Resolution Uniformity and Sensitivity of the NIH ATLAS Small Animal PET Scanner: Comparison to Simulated LSO Scanners Without Depth-of-Interaction Capability

Positron emission tomography (PET) scanners designed to image animals the size of rats and mice should possess simultaneously high and uniform spatial resolution and high sensitivity. ATLAS (Advanced Technology Laboratory Animal Scanner), a 6.0 cm diameter effective transverse field-of-view (FOV), 2 cm axial FOV ring-type research scanner seeks these goals by surrounding the animal with eighteen 15 mm deep, LGSO (7 mm)/GSO (8 mm) phoswich detector modules. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to compare the variation of resolution across the FOV and the absolute central point source sensitivity (ACS) of ATLAS to similar systems comprised only of LSO arrays of different depths with no depth-of-interaction (DOI) capability. For ATLAS radial spatial resolution deteriorated by 27% from the center to 3 cm off-axis. Scanners comprised of 15 mm deep, 10 mm deep and 7 mm deep LSO crystals deteriorated by 100%, 51%, and 20%, respectively, over the same distance. Simulated ACS (absorbed energies ≥250 keV) for ATLAS was 2.0% and for the 15 mm, 10 mm deep and 7 mm deep LSO scanners 2.4%, 1.5%, and 0.9%, respectively. Radial resolution loss 3 cm off-axis and ACS measured for the actual ATLAS scanner were similar to the values obtained by simulation (27% resolution loss, 1.8% ACS). The phoswich design thus achieves good resolution uniformity over a 6 cm FOV while preserving sensitivity compared to equivalent non-DOI LSO scanners with a range of crystal depths.Publicad

A high performance prhoswich detector module for small animal PET

Proceeding of: 47th Annual Meeting Society of Nuclear Medicine, , St. Louis, MO, USA, June 3-7, 200

Design and development of a CT imaging system for small animals

[Abstract] AMI International Conference 2003, September 21 - 27, Madrid, Spain: "High Resolution Molecular Imaging: from Basic Science to Clinical Applications"Positron emission tomography (PET) studies of small animals benefits from the registration of the functional information they provide with accurate anatomic images provided by dedicated computed tomography (CT) scanners. These scanners have to achieve the micrometric resolution requirements needed to locate structures in small laboratory animals like mice and rats. This work reports on a prototype based on a solid state semiconductor X-ray sensor and a microfocus Xray source.Publicad

Wavelet-based methodology for [15O]-H20 PET brain activation assessment

[Abstract] AMI International Conference 2003, September 21-27, Madrid, Spain: "High Resolution Molecular Imaging: from Basic Science to Clinical Applications"Statistical parametric mapping (SPM) is a voxel-byvoxel analysis method commonly used for the detection of brain activation patterns. An alternative approach is the use of multiscale information by means of wavelet analysis. In this study, we have compared the detection of brain activations using conventional SPM and a statistical wavelet analysis in a set of realistic simulated [15O]-H20 positron emission tomography (PET) phantomsPublicad

A new approach to the synthesis of 2-aminoimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine derivatives through microwave-assisted N-alkylation of 2-halopyridines

A microwave (focused waves) assisted N-alkylation of 2-halopyridines provides a convenient entry to 2-amino-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine derivatives after reaction of the alkylated substrates with cyanamide under basic conditions.CDTI program (Plan concertado 96/0036)PROFARMA program (Ministerio de Industria y Ministerio de Sanidad

Multipurpose Monte Carlo simulator for photon transport in turbid media

Proceeding of: 2009 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS/MIC), Orlando, Florida, 25-31 October 2009Monte Carlo methods provide a flexible and rigorous solution to the problem of light transport in turbid media, which enable approaching complex geometries for a closed analytical solution is not feasible. The simulator implements local rules of propagation in the form of probability density functions that depend on the local optical properties of the tissue. This work presents a flexible simulator that can be applied in multiple applications related to optical tomography. In particular, unlike previous codes, the simulator explicitly supports fluorescent-tissues and variance reduction and code parallelization techniques are implemented in order to speed up the execution with fluorochrome-labelled agents. The simulator is validated with simple geometries for which an analytical solution exists, as well as with an experimental polyester resin based optical phantom.This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Innovation under projects TEC2008-06715 and TEC2007-64731/TCM and by the EU’s 7th Frame Programme under contract HEALTH-F5-2008-20179

A protocol to assess cell cycle and apoptosis in human and mouse pluripotent cells

Embryonic stem cells (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) present a great opportunity to treat and model human disease as a cell replacement therapy. There is a growing pressure to understand better the signal transduction pathways regulating pluripotency and self-renewal of these special cells in order to deliver a safe and reliable cell based therapy in the near future. Many signal transduction pathways converge on two major cell functions associated with self-renewal and pluripotency: control of the cell cycle and apoptosis, although a standard method is lacking across the field. Here we present a detailed protocol to assess the cell cycle and apoptosis of ESC and iPSCs as a single reference point offering an easy to use standard approach across the field

New embedded digital front-end for high resolution PET scanner

This work describes a new digital front-end for a high-resolution low-cost animal PET scanner which is currently under development. The advances in flexibility and size of modern FPGAs together with the release of new tools enable the integration of most of the front-end electronics in a single FPGA. The implemented system includes a small 32-bit RISC processor, several peripherals attached to the internal buses and a special DSP unit closely attached to the processor which is dedicated to the detection of the gamma events. On top of these, a small footprint real time operating system abstracts the underlying hardware, providing the mechanisms to combine on-chip slow control and data streamingThis work was supported in part by the FPU Research Grant from the Spanish Education and Science Ministry, by the Spanish Thematic Network IM3 (PI052204) and project TEC2004-07052-C02-02Publicad

Enantioselective Copper-Catalyzed Synthesis of Trifluoromethyl-Cyclopropylboronates

A copper-catalyzed enantioselective cyclopropanation involving trifluorodiazoethane in the presence of alkenyl boronates has been developed. This transformation enables the preparation of 2-substituted-3-(trifluoromethyl)cyclopropylboronates with high levels of stereocontrol. The products are valuable synthetic intermediates by transformation of the boronate group. This methodology can be applied to the synthesis of novel trifluoromethylated analogues of trans-2-arylcyclopropylamines, which are prevalent motifs in biologically active compounds

Practical solvent-free microwave-assisted hydroboration of alkynes

A simple and rapid protocol for the anti-Markovnikov hydroboration of alkynes assisted by microwave irradiation has been developed. Pinacolborane smoothly reacts with terminal alkynes to obtain (E)-alkenyl boronates in good yields and short reactions times in the absence of solvent. Further transformations on the carbon-boron bond of the adducts can be sequentially achieved without the need of purifying the alkenyl boronates