Objectives: Recently, there have been important advances in the clinical application of targeted hybrid near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent-radioactive tracers. ICG-99mTc-nanocolloid, for example, is already being used by some centres for sentinel lymph node biopsy in head and neck cancer. The radioactive component allows imaging at depths which would not be possible with NIR alone and, once exposed, the NIR fluorescence reporter can be imaged at very high resolution. Gamma detection is currently carried out with a separate hand-held gamma camera or with a non-imaging probe. Visualisation of NIR fluorescence during surgery requires a dedicated NIR camera, several of which are available commercially. We describe a novel hand-held hybrid NIR-gamma small field of view camera, capable of displaying co-aligned images from both modalities, which can be fused into one image or viewed separately. This study is a preliminary investigation of the performance of the fluorescence component of this camera, including phantom studies and first images from a preclinical pilot study. Methods: The hybrid camera consists of a 1500 µm thick thallium doped caesium iodide columnar (CsI:Tl) scintillator coupled to an electron multiplying charged coupled device (EMCCD). A 1.0mm diameter tungsten pinhole collimator gives a 40mm x 40mm nominal field of view for an 8mm x 8mm CCD detection area. A fluorescence camera was aligned to provide the same field of view as the gamma camera with an LED ring as the excitation source. The performance of the fluorescence imaging was quantified in this study for the fluorophores ICG and IRDye800CW (CW800) using a range of bespoke phantom experiments. In vivo images were also obtained from a preclinical study of a targeted hybrid tracer (cRGD-CW800-TCO + TCO-DOTA-111In) in mice with HT29 colorectal cancer xenografts. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The portable hybrid camera prototype has been shown to successfully image dual NIR-gamma tracers using both in vitro and in vivo experimental models. With further development, this camera could be used intraoperatively, offering the benefits of gamma imaging at depth in tissues and high resolution surface NIR fluorescence imaging in a single imaging system.
This study sought to determine malformation caused by Ochratoxin-A (OTA) on mouse embryos. Twenty adult female white Swiss mice (mus msculus) were divided into four groups, with five females per group, and with one male placed with two females in a cage. Avaginal plug was observed in the early morning and the day of mating was considered as day of pregnancy followed by the first day of pregnancy. Three sub lethal concentrations of OTA were applied to the respective groups (other than the control), 1mg/kg, 2mg/kg and 4mg/kg. The animals were given 0.1 ml per 10 gm body weight per concentration of OTA once a day during days 7-14 of pregnancy. The control group animals were given distilled water. The pregnant mice were dissected, and the embry
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Vitamin A, namely retinol is still the most proper agent for modulating so many biochemical reactions and biological functions in different tissues and organs. In addition to the provitamins A and α, βand γ-carotenoids that are present in various foods from either animal or plant origin, retinoids and rexinoids form the natural and synthetic analogs that are chemically related or unrelated and can be added as food supplements for deficiency disorders of vitamin A or used to alleviate or treat certain health problems such as skin carcinoma, acne, skin aging and dermatitis.
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Cressa cretica (Shuwwayl) is a halophytic that belongs to Convolvulaceae, naturally grown in the Middle East including Iraq. Traditionally the plant is used as a paste for sore treatment, also it is used for fever, jaundice, and other illness. Regarding nonclinical use it is used as goat, sheep, and camel feed also as an oil source. Flavonoids including quercetin, kamepferol, apigenin, and their glycosides, phenolic acid as chlorogenic acid, and phytosterols mainly ?–sitosterol were the most important phytochemicals that were detected in this halophyte. Crude ethanolic, methanolic extracts and ethyl acetate fraction of the areal parts were used in clinical studies and demonstrated various effe
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SummaryBackground: Rotavirus infection is the most commoncause of watery viral diarrhea in children younger than 5 years of age; it is a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality.Objective:The aim of the study is todetermine the clinical picture, age distribution of patients with rotavirus infection and their maternal educational background.Patients &methods: A total of 202 patients suffering from diarrhea were included in this study, over 6 months period( from 1stof March 2011to 30th of August 2011),in Children Welfare Teaching hospital. History and physical examinationwere carried out, anthropometrics measures were done and plotted on Centers for Disease Control& World Health Organization charts to determine the nut
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Understanding the compatibility between spider silk and conducting materials is essential to advance the use of spider silk in electronic applications. Spider silk is tough, but becomes soft when exposed to water. Here we report a strong affinity of amine-functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes for spider silk, with coating assisted by a water and mechanical shear method. The nanotubes adhere uniformly and bond to the silk fibre surface to produce tough, custom-shaped, flexible and electrically conducting fibres after drying and contraction. The conductivity of coated silk fibres is reversibly sensitive to strain and humidity, leading to proof-of-concept sensor and actuator demonstrations.
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Interface bonding between asphalt layers has been a topic of international investigation over the last thirty years. In this condition, a number of researchers have made their own techniques and used them to examine the characteristics of pavement interfaces. It is obvious that test findings won't always be comparable to the lack of a globally standard methodology for interface bonding. Also, several kinds of research have shown that factors like temperature, loading conditions, materials, and others have an impact on surface qualities. This study aims to solve this problem by thoroughly investigating interface bond testing that might serve as a basis for a uniform strategy. First, a general explanation of how the bonding strength
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Image Fusion Using A Convolutional Neural Network
Variable-Length Subnet Masks (VLSM), often referred to as "subnetting a subnet", is used to maximize addressing efficiency. The network administrator is able to use a long mask on networks with few hosts, and a short mask on subnets with many hosts. This addressing scheme allows growth and does not involve wasting addresses. VLSM gives a way of subnetting a network with
minimal loses of IP addresses for a specific range. Unfortunately, the network administrator has to perform several mathematical steps (or use charts) to get the required results from VLSM. In this paper, a simple graph simulator is proposed (using Visual Basic 6.0 Language) to perform all the required mathematical steps and to display the obtained required informatio