• Title/Summary/Keyword: San francisco

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Improved Perfusion Contrast and Reliability in MR Perfusion Images Using A Novel Arterial Spin Labeling

  • Jahng, Geon-Ho;Xioaping Zhu;Gerald Matson;Weiner, Michael-W;Norbert Schuff
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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    • 2002.09a
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    • pp.341-344
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    • 2002
  • Neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer's disease, are often accompanied by reduced brain perfusion (cerebral blood flow). Using the intrinsic magnetic properties of water, arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging (ASLMRI) can map brain perfusion without injection of radioactive tracers or contrast agents. However, accuracy in measuring perfusion with ASL-MRI can be limited because of contributions to the signal from stationary spins and because of signal modulations due to transient magnetic field effects. The goal was to optimize ASL-MRI for perfusion measurements in the aging human brain, including brains with Alzheimer's disease. A new ASL-MRI sequence was designed and evaluated on phantom and humans. Image texture analysis was performed to test quantitatively improvements. Compared to other ASL-MRI methods, the newly designed sequence provided improved signal to noise ratio improved signal uniformity across slices, and thus, increased measurement reliability. This new ASL-MRI sequence should therefore provide improved measurements of regional changes of brain perfusion in normal aging and neurodegenerative disorders.

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Biofilm Matrix Regulation by Candida albicans Zap1

  • Nobile, Clarissa J.;Nett, Jeniel E.;Hernday, Aaron D.;Homann, Oliver R.;Deneault, Jean-Sebastien;Nantel, Andre;Andes, David R.;Johnson, Alexander D.;Mitchell1, Aaron P.
    • Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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    • 2009.05a
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    • pp.125-125
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    • 2009
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The Story of Serratia Marcescens: Pathologic Risk Factors in Breast Implant Surgery

  • Yao, Caroline A.;Wang, Diana;Kulber, David A.
    • Archives of Plastic Surgery
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    • v.41 no.4
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    • pp.414-417
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    • 2014
  • Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens) emerged as an opportunist in the setting of immunodeficiency in the 1970s, when serious infections occurred in San Francisco hospitals after USA. Navy experiments had aerosolized the bacteria to study biologic warfare. We investigate the risks of S. marcescens in San Franciscans who undergo mastectomy with implant reconstruction. From 2007 to 2011, the senior author took breast capsule cultures for all patients at the time of tissue expander exchange/explant. Of the 142 women who had reconstruction, 23 had positive cultures. Only the two patients who were positive for S. marcescens developed clinical infections that required explantation. Both had postoperative chemotherapy with transient neutropenia, and both had close ties to San Francisco. Clinical signs of infection emerged for both patients months after initial surgery, despite having previously well healed incisions. Other patients were culture positive for Pseudomonas, Proteus, Enterococcus and MRSA and did not develop require explant. While the link between San Francisco and S. marcescens is controversial, a patient's geography is a simple screening tool when considering postoperative risks, especially in the immunocompromised. Closer monitoring for neutropenia during chemotherapy, and a lower threshold to administer S. marcescens targeted antibiotics may be warranted in these patients.

Combined X-ray CT-SPECT System with a CZT Detector

  • Kwon, Soo-Il;Koji Iwata;Hasegawa, B-H
    • Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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    • 2002.09a
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    • pp.379-381
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    • 2002
  • A single CdZnTe detector is tested for suitability in a prototype CT/ SPECT system designed to acquire both emission and transmission data. The detector has the size of 1${\times}$l-cm$^2$ with 4${\times}$4 1.5${\times}$l.5mm$^2$ pixellated anodes. Since the detector is smaller than imaged object, we translated it in an arc centered at the x-ray tube to image larger objects. Pulse counting electronics with very short shaping time (50 ns) are used to satisfy high photon rates in x-ray imaging, and response linearity up to 3${\times}$10$\^$5/ counts per second per detector element is achieved. The energy resolution of 122-keV gamma-ray is measured to be 14%. We have characterized the system performance by scanning a radiographic resolution phantom .and the Hoffman brain phantom. The spatial resolution of CT and SPECT are about 1 mm and 7 mm, respectively.

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