Displaying publications 61 - 80 of 117 in total

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  1. Tabbakh F, Hosmane NS, Tajudin SM, Ghorashi AH, Morshedian N
    Sci Rep, 2022 Oct 18;12(1):17404.
    PMID: 36258012 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-22429-0
    There are two major problems in proton therapy. (1) In comparison with the gamma-ray therapy, proton therapy has only ~ 10% greater biological effectiveness, and (2) the risk of the secondary neutrons in proton therapy is another unsolved problem. In this report, the increase of biological effectiveness in proton therapy has been evaluated with better performance than 11B in the presence of two proposed nanomaterials of 157GdF4 and 157Gd doped carbon with the thermal neutron reduction due to the presence of 157Gd isotope. The present study is based on the microanalysis calculations using GEANT4 Monte Carlo tool and GEANT4-DNA package for the strand breaks measurement. It was found that the proposed method will increase the effectiveness corresponding to the alpha particles by more than 100% and also, potentially will decrease the thermal neutrons fluence, significantly. Also, in this work, a discussion is presented on a significant contribution of the secondary alpha particles in total effectiveness in proton therapy.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  2. Abdul Wahab MF, Mohamad Ghani NI, Kuppuswamy R
    Forensic Sci Int, 2012 Nov 30;223(1-3):53-63.
    PMID: 22955030 DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2012.07.020
    Most of the automotive companies use cast iron for their engine blocks. Restoration of obliterated number on these iron surfaces by chemical etching is known to be quite difficult. Heating of the obliterated surface using oxyacetylene flame is an alternative recovery treatment suggested in literature and used in practice. However chemical etching has been established to be the most sensitive technique for detection of metal deformation present under stamped serial numbers. Hence, the current work investigated the suitability of some common etchants on cast iron surfaces with a view to determining the most suitable one for revealing the obliterated marks. The reagents tested were mostly copper containing Fry's reagent and its modifications. Two cast iron engine blocks (3.29%C and 3.1%C) of two cars--a Proton Saga and a Toyota--were utilized for the experiments. The engine blocks were cut into several small plates and each plate was stamped with some numerical characters at 8 kN load using Instron Table Mounted Universal Testing Machine. The depth of stamping impression varied between 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm. The stamped number was completely ground off manually using a metal file. The grounded surface was then polished smooth using emery papers and etched with a few selected reagents mostly by swabbing. Experimental results showed that a modified Fry's composition consisting of 4 5g CuCl(2), 100 mL HCl, and 180 mL H(2)O restored the number with better contrast at a reasonably shorter time. The above reagent is a slightly modified form of one of the Fry's original compositions--45 g CuCl(2), 180 mL HCl, and 100 mL H(2)O. Quite importantly the proposed reagent restored the original stamped numbers of both Proton and Toyota cars and also a Mitsubishi car that had been obliterated. The most widely used Fry's composition (90 g CuCl(2), 120 mL HCl and 100 mL H(2)O), although recovered the obliterated number, did not cause the desired contrast.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  3. Ganesan K, Alias Y
    Int J Mol Sci, 2008 Jun;9(7):1207-13.
    PMID: 19325800 DOI: 10.3390/ijms9071207
    The (1)H-NMR shifts of the imidazolium protons of some novel dimeric ionic liquids were examined in various deuterated solvents. Interactions between the solvent and the imidazolium salt of butyl substituted ionic liquids were observed to give higher chemical shifts than methyl substitution.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  4. Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Ambrogi F, Bergauer T, Dragicevic M, et al.
    Phys Rev Lett, 2020 Nov 27;125(22):222001.
    PMID: 33315428 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.222001
    Ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions recreate in the laboratory the thermodynamical conditions prevailing in the early universe up to 10^{-6}  sec, thereby allowing the study of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) matter with deconfined partons. The top quark, the heaviest elementary particle known, is accessible in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN LHC, and constitutes a novel probe of the QGP. Here, we report the first evidence for the production of top quarks in nucleus-nucleus collisions, using lead-lead collision data at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment. Two methods are used to measure the cross section for top quark pair production (σ_{tt[over ¯]}) via the selection of charged leptons (electrons or muons) and bottom quarks. One method relies on the leptonic information alone, and the second one exploits, in addition, the presence of bottom quarks. The measured cross sections, σ_{tt[over ¯]}=2.54_{-0.74}^{+0.84} and 2.03_{-0.64}^{+0.71}  μb, respectively, are compatible with expectations from scaled proton-proton data and QCD predictions.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  5. Awang N, Jaafar J, Ismail AF
    Polymers (Basel), 2018 Feb 15;10(2).
