@article{BillerCholiBlaimeretal.2014, author = {Biller, Armin and Choli, Morwan and Blaimer, Martin and Breuer, Felix A. and Jakob, Peter M. and Bartsch, Andreas J.}, title = {Combined Acquisition Technique (CAT) for Neuroimaging of Multiple Sclerosis at Low Specific Absorption Rates (SAR)}, series = {PLOS ONE}, volume = {9}, journal = {PLOS ONE}, number = {3}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0091030}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-117179}, pages = {e91030}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Purpose: To compare a novel combined acquisition technique (CAT) of turbo-spin-echo (TSE) and echo-planar-imaging (EPI) with conventional TSE. CAT reduces the electromagnetic energy load transmitted for spin excitation. This radiofrequency (RF) burden is limited by the specific absorption rate (SAR) for patient safety. SAR limits restrict high-field MRI applications, in particular. Material and Methods: The study was approved by the local Medical Ethics Committee. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. T2- and PD-weighted brain images of n = 40 Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients were acquired by CAT and TSE at 3 Tesla. Lesions were recorded by two blinded, board-certificated neuroradiologists. Diagnostic equivalence of CAT and TSE to detect MS lesions was evaluated along with their SAR, sound pressure level (SPL) and sensations of acoustic noise, heating, vibration and peripheral nerve stimulation. Results: Every MS lesion revealed on TSE was detected by CAT according to both raters (Cohen's kappa of within-rater/across-CAT/TSE lesion detection kappa(CAT) = 1.00, at an inter-rater lesion detection agreement of kappa(LES) = 0.82). CAT reduced the SAR burden significantly compared to TSE (p<0.001). Mean SAR differences between TSE and CAT were 29.0 (+/- 5.7) \% for the T2-contrast and 32.7 (+/- 21.9) \% for the PD-contrast (expressed as percentages of the effective SAR limit of 3.2 W/kg for head examinations). Average SPL of CAT was no louder than during TSE. Sensations of CAT-vs. TSE-induced heating, noise and scanning vibrations did not differ. Conclusion: T2-/PD-CAT is diagnostically equivalent to TSE for MS lesion detection yet substantially reduces the RF exposure. Such SAR reduction facilitates high-field MRI applications at 3 Tesla or above and corresponding protocol standardizations but CAT can also be used to scan faster, at higher resolution or with more slices. According to our data, CAT is no more uncomfortable than TSE scanning.}, language = {en} } @article{DasenbrookLuDonnolaetal.2013, author = {Dasenbrook, Elliot C. and Lu, Luan and Donnola, Shannon and Weaver, David E. and Gulani, Viskas and Jakob, Peter M. and Konstan, Michael W. and Flask, Chris A.}, title = {Normalized T1 Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Assessment of Regional Lung Function in Adult Cystic Fibrosis Patients - A Cross-Sectional Study}, series = {PLOS ONE}, volume = {8}, journal = {PLOS ONE}, number = {9}, issn = {1932-6203}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-128346}, pages = {e73286}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients would benefit from a safe and effective tool to detect early-stage, regional lung disease to allow for early intervention. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a safe, non-invasive procedure capable of providing quantitative assessments of disease without ionizing radiation. We developed a rapid normalized T1 MRI technique to detect regional lung disease in early-stage CF patients. Materials and Methods: Conventional multislice, pulmonary T1 relaxation time maps were obtained for 10 adult CF patients with normal spirometry and 5 healthy non-CF control subjects using a rapid Look-Locker MRI acquisition (5 seconds/imaging slice). Each lung absolute T1 map was separated into six regions of interest (ROI) by manually selecting upper, central, and lower lung regions in the left and right lungs. In order to reduce the effects of subject-to-subject variation, normalized T1 maps were calculated by dividing each pixel in the absolute T1 maps by the mean T1 time in the central lung region. The primary outcome was the differences in mean normalized T1 values in the upper lung regions between CF patients with normal spirometry and healthy volunteers. Results: Normalized T1 (nT1) maps showed visibly reduced subject-to-subject variation in comparison to conventional absolute T1 maps for healthy volunteers. An ROI analysis showed that the variation in the nT1 values in all regions was <= 2\% of the mean. The primary outcome, the mean (SD) of the normalized T1 values in the upper right lung regions, was significantly lower in the CF subjects [.914 (.037)] compared to the upper right lung regions of the healthy subjects [.983 (.003)] [difference of .069 (95\% confidence interval .032-.105); p=.001). Similar results were seen in the upper left lung region. Conclusion: Rapid normalized T1 MRI relaxometry obtained in 5 seconds/imaging slice may be used to detect regional early-stage lung disease in CF patients.