Renal blood flow using arterial spin labelling MRI and calculated filtration fraction in healthy adult kidney donors Pre-nephrectomy and post-nephrectomy.

Objectives: Renal plasma flow (RPF) (derived from renal blood flow, RBF) and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) allow the determination of the filtration fraction (FF), which may have a role as a non-invasive renal biomarker. This is a hypothesis-generating pilot study assessing the effect of nephrectomy on renal function in healthy kidney donors.

Methods: Eight living kidney donors underwent arterial spin labelling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and GFR measurement prior to and 1 year after nephrectomy.

Comparison of ASL and DCE MRI for the non-invasive measurement of renal blood flow: quantification and reproducibility.

Objectives: To investigate the reproducibility of arterial spin labelling (ASL) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and quantitatively compare these techniques for the measurement of renal blood flow (RBF).

Methods: Sixteen healthy volunteers were examined on two different occasions. ASL was performed using a multi-TI FAIR labelling scheme with a segmented 3D-GRASE imaging module.

Precise measurement of renal filtration and vascular parameters using a two-compartment model for dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI of the kidney gives realistic normal values.

Objective: To model the uptake phase of T(1)-weighted DCE-MRI data in normal kidneys and to demonstrate that the fitted physiological parameters correlate with published normal values.

Methods: The model incorporates delay and broadening of the arterial vascular peak as it appears in the capillary bed, two distinct compartments for renal intravascular and extravascular Gd tracer, and uses a small-vessel haematocrit value of 24%. Four physiological parameters can be estimated: regional filtration K ( trans ) (ml min(-1) [ml tissue](-1)), perfusion F (ml min(-1) [100 ml tissue](-1)), blood volume v ( b ) (%) and mean residence time MRT (s).

Repeatability of renal arterial spin labelling MRI in healthy subjects.

Object: Arterial spin labelling (ASL) can be used to measure renal perfusion non-invasively. The aim of this study was to determine the repeatability of this technique in healthy kidneys to vindicate its use in clinic.

Materials And Methods: Two groups of healthy volunteers were imaged two different days to assess intra- and inter-session repeatability.

Test-retest reliability and repeatability of renal diffusion tensor MRI in healthy subjects.

Purpose: This study assessed test-retest reliability and repeatability of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the kidneys.

Materials And Methods: Seven healthy volunteers (age range, 19-31 years), were imaged three consecutive times on the same day (short-term reliability) and the same imaging protocol was repeated after a month (long-term reliability). Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans in the coronal-oblique projection of the kidney were acquired on a 1.

Structure and NMR assignment in calcined and as-synthesized forms of AlPO-14: a combined study by first-principles calculations and high-resolution 27Al-31P MAS NMR correlation.

The high-resolution 27Al and 31P NMR spectra of two as-synthesized forms of the microporous aluminophosphate AlPO-14 and the corresponding calcined-dehydrated form were assigned using both "first-principles" calculations of NMR parameters (GIPAW, as implemented in NMR-CASTEP) and a 27Al-31P heteronuclear correlation NMR experiment (MQ-J-HETCOR) that exploits 27Al multiple-quantum coherences and J couplings to identify Al-O-P linkages. NMR parameters calculated from published AlPO-14 crystal structures, which are derived from powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data, are in poor agreement with experiment and it was necessary to optimize the structure geometry using energy minimization before satisfactory agreement was obtained. Comparison of simulated powder XRD patterns from the experimental and the energy-minimized structures shows that the changes in relative atomic positions in the optimized structure are relatively small and yield only minor adjustments in the Bragg peak intensities.

Five-coordinate Pd(II) orthometallated triarylphosphite complexes.

The reaction of the orthopalladated triarylphosphite complexes [{Pd(mu-Cl){kappa(2)-P,C-P(OC(6)H(2)-2,4-R(2))(OC(6)H(3)-2,4-R(2))}(2)] (R = H, (t)Bu) with bis(2-diphenylphosphinoethyl)phenylphosphine leads to a five-coordinate palladium(II) (R = H) and a mixture containing four-and five-coordinate species (R = (t)Bu). The crystal structure of the five-coordinate species [Pd{kappa(2)-P,C-(P(OC(6)H(4))(OC(6)H(5))(2)}{bis(2-diphenylphosphinoethyl)phenylphosphine}][SbF(6)] is presented. This complex reacts with hydrogen peroxide or [AuCl(tht)] to give four-coordinate complexes in which the displaced phosphine residue is either oxidised or coordinated to gold chloride; this demonstrates that the five-coordinate complexes are labile in solution.