Development of a Biological Science Quantitative Reasoning Exam (BioSQuaRE).

Multiple reports highlight the increasingly quantitative nature of biological research and the need to innovate means to ensure that students acquire quantitative skills. We present a tool to support such innovation. The Biological Science Quantitative Reasoning Exam (BioSQuaRE) is an assessment instrument designed to measure the quantitative skills of undergraduate students within a biological context.

Research articles published in clinical radiology journals: trend of contribution from different countries.

Rationale And Objectives: To determine different countries' trend of contribution to clinical radiology journals and its relationship with impact factor.

Materials And Methods: All the journals, which publish articles on clinical radiology, were selected from the category of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine group of journals, and articles published in these journals between 1991 and 2000 were searched for the authors' affiliation using the Medline database. Then, share of research output of the top-ranking 20 countries was determined along with the trend over time.

Ectopic posterior pituitary high signal in preoperative and postoperative macroadenomas: dynamic MR imaging.

Background And Purpose: In patients with macroadenoma, posterior pituitary high signal (PPHS) on T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is sometimes observed in an ectopic location. The present study compared incidences of ectopic PPHS before and after macroadenoma surgery using MR imaging, including dynamic MR imaging to ascertain whether this ectopic change is irreversible.

Materials And Methods: MR imaging was performed preoperatively in 111 cases of macroadenoma, and then repeated more than 1-year postoperatively in 47 patients.

The pituitary gland: changes on MR images during the 1st year after delivery.

Purpose: To longitudinally and prospectively investigate changes in the volume and signal intensity on T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images of the pituitary gland up to 1 year after delivery and evaluate whether termination of lactation has an effect on these parameters.

Materials And Methods: All participants provided informed consent for participation in the study, which was approved by the institutional review board. Thirteen volunteers (mean age, 28 years; age range, 26-32 years) underwent MR imaging 2 and 4 weeks after delivery and then at intervals of 0.

Dynamic MR imaging in Tolosa-Hunt syndrome.

Objective: To evaluate the cavernous sinuses with dynamic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in patients with Tolosa-Hunt syndrome (THS).

Methods: The sellar and parasellar regions of five patients with THS and 12 control subjects were examined with dynamic MR (1.5 T) imaging in the coronal plane.

MR contrast of ferritin and hemosiderin in the brain: comparison among gradient-echo, conventional spin-echo and fast spin-echo sequences.

Objective: To compare the magnetic resonance image contrasts due to ferritin and hemosiderin in the brain tissue among different pulse sequences.

Materials And Methods: Fourteen patients with cavernous hemangioma in the brain prospectively underwent MR imaging with T2*-weighted gradient-echo (GRE), T2-weighted conventional spin-echo (SE) and fast spin-echo (FSE) sequences. The relative contrast ratios (CRs) of the hypointense part of cavernous hemangioma, globus pallidus and putamen to the deep frontal white matter were measured on each pulse sequence and statistically analyzed using analysis of variance followed by paired t-test.

Liliequist membrane: three-dimensional constructive interference in steady state MR imaging.

Purpose: To evaluate the Liliequist membrane in healthy volunteers by using three-dimensional (3D) Fourier transformation constructive interference in steady state (CISS) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.

Materials And Methods: In 31 volunteers, the authors performed 3D CISS MR imaging. They divided the membrane into three segments: the sellar, diencephalic, and mesencephalic segments.

An unusual presentation of endometrial polyp.

A 33-year-old woman was incidentally found to have a polypoid adenofibroma on MR imaging during the evaluation of carcinoma in situ of the cervix. The position of the polypoid lesion was variable from time to time. Although the lesion was a benign pedunculated one, T2-weighted MR images showed disruption of "junctional zone" in the posterior myometrial wall of the uterus, mimicking myometrial invasion of endometrial carcinoma.