We examined the potential of the iPad 2 as a teleradiologic tool for evaluating brain computed tomography (CT) with subtle hemorrhage in the conventional lighting conditions which are common situations in the remote CT reading. The comparison of the clinician's performance was undertaken through detecting hemorrhage by the iPad 2 and the clinical liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor. We selected 100 brain CT exams performed for head trauma or headache. Fifty had subtle radiological signs of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), while the other 50 showed no significant abnormality. Five emergency medicine physicians reviewed these brain CT scans using the iPad 2 and the LCD monitor, scoring the probability of ICH on each exam on a five-point scale. Result showed high sensitivities and specificities in both devices. We generated receiver operating characteristic curves and calculated the average area under the curve of the iPad 2 and the LCD (0.935 and 0.900). Using the iPad 2 and reliable internet connectivity, clinicians can provide remote evaluation of brain CT with subtle hemorrhage under suboptimal viewing condition. Considering the distinct advantages of the iPad 2, the popular out-of-hospital use of mobile CT teleradiology would be anticipated soon.

We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of an iPhone-based remote control system as a real-time remote computed tomography (CT) reading tool for suspected appendicitis using a third-generation (3G) network under suboptimal illumination. One hundred twenty abdominal CT scans were selected; 60 had no signs of appendicitis, whereas the remaining 60 had signs of appendicitis. The 16 raters reviewed the images using the liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) workstation, as well as using an iPhone connected to the PACS workstation via a remote control system. We graded the probability of the presence of acute appendicitis for each examination using a five-point Likert scale. The overall sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of suspected appendicitis using the iPhone and the LCD monitor were high, and they were not significantly different (sensitivity P=1.00, specificity P=0.14). The average areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for all CT readings with the iPhone and LCD monitor were 0.978 (confidence interval 0.965-0.991) and 0.974 (0.960-0.988), respectively, and the two devices did not have significantly different diagnostic performances (P=0.55). The inter-rater agreement for both devices was very good; the kappa value for the iPhone was 0.809 (0.793-0.826), and that for the LCD monitor was 0.817 (0.801-0.834). Each rater had moderate-tovery good intra-observer agreement between the two devices. We verified the feasibility of an iPhone-based remote control system as a real-time remote CT reading tool for identifying suspected appendicitis using a 3G network and suboptimal illumination.

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A new synthetic method for dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]thiophenes was developed. The approach involves three steps starting from thiophene: tetraiodation of thiophene, selective dialkynylations on the 2,5-positions of the tetraiodothiophene, and finally CuI/TMEDA catalyzed double annulations of 2,5-dialkynyl-3,4-diiodothiophenes by Na 2 S, to afford dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]thiophene and its derivatives.

The reaction of 2,5‐dimethyl‐3,4‐diselenocyanato‐1H‐pyrrole by NaBH4 or NaOCH3 led to tetraselenide 7 in quantitative yield. Treatment of protected tetraselenide 8 with LiAlH4 afforded the aluminum complex intermediate that was converted into pyrrole‐annelated 1,3‐diselenolo‐2‐thione 9 in excellent yield. Similarly, treatment of tetraselenide 8 with LiAlH4 followed by TFA afforded 1,2‐diselenol intermediate that was converted into pyrrole‐annelated 1,3‐diselenolo‐2‐one 10 upon treatment of diimidazole carbonate. J. Heterocyclic Chem., (2011).