Exposure-response relationships between road traffic, railway, and aircraft noise and annoyance in Bulgarian cities.

This study aimed to develop exposure-response relationships (ERRs) between road, rail, and air traffic noise and high noise annoyance (HNA) and to assess the HNA disease burden. In 2023, 4640 adults were cross-sectionally sampled from the five largest cities in Bulgaria. Participants' road, rail/tram, and air traffic HNA was defined as the top two categories (60% cut-off point) of a 5-point scale.

Accuracy of ultra-high resolution and virtual non-calcium reconstruction algorithm for stenosis evaluation with photon-counting CT: results from a dynamic phantom study.

Background: We compared ultra-high resolution (UHR), standard resolution (SR), and virtual non-calcium (VNCa) reconstruction for coronary artery stenosis evaluation using photon-counting computed tomography (PC-CT).

Methods: One vessel phantom (4-mm diameter) containing solid calcified lesions with 25% and 50% stenoses inside a thorax phantom with motion simulation underwent PC-CT using UHR (0.2-mm slice thickness) and SR (0.

Photon-Counting Detector CT Virtual Monoenergetic Images for Coronary Artery Stenosis Quantification: Phantom and In Vivo Evaluation.

Calcium blooming causes stenosis overestimation on coronary CTA. The purpose of this article was to evaluate the impact of virtual monoenergetic imaging (VMI) reconstruction level on coronary artery stenosis quantification using photon-counting detector (PCD) CT. A phantom containing two custom-made vessels (representing 25% and 50% stenosis) underwent PCD CT acquisitions without and with simulated cardiac motion.

Impact of Cardiac Motion on coronary artery calcium scoring using a virtual non-iodine algorithm on photon-counting detector CT: a dynamic phantom study.

This study assessed the impact of cardiac motion and in-vessel attenuation on coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring using virtual non-iodine (VNI) against virtual non-contrast (VNC) reconstructions on photon-counting detector CT. Two artificial vessels containing calcifications and different in-vessel attenuations (500, 800HU) were scanned without (static) and with cardiac motion (60, 80, 100 beats per minute [bpm]). Images were post-processed using a VNC and VNI algorithm at 70 keV and quantum iterative reconstruction (QIR) strength 2.

Ultra-high resolution photon-counting coronary CT angiography improves coronary stenosis quantification over a wide range of heart rates - A dynamic phantom study.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of using photon-counting detector (PCD)-CT with ultra-high resolution (UHR) on stenosis quantification accuracy and blooming artifacts from low to high heart rates in a dynamic motion phantom.

Method: Two vessel phantoms (diameter: 4 mm) containing solid calcified lesions (25%, 50% stenoses), filled with different concentrations of iodine, inside an anthropomorphic thorax phantom attached to a coronary motion simulator were used. Scanning was performed on a PCD-CT system using an ECG-gated mode at UHR and standard resolution (SR) (0.