X ray phase contrast

Minimally invasive ablation techniques for renal cancer are becoming more popular due to their low complication rate and rapid recovery period. Despite excellent visualisation, one drawback of the use of computed tomography (CT) in these procedures is the requirement for iodine-based contrast agents, which are associated with adverse reactions and require a higher X-ray dose. The purpose of this work is to examine the use of time information to generate synthetic contrast enhanced images at arbitrary points after contrast agent injection from non-contrast CT images acquired during renal cryoablation cases...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is to reveal the respiratory displacement of the right adrenal vein (RAV) to predict the exact location of the RAV during adrenal venous sampling (AVS). METHODS: Computed tomography (CT) scans obtained 45 seconds (breath-hold at inhalation) and 70 seconds (breath-hold at exhalation) after contrast material injection were compared to venograms of the RAV of patients with primary aldosteronism who underwent AVS between January 2016 and December 2020...

We present the case of a 46-year-old male, a former smoker, with a medical history significant for morbid obesity grade III, hypothyroidism, hyperuricemia, and dyslipidemia. Four months ago, he was diagnosed with sarcoidosis involving mediastinal lymph nodes and is currently undergoing treatment with corticosteroids. The patient presented to the emergency department with persistent epigastric and thoracic pain lasting one week, accompanied by dysphagia and odynophagia intermittently. Laboratory tests showed elevated acute-phase reactants, with no other notable abnormalities...

Improving the scalability of tissue imaging throughput with bright, coherent X-rays requires identifying and mitigating artifacts resulting from the interactions between X-rays and matter. At synchrotron sources, long-term imaging of soft tissues in solution can result in gas bubble formation or cavitation, which dramatically compromises image quality and integrity of the samples. By combining in-line phase-contrast imaging with gas chromatography in real time, we were able to track the onset and evolution of high-energy X-ray-induced gas bubbles in ethanol-embedded soft tissue samples for tens of minutes (two to three times the typical scan times)...

OBJECTIVES: Robustness of radiomic features in physiological tissue is an important prerequisite for quantitative analysis of tumor biology and response assessment. In contrast to previous studies which focused on different tumors with mostly short scan-re-scan intervals, this study aimed to evaluate the robustness of radiomic features in cancer-free patients and over a clinically encountered inter-scan interval. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients without visible tumor burden who underwent at least two portal-venous phase dual energy CT examinations of the abdomen between May 2016 and January 2020 were included, while macroscopic tumor burden was excluded based upon follow-up imaging for all patients (≥3 months)...

Layered double hydroxide (LDH) is an applicable material that can be modified in various ways. Modifications using natural extracts fulfill the principles of "green chemistry." The preparation of butterfly pea flower extract (BPE)-modified NiAl LDH was completed using the calcination and restacking method. The characteristics of the prepared composites were identified through analysis of functional groups, crystal phase, bandgap energy, surface area and surface morphology. Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) characterization revealed that the active group of the catalyst is -OH except for NiAl layered double oxide (LDO), which has the metal oxide-like functional groups...

Several composites based on poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and mesoporous SBA-15 silica were prepared by solvent-casting followed by a further stage of compression molding. The thermal stability, phase transitions and crystalline details of these composites were studied, paying special attention to the confinement of the PHB polymeric chains into the mesopores of the silica. For that, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and real-time variable-temperature X-ray scattering at small angles (SAXS) were performed...

BACKGROUND: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a complication in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Accurate strategies to identify its presence in early phases are essential. We conducted the study aiming to determine the validity of ultrasound (US) in detecting subclinical ILD in SSc, and to ascertain its potential in determining the disease progression. METHODS: 133 patients without respiratory symptoms and 133 healthy controls were included. Borg scale, Rodnan skin score (RSS), auscultation, chest radiographs, and respiratory function tests (RFT) were performed...

The stimulus-responsive behavior of coordination networks (CNs), which switch between closed (nonporous) and open (porous) phases, is of interest because of its potential utility in gas storage and separation. Herein, we report two polymorphs of a new square-lattice ( sql ) topology CN, X-sql-1-Cu , of formula [Cu(Imibz)2 ] n (HImibz = {[4-(1 H -imidazol-1-yl)phenylimino]methyl}benzoic acid), isolated from the as-synthesized CN X-sql-1-Cu-(MeOH) 2 ·2MeOH , which subsequently transformed to a narrow pore solvate, X-sql-1-Cu-A·MeOH , upon mild activation (drying in air or heating at 333 K under nitrogen)...

Bile infarct is a pivotal characteristic of obstructive biliary disease, but its evolution during the disease progression remains unclear. Our objective, therefore, is to explore morphological alterations of the bile infarct in the disease course by means of multiscale X-ray phase-contrast CT. Bile duct ligation is performed in mice to mimic the obstructive biliary disease. Intact liver lobes of the mice are scanned by phase-contrast CT at various resolution scales. Phase-contrast CT clearly presents three-dimensional (3D) images of the bile infarcts down to the submicron level with good correlation with histological images...

