237 research outputs found
CoA_MRIData
No full textThis datasets contains cardiac MRI images for 20 patients post-coarctation repair. For each patient 2 images of cardiac geometry, and 2-3 phase-contrast flow images are available. This data is suitable for pulse wave velocity measurements.
All data is acquired under ethics 09-H0802-78 as approved by the London - Westminster research ethics committee, and has been fully anonymised.
Related publication - Van Engelen, Arna, Silva Vieira, Miguel, Rafiq, Isma, Cecelja, Marina, Schneider, Torben, de Bliek, Hubrecht, Figueroa, C. Alberto, Hussain, Tarique, Botnar, Rene M. Alastruey, Jordi, (2017), “Aortic length measurements for pulse wave velocity calculation: manual 2D vs automated 3D centreline extraction", Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, 2017, v 19, n 1, p32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12968-017-0341-
PET/CT and MR imaging biomarker of lipid-rich plaques using [(64)Cu]-labeled scavenger receptor (CD68-Fc)
No full textContinued uptake of modified low-density lipoproteins (LDL) by the scavenger receptor, CD68, of activated macrophages is a crucial process in the development of atherosclerotic plaques and leads to the formation of foam cells. Eight-weeks-old male Apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE(-/-)) mice (n=6) were fed a high-fat diet for 12 weeks. C57BL/6J wildtype (WT) mice served as controls (n=6). Positron emission tomography (PET) with an acquisition time of 1800s (NanoPET/CT scanner; Mediso, Hungary & Bioscan, USA) was carried out 24h after intravenous tail vein administration of 50µl (64)Cu-CD68-Fc (~20-30µg labeled protein/mouse containing approximately 10-12MBq (64)Cu-CD68-Fc per mouse). Three days after PET/CT, all mice received an intravenous administration of 0.2 mmol/kg body weight of a gadolinium-based elastin-binding contrast agent to assess plaque burden and vessel wall remodeling. Two hours after injection, mice were imaged in a 3T clinical MR scanner (Philips Healthcare, Best, NL) using a dedicated single loop surface coil (23mm). Enhanced (64)Cu-CD68-Fc uptake was found in the aortic arches of ApoE(-/-) compared to WT mice (ApoE(-/-) mice:10.5±1.5Bq/cm³ vs. WT mice: 2.1±0.3Bq/cm³; P=0.002). Higher gadolinium-based elastin-binding contrast agent uptake was also detected in the aortic arch of ApoE(-/-) compared to WT mice using R(1) maps (R(1)=1.47±0.06 s(-1) vs. 0.92±0.05 s(-1); P <0.001). Radiolabeled scavenger receptor ((64)Cu-CD68-Fc) may help to target foam cell rich plaques with high content of oxidized LDL. This novel imaging biomarker tool may have potential to identify unstable plaques and for risk stratification.</p
Noninvasive Imaging of Endothelial Damage in Patients with different HbA1c-levels, a Proof-of-Concept Study
Full text linkThe aim of this study was to compare endothelial permeability, which is considered a hallmark of CAD, between patients with different HbA1c-levels using an albumin-binding-MR-probe. This cross-sectional-study included 26 patients with clinical indication for x-ray-angiography, which were classified into 3 groups according to their HbA1c-levels (HbA1c<5.7%,<39mmol/mol; HbA1c=5.7-6.4%,39-47mmol/mol; HbA1c≥6.5%,48mmol/mol). Subjects underwent gadofosveset-enhanced-coronary-magnetic-resonance and x-ray-angiography including optical-coherence-tomography (OCT) within 24hours. Contrast-to-noise-ratios were assessed to measure the probe-uptake in the coronary-wall by coronary segment, excluding those with culprit lesions in x-ray-angiography. In the group of patients with HbA1c-levels between 5.7-6.4% 0.30 increased normalized CNR values were measured, compared to patients with HbA1c-levels <5.7% (0.30; 95% CI:[0.04, 0.57]). In patients with HbA1c levels ≥6.5%, we found 0.57 higher normalized CNR values as compared to patients with normal HbA1c-levels (0.57;95% CI:[0.28,0.85]) and 0.26 higher CNR values for patients with HbA1c-level≥6.5% as compared to patients with HbA1c-levels between 5.7-6.4% (0.26; 95% CI: [-0.04, 0.57]). Additionally late atherosclerotic lesions were more common in patients with high HbA1c-levels (HbA1c ≥6.5%:n=14 (74%); HbA1c 5.7-6.4%:n=6 (60%); HbA1c<5.7%:n=10 (53%)).In conclusion, coronary-magnetic-resonance imaging in combination with an albumin-binding probe suggests that both patients with intermediate and high HbA1c-levels are associated with a higher extent of endothelial damage of the coronary arteries as compared to patients with HbA1c-levels below 5.7.</p
Comprehensive multimodality characterization of hemodynamically significant and non-significant coronary lesions using invasive and noninvasive measures
Full text linkBackground
There is limited knowledge about morphological molecular-imaging-derived parameters to further characterize hemodynamically relevant coronary lesions.
