Relationship between sonographically measured median nerve cross-sectional area and presence of peripheral neuropathy in diabetic subjects

BACKGROUND Neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes mellitus resulting from direct damage by hyperglycemia to the nerves and/or ischemia by microvascular injury to the endoneurial vessels which supply the nerves. Median nerve is one of the peripheral nerves commonly affected in diabetic neuropathy. The median nerve size has been studied in non-Nigerian diabetic populations. In attempt to contribute to existing literature, a study in a Nigerian population is needed.AIM To evaluate the cross-sectional area(CSA) of the median nerve using B-mode ultrasonography(USS) and the presence of peripheral neuropathy(PN) in a cohort of adult diabetic Nigerians.METHODS Demographic and anthropometric data of 85 adult diabetes mellitus(DM) and 85 age-and sex-matched apparently healthy control(HC) subjects were taken. A complete physical examination was performed on all study subjects to determine the presence of PN and modified Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument(MNSI) was used to grade its severity. Venous blood was taken from the study subjects for fasting lipid profile(FLP), fasting blood glucose(FBG) and glycated haemoglobin(HbA1 c) while their MN CSA was evaluated at a point 5 cm proximal to(5 cmCATL) and at the carpal tunnel(CATL) by high-resolution Bmode USS. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22.RESULTS The mean MN CSA was significantly thicker in DM subjects compared to the HC at 5 cmCATL(P < 0.01) and at the CATL(P < 0.01) on both sides. The presence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy(DPN) further increased the MN CSA at the CATL(P < 0.05) but not at 5 cmCATL(P > 0.05). However, the severity of DPN had no additional effect on MN CSA 5 cm proximal to and at the CATL. There was no significant association between MN CSA and duration of DM and glycemic control.CONCLUSION Thickening of the MN CSA at 5 cmCATL and CATL is seen in DM. Presence of DPN is associated with worse thickening of the MN CSA at the CATL but not at5 cmCATL. Severity of DPN, duration of DM, and glycemic control had no additional effect on the MN CSA.

Ultrasonographic measurement of median nerve cross-sectional area reference values in a healthy Han population from Guiyang,China

High-resolution ultrasonography was used to analyze the nerve cross-sectional area （CSA） of the median nerve at 7 sites： the wrist crease, pisiform bone, hamate bone, 6 cm proximal to the tip of the wrist crease, proximal forearm （where the nerve enters the pronator teres muscle）, 4 cm proximal to the tip of the medial epicondyle, and mid-humerus （mid-point between elbow crease and axilla） in 200 healthy volunteers from Guiyang, China. Results showed similar CSA values between the left and right sides, but the CSA 6 cm proximal to the tip of the wrist crease, proximal forearm, 4 cm proximal to tip of the medial epicondyle, and mid-humerus in males was greater than that of females. Moreover, CSA values at the wrist crease, pisiform bone, and hamate bone were greater in the middle-aged and old groups when compared to the young group, and correlated with body mass and height. Thus, reference values of median nerve CSA of the upper limbs can facilitate the analysis of abnormal nerve conditions.

Wideband radar cross-section reduction by a double-layer-plasma-based metasurface

Reduction of the radar cross-section(RCS) is the key to stealth technology. To improve the RCS reduction effect of the designed checkerboard metasurface and overcome the limitation of thinlayer plasma in RCS reduction technology, a double-layer-plasma-based metasurface—composed of a checkerboard metasurface, a double-layer plasma and an air gap between them—was investigated. Based on the principle of backscattering cancellation, we designed a checkerboard metasurface composed of different artificial magnetic conductor units;the checkerboard metasurface can reflect vertically incident electromagnetic(EM) waves in four different inclined directions to reduce the RCS. Full-wave simulations confirm that the doublelayer-plasma-based metasurface can improve the RCS reduction effect of the metasurface and the plasma. This is because in a band lower than the working band of the metasurface, the RCS reduction effect is mainly improved by the plasma layer. In the working band of the metasurface,impedance mismatching between the air gap and first plasma layer and between first and second plasma layers cause the scattered waves to become more dispersed, so the propagation path of the EM waves in the plasma becomes longer, increasing the absorption of the EM waves by the plasma. Thus, the RCS reduction effect is enhanced. The double-layer-plasma-based metasurface can be insensitive to the polarization of the incoming EM waves, and can also maintain a satisfactory RCS reduction band when the incident waves are oblique.

