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K J Parker

Publications and source records attributed to K J Parker.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Central vasopressin administration regulates the onset of facultative paternal behavior in microtus pennsylvanicus (meadow voles).

Pharmacological experiments have implicated a role for central arginine vasopressin (AVP) in regulating paternal behavior in monogamous prairie voles. Although nonmonogamous meadow voles exhibit appreciable paternal care when housed under winter, short day lengths (SD), no research has examined whether the same neurobiological systems are involved in regulating paternal behavior in a nonmonogamous species when it behaves paternally. The goal of these experiments was to determine whether central administration of AVP, but not cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), affected the suppression of pup-directed aggression and/or the onset of paternal behavior in meadow voles. Data from experiment 1 implicated a role for AVP in facilitating changes in male behavior: central administration of 1 ng of AVP (but not 3 ng or CSF) inhibited pup-directed aggression in previously pup-aggressive males, and 3 ng of AVP (but not 1 ng or CSF) induced paternal behavior in previously nonpaternal males. In contrast, AVP (1 and 3 ng) did not enhance paternal behavior in already paternal males. Experiment 2 tested the specificity of AVP. Previous research indicated that 24 h of unmated cohabitation with a female reliably induced paternal behavior in SD males. Hence, experiment 2 examined whether administration of a V(1a) AVP antagonist (AVPA), but not CSF, prior to 24 h of unmated cohabitation would block the onset of paternal behavior. Males that received CSF displayed paternal behavior faster and engaged in more investigatory and paternal behaviors than males that received AVPA. Thus, pharmacological experiments support the hypothesis that AVP likely regulates paternal behavior in both facultatively and consistently paternal vole species.

Aggression↗
PubMed2001

Paternal behavior is associated with central neurohormone receptor binding patterns in meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus).

Paternal and nonpaternal voles (microtus) have different arginine-vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) receptor patterns in the extended amygdala, a neural pathway associated with parental behavior. Using receptor autoradiography, the authors examined whether AVP and OT receptor patterns were associated with facultative paternal behavior in either sexually and parentally inexperienced or experienced meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus). Experienced, in contrast to inexperienced, males had less AVP binding in the lateral septum (LS), more AVP binding in the anterior olfactory nucleus (AON), and more OT binding in the AON, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, LS, and lateral amygdala. Thus, specific AVP receptor patterns, which co-occur with paternal care in consistently paternal voles, also may be associated with paternal care (when present) in typically nonpaternal species. This study also demonstrated a possible relationship between OT receptor patterns and paternal state in male mammals.

Amygdala↗
PubMed2001

Three-dimensional registration and fusion of ultrasound and MRI using major vessels as fiducial markers.

This paper describes fusion of three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data sets, without the assistance of external fiducial markers or external position sensors. Fusion of these two modalities combines real-time 3-D ultrasound scans of soft tissue with the larger anatomical framework from MRI. The complementary information available from multiple imaging modalities warrants the development of robust fusion capabilities. We describe the data acquisition, specialized algorithms, and results for 3-D fused data from phantom studies and in vivo studies of the normal human vasculature and musculoskeletal systems.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2001

Day length and sociosexual cohabitation alter central oxytocin receptor binding in female meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus).

In voles (Microtus), central oxytocin (OT) receptor patterns are associated with interspecific social organization. Social, monogamous voles have more OT receptors in the extended amygdala than asocial, nonmonogamous voles. Nonmonogamous meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus), which exhibit seasonal changes in social organization (long day [LD] females are territorial, short day [SD] females live socially), provide a model for examining whether OT receptor patterns are associated with seasonal changes in intraspecific social behaviors. The authors examined whether sexually inexperienced (naive) SD females had more OT receptor binding than naive LD females. Naive SD females had greater OT receptor binding in the lateral septum (LS), lateral amygdala (LatAmyg), and central amygdala (CenAmyg) than less social, naive LD females. Because both SD and LD females acquire partner preferences, the authors assessed whether OT receptor binding was associated with partner preference onset. For LD females, partner preference onset corresponded with greater OT receptor binding in the anterior olfactory nucleus, LS, and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, compared with naive LD females. In contrast, naive SD females and those exhibiting partner preferences did not differ. However, SD females that failed to acquire partner preferences showed less OT binding in the LatAmyg and CenAmyg. This study is the first to show that central OT receptor patterns are associated with seasonal changes in intraspecific social organization and partner preference onset in a nonmonogamous rodent.