Objective
The aim of this study was to describe and differentiate specific parameters between hemodynamically significant and non-significant coronary lesions using various invasive and non-invasive measures.
Methods
This clinical study analyzed patients with symptoms suggestive of coronary artery disease (CAD) who underwent native T1-weighted CMR and gadofosveset-enhanced CMR as well as invasive coronary angiography. OCT of the culprit vessel to determine the plaque type was performed in a subset of patients. Functional relevance of all lesions was examined using quantitative flow reserve (QFR-angiography). Hemodynamically significant lesions were defined as lesions with a QFR <0.8. Signal intensity (contrast-to-noise ratios; CNRs) on native T1-weighted CMR and gadofosveset-enhanced CMR was defined as a measure for intraplaque hemorrhage and endothelial permeability, respectively.
Results
Overall 29 coronary segments from 14 patients were examined. Segments containing lesions with a QFR 0.8; n = 19) (5.32 (4.47–7.02) vs. 2.42 (1.04–5.11); p = 0.042). No differences in signal enhancement were seen on native T1-weighted CMR (2.2 (0.68–6.75) vs. 2.09 (0.91–6.57), p = 0.412). 66.7% (4 out of 6) of all vulnerable plaque and 33.3% (2 out of 6) of all non-vulnerable plaque (fibroatheroma) as assessed by OCT were hemodynamically significant lesions.
Conclusion
The findings of this pilot study suggest that signal enhancement on albumin-binding probe-enhanced CMR but not on T1-weighted CMR is associated with hemodynamically relevant coronary lesion
The sense of a beginning : Bakhtinian dialogic criticism on 'the gospel' in Mark.
Full text linkContemporary literary approaches have caused paradigm shifts in Biblical Studies in the last two decades as it appears in a great deal of Markan studies using narrative, reader-response, deconstructive, feminist, and new historicist approaches. However, literary studies on the Gospel of Mark have not taken into account theoretical questions underlying those approaches. As a result biblical critics are driven by new trends without ever having a chance to examine the critical baggage of the approaches. Consequently, there is a gap of communication between the old and the new one. Therefore this thesis is an attempt to meet the need of enhancing the quality of critical endeavour in biblical studies. In the light of most recent competing critical theories of literature, the first contribution of this thesis is the methodological finding that Bakhtinian dialogic criticism contains the most profound philosophical and practical foundations for solving some crucial theoretical problems in contemporary literary theories. It is a critique to a Saussurian linguistic system of language which becomes the very foundation of modern and postmodern literary criticism. Bakhtinian literary theory shifts the foundation of literary criticism on linguistic signs into the creative activity of the socio-cultural production of human communication. The shift into socio-cultural reality of language communication makes the notion of 'genre' very important to unlock the problem of text and context in literary studies. Since the Gospel of Mark has fascinated most literary critics in Biblical Studies, the problem of 'genre' of this gospel is chosen as the focus of this study. Secondly, as no agreement is reached as to what 'genre' the Gospel of Mark belongs, this thesis makes its contribution to the discussion by locating the problem of 'genre' of Mark in the context of genre theories and argues that the Bakhtinian suggestion to find genre in the socio-cultural sphere by analysing artistic intercourse between narrative agents in Mark has freed the competing analysis from the unresolved problem between the kerygmatic (content oriented) approach and the analogical (form oriented) approach. To achieve finding 'genre' in the socio-cultural sphere, this thesis focuses on Bakhtinian analysis of the process of artistic intercourse between narrative agents. The narrative communicative interrelationships between narrative