To evaluate the ability of double-echo steady-state (DESS) MRI to detect pars interarticularis fracture and bone marrow edema (BME) in spondylolysis, 500 lumber pars interarticularis from 50 ...consecutive patients (38 males and 12 females, mean age 14.2 ± 3.28 years) with spondylolysis who underwent both MRI and CT within 1 week were evaluated. All participants were young athletes who complained of lower back pain. Fractures were classified into four grades and CT was used as a reference; BME was evaluated in a binary manner and STIR was used as a reference. The diagnostic performance of fractures on DESS and T1WI, and BME on DESS was assessed by two radiologists independently. For fracture detection, DESS showed high diagnostic performance at a sensitivity of 94%, specificity of 99.5%, and accuracy of 98.8%, whereas T1WI showed lower sensitivity (70.1%). Fracture grading performed by DESS showed excellent agreement with CT grading (Kappa = 0.9). For BME, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of DESS were 96.5%, 100%, and 99.6%, respectively. The inter-rater agreement of DESS for fracture and BME was 0.8 and 0.85, respectively. However, the inter-rater agreement for fracture on T1WI was 0.52. DESS had high diagnostic performance for fracture and BME in pars interarticularis. In conclusion, DESS had potential to detect all critical imaging findings in spondylolysis and may replace the role of CT.
To assess the diagnostic performance and calculate the optimal threshold for quantitative biomarkers to differentiate bone metastasis and benign bone marrow lesions using turbo spin echo (TSE) Dixon ...images with a 3.0 T scanner.
Each 100 patients diagnosed with bone metastases and variable benign bone marrow lesions on spine MRI were included retrospectively. Images included in-phase (IP), opposed-phase (OP), water images (WI), and fat images (FI) by the TSE Dixon technique with T1WI and T2WI using a 3.0 T scanner. Regions of interest (ROI) of the lesions were manually drawn by two musculoskeletal radiologists independently, and the average signal intensity was recorded. The signal reduction rate from IP to OP (%drop) and a fat fraction (%fat) were calculated.
All biomarkers showed a significant difference between metastatic and benign lesions (P < 0.001). When comparing the AUCs, the %drop of T1WI had the highest AUC (0.934). Although the AUC of %fat from T2WI was significantly lower than that of other biomarkers, the %drop of T2WI was not significantly different from the %drop of T1WI (p = 0.339). The optimal threshold of %drop to differentiate metastatic and benign lesions was 22.0 in T1WI and 15.9 in T2WI. The inter-reader agreement was excellent for all biomarkers (0.82-0.86).
While %drop of T1WI showed the highest diagnostic performance to differentiate bone metastasis from benign lesions, the %drop of T2WI showed a comparable ability using a threshold 15.9.
Objectives
This study investigated the utility of temporal subtraction computed tomography (TSCT) obtained with temporal bone high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) for the preoperative ...prediction of mastoid extension of middle ear cholesteatomas.
Methods
Twenty-eight consecutive patients with surgically proven middle ear cholesteatomas were retrospectively evaluated. The presence of black color in the mastoid region on TSCT suggested progressive changes caused by bone erosion. Enlarged width of the anterior part of mastoid on HRCT was interpreted as suggestive of mastoid extension. Fisher’s exact test was used to compare the widths and black color on TSCT for cases with and without mastoid extension. The diagnostic accuracy of TSCT and HRCT for detecting mastoid extension and interobserver agreement during the evaluation of black color on TSCT were calculated.
Results
There were 15 cases of surgically proven mastoid extension and 13 cases without mastoid extension. Patients with black color on TSCT were significantly more likely to have a mastoid extension (
p
< 0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of TSCT were 0.93 and 1.00, respectively. Patients in whom the width of the anterior part of the mastoid was enlarged were significantly more likely to have a mastoid extension (
p
= 0.007). The sensitivity and specificity of HRCT to detect the width of the anterior part of the mastoid were 0.80 and 0.77, respectively. Interobserver agreement during the evaluation of TSCT findings was good (
k
= 0.71).
Conclusions
This novel TSCT technique and preoperative evaluations are useful for assessing mastoid extension of middle ear cholesteatomas and making treatment decisions.
Key Points
•TSCT shows a clear black color in the mastoid region when the middle ear cholesteatoma is accompanied by mastoid extension.
