基于改进Marching Cubes算法的乳腺MRI肿块三维重建

核磁共振成像MRI(Magnetic Resonance Imaging)是目前乳腺癌肿块诊断的常用辅助手段,对图像的正确解析是关键,针对传统MC(Marching Cubes)面绘制算法应用于乳腺MRI图像的不足,提出了改进方法。首先利用乳腺MRI序列图相邻帧间图像灰度分布的相似,肿块组织形状相近等相关性,在RSF(Region-Scalable Fitting)模型的基础上利用初始轮廓迭代的方法提取肿块区域。接着将多组参数下获得的结果,依据每一帧与其前后帧的重叠面积越大越好作为条件进行筛选,使提取的等值面最优化。最后采用基于加权二次误差度量的三角形折叠方法,对面绘制产生的大量三角网格进行了简化。将所提出的改进方法应用于30例乳腺MRI序列图,实验结果表明,对于乳腺MRI肿块的三维重建在精度和绘制速度上都比使用传统MC算法有很大提高。     

基于核磁图像导航的前列腺针刺手术机器人

在对核磁共振图像(MRI)导航手术机器人设计需求进行分析的基础上,设计出一套可用于完成经会阴前列腺近距离粒子放射治疗手术的机器人系统.该系统具有5个自由度,通过核磁兼容气缸和超声波电机混合驱动,自主实现针体位姿调整和针刺操作.根据机器人系统动力学分析进行了驱动气缸选型.最后通过核磁兼容性实验和针刺精度实验,验证该机器人系统能够满足核磁兼容性要求,针刺精度为0.91mm.     

一种小波混合优化算法用于脑MR图像配准

优化算法是脑磁共振(MR)图像配准方法中的重要组成部分。针对目前已有的优化算法,提出了采用小波混合优化算法应用于脑MR图像配准。该优化算法采用小波分解技术实现脑MR图像的高低分辨率分解,在低分辨率图像上采用PSO(粒子群算法)进行优化获得初步配准参数,然后再采用Powell算法进一步精细优化,获得最终配准参数。实验比较结果表明,该优化算法相对于目前一些主流优化算法来说,具有较低的时间代价,较高的优化精度,以及较好的优化稳定性。     

Simulation of packed bed reactors using lattice Boltzmann methods

Lattice Boltzmann (LB) methods are used to simulate hydrodynamics, reaction and subsequent mass transfer in a disordered packed bed of catalyst particles at sub-pore length-scales. In contrast to previous studies, a variety of modifications are introduced in the LB method enabling particle Pe numbers up to 10⁸, and hence realistic values of diffusivity, to be accessed. These include decoupling the hydrodynamics from mass transfer and the use of a rest fraction in the LB formulation of mass transfer. In addition the mass transfer simulations are modified to permit spatially varying values of diffusivity, essential to differentiate between intra- and inter-particle diffusivity (D_intra and D_inter, respectively). The simulation method is applied to both a disordered and ordered 2D packing for a range of Pe (15.6-1557.8) and Re (0.16-1.56) numbers, as well as various ratios of D_intra/D_inter (0-1), whilst simulating an esterfication reaction catalyzed by an ion-exchange resin. The value of D_intra is found to have limited effect, whilst reducing Pe number results in a considerable increase in overall conversion. The simulation method is then applied to a 3D lattice for which experimental conversion data is available. This experimental data is straddled by the simulation case of D_intra=0 and D_intra=D_inter, as expected.     

回波平面成像中基于相位恢复的ghost伪影校正

EPI技术是基于方向相反的频率读出的梯度来交替采集MR信号的奇、偶回波，但是，由于成像物体的磁敏感性、化学位移及磁场曰。的不均匀性等因素的影响会导致奇、偶回波之间产生相位移动，因而会产生ghost伪影。为了消除成像中产生的ghost伪影，提出了基于相位恢复的ghost伪影消除方法，即用数学形态学的方法确定支撑域，支撑域外的ghost伪影被置为零，首先获得模板图像；然后以最小熵为收敛准则运行迭代算法，直到得到满意的图像。实验证明，运用该方法能够明显地降低ghost伪影，可见这种方法是可行的。     

基于窄带水平集的曲线演化与左心室MRI图像分割

文章研究了基于窄带水平集的曲线演化方法并应用于心脏的MRI图像分割。分析了窄带的生成技术,提出了基于模板的距离函数生成方法;针对MRI图像的特点,给出了一种分割MRI图像的水平集速度函数,以处理图像中出现的区域灰度不一致性以及弱边界现象。MRI图像的分割实验证明了该文算法的有效性。     

Gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography of the pelvis in patients with erectile impotence

