Manufacture and acoustical characterisation of a high-frequency contrast agent for targeting applications

The aim of this study was to develop and acoustically to optimise an ultrasonic contrast agent for research imaging applications at 40 MHz. A range of liposomal dispersions were manufactured and the mean backscatter power was measured using a Boston Scientific ClearView Ultra intravascular scanner with a 40 MHz, 2.5 Fr Atlantis SR Plus catheter. The scanner had been modified to allow access to the unprocessed ultrasound data, which were digitised, and the mean backscatter power was calculated over a region-of-interest centred at 2 mm from the transducer. Mean backscatter power was normalised to the data collected from a water-air interface. The effects of sonication and rapid shaking on six liposomal samples were also studied and this indicated that both techniques significantly reduced the size of the liposomes within the dispersions. Maximum mean backscatter power was measured for sonicated liposomal dispersions with 60% by weight of phosphatidylethanolamine. Moreover, this dispersion had greater mean backscatter power than sheep blood at 40 MHz.     

Investigation of expression of 5T4 antigen in cervical cancer

A monoclonal antibody detecting amniotrophoblastic antigen 5T4 has shown reactivity against various neoplastic cell lines and tumour specimens but with a relatively restricted normal tissue expression. This antibody has been investigated as a potential indicator of premalignant changes identified as cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia and malignant cervical lesions using immunohistochemistry on frozen tissue biopsies. The basal cells of normal cervical stratified epithelium exhibited faint staining, but a general increase in intensity and extent of specific labeling of this tissue was seen from the first premalignant stage through to carcinoma. In most cases, this was in accordance with the distribution of dysplastic cells, and was accompanied by increased specific staining of the stromal tissue. All invasive squamous carcinomas of the cervix were 5T4 antigen positive. Common inflammatory non-malignant diseases did show a certain degree of epithelial and stromal reactivity. These results, showing 5T4 reactivity with neoplastic and pre-neoplastic lesions, may provide a quantitative basis for its potential use as a tumour marker in the immunochemical detection on immunoassay of cervical cancer.     

大剂量富马酸奎的平中毒的急救

1病例报告患者,女,33岁,因患精神分裂症服富马酸奎的平5 mo,1 wk前服药不规律,出现幻觉,遂自服160片(0.1 g/片)3 h送县中医院抢救,查体与急救: 深昏迷,瞳孔散大约5 mm,血压波动于90～60/40～30 mmHg(12～8/5～4 kPa),全身不自主抽搐.     

Influence of scanning frequency and ultrasonic contrast agent on reproducibility of left ventricular measurements in the mouse.

BACKGROUND: Mice are now widely used as models of cardiovascular disease. Their small size and fast heart rates are technically challenging to echocardiography. This study examined the influence of different scanning frequencies and ultrasonic contrast agent (UCA) on the accuracy and reproducibility of measurements of left ventricular (LV) structure and function. METHODS: Normal mouse hearts (C57BL6) were imaged at 3 different scanning frequencies before and after intravenous injection of the UCA, Optison. Coronary artery ligation mice and sham-operated controls were scanned at 10-22 MHz with and without UCA. RESULTS: Scanning frequency had no significant effect on intraobserver or interobserver variation of LV measurements in normal mice under baseline conditions. Use of UCA significantly reduced estimated ejection fraction at 10-22 MHz compared with baseline (baseline 50.8 +/- 7.6% vs UCA 39.7 +/- 7.6%; P = .03) and significantly increased values for LV cavity dimensions (eg, LV area diastole 20.74 +/- 1.20 vs 23.23 +/- 0.98 mm 2 ; P = .002). UCA significantly reduced intraobserver and interobserver variation in LV ejection fraction. CONCLUSIONS: Scanning frequency had no significant effect on reproducibility of LV measurements in the mouse but UCA significantly reduced interobserver variation. Use of UCA could reduce the number of mice required in any given experiment to observe a statistically significant change in LV function.     

Deconvolution in medical ultrasonics: practical considerations

Deconvolution can, in principle, enhance the spatial resolution of specular reflectors in medical ultrasonic imaging but, in practice, the resolution improvement offered is offset by the introduction of undesirable artefacts. In this study, several problems related to deconvolution were identified and practical suggestions for minimising artefacts were made. These include: fitting a three-dimensional surface to experimentally measured beam profiles in order to take into account the depth-dependence of the point spread function (PSF); adaptive detail-preserving noise filtering as a preprocessing tool in order to improve the quality of the data and reduce the speckle enhancement artefact; a histogram modification procedure in order to overcome the problems of ringing, over- and undershooting. Processing of a large number of A-scan data obtained from tissue-mimicking phantoms and the abdomens of normal volunteers demonstrated the efficiency of these techniques in reducing artefacts. The performance of deconvolution in terms of resolution improvement was satisfactory when data from resolution test objects were processed but poor with abdominal scans. This difference in performance raises the question as to how similar the PSF in tissue is to the experimentally measured PSF in water or even a tissue-mimicking material.     

A comparison of bone mineral density in oligomenorrhoeic adolescents with polycystic ovaries and normal ovaries

We evaluated whether the presence of polycystic ovaries in adolescent girls as a cause of oligomenorrhoea and amenorrhoea would pose any protective effect against osteoporosis or low bone mineral density (BMD) compared with girls having similar menstrual dysfunction but normal ovaries. A cross-sectional observational study was done in consecutive girls, aged between 16 and 19 years, presenting to the adolescent gynaecology clinic with oligomenorrhoea or amenorrhoea. All patients underwent full hormonal profile assessment, pelvic ultrasound for ovarian morphology, bio-impedance estimation of body fat, and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and quantitative peripheral computed tomography scans to determine BMD in axial and appendicular skeletal sites. Polycystic ovaries were diagnosed according to ultrasound morphology. These were then compared with an age-matched eumenorrhoeic control group that had undergone the same evaluation. Of 45 patients with oligomenorrhoea or amenorrhoea, 14 (31%) were diagnosed to have polycystic ovaries, while the other 31 had normal ovaries. The control group consisted of 45 age-matched eumenorrhoeic girls. The group with normal ovaries had lower BMD at the lumbar spine and hip, as well as lower total tibial volumetric BMD, than the eumenorrhoeic controls, but there were no significant differences between the group with polycystic ovaries and eumenorrhoeic controls. We conclude that adolescents with oligomenorrhoea and amenorrhoea with normal ovaries had lower BMD than eumenorrhoeic ones, but those with polycystic ovaries had BMD values comparable to those of eumenorrhoeic controls despite their menstrual dysfunction.