428 research outputs found
Anatomy and Physiology of Artificial Intelligence in PET Imaging
The influence of artificial intelligence (AI) within the field of nuclear
medicine has been rapidly growing. Many researchers and clinicians are seeking
to apply AI within PET, and clinicians will soon find themselves engaging with
AI-based applications all along the chain of molecular imaging, from image
reconstruction to enhanced reporting. This expanding presence of AI in PET
imaging will result in greater demand for educational resources for those
unfamiliar with AI. The objective of this article to is provide an illustrated
guide to the core principles of modern AI, with specific focus on aspects that
are most likely to be encountered in PET imaging. We describe convolutional
neural networks, algorithm training, and explain the components of the commonly
used U-Net for segmentation and image synthesis
Tetryl Exposure: Forgotten Hazards Of Antique Munitions
Background: Older yet still abundant munitions such as tetryl present easily forgotten health hazards and associated needs for worker protection.
Case presentation: Symptoms and findings from 22 workers who were exposed to tetryl are summarized.
Conclusions: This study highlights the health hazards from exposure to tetryl. Occupational health professionals need to maintain vigilance to protect workers from the risks of handling older munitions
Diffusion Tensor MRI to Assess Damage in Healthy and Dystrophic Skeletal Muscle after Lengthening Contractions
The purpose of this study was to determine if variables calculated from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) would serve as a reliable marker of damage after a muscle strain injury in dystrophic (mdx) and wild type (WT) mice. Unilateral injury to the tibialis anterior muscle (TA) was induced in vivo by 10 maximal lengthening contractions. High resolution T1- and T2-weighted structural MRI, including T2 mapping and spin echo DTI was acquired on a 7T small animal MRI system. Injury was confirmed by a significant loss of isometric torque (85% in mdx versus 42% in WT). Greater increases in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), axial, and radial diffusivity (AD and RD) of the injured muscle were present in the mdx mice versus controls. These changes were paralleled by decreases in fractional anisotropy (FA). Additionally, T2 was increased in the mdx mice, but the spatial extent of the changes was less than those in the DTI parameters. The data suggest that DTI is an accurate indicator of muscle injury, even at early time points where the MR signal changes are dominated by local edema
Energetics and geometry of excitations in random systems
Methods for studying droplets in models with quenched disorder are critically
examined. Low energy excitations in two dimensional models are investigated by
finding minimal energy interior excitations and by computing the effect of bulk
perturbations. The numerical data support the assumptions of compact droplets
and a single exponent for droplet energy scaling. Analytic calculations show
how strong corrections to power laws can result when samples and droplets are
averaged over. Such corrections can explain apparent discrepancies in several
previous numerical results for spin glasses.Comment: 4 pages, eps files include
Diagnosing Acute Compartment Syndrome – where have we got to?
Open Access via the Springer Compact AgreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD
Associations of Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D with Physical Performance and Bone Health in Overweight and Obese Older Adults
Low vitamin D status commonly accompanies obesity, and both vitamin D deficiency and obesity have been associated with falls and fracture risk in older adults. We aimed to determine the associations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations with physical performance and bone health in community-dwelling, overweight and obese older men and women. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were measured in 84 participants with body mass index ≥25 kg/m² (mean ± SD age 62.4 ± 7.9 years; 55% women). Physical function was determined by short physical performance battery, hand grip and quadriceps strength, and stair climb power tests. Body composition and bone structure were assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and peripheral quantitative computed tomography, respectively. Mean ± SD 25(OH)D was 49.6 ± 17.7 nmol/L, and 50% of participants had low 25(OH)D ( 0.05). Lower 25(OH)D concentrations are associated with poorer quadricep strength and muscle power in overweight and obese older women but not men
Assessment of CryoSat-2 interferometric and non-interferometric SAR altimetry over ice sheets
The launch of CryoSat-2 heralded a new era of interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar altimetry over the Polar Ice Sheets. The mission’s novel SAR interferometric (SARIn) mode of operation has enabled monitoring of rapidly changing coastal regions, which had been challenging for previous low resolution altimeters. Given the growing requirement to continue the 25-year altimeter record, there is now a need to assess the differences between existing SAR and SARIn altimeter datasets, with a view to understanding the impact on ice sheet retrievals of the different radar hardware and processing methodologies. Uniquely, CryoSat-2 data can be processed both with and without interferometric information, offering the opportunity to directly compare the SAR and SARIn products generated by the current ground segment. Here, we provide a first comparison of these Level-2 datasets, and evaluate their capacity to measure ice sheet elevation and elevation change. We find that the current interferometric product has substantially improved precision, accuracy and coverage compared to its non-interferometric counterpart, yielding a ∼35% improvement in the root-mean-square-difference (RMSD) of elevations recorded at orbital cross-overs, and a ∼30% lower RMSD of elevation rates relative to Operation IceBridge airborne altimeter measurements. This analysis demonstrates the value that the interferometer adds to the current CryoSat-2 configuration, and highlights the importance for non-interferometric SAR Level-2 processing of the auxiliary data used to identify the location of the echoing point. These results provide a benchmark of the relative performance of the Level-2 interferometric and non-interferometric products currently produced by the ground segment, which will help to inform the design and implementation of a future polar radar altimeter mission
The three-dimensional random field Ising magnet: interfaces, scaling, and the nature of states
The nature of the zero temperature ordering transition in the 3D Gaussian
random field Ising magnet is studied numerically, aided by scaling analyses. In
the ferromagnetic phase the scaling of the roughness of the domain walls,
, is consistent with the theoretical prediction .
As the randomness is increased through the transition, the probability
distribution of the interfacial tension of domain walls scales as for a single
second order transition. At the critical point, the fractal dimensions of
domain walls and the fractal dimension of the outer surface of spin clusters
are investigated: there are at least two distinct physically important fractal
dimensions. These dimensions are argued to be related to combinations of the
energy scaling exponent, , which determines the violation of
hyperscaling, the correlation length exponent , and the magnetization
exponent . The value is derived from the
magnetization: this estimate is supported by the study of the spin cluster size
distribution at criticality. The variation of configurations in the interior of
a sample with boundary conditions is consistent with the hypothesis that there
is a single transition separating the disordered phase with one ground state
from the ordered phase with two ground states. The array of results are shown
to be consistent with a scaling picture and a geometric description of the
influence of boundary conditions on the spins. The details of the algorithm
used and its implementation are also described.Comment: 32 pp., 2 columns, 32 figure
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