•TSCT obtained with preoperative serial HRCT of the temporal bone is useful for assessing mastoid extension of middle ear cholesteatomas.
The developmental times and reproduction of the burdock-infesting aphid, Uroleucon gobonis（Matsumura）, were determined at different temperatures. The developmental zero, effective cumulative ...temperature, and intrinsic optimum temperature for the development of this aphid were estimated to be 5.27°C, 141.71 degree-days, and 19.22°C, respectively. This species had growth retardation at 27°C, and no nymphs reached the adult stage at 32°C. Like other aphids, it was found to be strong against low temperatures and weak against high temperatures. The intrinsic rate of natural increase of U. gobonis was 0.26 at 12°C, followed by 0.29 at 17°C, and 0.51 at 22°C suggesting that U. gobonis has a higher reproductive ability at low temperatures than other reported aphid species. Assessment of insecticide susceptibility using the leaf and body dipping methods showed that U. gobonis was highly susceptible to the recommended field rates of the 10 insecticides tested. Clothianidin granules（6 kg/10 a）applied to depths of 2 or 5 cm in the soil significantly suppressed aphid densities compared to surface treatment and the nontreated control. Acetamiprid granules（6 kg/10 a）also showed the same effect as clothianidin granules（6 kg/10 a）on the aphid density, and halving the dose showed no reduction in effectiveness.
A broad mastoid extension limits cholesteatoma resection via a transmeatal approach including endoscopic ear surgery. Therefore, a preoperative diagnosis of mastoid extension is a the most critical ...factor to determine whether to perform mastoidectomy. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of non-echoplanar diffusion-weighted imaging (non-EPI DWI) and T1-weighted imaging in the evaluation of mastoid extension in cholesteatomas of the middle ear.
Patients who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for pretreatment evaluation before primary surgery for pars flaccida or tensa cholesteatoma, which revealed a high-signal intensity in the mastoid on T2-weighed imaging were retrospectively evaluated. Two board-certified radiologists retrospectively evaluated the extent of cholesteatomas on MRI with non-EPI DWI, non-EPI DWI- and T1-weighted axial imaging. The presence of a high signal intensity on non-EPI DWI or low or high signal intensity on T1-weighted imaging in the mastoid was evaluated. All cases were subclassified as M+ (surgically mastoid extension-positive) or M- (surgically mastoid extension-negative).
A total of 59 patients with middle ear cholesteatoma were evaluated. There were 37 M+ cases and 22 M- cases. High-signal intensity on non-EPI DWI exhibited a sensitivity of 0.89 and specificity of 0.82, whereas partial low-signal intensity on T1-weighted imaging exhibited a sensitivity of 0.84 and specificity of 0.91 for detecting mastoid involvement. Complete high-signal intensity on T1-weighted imaging exhibited a sensitivity of 0.73 and specificity of 0.89 for detecting non-involvement of the mastoid. The sensitivity (0.92) and specificity (0.96) of combined non-EPI DWI and T1-weighted imaging evaluation were higher than those of with non-EPI DWI or T1-weighted imaging alone. The interobserver agreement for the presence of high-signal intensity in the mastoid cavity on non-EPI DWI was very good at 0.82, that of a partial low-signal intensity area in the mastoid cavity lesions on T1-weighted imaging was good, at 0.76 and that of complete high-signal intensity in the mastoid cavity lesions on T1-weighted imaging was good, at 0.67.
The signal intensity on non-EPI DWI and T1-weighted imaging of the mastoid could be used to accurately assess the extent of middle ear cholesteatoma, which could facilitate surgical treatment planning.
