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Mapping And Quantifying Hyperpolarized 3he Magnetic Resonance Imaging Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Gradients, Andrea Evans, David G Mccormack, Giles Santyr, Grace Parraga Aug 2008

Mapping And Quantifying Hyperpolarized 3he Magnetic Resonance Imaging Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Gradients, Andrea Evans, David G Mccormack, Giles Santyr, Grace Parraga

Medical Biophysics Publications

We measured hyperpolarized 3He magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) and quantified ADC gradients in each three-by-three voxel region of interest (ROI). Such local ADC gradients can be represented in vector maps showing the magnitude (|G3x3|) and direction of ADC gradients, providing a qualitative visualization tool and quantitative measurement of airway and air space heterogeneity. Twenty-four subjects (15 male, mean age=67+/-7 yr) with global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease (GOLD) stage II (n=9, mean age 68+/-6 yr), GOLD stage III chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; n=7, mean age 67+/-8 yr), and age-matched healthy volunteers (n=8, mean age …


Freesurfer-Initiated Fully-Automated Subcortical Brain Segmentation In Mri Using Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping., Ali R Khan, Lei Wang, Mirza Faisal Beg Jul 2008

Freesurfer-Initiated Fully-Automated Subcortical Brain Segmentation In Mri Using Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping., Ali R Khan, Lei Wang, Mirza Faisal Beg

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Fully-automated brain segmentation methods have not been widely adopted for clinical use because of issues related to reliability, accuracy, and limitations of delineation protocol. By combining the probabilistic-based FreeSurfer (FS) method with the Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping (LDDMM)-based label-propagation method, we are able to increase reliability and accuracy, and allow for flexibility in template choice. Our method uses the automated FreeSurfer subcortical labeling to provide a coarse-to-fine introduction of information in the LDDMM template-based segmentation resulting in a fully-automated subcortical brain segmentation method (FS+LDDMM). One major advantage of the FS+LDDMM-based approach is that the automatically generated segmentations generated are …


Effects Of Acute Ethyl Alcohol Consumption On A Psychophysical Measure Of Lateral Inhibition In Human Vision., Kevin D Johnston, Brian Timney Jun 2008

Effects Of Acute Ethyl Alcohol Consumption On A Psychophysical Measure Of Lateral Inhibition In Human Vision., Kevin D Johnston, Brian Timney

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Acute consumption of ethyl alcohol affects a variety of visual functions. However, there have been few systematic attempts to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying these effects. Here, we employed the Westheimer paradigm to investigate the hypothesis that alcohol reduces lateral inhibition within human "perceptive fields", the psychophysical analogue of physiological receptive fields. Westheimer functions obtained under alcohol and no-alcohol conditions at photopic, mesopic, and scotopic levels of adaptation showed changes consistent with an alcohol-induced decrease in lateral inhibition. We conclude that this decrease in lateral inhibition may be responsible for some of the changes in visual perception that result from …


Connexin Expression And Gap Junctional Coupling In Human Cumulus Cells: Contribution To Embryo Quality, Hong-Xing Wang, Dan Tong, Faraj El-Gehani, Francis R. Tekpetey, Gerald M. Kidder May 2008

Connexin Expression And Gap Junctional Coupling In Human Cumulus Cells: Contribution To Embryo Quality, Hong-Xing Wang, Dan Tong, Faraj El-Gehani, Francis R. Tekpetey, Gerald M. Kidder

Physiology and Pharmacology Publications

Gap junctional coupling among cumulus cells is important for oogenesis since its deficiency in mice leads to impaired folliculogenesis. Multiple connexins (Cx), the subunits of gap junction channels, have been found within ovarian follicles in several species but little is known about the connexins in human follicles. The aim of this study was to determine which connexins contribute to gap junctions in human cumulus cells and to explore the possible relationship between connexin expression and pregnancy outcome from in vitro fertilization (IVF). Cumulus cells were obtained from IVF patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Connexin expression was examined by RT-PCR …


Quality Assurance Of Radiation Therapy Planning Systems: Current Status And Remaining Challenges., Jacob Van Dyk May 2008

Quality Assurance Of Radiation Therapy Planning Systems: Current Status And Remaining Challenges., Jacob Van Dyk

Oncology Publications

Computerized radiation therapy planning systems (RTPSs) are pivotal for treatment planning. The acceptance, commissioning, and quality control of RTPSs are uniquely complex and are described in the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group Report 53 (1998) and International Atomic Energy Agency Technical Report Series No. 430 (2004). The International Atomic Energy Agency also developed a document and data package for use by vendors and purchasers to aid with acceptance testing of RTPSs. This document is based on International Electrotechnical Commission standard 62083 (2000) and describes both "type" tests to be performed in the factory and "site" tests to …