agents is constructed in this thesis as a 'stereophonic' Bakhtinian model of dialogic communication. This model is an original contribution of this thesis for revising the traditional two dimensional model of narrative communication. Based on this dialogical model of communication, a special role is given to the Bakhtinian 'author-creator' in the realization process of genre through the interaction of polyphonic voices. Through the interaction of voices of the author-artist and the hero we are led to discover a relatively stable type of portraying and controlling reality in Mark, known as the genre of Roman 'satire'. The closest literary affinity is Satyrica by Petronius. This narrative strategy of 'satire' in Mark has its root in the prophetic discourse of the Old Testament which is saturating the speech of the narrator, John the Immerser, the centurion, the people, and even Jesus. Finally, the whole search for Markan 'genre' culminates in the analysis of the realization of genre through the analysis of Bakhtinian chronotope. The reality of the genre of Mark is its social reality that is in its role as dpxrj/ 'beginning'. As the Gospel of Mark proclaims itself as 'a beginning', it defines its claim of socio-cultural 'authority' in early Christianity. It is this 'sense of beginning' which enables the narrating and the narrated world of Mark to interact dialogically
Belgian Author René Lambrechts (1923-1981) Photograph with Written Statement to Friend
Full text linkPhoto of man with glasses wearing striped concentration camp hat and shirt labelled with 82221. Back of photo signed René Lambrechts near bottom.
Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:
René Lambrechts was a Belgian author and hymnist. During WWII, he had been a liaison officer in the Belgian resistance. Arrested in November 1943, he spent the remainder of the war in various concentration camps, including the infamous Dora-Mittelbau near Nordhausen, where he was severely injured.
After the war Lambrechts wrote Wir Muselmanner about his experiences in captivity. “Muselmanner” is a derogation of Moslems, but in the vernacular of the concentration camps it refers to the walking dead, those prisoners who, dispirited and in increasingly poor physical health give up all hope for survival. Lambrechts also devoted himself to ethnography and hymnology, publishing collections of folk tales and hymns. He co-founded the museum Die Swane and became its first conservator.
In the photograph, Lambrechts is wearing his concentration camp garments. Verso is text written to his friend and fellow prisoner Jos Veerman, an inmate from concentration camp Dora-Mittelbau and political prisoner from Gross Strehlitz. Lambrechts writes: To Jos Veerman, my brother from the hell of hate and murder. As a remembrance of our Musselman-ship. Rene Lambrechts 12 December 1946.
[Related item: 2019.2.104]https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/2477/thumbnail.jp
Imaging Methods:Magnetic Resonance Imaging
No full textMyocardial inflammation occurs following activation of the cardiac immune system, producing characteristic changes in the myocardial tissue. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance is the non-invasive imaging gold standard for myocardial tissue characterization, and is able to detect image signal changes that may occur resulting from inflammation, including edema, hyperemia, capillary leak, necrosis, and fibrosis. Conventional cardiovascular magnetic resonance for the detection of myocardial inflammation and its sequela include T2-weighted imaging, parametric T1- and T2-mapping, and gadolinium-based contrast-enhanced imaging. Emerging techniques seek to image several parameters simultaneously for myocardial tissue characterization, and to depict subtle immune-mediated changes, such as immune cell activity in the myocardium and cardiac cell metabolism. This review article outlines the underlying principles of current and emerging cardiovascular magnetic resonance methods for imaging myocardial inflammation.</p
James N. Bodurtha, Jr.
