Serum IgA contributes to the comprehension of Anisakis simplex associated chronic urticaria.

The phenotype of allergic diseases associated with Anisakis determines the pattern of cytokines related to antibody production. However, the role of serum IgA and the immunomodulatory mechanisms exerted by active infection of L3 or passive mucosal contact with A. simplex specific antigens has not been studied before.

Coarray synthesis based on polynomial decomposition.

Synthetic aperture (SA) techniques have been frequently used to reduce the volume and complexity of the imaging systems. A useful tool for designing synthetic aperture configurations is the coarray. This is the virtual aperture that produces in one way the same beam pattern as the SA system in emission and reception.

2D array design based on Fermat spiral for ultrasound imaging.

The main challenge faced by 3D ultrasonic imaging with 2D array transducers is the large number of elements required to achieve an acceptable level of quality in the images. Therefore, the optimisation of the array layout, in order to reduce the number of active elements in the aperture, has been a research topic in the last years. Nowadays, array technology has made viable the production of 2D arrays with larger flexibility on elements size, shape and position, allowing to study other configurations different to the classical matrix organisation, such as circular, archimedes spiral or polygonal layout between others.

Beam steering with segmented annular arrays.

Two-dimensional (2-D) arrays of squared matrix have maximum periodicity in their main directions; consequently, they require half wavelength (lambda/2), interelement spacing to avoid grating lobes. This condition gives rise to well-known problems derived from the huge number of array elements and from their small size. In contrast, 2-D arrays with curvilinear configuration produce lower grating lobes and, therefore, allow the element size to be increased beyond lambda/2.

Application of vernier thinning techniques to segmented annular arrays.

Due to the aperture periodicity, the inter-element spacing of two-dimensional squared arrays is maintained near lambda/2 in order to avoid grating lobes. This condition gives rise to severe problems derived from the huge number of array elements and from their little size that causes the signal to noise ratio to bring down. Vernier techniques have been proposed to lower the number of active elements, but the drastic reduction of the ultrasonic energy is still a great problem for the image contrast.