A Method for Acceptance Testing of Ferrite Core Production Lots

A method for screening the Production Lots of ferrite cores to be tested for MTC is required because of testing limitations and large variations found between Production Lots. It is proposed that a sample of 100 cores be taken from each lot and tested at the factory. The mean of the sample must be between the Screening Limits specified for the lot to be accepted, from the manufacturer, for complete testing. The Per Cent Yield of the total number of cores to be tested individually has been calculated as a function of Screening Limits (see Figure l)

Conference on Ferrimagnetism, 11-12 October, 1954

The eighteen papers which were presented at the conference on ferrimagnetism at the U. S. Naval Ordnance Laboratory, 11-12 October 1954, are summarized. Pertinent discussions are also included

AI-enhanced simultaneous multiparametric 18F-FDG PET/MRI for accurate breast cancer diagnosis.

Funder: Horizon 2020 Framework Programme; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010661Funder: Medical University of ViennaPURPOSE: To assess whether a radiomics and machine learning (ML) model combining quantitative parameters and radiomics features extracted from simultaneous multiparametric 18F-FDG PET/MRI can discriminate between benign and malignant breast lesions. METHODS: A population of 102 patients with 120 breast lesions (101 malignant and 19 benign) detected on ultrasound and/or mammography was prospectively enrolled. All patients underwent hybrid 18F-FDG PET/MRI for diagnostic purposes. Quantitative parameters were extracted from DCE (MTT, VD, PF), DW (mean ADC of breast lesions and contralateral breast parenchyma), PET (SUVmax, SUVmean, and SUVminimum of breast lesions, as well as SUVmean of the contralateral breast parenchyma), and T2-weighted images. Radiomics features were extracted from DCE, T2-weighted, ADC, and PET images. Different diagnostic models were developed using a fine Gaussian support vector machine algorithm which explored different combinations of quantitative parameters and radiomics features to obtain the highest accuracy in discriminating between benign and malignant breast lesions using fivefold cross-validation. The performance of the best radiomics and ML model was compared with that of expert reader review using McNemar's test. RESULTS: Eight radiomics models were developed. The integrated model combining MTT and ADC with radiomics features extracted from PET and ADC images obtained the highest accuracy for breast cancer diagnosis (AUC 0.983), although its accuracy was not significantly higher than that of expert reader review (AUC 0.868) (p = 0.508). CONCLUSION: A radiomics and ML model combining quantitative parameters and radiomics features extracted from simultaneous multiparametric 18F-FDG PET/MRI images can accurately discriminate between benign and malignant breast lesions

Breast cancer screening in women with extremely dense breasts recommendations of the European Society of Breast Imaging (EUSOBI)

Breast density is an independent risk factor for the development of breast cancer and also decreases the sensitivity of mammography for screening. Consequently, women with extremely dense breasts face an increased risk of late diagnosis of breast cancer. These women are, therefore, underserved with current mammographic screening programs. The results of recent studies reporting on contrast-enhanced breast MRI as a screening method in women with extremely dense breasts provide compelling evidence that this approach can enable an important reduction in breast cancer mortality for these women and is cost-effective. Because there is now a valid option to improve breast cancer screening, the European Society of Breast Imaging (EUSOBI) recommends that women should be informed about their breast density. EUSOBI thus calls on all providers of mammography screening to share density information with the women being screened. In light of the available evidence, in women aged 50 to 70 years with extremely dense breasts, the EUSOBI now recommends offering screening breast MRI every 2 to 4 years. The EUSOBI acknowledges that it may currently not be possible to offer breast MRI immediately and everywhere and underscores that quality assurance procedures need to be established, but urges radiological societies and policymakers to act on this now. Since the wishes and values of individual women differ, in screening the principles of shared decision-making should be embraced. In particular, women should be counselled on the benefits and risks of mammography and MRI-based screening, so that they are capable of making an informed choice about their preferred screening method

Plasma p217+tau versus NAV4694 amyloid and MK6240 tau PET across the Alzheimer's continuum

Introduction We evaluated a new Simoa plasma assay for phosphorylated tau (P-tau) at aa217 enhanced by additional p-tau sites (p217+tau). Methods Plasma p217+tau levels were compared to 18F-NAV4694 amyloid beta (Aβ) positron emission tomography (PET) and 18F-MK6240 tau PET in 174 cognitively impaired (CI) and 223 cognitively unimpaired (CU) participants. Results Compared to Aβ− CU, the plasma levels of p217+tau increased 2-fold in Aβ+ CU and 3.5-fold in Aβ+ CI. In Aβ− the p217+tau levels did not differ significantly between CU and CI. P217+tau correlated with Aβ centiloids P = .67 (CI, P = .64; CU, P = .45) and tau SUVRMT P = .63 (CI, P = .69; CU, P = .34). Area under curve (AUC) for Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia versus Aβ− CU was 0.94, for AD dementia versus other dementia was 0.93, for Aβ+ versus Aβ− PET was 0.89, and for tau+ versus tau− PET was 0.89. Discussion Plasma p217+tau levels elevate early in the AD continuum and correlate well with Aβ and tau PET

Do differences in understory light contribute to species distributions along a tropical rainfall gradient?