Amygdala↗
PubMed2001

Social and environmental factors influence the suppression of pup-directed aggression and development of paternal behavior in captive meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus).

During summer, female meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) maintain territories and males do not engage in paternal care. As day length shortens, territories dissolve and males nest with females and young. Because paternal behavior has never been studied in free-living meadow voles during colder months or in the laboratory under short photoperiods, the authors examined whether males housed in short day (SD) lengths exhibited more frequent or better quality paternal behavior than males housed in long day (LD) lengths. Sexually and parentally inexperienced (naive) SD males exhibited proportionally more and qualitatively better paternal care than naive LD males. SD males were more responsive than LD males to classic social cues associated with prepartum aggression inhibition and paternal onset. SD sires also displayed qualitatively better paternal behavior than LD sires. These data suggest that meadow vole paternal state is regulated by specific social and environmental cues that may contain reliable information about ecological conditions that favor paternal care.

Aggression↗
PubMed2000

Three-dimensional sonoelastography: principles and practices.

Sonoelastography is an ultrasound imaging technique where low amplitude, low-frequency shear waves (less than 0.1 mm displacement and less than 1 kHz frequency) are propagated through internal organs, while real-time Doppler techniques are used to image the resulting vibration pattern. When a discrete hard inhomogeneity, such as a tumour, is present within a region of soft tissue, a decrease in the vibration amplitude will occur at its location. This forms the basis for tumour detection using sonoelastography. For three-dimensional (3D) imaging the acquisition of sequential tomographic slices using this technique, combined with image segmentation, enables the reconstruction, quantification and visualization of tumour volumes. Sonoelastography and magnetic resonance images (MRI) of a tissue phantom containing a hard isoechoic inclusion are compared to evaluate the accuracy of this method. The tumour delineation from sonoelastography was found to have good agreement with the tumour from MRI except for a bleeding at one of its ends. Although sonoelastography is still in an experimental phase, the principles behind this imaging modality are explained and some practical aspects of acquiring sonoelastography images are described. Results from a 3D sonoelastography reconstruction of a tissue mimicking phantom and an ex vivo whole prostate specimen are presented.

Elasticity↗
PubMed2000

Non-invasive quantitative reconstruction of tissue elasticity using an iterative forward approach.

A novel iterative approach is presented to estimate Young's modulus in homogeneous soft tissues using vibration sonoelastography. A low-frequency (below 100 Hz) external vibration is applied and three or more consecutive frames of B-scan image data are recorded. The internal vibrational motion of the soft tissue structures is calculated from 2D displacements between pairs of consecutive frames, which are estimated using a mesh-based speckle tracking method. An iterative forward finite element approach has been developed to reconstruct Young's modulus from the measured vibrational motion. This is accomplished by subdividing the 2D image domain into sample blocks in which Young's modulus is assumed to be constant. Because the finite element equations are internally consistent, boundary values other than displacement are not required. The sensitivity of the results to Poisson's ratio and the damping coefficient (viscosity) is investigated. The approach is verified using simulated displacement data and using data from tissue-mimicking phantoms.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1998

Acoustic backscatter properties of the particle/bubble ultrasound contrast agent.

Bubble-based suspensions with diameters in the 1-5 microns range have been developed for use as ultrasound contrast agents. Bubbles of these dimensions have resonance frequencies in the diagnostic ultrasonic range, thus improving their backscatter enhancement capabilities. The durability of these bubbles in the blood stream has been found to be limited, providing impetus for a number of approaches to further stabilize them. One of the approaches has been the development of micrometer-size porous particles or 'nano-sponges' with properties suitable for the entrapment and stabilization of gas bubbles. However, the complex morphology and surface chemistry involved in the production of this type of agent makes it unfeasible to directly measure the volume of the entrained gas. A model based on acoustic scattering principles is proposed which indicates that only a small volume fraction of gas should be necessary to significantly enhance the echogenicity of this type of particle-based contrast agent. In the model, the effective scattering cross-section is evaluated as a function of the volume fraction of gas contained in the overall scatterer and the overall scatterer diameter. Initially, the volume fraction of gas is considered as a discrete entity of single bubble. Using common mixture rules, it is then shown that the gas can be considered to be distributed throughout the particle and still arrive at a result that is similar to that for a single, discrete volume of gas. The main contribution to the increased scattering cross-section is due to the compressibility difference between gas and water. The backscatter coefficient is computed as the product of the resulting differential scattering cross-section and the scatterer number density. This approach facilitates comparison with known backscatter coefficients of biological targets such as liver and blood. Simple experimental results are presented for comparison with the model, and the implications relevant to clinical use are suggested.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Multilevel and motion model-based ultrasonic speckle tracking algorithms.

