Differential diagnosis of pancreatic cancer by single-shot echo-planar imaging diffusion-weighted imaging

AIM: To investigate the diagnostic ability of single-shot echo-planar imaging(EPI) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to differentiate between malignant and benign pancreatic lesions. METHODS: A computerized search was performed on Pub Med, MEDLINE and EMBASE up to August 2014. Nine studies(10 sets of data) with a total of 304 malignant pancreatic lesions and 188 benign pancreatic lesions were included. The characteristics of each study included the study name, year of publication, magnetic resonance modalities used, patient population, strength of field, pulse time, repetition time, echo time(TE), maximum b factor, mean age, mean body weight, fat suppression, number of benign and malignant lesions, and true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative results. All analyses were performed using Meta-Di Sc and Stata 11.0.RESULTS: The pooled sensitivity and specificity of singleshot EPI DWI were 0.83(95%CI: 0.79-0.87) and 0.77(95%CI: 0.70-0.83), respectively. The positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio were 5.09(95%CI: 2.19-11.84) and 0.23(95%CI: 0.15-0.36), respectively. The P value for the χ2 heterogeneity for all pooled estimates was < 0.05. From the fitted summary receiver operating characteristic curve, the area under the curve and Q* index were 0.89 and 0.82, respectively. Publication bias was not present(t = 0.58, P = 0.58). Meta-regression analysis indicated that fat suppression, mean age, TE, and maximum b factor were not sources of heterogeneity(all P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Single-shot EPI DWI is useful to differentiate between malignant and benign pancreatic lesions. Lesion size ≥ 2 cm is the limit for the diagnosis of early lesions.

Single-shot grating-based x-ray differential phase contrast imaging with a modified analyzer grating

X-ray grating interferometer has attracted widely attention in the past years due to its capability in achieving x-ray phase contrast imaging with low brilliance source. However, the widely used phase stepping information extraction method reduces system stability and prolongs data acquisition time by several times compared with conventional x-ray absorption- based imaging. The mechanical stepping can be avoided by using a staggered grating, but at the cost of low vertical spatial resolution. In this paper, employing a modified staggered grating and the angular signal radiography, we proposed a single-shot grating-based x-ray differential phase contrast imaging with decent vertical spatial resolution. The theoretical framework was deduced and proved by numerical experiments. Absorption, phase, and scattering computed tomography can be performed without phase stepping. Therefore, we believe this fast and highly stable imaging method with decent resolution would be widely applied in x-ray grating-based phase contrast imaging.

Diffusion weighted imaging for the detection and evaluation of cholesteatoma

Cholesteatoma is a collection of keratinous debris and stratified squamous epithelium.It is trapped in the middle ear and can lead to bony erosion.The disease is treated surgically often followed by a second-look procedure to check for residual tissue or recurrence.Cholesteatoma has specific signal-intensity characteristics on magnetic resonance imaging with very high signal intensity on diffusion weighted imaging(DWI).Various DWI techniques exist:Echo-planar imaging(EPI)-based and non-EPI-based techniques as well as new approaches like multi-shot EPI DWI.This article summarizes all techniques,discusses the significance in detecting cholesteatoma and mentions actual studies.Further recommendations for daily clinical practise are provided.

First commissioning results of the coherent scattering and imaging endstation at the Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser facility

The Shanghai soft X-ray free-electron laser(SXFEL)user facility project started in 2016 and is expected to be open to users by 2022.It aims to deliver ultra-intense coherent femtosecond X-ray pulses to five endstations covering a range of 100–620 eV for ultrafast X-ray science.Two undulator lines are designed and constructed,based on different lasing modes:self-amplified spontaneous emission and echo-enabled harmonic generation.The coherent scattering and imaging(CSI)endstation is the first of five endstations to be commissioned online.It focuses on high-resolution single-shot imaging and the study of ultrafast dynamic processes using coherent forward scattering techniques.Both the single-shot holograms and coherent diffraction patterns were recorded and reconstructed for nanoscale imaging,indicating the excellent coherence and high peak power of the SXFEL and the possibility of‘‘diffraction before destruction’’experiments at the CSI endstation.In this study,we report the first commissioning results of the CSI endstation.

Microlens Light Field Imaging Method Based on Bionic Vision and 3-3 Dimensional Information Transforming

his paper adopts the 3-3-2 information processing method for the capture of moving objects as its premise, and proposes a basic principle of three-dimensional (3D) imaging using biological compound eye. Traditional bionic vision is limited by the available hardware. Therefore, in this paper, the new-generation technology of microlens-array light-field camera is proposed as a potential method for the extraction of depth information from a single image. A significant characteristic of light-field imaging is that it records intensity and directional information from the lights entering the camera. Herein, a refocusing method using light-field image is proposed. By calculating the focusing cost at different depths from the object, the imaging plane of the object is determined, and a depth map is constructed based on the position of the object’s imaging plane. Compared with traditional light-field depth estimation, the depth map calculated by this method can significantly improve resolution and does not depend on the number of light-field microlenses. In addition, considering that software algorithms rely on hardware structure, this study develops an imaging hardware that is only 7 cm long based on the second-generation microlens camera’s structure, further validating its important refocusing characteristics. It thereby provides a technical foundation for 3D imaging with a single camera.

