Feasibility of Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting on Aging MRI Hardware

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of performing magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) on older and lower-performance MRI hardware as a means to bring advanced imaging to the aging MRI install base. Phantom and in vivo experiments were performed on a 1.5T Siemens Aera (installed 2015) and 1.5T Siemens Symphony (installed 2002). A 2D spiral MRF sequence for simultaneous T1/T2/M0 mapping was implemented on both scanners with different gradient trajectories to accommodate system specifications. In phantom, for T1/T2 values in a physiologically relevant range (T1: 195–1539 ms; T2: 20–267 ms), scanners had strong correlation (R2 > 0.999) with average absolute percent difference of 8.1% and 10.1%, respectively. Comparison of the two trajectories on the newer scanner showed differences of 2.6% (T1) and 10.9% (T2), suggesting a partial explanation of the observed inter-scanner bias. Inter-scanner agreement was better when the same trajectory was used, with differences of 6.0% (T1) and 4.0% (T2). Intra-scanner coefficient of variation (CV) of T1 and T2 estimates in phantom were <2.0% and in vivo were ≤3.5%. In vivo inter-scanner white matter CV was 4.8% (T1) and 5.1% (T2). White matter measurements on the aging scanner after two months were consistent, with differences of 1.9% (T1) and 3.9% (T2). In conclusion, MRF is feasible on an aging MRI scanner and required only changes to the gradient trajectory.

Gaussian Quadrature GQ Used to Accurately Approximate the Relative Weights of Reserves, Contingent Resources, and Prospective Resources Through A Cumulative Distribution Function

The objective of this work is to numerically estimate the fraction of Reserves assigned to each Reserves category of the PRMS matrix through a cumulative distribution function. We selected 38 wells from a Permian Basin dataset available to Texas A&M University. Previous work has shown that Swanson's Mean, which relates the Reserves categories through a cdf of a normal distribution, is an inaccurate method to determine the relationship of the Reserves categories with asymmetric distributions. Production data are lognormally distributed, regardless of basin type, thus cannot follow the SM concept. The Gaussian Quadrature (GQ) provides a methodology to accurately estimate the fraction of Reserves that lie in 1P, 2P, and 3P categories – known as the weights. Gaussian Quadrature is a numerical integration method that uses discrete random variables and a distribution that matches the original data. For this work, we associate the lognormal cumulative distribution function (CDF) with a set of discrete random variables that replace the production data, and determine the associated probabilities. The production data for both conventional and unconventional fields are lognormally distributed, thus we expect that this methodology can be implemented in any field. To do this, we performed probabilistic decline curve analysis (DCA) using Arps’ Hyperbolic model and Monte Carlo simulation to obtain the 1P, 2P, and 3P volumes, and calculated the relative weights of each Reserves category. We performed probabilistic rate transient analysis (RTA) using a commercial software to obtain the 1P, 2P, and 3P volumes, and calculated the relative weights of each Reserves category. We implemented the 3-, 5-, and 10-point GQ to obtain the weight and percentiles for each well. Once this was completed, we validated the GQ results by calculating the percent-difference between the probabilistic DCA, RTA, and GQ results. We increase the standard deviation to account for the uncertainty of Contingent and Prospective resources and implemented 3-, 5-, and 10-point GQ to obtain the weight and percentiles for each well. This allows us to also approximate the weights of these volumes to track them through the life of a given project. The probabilistic DCA, RTA and Reserves results indicate that the SM is an inaccurate method for estimating the relative weights of each Reserves category. The 1C, 2C, 3C, and 1U, 2U, and 3U Contingent and Prospective Resources, respectively, are distributed in a similar way but with greater variance, incorporated in the standard deviation. The results show that the GQ is able to capture an accurate representation of the Reserves weights through a lognormal CDF. Based on the proposed results, we believe that the GQ is accurate and can be used to approximate the relationship between the PRMS categories. This relationship will aid in booking Reserves to the SEC because it can be recreated for any field. These distributions of Reserves and resources other than Reserves (ROTR) are important for planning and for resource inventorying. The GQ provides a measure of confidence on the prediction of the Reserves weights because of the low percent difference between the probabilistic DCA, RTA, and GQ weights. This methodology can be implemented in both conventional and unconventional fields.

