Reproducibility of MRI-based white matter tract estimation using multi-fiber probabilistic tractography: effect of user-defined parameters and regions

Objective

There is a pressing need to assess user-dependent reproducibility of multi-fibre probabilistic tractography in order to encourage clinical implementation of these advanced and relevant approaches. The goal of this study was to evaluate both intrinsic and inter-user reproducibility of corticospinal tract estimation.

Materials and methods

Six clinical datasets including motor functional and diffusion MRI were used. Three users performed an independent tractography analysis following identical instructions. Dice indices were calculated to quantify the reproducibility of seed region, fMRI-based end region, and streamline maps.

Results

The inter-user reproducibility ranged 41–93%, 29–94%, and 50–92%, for seed regions, end regions, and streamline maps, respectively. Differences in streamline maps correlated with differences in seed and end regions. Good inter-user agreement in seed and end regions, yielded inter-user reproducibility close to the intrinsic reproducibility (92–97%) and in most cases higher than 80%.

Discussion

Uncertainties related to user-dependent decisions and the probabilistic nature of the analysis should be considered when interpreting probabilistic tractography data. The standardization of the methods used to define seed and end regions is a necessary step to improve the accuracy and robustness of multi-fiber probabilistic tractography in a clinical setting. Clinical users should choose a feasible compromise between reproducibility and analysis duration.

     

A radiomics pipeline dedicated to Breast MRI: validation on a multi-scanner phantom study

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - Quantitative analysis in MRI is challenging due to variabilities in intensity distributions across patients, acquisitions and...     

景观意识和地域性运动

城市地域扩散已成为当代的一个普遍现象,城市规划师的职责是对自然和城市环境进行保护和限制.在"景观"这一概念中,既有物质的内容--环境设计,也包含了对想象的认知--精神意义的解释和表达.景观文化表达了人类和自然作为一种两元关系,是如何在地域变化过程中互补和相互平衡的.     

Influence of phytosterol and phytostanol food supplementation on plasma liposoluble vitamins and provitamin A carotenoid levels in humans: An updated review of the evidence

Phytosterols and phytostanols (PAP) compete with cholesterol absorption in the intestine, resulting in a 5–15%-reduction in plasma total and LDL cholesterol. An important issue is the PAP potential to reduce the plasma concentrations of fat-soluble vitamins and provitamin A carotenoids. Here, an update of the scientific evidence is reviewed to evaluate plant PAP-enriched foods impact on plasma fat-soluble vitamins and carotenoid levels, and to discuss potential implications in terms of cardiovascular risk. Based on 49 human interventional and 3 bioavailability studies, results showed that regular consumption, particularly over the long term, of foods fortified with PAP as recommended in labeling does not significantly impact plasma vitamins A, D, and K concentration. A 10% significant median reduction was observed for α-tocopherol. Concerning carotenoids, while 13 studies did not demonstrate statistically significant plasma β-carotene reduction, 20 studies showed significant reductions, with median effect size of ?24%. This decline can be mitigated or offset by increased fruits and vegetables consumption. Furthermore, higher cardiovascular risk was observed for differences in plasma β-carotene concentration of the same magnitude as the estimated average decrease by PAP consumption. These results are supported by the only study of β-carotene bioavailability showing decrease in absorption by phytosterols daily intake.     

Surface charge accumulation and decay on a spacer stressed with DC voltages at atmospheric conditions

Contents Surface charge accumulation and its decay at a GIS spacer are studied at atmospheric conditions employing a two step-calibration method. The results show that the accumulation saturates within 30 minutes; the dominant mechanism of surface charge accumulation is the drift of charged particles via air, while that of the decay is surface conduction. The characteristics are similar at both polarities.

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Sättigungskonzentration und Abklingverhalten der Oberflächenladung an einem mit Gleichspannung beanspruchten Abstandshalter unter atmosphärischen Bedingungen

Übersicht Die Konzentration und das Abklingen von Oberflächenladungen an einem GIS Abstandshalter wurden unter atmosphärischen Bedingungen mit Hilfe eines zweistufigen Kalibrierungsverfahrens untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen eine Sättigung der Ladungskonzentration innerhalb von 30 Minuten. Als Hauptursache der Ladungskonzentration ist die Drift geladener Teilchen in Luft anzusehen, während das Abklingen auf die Oberflächenleitung zurückzuführen ist. Ähnliche Charakteristiken ergeben sich mit beiden Polaritäten.

     

Some aspects of orientation in injection molded objects

The birefringences of injection molded plates and the birefringence during steady, isothermal shear flow were compared for some amorphous polymers. The materials studied were a polystyrene, a “toughened” polystyrene and an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer. The birefringence of the plates, notably the maximum value for the average over the thickness was found to be related to the shear stress at the cavity wall that had occurred during the mold filling process. This relationship was independent of temperature. To a good approximation, it was also the same as the relationship between the flow birefringence and the shear stress at the wall in isothermal channel flow. It thus appears that the anisotropy of injection molded objects is dominated by the shear stresses during the mold filling process regardless of the temperature and of the macroscopic rate of deformation.     

The Dimerization of Oleic Acid with a Montmorillonite Catalyst I: Important Process Parameters; Some Main Reactions

Some important process parameters, e. g. amount of catalyst, water content, stirring intensity, reaction time and pH of the catalyst were studied in the dimerization of oleic acid using montmorillonite as catalyst. A yield limit seems to exist at about 60 wt% (dimers and trimers). The remaining 40 wt% of the reaction mixture (monomers) contain only small amounts of cis- and trans-mono-unsaturated fatty acids, the rest of it being unidentified products, which can hardly be dimerized and can not be hydrogenated with palladium on carbon. Infrared spectra of these monomers reveal also the presence of small amounts of γ-stearolactone and an increase in the number of methyl groups, which is probably the result of skeletal isomerization, although structures like -CH = C (CH₃)- are absent. The results indicate that a fairly large amount of saturated fatty acids is formed, most likely by hydrogen transfer. According to this assumption, dienoic acids must also be formed, which are readily dimerized to cyclic dimers. Thus the common assumption that the dimers of oleic acid obtained by this process are non-cyclic, becomes improbable.