Objective We propose a dual-domain cone beam computed tomography(CBCT)reconstruction framework DualCBR-Net based on improved differentiable domain transform for cone-angle artifact correction.Methods The proposed CBCT dual-domain reconstruction framework DualCBR-Net consists of 3 individual modules:projection preprocessing,differentiable domain transform,and image post-processing.The projection preprocessing module first extends the original projection data in the row direction to ensure full coverage of the scanned object by X-ray.The differentiable domain transform introduces the FDK reconstruction and forward projection operators to complete the forward and gradient backpropagation processes,where the geometric parameters correspond to the extended data dimension to provide crucial prior information in the forward pass of the network and ensure the accuracy in the gradient backpropagation,thus enabling precise learning of cone-beam region data.The image post-processing module further fine-tunes the domain-transformed image to remove residual artifacts and noises.Results The results of validation experiments conducted on Mayo's public chest dataset showed that the proposed DualCBR-Net framework was superior to other comparison methods in terms of artifact removal and structural detail preservation.Compared with the latest methods,the DualCBR-Net framework improved the PSNR and SSIM by 0.6479 and 0.0074,respectively.Conclusion The proposed DualCBR-Net framework for cone-angle artifact correction allows effective joint training of the CBCT dual-domain network and is especially effective for large cone-angle region.

Objective We propose a dual-domain cone beam computed tomography(CBCT)reconstruction framework DualCBR-Net based on improved differentiable domain transform for cone-angle artifact correction.Methods The proposed CBCT dual-domain reconstruction framework DualCBR-Net consists of 3 individual modules:projection preprocessing,differentiable domain transform,and image post-processing.The projection preprocessing module first extends the original projection data in the row direction to ensure full coverage of the scanned object by X-ray.The differentiable domain transform introduces the FDK reconstruction and forward projection operators to complete the forward and gradient backpropagation processes,where the geometric parameters correspond to the extended data dimension to provide crucial prior information in the forward pass of the network and ensure the accuracy in the gradient backpropagation,thus enabling precise learning of cone-beam region data.The image post-processing module further fine-tunes the domain-transformed image to remove residual artifacts and noises.Results The results of validation experiments conducted on Mayo's public chest dataset showed that the proposed DualCBR-Net framework was superior to other comparison methods in terms of artifact removal and structural detail preservation.Compared with the latest methods,the DualCBR-Net framework improved the PSNR and SSIM by 0.6479 and 0.0074,respectively.Conclusion The proposed DualCBR-Net framework for cone-angle artifact correction allows effective joint training of the CBCT dual-domain network and is especially effective for large cone-angle region.

Brain computer interface(BCI)is a rapidly developing rehabilitation technology in recent years, which has been gradually used for cognitive rehabilitation of stroke patients.BCI can activate brain regions related to cognition to a greater extent through motor imagery and neural feedback technology, promote functional connectivity between brain regions, and ameliorate cognitive impairment after stroke.This paper summarized the mechanisms involved in BCI promoting cognitive rehabilitation and current applications of BCI in post-stroke cognitive impairment, and identifies the shortcomings of BCI in the treatment of post-stroke cognitive impairment, in order to provide insight for the research and clinical practice of BCI in post-stroke cognitive rehabilitation.

Background: () (2n = 2x = 16) is genus of flowering plants belonging to the Gelsemicaeae family. Method: Here, a high-quality genome assembly using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) platform and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture techniques (Hi-C) were used. Results: A total of 56.11 Gb of raw GridION X5 platform ONT reads (6.23 Gb per cell) were generated. After filtering, 53.45 Gb of clean reads were obtained, giving 160 × coverage depth. The genome assemblies 335.13 Mb, close to the 338 Mb estimated by k-mer analysis, was generated with contig N50 of 10.23 Mb. The vast majority (99.2%) of the assembled sequence was anchored onto 8 pseudo-chromosomes. The genome completeness was then evaluated and 1338 of the 1440 conserved genes (92.9%) could be found in the assembly. Genome annotation revealed that 43.16% of the genome is composed of repetitive elements and 23.9% is composed of long terminal repeat elements. We predicted 26,768 protein-coding genes, of which 84.56% were functionally annotated. Conclusion The genomic sequences of could be a valuable source for comparative genomic analysis in the Gelsemicaeae family and will be useful for understanding the phylogenetic relationships of the indole alkaloid metabolism.

