Biomedical subjects

D van Dyck

Publications and source records attributed to D van Dyck.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Inelastic electron holography as a variant of the Feynman thought experiment.

Using a combination of electron holography and energy filtering, interference fringes produced after inelastic interaction of electrons with hydrogen molecules are examined. Surprisingly, the coherence of inelastic scattering increases when moving from the surface of a hydrogen-containing bubble to the vacuum. This phenomenon can be understood in terms of the Feynman two-slit thought experiment with a variable ambiguity of the which-way registration.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Experiments on inelastic electron holography.

Using the combination of an electron biprism and an energy filter, the coherence distribution in an inelastically scattered wave-field is measured. It is found that the degree of coherence decreases rapidly with increasing distance between two superimposed points in the object, and with increasing energy-loss. In a Si sample, coherence of plasmon scattering increases in vacuum with the distance from the edge of the sample.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Plasmon holographic experiments: theoretical framework.

A theoretical framework is described to understand the results of plasmon holography experiments leading to insight in the meaning of the experimental results and pointing out directions for future experiments. The framework is based on the formalism of mutual intensity to describe how coherence is transferred through an optical system. For the inelastic interaction with the object, an expression for the volume plasmon excitations in a free electron gas is used as a model for the behaviour of aluminium. The formalism leads to a clear graphical intuitive tool for understanding the experiments. It becomes evident that the measured coherence is solely related to the angular distribution of the plasmon scattering in the case of bulk plasmons. After describing the framework, the special case of coherence outside a spherical particle is treated and the seemingly controversial idea of a plasmon with a limited coherence length obtained from experiments is clarified.

Holography↗

PubMed1998

Automated breast tumor diagnosis and grading based on wavelet chromatin texture description.

In this paper, wavelets were employed for multi-scale image analysis to extract parameters for the description of chromatin texture in the cytological diagnosis and grading of invasive breast cancer. Their value was estimated by comparing the performance of co-occurrence, densitometric, and morphometric parameters in an automated K-nearest neighbor (Knn) classification scheme based on light microscopic images of isolated nuclei of paraffin-embedded tissue. This design allowed a multifaceted cytological retrospective study of which the practical value can be judged easily. Results show that wavelets perform excellently with classification scores comparable with densitometric and co-occurrence features. Moreover, because wavelets showed a high additive value with the other textural groups, this panel allowed a very profound description with higher recognition scores than previously reported (76% for individual nuclei, 100% for cases). Morphometric parameters performed less well and only slightly increased correct classification. The major drawback, besides image segmentation errors demanding operator supervision, emanated to be the few false-negative cases, which restrict the immediate practical use. However, an enlargement of the parameter set may avoid this misclassification, resulting in an applicable expert system of practical use.

Automation↗

PubMed1997

Watershed-based segmentation of 3D MR data for volume quantization.

The aim of this work is the development of a semiautomatic segmentation technique for efficient and accurate volume quantization of Magnetic Resonance (MR) data. The proposed technique uses a 3D variant of Vincent and Soilles immersion-based watershed algorithm that is applied to the gradient magnitude of the MR data and that produces small volume primitives. The known drawback of the watershed algorithm, oversegmentation, is strongly reduced by a priori application of a 3D adaptive anisotropic diffusion filter to the MR data. Furthermore, oversegmentation is a posteriori reduced by properly merging small volume primitives that have similar gray level distributions. The outcome of the proceeding image processing steps is presented to the user for manual segmentation. Through selection of volume primitives, the user quickly segments of first slice, which contains the object of interest. Afterwards, the subsequent slices are automatically segmented by extrapolation. Segmentation results are contingently manually corrected. The proposed segmentation technique is tested on phantom objects, where segmentation errors less than 2% are observed. In addition, the technique is demonstrated on 3D MR data of the mouse head from which the cerebellum is extracted. Volumes of the mouse cerebellum and the mouse brains in toto are calculated.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1995

Reduction of the prodrug loperamide oxide to its active drug loperamide in the gut of rats, dogs, and humans.

Loperamide oxide (LOPOX) is a prodrug of loperamide (LOP). The reduction of LOPOX to LOP was investigated to provide a pharmacokinetic basis for the pharmacodynamics and improved side effect profile of the prodrug. Reduction of LOPOX was studied in vitro in gut contents, gut flora, intestinal cells, and hepatocytes. In vivo pharmacokinetics and metabolism of LOPOX and LOP were compared in the dog. LOPOX could be efficiently reduced in the gut contents of rats, dogs, and humans, with the most extensive reduction found in cecal contents. Reduction was diminished to 13% of the anaerobic LOPOX reductase activity in the presence of oxygen and to 2.5% of the original activity by heat treatment of the contents. In human ileal effluents, LOPOX reductase activity was similar in oxygen and heat sensitivity. In the rat, the cecum contained on average 89.2% of the total activity in the contents of the upper part of the intestine. In the dog, there was a gradual increase in LOPOX reductase activity from the proximal small intestine toward the cecum. In germ-free rats, the cecum contained < 1% of the activity of the small intestine. Isolated intestinal microflora of rat and dog was able to reduce LOPOX to LOP under anaerobic conditions, indicating that the microflora was primarily involved in the reduction. In its absence (i.e. in germ-free rats), reduction could still be conducted by other unknown components of the gut contents. In isolated intestinal cells, the initial rate of drug uptake was approximately 3-10 times faster for LOP than for LOPOX.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

PubMed1992

Comparative metabolism of flunarizine in rats, dogs and man: an in vitro study with subcellular liver fractions and isolated hepatocytes.

1. The biotransformation of 3H-flunarizine ((E)-1-[bis(4-fluorophenyl)methyl]-4-(3-phenyl-2-propenyl)piperazine dihydrochloride, FLUN) was studied in subcellular liver fractions (microsomes and 12,000 g fraction) and in suspensions or primary cell cultures of isolated hepatocytes of rats, dogs and man. The major in vitro metabolites were characterized by h.p.l.c. co-chromatography and/or by mass spectrometric analysis. 2. The kinetics of FLUN metabolism was studied in microsomes of dog and man. The metabolism followed linear Michaelis-Menten kinetics over the concentration range 0.1-20 microM FLUN. 3. A striking sex difference was observed for the in vitro metabolism of FLUN in rat. In male rats, oxidative N-dealkylation at one of the piperazine nitrogens, resulting in bis(4-fluorophenyl) methanol, was a major metabolic pathway, whereas aromatic hydroxylation at the phenyl of the cinnamyl moiety, resulting in hydroxy-FLUN, was a major metabolic pathway in female rats. In incubates with hepatocytes, these two metabolites were converted to the corresponding glucuronides. 4. In human subcellular fractions, aromatic hydroxylation to hydroxy-FLUN was the major metabolic pathway. In primary cell cultures of human hepatocytes, oxidative N-dealkylation at the 1- and 4-piperazine nitrogen and glucuronidation of bis(4-fluorophenyl)methanol were observed. The in vitro metabolism of FLUN in humans, resembled more than in female rats and in dogs than that in male rats. 5. The present in vitro results are compared with data of previous in vivo studies in rats and dogs. The use of subcellular fractions and/or isolated hepatocytes for the study of species differences in the biotransformation of xenobiotics is discussed.

Animals↗