T2 relaxation measurement with solvent suppression and implications to solvent suppression in general

A number of suppression pulse sequences including Excitation Sculpting and WATERGATE were incorporated into the standard Carr‐Purcell‐Meiboom‐Gill (CPMG) program for T₂ measurement and experimentally evaluated. The chosen suppression schemes were of varying complexity encompassing pulse program elements, such as presaturation, gradients, and selective pulses, which are typically utilized for solvent suppression. The quality of the spectral data and the accuracy of T₂ measurements of the investigated suppression schemes were evaluated using three aqueous samples with increasing proton content in the water solvent, i.e. by volume 100% D₂O, 80/20% D₂O/H₂O, and 20/80% D₂O/H₂O. For signals removed from the water signal, the T₂ values were generally very consistent between all pulse sequences tested. T₂ measurements can be unreliable for signals too close to the water signal such that they are significantly suppressed as well. Their intensity may actually grow initially through cross relaxation that transfers magnetization back to the solute signal. In turn, this relaxation phenomenon can be exploited to improve the spectral quality of conventional solvent suppression schemes. In favorable cases, even signals that are completely masked by the water signal can be recovered by adding a carefully chosen number of spin echoes with optimized evolution time to conventional water suppression pulse programs, such as Excitation Sculpting or WATERGATE. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fat-water selective excitation in balanced steady-state free precession using short spatial-spectral RF pulses

Fat suppression is important but challenging in balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) acquisitions, for a number of clinical applications. In the present work, the practicality of performing fat-water selective excitations using spatial-spectral (SPSP) RF pulses in bSSFP sequence is examined. With careful pulse design, the overall duration of these SPSP pulses was kept short to minimize detrimental effects on TR, scan time and banding artifact content. Fat-water selective excitation using SPSP pulses was demonstrated in both phantom and human bSSFP imaging at 3T, and compared to results obtained using a two-point Dixon method. The sequence with SPSP pulses performed better than the two-point Dixon method, in terms of scan time and suppression performance. Overall, it is concluded here that SPSP RF pulses do represent a viable option for fat-suppressed bSSFP imaging.     

Fast fat-suppressed reduced field-of-view temperature mapping using 2DRF excitation pulses

The purpose of this study is to develop a fast and accurate temperature mapping method capable of both fat suppression and reduced field-of-view (rFOV) imaging, using a two-dimensional spatially-selective RF (2DRF) pulse. Temperature measurement errors caused by fat signals were assessed, through simulations. An 11×1140μs echo-planar 2DRF pulse was developed and incorporated into a gradient-echo sequence. Temperature measurements were obtained during focused ultrasound (FUS) heating of a fat-water phantom. Experiments both with and without the use of a 2DRF pulse were performed at 3T, and the accuracy of the resulting temperature measurements were compared over a range of TE values. Significant inconsistencies in terms of measured temperature values were observed when using a regular slice-selective RF excitation pulse. In contrast, the proposed 2DRF excitation pulse suppressed fat signals by more than 90%, allowing good temperature consistency regardless of TE settings. Temporal resolution was also improved, from 12 frames per minute (fpm) with the regular pulse to 28 frames per minute with the rFOV excitation. This technique appears promising toward the MR monitoring of temperature in moving adipose organs, during thermal therapies.     

Diffusion-weighted MRI: influence of intravoxel fat signal and breast density on breast tumor conspicuity and apparent diffusion coefficient measurements

Promising recent investigations have shown that breast malignancies exhibit restricted diffusion on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and may be distinguished from normal tissue and benign lesions in the breast based on differences in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. In this study, we assessed the influence of intravoxel fat signal on breast diffusion measures by comparing ADC values obtained using a diffusion-weighted single shot fast spin-echo sequence with and without fat suppression. The influence of breast density on ADC measures was also evaluated. ADC values were calculated for both tumor and normal fibroglandular tissue in a group of 21 women with diagnosed breast cancer. There were systematic underestimations of ADC for both tumor and normal breast tissue due to intravoxel contribution from fat signal on non–fat-suppressed DWI. This ADC underestimation was more pronounced for normal tissue values (mean difference=40%) than for tumors (mean difference=27%, P<.001) and was worse in women with low breast tissue density vs. those with extremely dense breasts (P<.05 for both tumor and normal tissue). Tumor conspicuity measured by contrast-to-noise ratio was significantly higher on ADC maps created with fat suppression and was not significantly associated with breast density. In summary, robust fat suppression is important for accurate breast ADC measures and optimal lesion conspicuity on DWI.     

