Development of a new acoustic borehole imaging tool

Author(s):  
R. Schepers
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bloemenkamp ◽  
◽  
Elia Haddad ◽  
Nadege Bize-Forest ◽  
Laetitia Comparon ◽  
...  

A new, through-the-bit, ultra-slim wireline borehole-imaging tool for use in oil-based mud provides photorealistic images. The imager is designed to be conveyed through drill-pipe. At the desired well section, it exits the drill pipe through a portal drill bit and starts the logging. Field test measurements in several horizontal, unconventional wells in North America show images of fine detail with a large amount of geological information and high value for well development. A relatively new solution for conveying tools to the deepest point of a high angle or horizontal wells uses a drill bit with a portal hole at the bit face. As soon as the bit reaches the total depth, a string of logging tools is pumped down through the drill pipe. The tools exit the bit through the portal hole, arriving in the open hole and are ready for the up log. The tools operate on battery and store the log data in memory so that no cable is interfering as the drill pipe is tripped out of the well while the tools are acquiring data. The quality of wireline electrical borehole images in wells drilled with oil-based mud has significantly improved in recent years. Modern microresistivity imagers operate in the megahertz-frequency range, radiating the electromagnetic signal through the non-conductive mud column. A composite processing scheme produces high-resolution impedivity images. The new, ultra-slim borehole-imager tool uses these measurement principles and processing methods. Innovating beyond the existing tool designs the tool is now re-engineered to dimensions sufficiently slim to fit through drill pipes and to use through-the-bit logging techniques. The new, ultra-slim tool geometry proves highly reliable and, due to the deployment technique, highly effective in challenging hole conditions. The tool did not suffer any damage and showed only minute wear over more than twenty field test wells. The tool’s twelve-pad geometry provides 75% coverage in a six-inch diameter borehole and its image quality compares very well with existing larger tools. The field test of this borehole imaging tool covers all scenarios from vertical to deviated and to long-reach, horizontal wells. Geological structures, sedimentary heterogeneities, faults and fractures are imaged with detail matching benchmark wireline images. The interpretation answers allow operators of unconventional reservoirs to employ intelligent stimulation strategies based on geological reality and effective well development. A new high-frequency borehole imager for wells drilled with oil-based mud is introduced. Deployed through the drill pipe and its portal bit, the imager carries photorealistic microresistivity images into wells where conventional wireline conveyance techniques reach their limits in both practicality and viability.


Author(s):  
K. N. Colonna ◽  
G. Oliphant

Harmonious use of Z-contrast imaging and digital image processing as an analytical imaging tool was developed and demonstrated in studying the elemental constitution of human and maturing rabbit spermatozoa. Due to its analog origin (Fig. 1), the Z-contrast image offers information unique to the science of biological imaging. Despite the information and distinct advantages it offers, the potential of Z-contrast imaging is extremely limited without the application of techniques of digital image processing. For the first time in biological imaging, this study demonstrates the tremendous potential involved in the complementary use of Z-contrast imaging and digital image processing.Imaging in the Z-contrast mode is powerful for three distinct reasons, the first of which involves tissue preparation. It affords biologists the opportunity to visualize biological tissue without the use of heavy metal fixatives and stains. For years biologists have used heavy metal components to compensate for the limited electron scattering properties of biological tissue.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (03) ◽  
pp. 145-151
Author(s):  
Shimpei Ono ◽  
Hiroyuki Ohi ◽  
Rei Ogawa

AbstractSince propeller flaps are elevated as island flaps and most often nourished by a single perforator nearby the defect, it is challenging to change the flap design intraoperatively when a reliable perforator cannot be found where expected to exist. Thus, accurate preoperative mapping of perforators is essential in the safe planning of propeller flaps. Various methods have been reported so far: (1) handheld acoustic Doppler sonography (ADS), (2) color duplex sonography (CDS), (3) perforator computed tomographic angiography (P-CTA), and (4) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). To facilitate the preoperative perforator assessment, P-CTA is currently considered as the gold standard imaging tool in revealing the three-dimensional anatomical details of perforators precisely. Nevertheless, ADS remains the most widely used tool due to its low cost, faster learning, and ease of use despite an undesirable number of false-positive results. CDS can provide hemodynamic characteristics of the perforator and is a valid and safer alternative particularly in patients in whom ionizing radiation and/or contrast exposure should be limited. Although MRA is less accurate in detecting smaller perforators of caliber less than 1.0 mm and the intramuscular course of perforators at the present time, MRA is expected to improve in the future due to the recent developments in technology, making it as accurate as P-CTA. Moreover, it provides the advantage of being radiation-free with fewer contrast reactions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1645
Author(s):  
Daniel Gündel ◽  
Masoud Sadeghzadeh ◽  
Winnie Deuther-Conrad ◽  
Barbara Wenzel ◽  
Paul Cumming ◽  
...  