The concept of a solid catalyst with an ionic liquid layer (SCILL) is a promising approach to improve the selectivity of noble metal catalysts in heterogeneous reactions. In order to understand the origins of this selectivity control, we investigated the growth and thermal stability of ultrathin 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluormethanesulfonate [C2 C1 Im][OTf] films on Pt(111) by infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in time-resolved and temperature-programmed experiments...

Laves phases exhibit a plethora of different structures and a multitude of physical properties. Investigations in the ternary system Hf-V-Al led to the discovery of numerous members of the solid solution Hf(V1- x Al x )2 , which adopt the hexagonal MgZn2 type (C14) for medium to high amounts of Al ( x = 0.2-1) and the cubic MgCu2 type (C15) for small Al amounts ( x = 0.05-0.1). While all members exhibit Pauli-paramagnetic behavior due to the absence of localized magnetic moments, the V-rich cubic member Hf(V0...

BSTS epitaxial thin film topological insulators were grown using the MBE technique on two different types of substrates i.e. , Si (111) and SiC/graphene with Bi0.7 Sb1.6 Te1.8 Se0.9 and Bi0.9 Sb1.5 Te1.8 Se1.1 , respectively. The crystallographic properties of BSTS films were investigated via X-ray diffraction, which showed the strongest reflections from the (0 0 l ) facets corresponding to the rhombohedral phase. Superior epitaxial growth, homogeneous thickness, smooth surfaces, and larger unit cell parameters were observed for the films grown on the Si substrate...

High-order harmonic generation (HHG) arising from the nonperturbative interaction of intense light fields with matter constitutes a well-established tabletop source of coherent extreme-ultraviolet and soft X-ray radiation, which is typically emitted as attosecond pulse trains. However, ultrafast applications increasingly demand isolated attosecond pulses (IAPs), which offer great promise for advancing precision control of electron dynamics. Yet, the direct generation of IAPs typically requires the synthesis of near-single-cycle intense driving fields, which is technologically challenging...

To report on a micro computed tomography (micro-CT) system capable of x-ray phase contrast imaging and of increasing spatial resolution at constant magnification. 

Approach: The micro-CT system implements the edge illumination (EI) method, which relies on two absorbing masks with periodically spaced transmitting apertures in the beam path; these split the beam into an array of beamlets and provide sensitivity to the beamlets' directionality, i.e., refraction. In EI, spatial resolution depends on the width of the beamlets rather than on the source/detector point spread function (PSF), meaning that resolution can be increased by decreasing the mask apertures, without changing the source/detector PSF or the magnification...

OBJECTIVE: Different methods can be used to condition imaging systems for clinical use. The purpose of this study was to assess how these methods complement one another in evaluating a system for clinical integration of an emerging technology, photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT), for thoracic imaging. METHODS: Four methods were used to assess a clinical PCCT system (NAEOTOM Alpha; Siemens Healthineers, Forchheim, Germany) across 3 reconstruction kernels (Br40f, Br48f, and Br56f)...

The Alx CoCrFeNi2.1 (x = 0, 0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3) multi-component high-entropy alloy (HEA) was synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS), The impact of the percentage of Al on crystal structure transition, microstructure evolution and mechanical properties were studied. Crystal structure was investigated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results show that with the increasing of Al content, the crystal structure of the alloys gradually transformed from a nanocrystalline phase of FCC to a mix of FCC and BCC nanocrystalline...

Due to the ambiguity related to the lack of phase information, determining the physical parameters of multilayer thin films from measured neutron and X-ray reflectivity curves is, on a fundamental level, an underdetermined inverse problem. This ambiguity poses limitations on standard neural networks, constraining the range and number of considered parameters in previous machine learning solutions. To overcome this challenge, a novel training procedure has been designed which incorporates dynamic prior boundaries for each physical parameter as additional inputs to the neural network...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare portal venous phase photon-counting CT (PCCT) using 20 cc less than weight-based contrast dosing with energy-integrating detector CT (EID-CT) using weight-based dosing by quantitative and qualitative analysis. METHODS: Fifty adult patients who underwent a reduced intravenous contrast dose portal venous phase PCCT from May 1, 2023, to August 10, 2023, and a prior portal-venous EID-CT with weight-based contrast dosing were retrospectively identified...

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary emphysema is a part of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is an irreversible chronic respiratory disease. In order to avoid further damage to lung tissue, early diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary emphysema is essential. PURPOSE: Early pulmonary emphysema diagnosis is difficult with conventional radiographic imaging. Recently, x-ray phase contrast imaging has proved to be an effective and promising imaging strategy for soft tissue, due to its high sensitivity and multi-contrast...