Ultra-Hydrophobic Gauze Driving Super-Haemostasis.

Controlling bleeding by applying pressing cotton gauze is the most facile treatment in prehospital emergencies. However, the wettable nature of cotton fibers leads to unnecessary blood loss due to excessive blood absorption, inseparable adhesion-induced pain, and pliable to infection. Here, we develop a kind of ultra-hydrophobic haemostatic anti-adhesive gauze whose surface is loaded with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and hydrophobic-modified cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), achieving a water contact angle of about 160°. We demonstrate that the mechanism by which hydrophobic CNCs promote blood clotting is associated with their ability to activate coagulation factors, contributing to fibrin formation, and promoting platelet activation. The blood-restricting effect results from the low surface energy layer formed by PDMS and then the alkyl chains of hydrophobic CNCs were combined. The produced ultra-hydrophobic gauze resists blood flow and diffusion, decreases blood loss, is effortlessly peel-able, and minimizes pathogen adhesion. Compared to the commercial cotton gauze, our gauze achieved effective haemostasis and antiadhesion by reducing blood loss by more than 90%, shortening haemostasis time by more than 75%, lowering peeling force by more than 90% and minifying bacterium attachment by more than 95%. Our work presents promising applications in terms of prehospital first aid. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Exploration of the Changes in Facial Microbiota of Maskne Patients and Healthy Controls Before and After Wearing Masks Using 16 S rRNA Analysis.

Whether in the field of medical care, or in people's daily life and health protection, the importance of masks has been paid more and more attention. Acne, the most common complication after wearing masks, which is also called maskne, has been successfully introduced into the common language as a common topic of dermatologist consultations. This study aims to study the changes of microflora in maskne patients and healthy controls before and after wearing masks. In the summer of 2023, we collected a total of 50 samples from 15 maskne patients and 10 healthy controls before and after wearing surgical masks for a long time. 16 S ribosomal DNA sequencing and identification technology with V3-V4 variable region were adopted to explore the microbiome changes caused by mask wearing, analyze the changes in microbial diversity, and make interaction network. LDA effect size analysis was used to identify which bacteria showed significant changes in their relative abundance from phylum to genus. After wearing a mask, the microbiome of the maskne patients changed significantly more than that of the healthy controls, with both α diversity and ß diversity lower than those of maskne patients before wearing masks and those of healthy controls after wearing masks. Co-occurrence network analysis showed that compared with other groups, the network of maskne patients after wearing masks for a long time had the lowest connectivity and complexity, but the highest clustering property, while the opposite was true for healthy controls. Many microbes that are potentially beneficial to the skin decreased significantly after wearing a mask. There was almost no difference in healthy controls before and after wearing a mask.

Investigating the different mechanisms in related neural activities: a focus on auditory perception and imagery.

Neuroimaging studies have shown that the neural representation of imagery is closely related to the perception modality; however, the undeniable different experiences between perception and imagery indicate that there are obvious neural mechanism differences between them, which cannot be explained by the simple theory that imagery is a form of weak perception. Considering the importance of functional integration of brain regions in neural activities, we conducted correlation analysis of neural activity in brain regions jointly activated by auditory imagery and perception, and then brain functional connectivity (FC) networks were obtained with a consistent structure. However, the connection values between the areas in the superior temporal gyrus and the right precentral cortex were significantly higher in auditory perception than in the imagery modality. In addition, the modality decoding based on FC patterns showed that the FC network of auditory imagery and perception can be significantly distinguishable. Subsequently, voxel-level FC analysis further verified the distribution regions of voxels with significant connectivity differences between the 2 modalities. This study complemented the correlation and difference between auditory imagery and perception in terms of brain information interaction, and it provided a new perspective for investigating the neural mechanisms of different modal information representations.

An academic achievements visualization research since the 21st century: research on salvage surgery for head and neck cancer.

Background: Head and neck cancer is the 6th most common malignancy worldwide, and its incidence is still on the rise. The salvage surgery has been considered as an important treatment strategy for persistent or recurrent head and neck cancer. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of salvage surgery for head and neck cancer since the 21st century. Methods: The literature about salvage surgery of head and neck cancer in Web of Science was searched. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to analyze main countries, institutions, authors, journals, subject hotspots, trends, frontiers, etc. Results: A total of 987 papers have been published since the 21st century. These publications were written by 705 authors from 425 institutions in 54 countries. The United States published 311 papers in this field and ranked first. Head & Neck was the most widely published journal. The main keyword clustering included terms such as #0 stereotactic radiotherapy (2012); #1 randomized multicenter (2007); #2 salvage surgery (2004); #3 functional outcomes (2014); #4 transoral robotic surgery (2013); #5 neck high-resolution computed tomography (2010); #6 complications (2008); #7 image guidance (2019). The current research frontiers that have been sustained are "recurrent", "risk factors", and "reirradiation". Conclusion: The current situation of the salvage surgery for head and neck cancer in clinical treatments and basic scientific research were summarized, providing new perspectives for the development of salvage surgery for head and neck cancer in the future.

