Enhancing gamma-ray detection: Processing grooved microstructures on LYSO crystal with femtosecond laser.

Background: Gamma-ray detection plays a crucial role in the fields of biomedicine, space exploration, national defense, and security. High-precision gamma photon detection relies on scintillation crystals, which attenuate gamma rays through mechanisms such as photoelectric effect and Compton scattering. These interactions generate light signals within the scintillation crystal, which are subsequently converted into electronic signals using photodetectors, enabling accurate readout, and analysis.

A multiplexing method based on multidimensional readout method.

To develop and validate a novel multidimensional readout method that significantly reduces the number of readout channels (NRC) in PET detectors while maintaining high spatial and energy performance.We arranged a3×3×4SiPM array in multiple dimensions and employed row/column/layer summation with a resistor-based splitting circuit. We then applied denoising methods to enhance the peak-to-valley ratio in the decoding map, ensuring accurate crystal-position determination.

Evolution and effectiveness of bilateral and multilateral development assistance for health: a mixed-methods review of trends and strategic shifts (1990-2022).

Background: Development assistance for health (DAH) plays a vital role in supporting health programmes in low- and middle-income countries. While DAH has historically focused on infectious diseases and maternal and child health, there is a lack of comprehensive analysis of DAH trends, strategic shifts and their impact on health systems and outcomes. This study aims to provide a comprehensive review of DAH from 1990 to 2022, examining its evolution and funding allocation shifts.

Measured Resection as Gap Balance Method in Mobile-Bearing Medial Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: Gap balancing is a vital process during mobile-bearing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (MB-UKA). However, this process commonly depends on the surgeon's experience and lacks specific unified standards. This study aimed to propose and evaluate a novel "measured resection" method for gap balance in MB-UKA.

Risk factors of systemic inflammatory response syndrome after minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy with a controlled irrigation pressure.

Objective: This study aims to identify the risk factors for systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) after minimally invasive percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) with a controlled irrigation pressure and to find which patients undergoing PCNL are likely to develop SIRS under the pressure-controlled condition.

Methods: A total of 303 consecutive patients who underwent first-stage PCNL in our institute between July 2016 and June 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. All the procedures were performed with an 18 F tract using an irrigation pump setting the irrigation fluid pressure at 110 mmHg and the flow rate of irrigation at 0.

Predicting higher risk factors for COVID-19 short-term reinfection in patients with rheumatic diseases: a modeling study based on XGBoost algorithm.

Background: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reinfection, particularly short-term reinfection, poses challenges to the management of rheumatic diseases and may increase adverse clinical outcomes. This study aims to develop machine learning models to predict and identify the risk of short-term COVID-19 reinfection in patients with rheumatic diseases.

Methods: We developed four prediction models using explainable machine learning to assess the risk of short-term COVID-19 reinfection in 543 patients with rheumatic diseases.

[Application of PET-LINAC in Biology-guided Radiotherapy].

Biology-guided radiotherapy (BgRT) is a novel technique of external beam radiotherapy, combining positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) with a linear accelerator (LINAC). The key innovation is to utilize PET signals from tracers in tumor tissues for real-time tracking and guiding beamlets. Compared with a traditional LINAC system, a BgRT system is more complex in hardware design, software algorithm, system integration and clinical workflow.

Effects of 12-Year Nitrogen Addition and Mowing on Plant-Soil Micronutrients in a Typical Steppe.

Changes in soil micronutrient availability may have adverse consequences on grassland productivity, yet it’s still largely unclear how concurrent human practices, such as fertilization and mowing, affect micronutrient cycling in the plant-soil systems. Here, we measured six essential micronutrient (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Co and Mo) contents in both plant pool (separated as aboveground plant parts, litter, and belowground roots) at the community level and soil pool (0−10 cm depth) after 12-year consecutive nitrogen (N) addition (0, 2, 10, and 50 g N m−2 year−1) and mowing in a typical steppe of the Mongolian Plateau. The results show that (i) medium-N (10 g m−2 year−1) and high-N (50 g m−2 year−1) addition rates significantly increased contents of soil-available Fe (+310.

Effect of steam explosion pretreatment on polysaccharide isolated from Poria cocos: Structure and immunostimulatory activity.

This study aimed to examine the effects of steam explosion (SE) pretreatment on the structural characteristics and immunostimulatory activity of polysaccharide from Poria cocos. Results showed that the average molecular weights of native polysaccharide (PCP) and SE-pretreated polysaccharide (SEPCP) were 18.67 and 6.

Laser Needle Knife's Effects on Rabbits Cervical Spondylopathy of Vertebral Artery, Fibrinogen, and Blood Viscosity.

Objective: To determine the effect of laser needle-knife on vertebroarterial morphology, fibrinogen and blood viscosity in a rabbit model of cervical spondylotic arteriopathy (CSA) and the mechanism of action involved.

Methods: A number of 40 healthy common grade rabbits were divided into four groups: normal control, model, acupuncture, and laser needle knife group. The normal control group does not establish a CSA rabbit model, and the other groups all establish a CSA rabbit model, but they are treated in different ways.