}, language = {en} } @article{DawoodBreuerStebanietal.2023, author = {Dawood, Peter and Breuer, Felix and Stebani, Jannik and Burd, Paul and Homolya, Istv{\´a}n and Oberberger, Johannes and Jakob, Peter M. and Blaimer, Martin}, title = {Iterative training of robust k-space interpolation networks for improved image reconstruction with limited scan specific training samples}, series = {Magnetic Resonance in Medicine}, volume = {89}, journal = {Magnetic Resonance in Medicine}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1002/mrm.29482}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312306}, pages = {812 -- 827}, year = {2023}, abstract = {To evaluate an iterative learning approach for enhanced performance of robust artificial-neural-networks for k-space interpolation (RAKI), when only a limited amount of training data (auto-calibration signals [ACS]) are available for accelerated standard 2D imaging. Methods In a first step, the RAKI model was tailored for the case of limited training data amount. In the iterative learning approach (termed iterative RAKI [iRAKI]), the tailored RAKI model is initially trained using original and augmented ACS obtained from a linear parallel imaging reconstruction. Subsequently, the RAKI convolution filters are refined iteratively using original and augmented ACS extracted from the previous RAKI reconstruction. Evaluation was carried out on 200 retrospectively undersampled in vivo datasets from the fastMRI neuro database with different contrast settings. Results For limited training data (18 and 22 ACS lines for R = 4 and R = 5, respectively), iRAKI outperforms standard RAKI by reducing residual artifacts and yields better noise suppression when compared to standard parallel imaging, underlined by quantitative reconstruction quality metrics. Additionally, iRAKI shows better performance than both GRAPPA and standard RAKI in case of pre-scan calibration with varying contrast between training- and undersampled data. Conclusion RAKI benefits from the iterative learning approach, which preserves the noise suppression feature, but requires less original training data for the accurate reconstruction of standard 2D images thereby improving net acceleration.}, language = {en} } @article{GotschyBauerWinteretal.2017, author = {Gotschy, Alexander and Bauer, Wolfgang R. and Winter, Patrick and Nordbeck, Peter and Rommel, Eberhard and Jakob, Peter M. and Herold, Volker}, title = {Local versus global aortic pulse wave velocity in early atherosclerosis: An animal study in ApoE\(^{-/-}\) mice using ultrahigh field MRI}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {12}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0171603}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-171824}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Increased aortic stiffness is known to be associated with atherosclerosis and has a predictive value for cardiovascular events. This study aims to investigate the local distribution of early arterial stiffening due to initial atherosclerotic lesions. Therefore, global and local pulse wave velocity (PWV) were measured in ApoE\(^{-/-}\) and wild type (WT) mice using ultrahigh field MRI. For quantification of global aortic stiffness, a new multi-point transit-time (TT) method was implemented and validated to determine the global PWV in the murine aorta. Local aortic stiffness was measured by assessing the local PWV in the upper abdominal aorta, using the flow/area (QA) method. Significant differences between age matched ApoE\(^{-/-}\) and WT mice were determined for global and local PWV measurements (global PWV: ApoE\(^{-/-}\): 2.7 ±0.2m/s vs WT: 2.1±0.2m/s, P<0.03; local PWV: ApoE\(^{-/-}\): 2.9±0.2m/s vs WT: 2.2±0.2m/s, P<0.03). Within the WT mouse group, the global PWV correlated well with the local PWV in the upper abdominal aorta (R\(^2\) = 0.75, P<0.01), implying a widely uniform arterial elasticity. In ApoE\(^{-/-}\) animals, however, no significant correlation between individual local and global PWV was present (R\(^2\) = 0.07, P = 0.53), implying a heterogeneous distribution of vascular stiffening in early atherosclerosis. The assessment of global PWV using the new multi-point TT measurement technique was validated against a pressure wire measurement in a vessel phantom and showed excellent agreement. The experimental results demonstrate that vascular stiffening caused by early atherosclerosis is unequally distributed over the length of large vessels. This finding implies that assessing heterogeneity of arterial stiffness by multiple local measurements of PWV might be more sensitive than global PWV to identify early atherosclerotic lesions.