Impact of Field Strength and Respiratory Motion Control on Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging of the Liver

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of field strength and respiratory motion control on diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) of the liver at 1.5 and 3 T. Material and Methods: Three DWI sequences using seven b-values from 20 - 400 s/mm2 were designed with identical parameters but with different handling of respiratory motion [respiratory triggered (RT), free breathing (FB), breath hold (BH)] on 3 T and 1.5 T. Thirteen volunteers were examined at a 3 T and six of them also at a 1.5 T magnet. DW images were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Regions of interest were placed in cranial, middle and caudal parts of the right liver lobe (RLL) and ADC and SNR were calculated. Results: ADC in RLL tended to be lower at 3 T MRI. Least inter-subject ADC variability was found with RT in the middle RLL at 3 T. Highest ADCs were found caudally in the RLL. Significant differences in ADC between middle and caudal RLL were calculated in FB and RT at 3 T and FB and BH at 1.5 T, respectively. No significant difference in SNR was found between 3 T and 1.5 T. There were significantly more artifacts in the left liver lobe (LLL) compared to the RLL in all sequences and in the LLL at 3 T compared to 1.5 T. Conclusion: Our study suggests that longitudinal hepatic ADC measurements should be performed using equivalent field strength, b-values, and acquisition technique, given influence of these factors on ADC measurements.

Single-shot compressed ultrafast photography: a review

Compressed ultrafast photography(CUP)is a burgeoning single-shot computational imaging technique that provides an imaging speed as high as 10 trillion frames per second and a sequence depth of up to a few hundred frames.This technique synergizes compressed sensing and the streak camera technique to capture nonrepeatable ultrafast transient events with a single shot.With recent unprecedented technical developments and extensions of this methodology,it has been widely used in ultrafast optical imaging and metrology,ultrafast electron diffraction and microscopy,and information security protection.We review the basic principles of CUP,its recent advances in data acquisition and image reconstruction,its fusions with other modalities,and its unique applications in multiple research fields.

In vivo tracing of superparamagnetic iron oxide-labeled bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells transplanted for traumatic brain injury by susceptibility weighted imaging in a rat model

Objective：To label rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells （BMSCs） with superparamagnetic iron oxide （SPIO） in vitro, and to monitor the survival and location of these labeled BMSCs in a rat model of traumatic brain injury （TBI） by susceptibility weighted imaging （SWI）sequence.Methods：BMSCs were cultured in vitro and then labeled with SPIO. Totally 24 male Sprague Dawley （SD） rats weighing 200-250 g were randomly divided into 4 groups： Groups A-D （n=6 for each group）. Moderate TBI models of all the rats were developed in the left hemisphere following Feeney＇s method. Group A was the experimental group and stereotaxic transplantation of BMSCs labeled with SPIO into the region nearby the contusion was conducted in this group 24 hours after TBI modeling. The other three groups were control groups with transplantation of SPIO, unlabeled BMSCs and injection of nutrient solution respectively conducted in Groups B, C and D at the same time. Monitoring of these SPIO-labeled BMSCs by SWI was performed one day,one week and three weeks after implantation.Results： Numerous BMSCs were successfully labeled with SPIO. They were positive for Prussian blue staining and intracytoplasm positive blue stained particles were found under a microscope （×200）. Scattered little iron particles were observed in the vesicles by electron microscopy （×5000）. MRI of the transplantation sites of the left hemisphere demonstrated a low signal intensity on magnitude images,phase images and SWI images for all the test rats in Group A, and the lesion in the left parietal cortex demonstrated a semicircular low intensity on SWI images, which clearly showed the distribution and migration of BMSCs in the first and third weeks. For Group B, a low signal intensity by MRI was only observed on the first day but undetected during the following examination. No signals were observed in Groups C and D at any time points.Conclusion：SWI sequence in vivo can consecutively and noninvasively trace and demonstrate the status and distribution of BMSCs labeled with SPIO in the brain of TBI model rats.

An internal-external optimized convolutional neural network for arbitrary orientated object detection from optical remote sensing images

Due to the bird’s eye view of remote sensing sensors,the orientational information of an object is a key factor that has to be considered in object detection.To obtain rotating bounding boxes,existing studies either rely on rotated anchoring schemes or adding complex rotating ROI transfer layers,leading to increased computational demand and reduced detection speeds.In this study,we propose a novel internal-external optimized convolutional neural network for arbitrary orientated object detection in optical remote sensing images.For the internal opti-mization,we designed an anchor-based single-shot head detector that adopts the concept of coarse-to-fine detection for two-stage object detection networks.The refined rotating anchors are generated from the coarse detection head module and fed into the refining detection head module with a link of an embedded deformable convolutional layer.For the external optimiza-tion,we propose an IOU balanced loss that addresses the regression challenges related to arbitrary orientated bounding boxes.Experimental results on the DOTA and HRSC2016 bench-mark datasets show that our proposed method outperforms selected methods.