Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30277260›Full record

ArticleJournal of anatomy2018

Enhanced contrast in X-ray microtomographic images of the membranous labyrinth using different X-ray sources and scanning modes.

Jana Goyens, Menelia Vasilopoulou-Kampitsi, Raf Claes, Jan Sijbers, Lucia Mancini

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Article in Journal of anatomy, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 20% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Jana GoyensLaboratory of Functional Morphology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0003-0176-884X
Menelia Vasilopoulou-KampitsiLaboratory of Functional Morphology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-5610-7817
Raf ClaesLaboratory of Functional Morphology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Jan SijbersImec-Vision Lab, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Lucia ManciniElettra - Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Basovizza, Trieste, Italy.
University of Antwerp · BEElettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, plays a crucial role in balance and gaze stabilisation by sensing head movements. The interconnected tubes with membranous walls of the vestibular system are located in the skull bone (the 'membranous labyrinth'). Unfortunately, these membranes are very hard to visualise using three-dimensional (3D) X-ray imaging techniques. This difficulty arises due to the embedment of the membranes in the dense skull bone, the thinness of the membranes, and the small difference in X-ray absorption between the membranes and the surrounding fluid. In this study, we compared the visualisation of very small specimens (lizard heads with vestibular systems smaller than 3 mm) by X-ray computed micro-tomography (μCT) based on synchrotron radiation and conventional sources. A visualisation protocol using conventional X-ray μCT would be very useful thanks to the ease of access and lower cost. Careful optimisation of the acquisition parameters enables detection of the membranes by using μCT scanners based on conventional microfocus sources, but in some cases a low contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) prevents fast and reliable segmentation of the membranes. Synchrotron radiation μCT proved to be preferable for the visualisation of the small samples with very thin membranes, because of their high demands for spatial and contrast resolution. The best contrast was obtained by using synchrotron radiation μCT working in phase-contrast mode, leading to up to twice as high CNRs than the best conventional μCT results. The CNR of the synchrotron radiation μCT scans was sufficiently high enough to enable the construction of a 3D model by the means of semi-automatic segmentation of the membranous labyrinth. Membrane thickness was found to range between 2.7 and 36.3 μm. Hence, the minimal membrane thickness was found to be much smaller than described previously in the literature (between 10 and 50 μm).

Indexed as

AnimalsEar, InnerImaging, Three-DimensionalLizardsX-Ray Microtomographyconventional X-ray micro-tomographyphase-contrast imagingsynchrotron radiationvestibular systemX-ray computed micro-tomography

Identifiers

PMID30277260
PMCPMC6231162
OpenAlexW2895572189

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.