}, language = {en} } @article{KaireitSorrentinoRenneetal.2017, author = {Kaireit, Till F. and Sorrentino, Sajoscha A. and Renne, Julius and Schoenfeld, Christian and Voskrebenzev, Andreas and Gutberlet, Marcel and Schulz, Angela and Jakob, Peter M. and Hansen, Gesine and Wacker, Frank and Welte, Tobias and T{\"u}mmler, Burkhard and Vogel-Claussen, Jens}, title = {Functional lung MRI for regional monitoring of patients with cystic fibrosis}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {12}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {12}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0187483}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172457}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Purpose To test quantitative functional lung MRI techniques in young adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) compared to healthy volunteers and to monitor immediate treatment effects of a single inhalation of hypertonic saline in comparison to clinical routine pulmonary function tests. Materials and methods Sixteen clinically stable CF patients and 12 healthy volunteers prospectively underwent two functional lung MRI scans and pulmonary function tests before and 2h after a single treatment of inhaled hypertonic saline or without any treatment. MRI-derived oxygen enhanced T1 relaxation measurements, fractional ventilation, first-pass perfusion parameters and a morpho-functional CF-MRI score were acquired. Results Compared to healthy controls functional lung MRI detected and quantified significantly increased ventilation heterogeneity in CF patients. Regional functional lung MRI measures of ventilation and perfusion as well as the CF-MRI score and pulmonary function tests could not detect a significant treatment effect two hours after a single treatment with hypertonic saline in young adults with CF (p>0.05). Conclusion This study shows the feasibility of functional lung MRI as a non-invasive, radiation-free tool for monitoring patients with CF.}, language = {en} } @article{MunzJakobBorisjuk2016, author = {Munz, Eberhard and Jakob, Peter M. and Borisjuk, Ljudmilla}, title = {The potential of nuclear magnetic resonance to track lipids in planta}, series = {Biochimie}, volume = {130}, journal = {Biochimie}, doi = {10.1016/j.biochi.2016.07.014}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-186828}, pages = {97-108}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) provides a highly flexible platform for non invasive analysis and imaging biological samples, since the manipulation of nuclear spin allows the tailoring of experiments to maximize the informativeness of the data. MRI is capable of visualizing a holistic picture of the lipid storage in living plant/seed. This review has sought to explain how the technology can be used to acquire functional and physiological data from plant samples, and how to exploit it to characterize lipid deposition in vivo. At the same time, we have referred to the current limitations of NMR technology as applied to plants, and in particular of the difficulty of transferring methodologies optimized for animal/medical subjects to plant ones. A forward look into likely developments in the field is included, anticipating its key future role in the study of living plant.}, language = {en} } @article{NordbeckBoenhofHilleretal.2013, author = {Nordbeck, Peter and B{\"o}nhof, Leoni and Hiller, Karl-Heinz and Voll, Sabine and Arias-Loza, Paula and Seidlmaier, Lea and Williams, Tatjana and Ye, Yu-Xiang and Gensler, Daniel and Pelzer, Theo and Ertl, Georg and Jakob, Peter M. and Bauer, Wolfgang R. and Ritter, Oliver}, title = {Impact of Thoracic Surgery on Cardiac Morphology and Function in Small Animal Models of Heart Disease: A Cardiac MRI Study in Rats}, series = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {8}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, number = {8}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0068275}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130064}, pages = {e68275}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Background Surgical procedures in small animal models of heart disease might evoke alterations in cardiac morphology and function. The aim of this study was to reveal and quantify such potential artificial early or long term effects in vivo, which might account for a significant bias in basic cardiovascular research, and, therefore, could potentially question the meaning of respective studies. Methods Female Wistar rats (n = 6 per group) were matched for weight and assorted for sham left coronary artery ligation or control. Cardiac morphology and function was then investigated in vivo by cine magnetic resonance imaging at 7 Tesla 1 and 8 weeks after the surgical procedure. The time course of metabolic and inflammatory blood parameters was determined in addition. Results Compared to healthy controls, rats after sham surgery showed a lower body weight both 1 week (267.5±10.6 vs. 317.0±11.3 g, n<0.05) and 8 weeks (317.0±21.1 vs. 358.7±22.4 g, n<0.05) after the intervention. Left and right ventricular morphology and function were not different in absolute measures in both groups 1 week after surgery. However, there was a confined difference in several cardiac parameters normalized to the body weight (bw), such as myocardial mass (2.19±0.30/0.83±0.13 vs. 1.85±0.22/0.70±0.07 mg left/right per g bw, p<0.05), or enddiastolic ventricular volume (1.31±0.36/1.21±0.31 vs. 1.14±0.20/1.07±0.17 µl left/right per g bw, p<0.05). Vice versa, after 8 weeks, cardiac masses, volumes, and output showed a trend for lower values in sham operated rats compared to controls in absolute measures (782.2±57.2/260.2±33.2 vs. 805.9±84.8/310.4±48.5 mg, p<0.05 for left/right ventricular mass), but not normalized to body weight. Matching these findings, blood testing revealed only minor inflammatory but prolonged metabolic changes after surgery not related to cardiac disease. Conclusion Cardio-thoracic surgical procedures in experimental myocardial infarction cause distinct alterations upon the global integrity of the organism, which in the long term also induce circumscribed repercussions on cardiac morphology and function. This impact has to be considered when analyzing data from respective animal studies and transferring these findings to conditions in patients.}, language = {en} } @article{ParczykHeroldKlugetal.2010, author = {Parczyk, Marco and Herold, Volker and Klug, Gert and Bauer, Wolfgang R. and Rommel, Eberhard and Jakob, Peter M.}, title = {Regional in vivo transit time measurements of aortic pulse wave velocity in mice with high-field CMR at 17.6 Tesla}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-68219}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Background: Transgenic mouse models are increasingly used to study the pathophysiology of human cardiovascular diseases. The aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an indirect measure for vascular stiffness and a marker for cardiovascular risk. Results: This study presents a cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) transit time (TT) method that allows the determination of the PWV in the descending murine aorta by analyzing blood flow waveforms. Systolic flow pulses were recorded with a temporal resolution of 1 ms applying phase velocity encoding. In a first step, the CMR method was validated by pressure waveform measurements on a pulsatile elastic vessel phantom. In a second step, the CMR method was applied to measure PWVs in a group of five eight-month-old apolipoprotein E deficient (ApoE(-/-)) mice and an age matched group of four C57Bl/6J mice. The ApoE(-/-) group had a higher mean PWV (PWV = 3.0 ± 0.6 m/s) than the C57Bl/6J group (PWV = 2.4 ± 0.4 m/s). The difference was statistically significant (p = 0.014). Conclusions: The findings of this study demonstrate that high field CMR is applicable to non-invasively determine and distinguish PWVs in the arterial system of healthy and diseased groups of mice.}, subject = {Medizin}, language = {en} } @article{ReiterGenslerRitteretal.2012, author = {Reiter, Theresa and Gensler, Daniel and Ritter, Oliver and Weiss, Ingo and Geistert, Wolfgang and Kaufmann, Ralf and Hoffmeister, Sabine and Friedrich, Michael T. and Wintzheimer, Stefan and D{\"u}ring, Markus and Nordbeck, Peter and Jakob, Peter M. and Ladd, Mark E. and Quick, Harald H. and Bauer, Wolfgang R.