A multilevel motion model-based approach to ultrasonic speckle tracking has been developed that addresses the inherent trade-offs associated with traditional single-level block matching (SLBM) methods. The multilevel block matching (MLBM) algorithm uses variable matching block and search window sizes in a coarse-to-fine scheme, preserving the relative immunity to noise associated with the use of a large matching block while preserving the motion field detail associated with the use of a small matching block. To decrease further the sensitivity of the multilevel approach to noise, speckle decorrelation and false matches, a smooth motion model-based block matching (SMBM) algorithm has been implemented that takes into account the spatial inertia of soft tissue elements. The new algorithms were compared to SLBM through a series of experiments involving manual translation of soft tissue phantoms, motion field computer simulations of rotation, compression and shear deformation, and an experiment involving contraction of human forearm muscles. Measures of tracking accuracy included mean squared tracking error, peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and blinded observations of optical flow. Measures of tracking efficiency included the number of sum squared difference calculations and the computation time. In the phantom translation experiments, the SMBM algorithm successfully matched the accuracy of SLBM using both large and small matching blocks while significantly reducing the number of computations and computation time when a large matching block was used. For the computer simulations, SMBM yielded better tracking accuracies and spatial resolution when compared with SLBM using a large matching block. For the muscle experiment, SMBM outperformed SLBM both in terms of PSNR and observations of optical flow. We believe that the smooth motion model-based MLBM approach represents a meaningful development in ultrasonic soft tissue motion measurement.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1998

Color flow mapping.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Echocardiography, Doppler, Color↗
PubMed1998

Vibration sonoelastography and the detectability of lesions.

Vibration sonoelastography has been developed for the detection of hard lesions in relatively soft tissue. The basic concept is to propagate low-amplitude and low-frequency shear waves (with displacements below 0.1 mm and frequencies typically below 1000 Hz) through deep organs, and displaying the vibration response in real-time using advanced color Doppler imaging techniques. A hard inhomogeneity, such as a tumor, will produce a localized disturbance in the vibration pattern, forming the basis for detection even when the tumor is isoechoic on B-scan images. This paper focuses on the important quantitative issues concerning the detectability or inherent contrast of lesions. The specific factors of lesion size, relative stiffness and vibration frequency are studied using theoretical models, finite element methods and experimental measurements on tissue-mimicking materials. The results indicate that detectability increases with vibration (shear wave) frequency; however, loss mechanisms ultimately limit the penetration of higher vibration frequencies (in the kHz range).

Elasticity↗
PubMed1998

A new imaging science test object for performance measurements of ultrasonic imaging systems.

We propose a novel test object for ultrasound imaging. The test object, or phantom, is manufactured using thin film techniques allowing precise placement of 'digital scatterers' which can produce sophisticated test targets, similar to those that are widely used in imaging science to evaluate displays, printers and electronic imaging systems. These test objects can be used in conjunction with standard performance evaluation methods and devices to augment and enhance their capabilities and range of application.

Equipment Design↗
PubMed1998

Feature-adaptive motion tracking of ultrasound image sequences using a deformable mesh.

By exploiting the correlation of ultrasound speckle patterns that result from scattering by underlying tissue elements, two-dimensional tissue motion theoretically can be recovered by tracking the apparent movement of the associated speckle patterns. Speckle tracking, however, is an ill-posed inverse problem because of temporal decorrelation of the speckle patterns and the inherent low signal-to-noise ratio of medical ultrasonic images. This paper investigates the use of an adaptive deformable mesh for nonrigid tissue motion recovery from ultrasound images. The nodes connecting the mesh elements are allocated adaptively to stable speckle patterns that are less susceptible to temporal decorrelation. We use the approach of finite element analysis in manipulating the irregular mesh elements. A novel deformable block matching algorithm, making use of a Lagrange element for higher-order description of local motion, is proposed to estimate a nonrigid motion vector at each node. In order to ensure that the motion estimates are admissible to a physically plausible solution, the nodal displacements are regularized by minimizing the strain energy associated with the mesh deformations. Experiments based on ultrasound images of a tissue-mimicking phantom and a muscle undergoing contraction, and on computer simulations, have shown that the proposed algorithm can successfully track nonrigid displacement fields.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1997

A novel volumetric feature extraction technique with applications to MR images.