β-Amyloid discordance of cerebrospinal fluid and positron emission tomography imaging shows distinct spatial tau patterns.

Extracellular β-amyloid plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tau tangles are the primary hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. β-Amyloid pathology can be directly quantified by positron emission tomography imaging or indirectly by measuring the decrease of cerebrospinal fluid β-amyloid/β-amyloid ratio. Although these two β-amyloid biomarkers may be considered interchangeable, they sometimes show discordance, particularly in early stage of Alzheimer's disease.

APOE-ε4 modulates the association among plasma Aβ/Aβ, vascular diseases, neurodegeneration and cognitive decline in non-demented elderly adults.

Including apolipoprotein E-ε4 (APOE-ε4) status and older age into consideration may increase the accuracy of plasma Aβ/Aβ detecting Aβ+ individuals, but the rationale behind this remains to be fully understood. Besides, both Aβ pathology and vascular diseases are related to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline, but it is still not fully understood how APOE-ε4 modulates these relationships. In this study, we examined 241 non-demented Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative participants to investigate the associations among age, white matter hyperintensities (WMH), hypertension, hyperlipidemia, body mass index (BMI), plasma Aβ/Aβ measured by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, and F-florbetapir Aβ PET as well as their prediction of longitudinal adjusted hippocampal volume (aHCV) and cognition in APOE-ε4 carriers and non-carriers.

Optical Simulation and Experimental Assessment with Time-Walk Correction of TOF-PET Detectors with Multi-Ended Readouts.

As a commonly used solution, the multi-ended readout can measure the depth-of-interaction (DOI) for positron emission tomography (PET) detectors. In the present study, the effects of the multi-ended readout design were investigated using the leading-edge discriminator (LED) triggers on the timing performance of time-of-flight (TOF) PET detectors. At the very first, the photon transmission model of the four detectors, namely, single-ended readout, dual-ended readout, side dual-ended readout, and triple-ended readout, was established in Tracepro.

Design study of a PET detector with 0.5 mm crystal pitch for high-resolution preclinical imaging.

Preclinical positron emission tomography (PET) is a sensitive and quantitative molecule imaging modality widely used in characterizing the biological processes and diseases in small animals. The purpose of this study is to investigate the methods to optimize a PET detector for high-resolution preclinical imaging. The PET detector proposed in this study consists of a 28 × 28 array of LYSO crystals 0.

A Novel Portable Gamma Radiation Sensor Based on a Monolithic Lutetium-Yttrium Oxyorthosilicate Ring.

Portable radiation detectors are widely used in environmental radiation detection and medical imaging due to their portability feature, high detection efficiency, and large field of view. Lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) is a widely used scintillator in gamma radiation detection. However, the structure and the arrangement of scintillators limit the sensitivity and detection accuracy of these radiation detectors.

A 2.3-ps RMS Resolution Time-to-Digital Converter Implemented in a Low-Cost Cyclone V FPGA.

We present a nonuniform multiphase (NUMP) method to construct a high-resolution time-to-digital converter (TDC) for low-cost field-programmable gate array (FPGA) devices. The NUMP method involves a system clock being passed through a series of delay elements to generate multiple clocks with different phase shifts. The phases of the rising and falling edges of all the clocks are sorted in order and the states of all the clocks are latched when a hit signal arrives.

Design study of fully wearable high-performance brain PETs for neuroimaging in free movement.

A practical wearable brain PET scanner capable of dynamic neuroimaging during free bodily movement will enable potential breakthrough basic neuroscience studies and help develop imaging-based neurological diagnoses and treatments. Weight, brain coverage, and sensitivity are three fundamental technical obstacles in the development of Fully Wearable High-Performance (FWHP) brain PET scanners. The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of building a FWHP brain PET using a limited volume of lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) scintillator crystals.

An 8.8 ps RMS Resolution Time-To-Digital Converter Implemented in a 60 nm FPGA with Real-Time Temperature Correction.

This paper presented a non-uniform multiphase (NUMP) time-to-digital converter (TDC) implemented in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with real-time automatic temperature compensation. NUMP-TDC is a novel, low-cost, high-performance TDC that has achieved an excellent performance in Altera Cyclone V FPGA. The root mean square (RMS) for the intrinsic timing resolution was 2.

Mitotic slippage is determined by p31 and the weakening of the spindle-assembly checkpoint.

Mitotic slippage involves cells exiting mitosis without proper chromosome segregation. Although degradation of cyclin B1 during prolonged mitotic arrest is believed to trigger mitotic slippage, its upstream regulation remains obscure. Whether mitotic slippage is caused by APC/C activity that is able to escape spindle-assembly checkpoint (SAC)-mediated inhibition, or is actively promoted by a change in SAC activity remains an outstanding issue.

An Advanced 100-Channel Readout System for Nuclear Imaging.

Reading out from large-scale silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays is a fundamental technical obstacle blocking the application of revolutionary SiPM technologies in nuclear imaging systems. Typically, it requires using dedicated application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that need a long iterative process, special expertise, and tools to develop. The pico-positron emission tomography (Pico-PET) electronics system is an advanced 100-channel readout system based on 1-bit sigma-delta modulation and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).