A bibliometric study: Relevant studies on scar laser therapy since the 21st century.

To summarise research studies on scar laser therapy since the 21st century using bibliometric methods, and to speculate on the possible development in the future. The literature about scar laser therapy in Web of Science database was searched. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to analyse main countries, institutions, journals，subject hotspots and trends, etc. A total of 884 papers have been published since the 21st century. These publications were written by 653 authors from 515 institutions in 58 countries. The United States published 287 papers in this field and ranks first. Laser in Surgery and Medicine is the most widely published journal, with Shumaker as the core author. The main keyword clustering includes terms such as combination therapy, wound healing, fractional photothermolysis, experience, scar formation, etc. CiteSpace and VOSviewer were used to sort out and summarise the countries, institutions, authors, journals, research hotspots and frontier topics of related literature about scar laser therapy since the 21st century. The current situation of its application and basic scientific research in clinical treatments were summarised briefly. This provides a new idea for the development and research of scar laser therapy in the future.

FANCI is Associated with Poor Prognosis and Immune Infiltration in Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Objective: This study aimed to validate FANCI as a potential marker for both prognosis and therapy in liver hepatocellular carcinoma. Method: FANCI expression data were acquired from GEPIA, HPA, TCGA, and GEO databases. The impact of clinicopathological features was analyzed by UALCAN. The prognosis of Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (LIHC) patients with highly expressed FANCI was constructed utilizing Kaplan-Meier Plotter. GEO2R was employed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Metascape was used to analyze functional pathways correlations. Protein-Protein interaction (PPI) networks were generated by Cytoscape. Furthermore, molecular complex detection (MCODE) was utilized to recognize Hub genes, which were selected to establish a prognostic model. Lastly, the relationship between FANCI and immune cell infiltration in LIHC was examined. Results: Compared to adjacent tissues, FANCI expression levels were significantly higher in LIHC tissues and were positively correlated to the cancer grade, stage, and prior hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. High expression of FANCI was found to be associated with poor prognosis in LIHC (HR=1.89, p<0.001). DEGs that were positively correlated with FANCI were involved in various processes, including the cell cycle, VEGF pathway, immune system processes, and biogenesis of ribonucleoproteins. MCM10, TPX2, PRC1, and KIF11 were identified as key genes closely related to FANCI and poor prognosis. A reliable five-variable prognostic model was constructed with strong predictive capability. Lastly, a positive correlation was observed between FANCI expression and tumor-infiltration levels of CD8+ T cells, B cells, regulatory T (Tregs), CD4+ T helper 2 (Th2), and macrophage M2 cells. Conclusion: FANCI may hold promise as a potential biomarker for predicting prognostic outcomes, and a valuable therapeutic target for LIHC patients, with a focus on anti-proliferation, anti-chemoresistance, and combination with immunotherapy.

Effective Suppression of Amorphous Ga2O and Related Deep Levels on the GaN Surface by High-Temperature Remote Plasma Pretreatments in GaN-Based Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor Electronic Devices.

Gallium nitride (GaN) has been considered one of the most promising materials for the next-generation power and radio-frequency electronic devices, as they can operate at higher voltage, higher frequency, and higher temperature, compared with their silicon (Si) counterparts. However, the fresh GaN surface is susceptible to the natural oxidation composed of Ga2O3, Ga2O, and other intermediate oxidation states. Moreover, the oxidized GaN surface no longer features the distinct atomic step-terrace morphology, resulting in a degraded interface when gate or passivation dielectrics are deposited without appropriate pretreatment. It is responsible for the degraded performance of GaN-based devices such as current collapse and threshold voltage instability. In this study, the proposed high-temperature (500 °C) remote plasma pretreatments (RPPs) can play a significant role in addressing the issue of the deteriorated GaN surface exposed to air. Atomic step-terrace morphology was recovered after 500 °C-RPP due to the removal of oxides and suboxides. First-principles calculations verified that Ga2O at the GaN surface leads to interface states at ∼2.9 eV (EC-E ∼ 0.4 eV) in the bandgap, which is consistent with the increase of interface states at the EC-E range of 0.4-0.9 eV measured through constant-capacitance deep-level transient spectroscopy. Meanwhile, deep interface states and surface-related current collapse are well suppressed in GaN metal-insulator-semiconductor devices. These improved properties by 500 °C-RPP are generalizable to a broader range, including pre-gate and pre-passivation treatment, of which a decent surface/interface is desirable for high-performance GaN-based devices.

