Large size growth of terbium doped BaCl2/NaCl/KCl eutectic for radiation imaging

In this study, a large-size eutectic scintillator of Tb-doped BaCl2/NaCl/KCl was grown using the Czochralski (Cz) and halide vertical Bridgman methods (H-VB). The suitability of these two growth methods for growing the eutectic was compared. Finally, 1 diameter eutectic bulks were obtained using the H-VB method. The Tb3+-derived strongest intensity peak at approximately 550 nm was observed by X-ray irradiation. An approximately 3 × 3 mm transparent eutectic plate was cut and polished from the grown eutectic bulk. An α-ray imaging test was performed using the eutectic plate, a fiber optic plate, and an electron-multiplying CCD camera. The resolution performance for radiation-imaging applications was evaluated.

Oral colon-targeting core–shell microparticles loading curcumin for enhanced ulcerative colitis alleviating efficacy

Background The oral colon-targeting drug delivery vehicle is vital for the efficient application of curcumin (Cur) in ulcerative colitis (UC) treatment because of its lipophilicity and instability in the gastrointestinal tract. Methods The core–shell microparticle (MP) system composed of eco-friendly materials, zein and shellac, was fabricated using a coaxial electrospray technique. In this manner, Cur was loaded in the zein core, with shellac shell coating on it. The colon-targeting efficiency and accumulation capacity of shellac@Cur/zein MPs were evaluated using a fluorescence imaging test. The treatment effects of free Cur, Cur/zein MPs, and shellac@Cur/zein MPs in acute experimental colitis were compared. Results With the process parameters optimized, shellac@Cur/zein MPs were facilely fabricated with a stable cone-jet mode, exhibiting standard spherical shape, uniform size distribution (2.84 ± 0.15 µm), and high encapsulation efficiency (95.97% ± 3.51%). Particularly, with the protection of shellac@zein MPs, Cur exhibited sustained drug release in the simulated gastrointestinal tract. Additionally, the in vivo fluorescence imaging test indicated that the cargo loaded in shellac@zein MPs improves the colon-targeting efficiency and accumulation capacity at the colonitis site. More importantly, compared with either free Cur or Cur/zein MPs, the continuous oral administration of shellac@Cur/zein MPs for a week could efficiently inhibit inflammation in acute experimental colitis. Conclusion The shellac@Cur/zein MPs would act as an effective oral drug delivery system for UC management.

A New GAN-Based Approach to Data Augmentation and Image Segmentation for Crack Detection in Thermal Imaging Tests

As a popular nondestructive testing (NDT) technique, thermal imaging test demonstrates competitive performance in crack detection, especially for detecting subsurface cracks. In thermal imaging test, the temperature of the crack area is higher than that of the non-crack area during the NDT process. By extracting the features of the thermal image sequences, the temperature curve of each spatial point is employed for crack detection. Nevertheless, the quality of thermal images is influenced by the noises due to the complex thermal environment in NDT. In this paper, a modified generative adversarial network (GAN) is employed to improve the image segmentation performance. To improve the feature extraction ability and alleviate the influence of noises, a penalty term is put forward in the loss function of the conventional GAN. A data preprocessing method is developed where the principle component analysis algorithm is adopted for feature extraction. The data argumentation technique is utilized to guarantee the quantity of the training samples. To validate its effectiveness in thermal imaging NDT, the modified GAN is applied to detect the cracks on the eddy current pulsed thermography NDT dataset.

Parathyroid Imaging Practices for Primary Hyperparathyroidism Without Previous Operations Among Endocrine Surgery Program Directors

Background Attempts at preoperative localization of abnormal parathyroid gland(s) in primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) can be performed with a variety of modalities. Study utilization is surgeon-specific with highly variable opinions in parathyroid surgery. As more people are diagnosed with pHPT, the complexity of the disease has given rise to variation in management. This heterogeneity raises the question of the true clinical practice of imaging among individual endocrine surgeons. Methods To better understand the preoperative parathyroid imaging practices of endocrine surgeons, an email-based survey was disseminated to the program directors of 22 American Association of Endocrine Surgeons fellowship programs querying them on their initial diagnostic test of choice for pHPT. Clinical support team members from each respective program were subsequently contacted and answers were compared. Results Sixty-eight percent (15/22) of clinical team members recommended either an additional (12/15) or different imaging test (3/15) than what was recommended by their institution’s endocrine surgeon. The most common initial imaging test that was repeated by both the endocrine surgeon and clinical team member was neck ultrasound; 33% of clinical team members (7/22) responded concordantly to their surgeon with ultrasound as the initial recommendation. Discussion Significant variability exists in the preoperative approach to patients with hyperparathyroidism. Here, we demonstrate that inconsistency in preoperative imaging recommendations even extends to within an individual surgeon’s practice based on the impact of the clinical support team, highlighting the role for improved clinical protocols within an institution’s clinical team.

