Measurement and verification of concentration-dependent diffusion coefficient:Ray tracing imagery of diffusion process

Ray tracing method is used to study the propagation of collimated beams in a liquid-core cylindrical lens(LCL),which has dual functions of diffusion cell and image formation.The diffusion images on the focal plane of the used LCL are simulated by establishing and solving both linear and nonlinear ray equations,the calculated results indicate that the complex imaging results of LCL in inhomogeneous media can be treated by the law of ray propagation in homogeneous media under the condition of small refractive index gradient of diffusion solution.Guided by the calculation conditions,the diffusion process of triethylene glycol aqueous solution is experimentally studied at room temperature by using the LCL in this paper.The spatial and temporal concentration profile Ce(z,t)of diffusion solution is obtained by analyzing diffusion image appearing on the focal plane of the LCL;Then,the concentration-dependent diffusion coefficient is assumed to be a polynomial D(C)=D0×(1+α1C+α2C2+α3C3+…).The finite difference method is used to solve the Fick diffusion equation for calculating numerically the concentration profiles Cn(z,t).The D(C)of triethylene glycol aqueous solution is obtained by comparing the Cn(z,t)with Ce(z,t).Finally,the obtained polynomial D(C)is used to calculate the refractive index profiles nn(z,t)s of diffusion solution in the used LCL.Based on the ray propagation law in inhomogeneous media and the calculated n(z,t),the ray tracing method is used again to simulate the dynamic images of the whole experimental diffusion process to varify the correctness of the calculated D(C).The method presented in this work opens up a new way for both measuring and verifying the concentration-dependent liquid diffusion coefficients.

Comparison of circumferential pulmonary vein anatomy mapping guided by 3D mapping versus a mesh mapping catheter

Objective: Catheter-based pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is an established therapy for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. The high-density mesh mapper (HDMM) guides circumferential PV-atrium isolation without the 3D electroanatomic mapping. This study aims to compare circumferential pulmonary vein (CPV) anatomy mapping between guiding by a 3D mapping system and the HDMM. Methods: Forty-four consecutive patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation were scheduled for a first procedure for PVI. A CPV ostial anatomy map guided by HDMM was set up in the CARTO system while the operator was blinded to the CARTO screen. Then CARTO-guided ipsilateral PV maps were obtained and PVI was performed. This established another set of CPV ostial anatomy maps. The differences between the two mapping images were compared and analyzed. Results: All 176 PVs in 44 patients could be mapped by both HDMM and CARTO. About 44.9%of the PV ostial anatomies were generally similar between the two different map images. The average point-to-point straight distance between the HDMM-guided map and the CARTO-guided map was 6.2 ± 1.4 mm. The area of the circumferential right PV (CRPV) in the HDMM map was larger than that in the CARTO map (P ? 0.013). After a mean follow-up of 18.3 ± 4.3 months (6e24 months), 72.7%of patients (32/44) were free of atrial arrhythmia without anti-arrhythmic drugs (AADs). Conclusion: Compared to the CARTO-guided CPV anatomy image, a highly similar figure could be achieved by mapping guided by the HDMM. (Clinical trial.gov number, ChiCTR-TNRC-11001390.) Copyright ? 2015, Chinese Medical Association Production. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).