Learning from experience - Radiology ancillary review of prospective research studies involving imaging.

This report describes the operational process of a big academic children's hospital's Radiology Scientific Review Committee, with a focus on its role in integrating radiology services into pediatric clinical research. We define the step-by-step workflow used to assess research proposals involving imaging and share insights from the past three years of data collection. Trends in modalities, radiologist involvement, and interpretation possibilities are outlined in the data.

Morphological and Optical Transformation of Gas Assisted Direct Laser Written Porous Silicon Films.

Direct laser writing (DLW) of mesoporous porous silicon (PS) films is shown to selectively create spatially separated nitridized and carbonized features on a single film. Nitridized or carbonized features are formed during DLW at 405 nm in an ambient of nitrogen and propane gas, respectively. The range of laser fluence required to create varying feature sizes while avoiding damage to the PS film is identified.

Delayed Auditory Evoked Responses in Autism Spectrum Disorder across the Life Span.

The M50 and M100 auditory evoked responses reflect early auditory processes in the primary/secondary auditory cortex. Although previous M50 and M100 studies have been conducted on individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and indicate disruption of encoding simple sensory information, analogous investigations of the neural correlates of auditory processing through development from children into adults are very limited. Magnetoencephalography was used to record signals arising from the left and right superior temporal gyrus during auditory presentation of tones to children/adolescents and adults with ASD as well as typically developing (TD) controls.

Abnormal auditory mismatch fields in adults with autism spectrum disorder.

The auditory mismatch field (MMF) is a pre-attentive processing component, reflecting neural discrimination and inhibitory processing. Abnormal MMFs have been reported in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) along with an association with abnormal language comprehension; however, relatively little is known about MMF abnormalities to contrasting vowel stimuli in adults with ASD. To better understand the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying auditory language discrimination of vowel stimuli in individuals with ASD, magnetoencephalography was used to measure MMFs during an auditory oddball paradigm with vowel stimuli (/a/ and /u/) in adults with ASD.

Multimodal Diffusion-MRI and MEG Assessment of Auditory and Language System Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Background: Auditory processing and language impairments are prominent in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study integrated diffusion MR measures of white-matter microstructure and magnetoencephalography (MEG) measures of cortical dynamics to investigate associations between brain structure and function within auditory and language systems in ASD. Based on previous findings, abnormal structure-function relationships in auditory and language systems in ASD were hypothesized.

The maturation of auditory responses in infants and young children: a cross-sectional study from 6 to 59 months.

Background: An understanding of the maturation of auditory cortex responses in typically developing infants and toddlers is needed to later identify auditory processing abnormalities in infants at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. The availability of infant and young child magnetoencephalography (MEG) systems may now provide near optimal assessment of left and right hemisphere auditory neuromagnetic responses in young populations. To assess the performance of a novel whole-head infant MEG system, a cross-sectional study examined the maturation of left and right auditory cortex responses in children 6- to 59-months of age.

On-chip read-out of picomechanical motion under ambient conditions.

Monitoring the nanomechanical movement of suspended cantilever structures has found use in applications ranging from biological/chemical sensing to atomic force microscopy. Interrogating these sensors relies on the ability to accurately determine the sub-nanometre movements of the cantilever. Here we investigate a technique based on the combination of integrated silicon photonics and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to create an optically resonant microcavity and demonstrate its use for monitoring of the position of cantilevers on the picometer scale under ambient conditions with dynamic range extending over several microns.

Artemis 123: development of a whole-head infant and young child MEG system.

Background: A major motivation in designing the new infant and child magnetoencephalography (MEG) system described in this manuscript is the premise that electrophysiological signatures (resting activity and evoked responses) may serve as biomarkers of neurodevelopmental disorders, with neuronal abnormalities in conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) potentially detectable early in development. Whole-head MEG systems are generally optimized/sized for adults. Since magnetic field produced by neuronal currents decreases as a function of distance(2) and infants and young children have smaller head sizes (and thus increased brain-to-sensor distance), whole-head adult MEG systems do not provide optimal signal-to-noise in younger individuals.

Maturational differences in thalamocortical white matter microstructure and auditory evoked response latencies in autism spectrum disorders.

White matter diffusion anisotropy in the acoustic radiations was characterized as a function of development in autistic and typically developing children. Auditory-evoked neuromagnetic fields were also recorded from the same individuals and the latency of the left and right middle latency superior temporal gyrus auditory ~50ms response (M50)(1) was measured. Group differences in structural and functional auditory measures were examined, as were group differences in associations between white matter pathways, M50 latency, and age.

Uniform dispersion of lanthanum hexaboride nanoparticles in a silica thin film: synthesis and optical properties.

Silica thin films containing uniformly dispersed lanthanum hexaboride (LaB₆) nanoparticles have been prepared by spin-coating a sol-gel silica solution containing cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB)-stabilized LaB₆ nanoparticles onto a glass substrate followed by a standard heat treatment. The production of this thin film involved three steps: (i) a CTAB-stabilized LaB₆ nanoparticle dispersion was prepared in water and then dried, (ii) the dried nanoparticles were redispersed in a small amount of water and mixed with tetraethoxyorthosilane (TEOS), ethanol, and a little acid to initiate the sol-gel reaction, and (iii) this reaction mixture was spun to produce a thin film and then was annealed. A range of techniques such as zeta potential, laser sizing, energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM), scanning TEM (STEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS) were employed to characterize the particle's size, elemental composition, and stability and the optical properties of silica thin films with LaB₆ nanoparticles.

Developmental correlation of diffusion anisotropy with auditory-evoked response.

White matter diffusion anisotropy in the acoustic radiations of the auditory pathway was characterized as a function of development in children and adolescents. Auditory-evoked neuromagnetic fields were also recorded from the same individuals, and the latency of the left and right superior temporal gyrus auditory response of approximately 100 ms was also obtained. White matter diffusion anisotropy increased with age.