One of the most common causes of death worldwide is myocardial ischemia from a ruptured atherosclerotic plaque in a coronary artery. Not every plaque is at risk for rupture. Up to now there was no imaging modality to ...
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One of the most common causes of death worldwide is myocardial ischemia from a ruptured atherosclerotic plaque in a coronary artery. Not every plaque is at risk for rupture. Up to now there was no imaging modality to non-invasively identify a vulnerable plaque and to initiate treatment needed to prevent rupture or consecutive obstruction. f-18 sodium fluoride is a PET radiopharmaceutical for the imaging of bone formation. A while ago f-18 sodium fluoride was observed to accumulate in active calcifications of the aortic wall and of the coronary arteries. A recent study in patients shortly after myocardial infarction showed that ruptured plaques accumulate f-18 fluoride. In patients with stable angina, a close correlation was found between f-18 fluoride uptake and the signs of a plaque rupture as demonstrated by means of intra-coronary ultrasound. Based on histological analysis of specimens from carotid endarterectomy it was confirmed that f-18 fluoride accumulates in ruptured atherosclerotic tissue. With f-18 sodium fluoride PET/CT, for the first time a non-invasive method for the imaging of incipient plaque rupture is clinically feasible. Especially in acute coronary syndromes, maybe also in patients with stable angina, additional information guiding therapy is expected from this new indication off-18 sodium fluoride PET/CT.
Accurate segmentation of the Corpus Callosum (CC) is an important aspect of clinical medicine and is used in the diagnosis of various brain disorders. In this paper, we propose an automated method for two and three di...
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Accurate segmentation of the Corpus Callosum (CC) is an important aspect of clinical medicine and is used in the diagnosis of various brain disorders. In this paper, we propose an automated method for two and three dimensional segmentation of the CC using diffusion tensor imaging. It has been demonstrated that Hartigan's K-means is more efficient than the traditional Lloyd algorithm for clustering. We adapt Hartigan's K-means to be applicable for use with the metrics that have a f -mean (e.g. Cholesky, root Euclidean and log Euclidean). Then we applied the adapted Hartigan's K-means, using Euclidean, Cholesky, root Euclidean and log Euclidean metrics along with Procrustes and Riemannian metrics (which need numerical solutions for mean computation), to diffusion tensor images of the brain to provide a segmentation of the CC. The log Euclidean and Riemannian metrics provide more accurate segmentations of the CC than the other metrics as they present the least variation of the shape and size of the tensors in the CC for 2D segmentation. They also yield a full shape of the splenium for the 3D segmentation.
Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to agricultural production globally and in the United States;it is both vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate and a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Beca...
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Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to agricultural production globally and in the United States;it is both vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate and a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Because farmers need to quickly adapt to reduce their risks and emissions, there is a pressing need to better understand the process by which they make decisions. This complex decision-making process includes many factors, such as farmers' beliefs;knowledge and capacity to make changes;the information they receive from Extension, industry, and social networks (e.g., family and peers);economics and regulations;and farm-scale and environmental issues (including personal experience with extreme weather). This study assesses the published literature on U.S. agricultural stakeholder views and decisions on climate change, focusing on farmers and ranchers from different regions. We identify key themes that emerge from the literature on how stakeholder views about extreme weather and climate change relate to decisions about adaptation and mitigation practices. This review finds that although the majority of U.S. farmers believe the climate is changing, many remain skeptical of the issue and uncertain about the anthropogenic causes of climate change. farmers' climate change mitigation and adaptation decisions also vary widely and are often correlated with belief or other factors such as personal experience with extreme weather, costs of change, or fear of regulation. We conclude with the implications of the research, including the importance of understanding farmers' view and actions and issue framing, and implications for researchers, Extension and policy makers, both nationally and globally. (c) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
La Unión Europea ha enfrentado en los últimos años serios problemas que han puesto en duda su viabilidad, frente a esa situación se plantea en este trabajo cuáles serían las posibles v...
