Optimization of the exposure parameters in digital mammography for diverse glandularities using the contrast-detail metric.

PURPOSE: This investigation aims to study the optimization in digital mammography, considering a diverse percentage of breast glandularity using the contrast-detail metric. METHODS: The Figure of Merit (FOM), defined as the ratio of the square of the Inverted Image Quality Figure (IQFINV) by the Mean Glandular Dose (MGD), was used. A Monte Carlo simulation study was carried out to calculate the Normalized Glandular Dose (DgN). A contrast detail analysis employing the test object Contrast-Detail Mammography Phantom (CDMAM, type 3.4) was performed in the Hologic digital mammography system-model Selenia located in the Research Center in Radiation Sciences and Technologies (CPqCTR) facilities (Brazil). It employed the CIRS phantom with 20 %, 30 %, 50 % of glandularity, and 6.0 cm in thickness. RESULTS: It was obtained new acquisition parameters for all glandularities that achieved a decrease in the MGD up to âˆ¼ 50 %, maintaining the same image quality. The study was validated using the CIRS, TORMAM, and ACR phantoms through the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and the MGD values obtained with the optimized parameters and the four AEC modes, which are the optimization proposed by the manufacturer. CONCLUSIONS: In this work, a new procedure was proposed that estimated the IQFINV value using the equivalence criterion between the CIRS phantom and the CDMAM test object with their respective PMMA plates. Based on the optimization carried out in this investigation, the AEC parameters, considering diverse glandularities, could be improved. This achievement permits the implementation of new protocols that optimize the ratio between the image's quality and the breast dose with 6.0 cm in thickness and 20 %, 30 %, and 50 % glandularity using contrast-detail metric.

Effects of Spatiotemporal Constraints and Age on the Interactions of Soccer Players when Competing for Ball Possession.

Although there are several descriptions of interpersonal coordination in soccer teams, little is known about how such coordination is influenced by space and time constraints. In this study, we analyzed variations in interpersonal coordination under different marking intensities and across different age groups. Marking intensity was manipulated by changing the players' game space and time of ball possession in a conditioned soccer game known as rondo. Five participants in each age category (U13, U15, U17, and U20) performed rondo tasks in four experimental conditions, in a total of 134 trials. The dependent variables considered were pass performance and eco-physical variables capturing the player-environment coupling, such as coupling of the marking between players. Our results demonstrate that in soccer: (1) markers and passers are tightly coupled; (2) the marker-passer coupling emerges from a flexible and adaptive exchange of passes; (3) the marker-passer coupling is stronger in markings of higher intensity and older age groups. Thus, the interactions between soccer players in marking can be analyzed as an emerging and self-organized process in the context of group performance.

Tissue Damage, Temperature, and pH Induced by Different Electrode Arrays on Potato Pieces (Solanum tuberosum L.).

One of the most challenging problems of electrochemical therapy is the design and selection of suitable electrode array for cancer. The aim is to determine how two-dimensional spatial patterns of tissue damage, temperature, and pH induced in pieces of potato (Solanum tuberosum L., var. Mondial) depend on electrode array with circular, elliptical, parabolic, and hyperbolic shape. The results show the similarity between the shapes of spatial patterns of tissue damage and electric field intensity, which, like temperature and pH take the same shape of electrode array. The adequate selection of suitable electrodes array requires an integrated analysis that involves, in a unified way, relevant information about the electrochemical process, which is essential to perform more efficiently way the therapeutic planning and the personalized therapy for patients with a cancerous tumor.