Resource scarcity aggravates ingroup bias: Neural mechanisms and cross-scenario validation.

Previous studies examining the relationship between ingroup bias and resource scarcity have produced heterogeneous findings, possibly due to their focus on the allocation of positive resources (e.g. money). This study aims to investigate whether ingroup bias would be amplified or eliminated when perceived survival resources for counteracting negative stimuli are scarce. For this purpose, we exposed the participants and another confederate of the experimenters (ingroup/outgroup member) to a potential threat of unpleasant noise. Participants received some 'relieving resources' to counteract noise administration, the amount of which may or may not be enough for them and the confederate in different conditions (i.e. abundance vs. scarcity). First, a behavioural experiment demonstrated that intergroup discrimination manifested only in the scarcity condition; in contrast, the participants allocated similar amounts of resource to ingroup and outgroup members in the abundance condition, indicating a context-dependent allocation strategy. This behavioural pattern was replicated in a follow-up neuroimaging experiment, which further revealed that when contrasting scarcity with abundance, there was higher activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as well as stronger functional connectivity of the ACC with the empathy network (including the temporoparietal junction and medial prefrontal cortex) for ingroup compared to outgroup members. We suggest that ACC activation reflects the mentalizing process toward ingroup over outgroup members in the scarcity condition. Finally, the ACC activation level significantly predicted the influence of resource scarcity on ingroup bias in hypothetical real-life situations according to a follow-up examination.

Mallotucin D, a Clerodane Diterpenoid from Croton crassifolius, Suppresses HepG2 Cell Growth via Inducing Autophagic Cell Death and Pyroptosis.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major subtype of primary liver cancer with a high mortality rate. Pyroptosis and autophagy are crucial processes in the pathophysiology of HCC. Searching for efficient drugs targeting pyroptosis and autophagy with lower toxicity is useful for HCC treatment. Mallotucin D (MLD), a clerodane diterpenoid from Croton crassifolius, has not been previously reported for its anticancer effects in HCC. This study aims to evaluate the inhibitory effects of MLD in HCC and explore the underlying mechanism. We found that the cell proliferation, DNA synthesis, and colony formation of HepG2 cells and the angiogenesis of HUVECs were all greatly inhibited by MLD. MLD caused mitochondrial damage and decreased the TOM20 expression and mitochondrial membrane potential, inducing ROS overproduction. Moreover, MLD promoted the cytochrome C from mitochondria into cytoplasm, leading to cleavage of caspase-9 and caspase-3 inducing GSDMD-related pyroptosis. In addition, we revealed that MLD activated mitophagy by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. Using the ROS-scavenging reagent NAC, the activation effects of MLD on pyroptosis- and autophagy-related pathways were all inhibited. In the HepG2 xenograft model, MLD effectively inhibited tumor growth without detectable toxicities in normal tissue. In conclusion, MLD could be developed as a candidate drug for HCC treatment by inducing mitophagy and pyroptosis via promoting mitochondrial-related ROS production.

Multi-segmented feature coupling for jointly reconstructing initial pressure and speed of sound in photoacoustic computed tomography.

SIGNIFICANCE: Photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) is a fast-growing imaging modality. In PACT, the image quality is degraded due to the unknown distribution of the speed of sound (SoS). Emerging initial pressure (IP) and SoS joint-reconstruction methods promise reduced artifacts in PACT. However, previous joint-reconstruction methods have some deficiencies. A more effective method has promising prospects in preclinical applications. AIM: We propose a multi-segmented feature coupling (MSFC) method for SoS-IP joint reconstruction in PACT. APPROACH: In the proposed method, the ultrasound detectors were divided into multiple sub-arrays with each sub-array and its opposite counterpart considered to be a pair. The delay and sum algorithm was then used to reconstruct two images based on a subarray pair and estimated a direction-specific SoS, based on image correlation and the orientation of the subarrays. Once the data generated by all pairs of subarrays were processed, an image that was optimized in terms of minimal feature splitting in all directions was generated. Further, based on the direction-specific SoS, a model-based method was used to directly reconstruct the SoS distribution. RESULTS: Both phantom and animal experiments demonstrated feasibility and showed promising results compared with conventional methods, with less splitting and blurring and fewer distortions. CONCLUSIONS: The developed MSFC method shows promising results for both IP and SoS reconstruction. The MSFC method will help to optimize the image quality of PACT in clinical applications.

