The fractional Fourier transform and quadratic field magnetic resonance imaging

The fractional Fourier transform (FrFT) is revisited in the framework of strongly continuous periodic semigroups to restate known results and to explore new properties of the FrFT. We then show how the FrFT can be used to reconstruct Magnetic Resonance (MR) images acquired under the presence of quadratic field inhomogeneity. Particularly, we prove that the order of the FrFT is a measure of the distortion in the reconstructed signal. Moreover, we give a dynamic interpretation to the order as time evolution of a function. We also introduce the notion of ρ-α space as an extension of the Fourier or k-space in MR, and we use it to study the distortions introduced in two common MR acquisition strategies. We formulate the reconstruction problem in the context of the FrFT and show how the semigroup theory allows us to find new reconstruction formulas for discrete sampled signals. Finally, the results are supplemented with numerical examples that show how it performs in a standard 1D MR signal reconstruction.     

Constant-phase-mode operation of the light-addressable potentiometric sensor

The constant-phase-mode operation of the light-addressable potentiometric sensor (LAPS) is proposed and demonstrated. In this new operation mode, the temporal change and the spatial distribution of the analyte concentration are recorded in the form of the bias voltage applied to the LAPS sensor plate, which is servo-controlled to maintain the phase of the photocurrent at a constant value with respect to the light modulation. The constant-phase-mode LAPS is advantageous for its wider measurement range and reduction of artifacts.     

Surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) as an alternative technique for rapid and quantitative screening of small molecules, useful in drug discovery

Surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) is a label free technology for biomolecular interaction, which gives access to binding kinetic parameters from real time acquisition. It offers the possibility to test in a single run a large number of interactions, allowing rapid identification of the most suitable compounds toward a given biological entity. Until now, this technique has proven to be relevant for interaction between relatively large molecules (protein, antibodies, DNA) but has not been challenged yet for the screening of small molecules that can be of interested in the field of drug discovery. As a proof a principle, we have used SPRi to screen for interaction of several small molecules, referred to as G4-ligands on G-quadruplex DNA. This technology allowed to easy discrimination of the binding properties of four G4-ligands on quadruplex DNA models.     

A spectral imaging array biosensor and its application in detection of leukemia cell

A new type of array immunosensor was developed by combining surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and spectral imaging techniques. The system consisted of a monochromator as the wavelength scanning light source, a polarizer, Kretschmann-Raaether attenuated total reflection (ATR) configuration including array sensor chip, and a CCD camera. The images of transmitting light from ATR were recorded versus the wavelength. By averaging gray scales of the pixels in the area of every gold spot from the image series, the complete spectral resonance curve of all sensing spots on the array can be extracted in parallel. The performance of the developed system was evaluated by analyzing interactions of the anti-CD33 monoclonal antibody to its target leukemic cells using 11 cases of human bone marrow specimens. The specimens were also analyzed with flow cytometry method (FCM) for comparison. The initial results measured by the immunosensor array were corresponded with that of FCM, indicating that the developed parallel method might be clinically suitable for immunophenotyping of acute leukemias. The new sensor array system showed the merits of high-throughput, high sensitivity, high specificity, label free and operation convenient. Spots numbers of the array could be increased if suitable technology were adopted for manipulating the micro bio-liquids on the sensor array chip.     

电阻抗扫描成像计算机辅助诊断方法研究

为了提高电阻抗扫描成像EISI(Electrical Impedance Scanning Imaging)在乳腺疾病检查方面的准确性,将独立分量方法(ICA)应用于EISI数据的特征提取,并结合支持向量机(SVM)进行乳腺疾病计算机辅助诊断(CAD)。实验结果表明:ICA方法所提取的特征对于乳腺疾病分类是有效的。对于良性肿瘤和恶性肿瘤的鉴别,提出的CAD方法灵敏度为74.2%,特异度为82.8%,准确度为80%。结合所提出的CAD方法和传统的EISI检查方法,可以提高EISI在乳腺疾病检查方面的可靠性,降低假阳性率,避免对良性肿瘤患者进行活检。     

