An aryl-alcohol oxidase of Pleurotus sapidus: heterologous expression, characterization, and application in a 2-enzyme system.

Aryl-alcohol oxidases (AAOs) are enzymes supporting the degradation of lignin by fungal derived class II peroxidases produced by white-rot fungi. AAOs are able to generate H2O2 as a by-product via oxidation of an aryl-alcohol into its correspondent aldehyde. In this study, an AAO was heterologously expressed in a basidiomycete host for the first time.

[Improvement of tomographic reconstruction in bone SPECT].

Aim: The comparison between iterative reconstruction and filtered backprojection in the reconstruction of bone SPECT in the diagnosis of skeletal metastases.

Patients, Methods: 47 consecutive patients (vertebral segments: n = 435), with suspected malignancy of the vertebral column, were examined by bone scintigraphy and MRI (maximal interval between the two procedures +/- 5 weeks). The SPECT-data were reconstructed with an iterative algorithm (ISA) and with filtered backprojection.

Fever of unknown origin: prospective comparison of [18F]FDG imaging with a double-head coincidence camera and gallium-67 citrate SPET.

Gallium-67 citrate is currently considered as the tracer of first choice in the diagnostic workup of fever of unknown origin (FUO). Fluorine-18 2'-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) has been shown to accumulate in malignant tumours but also in inflammatory processes. The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate FDG imaging with a double-head coincidence camera (DHCC) in patients with FUO in comparison with planar and single-photon emission tomography (SPET) 67Ga citrate scanning.

Count-rate statistics of the gamma camera.

The temporal distribution of decay events recorded by a gamma camera in 'list mode' differs from the Poisson distribution because of dead-time effects. We propose a new model for the dead-time behaviour of a gamma camera. The most important feature of our model is that the loss of events occurs in pairs or higher multiples due to the so-called 'pile-up' effect.

[Importance of iterative reconstruction ISA in the diagnosis of liver hemangioma].

Aim: To evaluate whether the iterative reconstruction methodology ISA is superior to the standard technique of filtered back-projection.

Methods: In a retrospective study, we evaluated images of 39 patients with solitary or multiple liver tumors who underwent blood pool imaging in SPECT technique in order to prove or exclude the presence of hemangioma.

Results: Activity accumulations in accordance with the diagnosis of liver hemangioma could be visualized in 34 cases by the iterative, in 31 cases by the filtered back-projection methodology.