Hydrogen nuclei magnetic moments are randomly oriented in the absence of an external magnetic field and are considered to have a net magnetization of zero. Once hydrogen protons are placed in the presence of an external magnetic field, they align themselves in one of two directions, parallel or anti parallel to the net magnetic field, which is commonly referred to as the vector B0. The parallel and anti parallel protons cancel each other out, only the small number of low energy protons left aligned with the magnetic field create the overall net magnetization, this difference is all that counts. The magnetic moments of these protons are added together and are referred to as net magnetization vector (NMV) or the symbol 'M'.

See also Magnetization Transfer Contrast.

(NMR) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance is a physical phenomenon of the magnetic property of nuclei, which have a positive nuclear spin quantum number.
Under the influence of an external static magnetic field this nuclei will precess about the direction of the magnetic field with an angular frequency (Larmor frequency). Through absorption and emission of RF energy (gradients, RF coils) at the resonance frequency (Larmor equation) and the processing of this raw data by the Fourier transformation - physical, chemical, electronic, and structural information about molecules can be obtained (NMR Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Magnetic Resonance Imaging).

Pharmacyclics is a pharmaceutical company developing novel agents to improve current therapeutic approaches to cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and inflammation. The company's proprietary products are derived from its core technology in biometallic chemistry. These products under development are based upon small molecules, which bind metals in a unique way and are capable of capturing and focusing forms of energy used in a variety of medical applications. The company has one product in registration with the FDA, Gadolite® Oral Suspension, a contrast agent for imaging the gastrointestinal tract; two products in clinical development, Gd-Tex (Motexafin gadolinium), a radiation sensitizer, Lu-Tex, a photosensitizer; and several compounds in preclinical development.

MRI Contrast Agents:

The phased array coils operate typically as receive only coils. In that case, the in the MRI device implemented body coil act as the transmitter and sends the radio frequency energy to generate the excitation pulses. State-of-the-art array coil systems include the use of 4 (up to 32) coils with separate receivers. This method is often referred to as a phased array system, although the signals are not added such that the signal phase information is included. The use of phased array coils allows the decreasing of the number of signal averages, which shortens the scan time by high SNR and resolution.
High-sensitivity RF surface coils and digital processing algorithms have been developed that speed up image acquisition and reconstruction during the MRI scan.
Fast parallel imaging techniques, for example sensitivity encoding (SENSE), 'Partially Parallel Imaging with Localized Sensitivity' (PILS), Simultaneous Acquisition of Spatial Harmonics (SMASH) or Array Spatial Sensitivity Encoding Technique (ASSET) use phased array multichannel coils to further improve spatial and temporal resolution. The sensitivity profile of a phased array coil element is measured by a separate low resolution 3D acquisition over the entire field of view in the case of a SENSE acquisition. For an mSENSE measurement, a self-calibration acquires some of the missing lines in the center of the k-space.
Also called linear array coil or synergy surface coil.

See also the related poll result: '3rd party coils are better than the original manufacturer coils'

An MKS unit of energy expended over time or of angular momentum.
Definition: 1 planck is equal to 1 joule second (J * s) or about 0.7375 foot pound second (ft * lb * s).
Atomic nuclei possess an intrinsic angular momentum referred to as spin, measured in multiples of Planck's constant. The unit is named for the German physicist Max Planck.