1. A filter assembly for an inkjet printhead, the filter assembly comprising:
an inlet for connection to an ink supply;
an outlet for connection to an inkjet printhead;
a filter membrane for filtering ink flowing from the inlet to the outlet; and,
a chamber to house the filter membrane such that the filter membrane divides the chamber into an upstream portion for holding a quantity of the unfiltered ink, and a down stream portion for holding a quantity of the filtered ink; wherein,
the upstream portion tapers towards the outlet and the downstream portion tapers towards the inlet.
2. A filter assembly according to claim 1 wherein the chamber is elongate with the inlet adjacent one end of the chamber and the outlet adjacent the other end of the chamber such that the filter membrane extends diagonally across chamber.
3. A filter assembly according to claim 1 wherein the filter membrane extends in two intersecting planes within the housing.
4. A filter assembly according to claim 3 wherein the downstream portion of the chamber is between the two intersecting planes.
5. A filter assembly according to claim 4 wherein the two intersecting planes meet at a line positioned centrally within the chamber adjacent one end.
6. A filter assembly according to claim 5 wherein the outlet is positioned centrally within the chamber adjacent the other end.
7. A filter assembly according to claim 4 wherein the membrane is mounted to a frame that defines the outlet to form a wedge-shaped cassette for insertion into the chamber wherein the membrane defines the sides tapering to the apex of the wedge.
8. A filter assembly according to claim 7 wherein the outlet is at the base of the wedge shape.
9. A filter assembly according to claim 8 wherein the filter membrane is sealed to outer surfaces of the frame such that particulate contaminants generated by the heat sealing process remain on in the upstream portion of the chamber.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. (canceled)
2. A method for processing MR relaxometry data of visceral tissue of a subject, comprising:
a) obtaining, by a computing device, a measurement of relaxometry data of a subject’s visceral tissue for extracellular fluid;
b) determining an iron content for the visceral tissue;
c) simulating, by a computing device, a measurement of the subject’s visceral tissue for extracellular fluid for the determined iron content;
d) comparing, by a computing device, the measurement of the subject’s visceral tissue for extracellular fluid of step (a) to the simulated measurement of the subject’s visceral tissue for extracellular fluid of step (c); and
e) determining, by a computing device, from said comparison a value of extracellular fluid in the subject’s visceral tissue based on a normal iron content for the visceral tissue.
3. The method of claim 2, further including determining, by a computing device, a corrected measured value of extracellular fluid from said comparison.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the relaxometry data is obtained by use of a medical imaging device including a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner and the device is used to measure one or more characteristic relaxation time or times in tissue in the visceral tissue.
5. The method of claim 2, wherein the visceral tissue is measured for extracellular fluid using T1 mapping and the visceral tissue is measured for iron content using one or more of T2 mapping, T2* mapping, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or measuring one or more blood biomarkers.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the T1 mapping is performed using a modified Look Locker inversion (MOLLI) recovery pulse sequence or a shortened modified Look Locker inversion recovery (Sh-MOLLI) sequence.
7. The method of claim 2, wherein the measurement of step (b) includes obtaining a T1 map of the visceral tissue, the simulation of step (d) includes determining a predicted measured T1 map associated with a particular extracellular fluid fraction of the visceral tissue for the iron content determined in step (c) and the comparison of step (e) includes comparing the measured T1 to the predicted measured T1, and determining a corrected T1 based on a normal iron content for the visceral tissue.
8. The method of claim 2, wherein the simulation includes the impact of iron content in the visceral tissue on both the intra- and extracellular relaxation times in multi-compartment modeling of various fractions of extracellular fluid in the visceral tissue.
9. The method of claim 2, wherein the simulation includes the impact of iron content on both the intra- and extracellular fluid relaxation times and simulating a predicted measurement of the visceral tissue for various fractions of extracellular fluid in combination with a simulation of an imaging sequence.
10. The method of claim 2, wherein the simulation involves a Bloch equation simulation, with or without exchange between intra- and extra-cellular fluid compartments, and with or without magnetisation transfer effects.
11. The method of claim 2, wherein the visceral tissue is liver, spleen or heart, preferably liver.
12. (canceled)
13. A system, comprising:
at least one computing device;
at least one application executable in the at least one computing device, the at least one application comprising logic that:
a) obtains a measurement of relaxometry data of a subject’s visceral tissue for extracellular fluid;
b) determines an iron content for the visceral tissue;
c) simulates a measurement of the subject’s visceral tissue for extracellular fluid for the determined iron content;
d) compares the measurement of the subject’s visceral tissue for extracellular fluid of step (a) to the simulated measurement of the subject’s visceral tissue for extracellular fluid of step (c); and
e) determines from said comparison a value relating to the extracellular fluid in the subject’s visceral tissue based on a normal iron content for the visceral tissue.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the logic further determines from said measurements and comparison the presence or absence of visceral tissue fibrosis or inflammation.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein the relaxometry data is obtained by use of a medical imaging device including a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner and the device is used to measure one or more characteristic relaxation time or times in the visceral tissue.
16. The system of claim 13, wherein the visceral tissue is measured for extracellular fluid using T1 mapping and the visceral tissue is measured for iron content using one or more of one or more of T2 mapping, T2* mapping, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or measuring one or more blood biomarkers.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the T1 mapping is performed using a modified Look Locker inversion (MOLLI) recovery pulse sequence or a shortened modified Look Locker inversion recovery (Sh-MOLLI) sequence.
18. The system of claim 13, wherein the measurement of step (b) includes obtaining a T1 map of the visceral tissue, the simulation of step (d) includes determining a predicted measured T1 map associated with a particular extracellular fluid fraction of the visceral tissue for the iron content determined in step (c) and the comparison of step (e) includes comparing the measured T1 to the predicted measured T1, and determining a corrected T1 based on a normal iron content for the visceral tissue.
19. The system of claim 13, wherein the simulation includes the impact of iron content in the visceral tissue on both the intra- and extracellular relaxation times in multi-compartment modeling of various fractions of extracellular fluid in the visceral tissue.
20. The system of claim 13, wherein the simulation includes the impact of iron content on both the intra- and extracellular fluid relaxation times and simulating a predicted measurement of the visceral tissue for various fractions of extracellular fluid in combination with a simulation of an imaging sequence.
21. The system of claim 13, wherein the visceral tissue is liver, spleen or heart, preferably liver.
22. A carrier bearing software comprising instructions for configuring a processor to carry out the steps of the method of claim 2.