RF Coil Design, Imaging Methods and Measurement of Ventilation with 19F C3F8 MRI

This thesis attempts to address the challenge of low signal in fluorinated gas ventilation imaging and optimize imaging methods considering the particular MR parameters of C3F8 by the following approaches: (i) Exploration of coil designs capable of imaging both proton (1H – 63.8 MHz at 1.5T) and fluorine (19F – 60.1 MHz at 1.5T) nuclei involved: 1. The novel use of microelectromechanical systems to switch a single transceive vest coil between the two nuclei was compared to hard-wired or PIN diode switching. 2. The design of an 8 element transceive array with an additional 6 receive only coils for 19F imaging. MEMs was utilized for broadband transmit-receive switching. 3. The amalgamation of a ladder resonator coil with a 6-element transceive array to reduce SAR and improve transmit homogeneity when compared to standard vest coil designs. (ii) Development of imaging methods involved: 1. The optimization and comparison of steady-state free precession and spoiled gradient 19F imaging with C3F8 at 1.5T and 3T. Simulation of the optimal SNR was verified through comprehensive phantom and in-vivo imaging experiments. 2. The investigation of compressed sensing via incoherent sparse k-space sampling to maximize the resolution in 19F ventilation imaging under the constraint of low SNR. Retrospective simulation with hyperpolarized gas images were corroborated by prospective 19F imaging of a 3D printed lung phantom and in-vivo measurements of the lungs. (iii) In-vivo ventilation metrics obtained by 19F ventilation imaging were explored by: 1. The in-vivo mapping of T1 at 1.5T and 3T and mapping of FV and T2* at 3 T. The apparent diffusion coefficient (1.5T) and the evaluation of ventilated volume (1.5T and 3T) was also compared to imaging performed with 129Xe (1.5T). 2. The optimization of imaging for the evaluation of percent ventilated volume with 19F at 3T with a commercial birdcage coil

Biology, Fishery, Conservation and Management of Indian Ocean Tuna Fisheries

The focus of the study is to explore the recent trend of the world tuna fishery with special reference to the Indian Ocean tuna fisheries and its conservation and sustainable management. In the Indian Ocean, tuna catches have increased rapidly from about 179959 t in 1980 to about 832246 t in 1995. They have continued to increase up to 2005; the catch that year was 1201465 t, forming about 26% of the world catch. Since 2006 onwards there has been a decline in the volume of catches and in 2008 the catch was only 913625 t. The Principal species caught in the Indian Ocean are skipjack and yellowfin. Western Indian Ocean contributed 78.2% and eastern Indian Ocean 21.8% of the total tuna production from the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean stock is currently overfished and IOTC has made some recommendations for management regulations aimed at sustaining the tuna stock. Fishing operations can cause ecological impacts of different types: by catches, damage of the habitat, mortalities caused by lost or discarded gear, pollution, generation of marine debris, etc. Periodic reassessment of the tuna potential is also required with adequate inputs from exploratory surveys as well as commercial landings and this may prevent any unsustainable trends in the development of the tuna fishing industry in the Indian Ocean

Increased feelings with increased body signals

Since the beginning of psychology as a scientific endeavour, the question of whether the body plays a role in how a person experiences emotion has been the centre of emotion research. Patients with structural gastrointestinal disorders, such as Crohn's disease, provide an intriguing opportunity to study the influence of body signals on emotions and feelings. In the present study, emotionally salient films were presented to participants with Crohn's disease in either the active state (Crohn's-active, CA) or silent state (Crohn's-silent, CS), and to normal comparison (NC) participants. We hypothesized that CA participants would have increased feelings, compared with CS and NC participants, when viewing emotional films designed to elicit happiness, disgust, sadness and fear. Gastric myoelectrical activity (electrogastrogram, or EGG) was measured during the films, and after each film was presented, participants rated emotion intensity (arousal) and pleasantness (valence). All groups labelled the emotions similarly. In support of the hypothesis, CA participants showed an increase in subjective arousal for negative emotions compared with CS and NC participants. The CA participants also showed increased EGG during emotional film viewing, as well as a strong positive correlation of EGG with arousal ratings. Together, these findings can be taken as evidence that aberrant feedback from the gastrointestinal system up-regulates the intensity of feelings of negative emotions