Electrochemiluminescence sensor for point-of-care detection of pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) and PA N-oxides are hepatotoxic natural products, produced by over 6000 plant species worldwide. However, an unmet need remains for confirmative measurement of PAs in routine clinical tests. Here, we develop a visual, easy-to-use, and economic mesoporous silica-electrochemiluminescence (MPS-ECL) sensor for point-of-care (POC) testing of PAs, utilizing MPS's amplification effect on positive ions. The relationship between PAs' different structures and corresponding Ru(bpy)32+ ECL activity shows that reaction mechanism, stability of intermediate, molecular geometry and alternative anodic reactivity significantly affect the ECL activity. The ECL intensity varies among different PAs: monocrotaline ˃ senecionine N-oxide ˃ retrorsine ˃ senkirkine. The POC sensors possess excellent linearity (0.9993 > R2 > 0.9944), low detection limits (0.02 µM-0.07 µM), and good recoveries (90.12%-105.93%), indicating good accuracy and practicability. The portable and low-cost sensor is user-friendly, which holds promise to be applied to POC testing of PAs in drugs, food products, and clinical samples, which is promising for initial assessments of PA-induced health risk.

Electrogenerated chemiluminescence of a Ru(bpy)3 2+/arginine system: a specific and sensitive detection of acetaminophen.

Ru(bpy)3Cl2/TPrA is a prominent and widely used ECL system in analytical science. However, the co-reactant TPrA restricts the variety of applications because of its toxicity, volatility, and high cost. Here, we use arginine (Arg) as an alternative co-reactant for Ru(bpy)3 2+ by taking advantage of its low cost, non-toxicity, and biocompatibility. The mechanism of the Ru(bpy)3 2+/Arg system is that the deprotonated Arg can react with Ru(bpy)3 2+ to release emission. The similarity between the Ru(bpy)3 2+/Arg, Ru(bpy)3 2+/TPrA, and Ru(bpy)3 2+/DBAE systems demonstrates that Arg can be used as an alternative co-reactant for Ru(bpy)3 2+ ECL. As a proof of concept, we achieve an excellent performance for acetaminophen (Ace) detection based on the specificity of Arg and Ace, with excellent linearity, low detection limits, and good recoveries. This work is promising to expand the scope of the Ru(bpy)3 2+/Arg system and move forward their applications in bioassays.

To Blame or Not? Modulating Third-Party Punishment with the Framing Effect.

People as third-party observers, without direct self-interest, may punish norm violators to maintain social norms. However, third-party judgment and the follow-up punishment might be susceptible to the way we frame (i.e., verbally describe) a norm violation. We conducted a behavioral and a neuroimaging experiment to investigate the above phenomenon, which we call the "third-party framing effect". In these experiments, participants observed an anonymous perpetrator deciding whether to keep her/his economic benefit while exposing a victim to a risk of physical pain (described as "harming others" in one condition and "not helping others" in the other condition), then they had a chance to punish that perpetrator at their own cost. Our results showed that the participants were more willing to execute third-party punishment under the harm frame compared to the help frame, manifesting a framing effect. Self-reported anger toward perpetrators mediated the relationship between empathy toward victims and the framing effect. Meanwhile, activation of the insula mediated the relationship between mid-cingulate cortex activation and the framing effect; the functional connectivity between these regions significantly predicted the size of the framing effect. These findings shed light on the psychological and neural mechanisms of the third-party framing effect.

Adaptive photoacoustic computed tomography.

For many optical imaging modalities, image qualities are inevitably degraded by wavefront distortions caused by varying light speed. In optical microscopy and astronomy, adaptive optics (AO) has long been applied to compensate for such unwanted aberrations. Photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT), despite relying on the ultrasonic wave for image formation, suffers from the acoustic version of the same problem. However, this problem has traditionally been regarded as an inverse problem of jointly reconstructing both the initial pressure and the sound speed distributions. In this work, we proposed a method similar to indirect wavefront sensing in AO. We argued that wavefront distortions can be extracted and corrected by a frequency domain analysis of local images. In addition to an adaptively reconstructed aberration-free image, the speed of sound map can be subsequently estimated. We demonstrated the method by in silico, phantom, and in vivo experiments.

