A method focused on the construction of a discriminant function of the image quality is proposed. The function owns the qualitative scores made by expert criterion as the dependent parameter. Function is able to select which of the measured parameters determine the image quality. The percentage of cases correctly classified by the function is analysed. The minimum value of the administered acti...

The ATP-gated ionotropic P2X7 receptor regulates T follicular helper (Tfh) cell abundance in the Peyer's patches (PPs) of the small intestine; deletion of P2rx7, encoding for P2X7, in Tfh cells results in enhanced IgA secretion and binding to commensal bacteria. Here, we show that Tfh cell activity is important for generating a diverse bacterial community in the gut and that sensing of microbio...

PURPOSE To determine the impact of retrospectively ECG-gated multi-detector row CT (MDCT) on three-dimensional (3D) visualization of the bronchial tree and virtual bronchoscopy (VB) as compared to non-ECG-gated data acquisition. MATERIALS AND METHODS Contrast-enhanced retrospectively ECG-gated and non-ECG-gated MDCT of the chest was performed in 25 consecutive patients referred for assessment...

BACKGROUND Current myocardial perfusion measurements make use of an ECG-gated pulse sequence to track the uptake and washout of a gadolinium-based contrast agent. The use of a gated acquisition is a problem in situations with a poor ECG signal. Recently, an ungated perfusion acquisition was proposed but it is not known how accurately quantitative perfusion estimates can be made from such datase...

AIMS To compare non-gated vs. electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated 64-detector-row computed tomography (MDCT) of the left atrium (LA) for integrated electroanatomic mapping (EAM) in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS AND RESULTS Twenty-nine consecutive patients with paroxysmal AF underwent MDCT prior to pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). All patients were in sinus rhythm both du...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate predictor variables at the moment of normal stress-rest myocardial perfusion gated SPECT for indication of a second gated SPECT. MATERIAL AND METHODS A prospective, single center cohort study was conducted. We evaluated 2326 consecutive patients (age 63.6 ± 13 years, 57.3% females) without perfusion defects and with normal left ventricu...

Our aim of this study was to evaluate prospectively in patients with pancreatic cancer the effects of respiratory- gating during PET/CT acquisition on the determination of lesion volume and to measure tracer uptake. Our research included 36 patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. They underwent conventional whole-body PET/CT and subsequently respiratory-gated PET/CT of the upper abdomen. Bas...