Molybdenum oxide (MoOx) has been widely used as a hole transport layer in organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), whose performance can be improved by inserting a MoOx layer between an organic active ...layer and a transparent anode because of efficient carrier dissociation. In this study, the influence of thermally annealed MoOx on the photovoltaic performance of OPVs was first investigated using low-bandgap polymer and 6,6-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) blend films as the active layer. We used three low-bandgap polymers: poly2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta2,1-b;3,4-b′dithiophene)-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole) (PCPDTBT), poly(4,8-bis(2-ethylhexyl)oxybenzo1,2-b:4,5-b′dithiophene-2,6-diyl3-fluoro-2-(2-ethylhexyl)carbonylthieno3,4-bthiophenediyl) (PTB7), and poly(2,6′-4,8-di(5-ethylhexylthienyl)benzo1,2-b,3,3-bdithiophene3-fluoro-2(2-ethylhexyl)carbonylthieno3,4-bthiophenediyl) (PTB7-Th). Power conversion efficiencies were drastically increased for all investigated polymers when the as-deposited MoOx layer was annealed at 160 °C for 5 min. In particular, a high efficiency of 6.57% was achieved when PTB7 was used; for comparison, the efficiency of a reference device with an as-deposited MoOx layer (not subjected to annealing) was 1.40%. Specifically, the short-circuit current density and fill factor were remarkably improved after annealing, which means that efficient carrier dissociation was achieved in the active layer. We evaluated optical absorption and surface morphology to elucidate reasons behind the improved photovoltaic performance, and these parameters only slightly changed after annealing. In contrast, angle-dependent X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the MoOx layer was oxidized after annealing. In general, the oxygen vacancies of MoOx act as carrier traps; a reduction in the number of carrier traps causes high hole mobility in the organic layer, which, in turn, results in an improved photovoltaic performance. Therefore, our results indicate that the annealing-induced oxidation of MoOx is useful for achieving high photovoltaic performance.
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•The thermal annealing induced the oxidation of the MoOx thin film.•The oxidized MoOx leads the improved photoconversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic cell.•The oxidation of MoOx is estimated from the angle-dependent XPS spectrum.•The oxygen vacancy of MoOx act as the carrier trap, which causes the low carrier mobility.
•Dual-Energy CT (DECT) Iodine Map has high iodine contrast resolution with maintaining high spatial resolution.•Variable enthesitis of peripheral joints may be key findings for diagnosis of ...psoritatic arthritis (PsA).•DECT Iodine Map allowed to determine precise anatomical structures of inflammation in hand PsA.
This study aimed to identify the detailed location of inflammatory lesions and its frequency of hand PsA on DECT Iodine Map with referring the cadaveric specimen.
Thirty-eight anatomical landmarks were selected as a potential inflammatory sites in the thumb and middle finger. We included 22 symptomatic PsA patients who underwent contrast enhanced DECT of the hand. MR images and macroscopic specimens of thumb and middle finger were prepared from a cadaver. Two musculoskeletal radiologists evaluated DECT with referring the cadaveric images to determine the precise location of inflammatory sites and its frequency.
The frequently observed inflammation sites of active PsA patients were either classical or functional entheses, and coincide with the well-known hypothesis that primary inflammatory sites of PsA are enthesis. We have noticed that there was remarkable enhancement around DIP joints (13.6 %–45.5 %).
DECT could assess the detailed anatomical sites of the inflammatory lesion in hand psoriatic arthritis, which coincided with enthesis.
Bronchial asthma is a common but important chronic disease in children in all over the world. To take measures against prevalence of childhood asthma, many researchers have surveyed the actual ...statuses of childhood asthma in developed countries, but in most Asia–Pacific developing countries including Mongolia such surveys have never been sufficiently conducted until now. We have thought that this survey, though performed in 2009, will give important and meaningful information even now in taking measures to prevent prevailing bronchial asthma in children in Mongolia or the countries under similar statuses.
The asthma prevalence and patient background information in Mongolian children aged 6–7 living in Ulaanbaatar were examined using a written questionnaire modified for their parents from that prepared by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC).
The estimated prevalence of asthma in Mongolian children was 20.9%. The following 3 risk factors were found to be related to asthma: (1) having allergic rhinitis symptoms, (2) mothers' smoking, and (3) history of severe respiratory infection before 1-year-old.
The asthma prevalence in Mongolian children was higher than that in the world and Asia–Pacific countries reported by ISAAC. The higher prevalence was probably attributable to households' (especially mothers) smoking in draft-free houses designed for the cold area and severe air-pollution due to rapid industrialization and urbanization in Mongolia. Smoking prohibition in the mother (including family members) and a reduction of exposure to air pollutants are urgently needed to prevent developing childhood asthma.
The living end: Organobismuthines promote highly controlled living radical polymerization through two activation mechanisms, namely, thermal generation and degenerative transfer (see scheme). Both ...conjugated and nonconjugated vinyl monomers are polymerized to give well‐defined polymers with predetermined molecular weight (Mn) and low polydispersity index (PDI).
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