A semiautomated feature extraction algorithm is presented for the extraction and measurement of the hippocampus from volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) head scans. This algorithm makes use of elements of both deformable model and region growing techniques and allows incorporation of a priori operator knowledge of hippocampal location and shape. Experimental results indicate that the algorithm is able to estimate hippocampal volume and asymmetry with an accuracy which approaches that of laborious manual outlining techniques.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1996

Imaging of the elastic properties of tissue--a review.

Recently, a number of methods have been developed that make it possible to image the elastic properties of soft tissues. Because certain types of tissues such as malignant lesions, for example, have elastic properties that are markedly different from surrounding tissues, elasticity imaging could provide a significant adjunct to current diagnostic ultrasonic methods. Further, elasticity imaging techniques could be used to augment the study of tissues that change their elastic properties, such as skeletal and cardiac muscle. In this paper, we survey some of the previous work done in the related field of biomechanics, and we review measurement techniques from the 1950s to the 1980s. Different approaches to elastic imaging and signal processing are then discussed and a lexicography for elastic imaging is introduced. It is hoped that this nomenclature will provide a meaningful categorization of various approaches and will make evident the inherent parameters displayed and conditions applied in deriving the resulting images. Key assumptions and signal processing approaches are also reviewed. Finally, directions for future work are suggested.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Reduction of computational complexity in the butterfly search technique.

In the butterfly search technique, echoes from repeated firings of a transducer are resampled along a set of predetermined trajectories of constant velocities, called "butterfly lines," because of their intersection and crossing at a reference range. The slope of the trajectory on which the sampled signals satisfy a predetermined criterion appropriate for the type of signal in question, provides an estimate of the velocity of the target. The search for this trajectory is called "butterfly search," which can be carried out efficiently in a parallel processing scheme. The estimator can be based on the radio frequency (RF) A-lines, the envelopes, or the quadrature components. The butterfly search on quadrature components has shown outstanding noise immunity, even with relatively few successive scan lines, and was found to outperform all the common time domain and Doppler techniques in simulations and experiments with strong noise. It can be simply implemented using elementary digital signal processing hardware. However, it is possible to further improve upon its computational complexity to make the technique even simpler to implement, without any complex multipliers in the parallel channels. In this paper, we present some modifications that significantly reduce the computational complexity of butterfly search on quadrature components.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1996

Identification and localisation of a type IV cytosolic phospholipase A2 in rat pancreatic beta-cells.

The liberation of arachidonic acid (AA), by phospholipase A2 (PLA2), is the rate-limiting step in a number of cell signalling pathways. In the pancreatic beta-cell, AA itself is thought to participate in the regulation of insulin secretion. Recently a Ca(2+)-sensitive, AA-selective cytosolic PLA2 (type IV cPLA2) has been isolated from the human monocyte U937 cell line. Although the DNA sequence of this enzyme implies a molecular weight of 85 kDa, the protein migrates with a molecular weight of 100-110 kDa on SDS-PAGE. In many cell types, cPLA2s which are reactive towards antibodies raised against the type IV cPLA2 have been shown to hydrolyse AA from membrane glycerophospholipids. Using a polyclonal antibody raised against a recombinant form of type IV cPLA2, we have detected an immunoreactive protein with a molecular weight of 93.5 kDa in rat islets of Langerhans. Furthermore, we have detected similar immunoreactive proteins in insulin-secreting beta-cell lines and have shown co-expression of type IV cPLA2 immunoreactivity and insulin immunoreactivity in rat pancreatic beta-cells. Under non-stimulatory conditions the 93.5 kDa immuno-reactive protein detected in rat islets of Langerhans was located predominantly in the cytosolic fraction. We have shown that immunoprecipitation of the rat immunoreactive protein from rat islet homogenates significantly decreases the total dithiothreitol/beta-mercaptoethanol-insensitive PLA2 activity by 56.4 +/- 7%. This provides further evidence that the immunoreactive rat protein is a type IV cPLA2 and is responsible for a large component of the PLA2 activity in rat islets of Langerhans. It is possible that, in the rat beta-cell, type IV cPLA2 couples the increase in intracellular Ca2+, brought about by insulin secretagogues, to the liberation of AA and the subsequent release of insulin.

Animals↗