Lung cancer is currently the worldwide leading cause of death from cancer. Thus, detection of lung cancer at its early stages is critical for improving the survival rate of patients. Chest digital tomosynthesis (CDT) is a recently developed imaging modality, combining many advantages of digital radiography (DR) and computed tomography (CT). This method has the potential to be widely used in the clinical setting. In this study, we introduce a developed CDT R/F system and compare its image quality with those of DR and CT, especially with respect to anatomical noise and lung nodule conspicuity, for LUNGMAN phantoms. The developed CDT R/F system consists of a CsI scintillator flat panel detector, X-ray tube, and tomosynthesis data acquisition geometry. For CDT R/F imaging, 41 projections were acquired at different angles, over the ±20 • angular range, in a linear translation geometry. To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of the CDT R/F system, the acquired images were compared with CT (Philips brilliance CT 64, Philips healthcare, U.S.) and DR (ADR-M, LISTEM, Korea) phantom images in terms of the anatomical noise power spectrum (aNPS). DR images exhibited low conspicuity for a small-size lung nodule, while CDT R/F and CT exhibited relatively high sensitivity for all lung nodule sizes. The aNPS of the CDT R/F system was better than that of DR, by resolving anatomical overlapping problems. In conclusion, the developed CDT R/F system is likely to contribute to early diagnosis of lung cancer, while requiring a relatively low patient dose, compared with CT. K: Computerized Tomography (CT) and Computed Radiography (CR); Medical-image reconstruction methods and algorithms, computer-aided software; X-ray radiography and digital radiography (DR)

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Dual energy chest digital tomosynthesis (CDT) is a recently developed medical technique that takes advantage of both tomosynthesis and dual energy X-ray images. However, quantum noise, which occurs in dual energy X-ray images, strongly interferes with diagnosis in various clinical situations. Therefore, noise reduction is necessary in dual energy CDT. In this study, noise-compensating algorithms, including a simple smoothing of high-energy images (SSH) and anti-correlated noise reduction (ACNR), were evaluated in a CDT system. We used a newly developed prototype CDT system and anthropomorphic chest phantom for experimental studies. The resulting images demonstrated that dual energy CDT can selectively image anatomical structures, such as bone and soft tissue. Among the resulting images, those acquired with ACNR showed the best image quality. Both coefficient of variation and contrast to noise ratio (CNR) were the highest in ACNR among the three different dual energy techniques, and the CNR of bone was significantly improved compared to the reconstructed images acquired at a single energy. This study demonstrated the clinical value of dual energy CDT and quantitatively showed that ACNR is the most suitable among the three developed dual energy techniques, including standard log subtraction, SSH, and ACNR.

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Measurements of the total and differential fiducial cross sections for the Z boson decaying into two neutrinos are presented at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data were collected by the CMS detector in 2016 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. In these measurements, events are selected containing an imbalance in transverse momentum and one or more energetic jets. The fiducial differential cross section is measured as a function of the Z boson transverse momentum. The results are combined with a previous measurement of charged-lepton decays of the Z boson. The measured total fiducial cross section for events with Z boson transverse momentum greater than 200 GeV is $$ {3000}_{-170}^{+180} $$ 3000 − 170 + 180 fb.