Bibliometric Review of Optimization and Image Processing of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Imaging System between 1981-2022

BACKGROUND

PET scan stands as a valuable diagnostic tool in nuclear medicine, enabling the observation of metabolic and physiological changes at a molecular level. However, PET scans have a number of drawbacks, such as poor spatial resolution, noisy images, scattered radiation, artifacts, and radiation exposure. These challenges demonstrate the need for optimization in image processing techniques.

OBJECTIVES

Our objective is to identify the evolving trends and impacts of publication in this field, as well as the most productive and influential countries, institutions, authors, themes, and articles.

METHODS

A bibliometric study was conducted using a comprehensive query string such as "positron emission tomography" AND "image processing" AND optimization to retrieve 1,783 publications from 1981 to 2022 found in the Scopus database related to this field of study.

RESULTS

The findings revealed that the most influential country, institution, and authors are from the USA, and the most prevalent theme is TOF PET image reconstruction.

CONCLUSION

The increasing trend in publication in the field of optimization of image processing in PET scans would address the challenges in PET scan by reducing radiation exposure, faster scanning speed, as well as enhancing lesion identification.

Microstructure and Superconducting Properties of Bi-2223 Synthesized via Co-Precipitation Method: Effects of Graphene Nanoparticle Addition

The effects of graphene addition on the phase formation and superconducting properties of (Bi1.6Pb0.4)Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 (Bi-2223) ceramics synthesized using the co-precipitation method were systematically investigated. Series samples of Bi-2223 were added with different weight percentages (x = 0.0, 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0 wt.%) of graphene nanoparticles. The samples' phase formations and crystal structures were characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), while the superconducting critical temperatures, Tc, were investigated using alternating current susceptibility (ACS). The XRD showed that a high-Tc phase, Bi-2223, and a small low-Tc phase, Bi-2212, dominated the samples. The volume fraction of the Bi-2223 phase increased for the sample with x = 0.3 wt.% and 0.5 wt.% of graphene and slightly reduced at x = 1.0 wt.%. The ACS showed that the onset critical temperature, Tc-onset, phase lock-in temperature, Tcj, and coupling peak temperature, TP, decreased when graphene was added to the samples. The susceptibility-temperature (χ'-T) and (χ″-T) curves of each sample, where χ' and χ″ are the real and imaginary parts of the susceptibility, respectively, were obtained. The critical temperature of the pure sample was also measured.

Phase transformation and mechanical properties of new bioactive glass-ceramics derived from CaO-P2O5-Na2O-B2O3-SiO2 glass system

This work investigates the role of sintering temperature on bioactive glass-ceramics derived from the new composition CaO-P2O5-Na2O-B2O3-SiO2 glass system. The sintering behaviour of the samples' physical, structural, and mechanical properties is highlighted in this study. The experimental results indicated that the sintering process improved the crystallization and hardness of the final product. Results from XRD and FTIR showed the existence of carbonate apatite, pseudo-wollastonite, and wollastonite phases. From the results, the bioglass-ceramics sintered at 700 °C obtained the highest densification and optimum mechanical results. It had the value of 5.34 ± 0.21 GPa regarding microhardness and 2.99 ± 0.24 MPa m1/2 concerning fracture toughness, which falls in the range of the human enamel. Also, the sintered samples maintained their bioactivity and biodegradability after being tested in the PBS medium. The bioactivity does not affect but slows down the apatite formation rate. Overall results promoted the novel bioglass-ceramics as a candidate material for dental application.

Stability and Reproducibility of Radiomic Features Based on Various Segmentation Techniques on Cervical Cancer DWI-MRI

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer and ranked as 4th in morbidity and mortality among Malaysian women. Currently, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is considered as the gold standard imaging modality for tumours with a stage higher than IB2, due to its superiority in diagnostic assessment of tumour infiltration with excellent soft-tissue contrast. In this research, the robustness of semi-automatic segmentation has been evaluated using a flood-fill algorithm for quantitative feature extraction, using 30 diffusion weighted MRI images (DWI-MRI) of cervical cancer patients. The relevant features were extracted from DWI-MRI segmented images of cervical cancer. First order statistics, shape features, and textural features were extracted and analysed. The intra-class relation coefficient (ICC) was used to compare 662 radiomic features extracted from manual and semi-automatic segmentations. Notably, the features extracted from the semi-automatic segmentation and flood filling algorithm (average ICC = 0.952 0.009, p > 0.05) were significantly higher than the manual extracted features (average ICC = 0.897 0.011, p > 0.05). Henceforth, we demonstrate that the semi-automatic segmentation is slightly expanded to manual segmentation as it produces more robust and reproducible radiomic features.