An Evaluation of a Kansas Open Streets Event’s Impact on Businesses

INTRODUCTION. Open Streets is an event that promotes physical activity among populations by encouraging city residents to walk and bicycle in streets blocked from motor vehicles. Engagement of businesses is a critical component of Open Streets. This study sought to evaluate the Open Streets ICT. 2019 event’s impact on adjacent businesses. METHODS. A 12-item novel survey was developed for this study. Businesses eligible for study participation included retail and non-retail (e.g. non-profits, churches) sites along the Open Streets ICT route in Wichita, Kansas. To understand how Open Streets ICT impacted businesses the survey used Likert scale questions to prompt respondents to report sales and visitors experienced during the event. Additionally, respondents reported a percent difference in sales compared to a typical Sunday. Themes and subthemes were coded from recurring opinions. RESULTS. A total of 102 surveys were completed, a 42% response rate. Most businesses (56%, n=56) reported being open during Open Streets ICT. Many businesses (72%) reported having “more” visitors compared to a typical Sunday. More than half reported they experienced new and regular visitors (54%, n=30) from the event. Most businesses (64%, n=36) reported a positive financial impact, and (52%, n=29) having more sales than a typical Sunday. CONCLUSIONS. Open Streets ICT increased sales and the number of visitors among businesses. Respondents reported they plan to participate in the 2020 Open Streets ICT, and if Open Streets ICT was offered twice a year. Finally, most participating businesses reported they recommend that other businesses participate in Open Streets ICT.

Dietary Supplementation of Shredded, Steam-Exploded Pine Particles Decreases Pathogenic Microbes in the Cecum of Acute Heat-Stressed Broilers

The gut microbiome stimulates nutrient metabolism and could effectively generate heat tolerance in chickens. This study investigates the effects of dietary steam-exploded pine particle (SPP) supplementation and subsequent acute heat stress on productive performance and cecum microbiome in broilers. Eight-day Ross 308 broilers were distributed in three groups with 0%, 1%, and 2% SPP in diets. On the 41st day, forty birds were allocated to four groups with ten birds each. The treatments were control diet at thermoneutral temperature (0% NT) and acute heat-stressed (HS) birds fed control (0% HS), 1% (1% HS), and 2% (2% HS) SPP. Parameters recorded were body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), rectal temperature (RT), relative organ weight, and metagenome analysis from cecum samples. Percent difference in BW, FI, and RT was decreased in HS birds. Metagenome analysis revealed similar richness and diversity in microbial communities. The relative abundance of the bacterial genus such as Limosilactobacillus, Drancourtella, and Ihubacter was increased while that of Alistipes, Alkalibacter, Lachnotalea, and Turicibacter was decreased in SPP supplemented HS birds. Concludingly, the production performance of broilers is negatively influenced during HS, and 2% dietary SPP supplementation may reduce the adverse effects of HS by modifying the microbiota in chickens.

Quality assessment of nine paracetamol 500 mg tablet brands marketed in Saudi Arabia

Objective To evaluate in-vitro quality of paracetamol 500 mg tablet brands marketed in Saudi Arabia. Results Two reference (R1 and R2) and seven generic (G1-G7) brands were commercially available. Four brands were single-drug, containing paracetamol only (R1, G1-G3) and five contained additional active ingredients (R2, G4-G7). All brands were immediate-release. Weight variation (n = 20, range as percent difference from mean), active substance content (n = 20, mean (SD) as percent difference from label), breaking force (n = 10, mean (SD)), and friability (n = 20, as percent weight loss) ranged from 97 to 102%, 96.1% (2.9%) to 99.8% (1.1%), 9.9 (0.4) to 21.0 (0.9) kg, and 0.017% to 0.809%, respectively. Disintegration (water medium) time (n = 6, minute: second) ranged from 02:35–03:09 to 12:49–13:10. Dissolution (phosphate buffer, pH 5.8) profile showed a mean release at 30 min of 87% to 97% of label content, with seven brands passing stage-1 (≥ 85% for each of 6 test units) and two passing stage-2 (mean of 12 test units ≥ 85%) criteria. Despite statistically significant differences between R1 and R2 and some of their corresponding generic brands in active substance content, breaking force, and amount dissolved at 30 min, all nine brands met the pre-specified quality standards.

