for US-triggered cell death. US activation can be used to make a carrier significantly more potent once in the area of need.     

MRICOM–MRI COntrast Modelling using 2D T1–T2 correlation spectra and relaxation signatures

Image contrast is calculated by inputting experimental 2D T₁–T₂ relaxation spectra into the ODIN software interface. The method involves characterising a magnetic resonance imaging pulse sequence with a “relaxation signature” which describes the sensitivity of the sequence to relaxation and is independent of sample parameters. Maximising (or minimising) the overlap between the experimental 2D T₁–T₂ relaxation spectra and the relaxation signature can then be used to maximise image contrast. The concept is illustrated using relaxation signatures for the echo planar imaging and Turbo spin-echo imaging sequences, together with in-vitro 2D T₁–T₂ spectra for liver and cartilage.