Superconducting Properties of YBa2Cu3O7-δ with a Multiferroic Addition Synthesized by a Capping Agent-Aided Thermal Treatment Method

A bulk YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (Y-123) superconductor synthesized by a thermal treatment method was added with different weight percentages (x = 0.0, 0.2, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 wt.%) of BiFeO₃ (BFO) nanoparticle. X-ray diffraction (XRD), alternating current susceptibility (ACS), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were used to determine the properties of the samples. From the XRD results, all samples showed an orthorhombic crystal structure with a Pmmm space group. The sample x = 1.0 wt.% gave the highest value of Y-123. The high amounts of BFO degraded the crystallite size of the sample, showing that the addition did not promote the grain growth of Y-123. From ACS results, the T_c-onset value was shown to be enhanced by the addition of the BFO nanoparticle, where x = 1.5 wt.% gave the highest T_c value (91.91 K). The sample with 1.5 wt.% showed a high value of T_p (89.15 K). The FESEM analysis showed that the average grain size of the samples decreased as BFO was introduced. However, the small grain size was expected to fill in the boundary, which would help in enhancing the grain connectivity. Overall, the addition of the BFO nanoparticles in Y-123 helped to improve the superconducting properties, mainly for x = 1.5 wt.%.

CT reconstruction algorithm and low contrast detectability of phantom study: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

For almost three decades, computed tomography (CT) has been extensively used in medical diagnosis which led researchers to conduct linking of CT dose exposure with image quality.

METHODS

In this study, a systematic review and a meta-analysis study were conducted on CT phantom for resolution study especially based on the low contrast detectability (LCD). Furthermore, the association between the CT parameter such as tube voltage and the type of reconstruction algorithm and amount of phantom scanning in affecting the image quality and the exposure dose were also investigated in this study. We utilize PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar and Scopus databases to search related published articles from year 2011 until 2020. The notable keyword comprises of "computed tomography", "CT phantom", "low contrast detectability". Of 52 articles, 20 articles is within the inclusion criteria in this systematic review.

RESULTS

The dichotomous outcomes were chosen to represent the results in terms of risk ratio as per meta-analysis study. Notably, the noise in iterative reconstruction (IR) reduced by 24%,33% and 36% with the use of smooth, medium and sharp filters, respectively. Furthermore, adaptive iterative dose reduction (AIDR 3D) improved image quality and the visibility of smaller less dense objects compared to filtered back-projection. Most of the researchers used 120 kVp tube voltage to scan phantom for quality assurance study.

CONCLUSION

Hence, the optimization of primary factor such as tube potential reduce the dose exposure significantly and with the optimize IR technique could substantially reduce the radiation dose whilst maintaining the image quality.

Modeling Superconducting Critical Temperature of 122-Iron-Based Pnictide Intermetallic Superconductor Using a Hybrid Intelligent Computational Method

Structural transformation and magnetic ordering interplays for emergence as well as suppression of superconductivity in 122-iron-based superconducting materials. Electron and hole doping play a vital role in structural transition and magnetism suppression and ultimately enhance the room pressure superconducting critical temperature of the compound. This work models the superconducting critical temperature of 122-iron-based superconductor using tetragonal to orthorhombic lattice (LAT) structural transformation during low-temperature cooling and ionic radii of the dopants as descriptors through hybridization of support vector regression (SVR) intelligent algorithm with particle swarm (PS) parameter optimization method. The developed PS-SVR-RAD model, which utilizes ionic radii (RAD) and the concentrations of dopants as descriptors, shows better performance over the developed PS-SVR-LAT model that employs lattice parameters emanated from structural transformation as descriptors. Using the root mean square error (RMSE), coefficient of correlation (CC) and mean absolute error as performance measuring criteria, the developed PS-SVR-RAD model performs better than the PS-SVR-LAT model with performance improvement of 15.28, 7.62 and 72.12%, on the basis of RMSE, CC and Mean Absolute Error (MAE), respectively. Among the merits of the developed PS-SVR-RAD model over the PS-SVR-LAT model is the possibility of electrons and holes doping from four different dopants, better performance and ease of model development at relatively low cost since the descriptors are easily fetched ionic radii. The developed intelligent models in this work would definitely facilitate quick and precise determination of critical transition temperature of 122-iron-based superconductor for desired applications at low cost with experimental stress circumvention.