This study evaluted the potential of contrast-enhanced digital-subtraction magnetic resonance angiography (CE-DS-MRA) for noninvasive angiographic delineation of the arterial supply of the penis in patients with erectile dysfunction. After induction of an erection with prostaglandin E, a three-dimensional fast imaging with steady-state precision (FISP) sequence with TE of 1.8–2 milliseconds, TR of 4.4–5 milliseconds, and flip angle of 40°–60° was used to obtain high-resolution angiograms of the pelvis and penis during the injection of gadolinium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) 0.3 mmol/kg body weight, within 30–50 seconds. DS maximum intensity projections (MIPs) and multiplanar reconstructions (MPRs) were compared with clinical work-up and directional Doppler ultrasound in 11 patients. In all 11 patients (100%), the arterial supply of the penis could be delineated from the aortic bifurcation via the iliac and internal pudendal arteries to the dorsal and deep penile arteries. Of the 22 internal pudendal arteries, 6 (27%) were occluded on CE-DS-MRA and 5 (23%) had stenoses, of which 4 (18%) were greater than 50%. In 7 patients (64%) good correlation between CE-DS-MRA and clinical findings and/or Doppler ultrasound was found; in 2 patients (18%), the correlation was moderate, and in 2 patients (18%) results were discrepant. In 6 patients (55%), MRA provided additional information to the clinical and Doppler ultrasound work-up. CE-DS-MRA can delineate small sessels such as the internal pudendal and penile arteries and thus has the potential to become a noninvasive angiography method in the work-up of erectile impotence. Supported by Siemens Medical Systems, Erlangen; Schering AG, Berlin; and Agfa-Gevaert AG, Leverkusen.     

Design of a low cross‐talk micro‐coil array for micro‐scale MRI

Design of magnetic resonance micro‐coil arrays with low cross‐talk among the coils can be the main challenge to improve the effectiveness of magnetic resonance micro‐imaging because the electrical cross‐talk which is mainly due to the inductive coupling perturbs the sensitivity profile of the array and causes image artifacts. In this work, a capacitive decoupling network with N(M ? 1) + (N ? 1)(M ? 2) capacitors is proposed to reduce the inductive coupling in an N × M array. A 3 × 3 array of optimized micro‐coils is designed using the finite element simulations and all the needed elements for the array equivalent circuit are extracted in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed decoupling method by assessing the reduction of the coupled signals after employing the capacitive network on the circuit. The achieved results for the designed array show that the high cross‐talk level is reduced by the factor of 2.2–3.4 after employing the capacitive network. By employing this method of decoupling, the adjacent coils in each row and inner columns can be decoupled properly while the minimum decoupling belongs to the outer columns because of the lack of all necessary decoupling capacitances for these columns. The main advantages of the proposed decoupling method are its efficiency and design easiness which facilitates the design of dense arrays with the properly decoupled coils, especially the inner coils which are more coupled due to their neighbors. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 23, 353–359, 2013     

Freeze drying and vacuum impregnating characteristics of Nostoc sphaeroides Kützing

ABSTRACT

Nostoc sphaeroides Kützing (N. sphaeroides) is a kind of edible algae widely growing in China. The paper is aimed at developing a novel snack food of N. sphaeroides using vacuum impregnation. The samples from freeze drying (FD) have large volume and loose structure, which were found suitable for processing. With nuclear magnetic resonance and imaging, the water signal of N. sphaeroides was measured in FD, and different drying-stage raw N. sphaeroides were selected to impregnate by different solutions, when the products’ impregnated mass, water activity, and flavor difference were analyzed. Results indicate that the water distribution in FD was uniform. Sucrose impregnated product was stable with large impregnated mass and low water activity, whereas trehalose impregnated product was easy to separate from the solution with low sweetness. For the products with the raw N. sphaeroides dried for 9 and 12?h, no obvious difference was found in water activity and flavor. Result shows that N. sphaeroides dehydrated for 9?h in FD is suitable for vacuum impregnation, and different impregnated products are acceptable from the point of view of flavor and storage stability.     

Positron Emitting Magnetic Nanoconstructs for PET/MR Imaging

Hybrid PET/MRI scanners have the potential to provide fundamental molecular, cellular, and anatomic information essential for optimizing therapeutic and surgical interventions. However, their full utilization is currently limited by the lack of truly multi‐modal contrast agents capable of exploiting the strengths of each modality. Here, we report on the development of long‐circulating positron‐emitting magnetic nanoconstructs (PEM) designed to image solid tumors for combined PET/MRI. PEMs are synthesized by a modified nano‐precipitation method mixing poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA), lipids, and polyethylene glycol (PEG) chains with 5 nm iron oxide nanoparticles (USPIOs). PEM lipids are coupled with 1,4,7,10‐tetraazacyclododecane‐1,4,7,10‐tetraacetic acid (DOTA) and subsequently chelated to ⁶⁴Cu. PEMs show a diameter of 140 ± 7 nm and a transversal relaxivity r₂ of 265.0 ± 10.0 (mM × s)^?1, with a r₂/r₁ ratio of 123. Using a murine xenograft model bearing human breast cancer cell line (MDA‐MB‐231), intravenously administered PEMs progressively accumulate in tumors reaching a maximum of 3.5 ± 0.25% ID/g tumor at 20 h post‐injection. Correlation of PET and MRI signals revealed non‐uniform intratumoral distribution of PEMs with focal areas of accumulation at the tumor periphery. These long‐circulating PEMs with high transversal relaxivity and tumor accumulation may allow for detailed interrogation over multiple scales in a clinically relevant setting.