LROC analysis of detector-response compensation in SPECT

Localization ROC (LROC) observer studies examined whether detector response compensation (DRC) in ordered-subset, expectation-maximization (OSEM) reconstructions helps in the detection and localization of hot tumors. Simulated gallium (Ga-67) images of the thoracic region were used in the study. The projection data modeled the acquisition of attenuated 93- and 185-keV photons with a medium-energy parallel-hole collimator, but scatter was not modeled. Images were reconstructed with five strategies: 1) OSEM with no DRC; 2) OSEM preceded by restoration filtering; 3) OSEM with iterative DRC; 4) OSEM with an ideal DRC; and 5) filtered backprojection (FBP) with no DRC. All strategies included attenuation correction. There were four LROC studies conducted. In a study using a single tumor activity, the ideal DRC offered the best performance, followed by iterative DRC, restoration filtering, OSEM with no DRC, and FBP. Statistical significance at the 5% level was found between all pairs of strategies except for restoration filtering and OSEM with no DRC. A similar ranking was found for a more realistic study using multiple tumor activities. Additional studies considered the effects of OSEM iteration number and tumor activity on the detection improvement that iterative DRC offered with respect to OSEM with no DRC.     

Stability analysis of generalized cellular neural networks

A rather general class of neural networks, called generalized cellular neural networks (CNNs), is introduced. the new model covers most of the known neural network architectures, including cellular neural networks, Hopfield networks and multilayer perceptrons. Several sets of conditions ensuring the input-output stability and global asymptotic stability of generalized CNNs have been obtained. the conditions for the stability of individual cells are checked in the frequency domain, while the stability of the overall network is analysed in terms of the stability of individual cells and the connectivity characteristics. the results on the global asymptotic stability are useful for the design of a generalized CNN such that the orbit of each state converges to a globally asymptotically stable equilibrium point which depends only on the input and not on the initial state. Such a network defines an algebraic map from the space of external inputs to the space of steady state values of the outputs and hence can accomplish cognitive and computational tasks.     

A prospective 12-year study of subsyndromal and syndromal depressive symptoms in unipolar major depressive disorders

BACKGROUND: Investigations of unipolar major depressive disorder (MDD) have focused primarily on major depressive episode remission/recovery and relapse/recurrence. This is the first prospective, naturalistic, long-term study of the weekly symptomatic course of MDD. METHODS: The weekly depressive symptoms of 431 patients with MDD seeking treatment at 5 academic centers were divided into 4 levels of severity: (1) depressive symptoms at the threshold for MDD; (2) depressive symptoms at the threshold for minor depressive or dysthymic disorder (MinD); (3) subsyndromal or subthreshold depressive symptoms (SSDs), below the thresholds for MinD and MDD; and (4) no depressive symptoms. The percentage of weeks at each level, number of changes in symptom level, and medication status were analyzed overall and for 3 subgroups defined by mood disorder history. RESULTS: Patients were symptomatically ill in 59% of weeks. Symptom levels changed frequently (1.8/y), and 9 of 10 patients spent weeks at 3 or 4 different levels during follow-up. The MinD (27%) and SSD (17%) symptom levels were more common than the MDD (15%) symptom level. Patients with double depression and recurrent depression had more chronic symptoms than patients with their first lifetime major depressive episode (72% and 65%, respectively, vs 46% of follow-up weeks). CONCLUSION: The long-term weekly course of unipolar MDD is dominated by prolonged symptomatic chronicity. Combined MinD and SSD level symptoms were about 3 times more common (43%) than MDD level symptoms (15%). The symptomatic course is dynamic and changeable, and MDD, MinD, and SSD symptom levels commonly alternate over time in the same patients as a symptomatic continuum of illness activity of a single clinical disease.     

Diagnostic tools in the evaluation of patients with viral hepatitis undergoing liver transplantation

Familiarity with the diagnostic parameters of viral hepatitis is imperative in the liver transplantation arena. Chronic viral hepatitis B and C are among the most common categories of end-stage liver disease. The preoperative diagnosis, determination of recurrent infection, and the assessment of antiviral therapeutic efficacy are dependent on appropriate virological testing. Furthermore, liver transplant personnel are at a high risk for parenterally transmitted viral hepatitis infection. Knowledge and understanding of the serological patterns of acute and chronic viral hepatitis, as well as recognition of the immune status for one or more of these viruses, will facilitate prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis for these health care providers.     

Intravascular ultrasound findings in stenting of unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis

We evaluated the role of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in 16 patients with unprotected left main coronary artery (LMCA) stenting compared with 80 patients with other (non-LMCA) native coronary artery stenting and found that (1) additional high-pressure or larger size balloon dilations were more frequently performed in LMCA stenting than in non-LMCA stenting (p <0.05) and (2) after IVUS-guided stent implantation, minimum lumen area was > or = 9 mm2 in 88% of patients who underwent LMCA stenting and in 19% of those who underwent non-LMCA stenting (p <0.001). IVUS guidance may be a more important adjunctive imaging modality in the stenting of unprotected LMCA stenoses than in stenting of non-LMCA stenoses.     

Reaction of thin metal films with SiO2 substrates

Thin films of Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hf, Mn, Nb, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ti, V and Zr vacuum-deposited on SiO₂ substrates of thermally oxidized Si wafers and/or fused quartz were annealed under vacuum at about 800°C for 3 hr and then analyzed by backscattering spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy. It is found that Hf, Nb, Ti, V and Zr react with SiO₂. The result is a thin layer of metal silicide sandwiched between the substrate and a top layer of metal oxide. The other investigated metals apparently do not react. A table of the standard heats of formation for metal silicides has been compiled. These values were used to calculate the free energy change during reaction. The thermodynamic predictions are consistent with experimental observation. The results can also be correlated with the mean electronegativity of the metal, which offers a convenient empirical method to predict whether a metal will react with SiO₂. It is found that metals with an average electronegativity (average of Allred-Rochow, relative compactness and Pauling electronegativities) of less than 1.5 on the Pauling scale react with the SiO₂ substrate.     

On the redox kinetics and chemical diffusivity of wüstite in CO-CO2 mixtures

Intraphase redox kinetics were monitored across the wüstite, Fe_1–xO, phase of the iron-oxygen system in CO₂-CO and CO₂-CO-Ar mixtures at 1062 and 1106° C. Kinetic data expressed in terms of the chemical diffusion coefficient and the equilibration time as a function of composition strongly indicated the importance of a reaction at the gas-oxide interface in the overall reequilibration of a specimen. Both the chemical diffusion coefficient and the equilibration time were found to be inversely proportional to the deviation from stoichiometry. Surface rate constants calculated from initial linear oxidation data were found to decrease as the deviation from stoichiometry increased.