This study assesses the reliability and accuracy of a diagnostic test used for clinical decision-making.

This paper addresses the problem of small-signal transient wave propagation in media whose absorption coefficient obeys power-law frequency dependence, i.e., alpha infinity omega n. Our approach makes use of previously derived relations between the absorption and dispersion based on the Kramers-Kronig relations. This, combined with a recently obtained solution to a causal convolution wave equation enable expressions to be obtained for one-dimensional transient propagation when n is in the range 0 < n < 3. For n = 2, corresponding to no dispersion, straightforward analytical expressions are obtained for a delta-function and a sinusoidal step function sources and these are shown to correspond to relations previously derived. For other values of n, the effects of dispersion are accounted for by using Fourier transforms. Examples are used to illustrate the results for normal and anomalous dispersive media and to examine the question as to the conditions under which the effects of dispersion should be accounted for, especially for wideband ultrasound pulses of the type used in B-mode tissue imaging. It is shown that the product of the attenuation and total propagation path can be used as a criterion for judging whether dispersion needs to be accounted for.

Postoperative neurological complications following foot and ankle surgery are common. This article reviews the structural architecture of peripheral nerves and innervation patterns around the foot and ankle; describes the pathophysiology of surgery-related nerve injury; and illustrates the postoperative neurological complications using specific case examples.

A new software tool for PACS, called iScout (intelligent scout), has been developed and optimized for a radiology workstation. The purpose of iScout is to display an overview of a large image series, allowing the user to select images for priority downloading from a PACS server to a PACS workstation. This allows radiologists to reduce the delays that are associated with downloading hundreds or even thousands of images. Several schemes that semiautomatically manage the download process are presented along with tests to measure performance. The results of the tests confirm that priority downloading provides faster access to images in large image series and that the time savings increase in proportion to the study size.

A new intelligent software tool for PACS systems called 'iScout' has been developed that constructs and displays an overview of large series or studies before downloading the set of images to a PACS workstation. The overview consists of two orthogonal cross-section images that allow the user to select and download a subset of images, avoiding long delays that can occur while downloading hundreds or even thousands of images. The iScout also provides a navigational tool, allowing the user to click on anatomical regions and view the relevant slices, while displaying the anatomical location of the image currently being displayed by the PACS workstation software. The construction of an iScout can be done on either a workstation or a server with only minimal overhead that does not significantly affect the speed of loading. A working iScout tool has been integrated with multi-modality PACS workstation software (McKesson Medical Imaging Solutions), and it was found that the iScout can be generated on the workstation with a maximum added overhead of only 3.4 seconds while downloading a study containing 433 512x512 CT images. The iScout is flexible and can generate scouts for virtually all types of CT and MR images, as well as 3D Ultrasound.