Objective To explore the effect of applying surface neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) on the functioning of the upper esophageal sphincter (UES) using the high-resolution solid-state manometry.Methods Seventeen healthy volunteers were selected and given sham stimulation (SS),superior and inferior hyoid stimulation (SIHS),superior hyoid stimulation (SHS) or inferior hyoid stimulation (IHS) at a frequency of 80 Hz and the maximum tolerated level before swallowing.Any changes in the kinematics or biomechanics during swallowing and at rest were recorded using high-resolution solid-state manometry.One-factor repeated analysis of the measurement variance was used.Results A significant decrease in the duration of UES relaxation was observed in response to the electrical stimulation (compared with the sham stimulation).The UES's residual pressure showed a rising trend during electrical stimulation,especially in response to IHS,but the difference compared with SS was not significant.The UES's resting pressure during SIHS increased significantly compared with SS,but there was no significant difference between SHS and IHS in this respect.Conclusions Surface neuromuscular electrical stimulation applied to the neck can immediately change the functioning of the UES.NMES at the maximum tolerated intensity can reduce the duration of UES relaxation,which is important for dysphagia therapy and research.

OBJECTIVE: We propose a sparse-view helical CT iterative reconstruction algorithm based on projection of convex set tensor total generalized variation minimization (TTGV-POCS) to reduce the X-ray dose of helical CT scanning. METHODS: The three-dimensional volume data of helical CT reconstruction was viewed as the third-order tensor. The tensor generalized total variation (TTGV) was used to describe the structural sparsity of the three-dimensional image. The POCS iterative reconstruction framework was adopted to achieve a robust result of sparse-view helical CT reconstruction. The TTGV-POCS algorithm fully used the structural sparsity of first-order and second-order derivation and the correlation between the slices of helical CT image data to effectively suppress artifacts and noise in the image of sparse-view reconstruction and better preserve image edge information. RESULTS: The experimental results of XCAT phantom and patient scan data showed that the TTGVPOCS algorithm had better performance in reducing noise, removing artifacts and maintaining edges than the existing reconstruction algorithms. Comparison of the sparse-view reconstruction results of XCAT phantom data with 144 exposure views showed that the TTGV-POCS algorithm proposed herein increased the PSNR quantitative index by 9.17%-15.24% compared with the experimental comparison algorithm; the FSIM quantitative index was increased by 1.27%-9.30%. CONCLUSIONS The TTGV-POCS algorithm can effectively improve the image quality of helical CT sparse-view reconstruction and reduce the radiation dose of helical CT examination to improve the clinical imaging diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: To establish a cone beam computed tomography (ECBCT) system for high-resolution imaging of the extremities. METHODS: Based on three-dimensional X-Ray CT imaging and high-resolution flat plate detector technique, we constructed a physical model and a geometric model for ECBCT imaging, optimized the geometric calibration and image reconstruction methods, and established the scanner system. In the experiments, the pencil vase phantom, image quality (IQ) phantom and a swine feet were scanned using this imaging system to evaluate its effectiveness and stability. RESULTS: On the reconstructed image of the pencil vase phantom, the edges were well preserved with geometric calibrated parameters and no aliasing artifacts were observed. The reconstructed images of the IQ phantom showed a uniform distribution of the CT number, and the noise power spectra were stable in multiple scanning under the same condition. The reconstructed images of the swine feet had clearly displayed the bones with a good resolution. CONCLUSIONS The ECBCT system can be used for highresolution imaging of the extremities to provide important imaging information to assist in the diagnosis of bone diseases.
Algorithms ; Animals ; Artifacts ; Calibration ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; instrumentation ; methods ; Equipment Design ; Extremities ; diagnostic imaging ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Phantoms, Imaging ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; instrumentation ; methods ; Swine

