HB 1: FORUM Act

The Act prevents the creation of free speech zones at public institutions of higher education including Georgia universities, colleges, and technical colleges. Additionally, the Act allows universities to create reasonable, content- and viewpoint-neutral, and narrowly tailored time, place, and manner restrictions on any expressive activity on campus

Diagnosis of exercise-induced left bundle branch block at rest by scintigraphic phase analysis

Accurate diagnosis of diseases of the ventricular conducting system is essential for their appropriate therapy. some conduction abnormalities, such as exercise-induced left bundle branch block (EX-LBBB), are not apparent on resting electrocardiograms. Phase analysis of rest and exercise radionuclide ventriculograms (RVG's) was used to compare four EX-LBBB patients with six normal controls. All patients had normal resting electrocardiograms, ejection fractions, and visually normal wall motion. First harmonic phase images were generated reflecting the timing of ventricular contraction. Dynamic phase displays were reviewed and graded in a blinded fashion by three independent experienced observers. Phase angle histograms of the right and left ventricle were determined for both resting and exercise images. The mean phase angle and standard deviation were also calculated for each ventricle. Visual grading of the resting phase images failed to show a significant difference between normal patients and patients with EX-LBBB. Quantitative analysis, however, revealed a significant difference in mean phase angle differences (LV-RV) in resting studies: 0.8° (±1.9° SEM) in normals versus 9.3° (±2.3° SEM) in EX-LBBB patients ( P <0.03). Exercise accentuated the phase angle differences: 1.8° in normals vs. 31.2° in EX-LBBB patients ( P <0.001). Quantitative phase analysis of resting RVG's permits the diagnosis of cardiac conduction disease that is not apparent on the resting EKG and may result in better monitoring and treatment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46821/1/259_2004_Article_BF00261005.pd

The appended curve technique for deconvolutional analysis —method and validation

Deconvolutional analysis (DCA) is useful in correction of organ time activity curves (response function) for variations in blood activity (input function). Despite enthusiastic reports of applications of DCA in renal and cardiac scintigraphy, routine use has awaited an easily implemented algorithm which is insensitive to statistical noise. The matrix method suffers from the propagation of errors in early data points through the entire curve. Curve fitting or constraint methods require prior knowledge of the expected form of the results. DCA by Fourier transforms (FT) is less influenced by single data points but often suffers from high frequency artifacts which result from the abrupt termination of data acquisition at a nonzero value.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46829/1/259_2004_Article_BF00254393.pd

HB 1: FORUM Act

The Act prevents the creation of free speech zones at public institutions of higher education including Georgia universities, colleges, and technical colleges. Additionally, the Act allows universities to create reasonable, content- and viewpoint-neutral, and narrowly tailored time, place, and manner restrictions on any expressive activity on campus

Distortion introduced in radionuclide camera views by multiformat imagers

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134833/1/mp4842.pd

Computing adrenal uptakes with compact, fixed-size regions

In planar nuclear medicine imaging of the adrenal gland, there are three requirements for an uptake determination: finding the region of interest, subtracting `background', and converting cps to [mu]Ci. A computer program that covers each requirement is outlined. The region of interest is determined by a nearest-neighbor region-growing technique. It starts from an operator-chosen center, searches for the hottest pixels, andterminates when a fixed-size region is found. If the resulting region is unacceptable, recourse to a second level of searching, which produces a more compact region, is possible. Background from underlying and overlying tissue is estimated from the average counts/pixel in a narrow `ring' surrounding the adrenal. Conversion to [mu]Ci is carried out by use of a calibration equation which requires a value for the adrenal depth. This value may be obtained from a lateral view.The program is available in listing form. For use with a Medical Data Systems A2 computer, files can be transferred directly. Parameters which should be changed for the use of the program with another camera-collimator system are noted.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23902/1/0000145.pd

An Accurate, Clinically Feasible Multi-Gene Expression Assay for Predicting Metastasis in Uveal Melanoma

Uveal (ocular) melanoma is an aggressive cancer that often forms undetectable micrometastases before diagnosis of the primary tumor. These micrometastases later multiply to generate metastatic tumors that are resistant to therapy and are uniformly fatal. We have previously identified a gene expression profile derived from the primary tumor that is extremely accurate for identifying patients at high risk of metastatic disease. Development of a practical clinically feasible platform for analyzing this expression profile would benefit high-risk patients through intensified metastatic surveillance, earlier intervention for metastasis, and stratification for entry into clinical trials of adjuvant therapy. Here, we migrate the expression profile from a hybridization-based microarray platform to a robust, clinically practical, PCR-based 15-gene assay comprising 12 discriminating genes and three endogenous control genes. We analyze the technical performance of the assay in a prospective study of 609 tumor samples, including 421 samples sent from distant locations. We show that the assay can be performed accurately on fine needle aspirate biopsy samples, even when the quantity of RNA is below detectable limits. Preliminary outcome data from the prospective study affirm the prognostic accuracy of the assay. This prognostic assay provides an important addition to the armamentarium for managing patients with uveal melanoma, and it provides a proof of principle for the development of similar assays for other cancers