Systematic bias between blinded independent central review and local assessment: literature review and analyses of 76 phase III randomised controlled trials in 45 688 patients with advanced solid tumour.

OBJECTIVE: Unbiased assessment of tumour response is crucial in randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Blinded independent central review is usually used as a supplemental or monitor to local assessment but is costly. The aim of this study is to investigate whether systematic bias existed in RCTs by comparing the treatment effects of efficacy endpoints between central and local assessments. DESIGN: Literature review, pooling analysis and correlation analysis. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, from 1 January 2010 to 30 June 2017. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTING STUDIES: Eligible articles are phase III RCTs comparing anticancer agents for advanced solid tumours. Additionally, the articles should report objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), progression-free survival (PFS) or time to progression (TTP); the treatment effect of these endpoints, OR or HR, should be based on central and local assessments. RESULTS: Of 76 included trials involving 45 688 patients, 17 (22%) trials reported their endpoints with statistically inconsistent inferences (p value lower/higher than the probability of type I error) between central and local assessments; among them, 9 (53%) trials had statistically significant inference based on central assessment. Pooling analysis presented no systematic bias when comparing treatment effects of both assessments (ORR: OR=1.02 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.07), p=0.42, I2=0%; DCR: OR=0.97 (95% CI 0.92 to 1.03), p=0.32, I2=0%); PFS: HR=1.01 (95% CI 0.99 to 1.02), p=0.32, I2=0%; TTP: HR=1.04 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.14), p=0.37, I2=0%), regardless of funding source, mask, region, tumour type, study design, number of enrolled patients, response assessment criteria, primary endpoint and trials with statistically consistent/inconsistent inferences. Correlation analysis also presented no sign of systematic bias between central and local assessments (ORR, DCR, PFS: r>0.90, p<0.01; TTP: r=0.90, p=0.29). CONCLUSIONS: No systematic bias could be found between local and central assessments in phase III RCTs on solid tumours. However, statistically inconsistent inferences could be made in many trials between both assessments.

End-to-end deep neural network for optical inversion in quantitative photoacoustic imaging.

An end-to-end deep neural network, ResU-net, is developed for quantitative photoacoustic imaging. A residual learning framework is used to facilitate optimization and to gain better accuracy from considerably increased network depth. The contracting and expanding paths enable ResU-net to extract comprehensive context information from multispectral initial pressure images and, subsequently, to infer a quantitative image of chromophore concentration or oxygen saturation (sO2). According to our numerical experiments, the estimations of sO2 and indocyanine green concentration are accurate and robust against variations in both optical property and object geometry. An extremely short reconstruction time of 22 ms is achieved.

A minimum-phase Shinnar-Le Roux spectral-spatial excitation RF pulse for simultaneous water and lipid suppression in 1H-MRSI of body extremities.

PURPOSE: To develop a spectral-spatial (SPSP) excitation RF pulse for simultaneous water and lipid suppression in proton (1H) magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) of body extremities. METHODS: An SPSP excitation pulse is designed to excite Creatine (Cr) and Choline (Cho) metabolite signals while suppressing the overwhelming water and lipid signals. The SPSP pulse is designed using a recently proposed multidimensional Shinnar-Le Roux (SLR) RF pulse design method. A minimum-phase spectral selectivity profile is used to minimize signal loss from T2⁎ decay. RESULTS: The performance of the SPSP pulse is evaluated via Bloch equation simulations and phantom experiments. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated using three-dimensional, short repetition-time, free induction decay-based 1H-MRSI in the thigh muscle at 3T. CONCLUSION: The proposed SPSP excitation pulse is useful for simultaneous water and lipid suppression. The proposed method enables new applications of high-resolution 1H-MRSI in body extremities.

Evaluation bias in objective response rate and disease control rate between blinded independent central review and local assessment: a study-level pooled analysis of phase III randomized control trials in the past seven years.