Objective In the clinic, myocardial perfusion computed tomography (MPCT) imaging is commonly used to detect and assess myocardial ischemia quantitatively. However, repeated scanning on the myocardial region in the cine mode will increase the radiation dose for patients. With lowering radiation dose, the quality of images are degraded by noise induced artifact, which hampers the diagnostic accuracy. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a redundancy information induced iterative reconstruction framework for high quality MPCT images at the case of low dose. Methods MPCT images have redundant structural information within frames and highly similarity between adjacent frames. Inspired by the two properties, in this work we propose a penalized weighted least-squares (PWLS) model incorporating NLM and TV based hybrid constraints, which is referred to as PWLS-aviNLM-TV for simplicity. The proposed algorithm can effectively eliminate noise and artifacts by taking into account the similarity between adjacent frames and redundancy information within frames, which also can improve spatial resolution within frames and maintain temporal resolution. Results The experimental results on the 4D extended cardiac-torso (XCAT) phantom and preclinical porcine dataset demonstrates that the PWLS-aviNLM-TV algorithm obtains better performance in terms of noise reduction and artifacts suppression than the PWLS-TV and PWLS-aviNLM algorithm. Moreover, the proposed algorithm can preserve the edges and detail information thereby efficiently differentiate ischemia from myocardium. Conclusion The present redundancy information induced reconstruction algorithm can reconstruct high-quality images from low-dose MPCT for better clinical imaging diagnosis.

Objective In the clinic, myocardial perfusion computed tomography (MPCT) imaging is commonly used to detect and assess myocardial ischemia quantitatively. However, repeated scanning on the myocardial region in the cine mode will increase the radiation dose for patients. With lowering radiation dose, the quality of images are degraded by noise induced artifact, which hampers the diagnostic accuracy. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a redundancy information induced iterative reconstruction framework for high quality MPCT images at the case of low dose. Methods MPCT images have redundant structural information within frames and highly similarity between adjacent frames. Inspired by the two properties, in this work we propose a penalized weighted least-squares (PWLS) model incorporating NLM and TV based hybrid constraints, which is referred to as PWLS-aviNLM-TV for simplicity. The proposed algorithm can effectively eliminate noise and artifacts by taking into account the similarity between adjacent frames and redundancy information within frames, which also can improve spatial resolution within frames and maintain temporal resolution. Results The experimental results on the 4D extended cardiac-torso (XCAT) phantom and preclinical porcine dataset demonstrates that the PWLS-aviNLM-TV algorithm obtains better performance in terms of noise reduction and artifacts suppression than the PWLS-TV and PWLS-aviNLM algorithm. Moreover, the proposed algorithm can preserve the edges and detail information thereby efficiently differentiate ischemia from myocardium. Conclusion The present redundancy information induced reconstruction algorithm can reconstruct high-quality images from low-dose MPCT for better clinical imaging diagnosis.

Objective To explore the effect of D-galactose(D-gal) on murine pancreatic injury and its pathogenesis.Methods C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control group and D-gal model group [D-gal 120 mg/(kg · d) for 42 days].On the 2nd day after drug injection completed,the peripheral blood was taken for measuring the level of fasting blood glucose(FBG) and fasting insulin(FINS);and then the organ index of pancreas was calculated by the ratio of pancreatic wet weight(mg) and mouse body weight(g);HE stain was routinely prepared to observe the histologic structure of pancreatic tissue;the TEM was used to analyze ultrastructural changes of pancreatic cells;the pancreatic frozen sections were prepared to test senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) and its relative absorbance(RA) of positively stained cells in the pancreatic islets;immunohistochemistry assays to study advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and its RA;pancreas tissue homogenate was made to detect the content of superoxide dismutase(SOD),malonaldehyde(MDA) and total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC).Results In D-gal group mice,the FBG increased(P＜0.05) and FINS reduced;pancreas wet weight and organ increased obviously (P＜0.01);light microscopic structure of the pancreas presented without typical pathologic change,however the single nucleated cell's area within the islet was increased significantly(P＜0.05);the pancreas endocrine and exocrine cells were showed the ultrastructure damaged and lipofuscin formation increased;the RA of positive pancreas cells in SA-β-gal staining increased(P＜0.05);the RA of AGEs positive regional expression markedly increased (P＜0.01);the content of SOD and T-AOC decreased (P ＜ 0.05),the content of MDA increased (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions Aging mice model replicated by D-gal can cause the pancreatic injury,its mechanisms may be closely related to oxidative injury of pancreatic cells caused by D-gal.