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry and Psychosocial Interactions in Medical Students: A Pilot Study

Frontal alpha asymmetry (fAA) is a neurophysiological marker for anxiety and depression. This study tests the hypothesis that greater left-sided frontal alpha voltage is associated with negative thoughts about oneself. A group of eight healthy 28-41-year-old right-handed male medical students were subjected to an extensive interactive self-inventory (ISI) evaluating perceptions of their psychosocial interactions. Quantitative EEG (qEEG) was done with eyes closed. fAA in the alpha bandwidth (8-13 Hz) at the F7 and F8 scalp electrodes was the percent difference between mean voltages at F8 minus F7. Significance of associations between fAA and ISI scores was determined by Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient, at P≤0.05. “Depressed” scores were positively correlated with right-sided fAA (P=0.01). “Relaxed” (P=0.05), “regulated” (P=0.02), “cooperative” (P=0.05) and “dependent scores” (P=0.004) were negatively correlated with right-sided fAA. These findings imply that right-sided fAA may be associated with more perceptions of “depressed” psychosocial interactions involving negative thoughts about oneself, as well as, more reliance on others (“dependence” score), less sharing (“cooperative” ISI score), less trust (“regulated” ISI score) and less initiative (“relaxed” ISI score). These results support the hypothesis that right-sided fAA may identify individuals with a predilection for negative thoughts about themselves and negatively-valenced perceptions of their psychosocial interactions.

Passive Thermography Measurement of Damage Depth During Composites Load Testing

Passive thermography is commonly used for composites load testing to detect damage formation as a function of the applied load. The advantages of passive thermography are real time implementation, large area coverage, and noncontact measurement. Passive thermography is able to detect the damage location and size, however, damage depth has been a challenge for quasistatic loading. Recent work has shown that damage formation during loading produces heating that is composed of two heat generation components. The first component is an instantaneous thermal response due to an irreversible thermoelastic strain release due to rapid damage formation. The second component observed is mechanical heating, at the interface of failure, due to fracture damage that produces a transient rise in surface temperature as a function of damage depth. The first component defines the thermal start time for the transient response. A one-dimensional thermal model, that is independent of delamination damage gap spacing, is presented and fitted to the data pixel by pixel, to produce imagery of the damage depth. The percent difference between thermal results, as compared to the ultrasonic measurements of damage length and width, was on average 15%. The percent difference between the thermal results, as compared to the X-ray CT measurements for damage depth was on average 7%. This same processing technique was applied for detection of damage depth during cyclic loading as well.

New proxy models for predicting oil recovery factor in waterflooded heterogeneous reservoirs

To predict the recovery factor (RF) in waterflooded layered oil reservoirs, two empirical relationships were derived. Both correlations use four independent variables. These are reservoir heterogeneity (characterized by permeability variation coefficient), permeability anisotropy (ratio of vertical to horizontal permeability), viscosity of the injected water, and water injection rate. One of the correlations estimates RF at water breakthrough time (RFBT) and the other evaluates RF at the end of project (RFEOP). Each correlation comes in an expanded form with more parameters and a reduced form with fewer parameters. Both models are based on the global linear model. Eclipse black-oil simulation was used to determine RF for generic reservoirs with different combinations of permeability variation, permeability anisotropy, injected water viscosities, and water injection rates. A total of 192 data sets have been generated. Out of these, 144 data sets (about 75% of the generated sets) were used for model development and 48 data sets (about 25% of the generated sets) were used for model testing and validation. The expanded forms of the new developed correlations gave reliable estimates of RFBT and RFEOP with absolute average percent difference (AAPCD) of 6.9 and 1.02, respectively. The reduced forms yielded slightly higher AAPCDs of 8.30 and 1.04, respectively. When tested against 48 simulation-generated data sets, the expanded forms yielded excellent fits for RFBT and RFEOP with AAPCDs of 14 and 6.5, respectively. The reduced forms showed comparable fit with AAPCDs of 16.9 and 6.70, respectively. The highest RFEOP of 50.6% was achieved for a generic reservoir with a permeability variation in V = 0.1 and a permeability anisotropy of kz/kx = 1.0. This particular reservoir needs to be waterflooded using a water viscosity of µw = 1.0 cp and a water injection rate of qi = 10,000 bpd. Finally, when tested against the Guthrie–Greenberger and the API statistical study, using a single field data set, the proposed correlations gave higher absolute percent difference of 22.9 and 22.7 compared to 0.758 and 19.2 for Guthrie–Greenberger and the API statistical study, respectively.