BACKGROUND: In previous studies, complete-case implementation of blind independent central review has been considered unnecessary based on no sign of systematic bias between central and local assessments. In order to further evaluate its value, this study investigated evaluation status between both assessments in phase III trials of anti-cancer drugs for non-hematologic solid tumors. METHODS: Eligible trials were searched in PubMed with the date of Jan 1, 2010 to Jun 30, 2017. We compared objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) between central and local assessments by study-level pooled analysis and correlation analysis. In pooled analysis, direct comparison was measured by the odds ratio (OR) of central-assessed response status to local-assessed response status; to investigate evaluation bias between central and local assessments, the above calculated OR between experimental (exp-) and control (con-) arms were compared, measured by the ratio of OR. RESULTS: A total of 28 included trials involving 17,466 patients were included (28 with ORR, 16 with DCR). Pooled analysis showed central assessment reported lower ORR and DCR than local assessment, especially in trials with open-label design, central-assessed primary endpoint, and positive primary endpoint outcome, respectively. However, this finding could be found in both experimental [exp-ORR: OR=0.81 (95% CI: 0.76-0.87), P<0.01, I2=11%; exp-DCR: OR=0.90 (0.81-1.01), P=0.07, I2=42%] and control arms [con-ORR: OR=0.79 (0.72-0.85), P<0.01, I2=17%; con-DCR: OR=0.94 (0.86-1.02), P=0.14, I2=12%]. No sign of evaluation bias between two assessments was indicated through further analysis [ORR: ratio of OR=1.02 (0.97-1.07), P=0.42, I2=0%; DCR: ratio of OR=0.98 (0.93-1.03), P=0.37, I2=0%], regardless of mask (open/blind), sample size, tumor type, primary endpoint (central-assessed/local-assessed), and primary endpoint outcome (positive/negative). Correlation analysis demonstrated a high-degree concordance between central and local assessments (exp-ORR, con-ORR, exp-DCR, con-DCR: r>0.90, P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Blind independent central review remained irreplaceable to monitor local assessment, but its complete-case implementation may be unnecessary.

Kalman Filtered Bio Heat Transfer Model Based Self-adaptive Hybrid Magnetic Resonance Thermometry.

To develop a self-adaptive and fast thermometry method by combining the original hybrid magnetic resonance thermometry method and the bio heat transfer equation (BHTE) model. The proposed Kalman filtered Bio Heat Transfer Model Based Self-adaptive Hybrid Magnetic Resonance Thermometry, abbreviated as KalBHT hybrid method, introduced the BHTE model to synthesize a window on the regularization term of the hybrid algorithm, which leads to a self-adaptive regularization both spatially and temporally with change of temperature. Further, to decrease the sensitivity to accuracy of the BHTE model, Kalman filter is utilized to update the window at each iteration time. To investigate the effect of the proposed model, computer heating simulation, phantom microwave heating experiment and dynamic in-vivo model validation of liver and thoracic tumor were conducted in this study. The heating simulation indicates that the KalBHT hybrid algorithm achieves more accurate results without adjusting λ to a proper value in comparison to the hybrid algorithm. The results of the phantom heating experiment illustrate that the proposed model is able to follow temperature changes in the presence of motion and the temperature estimated also shows less noise in the background and surrounding the hot spot. The dynamic in-vivo model validation with heating simulation demonstrates that the proposed model has a higher convergence rate, more robustness to susceptibility problem surrounding the hot spot and more accuracy of temperature estimation. In the healthy liver experiment with heating simulation, the RMSE of the hot spot of the proposed model is reduced to about 50% compared to the RMSE of the original hybrid model and the convergence time becomes only about one fifth of the hybrid model. The proposed model is able to improve the accuracy of the original hybrid algorithm and accelerate the convergence rate of MR temperature estimation.

Novel registration for microcomputed tomography and bioluminescence imaging based on iterated optimal projection.

As a high-sensitivity imaging modality, bioluminescence tomography can reconstruct the three-dimensional (3-D) location of an internal luminescent source based on the 3-D surface light distribution. However, we can only get the multi-orientation two-dimensional (2-D) bioluminescence distribution in the experiments. Therefore, developing an accurate universal registration method is essential for following bioluminescent source reconstruction. We can then map the multi-orientation 2-D bioluminescence distribution to the 3-D surface derived from anatomical information with it. We propose a 2-D -to-3-D registration method based on iterated optimal projection and applied it in a registration and reconstruction study of three transgenic mice. Compared with traditional registration methods based on the fixed points, our method was independent of the markers and the registration accuracy of the three experiments was improved by 0.3, 0.5, and 0.4 pixels, respectively. In addition, based on the above two registration results using the two registration methods, we reconstructed the 3-D location of the inner bioluminescent source in the three transgenic mice. The reconstruction results showed that the average error distance between the center of the reconstructed element and the center of the real element were reduced by 0.32, 0.48, and 0.39 mm, respectively.