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Vivo Quantification (vivo + quantification)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

Incubation phase of acute hepatitis B in man: Dynamic of cellular immune mechanisms

HEPATOLOGY, Issue 5 2000
George J.M. Webster
After hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, liver injury and viral control have been thought to result from lysis of infected hepatocytes by virus-specific cytotoxic T cells. Patients are usually studied only after developing significant liver injury, and so the viral and immune events during the incubation phase of disease have not been defined. During a single-source outbreak of HBV infection, we identified patients before the onset of symptomatic hepatitis. The dynamics of HBV replication, liver injury, and HBV-specific CD8+ and CD4+ cell responses were investigated from incubation to recovery. Although a rise in alanine transaminase (ALT) levels was present at the time of the initial fall in HBV-DNA levels, maximal reduction in virus level occurred before significant liver injury. Direct ex vivo quantification of HBV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ cells, by using human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I tetramers and intracellular cytokine staining, showed that adaptive immune mechanisms are present during the incubation phase, at least 4 weeks before symptoms. The results suggest that the pattern of reduction in HBV replication is not directly proportional to tissue injury during acute hepatitis B in humans. Furthermore, because virus-specific immune responses and significant reductions in viral replication are seen during the incubation phase, it is likely that the immune events central to viral control occur before symptomatic disease. [source]

Asynchrony of the early maturation of white matter bundles in healthy infants: Quantitative landmarks revealed noninvasively by diffusion tensor imaging

HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING, Issue 1 2008
Jessica Dubois
Abstract Normal cognitive development in infants follows a well-known temporal sequence, which is assumed to be correlated with the structural maturation of underlying functional networks. Postmortem studies and, more recently, structural MR imaging studies have described qualitatively the heterogeneous spatiotemporal progression of white matter myelination. However, in vivo quantification of the maturation phases of fiber bundles is still lacking. We used noninvasive diffusion tensor MR imaging and tractography in twenty-three 1,4-month-old healthy infants to quantify the early maturation of the main cerebral fascicles. A specific maturation model, based on the respective roles of different maturational processes on the diffusion phenomena, was designed to highlight asynchronous maturation across bundles by evaluating the time-course of mean diffusivity and anisotropy changes over the considered developmental period. Using an original approach, a progression of maturation in four relative stages was determined in each tract by estimating the maturation state and speed, from the diffusion indices over the infants group compared with an adults group on one hand, and in each tract compared with the average over bundles on the other hand. Results were coherent with, and extended previous findings in 8 of 11 bundles, showing the anterior limb of the internal capsule and cingulum as the most immature, followed by the optic radiations, arcuate and inferior longitudinal fascicles, then the spinothalamic tract and fornix, and finally the corticospinal tract as the most mature bundle. Thus, this approach provides new quantitative landmarks for further noninvasive research on brain-behavior relationships during normal and abnormal development. Hum Brain Mapp, 2008. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Three-dimensional force measurements on oral implants: a methodological study

JOURNAL OF ORAL REHABILITATION, Issue 9 2000
J. Duyck
This paper describes a methodology that allows in vitro and in vivo quantification and qualification of forces on oral implants. Strain gauges are adapted to the outer surface of 5·5 and 7 mm standard abutments (Brånemark System®, Nobel Biocare, Sweden). The readings of the strain gauges are transformed into a numerical representation of the normal force and the bending moment around the X- and Y- axis. The hardware and the software of the 3D measuring device based on the strain gauge technology is explained and its accuracy and reliability tested. The accuracy level for axial forces and bending moments is 9.72 N and 2.5 N·cm, respectively, based on the current techniques for strain gauged abutments. As an example, an in vivo force analysis was performed in a patient with a full fixed prosthesis in the mandible. Since axial loads of 450 N and bending moments of 70 N·cm were recorded, it was concluded that the accuracy of the device falls well within the scope of our needs. Nevertheless, more in vivo research is needed before well defined conclusions can be drawn and strategies developed to improve the biomechanics of oral implants. [source]

In vivo quantification of regional myocardial blood flow: Validity of the fast-exchange approximation for intravascular T1 contrast agent and long inversion time,

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN MEDICINE, Issue 2 2006
Marlene Wiart
Abstract In the present study we investigated the effects of water exchange between intra- and extravascular compartments on absolute quantification of regional myocardial blood flow (rMBF) using a saturation-recovery sequence with a rather long inversion time (TI, 176 ms) and a T1 -shortening intravascular contrast agent (CMD-A2-Gd-DOTA). Data were acquired in normal and ischemically injured pigs, with radiolabeled microsphere flow measurements used as the gold standard. Five water exchange rates (fast, 6 Hz, 3 Hz, 1 Hz, and no exchange) were tested. The results demonstrate that the fast-exchange approximation may be appropriate for rMBF quantification using the described experimental setting. Relaxation rate change (,R1) analysis improved the accuracy of the analysis of rMBF compared to the MR signal. In conclusion, the current protocol could provide sufficient accuracy for estimating rMBF assuming fast exchange and a linear relationship between signal and tissue concentration when quantification of precontrast T1 is not an option. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]