Prevalence of fermented foods in the Dutch adult diet and validation of a food frequency questionnaire for estimating their intake in the NQplus cohort

Background Humans have a long history of consuming fermented foods. However, their prevalence in human diets remains largely undetermined, and there is a lack of validated dietary assessment tools assessing the intake of different fermented products. This study aimed to identify fermented foods consumed in The Netherlands and determine the relative validity of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) compared to multiple 24-h recalls for estimating their intake. Methods The validation population consisted of 809 participants (53.1 ± 11.9 years) from a Dutch observational cohort (NQplus) who completed a FFQ and multiple 24-h recalls. Fermented foods from the FFQ and recalls were identified and aggregated into conventional food groups. Percent difference in mean intakes, quintile cross-classification, Spearman’s correlations, and Bland-Altman analyses were used to evaluate the agreement between the two dietary assessment methods. Results Approximately 16–18% of foods consumed by this population were fermented, and a further 9–14% were dishes containing a fermented ingredient. Fermented foods with the highest consumption included coffee (~ 453 g/day;~ 0.5% of daily energy intake), yoghurts (~ 88 g/day;~ 2.2%), beer (~ 84 g/day;~ 1.7%), wholegrain bread (~ 81 g/day;~ 9.4%), wine (~ 65 g/day;~ 2.7%), and cheese (~ 32 g/day;~ 5.0%). Mean percent difference between the FFQ and recalls was small for fermented beverages (coffee), breads (brown, white, wholegrain, rye), and fermented dairy (cheeses) (0.3–2.8%), but large for buttermilk and quark (≥53%). All fermented food groups had > 50% of participants classified into the same or adjacent quintile of intake (58%-buttermilk to 89%-fermented beverages). Strong Spearman’s correlations (crude/energy-adjusted rs ≥ 0.50) were obtained for fermented beverages (coffee, beer, wine), cereals/grains (wholegrain bread), and dairy (yoghurts). For ‘other bread’, quark, and buttermilk, correlations were low (rs < 0.20). Bland-Altman analyses revealed good agreement for fermented beverages (coffee, beer), breads (brown, wholegrain, rye, other), pastries, chocolate, and fermented dairy (cheeses) (mean difference: 0.1–9.3). Conclusions Fermented food groups with acceptable or good validity across all measures included commonly consumed foods in The Netherlands: fermented beverages (coffee), wholegrain and rye bread, and fermented dairy (cheeses). However, for less frequently consumed foods, such as quark and buttermilk, the levels of agreement were poor and estimates of intake should be interpreted with caution. This report provides the basis for developing a FFQ specific for fermented foods.

Across Regions: Are Most COVID-19 Deaths Above or Below Life Expectancy?

Life expectancy varies across geographical and political landscapes for a multitude of reasons. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for the 2020 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and pandemic, is present in 215 countries, and is described as a pathogen that is most deadly to individuals 65 years and older. However, it is unclear if the majority of COVID-19-related deaths are targeting individuals above or below life expectancy. Through seven months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, an association between life expectancy and COVID-19 related deaths were assessed. The reported age of those suffering from COVID-19-related death was evaluated across seven countries (United States, Germany, Hungary, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, and Switzerland), and placed into one of two categories depending on whether the death occurred above or below the country’s life expectancy. Among the seven countries included in this survey, it was observed that there was greater proportion of deaths above life expectancy (M = 65.35%, SD= 6.58) versus death below life expectancy (M = 34.65% , SD= 6.58), and these difference were significant (95%CI [18.51876, 42.88199], p = 0.0008349). Across countries, the disparity, or percent difference in deaths occurring above versus below life expectancy, was greatest in the countries with life expectancies of 80+ (Sweden, Switzerland, Germany). Given priorities that may need to be made in terms of hospital capacity, considering life expectancy may be an appropriate approach for reporting COVID-19-related deaths.