In tropical forests, regional differences in annual rainfall correlate with differences in plant species composition. Although water availability is clearly one factor determining species distribution, other environmental variables that covary with rainfall may contribute to distributions. One such variable is light availability in the understory, which decreases towards wetter forests due to differences in canopy density and phenology. We established common garden experiments in three sites along a rainfall gradient across the Isthmus of Panama in order to measure the differences in understory light availability, and to evaluate their influence on the performance of 24 shade-tolerant species with contrasting distributions. Within sites, the effect of understory light availability on species performance depended strongly on water availability. When water was not limiting, either naturally in the wetter site or through water supplementation in drier sites, seedling performance improved at higher light. In contrast, when water was limiting at the drier sites, seedling performance was reduced at higher light, presumably due to an increase in water stress that affected mostly wet-distribution species. Although wetter forest understories were on average darker, wet-distribution species were not more shade-tolerant than dry-distribution species. Instead, wet-distribution species had higher absolute growth rates and, when water was not limiting, were better able to take advantage of small increases in light than dry-distribution species. Our results suggest that in wet forests the ability to grow fast during temporary increases in light may be a key trait for successful recruitment. The slower growth rates of the dry-distribution species, possibly due to trade-offs associated with greater drought tolerance, may exclude these species from wetter forests

Two-year prognostic utility of plasma p217+tau across the Alzheimer’s continuum

Background: Plasma p217+tau has shown high concordance with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and positron emission tomography (PET) measures of amyloid- (A ) and tau in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). However, its association with longitudinal cognition and comparative performance to PET A and tau in predicting cognitive decline are unknown. Objectives: To evaluate whether p217+tau can predict the rate of cognitive decline observed over two-year average follow-up and compare this to prediction based on A (18F-NAV4694) and tau (18F-MK6240) PET. We also explored the sample size required to detect a 30% slowing in cognitive decline in a 2-year trial and selection test cost using p217+tau (pT+) as compared to PET A (A+) and tau (T+) with and without p217+tau pre-screening. Design: A prospective observational cohort study. Setting: Participants of the Australian Imaging, Biomarker & Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing (AIBL) and Australian Dementia Network (ADNeT). Participants: 153 cognitively unimpaired (CU) and 50 cognitively impaired (CI) individuals. Measurements: Baseline p217+tau Simoa assay 18F-MK6240 tau-PET and 18F-NAV4694 A -PET with neuropsychological follow-up (MMSE, CDR-SB, AIBL-PACC) over 2.4 ± 0.8 years. Results: In CI, p217+tau was a significant predictor of change in MMSE ( = −0.55, p \u3c 0.001) and CDR-SB ( =0.61, p \u3c 0.001) with an effect size similar to A Centiloid (MMSE = −0.48, p = 0.002; CDR-SB = 0.43, p = 0.004) and meta-temporal (MetaT) tau SUVR (MMSE: = −0.62, p \u3c 0.001; CDR-SB: = 0.65, p \u3c 0.001). In CU, only MetaT tau SUVR was significantly associated with change in AIBL-PACC ( = −0.22, p = 0.008). Screening pT+ CI participants into a trial could lead to 24% reduction in sample size compared to screening with PET for A+ and 6–13% compared to screening with PET for T+ (different regions). This would translate to an 81–83% biomarker test cost-saving assuming the p217+tau test cost one-fifth of a PET scan. In a trial requiring PET A+ or T+, p217+tau pre-screening followed by PET in those who were pT+ would cost more in the CI group, compared to 26–38% biomarker test cost-saving in the CU. Conclusions: Substantial cost reduction can be achieved using p217+tau alone to select participants with MCI or mild dementia for a clinical trial designed to slow cognitive decline over two years, compared to participant selection by PET. In pre-clinical AD trials, p217+tau provides significant cost-saving if used as a pre-screening measure for PET A+ or T+ but in MCI/mild dementia trials this may add to cost both in testing and in the increased number of participants needed for testing

