This polarization-transfer apparatus, which induces hyperpolarization with respect to a precursor containing .sup.13C nuclei or .sup.15N nuclei, has a microfluidic device in which the precursor is guided in a magnetic shield such that the strength of the magnetic field acting on the precursor monotonically decreases from approximately 1 μT to zero magnetic field, and then the precursor is guided in the magnetic shield such that the strength of the magnetic field acting on the precursor monotonically increases from zero magnetic field to approximately 1 μT.

A system and method for determining a nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation time of a probe includes polarizing first nuclei and second nuclei by applying a longitudinal static magnetic field to the probe, exchanging the polarizations of the first nuclei and the second nuclei by irradiating a swap sequence of transverse magnetic field pulses, transversely magnetizing the second nuclei by irradiating at least one excitation pulse and measuring the resulting magnetization signal of the second nuclei, and determining the nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation time of the second nuclei based on the measured magnetization signal of the second nuclei.

Phase-incrementing MRSI (pi-MRSI) method has resolved overlapping biomarker images in the presence of a read-gradient. On a Bruker 9.4T MRI spectrometer, the pi-SEE-HSelMQC sequence was implemented. The choline-selective and lactate CH-selective RF pulses were phase incremented by 10° in opposite signs, synchronized with the phase-encoding steps. The lactate and choline images from a yogurt phantom displayed opposite image offsets without image overlapping. In vivo one-dimensional pi-SEE-HSelMQC CSI images of lactate and choline, acquired from the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer xenograft in a nude mouse, as well as two-dimensional pi-SEE-HSelMQC imaging of lactate and choline acquired from the PC3 human prostate cancer xenograft in a nude mouse, also had opposite image offsets, shifted away from the spurious residual water signals in the image center. The pi-SEE-HSelMQC method completely suppresses lipid and water with potential clinical applications in disease diagnosis and therapeutic interventions.

A whole measurement process includes a plurality of step combinations. Each of the step combinations is composed of a solution-state measurement step and a solid-state measurement step. In the solution-state measurement step, solution-state NMR measurement is performed such that magnetization that is to be used in the solid-state measurement step remains. In the solid-state measurement step, solid-state NMR measurement is performed by using the magnetization that remains. No waiting time for recovering magnetization is provided between the solution-state measurement step and the solid-state measurement step. The solid-state measurement step may be performed earlier, and the solution-state measurement step may be performed later. Alternatively, the two steps may be performed simultaneously.

A protocol to determine chemical shift-specific Ti constants in inhomogeneous magnetic fields is provided. Based on intermolecular double-quantum coherences and spatial encoding techniques, the method can resolve overlapped NMR spectral peaks in inhomogeneous magnetic fields acquired using conventional methods. With inversion recovery involved, the amplitude of spectral peak will be modulated by inversion recovery time. After fitting the spectral peak amplitude variation curve, the corresponding longitudinal relaxation time can be achieved. With the measured T.sub.1 values in inhomogeneous magnetic fields, insights into chemical exchange rates, signal optimization, and data quantitation can be obtained.

Nuclear spins of particular atoms (14N) which distinctively exist in a crystal of an active pharmaceutical ingredient is manipulated, so that an initial magnetization (modulated magnetization) is caused in nearby hydrogen atoms which exist near the particular atoms in the crystal. The initial magnetization of the nearby hydrogen atoms is spread to peripheral hydrogen atoms which exist at a periphery of the nearby hydrogen atoms in the crystal. A magnetization which is spread in the crystal is directly or indirectly observed.

Polarizable diamond materials and methods for obtaining nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of samples external to the diamond materials are described. The diamond materials can include .sup.12C, .sup.13C, substitutional nitrogen, and nitrogen vacancy defects in a crystalline lattice, wherein the substitutional nitrogen concentration is between 10 ppm and 200 ppm, the nitrogen vacancy concentration is between 10 ppb and 10 ppm, and the .sup.13C concentration is greater than 1.1% and not more than 25%. Methods for obtaining nuclear magnetic resonance spectra can include optically pumping a diamond material to generate electron spin hyperpolarization in nitrogen vacancy centers, transferring the electron spin hyperpolarization to nuclei of the sample, and generating a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum by applying a magnetic field to the sample, exciting the sample with a radio frequency pulse, and detecting a nuclear magnetic resonance response from the sample.

In vivo methods for non-invasively imaging (or measuring without spatial localization) of neuro-electro-magnetic oscillations are achieved by a pulse sequence of radio frequency (RF) irradiation and magnetic field gradients. These RF and gradient pulses create an intermolecular zero-quantum coherence (iZQC), the frequency of which is: 1) controlled by one or more magnetic field gradients; and 2) made to match the frequency of the targeted neuro-electro-magnetic oscillation.

According to one embodiment, a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry generates, from a first image influenced by a magnetic field distortion, a second image in which the influence of the distortion is corrected, receives a first area setting in the second image and calculates, by a method of the calculation depending on an imaging purpose, an excitation area in the imaging based on the first area.

Computing systems and methods for characterizing a protein are provided. Each residue in a subset of the protein is in an amino acid type set and is represented by a vertex in a graph G formed from an atomic model of the protein. NMR data, acquired with some of the residues of the protein isotopically labeled, is used to form a graph H with each vertex representing a different residue of the protein and assigned one or more amino types. Placements of H onto G are formed, each including mappings assigning vertices in H to vertices in G subject to the constraints that vertices in H mapped to vertices in G cannot be of different amino acid types and edges between pairs of vertices in H must map to corresponding edges in G. For each vertex in H, the number of different valid mappings to G is determined by polling the placements as a constraint satisfaction problem and is deemed assigned when only a single unique assignment is identified.