Purpose To clarify the components primarily responsible for diffusion abnormalities in pancreatic cancerous tissue. Materials and Methods Subjects comprised 10 patients with surgically confirmed pancreatic cancer. Diffusion‐weighted (DW) echo‐planar imaging (b value = 0, 500 s/mm2) was employed to calculate the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). ADC values of cancer and noncancerous tissue were calculated. Furthermore, ADC values of the cancer were compared with histopathological results. Results The mean (±standard deviation) ADC value was significantly lower for tumor (1.27 ± 0.52 × 10−3 mm2/s) than for noncancerous tissue (1.90 ± 0.41 × 10−3 mm2/s, P < 0.05). Histopathological examination showed similar proportions of fibrotic area, cellular component, necrosis, and mucin in each case. Regarding the density of fibrosis in cancer, three cases were classified in the loose fibrosis group and the remaining seven cases were classified in the dense fibrosis group. The mean ADC value was significantly higher in the loose fibrosis group (1.88 ± 0.39 × 10−3 mm2/s) than in the dense fibrosis group (1.01 ± 0.29 × 10−3 mm2/s, P < 0.05). In quantitative analysis, ADC correlated well with the proportion of collagenous fibers (r = −0.87, P < 0.05). Conclusion Collagenous fibers may be responsible for diffusion abnormalities in pancreatic cancer. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008;27:1302–1308. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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The tellurium-containing cationic type-I clathrate Ge30P16Te8 was synthesized and its thermoelectric properties were investigated. This clathrate showed a p-type conductivity, while most of the clathrates are n type. The Ge30P16Te8 clathrate had a band gap energy of 0.62eV and a room temperature thermal conductivity of 9mWcm−1K−1, which is as low as those of germanium clathrates such as anionic Sr8Ga16Ge30 and cationic Ge38Sb8I8. The electronic structure of the Ge30P16Te8 clathrate was also calculated using an ab initio method.

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