Does the ratio of the carpal tunnel inlet and outlet cross-sectional areas in the median nerve reflect carpal tunnel syndrome severity?

Although ultrasound measurements have been used in previous studies on carpal tunnel syndrome to visualize injury to the median nerve, whether such ultrasound data can indicate the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome remains controversial. The cross-sectional areas of the median nerve at the tunnel inlet and outlet can show swelling and compression of the nerve at the carpal. We hypothesized that the ratio of the cross-sectional areas of the median nerve at the carpal tunnel inlet to outlet accurately reflects the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome. To test this, high-resolution ultrasound with a linear array transducer at 5–17 MHz was used to assess 77 patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. The results showed that the cut-off point for the inlet-to-outlet ratio was 1.14. Significant differences in the inlet-to-outlet ratio were found among patients with mild, moderate, and severe carpal tunnel syndrome. The cut-off point in the ratio of cross-sectional areas of the median nerve was 1.29 between mild and more severe（moderate and severe） carpal tunnel syndrome patients with 64.7% sensitivity and 72.7% specificity. The cut-off point in the ratio of cross-sectional areas of the median nerve was 1.52 between the moderate and severe carpal tunnel syndrome patients with 80.0% sensitivity and 64.7% specificity. These results suggest that the inlet-to-outlet ratio reflected the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Usefulness of the acromioclavicular joint cross-sectional area as a diagnostic image parameter of acromioclavicular osteoarthritis

BACKGROUND Acromioclavicular joint(ACJ)space narrowing has been considered to be an important diagnostic image parameter of ACJ osteoarthritis(ACJO).However,the morphology of the ACJ space is irregular because of osteophyte formation,subchondral irregularity,capsular distention,sclerosis,and erosion.Therefore,we created the ACJ cross-sectional area(ACJCSA)as a new diagnostic image parameter to assess the irregular morphologic changes of the ACJ.AIM To hypothesize that the ACJCSA is a new diagnostic image parameter for ACJO.METHODS ACJ samples were obtained from 35 patients with ACJO and 30 healthy individuals who underwent shoulder magnetic resonance(S-MR)imaging that revealed no evidence of ACJO.Oblique coronal,T2-weighted,fat-suppressed SMR images were acquired at the ACJ level from the two groups.We measured the ACJCSA and the ACJ space width(ACJSW)at the ACJ on the S-MR images using our imaging analysis program.The ACJCSA was measured as the cross-sectional area of the ACJ.The ACJSW was measured as the narrowest point between the acromion and the clavicle.RESULTS The average ACJCSA was 39.88±10.60 mm;in the normal group and 18.80±5.13 mm;in the ACJO group.The mean ACJSW was 3.51±0.58 mm in the normal group and 2.02±0.48 mm in the ACJO group.ACJO individuals had significantly lower ACJCSA and ACJSW than the healthy individuals.Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses demonstrated that the most suitable ACJCSA cutoff score was 26.14 mm^(2),with 91.4%sensitivity and 90.0%specificity.CONCLUSION The optimal ACJSW cutoff score was 2.37 mm,with 88.6%sensitivity and 96.7%specificity.Even though both the ACJCSA and ACJSW were significantly associated with ACJO,the ACJCSA was a more sensitive diagnostic image parameter.