    PMID: 30966230 DOI: 10.3390/polym10020194
    Void-free electrospun SPEEK/Cloisite15A® densed (SP/e-spunCL) membranes are prepared. Different loadings of Cloisite15A® (0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25 and 0.30 wt %) are incorporated into electrospun fibers. The physico-chemical characteristics (methanol permeability, water uptake and proton conductivity) of the membranes are observed. Thermal stability of all membranes is observed using Thermal Gravimetry Analysis (TGA). The thrree stages of degradation range between 163.1 and 613.1 °C. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) is used to study the wettability of the membranes. SP/e-spunCL15 shows the lowest freezing bound water of 15.27%, which contributed to the lowest methanol permeability. The non-freezing bound water that proportionally increased with proton conductivity of SP/e-spunCL15 membrane is the highest, 10.60%. It is suggested that the electrospinning as the fabricating method has successfully exfoliated the Cloisite in the membrane surface structure, contributing to the decrease of methanol permeability, while the retained water has led to the enhancement of proton conductivity. This new fabrication method of SP/e-spunCL membrane is said to be a desirable polymer electrolyte membrane for future application in direct methanol fuel cell field.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  6. Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Ambrogi F, Asilar E, Bergauer T, et al.
    Phys Rev Lett, 2019 Apr 05;122(13):132003.
    PMID: 31012605 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.132003
    The observation of single top quark production in association with a Z boson and a quark (tZq) is reported. Events from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV containing three charged leptons (either electrons or muons) and at least two jets are analyzed. The data were collected with the CMS detector in 2016 and 2017 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 77.4fb^{-1}. The increased integrated luminosity, a multivariate lepton identification, and a redesigned analysis strategy improve significantly the sensitivity of the analysis compared to previous searches for tZq production. The tZq signal is observed with a significance well over 5 standard deviations. The measured tZq production cross section is σ(pp→tZq→tℓ^{+}ℓ^{-}q)=111±13(stat)_{-9}^{+11}(syst)  fb, for dilepton invariant masses above 30 GeV, in agreement with the standard model expectation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  7. Ali SKI, Khandaker MU, Al-Mugren KS, Latif SA, Bradley DA, Okhunov AA, et al.
    Appl Radiat Isot, 2021 Jul;173:109735.
    PMID: 33915407 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2021.109735
    Copper-67 (T1/2 = 61.83 h, Eβ-mean=141 keV, Iβ-total=100%; Eγ = 184.577 keV, Iγ = 48.7%) is a promising radionuclide for theranostic applications especially in radio immunotherapy. However, one of the main drawbacks for its application is related to its limited availability. Various nuclear reaction routes investigated in the last years can result in 67Cu production, although the use of proton beams is the method of choice taken into account in this work. The goal of this work is a revision of the cross-sections aimed at 67Cu yield, which were evaluated for the 68Zn(p,2p)67Cu reaction route up to 80 MeV proton energy. A well-defined statistical procedure, i.e., the Simultaneous Evaluation on KALMAN (SOK), combined with the least-squares concept, was used to obtain the evaluated data together with the covariance matrix. The obtained evaluated data were also compared to predictions provided by the nuclear reaction model codes TALYS and EMPIRE, and a partial agreement among them has been found. These data may be useful for both existing and potential applications in nuclear medicine, to achieve an improvement and validation of the various nuclear reaction models, and may also find applications in other fields (e.g., activation analysis and thin layer activation).
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  8. Wang D, Wong SI, Sunarso J, Xu M, Wang W, Ran R, et al.
    ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2021 May 05;13(17):20105-20113.