Influence of Irradiation Time on the Structural and Optical Characteristics of CuSe Nanoparticles Synthesized via Microwave-Assisted Technique

A rapid, sustainable, and ecologically sound approach is urgently needed for the production of semiconductor nanomaterials. CuSe nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized via a microwave-assisted technique using CuCl₂·2H₂O and Na₂SeO₃ as the starting materials. The role of the irradiation time was considered as the primary concern to regulate the size and possibly the shape of the synthesized nanoparticles. A range of characterization techniques was used to elucidate the structural and optical properties of the fabricated nanoparticles, which included X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), atomic force microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy (Raman), UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The mean crystallite size of the CuSe hexagonal (Klockmannite) crystal structure increased from 21.35 to 99.85 nm with the increase in irradiation time. At the same time, the microstrain and dislocation density decreased from 7.90 × 10^-4 to 1.560 × 10^-4 and 4.68 × 10^-2 to 1.00 × 10^-2 nm^-2, respectively. Three Raman vibrational bands attributed to CuSe NPs have been identified in the Raman spectrum. Irradiation time was also seen to play a critical role in the NP optical band gap during the synthesis. The decrease in the optical band gap from 1.85 to 1.60 eV is attributed to the increase in the crystallite size when the irradiation time was increased. At 400 nm excitation wavelength, a strong orange emission centered at 610 nm was observed from the PL measurement. The PL intensity is found to increase with an increase in irradiation time, which is attributed to the improvement in crystallinity at higher irradiation time. Therefore, the results obtained in this study could be of great benefit in the field of photonics, solar cells, and optoelectronic applications.

Significance of Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles on Superconducting Properties of Tl-1212 High Temperature Superconductor

Thallium-based high temperature superconductor (HTS) with nominal starting composition (Tl0.85Cr0.15)Sr2CaCu2O7-δ (Tl-1212) was prepared using high purity oxide powders via solid state reaction method. Small amounts (0.0 – 0.15 wt. %) of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (CoFe2O4) were added into Tl-1212 superconductors. The effect of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles addition on the critical temperature (Tc), phase formation and microstructure properties including elemental compositional analysis were studied. The samples were investigated by the characterization of electrical resistance measurement, powder X-ray diffraction method (XRD), scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Zero-resistance temperature (Tc-zero) was found to reduce from 97 K to 89 K with increasing of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles concentration. Most of the samples indicated a dominant Tl-1212 phase of a tetragonal structure with a minor phase of Tl-1201. SEM micrographs with EDX mapping showed that CoFe2O4 nanoparticles were well distributed in all the samples.

Phase Formation and Electrical Transport Properties of Nano-Sized SnO₂ Added (Tl_0.85Cr_0.15)Sr₂CaCu₂O_7-δSuperconductors

In this work, the effect of nano-sized SnO2 addition on the phase formation and electrical transport properties of (Tl0.85Cr0.15)Sr2CaCu2O7-δ (Tl-1212) superconductor was investigated. Thallium-based high temperature superconductor (HTS) with nominal starting composition (Tl0.85Cr0.15) Sr2CaCu2O7-δ was prepared using high purity oxide powders via solid state reaction method. Nano-sized SnO2 with 0.01 – 0.05 wt.% were added into Tl-1212 superconductors. The characteristic of the samples were determined by powder X-ray diffraction method (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX), electrical resistance measurements and transport critical current density measurements. Nano-sized SnO2 added (Tl0.85Cr0.15)Sr2CaCu2O7-δ showed Tc-zero between 93 and 95 K. All of the samples indicated a dominant phase of Tl-1212 with a minor phase of Tl-1201. The highest Jc (at 77 K) was shown by sample with 0.03 wt.% at 3260 mA/cm2. SnO2 has significantly enhanced the transport critical current density of Tl-1212 superconductor by acting as flux pinning centers. However, further addition of nano-sized SnO2 in Tl-1212 superconductor caused degradation in Jc. The SEM micrographs with energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX) showed that SnO2 were well distributed in all the samples.