Correlation between current and cross-sectional area of parallel fixed-movable dual electrodes in ESC

Electroslag casting with parallel fixed-movable dual electrodes is a new method for achieving better quality of castings in complex mold cavities.In this work,a mathematical model,y=kx^2+(k+1)x,was established to describe the ideal correlation between the current ratio(y)and the cross-sectional area ratio(x)of the dual electrodes,where k is the filling ratio.Investigation was conducted on the electroslag casting process with dual electrodes of various cross-sectional areas,but at a constant k value.The experimental results indicated that the ideal correlation was obtained at the stable casting stage,and the fitting results were consistent with the experimental results at certain k values.The experimental findings show that better castings can be obtained when the current ratio is greater than 1.536 and the cross-sectional area ratio is greater than 0.5.

Numerical simulation and inversion of offshore area depth based on x-band microwave radar

A detection method of offshore area depth utilizing the x-band microwave radar is proposed. The method is based on the sea clutter imaging mechanism of microwave radar, and combined with dispersion equation of the liner wave theorem and least square method （LSM）, consequently get the inversion results of water depth in the detected region. The wave monitoring system OSMAR-X exploited by the Ocean State Laborato-ry, Wuhan University, based on a microwave radar has proven to be a powerful tool to monitor ocean waves in time and space. Numerical simulation and inversion of offshore area depth are carried out here; since JONSWAP model can give description of stormy waves in different growth phase, it is suitable for simulation. Besides, some results from measured data detected by OSMAR-X x-band radar located at Longhai of Fujian Province, China, validates this method. The tendency of the average water depths inferred from the radar images is in good agreement with the tide level detected by Xiamen tide station. These promising results suggest the possibility of using OSMAR-X to monitor operationally morphodynamics in coastal zones. This method can be applied to both shore-based and shipborne x-band microwave radar.

METHOD OF MULTI-TARGET TRACKING IN WIDE AREA SURVEILLANCE AIRBORNE RADAR SYSTEM BASING ON CLUSTERING ANALYSIS

This paper proposed a robust method based on the definition of Mahalanobis distance to track ground moving target. The feature and the geometry of airborne ground moving target tracking systems are studied at first. Based on this feature, the assignment relation of time-nearby target is calculated via Mahalanobis distance, and then the corresponding transformation formula is deduced. The simulation results show the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method.

RADAR CROSS-SECTION COMPUTATIONS OF ARBITRARILY COMPLICATED TARGETS BY APPLYING THE PANEL METHOD

The present paper deals with the method for the radar cross-section (RCS)computations of arbitrarily complicated targets based on the work by D. Klement et al.(1988).This method is convenient in use, fast in operation and precise in calculating RCS of a complicatedtarget. With this method, the RCS of classic scatterers, for example, a cone and a cylinder, arecomputed with the result of good agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, the RCS’of an aircraft model at various attitudes are calculated with the result of good agreement withexperimental data also.

Radar Cross-section Imaging of a Rotating Object with a Multi-frequency Holography

A new method called multi-frequency holography (MFH) for two-dimensional radar cross-section imaging of rotating objects is introduced, in which a constant coherent reference signal from transmitted signal is added into received signal over certain frequency-width. With the MFH only the intensity of received composite signals needs to be measured. Both imaging situations of far field and near field are considered in details. Special restrictions about the MFH are also discussed and simulated by numerical computation. Examples of numerical simulation show that the method is effective, applicable and perspective.

An ultra-wideband 2-bit coding metasurface using Pancharatnam–Berry phase for radar cross-section reduction

An ultra-wideband 2-bit coding metasurface is designed for radar cross-section(RCS) reduction. The design process is presented in detail, in which a polarization conversion metasurface(PCM) is first proposed. The proposed PCM can realize ultra-wideband circular polarization(CP) maintaining reflection. Moreover, Pancharatnam–Berry(PB) phase will be generated in the co-polarized reflection coefficient by rotating the metallic patches in its unit cells. Thus, based on the PCM, the four coding elements of a 2-bit coding metasurface are constructed using PB phase, and an ultra-wideband PB 2-bit coding metasurface is proposed according to an appropriate coding sequence. The simulated and experimental results show that the coding metasurface has obvious advantages of wideband and polarization-insensitivity. Compared to a metallic plate of the same size, it can achieve more than 10 dB RCS reduction in the frequency band from 9.8 GHz to 42.6 GHz with a relative bandwidth of 125.2% under normal incidence with arbitrary polarizations.