    PMID: 33886260 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c02502
    Hydrocarbon-fueled solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) that can operate in the intermediate temperature range of 500-700 °C represent an attractive SOFC device for combined heat and power applications in the industrial market. One of the ways to realize such a device relies upon exploiting an in situ steam reforming process in the anode catalyzed by an anti-carbon coking catalyst. Here, we report a new Ni and Ru bimetal-doped perovskite catalyst, Ba(Zr0.1Ce0.7Y0.1Yb0.1)0.9Ni0.05Ru0.05O3-δ (BZCYYbNRu), with enhanced catalytic hydrogen production activity on n-butane (C4H10), which can resist carbon coking over extended operation durations. Ru in the perovskite lattice inhibits Ni precipitation from perovskite, and the high water adsorption capacity of proton conducting perovskite improves the coking resistance of BZCYYbNRu. When BZCYYbNRu is used as a steam reforming catalyst layer on a Ni-YSZ-supported anode, the single fuel cell not only achieves a higher power density of 1113 mW cm-2 at 700 °C under a 10 mL min-1 C4H10 continuous feed stream at a steam to carbon (H2O/C) ratio of 0.5 but also shows a much better operational stability for 100 h at 600 °C compared with those reported in the literature.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  9. Abbasi MA, Ijaz M, Aziz-Ur-Rehman -, Siddiqui SZ, Ali Shah SA, Shahid M, et al.
    Pak J Pharm Sci, 2020 Jul;33(4):1609-1616.
    PMID: 33583794
    In the planned research work, the nucleophilic substitution reaction of 1-[(E)-3-phenyl-2-propenyl]piperazine (1) was carried out with different sulfonyl chlorides (2a-g) at pH 9-10 to synthesize its different N-sulfonated derivatives (3a-g). The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized by their proton-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR), carbon-nuclear magnetic resonance (13C-NMR) and Infra Red (IR) spectral data, along with CHN analysis. The inhibition potential of the synthesized molecules was ascertained against two bacterial pathogenic strains i.e. Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. It was inferred from the results that some of the compounds were very suitable inhibitors of these bacterial strains. Moreover, their cytotoxicity was also profiled and it was outcome that most of these molecules possessed moderate cytotoxicity.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  10. Bradley, D.A., Ramli, A.T., Hashim, S., Wagiran, H., Webb, M., Jeynes, C.
    ASM Science Journal, 2010;4(1):15-21.
    MyJurnal
    This research was focused on the thermoluminescence (TL) response of commercially produced single-mode telecommunication optical fibre manufactured by INOCORP (Canada). The fibres were either in the form of pure silica (SiO2) or as SiO2 doped with Ge or Al at concentrations appropriate for total internal reflection, as required for telecommunication purposes. Each of these INOCORP fibres had a core diameter of 125 ± 0.1 μm. It was noted that dopant concentration was not included among the data provided in the accompanying product data sheet. A particularly important parameter for obtaining the highest TL yield in this study was the dopant concentration of the SiO2 fibre. The dopants tended to diffuse during the production of the optical fibre. To obtain this parameter, proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) analysis was utilised. PIXE while having limited depth resolution could unambiguously identify elements and analyse trace elements with a detection limit approaching μg g–1. For Al-doped fibres, dopant concentrations in the range of 0.98 – 2.93 mol% had been estimated, the equivalent range for Ge-doped fibres was 0.53 – 0.71 mol%. A linear dose response was observed following 2.5 MeV proton irradiation for Ge- and Al-doped fibres for up to 7 min exposure.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  11. Liow CH, Sahrim Ahmad, Khairiah Badri
    In-situ polymerization method was used to prepare palm-based polyurethane (PU) composites loading with 15 wt% magnetite (Fe3O4), polyaniline (PANI) and Fe3O4 coated with PANI labeled as PU15, PP and PPM, respectively. FTIR spectroscopy analysis indicated a shift in the carbonyl, C=O and NH in PP. The shift of the peak indicated that there was hydrogen bonding between the C=O (proton acceptor) of urethane with NH (proton-donator) of PANI. PPM gave the highest impact and flexural strengths at 4875 kJ/ m2 and 42 MPa, respectively but with the lowest flexural modulus (1050 MPa). Two-stage degradation behavior was observed in the TGA thermogram.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  12. Wun FML, Muhd Hafizi Zainal, Syahidah Mohd Tahir, Ishak B. Ahmad, Mohammad B. Kassim
    Sains Malaysiana, 2018;47:923-929.
