scholarly journals Improvements in MR imaging of solids through gradient waveform optimization

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 729-736
Author(s):  
Marco L.H. Gruwel ◽  
Peter Latta ◽  
Boguslaw Tomanek

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is known to provide a useful approach for the exploration of the chemistry and dynamics of a wide range of soft condensed materials. However, its application to solids has been limited to those materials with relatively narrow resonances. The time needed to obtain an image of a solid with a given resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is directly proportional to the line width of the resonance. For MRI to become practical for the imaging of solids it will have to rely on the development and use of MR sequences that avoid the issues raised by line broadening of the resonance. In this paper we review the latest contributions towards MR imaging of solids from our laboratory, in particular, applications using optimized gradient waveforms. Acoustic noise reduction and SNR improvement obtained with modifications of the standard single-point imaging sequence are presented and discussed using examples.

1997 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-46
Author(s):  
R. P. J. Joensuu ◽  
R. E. Sepponen ◽  
A. E. Lamminen ◽  
C.-G. M. Standertskjöld-Nordenstam

Purpose: The poor localization facility of interventional instruments in MR imaging has been one of the major obstacles to the popularization of interventional MR imaging. It has been suggested that the Overhauser enhancement be used to generate markers of small size and high visibility. This article studies the feasibility of a localization marker based on this method. Material and Methods: A small Overhauser marker was constructed on the tip of a coaxial cable and comparative images were taken by a 0.23 T imager with and without electron spin irradiation. Results: During irradiation an enhanced signal intensity from the marker was observed. The signal from the marker also exceeded the signal from a 0.25 mmol MnCl2 reference phantom. Conclusion: Its small size and high signal-to-noise ratio, together with immunity to most system nonlinearities and imaging errors, makes the Overhauser marker a promising localization method for the accurate positioning of interventional devices. The method may be applied at any field strength, and markers are visible in images obtained with any practical imaging sequence.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric A. Tanifum ◽  
Laxman Devkota ◽  
Conelius Ngwa ◽  
Andrew A. Badachhape ◽  
Ketan B. Ghaghada ◽  
...  

Fluorine-19 (19F) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential for a wide range of in vivo applications but is limited by lack of flexibility in exogenous probe formulation. Most 19F MRI probes are composed of perfluorocarbons (PFCs) or perfluoropolyethers (PFPEs) with intrinsic properties which limit formulation options. Hydrophilic organofluorine molecules can provide more flexibility in formulation options. We report herein a hyperfluorinated hydrophilic organoflourine, ET1084, with ∼24 wt. % 19F content. It dissolves in water and aqueous buffers to give solutions with ≥8 M 19F. 19F MRI phantom studies at 9.4T employing a 10-minute multislice multiecho (MSME) scan sequence show a linear increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with increasing concentrations of the molecule and a detection limit of 5 mM. Preliminary cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assessments suggest it is safe at concentrations of up to 20 mM.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Marymol Koshy ◽  
Bushra Johari ◽  
Mohd Farhan Hamdan ◽  
Mohammad Hanafiah

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a global disease affecting people of various ethnic origins and both genders. HCM is a genetic disorder with a wide range of symptoms, including the catastrophic presentation of sudden cardiac death. Proper diagnosis and treatment of this disorder can relieve symptoms and prolong life. Non-invasive imaging is essential in diagnosing HCM. We present a review to deliberate the potential use of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in HCM assessment and also identify the risk factors entailed with risk stratification of HCM based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibtissame Khaoua ◽  
Guillaume Graciani ◽  
Andrey Kim ◽  
François Amblard

AbstractFor a wide range of purposes, one faces the challenge to detect light from extremely faint and spatially extended sources. In such cases, detector noises dominate over the photon noise of the source, and quantum detectors in photon counting mode are generally the best option. Here, we combine a statistical model with an in-depth analysis of detector noises and calibration experiments, and we show that visible light can be detected with an electron-multiplying charge-coupled devices (EM-CCD) with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 3 for fluxes less than $$30\,{\text{photon}}\,{\text{s}}^{ - 1} \,{\text{cm}}^{ - 2}$$ 30 photon s - 1 cm - 2 . For green photons, this corresponds to 12 aW $${\text{cm}}^{ - 2}$$ cm - 2 ≈ $$9{ } \times 10^{ - 11}$$ 9 × 10 - 11 lux, i.e. 15 orders of magnitude less than typical daylight. The strong nonlinearity of the SNR with the sampling time leads to a dynamic range of detection of 4 orders of magnitude. To detect possibly varying light fluxes, we operate in conditions of maximal detectivity $${\mathcal{D}}$$ D rather than maximal SNR. Given the quantum efficiency $$QE\left( \lambda \right)$$ Q E λ of the detector, we find $${ \mathcal{D}} = 0.015\,{\text{photon}}^{ - 1} \,{\text{s}}^{1/2} \,{\text{cm}}$$ D = 0.015 photon - 1 s 1 / 2 cm , and a non-negligible sensitivity to blackbody radiation for T > 50 °C. This work should help design highly sensitive luminescence detection methods and develop experiments to explore dynamic phenomena involving ultra-weak luminescence in biology, chemistry, and material sciences.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
Stathis C. Stiros ◽  
F. Moschas ◽  
P. Triantafyllidis

