Shear-wave elastography of the liver in a healthy pediatric population.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the elastic modulus values of normal liver tissue in school-age children by shear wave elastography (SWE) and to study the factors that influence these stiffness measurements.

Methods: Six hundred and four school-age children (295 girls and 309 boys) who were recruited at a hospital and had normal results of specific laboratory tests and imaging studies underwent SWE examinations. The elastic modulus values were obtained in segment V and VI for each subject and comparisons were made between age groups.

The effects of ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) carrying IL-8 monoclonal antibody on the inflammatory responses and stability of atherosclerotic plaques.

This study investigated the value of using ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) to deliver an IL-8 monoclonal antibody to inhibit the inflammatory response and increase plaque stability in a rabbit model of atherosclerosis (AS). An abdominal aortic atherosclerotic plaque model was established in sixty 4-week-old male New Zealand rabbits. The rabbits were fed a high-fat diet for 12 weeks.

Interleukin 8 targeted contrast echocardiography is effective to evaluate myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in the rabbits.

Interleukin 8 (IL-8) is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine that recruits neutrophil to the areas of inflammation and has been implicated in myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MIRI). This study aimed to apply IL-8 targeted myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) to evaluate MIRI in rabbits. MCE imaging with IL-8 targeted microbubbles (MB) and control microbubbles (MB) was performed in 40 Japanese white rabbits after brief proximal left anterior descending (LAD) partial occlusion for 30 min and subsequent reperfusion for 30 min, 60 min, 120 min and 180 min.

Polarization Converter with Controllable Birefringence Based on Hybrid All-Dielectric-Graphene Metasurface.

Previous studies on hybrid dielectric-graphene metasurfaces have been used to implement induced transparency devices, while exhibiting high Q-factors based on trapped magnetic resonances. Typically, the transparency windows are single wavelength and less appropriate for polarization conversion structures. In this work, a quarter-wave plate based on a hybrid silicon-graphene metasurface with controllable birefringence is numerically designed.

Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Dependence on Misaligned Truncated Ag Nanoprism Dimer.

Misaligned edge-to-edge dimers are the common products during the preparation of Ag nanoprism dimers using self-assembly method. However, in the self-assembly method, Ag nanoprisms are easily truncated because they are easy to oxidize in an acidic environment. In this work, modeling a truncated Ag nanoprism on a misaligned edge-to-edge dimer provides a better understanding of the effects of the truncation and misalignment on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the dimer.

Focusing surface plasmon polaritons and detecting Stokes parameters utilizing nanoslits distributed plasmonic lenses.

A method to detect the full Stokes parameters utilizing a double-ring and Archimedes-curves distributed nanoslits plasmonic lenses is proposed. We demonstrate theoretically and numerically that both of these two plasmonic lenses can focus surface plasmon polaritons to centrally symmetric fields with subwavelength-sized focal spots under linear, elliptical, and circular polarization incidence. The intensity at the focal spots is modulated by the polarization state of incident light.

Mode manipulation and near-THz absorptions in binary grating-graphene layer structures.

The excitation and absorption properties of grating coupled graphene surface plasmons were studied. It was found that whether a mode can be excited is mainly determined by the frequency of incident light and the duty ratio of gratings. In the structure consisting graphene bilayer, a blueshift of the excitation frequency existed when the distance between neighbor graphene layer were decreased gradually.