}, title = {Direct cooling of the catheter tip increases safety for CMR-guided electrophysiological procedures}, series = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance}, volume = {14}, journal = {Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance}, number = {12}, doi = {10.1186/1532-429X-14-12}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-134927}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Background: One of the safety concerns when performing electrophysiological (EP) procedures under magnetic resonance (MR) guidance is the risk of passive tissue heating due to the EP catheter being exposed to the radiofrequency (RF) field of the RF transmitting body coil. Ablation procedures that use catheters with irrigated tips are well established therapeutic options for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias and when used in a modified mode might offer an additional system for suppressing passive catheter heating. Methods: A two-step approach was chosen. Firstly, tests on passive catheter heating were performed in a 1.5 T Avanto system (Siemens Healthcare Sector, Erlangen, Germany) using a ASTM Phantom in order to determine a possible maximum temperature rise. Secondly, a phantom was designed for simulation of the interface between blood and the vascular wall. The MR-RF induced temperature rise was simulated by catheter tip heating via a standard ablation generator. Power levels from 1 to 6 W were selected. Ablation duration was 120 s with no tip irrigation during the first 60 s and irrigation at rates from 2 ml/min to 35 ml/min for the remaining 60 s (Biotronik Qiona Pump, Berlin, Germany). The temperature was measured with fluoroscopic sensors (Luxtron, Santa Barbara, CA, USA) at a distance of 0 mm, 2 mm, 4 mm, and 6 mm from the catheter tip. Results: A maximum temperature rise of 22.4 degrees C at the catheter tip was documented in the MR scanner. This temperature rise is equivalent to the heating effect of an ablator's power output of 6 W at a contact force of the weight of 90 g (0.883 N). The catheter tip irrigation was able to limit the temperature rise to less than 2 degrees C for the majority of examined power levels, and for all examined power levels the residual temperature rise was less than 8 degrees C. Conclusion: Up to a maximum of 22.4 degrees C, the temperature rise at the tissue surface can be entirely suppressed by using the catheter's own irrigation system. The irrigated tip system can be used to increase MR safety of EP catheters by suppressing the effects of unwanted passive catheter heating due to RF exposure from the MR scanner.}, language = {en} } @article{SchwenderKoenigKlapperstuecketal.2014, author = {Schwender, Joerg and Koenig, Christina and Klapperstueck, Matthias and Heinzel, Nicolas and Munz, Eberhard and Hebbelmann, Inga and Hay, Jordan O. and Denolf, Peter and De Bodt, Stefanie and Redestig, Henning and Caestecker, Evelyne and Jakob, Peter M. and Borisjuk, Ljudmilla and Rolletschek, Hardy}, title = {Transcript abundance on its own cannot be used to infer fluxes in central metabolism}, series = {Frontiers in Plant Science}, volume = {5}, journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science}, issn = {1664-462X}, doi = {10.3389/fpls.2014.00668}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-114586}, year = {2014}, abstract = {An attempt has been made to define the extent to which metabolic flux in central plant metabolism is reflected by changes in the transcriptome and metabolome, based on an analysis of in vitro cultured immature embryos of two oilseed rape (Brassica napus) accessions which contrast for seed lipid accumulation. Metabolic flux analysis (MFA) was used to constrain a flux balance metabolic model which included 671 biochemical and transport reactions within the central metabolism. This highly confident flux information was eventually used for comparative analysis of flux vs. transcript (metabolite). Metabolite profiling succeeded in identifying 79 intermediates within the central metabolism, some of which differed quantitatively between the two accessions and displayed a significant shift corresponding to flux. An RNA-Seq based transcriptome analysis revealed a large number of genes which were differentially transcribed in the two accessions, including some enzymes/proteins active in major metabolic pathways. With a few exceptions, differential activity in the major pathways (glycolysis, TCA cycle, amino acid, and fatty acid synthesis) was not reflected in contrasting abundances of the relevant transcripts. The conclusion was that transcript abundance on its own cannot be used to infer metabolic activity/fluxes in central plant metabolism. This limitation needs to be borne in mind in evaluating transcriptome data and designing metabolic engineering experiments.}, language = {en} }