    The presence of two different chromophores in benzothiazole molecule namely benzothiazole and aromatic rings lead to
    interesting chemical and biological properties that attract more researches on the compounds. Three new benzothiazolylbenzoythiourea
    compounds namely 1-(1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)-3-(benzoylthiourea) (BBT), 1-(1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)-3-
    (4-chlorobenzoylthiourea) (BBT-4Cl) and 1-(1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)-3-(4-methoxybenzoylthiourea) (BBT-4OCH3
    ) with
    different electron withdrawing substituents (R) at the para positions on the benzene ring of benzoylthiourea ring have
    been synthesized from the reaction of R-benzoyl isothiocyanate (R= H, Cl, and OCH3
    ) and 2-aminobenzothiazole. The
    compounds were characterized by spectroscopic techniques (infrared, 1
    H proton NMR and UV-Vis). The IR spectra showed
    the frequency signals of n (C=O), n (C=S), n (N-H) at 1664-1673, 1238-1249 and 3031-3055 cm-1, respectively. The 1
    H
    proton NMR spectra showed the presence of N-H amine and amide signals in the region of (12.14-12.35) and (14.17-14.43)
    ppm, respectively. The proton signals of the two benzothiazole and benzoylthiourea moieties appear at 7.08-8.16 ppm.
    A theoretical study based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Time-Dependent (TD) DFT was conducted to optimize
    the geometrical structure and investigate the electronic properties of title compounds. The highest occupied molecular
    orbital (HOMO) was found on the benzothiazole moiety; while, the lowest-unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) was
    located at the benzoylthiourea fragment. The DFT optimized structures possessed an intramolecular hydrogen bonding
    and the types of para substituents used influenced the properties of hydrogen bonding.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  13. Salehmin MNI, Hil Me MF, Daud WRW, Mohd Yasin NH, Abu Bakar MH, Sulong AB, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2023 Jan 10;855:158527.
    PMID: 36096221 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158527
    Microbial electrodialysis cells (MEDCs) offer simultaneous wastewater treatment, water desalination, and hydrogen production. In a conventional design of MEDCs, the overall performance is retarded by the accumulation of protons on the anode due to the integration of an anion exchange membrane (AEM). The accumulation of protons reduces the anolyte pH to become acidic, affecting the microbial viability and thus limiting the charge carrier needed for the cathodic reaction. This study has modified the conventional MEDC with an internal proton migration pathway, known as the internal proton migration pathway-MEDC (IP-MEDC). Simulation tests under abiotic conditions demonstrated that the pH changes in the anolyte and catholyte of IP-MEDC were smaller than the pH changes in the anolyte and catholyte without the proton pathways. Under biotic conditions, the performance of the IP-MEDC agreed well with the simulation test, showing a significantly higher chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate, desalination rate, and hydrogen production than without the migration pathway. This result is supported by the lowest charge transfer resistance shown by EIS analysis and the abundance of microbes on the bioanode through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) observation. However, hydrogen production was diminished in the second-fed batch cycle, presumably due to the active diffusion of high Cl¯ concentrations from desalination to the anode chamber, which was detrimental to microbial growth. Enlarging the anode volume by threefold improved the COD removal rate and hydrogen production rate by 1.7- and 3.4-fold, respectively, owing to the dilution effect of Cl¯ in the anode. This implied that the dilution effect satisfies both the microbial viability and conductivity. This study also suggests that the anolyte and catholyte replacement frequencies can be reduced, typically at a prolonged hydraulic retention time, thus minimizing the operating cost (e.g., solution pumping). The use of a high concentration of NaCl (35 g L-1) in the desalination chamber and catholyte provides a condition that is close to practicality.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  14. Oon YS, Ong SA, Ho LN, Wong YS, Oon YL, Lehl HK, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2017 Mar 05;325:170-177.
