In vivo NMR detection of diet-induced changes in adipose tissue composition

We introduce an in vivo spectroscopic method to assess the effects of diet on fatty acid composition of the predominant chemical constituent of adipocytes in mice. To do this, we make use of a nonlinear NMR signal that, unlike a standard NMR signal, is intrinsically insensitive to local magnetic field inhomogeneities and which naturally suppresses the large water signal from nonfatty tissues. Our method yields fat composition information from fat depots distributed over large sample volumes in a single experiment, without requiring the use of tedious shimming procedures, voxel selection, or water suppression. Our results suggest that this method can reveal clear differences in adipose tissue composition of mice fed a standard chow diet compared with mice fed a diet rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. With further developments this method could be used to obtain information on human lipid composition noninvasively and to track changes in lipid composition induced by diet intervention, pharmaceutical drugs, and exercise

Signal enhancement in CRAZED experiments

Many of the promising applications of the CRAZED (COSY Revamped with Asymmetric Z-gradient Echo Detection) experiments are in biomedical and clinical technologies. In tissue, however, signal from the typical CRAZED experiment is largely limited by transverse relaxation. When relaxation is included, the maximum achievable signal from a prototypical CRAZED sequence, in the linear regime, is proportional to T2/τd. This means that for samples with a short T2, as encountered in vivo, signals from intermolecular multiple-quantum coherences (iMQCs) reach very diminished signal intensities. While relaxation is generally regarded as a fundamental constraint, we show here that when T2 is short but T1 is long, as in tissue, there are simple sequence modifications that can increase signal beyond the T2 limit. To better utilize the available signal intensity from iMQCs we propose a method to substitute part of the transverse magnetization with the longitudinally modulated magnetization. In this paper we show, with both simulations and experimental results, that in the presence of strong transverse relaxation the standard CRAZED scheme is not the optimal method for observing iMQCs, and can be improved upon with simple modifications

In vivo brown adipose tissue detection and characterization using water-lipid intermolecular zero-quantum coherences

Brown adipose tissue and white adipose tissue depots are noninvasively characterized in vitro and in vivo in healthy and obese mice using intermolecular zero-quantum coherence transitions between lipid and water spins. Intermolecular zero-quantum coherences enable selective detection of spatial correlation between water and lipid spins and thereby the hydration of fatty deposits with subvoxel resolution. At about a 100 mm distance scale, the major observed peaks are between water, methylene protons at 1.3 ppm, and olefinic protons at 5.3 ppm. Our in vitro results show that the methylene-olefinic intermolecular zero-quantum coherence signal is strong both in brown and white adipose tissues, but that the water-methylene intermolecular zero-quantum coherence signal is characteristic only of brown adipose tissue. In vivo, the ratio of these peaks is substantially higher in lean or young mice than in old or obese mice

Decoherence and Programmable Quantum Computation

An examination of the concept of using classical degrees of freedom to drive the evolution of quantum computers is given. Specifically, when externally generated, coherent states of the electromagnetic field are used to drive transitions within the qubit system, a decoherence results due to the back reaction from the qubits onto the quantum field. We derive an expression for the decoherence rate for two cases, that of the single-qubit Walsh-Hadamard transform, and for an implementation of the controlled-NOT gate. We examine the impact of this decoherence mechanism on Grover's search algorithm, and on the proposals for use of error-correcting codes in quantum computation.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. A 35 double-spaced pages, 2 figures, in LaTe

Scaling issues in ensemble implementations of the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm

We discuss the ensemble version of the Deutsch-Jozsa (DJ) algorithm which attempts to provide a "scalable" implementation on an expectation-value NMR quantum computer. We show that this ensemble implementation of the DJ algorithm is at best as efficient as the classical random algorithm. As soon as any attempt is made to classify all possible functions with certainty, the implementation requires an exponentially large number of molecules. The discrepancies arise out of the interpretation of mixed state density matrices.Comment: Minor changes, reference added, replaced with publised versio

Open Retromuscular Repair of Parastomal Hernias

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bill Pierc

Absolute temperature imaging using intermolecular multiple quantum MRI

Purpose: A review of MRI temperature imaging methods based on intermolecular multiple quantum coherences (iMQCs) is presented. Temperature imaging based on iMQCs can provide absolute temperature maps that circumvent the artefacts that other proton frequency shift techniques suffer from such as distortions to the detected temperature due to susceptibility changes and magnetic field inhomogeneities. Thermometry based on iMQCs is promising in high-fat tissues such as the breast, since it relies on the fat signal as an internal reference. This review covers the theoretical background of iMQCs, and the necessary adaptations for temperature imaging using iMQCs. Materials and methods: Data is presented from several papers on iMQC temperature imaging. These studies were done at 7T in both phantoms and in vivo. Results from phantoms of cream (homogeneous mixture of water and fat) are presented as well as in vivo temperature maps in obese mice. Results: Thermometry based on iMQCs offers the potential to provide temperature maps which are free of artefacts due to susceptibility and magnetic field inhomogeneities, and detect temperature on an absolute scale. Conclusions: The data presented in the papers reviewed highlights the promise of iMQC-based temperature imaging in fatty tissues such as the breast. The change in susceptibility of fat with temperature makes standard proton frequency shift methods (even with fat suppression) challenging and iMQC-based imaging offers an alternative approach

Revisiting the mean-field picture of dipolar effects in solution NMR

For more than three decades, the classical or mean-field picture describing the distant dipolar field has been almost always simplified to an effective field proportional to the local longitudinal magnetization, differing only by a scale factor of 1.5 for homomolecular (identical resonance frequency) and heteromolecular interactions. We re-examine the underlying assumptions, and show both theoretically and experimentally that the mathematical framework needs to be modified for modern applications such as imaging. We demonstrate new pulse sequences which produce unexpected effects; for example, modulating an arbitrarily small fraction of the magnetization can substantially alter the frequency evolution. Thus, matched gradient pulse pairs (a seemingly innocuous module in thousands of existing pulse sequences) can alter the time evolution in highly unexpected ways, particularly with small flip angle pulses such as those used in hyperpolarized experiments. We also show that specific gradient pulse combinations can retain only dipolar interactions between unlike spins, and the dipolar field can generate a secular Hamiltonian proportional to I x

Enhanced nonlinear magnetic resonance signals via square wave dipolar fields

This report introduces a new approach that enhances nonlinear solution magnetic resonance signals from intermolecular dipolar interactions. The resulting signals can theoretically be as large as the full equilibrium magnetization. Simple, readily implemented pulse sequences using square-wave magnetization modulation simultaneously refocus all even order intermolecular multiple quantum coherences, leading to a substantial net signal enhancement, complex nonlinear dynamics, and improved structural sensitivity under realistic conditions

Hyperpolarized carbon-carbon intermolecular multiple quantum coherences

Intermolecular multiple quantum coherences (iMQCs) can provide unique contrast with sub-voxel resolution. However, the characteristic growth rate of iMQCs mostly limits these effects to either hydrogen or hydrogen-coupled systems for thermally polarized samples. Hyperpolarization techniques such as dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) allow for significant increases in the carbon signal (even more signal than that from hydrogen), making carbon iMQCs achievable. We present the first intermolecular multiple quantum signal between two carbon nuclei