Application of Highly Flexible Adaptive Image Receive Coil for Lung MR Imaging Using Zero TE Sequence: Comparison with Conventional Anterior Array Coil

(1) Background: Highly flexible adaptive image receive (AIR) coil has become available for clinical use. The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of AIR anterior array coil in lung MR imaging using a zero echo time (ZTE) sequence compared with conventional anterior array (CAA) coil. (2) Methods: Sixty-six patients who underwent lung MR imaging using both AIR coil (ZTE-AIR) and CAA coil (ZTE-CAA) were enrolled. Image quality of ZTE-AIR and ZTE-CAA was quantified by calculating blur metric value, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of lung parenchyma. Image quality was qualitatively assessed by two independent radiologists. Lesion detection capabilities for lung nodules and emphysema and/or lung cysts were evaluated. Patients’ comfort levels during examinations were assessed. (3) Results: SNR and CNR of lung parenchyma were higher (both p < 0.001) in ZTE-AIR than in ZTE-CAA. Image sharpness was superior in ZTE-AIR (p < 0.001). Subjective image quality assessed by two independent readers was superior (all p < 0.05) in ZTE-AIR. AIR coil was preferred by 64 of 66 patients. ZTE-AIR showed higher (all p < 0.05) sensitivity for sub-centimeter nodules than ZTE-CAA by both readers. ZTE-AIR showed higher (all p < 0.05) sensitivity and accuracy for detecting emphysema and/or cysts than ZTE-CAA by both readers. (4) Conclusions: The use of highly flexible AIR coil in ZTE lung MR imaging can improve image quality and patient comfort. Application of AIR coil in parenchymal imaging has potential for improving delineation of low-density parenchymal lesions and tiny nodules

Artificial Compound Eye Systems and Their Application: A Review

The natural compound eye system has many outstanding properties, such as a more compact size, wider-angle view, better capacity to detect moving objects, and higher sensitivity to light intensity, compared to that of a single-aperture vision system. Thanks to the development of micro- and nano-fabrication techniques, many artificial compound eye imaging systems have been studied and fabricated to inherit fascinating optical features of the natural compound eye. This paper provides a review of artificial compound eye imaging systems. This review begins by introducing the principle of the natural compound eye, and then, the analysis of two types of artificial compound eye systems. We equally present the applications of the artificial compound eye imaging systems. Finally, we suggest our outlooks about the artificial compound eye imaging system

A 79 pJ/b 80 Mb/s Full-Duplex Transceiver and a 42.5 mu W 100 kb/s Super-Regenerative Transceiver for Body Channel Communication

A low-energy 40/160 MHz dual-band full duplex body channel communication (BCC) transceiver and a 13.56 MHz R-C oscillator-based super-regenerative transceiver are integrated in 65 nm CMOS mixed mode process for both entertainment and healthcare applications. The on-chip R-C duplexer uses notch filters for full duplex communication with 40 Mb/s data rate and combined dual-band operation shows 80 Mb/s data rate with half duplex communication. 40MHz sine wave and 160 MHz rectangular wave are adopted for modulation in the dual-band transmitter with 30 dB SNR improvement, and shared-loop BPSK receiver reduces the power consumption by 25%. The proposed super-regenerative transceiver including an OOK transmitter and an R-C oscillator-based receiver achieves >60 dB interference rejection with 100 kb/s data rate and 42.5 mu W power consumption under the 0.8 V supply

Intraneural active probe for bidirectional peripheral nerve interface

status: publishe