    PMID: 27931001 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.11.074
    Monoazo and diazo dyes [New coccine (NC), Acid orange 7 (AO7), Reactive red 120 (RR120) and Reactive green 19 (RG19)] were employed as electron acceptors in the abiotic cathode of microbial fuel cell. The electrons and protons generated from microbial organic oxidation at the anode which were utilized for electrochemical azo dye reduction at the cathodic chamber was successfully demonstrated. When NC was employed as the electron acceptor, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and dye decolourisation efficiencies obtained at the anodic and cathodic chamber were 73±3% and 95.1±1.1%, respectively. This study demonstrated that the decolourisation rates of monoazo dyes were ∼50% higher than diazo dyes. The maximum power density in relation to NC decolourisation was 20.64mW/m2, corresponding to current density of 120.24mA/m2. The decolourisation rate and power output of different azo dyes were in the order of NC>AO7>RR120>RG19. The findings revealed that the structure of dye influenced the decolourisation and power performance of MFC. Azo dye with electron-withdrawing group at para substituent to azo bond would draw electrons from azo bond; hence the azo dye became more electrophilic and more favourable for dye reduction.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  15. Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Ambrogi F, Asilar E, Bergauer T, et al.
    Phys Rev Lett, 2017 Dec 01;119(22):221802.
    PMID: 29286783 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.221802
    A search for a signal consistent with the type-III seesaw mechanism in events with three or more electrons or muons is presented. The data sample consists of proton-proton collisions at sqrt[s]=13  TeV collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2016 and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9  fb^{-1}. Selection criteria based on the number of leptons and the invariant mass of oppositely charged lepton pairs are used to distinguish the signal from the standard model background. The observations are consistent with the expectations from standard model processes. The results are used to place limits on the production of heavy fermions of the type-III seesaw model as a function of the branching ratio to each lepton flavor. In the scenario of equal branching fractions to each lepton flavor, heavy fermions with masses below 840 GeV are excluded. This is the most sensitive probe to date of the type-III seesaw mechanism.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  16. Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Ambrogi F, Asilar E, Bergauer T, et al.
    Phys Rev Lett, 2018 Feb 23;120(8):081801.
    PMID: 29542998 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.081801
    The first observation of electroweak production of same-sign W boson pairs in proton-proton collisions is reported. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9    fb^{-1} collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. Events are selected by requiring exactly two leptons (electrons or muons) of the same charge, moderate missing transverse momentum, and two jets with a large rapidity separation and a large dijet mass. The observed significance of the signal is 5.5 standard deviations, where a significance of 5.7 standard deviations is expected based on the standard model. The ratio of measured event yields to that expected from the standard model at leading order is 0.90±0.22. A cross section measurement in a fiducial region is reported. Bounds are given on the structure of quartic vector boson interactions in the framework of dimension-8 effective field theory operators and on the production of doubly charged Higgs bosons.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  17. Heo HY, Tee YK, Harston G, Leigh R, Chappell MA
    NMR Biomed, 2023 Jun;36(6):e4734.
    PMID: 35322482 DOI: 10.1002/nbm.4734
    Amide proton transfer (APT) imaging, a variant of chemical exchange saturation transfer MRI, has shown promise in detecting ischemic tissue acidosis following impaired aerobic metabolism in animal models and in human stroke patients due to the sensitivity of the amide proton exchange rate to changes in pH within the physiological range. Recent studies have demonstrated the possibility of using APT-MRI to detect acidosis of the ischemic penumbra, enabling the assessment of stroke severity and risk of progression, monitoring of treatment progress, and prognostication of clinical outcome. This paper reviews current APT imaging methods actively used in ischemic stroke research and explores the clinical aspects of ischemic stroke and future applications for these methods.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons
  18. Sairi M, Arrigan DW
    Talanta, 2015 Jan;132:205-14.
    PMID: 25476299 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2014.08.060
    The behaviour of protonated ractopamine (RacH(+)) at an array of micro-interfaces between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (micro-ITIES) was investigated via cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep stripping voltammetry (LSSV). The micro-ITIES array was formed at silicon membranes containing 30 pores of radius 11.09±0.12 µm and pore centre-to-centre separation of 18.4±2.1 times the pore radius. CV shows that RacH(+) transferred across the water |1,6-dichlorohexane µITIES array at a very positive applied potential, close to the upper limit of the potential window. Nevertheless, CV was used in the estimation of some of the drug's thermodynamic parameters, such as the formal transfer potential and the Gibbs transfer energy. LSSV was implemented by pre-concentration of the drug, into the organic phase, followed by voltammetric detection, based on the back-transfer of RacH(+) from the organic to aqueous phase. Under optimised pre-concentration and detection conditions, a limit of detection of 0.1 µM was achieved. In addition, the impact of substances such as sugar, ascorbic acid, metal ions, amino acid and urea on RacH(+) detection was assessed. The detection of RacH(+) in artificial serum indicated that the presence of serum protein interferes in the detection signal, so that sample deproteinisation is required for feasible bioanalytical applications.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons*
  19. Autsavapromporn N, Liu C, Kobayashi A, Ahmad TAFT, Oikawa M, Dukaew N, et al.
    Radiat Res, 2019 02;191(2):211-216.