Accuracy of Diabetic Retinopathy Staging with a Deep Convolutional Neural Network Using Ultra-Wide-Field Fundus Ophthalmoscopy and Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography

Purpose. The present study aimed to compare the accuracy of diabetic retinopathy (DR) staging with a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) using two different types of fundus cameras and composite images. Method. The study included 491 ultra-wide-field fundus ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) images that passed an image-quality review and were graded as no apparent DR (NDR; 169 images), mild nonproliferative DR (NPDR; 76 images), moderate NPDR (54 images), severe NPDR (90 images), and proliferative DR (PDR; 102 images) by three retinal experts by the International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy Severity Scale. The findings of tests 1 and 2 to identify no apparent diabetic retinopathy (NDR) and PDR, respectively, were then assessed. For each verification, Optos, OCTA, and Optos OCTA imaging scans with DCNN were performed. Result. The Optos, OCTA, and Optos OCTA imaging test results for comparison between NDR and DR showed mean areas under the curve (AUC) of 0.79, 0.883, and 0.847; sensitivity rates of 80.9%, 83.9%, and 78.6%; and specificity rates of 55%, 71.6%, and 69.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, the Optos, OCTA, and Optos OCTA imaging test results for comparison between NDR and PDR showed mean AUC of 0.981, 0.928, and 0.964; sensitivity rates of 90.2%, 74.5%, and 80.4%; and specificity rates of 97%, 97%, and 96.4%, respectively. Conclusion. The combination of Optos and OCTA imaging with DCNN could detect DR at desirable levels of accuracy and may be useful in clinical practice and retinal screening. Although the combination of multiple imaging techniques might overcome their individual weaknesses and provide comprehensive imaging, artificial intelligence in classifying multimodal images has not always produced accurate results.

Alzheimer’s Disease Prediction Using Long Short-Term Memory with Early-Phase 18F-Florbetaben Imaging Data

Single amyloid-beta (Aβ) imaging test is not enough to rise to the challenge of making AD diagnosis because of Aβ-negative AD or positive cognitively normal (CN). We aimed to distinguish AD from CN with dual-phase 18F-Florbetaben (FBB) via machine learning algorithms and evaluate the AD positivity scores compared to delay-phase FBB (dFBB) which is currently adopted for AD diagnosis.A total of 264 patients (74 CN and 190 AD), who underwent FBB imaging test and neuropsychological tests were retrospectively analyzed. We compared three kinds of machine learning-based models and evaluated their performance with 4-fold cross validation.AD positivity scores estimated from dual-phase FBB showed better accuracy (ACC) and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) for AD detection (ACC: 84.091 %, AUROC: 0.900) than those from dFBB imaging (ACC: 81.364 %, AUROC: 0.890). The association between predicted AD positivity and the AD occurrence were compared, the use of dual-phase FBB was highest (OR: 56.333), followed by dFBB (OR: 35.182).These results show that the combined model which interpret dual-phase FBB with long short-term memory can be used to provide a more accurate AD positivity score, which shows a closer association with AD, than the prediction with only single-phase FBB.

Parathyroid cyst: differential diagnosis

Parathyroid cysts are rare lesions of the cervical region and less frequently of the mediastinum. They occur mostly in women and are usually asymptomatic. They generally occur in the fourth and fifth decades of life and mainly are non-functioning. They commonly present as a neck mass that is found incidentally during surgery or in imaging test. Its importance lies in the difficulty in diagnosis, often confusing itself with thyroid pathology. The diagnosis is usually made intraoperatively, confirmed by histopathological examination.The aim of this paper is to report a case of parathyroid cyst that mimics a thyroid nodule.

Thermal imaging test of the disk brake of a diesel multiple unit in field conditions

W artykule zaprezentowano metodykę badań termowizyjnych hamulca tarczowego pojazdu szynowego DB Link III w warunkach poligonowych. Na przykładzie wspomnianego pojazdu opracowano metodykę badań oraz przeprowadzono pomiar rozkładu temperatury tarczy hamulcowej w czasie hamowania. W artykule szczególną uwagę zwrócono na konfigurację kamery termowizyjnej do rzeczywistych warunków występujących podczas badania. Jest to istotne, gdyż ze względu na obracającą się tarczę hamulcową, utrudniona jest weryfikacja wartości temperatury innym stykowym przyrządem pomiarowym. W wyjątkowych sytuacjach stosuje się pomiar temperatury z zastosowaniem termopar, jednak wymaga to rozbudowanego dodatkowego układu pomiarowego, co znacząco wydłuży czas przygotowania obiektu do badań i zwiększy jego koszty. Mimo, że kamerą termowizyjną dokonuje się pomiaru temperatury w sposób pośredni, prawidłowa konfiguracja ustawień kamery do warunków rzeczywistych, może wpłynąć na kilku procentowy błąd pomiaru.