New guidelines and test procedures for MRI instrument compatibility provide a rational basis for design and evaluation of mechatronic devices in various MRI applications. Designers can apply these criteria and use the tests, so that MRI-compatibility results can accrue to build an experiential database.

We propose a facile synthesis approach for nitrogen doped porous carbon and demonstrate a novel pore-forming method that iron nanoclusters act as a template or activator at different carbonization temperatures based on Fe-poly(4-vinyipyridine) (P4VP) coordination. P4VP will completely decompose even in an inert atmosphere, but under the coordination and catalysis of Fe, it can be converted to carbon at a very low temperature (400 °C). The aggregation of iron nanoclusters in the carbonization process showed different pore-forming methods at different temperatures. The as-prepared materials possess high specific surface area (up to 1211 m g), large pore volume (up to 0.96 cm g), narrow microporosity, and high N content (up to 9.9 wt %). Due to these unique features, the materials show high CO uptake capacity and excellent selectivity for CO/N separation. The CO uptake capacity of NDPC-2-600 is up to 6.8 and 4.3 mmol g at 0 and 25 °C; the CO/N (0.15/0.85) selectivity at 0 and 25 °C also reaches 18.4 and 15.2, respectively.

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In neurorehabilitation, longitudinal assessment of arm movement related brain function in patients with motor disability is challenging due to variability in task performance. MRI-compatible robots monitor and control task performance, yielding more reliable evaluation of brain function over time. The main goals of the present study were first to define the brain network activated while performing active and passive elbow movements with an MRI-compatible arm robot (MaRIA) in healthy subjects, and second to test the reproducibility of this activation over time. For the fMRI analysis two models were compared. In model 1 movement onset and duration were included, whereas in model 2 force and range of motion were added to the analysis. Reliability of brain activation was tested with several statistical approaches applied on individual and group activation maps and on summary statistics. The activated network included mainly the primary motor cortex, primary and secondary somatosensory cortex, superior and inferior parietal cortex, medial and lateral premotor regions, and subcortical structures. Reliability analyses revealed robust activation for active movements with both fMRI models and all the statistical methods used. Imposed passive movements also elicited mainly robust brain activation for individual and group activation maps, and reliability was improved by including additional force and range of motion using model 2. These findings demonstrate that the use of robotic devices, such as MaRIA, can be useful to reliably assess arm movement related brain activation in longitudinal studies and may contribute in studies evaluating therapies and brain plasticity following injury in the nervous system.