KEY TECHNOLOGY OF D-INSAR AT X-BAND FOR MONITORING LAND SUBSIDENCE IN MINING AREA AND ITS APPLICATION

In theory, land subsidence measurement results with high accuracy can be obtained by using the Differential Interferometry Synthetic Aperture Radar(D-InSAR) at X-band. In practice, however, the measuring accuracy of D-InSAR at X-band has been seriously affected by some factors, e.g., decorrelation and high deformation gradient. In this work, the monitoring capability of D-InSAR for coal-mining subsidence is evaluated by using SAR data acquired by TerrraSAR-X system. The SAR image registration method for low coherence image pairs, the denoising phase filter for high noise level interferogram and atmospheric effects mitigation method are the key technical aspects which directly influence the measurement results of D-InSAR at X-band. Thus, a robust image registration method, an improved phase filter method and an atmospheric effects mitigation method are proposed in this paper. The proposed image registration method successfully achieves InSAR coregistration, while the amplitude cross-correlation cannot properly coregister low coherence SAR image pairs. Moreover, the time complexity of the proposed image registration method is obviously slighter than that of the Singular Value Decomposition(SVD) method. The comparing experiment results and the unwrapping phase results show that the improved Goldstein filter is more effective than the original Goldstein filter in noise elimination. The atmospheric influence correction experiment results show that the land subsidence areas with atmospheric influence correction are more clarified than that of without atmospheric influence correction. In summary, the presented methods directly improved the measurement results of D-InSAR at X-band.

GPR based RTM imaging technology for estimating rhizome diameters and application in the western China mining area

The rhizome functions are of great significance to the ecological protection of the western China mining area,whose ecological management can be provided with technical support via accurate calculations of the rhizome biomass.The rhizome diameter is an important index parameter of rhizome biomass.In this study,we propose an estimation of rhizome diameters based on ground penetrating radar(GPR)-based reverse time migration(RTM)imaging technology.First,the spatial distribution of shallow rhizomes is simulated using the finite difference time domain method.The simulation data are examined via RTM imaging and single-channel rhizome analysis to obtain the rhizome index parameters:Δh,the width of the maximum positive peak amplitude measured at an amplitude of zero,andΔH,the distance between the zero-amplitude position above the largest positive peak in the shallow region and the zero-amplitude position below the largest positive peak in the deeper region.The experiments of physical models verify the effectiveness of the two parameters(Δh andΔH).and indicate that the values ofΔh andΔH are independent of the rhizome burial depth;instead,they are only related to the diameter of the rhizome.For both the numerical simulations and the physical model experiment,the estimation errors ofΔh andΔH for the rhizome diameters can be constrained to less than 6%and 5%,respectively,which shows that the estimation of the rhizome diameters using GPR based RTM imaging technology is reasonable and effective and its high estimation accuracy meets the technical requirements.

MONOSTATIC RADAR CROSS SECTION FOR REFLECTOR ANTENNAS

The calculation formulas of monostatic radar cross-section (RCS) of arbitrary re-flectors with arbitrarily polarized plane-wave incidence are derived, where the spicular field isobtained by geometrical optics (GO) and the edge-diffracted field is calculated by the method ofequivalent currents (MEC). Some typical calculated results are given by means of RCS spatialgraphs. For both horizontal and vertical polarizations, the theoretical results obtained in thispaper agree very well with the experimental results as well as the results from uniform theory ofdiffraction.