The expression of monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) is linked to pathophysiological changes in diseases, including cancer, such that MCTs could potentially serve as diagnostic markers or therapeutic targets. We recently developed [18F]FACH as a radiotracer for non-invasive molecular imaging of MCTs by positron emission tomography (PET). The aim of this study was to evaluate further the specificity, metabolic stability, and pharmacokinetics of [18F]FACH in healthy mice and piglets. We measured the [18F]FACH plasma protein binding fractions in mice and piglets and the specific binding in cryosections of murine kidney and lung. The biodistribution of [18F]FACH was evaluated by tissue sampling ex vivo and by dynamic PET/MRI in vivo, with and without pre-treatment by the MCT inhibitor α-CCA-Na or the reference compound, FACH-Na. Additionally, we performed compartmental modelling of the PET signal in kidney cortex and liver. Saturation binding studies in kidney cortex cryosections indicated a KD of 118 ± 12 nM and Bmax of 6.0 pmol/mg wet weight. The specificity of [18F]FACH uptake in the kidney cortex was confirmed in vivo by reductions in AUC0–60min after pre-treatment with α-CCA-Na in mice (−47%) and in piglets (−66%). [18F]FACH was metabolically stable in mouse, but polar radio-metabolites were present in plasma and tissues of piglets. The [18F]FACH binding potential (BPND) in the kidney cortex was approximately 1.3 in mice. The MCT1 specificity of [18F]FACH uptake was confirmed by displacement studies in 4T1 cells. [18F]FACH has suitable properties for the detection of the MCTs in kidney, and thus has potential as a molecular imaging tool for MCT-related pathologies, which should next be assessed in relevant disease models.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danuta M. Sampson ◽  
David Alonso-Caneiro ◽  
Avenell L. Chew ◽  
Jonathan La ◽  
Danial Roshandel ◽  
...  

AbstractAdaptive optics flood illumination ophthalmoscopy (AO-FIO) is an established imaging tool in the investigation of retinal diseases. However, the clinical interpretation of AO-FIO images can be challenging due to varied image quality. Therefore, image quality assessment is essential before interpretation. An image assessment tool will also assist further work on improving the image quality, either during acquisition or post processing. In this paper, we describe, validate and compare two automated image quality assessment methods; the energy of Laplacian focus operator (LAPE; not commonly used but easily implemented) and convolutional neural network (CNN; effective but more complex approach). We also evaluate the effects of subject age, axial length, refractive error, fixation stability, disease status and retinal location on AO-FIO image quality. Based on analysis of 10,250 images of 50 × 50 μm size, at 41 retinal locations, from 50 subjects we demonstrate that CNN slightly outperforms LAPE in image quality assessment. CNN achieves accuracy of 89%, whereas LAPE metric achieves 73% and 80% (for a linear regression and random forest multiclass classifier methods, respectively) compared to ground truth. Furthermore, the retinal location, age and disease are factors that can influence the likelihood of poor image quality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qingqing Yin ◽  
Anni Pan ◽  
Binlong Chen ◽  
Zenghui Wang ◽  
Mingmei Tang ◽  
...  

AbstractNanoparticle internalisation is crucial for the precise delivery of drug/genes to its intracellular targets. Conventional quantification strategies can provide the overall profiling of nanoparticle biodistribution, but fail to unambiguously differentiate the intracellularly bioavailable particles from those in tumour intravascular and extracellular microenvironment. Herein, we develop a binary ratiometric nanoreporter (BiRN) that can specifically convert subtle pH variations involved in the endocytic events into digitised signal output, enabling the accurately quantifying of cellular internalisation without introducing extracellular contributions. Using BiRN technology, we find only 10.7–28.2% of accumulated nanoparticles are internalised into intracellular compartments with high heterogeneity within and between different tumour types. We demonstrate the therapeutic responses of nanomedicines are successfully predicted based on intracellular nanoparticle exposure rather than the overall accumulation in tumour mass. This nonlinear optical nanotechnology offers a valuable imaging tool to evaluate the tumour targeting of new nanomedicines and stratify patients for personalised cancer therapy.


RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (27) ◽  
pp. 16285-16296
Author(s):  
Priyavathi Dhandapani ◽  
Srujan Kumar Dondapati ◽  
Anne Zemella ◽  
Dennis Bräuer ◽  
Doreen Anja Wüstenhagen ◽  
...  

Carboxylesterase, the key enzyme to handle ester-based dyes, is synthesized in microsomes using eukaryotic cell-free protein synthesis platform and established as a viable calcium imaging tool to analyze native and cell-free synthesized ion channels.


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