Reddyhendricks0665

We further studied the in vitro PA imaging capabilities of the Cu-In-Zn-Se/ZnSe/PMAO-g-PEG nanoparticles, which showed a distinct PA signal beyond 1.0 mg ml-1. The current work demonstrated that a moderate amount of Zn doping is necessary for enhancing fluorescence and there is a limit beyond which the fluorescence will be diminished. We also demonstrated the proof of concept that Cu-In-Zn-Se/ZnSe QDs are able to serve as a potential PA imaging contrast agent.Emerging magnetic resonance (MR) guided radiotherapy affords significantly improved anatomy visualization and, subsequently, more effective personalized treatment. The new therapy paradigm imposes significant demands on radiation dose calculation quality and speed, creating an unmet need for the acceleration of Monte Carlo (MC) dose calculation. Existing deep learning approaches to denoise the final plan MC dose fail to achieve the accuracy and speed requirements of large-scale beamlet dose calculation in the presence of a strong magnetic field for online adaptive radiotherapy planning. Our deep learning dose calculation method, DeepMC, addresses these needs by predicting low-noise dose from extremely noisy (but fast) MC-simulated dose and anatomical inputs, thus enabling significant acceleration. DeepMC simultaneously reduces MC sampling noise and predicts corrupted dose buildup at tissue-air material interfaces resulting from MR-field induced electron return effects. Here we demonstrate our model's ability to accelerate dose calculation for daily treatment planning by a factor of 38 over traditional low-noise MC simulation with clinically meaningful accuracy in deliverable dose and treatment delivery parameters. As a post-processing approach, DeepMC provides compounded acceleration of large-scale dose calculation when used alongside established MC acceleration techniques in variance reduction and graphics processing unit-based MC simulation.

Silent speech recognition (SSR) based on surface electromyography (sEMG) is an attractive non-acoustic modality of human-machine interfaces that convert the neuromuscular electrophysiological signals into computer-readable textual messages. The speaking process involves complex neuromuscular activities spanning a large area over the facial and neck muscles, thus the locations of the sEMG electrodes considerably affected the performance of the SSR system. However, most of the previous studies used only a quite limited number of electrodes that were placed empirically without prior quantitative analysis, resulting in uncertainty and unreliability of the SSR outcomes.

In this study, the technique of high-density sEMG was proposed to provide a full representation of the articulatory muscle activities so that the optimal electrode configuration for silent speech recognition could be systemically explored. A total of 120 closely-spaced electrodes were placed on the facial and neck muscles to collect the high-dees.

