Preliminary investigation of the clinical usefulness of super-high-resolution LCDs with 9 and 15 mega-sub-pixels: observation studies with phantoms.

Our purpose in this study was to evaluate the preliminary clinical efficacy of soft-copy reading of digital mammography, for a 15-mega-sub-pixel (MsP) and a 9-MsP super-high-resolution liquid-crystal display (SHR-LCD) by use of an independent sub-pixel driving technology. We performed three kinds of phantom observation studies by six radiological technologists. Detectability of a contrast-detail phantom and simulated small objects (SSOs) resembling microcalcifications (MCLs), and shape discrimination ability of SSOs with round and square shapes, were examined and compared with a 5-MP conventional LCD (5-MP LCD).

Analysis method of noise power spectrum for medical monochrome liquid crystal displays.

We investigated methods of analyzing the noise power spectrum (NPS) measurement for medical liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Uniform images displayed on the LCDs were imaged with a high-performance digital camera equipped with a close-up lens, and then the NPSs were calculated from the image data by means of several analysis methods. In a method using the 2D fast Fourier transform (FFT) with a 256 x 256 pixels data segment (basic method), we examined the efficacy of a background trend correction (BTC) and a Hanning windowing process used for reducing the spectral estimation errors in the Fourier analysis.

[Evaluation of appropriate slice thickness setting in multidetector-row CT examinations for screening of liver cancer].

Unlabelled: In this study, we evaluated clinical images to determine appropriate settings for slice thickness in screening examinations for hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic liver cancer, which are frequently performed in abdominal CT. The clinical images of 15 cases screened for hepatocellular carcinoma and 15 cases screened for metastatic liver cancer were evaluated. The evaluation was visually performed by three abdominal radiologists, and the sensitivity and specificity of each slice thickness were calculated.

Externalization of annexin I from a folliculo-stellate-like cell line.

Our recent studies on rat pituitary tissue suggest that the annexin I-dependent inhibitory actions of glucocorticoids may not be exerted directly on endocrine cells but indirectly via folliculo-stellate (FS) cells. FS cells contain glucocorticoid receptors and abundant annexin I. We have studied the localization of annexin I in FS cells and the ability of dexamethasone to induce annexin I secretion by an FS (TtT/GF) cell line, using Western blotting and immunofluorescence microscopy.