Seasonality and idiosyncratic risk in mutual fund performance

This paper examines the relationship between seasonality, idiosyncratic risk and mutual fund returns using multifactor models. We use a large sample containing the return histories of 728 UK mutual funds over a 23-year period to measure fund performance. We present evidence that idiosyncratic risk cannot be eliminated, we also find evidence of seasonality in all fund categories. Specifically, we find a close relation between the seasonality and the end of the tax-year. We document that the idiosyncratic risk puzzle cannot explain seasonality in fund performance in the UK. Although, we do find that idiosyncratic risk can account for the seasonality in the month of April. Thus, the results show a link between the tax-loss selling hypothesis in April and idiosyncratic risk in that month. Finally, we report evidence that idiosyncratic risk is negatively related to expected returns for most fund classes.     

Characterization of three saponins from a fraction using 1D DOSY as a solvent signal suppression tool. Agabrittonosides E–F. Furostane Saponins from Agave brittoniana Trel. spp. Brachypus

A careful NMR analysis, especially by 1D TOCSY and 1D ROESY, of a refined saponin fraction allowed us to determine the structure of three saponins from a polar extract of Agave brittoniana Trel. spp. Brachypus leaves. The use of 1D DOSY for the suppression of the solvent signal was useful to obtain the chemical shifts of anomeric signals. A full assignment of the ¹H and ¹³C spectral data for the new saponins, agabrittonosides E–F (1–2) and the well‐known Karatavioside C (3) and their methoxyl derivatives, is reported. The structures were established using a combination of 1D and 2D (¹H, ¹H‐COSY, TOCSY, ROESY, g‐HSQC, g‐HMBC and g‐HSQC‐TOCSY) NMR techniques and ESI–MS. In addition, the methoxylation of these furostane saponins in the presence of MeOH was studied. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Viscoelastic plate-fluid interactive vibration and liquid sloshing suppression

The viscoelastic plate-fluid interaction problem was studied. Forced vibration of the interactive system was investigated, and the equivalent mechanical models were obtained. The conclusion is that, for some case, the inner damping of the viscoelastic baffle will play a major role for liquid sloshing suppression. The project supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China and Astronautics Ministry.     

基于NOLF双稳效应对经DSF压缩后的超短光脉冲进行消基座

基于非线性FP腔（NOLF）双稳效应，提出一种利用掺铒光纤放大器（EDFA）及NOLF对经DSF压缩后的超短光脉冲进行消基座的方案.利用耦合模方程，分析了NOLF的消基座特性.结果表明，通过合理选择NOLF的反射率、入射脉冲的中心频率与NOLF的共振频率的失谐量及EDFA的增益，可使脉冲的基座能量比减小一半. 关键词： 超短光脉冲 消基座 非线性FP腔 光学双稳 掺铒光纤放大器     

Novel Rat-race Hybrid Coupler for RF Front-end Module

In this paper, a novel compact rat-race hybrid coupler incorporating an improved beeline compact microstrip resonant cell(IB-CMRC) is presented firstly. The size of the coupler is reduced by 46.5% than conventional one due to IB-CMRC’s excellent slow-wave effect. The novel coupler possesses strong ability of high-order harmonic suppression (above 30 dB) in addition. The measured insertion loss is comparable to that of a conventional microstrip hybrid coupler. Great potential applications of this IB-CMRC can be explored in MICs and MMICs to reduce the circuits size, suppress harmonics and improve the overall performance of the RF front-end module.     

胶子遮蔽和末态作用对p—A碰撞中粲偶素和b夸克偶素产额压低的贡献

本文用胶子结构函数的遮蔽效应和末态作用分析了在ｐ－Ａ碰撞中粲偶素和ｂ夸克偶素产额压低的实验数据，较好地描述了粲偶素和ｂ夸克偶素产额的压低与Ａ和Ｘ２的关系．