The findings of this study can provide useful guidelines about electrode placement for developing a clinically feasible SSR system and implementing a promising approach of human-machine interface, especially for patients with speaking difficulties.We present morphological and compositional analysis of phase-separated Pt-Ni alloy nanoparticles (NPs) formed by ns pulsed laser dewetting. The PtNi NPs obtained by the pulsed laser dewetting consist of phase-separated multiple domains including Pt3Ni, PtNi and PtNi3 phases with various crystal orientations as revealed by transmission electron microscopy, which is in contrast to thermal dewetting resulting NPs of a uniform composition. A three-dimensional (3D) electron density map of a dewetted PtNi NP obtained using the coherent x-ray diffraction microscopy elucidates the 3D morphology of Pt- and Ni-rich regions together with a nano-cavity formed during the pulsed laser irradiation.Due to growing demand, the performance of traditional active carbon is insufficient. An innovative solution is superactive carbon with an ultra-high surface area as high as 3000 m2 g-1. However, this material is very costly due to the considerable amount of alkali used in its manufacturing. To obtain superactive carbon from lignin, KOH and KCl were used simultaneously. The method was thoroughly studied to describe the mechanism of pore origin and control the pore size. selleck chemical Because of synergy between KOH and KCl, superactive carbon with an ultra-high surface area (2938 ± 42 m2 g-1) was obtained at essentially diminished KOH consumption (1 g g-1) in contrast to previously reported methods. The process was optimised using the response surface method. The pore size can be tuned by varying the amount of KOH and temperature. Observed synergy enabled reduced alkali consumption, overcoming the barrier to widespread implementation of superactive carbon.Electromagnetic-based navigation bronchoscopy requires accurate and robust estimation of the bronchoscope position inside the bronchial tree. However, respiratory motion, coughing, patient movement, and airway deformation inflicted by bronchoscope significantly hinder the accuracy of intraoperative bronchoscopic localization. In this study, a real-time and automatic registration procedure was proposed to superimpose the current location of the bronchoscope to corresponding locations on a centerline extracted from bronchial computed tomography (CT) images. A centerline-guided Gaussian mixture model (CG-GMM) was introduced to register a bronchoscope's position concerning extracted centerlines. A GMM was fitted to bronchoscope positions where the orientation likelihood was chosen to assign the membership probabilities of the mixture model, which led to preserving the global and local structures. The problem was formulated and solved under the expectation maximization framework, where the feature correspondence and spatial transformation are estimated iteratively. Validation was performed on a dynamic phantom with four different respiratory motions and four human real bronchoscopy (RB) datasets. Results of the experiments conducted on the bronchial phantom showed that the average positional tracking error using the proposed approach was equal to 1.98 [Formula see text] 0.98 mm that was reduced in comparison with independent electromagnetic tracking (EMT), iterative closest point (ICP), and coherent point drift (CPD) methods by 64%, 58%, and 53%, respectively. In the patient assessment part of the study, the average positional tracking error was 4.73 [Formula see text] 4.76 mm and compared to ICP, and CPD methods showed 31.4% improvement of successfully tracked frames. Our approach introduces a novel method for real-time respiratory motion compensation that provides reliable guidance during bronchoscopic interventions and, thus could increase the diagnostic yield of transbronchial biopsy.Magnetic field correction factors are needed for absolute dosimetry in magnetic resonance (MR)-linacs. Currently experimental data for magnetic field correction factors, especially for small volume ionization chambers, are largely lacking. The purpose of this work is to establish, independent methods for the experimental determination of magnetic field correction factors [Formula see text] in an orientation in which the ionization chamber is parallel to the magnetic field. The aim is to confirm previous experiments on the determination of Farmer type ionization chamber correction factors and to gather information about the usability of small-volume ionization chambers for absolute dosimetry in MR-linacs. The first approach to determine [Formula see text] is based on a cross-calibration of measurements using a conventional linac with an electromagnet and an MR-linac. The absolute influence of the magnetic field in perpendicular orientation is quantified with the help of the conventional linac and the electroma41(27) for the PTW 30013, the PTW 31010 and the PTW 31021, respectively. The measurements based on the second technique resulted in values for [Formula see text] of 0.9901(72), 0.9955(72), and 0.9885(71). Both methods show excellent accuracy and reproducibility and are therefore suitable for the determination of magnetic field correction factors. Small-volume ionization chambers showed a variation in the resulting values for [Formula see text] and should be cross-calibrated instead of using tabulated values for correction factors.Several corrections should be made to the published version of "Quasi-Equilibrium Predictions of Water Desorption Kinetics From Rapidly-Heated Metal Oxide Surfaces" by K. Leung, L.J. Criscenti, and A.C. Robinson [Leung K, Criscenti LJ, Robinson AC 2020 J. Phys. Condens. Matter 32, 336101].Cartilage defects are among the most difficult diseases to cure in clinic. Due to the limited regeneration capacity of chondrocytes, cartilage regeneration is very difficult. Tissue engineering is a potential strategy for cartilage regeneration. The choice of scaffold is a key factor for the successful construction of tissue engineering cartilage. In this research, we successfully constructed the silk/silk fibroin/gelatin/polylactic acid porous microspheres (S/SF/G/PLLA-PMs) scaffold, then further evaluated the physical and chemical properties and biocompatibility of the composite cartilage tissue in vitro and in vivo, also the long-term survival of the composite cartilage in large animals was carried out. The research results showed that S/SF/G/PLLA-PMs composite scaffold had good biocompatibility. The addition of L-polylactic acid porous microspheres (PLLA-PMs) could significantly enhance the mechanical strength of the scaffold and achieve a multi-level pore structure. After 4 weeks of culture in vitro, composite cartilage could be constructed. Further immunohistochemical results showed that S/SF/G/PLLA-PMs scaffold could increase the long-term stability of the composite cartilage transplantation in vivo.

Bladder dysfunction is a significant and largely unaddressed problem for people living with spinal cord injury. Intermittent catheterization does not provide volitional control of micturition and has numerous side effects. Targeted electrical microstimulation of the spinal cord has been previously explored for restoring such volitional control in the animal model of experimental spinal cord injury. Here, we continue the development of the intraspinal microstimulation array technology to evaluate its ability to provide more focused and reliable bladder control in the feline animal model.

For the first time, a mechanically-robust intraspinal multisite silicon array was built using novel microfabrication processes to provide custom-designed tip geometry and 3D electrode distribution. Long-term implantation was performed in eight spinally-intact animals for a period up to 6 months, targeting the dorsal gray commissure area in the S2 sacral cord that is known to be involved in the coordination between the bladnal cord transection. However, further studies are required to assess longer-term reliability and safety of the developed intraspinal microstimulation array prior to eventual human translation.Cell fate decision-making events involve the interplay of many molecular processes, ranging from signal transduction to genetic regulation, as well as a set of molecular and physiological feedback loops. Each aspect offers a rich field of investigation in its own right, but to understand the whole process, even in simple terms, we need to consider them together. Here we attempt to characterise this process by focussing on the roles of noise during cell fate decisions. We use a range of recent results to develop a view of the sequence of events by which a cell progresses from a pluripotent or multipotent to a differentiated state chromatin organisation, transcription factor stoichiometry, and cellular signalling all change during this progression, and all shape cellular variability, which becomes maximal at the transition state.