Relaxor ferroelectricity and colossal magnetocapacitive coupling in ferromagnetic CdCr2S4

Multiferroic materials, which reveal magnetic and electric order, are in the focus of recent solid state research. Especially the simultaneous occurrence of ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism, combined with an intimate coupling of magnetization and polarization via magneto-capacitive effects, could pave the way for a new generation of electronic devices. Here we present measurements on a simple cubic spinel with unusual properties: It shows ferromagnetic order and simultaneously relaxor ferroelectricity, i.e. a ferroelectric cluster state, reached by a smeared-out phase transition, both with sizable ordering temperatures and moments. Close to the ferromagnetic ordering temperature the magneto-capacitive coupling, characterized by a variation of the dielectric constant in an external magnetic field, reaches colossal values of nearly 500%. We attribute the relaxor properties to geometric frustration, which is well known for magnetic moments, but here is found to impede long-range order of the structural degrees of freedom.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Equivalence of plasma p-tau217 with cerebrospinal fluid in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

INTRODUCTION: Plasma biomarkers are promising tools for Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis, but comparisons with more established biomarkers are needed. METHODS: We assessed the diagnostic performance of p-tau181, p-tau217, and p-tau231 in plasma and CSF in 174 individuals evaluated by dementia specialists and assessed with amyloid-PET and tau-PET. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses assessed the performance of plasma and CSF biomarkers to identify amyloid-PET and tau-PET positivity. RESULTS: Plasma p-tau biomarkers had lower dynamic ranges and effect sizes compared to CSF p-tau. Plasma p-tau181 (AUC = 76%) and p-tau231 (AUC = 82%) assessments performed inferior to CSF p-tau181 (AUC = 87%) and p-tau231 (AUC = 95%) for amyloid-PET positivity. However, plasma p-tau217 (AUC = 91%) had diagnostic performance indistinguishable from CSF (AUC = 94%) for amyloid-PET positivity. DISCUSSION: Plasma and CSF p-tau217 had equivalent diagnostic performance for biomarker-defined AD. Our results suggest that plasma p-tau217 may help reduce the need for invasive lumbar punctures without compromising accuracy in the identification of AD. Highlights: p-tau217 in plasma performed equivalent to p-tau217 in CSF for the diagnosis of AD, suggesting the increased accessibility of plasma p-tau217 is not offset by lower accuracy. p-tau biomarkers in plasma had lower mean fold-changes between amyloid-PET negative and positive groups than p-tau biomarkers in CSF. CSF p-tau biomarkers had greater effect sizes than plasma p-tau biomarkers when differentiating between amyloid-PET positive and negative groups. Plasma p-tau181 and plasma p-tau231 performed worse than p-tau181 and p-tau231 in CSF for AD diagnosis

A survey by the European Society of Breast Imaging on the utilisation of breast MRI in clinical practice

Objectives: While magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is considered a helpful diagnostic tool in breast imaging, discussions are ongoing about appropriate protocols and indications. The European Society of Breast Imaging (EUSOBI) launched a survey to evaluate the utilisation of breast MRI in clinical practice. Methods: An online survey reviewed by the EUSOBI board and committees was distributed amongst members. The questions encompassed: training and experience; annual breast MRI and MRI-guided-intervention workload; examination protocols; indications; reporting habits and preferences. Data were summarised and subgroups compared using \u3c72test. Results: Of 647 EUSOBI members, 177 (27.4%) answered the survey. The majority were radiologists (90.5%), half of them based in academic centres (51.9%). Common indications for MRI included cancer staging, treatment monitoring, high-risk screening and problem-solving, and differed significantly between countries (p 640.03). Structured reporting and BI-RADS were mostly used. Breast radiologists with 6410 years of experience preferred inclusion of additional techniques, such as T2/STIR (p=0.03) and DWI (p=0.08) in the scan protocol. MRI-guided interventions were performed by a minority of participants (35.4%). Conclusions: The utilisation of breast MRI in clinical practice is generally in line with international recommendations. There are substantial differences between countries. MRI-guided interventions and functional MRI parameters are not widely available. Key points: \u2022 MRI is commonly used for the detection and characterisation of breast lesions. \u2022 Clinical practice standards are generally in line with current recommendations. \u2022 Standardised criteria and diagnostic categories (mainly BI-RADS) are widely adopted. \u2022 Younger radiologists value additional techniques, such as T2/STIR and DWI. \u2022 MRI-guided breast biopsy is not widely available