On Electromagnetic Scattering Features of Geological Radar Targets

The electromagnetic scattering principles of geological radar targets and various influential factors were discussed, and the importance of researching into the electromagnetic scattering features of the targets to the actual prospecting task was pointed out.

Investigation into wideband electromagnetic stealth device based on plasma array and radar-absorbing materials

Manipulation of electromagnetic waves is essential to various microwave applications,and absorbing devices composed of low-pressure gas discharge tubes and radar-absorbing materials(RAM)can bring new solutions to broadband electromagnetic stealth.The microwave transmission method is used to measure the physical parameters of the plasma unit.The designed structure exhibits superior absorption performance and radar cross-section(RCS)reduction capability in the 2–18 GHz band,with unique absorption advantage in the S and C frequency bands.It is found that the combination of the plasma and the RAM can significantly broaden the absorption frequency band and improve the absorption performance with excellent synergistic stealth capability.Experimental and simulation results present that broadband,wide-angle,tunable electromagnetic wave absorption and RCS reduction can be achieved by adjusting the spatial layout of the combined plasma layer and the type of RAMs,which creates opportunities for microwave transmission and selective stealth of equipment.Therefore,the wave manipulation by combined plasma array and RAM provides a valuable reference for developing numerous applications,including radar antenna stealth,spatial filter,and high power microwave shielding.

Exposed Cross-section of the Archaean Lower Crustin the Shanxi-Hebei-Inner Mongolia Border Region:Problems and Prospects

The Archaean lower crust represented by granulite facies rocks, which is rare in China, is found to be exposed in the Shanxi-Hebei-Inner Mongolia border region. Studies of the regional structure and deformation and metamorphism of the region indicate that there occurred at least two phases of deformation and metamorphism in the region. Early-phase nearly E-W-directed deformational structure is well preserved in the Zhangjiakou-Xuanhua area. Observations of the features of the geological structure from north to south (in the Hengshan metamorphic terrain) have revealed a possible exposed cross-section through the Archaean lower crust. The structure was superimposed by a NE-SW-trending high-temperature ductile shear zone in the Datong area in the late phase, thus reworking the Archaean sequence.

Ground Penetrating Radar Survey of Dam Structures of Kazakhstan on example of Aktobe and Karatomar Water Storage Basins

Ground penetrating radar surveys of technical condition of Karatomar and Aktobe water storage basins on the river Tobol are shown. In this article we have shown that dams have problems with cavities and identified longitudinal dimensions of anomalous zones of decompression.

Optimal Minimum Number of CT Slices Required to Measure Cross Sectional Areas of Small Pulmonary Vessels

The cross-sectional area (CSA) of small pulmonary vessels can be quantified by CT, which is a reliable method of evaluating vascular alterations in such vessels. However, the optimal number of slices required for accurate quantitation remains unknown. We evaluated relationships among all slices at 10-mm interval and all slices at 3-cm interval, 6-cm interval, and 3-slices and found the closest correlation (0.939) between all slices at 10-mm intervals and 3-cm intervals. Thus, all slices at 3-cm intervals are suitable for accurately measuring CSA.

基于毫米波雷达的非视距目标探测和定位方法研究

隐蔽非直视目标探测和定位技术在城市巷战、安防、防暴等领域具有广泛的应用。本文针对L形非视距区域内单目标的探测与定位问题进行研究。首先,对雷达布设位置及可探测区域进行了分析;其次,针对共同可探测区域,设计了多路径联合检测器;最后,基于设计的多径雷达应用系统,利用所提检测定位方法进行实验验证。与现有研究相比,本文的创新点在于:在L形非视距场景下,对宽波束毫米波雷达布设位置及可探测区域进行分析并给出合理建议;其次利用所提多路径联合检测器将不同反射面的多条路径联合使用,提高了检测性能。本文通过实验验证了系统的可靠性及雷达位置对可探测区域的影响,通过仿真与实验探究了所提检测器的性能改善。