TY - JOUR A1 - Heinzel, Alexander A1 - Schäfer, Ralf A1 - Müller, Hans-Wilhelm A1 - Schieffer, Andre A1 - Ingenhag, Ariane A1 - Eickhoff, Simon B. A1 - Northoff, Georg A1 - Franz, Matthias A1 - Hautzel, Hubertus T1 - Increased Activation of the Supragenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex during Visual Emotional Processing in Male Subjects with High Degrees of Alexithymia: An Event-Related fMRI Study JF - Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics N2 - Background: One of the most prominent neurobiological models of alexithymia assumes an altered function of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as the crucial neural correlate of alexithymia. So far functional imaging studies have yielded inconclusive results. Therefore, we tested this hypothesis in healthy alexithymics and nonalexithymics in an event-related fMRI study. Methods: Thirty high- and 30 low-alexithymic right-handed male subjects (selected by the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS-20) were investigated with event-related fMRI using a picture viewing paradigm. The stimuli consisted of happy, fearful and neutral facial expressions (Ekman-Friesen) as well as positive, negative and neutral pictures from the International Affective Picture System. Results: Contrasting the high-alexithymic with the low-alexithymic group we observed increased activation of the supragenual ACC for different emotional valences as well as for different emotional stimuli. Moreover, there was a positive correlation of the ACC with the individual TAS-20 scores but no correlations with the individual Beck Depression Inventory scores. Additionally, there was no difference in activity of the amygdala. Conclusions: We demonstrated that the supragenual ACC is constantly activated more strongly in alexithymic subjects and that this activation is related to the symptoms of alexithymia and not to associated symptoms such as depression. Therefore, our findings support the hypothesis of an altered function of the ACC in alexithymia. Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000320121 SN - 0033-3190 VL - 79 IS - 6 SP - 363 EP - 370 PB - Karger CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kirchner, Patrick A1 - Oberländer, Jan A1 - Suso, Henri-Pierre A1 - Rysstad, Gunnar A1 - Keusgen, Michael A1 - Schöning, Michael Josef T1 - Towards a wireless sensor system for real-time H2O2 monitoring in aseptic food processes JF - Physica status solidi (a) N2 - A wireless sensor system based on the industrial ZigBee standard for low-rate wireless networking was developed that enables real-time monitoring of gaseous H2O2 during the package sterilization in aseptic food processes. The sensor system consists of a remote unit connected to a calorimetric gas sensor, which was already established in former works, and an external base unit connected to a laptop computer. The remote unit was built up by an XBee radio frequency (RF) module for data communication and a programmable system-on-chip controller to read out the sensor signal and process the sensor data, whereas the base unit is a second XBee RF module. For the rapid H2O2 detection on various locations inside the package that has to be sterilized, a novel read-out strategy of the calorimetric gas sensor was established, wherein the sensor response is measured within the short sterilization time and correlated with the present H2O2 concentration. In an exemplary measurement application in an aseptic filling machinery, the suitability of the new, wireless sensor system was demonstrated, wherein the influence of the gas velocity on the H2O2 distribution inside a package was determined and verified with microbiological tests. KW - calorimetric gas sensor;hydrogen peroxide;wireless sensor system Y1 - 2013 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pssa.201200920 SN - 1862-6319 VL - 210 IS - 5 SP - 877 EP - 883 PB - Wiley CY - Weinheim ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Duong, Minh Tuan A1 - Nguyen, Nhu Hunyh A1 - Staat, Manfred T1 - Finite Element Implementation of a 3D Fung-type Model T2 - ESMC-2012 - 8th European Solid Mechanics Conference, Graz, Austria, July 9-13, 2012 Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-3-85125-223-1 PB - Verlag d. Technischen Universität Graz CY - Graz ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Frotscher, Ralf A1 - Raatschen, Hans-Jürgen A1 - Staat, Manfred ED - Holzapfel, Gerhard A. T1 - Effectiveness of the edge-based smoothed finite element method applied to soft biological tissues T2 - ESMC-2012 - 8th European Solid Mechanics Conference, Graz, Austria, July 9-13, 2012 Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-3-85125-223-1 PB - Verlag d. Technischen Universität Graz CY - Graz ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Al-Kaddoum, R. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Pietrzyk, U. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Waasen, S. van T1 - Simulation studies of optical photons in monolithic block scintillators T2 - 2011 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS/MIC) N2 - The interest in PET detectors with monolithic block scintillators is growing. In order to obtain high spatial resolutions dedicated positioning algorithms are required. But even an ideal algorithm can only deliver information which is provided by the detector. In this simulation study we investigated the light distribution on one surface of cuboid LSO scintillators of different size. Scintillators with a large aspect ratio (small footprint and large height) showed significant position information only for a minimum interaction depth of the gamma particle. The results allow a quantitative estimate for a useful aspect ratio. Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-1-4673-0120-6 (electronic ISBN) SN - 978-1-4673-0118-3 (print ISBN) U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/NSSMIC.2011.6154621 SP - 1380 EP - 1382 PB - IEEE CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Double-side-readout technique for SiPM-matrices JF - 2010 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS/MIC) N2 - In our case the double-side-method is used to minimize the complexity of a matrix-readout. Here the number of channels is reduced to 2√N̅. It is also possible to benefit from the method in a single pixel readout system. One signal can be used to measure position and energy of the event, the other one can be applied to a fast trigger-circuit at the same time. In a next step we will investigate timing behavior and electrical crosstalk of the circuit. Y1 - 2011 SN - 1095-7863 SP - 1486 EP - 1487 PB - IEEE CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herzog, Hans A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Shah, N. Jon A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - The current state, challenges and perspectives of MR-PET JF - Neuroimage N2 - Following the success of PET/CT during the last decade and the recent increasing proliferation of SPECT/CT, another hybrid imaging instrument has been gaining more and more interest: MR-PET. First combined, simultaneous PET and MR studies carried out in small animals demonstrated the feasibility of the new approach. Concurrently, some prototypes of an MR-PET scanner for simultaneous human brain studies have been built, their performance is being tested and preliminary applications have already been shown. Through this pioneering work, it has become clear that advances in the detector design are necessary for further optimization. Recently, the different issues related to the present state and future prospects of MR-PET were presented and discussed during an international 2-day workshop at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, held after, and in conjunction with, the 2008 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference in Dresden, Germany on October 27–28, 2008. The topics ranged from small animal MR-PET imaging to human MR-BrainPET imaging, new detector developments, challenges/opportunities for ultra-high field MR-PET imaging and considerations of possible future research and clinical applications. This report presents a critical summary of the contributions made to the workshop. Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.10.036 SN - 1053-8119 VL - 49 IS - 3 SP - 2072 EP - 2082 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beer, S. A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Hombach, T. A1 - Buehler, J. A1 - Jahnke, S. A1 - Khodaverdi, M. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Minwuyelet, S. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Roeb, G. A1 - Schurr, U. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Design and initial performance of PlanTIS: a high-resolution positron emission tomograph for plants JF - Physics in Medicine and Biology N2 - Positron emitters such as 11C, 13N and 18F and their labelled compounds are widely used in clinical diagnosis and animal studies, but can also be used to study metabolic and physiological functions in plants dynamically and in vivo. A very particular tracer molecule is 11CO2 since it can be applied to a leaf as a gas. We have developed a Plant Tomographic Imaging System (PlanTIS), a high-resolution PET scanner for plant studies. Detectors, front-end electronics and data acquisition architecture of the scanner are based on the ClearPET™ system. The detectors consist of LSO and LuYAP crystals in phoswich configuration which are coupled to position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes. Signals are continuously sampled by free running ADCs, and data are stored in a list mode format. The detectors are arranged in a horizontal plane to allow the plants to be measured in the natural upright position. Two groups of four detector modules stand face-to-face and rotate around the field-of-view. This special system geometry requires dedicated image reconstruction and normalization procedures. We present the initial performance of the detector system and first phantom and plant measurements. Y1 - 2010 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/55/3/006 SN - 1361-6560 VL - 55 IS - 3 SP - 635 EP - 646 PB - IOP CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - A compact PET detector readout using charge-to-time conversion JF - 2009 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS/MIC) N2 - The readout of gamma detectors is considerably simplified when the event intensity is encoded as a pulse width (Pulse Width Modulation, PWM). Time-to-Digital-Converters (TDC) replace the conventional ADCs and multiple TDCs can be realized easily in one PLD chip (Programmable Logic Device). The output of a PWM stage is only one digital signal per channel which is well suited for transport so that further processing can be performed apart from the detector. This is particularly interesting for large systems with high channel density (e.g. high resolution scanners). In this work we present a circuit with a linear transfer function that requires a minimum of components by performing the PWM already in the preamp stage. This allows a very compact and also cost-efficient implementation of the front-end electronics. Y1 - 2009 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 1868 EP - 1870 PB - IEEE CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wedrowski, M. A1 - Bruyndonckx, P. A1 - Tavernier, S. A1 - Zhi, L. A1 - Dang, J. A1 - Mendes, P. R. A1 - Perez, J. M. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Robustness of neural networks algorithm for gamma detection in monolithic block detector, positron emission tomography JF - 2009 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS/MIC) N2 - The monolithic scintillator block approach for gamma detection in the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) avoids estimating Depth of Interaction (DOI), reduces dead zones in detector and diminishes costs of detector production. Neural Networks (NN) are very efficient to determine the entrance point of a gamma incident on a scintillator block. This paper presents results on the robustness of the spatial resolution as a function of the random fraction in the data, temperature and HV fluctuations. This is important when implementing the method in a real scanner. Measurements were done with two Hamamatsu S8550 APD arrays, glued on a 20 × 20 × 10 mm3 monolithic LSO crystal block. Y1 - 2009 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 2625 EP - 2628 ER -