GNSS technology (known especially for GPS satellites) for measurement of deflections has proved very efficient and useful in bridge structural monitoring, even for short stiff bridges, especially after the advent of 100 Hz GNSS sensors. Mode computation from dynamic deflections has been proposed as one of the applications of this technology. Apart from formal modal analyses with GNSS input, and from spectral analysis of controlled free attenuating oscillations, it has been argued that simple spectra of deflections can define more than one modal frequencies. To test this scenario, we analyzed 21 controlled excitation events from a certain bridge monitoring survey, focusing on lateral and vertical deflections, recorded both by GNSS and an accelerometer. These events contain a transient and a following oscillation, and they are preceded and followed by intervals of quiescence and ambient vibrations. Spectra for each event, for the lateral and the vertical axis of the bridge, and for and each instrument (GNSS, accelerometer) were computed, normalized to their maximum value, and printed one over the other, in order to produce a single composite spectrum for each of the four sets. In these four sets, there was also marked the true value of modal frequency, derived from free attenuating oscillations. It was found that for high SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) deflections, spectral peaks in both acceleration and displacement spectra differ by up to 0.3 Hz from the true value. For low SNR, defections spectra do not match the true frequency, but acceleration spectra provide a low-precision estimate of the true frequency. This is because various excitation effects (traffic, wind etc.) contribute with numerous peaks in a wide range of frequencies. Reliable estimates of modal frequencies can hence be derived from deflections spectra only if excitation frequencies (mostly traffic and wind) can be filtered along with most measurement noise, on the basis of additional data.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingran Wang ◽  
Tiancheng Lou ◽  
Lingling Wei ◽  
Wenchan Chen ◽  
Longbing Huang ◽  
...  

AbstractAlternaria alternata, a causal agent of leaf blights and spots on a wide range of hosts, has a high risk of developing resistance to fungicides. Procymidone, a dicarboximide fungicide (DCF), has been widely used in controlling Alternaria leaf blights in China for decades. However, the resistance of A. alternata against DCFs has rarely been reported from crucifer plants. A total of 198 A. alternata isolates were collected from commercial fields of broccoli and cabbage during 2018–2019, and their sensitivities to procymidone were determined. Biochemical and molecular characteristics were subsequently compared between the high-level procymidone-resistant (ProHR) and procymidone-sensitive (ProS) isolates, and also between ProHR isolates from broccoli and cabbage. Compared with ProS isolates, the mycelial growth rate, sporulation capacity and virulence of most ProHR isolates were reduced; ProHR isolates displayed an increased sensitivity to osmotic stresses and a reduced sensitivity to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS); all ProHR isolates showed a reduced sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) except for the isolate B102. Correlation analysis revealed a positive cross-resistance between procymidone and iprodione, or fludioxonil. When treated with 10 μg/mL of procymidone, both mycelial intracellular glycerol accumulations (MIGAs) and relative expression of AaHK1 in ProS isolates were higher than those in ProHR isolates. Sequence alignment of AaHK1 from ten ProHR isolates demonstrated that five of them possessed a single-point mutation (P94A, V612L, E708K or Q924STOP), and four isolates had an insertion or a deletion in their coding regions. No significant difference in biochemical characteristics was observed among ProHR isolates from two different hosts, though mutations in AaHK1 of the cabbage-originated ProHR isolates were distinct from those of the broccoli-originated ProHR isolates.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adnan Trakic ◽  
Jin Jin ◽  
Ewald Weber ◽  
Stuart Crozier

Conventionally, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is performed by pulsing gradient coils, which invariably leads to strong acoustic noise, patient safety concerns due to induced currents, and costly power/space requirements. This modeling study investigates a new silent, gradient coil-free MR imaging method, in which a radiofrequency (RF) coil and its nonuniform field (B1+) are mechanically rotated about the patient. The advantage of the rotatingB1+field is that, for the first time, it provides a large number of degrees of freedom to aid a successfulB1+image encoding process. The mathematical modeling was performed using flip angle modulation as part of a finite-difference-based Bloch equation solver. Preliminary results suggest that representative MR images with intensity deviations of <5% from the original image can be obtained using rotating RF field approach. This method may open up new avenues towards anatomical and functional imaging in medicine.


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