No full textthis paper was "The Relationship between World Market, Exchange Rate and Inflation Risks and U.S. Equity Excess Returns," 1986. This research has been supported by an AACSB-R.J. Reynolds Doctoral Fellowship in Business Administration, gifts from Citicorp, NA, and grants from the Salomon Brothers Center at New York University, The University of Michigan and The Ohio State University. The author appreciates the helpful comments of Michael Adler, Christine Amsler, Warren Bailey, Steve Brown, K.C. Chan, Phil Dbyvig, Louis Ederington, Wayne Ferson, Kose John, Stan Kon, Bob Korajczyk, Bruce Lehman, Richard Levich, Rich Lyons, Mark Reinganum, Jay Shanken, Rene Stulz, Marti Subrahmanyam, and workshop participants at The London Business School, The University of Michigan, NYU, OSU, SMU, and Wisconsin. I thank Kalok Chan, Prafulla Nabar and Vijay Singal for research assistance. All errors of commission or omission are the author'
The Rissech method of age-at-death determination: Black American males
No full textThe author tests the Rissech method of determining age-at-death using features of the acetabulum on human os coxae. The research was performed on black male skeletal specimens from the Maxwell Museum Documented Skeletal Collection at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico; the William M. Bass Donated and Forensic Skeletal Collections at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee; and the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Cleveland, Ohio. One hundred forty-two skeletal specimens of known age-at-death were evaluated and a preliminary determination was made on the validity of the method proposed by Carme Rissech and co-researchers in 2006. The acetabular method of age-at death assessment on black American males was determined to be similarly accurate to the original findings, still below courtroom standards but useful in multifactoral age assessment methodology and archaeological evaluation
Generalized low‐rank nonrigid motion‐corrected reconstruction for MR fingerprinting
No full textPurpose: Develop a novel low-rank motion-corrected (LRMC) reconstruction for nonrigid motion-corrected MR fingerprinting (MRF). Methods: Generalized motion-corrected (MC) reconstructions have been developed for steady-state imaging. Here we extend this framework to enable nonrigid MC for transient imaging applications with varying contrast, such as MRF. This is achieved by integrating low-rank dictionary-based compression into the generalized MC model to reconstruct MC singular images, reducing motion artifacts in the resulting parametric maps. The proposed LRMC reconstruction was applied for cardiac motion correction in 2D myocardial MRF (T1 and T2) with extended cardiac acquisition window (~450 ms) and for respiratory MC in free-breathing 3D myocardial and 3D liver MRF. Experiments were performed in phantom and 22 healthy subjects. The proposed approach was compared with reference spin echo (phantom) and with 2D electrocardiogram-triggered/breath-hold MOLLI and T2 gradient-and–spin echo conventional maps (in vivo 2D and 3D myocardial MRF). Results: Phantom results were in general agreement with reference spin-echo measurements, presenting relative errors of approximately 5.4% and 5.5% for T1 and short T2 (<100 ms), respectively. The proposed LRMC MRF reduced residual blurring artifacts with respect to no MC for cardiac or respiratory motion in all cases (2D and 3D myocardial, 3D abdominal). In 2D myocardial MRF, left-ventricle T1 values were 1150 ± 41 ms for LRMC MRF and 1010 ± 56 ms for MOLLI; T2 values were 43.8 ± 2.3 ms for LRMC MRF and 49.5 ± 4.5 ms for T2 gradient and spin echo. Corresponding measurements for 3D myocardial MRF were 1085 ± 30 ms and 1062 ± 29 ms for T1, and 43.5 ± 1.9 ms and 51.7 ± 1.7 ms for T2. For 3D liver, LRMC MRF measured liver T1 at 565 ± 44 ms and liver T2 at 35.4 ± 2.4 ms. Conclusion: The proposed LRMC reconstruction enabled generalized (nonrigid) MC for 2D and 3D MRF, both for cardiac and respiratory motion. The proposed approach reduced motion artifacts in the MRF maps with respect to no motion compensation and achieved good agreement with reference measurements.</p
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