Intravenous gadoxetate disodium (a weight-based dose) does not cause changes in SpO2 and HR that lead to image quality degradation.

MRTD allows noninvasive evaluation of TD and can be used to identify TD configuration. Thus, this technique is considered to contribute positively to safer performance of thoracic surgery.

Triexponential analysis makes it possible to noninvasively obtain more detailed tissue diffusion and perfusion information and to assist in the diagnosis of liver cirrhosis.

Two commercial visible-light (VL)-cured composite resins were examined for their optical properties by diffuse reflectance measurements in VL spectrum and Kubelka-Munk's theory. Cured Silux Plus displayed diffuse reflectance similar to that of cured Z100, although uncured Silux Plus showed diffuse reflectance less than that of uncured Z100. By Kubelka-Munk's analyses, two optical constants of the composites at eight wavelengths such as absorption and scattering coefficients were calculated using the difference in diffuse reflectance of the composites backed between white and black standards. Upon curing, the two optical constants of the composites significantly altered especially in the shorter wavelengths. By lowering the wavelength, two optical constants of the composites tended to increase, giving rise to less light reflection and transmission. The theoretical optical transmittance of the composites was expressed in terms of hyperbolic functions of thickness of the composites at eight wavelengths in VL, dependent upon the two optical constants. The actual optical transmittance of 1 mm composites were fairly comparative with the theoretical values at 1 mm. The depth of cure of the two composites matched well with the thickness of the uncured composites which yielded the minimum theoretical optical transmittance in the wavelength region of 400-500 nm.

The two-point Dixon method and the gray-scale or color FF maps based on the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease activity score were useful for fat quantification in the liver of patients without severe iron deposition.

Energy dependent partial wave anlyses for the reaction rc-+p ':"'J+n are carried out with respect to S, P, D and F waves in the energy range 561-1300 MeV. Two different types of the solutions are obtained. In the first solution, the "'J-production peak is dominated by the S 11 resonance with mass M = 1570 MeV, total width TT = 140 MeV, branching ratios (S 11 res. --->rcN) I (S 11 res.->all) =40% and (S 11 res.-----'7"1JN)/(S 11 res.--'lall) =50%. In the second solution, it is dominated by the P 11 resonance with M=1580 MeV, TT=130 MeV, (P 11 res.-'TrcN)/(P 11 res.-----'7all) =35% and (P 11 res.-?"'JN)j(P 11 res.-'Tall) =305-~-This P 11 resonance is a new one which is different from Roper's resonance. In this analysis the second solution_ is better fitting experimental data than the first solution.P 11 and D 13 • When the peak is dominated by a resonance (called the Resonant Case) , we can consider the following three cases ;

In order to reduce a road monitoring cost, we propose a system to monitor extensively road condition by cyclists with a smartphone. In this paper, we propose two methods towards road monitoring. First is to classify road signals to four road conditions. Second is to extract road signal from a smartphone's accelerometer in three positions: pants' side pocket, chest pocket and a bag in a front basket. In pants' side pocket, road signal is extracted by Independent Component Analysis. In chest pocket and bag in a front basket, road signal is extracted by selecting 1-axis affected from gravitational acceleration. In the experiment of the classification method, overall accuracy was 75%. The experimental results of the extraction methods with correlation coefficient showed the overall accuracy were more than 0.7 in pants' side pocket and chest pocket, the overall accuracy was less than 0.3 in bag in a front basket.

Background/AimsNoninvasive liver fibrosis evaluation was performed in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We used a quantitative method based on the hepatic volume acquired from gadoxetate disodium-enhanced (Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for diagnosing advanced fibrosis in patients with NAFLD.MethodsA total of 130 patients who were diagnosed with NAFLD and underwent Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI were retrospectively included. Histological data were available for 118 patients. Hepatic volumetric parameters, including the left hepatic lobe to right hepatic lobe volume ratio (L/R ratio), were measured. The usefulness of the L/R ratio for diagnosing fibrosis ≥F3–4 and F4 was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curve. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify variables (age, body mass index, serum fibrosis markers, and histological features) that were associated with the L/R ratio.ResultsThe L/R ratio demonstrated good performance in differentiating advanced fibrosis (AUROC, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.72 to 0.88) from cirrhosis (AUROC, 0.87; 95% confidence interval, 0.75 to 0.99). Multiple regression analysis showed that only fibrosis was significantly associated with the L/R ratio (coefficient, 0.121; p<0.0001).ConclusionsThe L/R ratio, which is not influenced by pathological parameters other than fibrosis, is useful for diagnosing cirrhosis in patients with NAFLD.