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La Unión Europea ha enfrentado en los últimos años serios problemas que han puesto en duda su viabilidad, frente a esa situación se plantea en este trabajo cuáles serían las posibles vías por las cuales los países integrantes de la Unión pueden superar las dificultades de la integración. Europa se ha visto cimbrada por la crisis global y ha mostrado su vulnerabilidad frente a embates externos de carácter financiero; en ese sentido, la Unión Europea no se ha visto fortalecida como era el objetivo de su creación. Los indicadores económicos han mostrado que los países de la Unión Europea están enfrentando fluctuaciones en su actividad económica a partir de la recesión de 2009, obligando a responder en un primer momento con políticas expansivas de la demanda agregada vía aumento del déficit público y de los niveles de endeudamiento, y en un segundo momento con políticas de ajuste y reducción del gasto. El contexto de crisis global en el cual la Unión Europea es un protagonista central la obliga a tener una mayor participación económica y social. El mayor reto que tiene es resolver sus problemas internos, una vez que lo logre podrá actuar en bloque frente a problemas provenientes de fuera de la zona europea, sino lo resuelven, se acrecentaran los conflicto económicos y sociales, mismos que pueden complicar más el escenario actual y retardar el proceso de integración europea. The European Union has faced in recent years serious problems that have called into question its viability, considering these facts, this work shares possible routes by which members of the Union can overcome the difficulties of the integration process. Europe has been shaken by the global crisis and has shown its vulnerability to external financial shocks; in this regard, the European Union has not been strengthened as it was intended with its creation. The economic indicators have shown that the countries of the European Union are facing constant fluctuations in their economic activity since the re
Human respiratory syncytial virus(RSV),a negative-strand,non-segmented RNA virus,is the primary cause of viral lower respiratory tract illness in infancy and early childhood *** extensive efforts,highly effective trea...
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Human respiratory syncytial virus(RSV),a negative-strand,non-segmented RNA virus,is the primary cause of viral lower respiratory tract illness in infancy and early childhood *** extensive efforts,highly effective treatments for RSV disease and a licensed vaccine to prevent this disease are not *** has been exploited for use as a novel vaccine vector.
Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) is a common chemical cleaning agent in water treatment due to its effective removal of irreversible pollutants that cannot be removed by physical cleaning. In this research, PVDf ultrafiltr...
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Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) is a common chemical cleaning agent in water treatment due to its effective removal of irreversible pollutants that cannot be removed by physical cleaning. In this research, PVDf ultrafiltration (Uf) membranes were exposed to NaClO for 120–960 h, and then the structural/surface characteristics of the control and exposed membranes were compared. Results showed that different exposure doses lead to variations in PVDf membrane structural/surface characteristics according to different mechanisms and further influence the permeability and fouling behaviors of PVDf membranes during ultrafiltration (Uf) processes. Reversible fouling was the most common fouling behavior of membranes and exposure to NaClO resulted in higher degree of irreversible fouling. The irreversible flux decline of the membranes could not only caused by physically irremovable fouling but also irreversible compaction of the membranes due to the formation of macro-voids in the membrane skin layer. The changes in membrane mechanical properties caused a sharp increase in the inherent membrane resistance (R m ) which was generally considered as a constant. ‘Dynamic resistance mechanism’ could be proposed based on the impact of different NaClO exposure doses on the total membrane resistance (R t ), which is the sum of the changes in R m and the variation offouling resistance (R f ) resulted from the changes in surface characteristics of the membranes. According to this concept, the filtration operating conditions and cleaning processes could be optimized in water treatment.
fluorinated graphene, an up-rising member of the graphene family, combines a two-dimensional layer-structure, a wide bandgap, and high stability and attracts significant attention because of its unique nanostructure a...
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fluorinated graphene, an up-rising member of the graphene family, combines a two-dimensional layer-structure, a wide bandgap, and high stability and attracts significant attention because of its unique nanostructure and carbon-fluorine bonds. Here, we give an extensive review of recent progress on synthetic methods and C-f bonding;additionally, we present the optical, electrical and electronic properties offluorinated graphene and its electrochemical/biological applications. fluorinated graphene exhibits various types of C-f bonds (covalent, semi-ionic, and ionic bonds), tunable f/C ratios, and different configurations controlled by synthetic methods including direct fluorination and exfoliation methods. The relationship between the types/amounts of C-f bonds and specific properties, such as opened bandgap, high thermal and chemical stability, dispersibility, semiconducting/insulating nature, magnetic, self-lubricating and mechanical properties and thermal conductivity, is discussed comprehensively. By optimizing the C-f bonding character and f/C ratios, fluorinated graphene can be utilized for energy conversion and storage devices, bioapplications, electrochemical sensors and amphiphobicity. Based on current progress, we propose potential problems offluorinated graphene as well as the future challenge on the synthetic methods and C-f bonding character. This review will provide guidance for controlling C-f bonds, developing fluorine-related effects and promoting the application offluorinated graphene.
This paper describes an overview of our recent discovery – clear demonstration that Li f crystals can be efficiently used as a high-performance neutron imaging detector based on optically stimulated luminescence of c...
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This paper describes an overview of our recent discovery – clear demonstration that Li f crystals can be efficiently used as a high-performance neutron imaging detector based on optically stimulated luminescence of color centers generated by neutron irradiation. It is shown that the neutron images we have obtained are almost free from granular noise, have a spatial resolution of~5.4 μm and a linear response with a dynamic range of at least 103. The high contrast and good sensitivity of Li f crystals allow us to distinguish two holes with less than 2% transmittance difference. We propose to use such detectors in areas where high spatial resolution with high image gradation resolution is needed, including diagnostics of different plasma sources such as laser and z-pinch produced plasmas.
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