In vivo interactive visualization of four-dimensional blood flow patterns

In this paper we give an overview over a series of experiments to visualize and measure flow fields in the human vascular system with respect to their diagnostic capabilities. The experiments utilize a selection of GPU-based sparse and dense flow visualization algorithms to show the diagnostic opportunities for volumetric cardiovascular phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging data sets. Besides classical hardware accelerated particle and line-based approaches, an extensible tublet-based visualization, a four-dimensional volumetric line integral convolution and a new two-dimensional cutting plane tool for three-dimensional velocity data sets have been implemented. To evaluate the results, several hearts of human subjects have been investigated and a flow phantom was built to artificially simulate distinctive flow features. Our results demonstrate that we are able to provide an interactive tool for cardiovascular diagnostics with complementary hardware accelerated visualizations. Electronic Supplementary Material  The online version of this article () contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Potential of near-field microwave imaging in breast cancer detection utilizing tapered rectangular waveguide probes

Microwave imaging for medical applications has been of interest for many years. A novel near-field microwave non-invasive testing and evaluation (NIT&E) technique utilizing tapered rectangular waveguide probes is presented for breast cancer detection. Near-field microwave NIT&E techniques can be a successful candidate for the detection of breast cancer because of their potential in dealing with materials of low conductivity (i.e. lossy dielectrics like the breast tissue). The physical basis for breast tumor detection with microwave imaging is the contrast in dielectric properties of normal and malignant breast tissues. A method adopting Fourier transform matching (FTM) technique and utilizing the reflection coefficient at the aperture of a tapered rectangular waveguide sensor radiating into a breast is described resulting in microwave images that indicate the presence of a tumor. These images demonstrate the feasibility of detecting breast tumors using this approach.     

Interactive Fibre Structure Visualization of the Heart

The heart consists of densely packed muscle fibres. The orientation of these fibres can be acquired by using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) ex vivo. A good way to visualize the fibre structure in a cross section of the heart is by showing short line segments originating from the cross section and aligned with the local direction of the fibres. If the line segments are placed dense enough, one can see how the fibre orientations change. However, generation of the line segments takes time and thus the user has to wait for new geometry to be generated when the plane defining the cross section is changed. We present a new direct rendering method for the visualization of the 3D vector field in a 2D user‐definable cross section of a heart. On the intersection of the plane with the vector field, the full 3D vectors are rendered as 3D line segments with a local ray casting approach. No preprocessing of the data is needed and no geometry is generated. This technique allows a fast inspection of the data to identify interesting areas where further analysis is necessary (e.g. quantification or generation of streamlines). We also show how the technique is generalized to other glyph shapes than line segments by implementing ellipsoids.     

基于自适应云模型的多模态脑部图像融合方法

多模态医学图像融合通过提取并综合不同模态的医学图像信息,获得对病灶部位更加清晰、全面、准确、可靠的图像描述,为医生对疾病的诊断和合理治疗方案的制定提供可靠的依据。云模型理论是认知科学研究的新成果,具有兼顾随机性和模糊性的优点,在图像融合中的应用较少。借助云模型理论将来自不同模态的MRI(核磁共振成像)脑部图像、MRI与PET(正电子发射断层成像)、MRI与SPECT(单光子发射断层成像)脑部图像进行融合。首先,根据脑部图像自身的灰度直方图特征,对灰度直方图进行拟合;然后,由拟合曲线的谷值点划分区间并通过逆向云发生器自适应地生成云模型;最后,设计云推理规则,得到融合后的图像。实验结果表明,相比传统融合方法,所提方法融合后的图像脑部特征更清晰,激活区域更明显,在主观融合效果与客观评价指标方面均有很大的提高。     

Structured Bayesian compressive sensing with spatial location dependence via variational Bayesian inference

In this paper, a novel non-parametric Bayesian compressive sensing algorithm is proposed to enhance reconstruction performance of sparse entries with a continuous structure by exploiting the location dependence of entries. An approach is proposed which involves the logistic model and location-dependent Gaussian kernel. The variational Bayesian inference scheme is used to perform the posterior distributions and acquire an approximately analytical solution. Compared to the conventional clustered based methods, which only exploit the information of neighboring pixels, the proposed approach takes the relationship between the pixels of the entire image into account to enable the utilization of the underlying sparse signal structure. It significantly reduces the required number of observations for sparse reconstruction. Both real-valued signal applications, including one-dimension signal and two-dimension image, and complex-valued signal applications, including single-snapshot direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation of distributed sources and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging with a limited number of pluses, demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm.