KALLON ƘWAƘWALWA YANA AIKI TA CIKIN ƘOKON KAI, DA HASKE DA SAUTI

Functional MRI ta canza yadda muke kallon ƙwaƙwalwar ɗan Adam tana aiki. Amma tana gano jini mara isasshen iskar oxygen ne a kaikaice kawai, ta tasirinsa a kan ƙwayoyin ruwa, kuma tana buƙatar maganadisu mai ƙarfin superconducting babba, mai tsada, mai hayaniya kuma a rufe. Sauran kayan aiki suna musanya wata ƙarfi da wata: rikodin wutar lantarki suna da sauri amma ba sa nuna wuri sosai; hasken near-infrared yana ganin jini amma yana watsuwa da yawa har ba zai iya ba da hotuna masu kaifi ba.

Photoacoustic tomography (hoton haske da sauti) yana ba da wata hanya. Gajerun bugun laser suna shiga nama; idan haemoglobin ya sha hasken, yana haifar da raƙuman ultrasound, waɗanda na’urorin ji ke ɗauka don sake gina hoto mai fuska uku. Haemoglobin mai yawan oxygen da wanda ke da ƙarancinsa suna shan launuka daban-daban, don haka laser biyu za su iya bambance su. Injin ya fi ƙanƙanta, ya fi arha kuma ya fi shiru fiye da na’urar MRI, babu maganadisu ko kaɗan.

Matsalar: a cikin manya, hoton aikin ƙwaƙwalwa na photoacoustic ya yi aiki ne kawai a kan mutanen da suka rasa wani ɓangare na ƙokon kansu bayan tiyata. Ƙashin yana rage ƙarfin haske da na sauti, yana karkatar da raƙuman, kuma yana haifar da amsa-kuwwa. Kuma canje-canjen siginar da wani aikin tunani ko na motsi ke haifarwa kashi kaɗan ne kawai — wanda kai da ya motsa da ɗan juzu’in milimita zai iya nutsar da shi cikin sauƙi.

Kwano mai kunnuwa 3,072

Yilin Luo, Rui Cao, Manxiu Cui, Lihong Wang da abokan aikinsu a California Institute of Technology, tare da ƙungiyar Danny Wang a University of Southern California, sun tunkari matsalolin biyu.

• Sun cusa na’urorin ji na ultrasound 3,072 a cikin kwano mai siffar rabin ƙwallo da ke kewaye da kai — mafi yawan tashoshi (channels) zuwa yau — kowanne da na’urar ƙara ƙarfin siginarsa. Suna saurare ne a ƙaramin mitar sauti, 1 MHz, wanda ke ratsa ƙashi cikin sauƙi.
• Idan aka kwatanta da tsarin ƙungiyar na baya, ƙarin ingancin sigina idan aka kwatanta da hayaniya (signal-to-noise) ta cikin ƙokon kai ya kai kusan sau 273, wanda ya isa ya rama ƙokon kan da ke rage siginar da kusan sau ɗari.
• Laser biyu, a nanomita 1,064 da 755, suna harbawa bi da bi. Kowane bugu yana ba da cikakken hoto mai fuska uku, hotuna 20 a cikin daƙiƙa ɗaya, ba tare da wani sashe mai motsi ba — don haka babu dushewa daga dubawa.
• Kowane mai sa kai ya sa hular kariya ta musamman da aka buga da 3D, wadda aka tsara daga hoton 3D na kansa. Motsin kai yawanci ya kasance cikin kusan milimita 0.1 da digiri 0.1 a cikin zama na mintuna 7.5.

A kan ƙokon kan ɗan Adam da aka ɗauko daga gawa aka cika shi da gel, tsarin ya iya ganin bututu cike da jini da aka sa a ciki, duk da cewa siginarsa ta fi ta waje rauni da kusan sau 300.

Yatsu, leɓe da gwajin tesla 7

Maza huɗu masu lafiya, masu shekaru 24 zuwa 56, sun yi ta taɓa yatsun hannu ɗaya ko tattare leɓunansu, daƙiƙa 30 suna yi, daƙiƙa 30 suna hutawa. Kowannensu kuma an yi masa hoto a cikin MRI mai ƙarfin tesla 7 mai ƙarfin filin maganadisu a matsayin abin kwatantawa.

• Hanyar ta sanya martanin taɓa yatsu a yankin ƙwaƙwalwar da ake tsammani na motsi da ji, a gefen da ke kishiyar hannun da ke motsi, daidai da MRI.
• Ta bambance hannu da baki: a duk haɗe-haɗe 16 na mutum, gefen ƙwaƙwalwa da aiki, taswirar photoacoustic ta fi kusa da taswirar MRI ta aiki ɗaya fiye da ta ɗayan aikin.
• Ta maimaita kanta: a kan mai sa kai ɗaya, zama biyar a ziyara biyu da ke da tazarar wata uku duk sun sauka a yanki ɗaya.
• Launukan laser biyu sun motsa a alƙibla mabambanta yayin aikin, kamar yadda ake tsammani daga bambancin hankalinsu ga jini mai yawan oxygen da mara isasshensa. Siginar haske da sauti a nanomita 1,064 ta bi siginar MRI sosai, da alaƙa (correlation) ta 0.92.

Ƙananan bayanai

Taswirorin photoacoustic sun kasance a matsakaici nesa da na MRI da milimita 11.4, suna karkata koyaushe zuwa saman ƙwaƙwalwa. Marubutan sun lissafa dalilai da yawa masu yiwuwa da ba za su iya raba su tukuna ba: karkatarwar ƙokon kai, kurakuran daidaita hotuna tsakanin injuna, motsin ƙwaƙwalwa saboda yanayin zama ko kwanciya, da bambance-bambance tsakanin zama da zama. Mahalarta huɗu kaɗai aka gwada, duk maza, a kan ayyukan motsi masu sauƙi, kuma an aske gashin da ke kan yankin da aka ɗauki hoto.

Lihong Wang ya bayyana cewa yana da muradin kuɗi a kamfanoni uku na hoton photoacoustic, waɗanda marubutan suka ce ba su tallafa wa wannan aiki ba.

Ƙungiyar tana ganin wani dandali da zai iya kasancewa tare da wasu kayan aiki — rikodin wutar lantarki, motsa ƙwaƙwalwa, haɗin ƙwaƙwalwa da kwamfuta (brain–computer interfaces) — waɗanda ke da wuyar haɗawa da maganadisun MRI. Da laser masu ƙarin ƙanƙanta, suna fatan nazarin ƙwaƙwalwa a cikin yanayi na zahiri.