Histopathology as a diagnostic mainstay for tissue evaluation is strictly a 2D technology. Combining and supplementing this technology with 3D imaging has been proposed as one future avenue towards ...refining comprehensive tissue analysis. To this end, we have developed a laboratory-based X-ray method allowing for the investigation of tissue samples in three dimensions with isotropic volume information. To assess the potential of our method for micro-morphology evaluation, we selected several kidney regions from three patients with cystic kidney disease, obstructive nephropathy and diabetic glomerulopathy. Tissue specimens were processed using our in-house-developed X-ray eosin stain and investigated with a commercial microCT and our in-house-built NanoCT. The microCT system provided overview scans with voxel sizes of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">14.8~\mu \text{m} </tex-math></inline-formula> and the NanoCT was employed for higher resolutions including voxel sizes from <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">1.4~\mu \text{m} </tex-math></inline-formula> to 210 nm. We present a methodology allowing for a precise micro-morphologic investigation in three dimensions which is compatible with conventional histology. Advantages of our methodology are its versatility with respect to multi-scale investigations, being laboratory-based, allowing for non-destructive imaging and providing isotropic volume information. We believe, that after future developmental work this method might contribute to advanced multi-modal tissue diagnostics.
X-ray grating interferometry is a powerful emerging tool in biomedical imaging, providing access to three complementary image modalities. In addition to the conventional attenuation modality, ...interferometry provides a phase modality, which visualizes soft tissue structures, and a dark-field modality, which relates to the number and size of sub-resolution scattering objects. A particularly strong dark-field signal originates from the alveoli or air sacs in the lung. Dark-field lung radiographs in animal models have already shown increased sensitivity in diagnosing lung diseases, such as lung cancer or emphysema, compared to conventional X-ray chest radiography. However, to date, X-ray dark-field lung imaging has either averaged information over several breaths or has been captured during a breath hold. In this paper, we demonstrate the first time-resolved dark-field imaging of a breath cycle in a mechanically ventilated mouse, in vivo , which was obtained using a grating interferometer. We achieved a time resolution of 0.1 s, visualizing the changes in the dark-field, phase, and attenuation images during inhalation and exhalation. These measurements show that the dark-field signal depends on the air volume and, hence, the alveolar dimensions of the lung. Conducting this type of scan with animal disease models would help to locate the optimum breath point for single-image diagnostic dark-field imaging and could indicate if the changes in the dark-field signal during breath provide a diagnostically useful complementary measure.
Pharmacovigilance contributes to health care. However, direct access to the underlying data for academic institutions and individual physicians or pharmacists is intricate, and easily employable ...analysis modes for everyday clinical situations are missing. This underlines the need for a tool to bring pharmacovigilance to the clinics. To address these issues, we have developed OpenVigil FDA, a novel web-based pharmacovigilance analysis tool which uses the openFDA online interface of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to access U.S. American and international pharmacovigilance data from the Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS). OpenVigil FDA provides disproportionality analyses to (i) identify the drug most likely evoking a new adverse event, (ii) compare two drugs concerning their safety profile, (iii) check arbitrary combinations of two drugs for unknown drug-drug interactions and (iv) enhance the relevance of results by identifying confounding factors and eliminating them using background correction. We present examples for these applications and discuss the promises and limits of pharmacovigilance, openFDA and OpenVigil FDA. OpenVigil FDA is the first public available tool to apply pharmacovigilance findings directly to real-life clinical problems. OpenVigil FDA does not require special licenses or statistical programs.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The M
ajorana
Collaboration is using an array of high-purity Ge detectors to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in
76
Ge. Searches for neutrinoless double-beta decay are understood to be the ...only viable experimental method for testing the Majorana nature of the neutrino. Observation of this decay would imply violation of lepton number, that neutrinos are Majorana in nature, and provide information on the neutrino mass. The M
ajorana
D
emonstrator
comprises 44.1 kg of p-type point-contact Ge detectors (29.7 kg enriched in
76
Ge) surrounded by a low-background shield system. The experiment achieved a high efficiency of converting raw Ge material to detectors and an unprecedented detector energy resolution of 2.5 keV FWHM at Q
ββ
. The M
ajorana
collaboration began taking physics data in 2016. This paper summarizes key construction aspects of the Demonstrator and shows preliminary results from initial data.