    PMID: 30526323 DOI: 10.1667/RR15155.1
    Increased understanding of radiation-induced secondary bystander effect (RISBE) is relevant to radiation therapy since it likely contributes to normal tissue injury and tumor recurrence, subsequently resulting in treatment failure. In this work, we developed a simple method based on proton microbeam radiation and a transwell insert co-culture system to elucidate the RISBE between irradiated human lung cancer cells and nonirradiated human normal cells. A549 lung cancer cells received a single dose or fractionated doses of proton microbeam radiation to generate the primary bystander cells. These cells were then seeded on the top of the insert with secondary bystander WI-38 normal cells growing underneath in the presence or absence of gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) inhibitor, 18-α-glycyrrhetnic acid (AGA). Cells were co-cultured before harvesting and assayed for micronuclei formation. The results of this work showed that fractionated doses of protons caused less DNA damage in the secondary bystander WI-38 cells compared to a single radiation dose, where the means differ by 20%. However, the damaging effect in the secondary bystander normal cells could be eliminated when treated with AGA. This novel work reflects our effort to demonstrate that GJIC plays a major role in the RISBE generated from the primary bystander cancer cells.
    Matched MeSH terms: Protons*
  20. Msayib Y, Harston GWJ, Tee YK, Sheerin F, Blockley NP, Okell TW, et al.
    Neuroimage Clin, 2019;23:101833.
    PMID: 31063943 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101833
    BACKGROUND: Amide proton transfer (APT) imaging may help identify the ischaemic penumbra in stroke patients, the classical definition of which is a region of tissue around the ischaemic core that is hypoperfused and metabolically stressed. Given the potential of APT imaging to complement existing imaging techniques to provide clinically-relevant information, there is a need to develop analysis techniques that deliver a robust and repeatable APT metric. The challenge to accurate quantification of an APT metric has been the heterogeneous in-vivo environment of human tissue, which exhibits several confounding magnetisation transfer effects including spectrally-asymmetric nuclear Overhauser effects (NOEs). The recent literature has introduced various model-free and model-based approaches to analysis that seek to overcome these limitations.

    OBJECTIVES: The objective of this work was to compare quantification techniques for CEST imaging that specifically separate APT and NOE effects for application in the clinical setting. Towards this end a methodological comparison of different CEST quantification techniques was undertaken in healthy subjects, and around clinical endpoints in a cohort of acute stroke patients.

    METHODS: MRI data from 12 patients presenting with ischaemic stroke were retrospectively analysed. Six APT quantification techniques, comprising model-based and model-free techniques, were compared for repeatability and ability for APT to distinguish pathological tissue in acute stroke.

    RESULTS: Robustness analysis of six quantification techniques indicated that the multi-pool model-based technique had the smallest contrast between grey and white matter (2%), whereas model-free techniques exhibited the highest contrast (>30%). Model-based techniques also exhibited the lowest spatial variability, of which 4-pool APTR∗ was by far the most uniform (10% coefficient of variation, CoV), followed by 3-pool analysis (20%). Four-pool analysis yielded the highest ischaemic core contrast-to-noise ratio (0.74). Four-pool modelling of APT effects was more repeatable (3.2% CoV) than 3-pool modelling (4.6% CoV), but this appears to come at the cost of reduced contrast between infarct growth tissue and normal tissue.

    CONCLUSION: The multi-pool measures performed best across the analyses of repeatability, spatial variability, contrast-to-noise ratio, and grey matter-white matter contrast, and might therefore be more suitable for use in clinical imaging of acute stroke. Addition of a fourth pool that separates NOEs and semisolid effects appeared to be more biophysically accurate and provided better separation of the APT signal compared to the 3-pool equivalent, but this improvement appeared be accompanied by reduced contrast between infarct growth tissue and normal tissue.

    Matched MeSH terms: Protons*
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