The physics potential of EDELWEISS detectors for the search of low-mass weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) is studied. Using a data-driven background model, projected exclusion limits are ...computed using frequentist and multivariate analysis approaches, namely, profile likelihood and boosted decision tree. Both current and achievable experimental performances are considered. The optimal strategy for detector optimization depends critically on whether the emphasis is put on WIMP masses below or above ∼5 GeV/c2. The projected sensitivity for the next phase of the EDELWEISS-III experiment at the Modane Underground Laboratory (LSM) for low-mass WIMP search is presented. By 2018 an upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of σSI=7×10−42 cm2 is expected for a WIMP mass in the range 2–5 GeV/c2. The requirements for a future hundred-kilogram-scale experiment designed to reach the bounds imposed by the coherent scattering of solar neutrinos are also described. By improving the ionization resolution down to 50 eVee, we show that such an experiment installed in an even lower background environment (e.g., at SNOLAB) together with an exposure of 1000 kg·yr, should allow us to observe about 80 B8 neutrino events after discrimination.
We report on a dark matter search for a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) in the mass range
m
χ
∈
4
,
30
GeV
/
c
2
with the EDELWEISS-III experiment. A 2D profile likelihood analysis is ...performed on data from eight selected detectors with the lowest energy thresholds leading to a combined fiducial exposure of 496 kg-days. External backgrounds from
γ
- and
β
-radiation, recoils from
206
Pb
and neutrons as well as detector intrinsic backgrounds were modelled from data outside the region of interest and constrained in the analysis. The basic data selection and most of the background models are the same as those used in a previously published analysis based on boosted decision trees (BDT)
1
. For the likelihood approach applied in the analysis presented here, a larger signal efficiency and a subtraction of the expected background lead to a higher sensitivity, especially for the lowest WIMP masses probed. No statistically significant signal was found and upper limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon scattering cross section can be set with a hypothesis test based on the profile likelihood test statistics. The 90 % C.L. exclusion limit set for WIMPs with
m
χ
=
4
GeV
/
c
2
is
1.6
×
10
-
39
cm
2
, which is an improvement of a factor of seven with respect to the BDT-based analysis. For WIMP masses above
15
GeV
/
c
2
the exclusion limits found with both analyses are in good agreement.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Laser wakefield acceleration of electrons represents a basis for several types of novel X-ray sources based on Thomson scattering or betatron radiation. The latter provides a high photon flux and a ...small source size, both being prerequisites for high-quality X-ray imaging. Furthermore, proof-of-principle experiments have demonstrated its application for tomographic imaging. So far this required several hours of acquisition time for a complete tomographic data set. Based on improvements to the laser system, detectors and reconstruction algorithms, we were able to reduce this time for a full tomographic scan to 3 min. In this paper, we discuss these results and give a prospect to future imaging systems.
•Scintillator-based CCDs are superior to direct-detection CCDs for medical radiography.•Advanced reconstruction algorithms are capable of handling small data sets.•Acquisition time for laser-driven tomography can be reduced to few minutes.
The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay($0\nu\beta\beta$) in 76Ge using arrays of point-contact germanium detectors operating at the Sanford Underground Research ...Facility. Background results in the $0\nu\beta\beta$ region of interest from data taken during construction, commissioning, and the start of full operations have been recently published. A pulse shape analysis cut applied to achieve this result, named AvsE, is described in this paper. This cut is developed to remove events whose waveforms are typical of multi-site energy deposits while retaining (90 ± 3.5)% of single-site events. This pulse shape discrimination is based on the relationship between the maximum current and energy, and tuned using 228Th calibration source data. In conclusion, the efficiency uncertainty accounts for variation across detectors, energy, and time, as well as for the position distribution difference between calibration and $0\nu\beta\beta$ events, established using simulations.
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