An overview on extremity dosimetry in medical applications

Some activities of EURADOS Working Group 9 (WG9) are presently funded by the European Commission (CONRAD project). The objective of WG9 is to promote and co-ordinate research activities for the assessment of occupational exposures to staff at workplaces in interventional radiology (IR) and nuclear medicine. For some of these applications, the skin of the fingers is the limiting organ for individual monitoring of external radiation. Therefore, sub-group 1 of WG9 deals with the use of extremity dosemeters in medical radiation fields. The wide variety of radiation field characteristics present in a medical environment together with the difficulties in measuring a local dose that is representative for the maximum skin dose, usually with one single detector, makes it difficult to perform accurate extremity dosimetry. Sub-group 1 worked out a thorough literature review on extremity dosimetry issues in diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine and positron emission tomography, interventional radiology and interventional cardiology and brachytherapy. Some studies showed that the annual dose limits could be exceeded if the required protection measures are not taken, especially in nuclear medicine. The continuous progress in new applications and techniques requires an important effort in radiation protection and training.     

An overview of the use of extremity dosemeters in some European countries for medical applications

Some medical applications are associated with high doses to the extremities of the staff exposed to ionising radiation. At workplaces in nuclear medicine, interventional radiology, interventional cardiology and brachytherapy, extremities can be the limiting organs as far as regulatory dose limits for workers are concerned. However, although the need for routine extremity monitoring is clear for these applications, no data about the status of routine extremity monitoring reported by different countries was collected and analysed so far, at least at a European level. In this article, data collected from seven European countries are presented. They are compared with extremity doses extracted from dedicated studies published in the literature which were reviewed in a previous publication. The analysis shows that dedicated studies lead to extremity doses significantly higher than the reported doses, suggesting that either the most exposed workers are not monitored, or the dosemeters are not routinely worn or not worn at appropriate positions.     

Targeting and ultrasound imaging of microbubble-based contrast agents

Preparation and characterization of targeted microbubbles (ultrasound contrast agents) is described. Specific ligands were attached to the microbubble shell, and ligand-coated microbubbles were selectively attached to various targets, using either an avidin-biotin model system or an antigen-antibody system for targeting to live activated endothelial cells. Firm attachment of microbubbles to the target was achieved. Forces necessary to detach microbubbles from the target were estimated to exceed dozens of pN. Microbubbles were bound to the target even in the rapidly moving stream of the aqueous medium. Down to 20 ng of the ultrasound contrast material on the target surface could be detected by the ultrasound imaging with a commercial medical imaging system. At high bubble density on the target surface, strong ultrasound image attenuation was observed.     

Fatty acid profile,oxidative stability,and sensory properties of breast meat from turkeys fed diets with a different n‐6/n‐3 PUFA ratio

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of diets with a different n‐6/n‐3 PUFAs ratio (7.31, 4.43, and 0.99), resulting from the addition of different dietary oils: soybean, rapeseed, and linseed (diets S, R, and L, respectively), on the fatty acid (FA) profile, oxidative status, and sensory properties of turkey breast meat. After 15 wk of feeding, breast meat yield and chemical properties of the meat were similar in all groups. Raw breast meat of R turkeys had a significantly higher content of all‐trans‐retinol and α‐tocopherol, compared with S and L. The physicochemical properties of breast meat, including pH, color, drip loss, and cooking loss, did not differ significantly. Cooked meat samples differed significantly with respect to the concentrations of oleic acid, linoleic acid (S and R>L), and linolenic acid (S and R<L). Compared with S and R, breast meat of L turkeys was characterized by higher concentrations of total PUFAs (35.1 vs. 30.1 and 29.3%), a significantly lower n‐6/n‐3 PUFAs ratio (1.51 vs. 5.43 and 5.07%) and a higher thiobarbituric acid reactive substances content (TBARS; 31.9 vs. 26.4 and 26.7 nmol/g). After 4 months of deep‐freeze storage the n‐6/n‐3 PUFAs ratio did not deteriorate. It may be concluded that replacing soybean oil with linseed oil, but not with rapeseed oil, increased the proportion of PUFAs in the total FAs pool and improved the n‐6/n‐3 PUFAs ratio, yet it also adversely affected the sensory properties and oxidative stability of meat. Both raw and stored breast meat from L turkeys was susceptible to oxidative changes, as manifested by the significantly higher TBARS concentrations (17.07 and 81.06) compared with those of the S group (10.91 and 53.00 nmol/g, respectively). Practical applications: Studies investigating the possibility of increasing the health benefits of poultry meat have been performed mostly on broilers, while the problem remains poorly researched in turkeys. Our findings show that linseed oil, in contrast to rapeseed oil, is a good source of PUFAs, in particular n‐3 PUFAs, that can be effectively transferred from feed to carcass lipids. However, desirable changes in the fatty acid profile are accompanied by increased susceptibility to lipid oxidation and deterioration of the sensory properties of meat. Thus, the linseed oil content of turkey diets should be reduced, or diets supplemented with linseed oil should be fed for shorter periods of time to alleviate the negative effects of linseed oil on the sensory attributes and oxidative status of meat.     

Inverse dynamics task control of flexible joint robots—I: Continuous-time approach

This paper focuses on the problem of application of inverse dynamics control methods to robots with flexible joints. In Part I of the paper, there are answers presented to a number of questions related to the analytical formulation of nonlinear decoupling control laws. After discussion, the dynamic model of a robot with flexible joints and electrochemical actuators is chosen. The application of the extended computed torque technique together with the methods from the theory of differential-algebraic equations (DAE) to the developed fifth-order robot model gives a number of decoupled linear subsystems, which take robot task space commands as inputs. Due to drawbacks of the continuous-time inverse dynamics, discussed in the paper, a new control strategy in discrete-time is developed in Part II of the paper. The proposed control method is computationally efficient and admits low sampling frequencies. The results of extensive numerical experiments confirm the advantages of the designed control algorithm.     

Analytic–numerical approach in modeling electrodynamic phenomena of inductive dynamic drive

Inductive dynamic drives (IDD) are used in hybrid switching systems where a very quick contact separation as well as operation repeatability and long-term reliability are required. This paper presents more important existing examples of modeling the drive and their criticism. The author proposes a better model of electrodynamic inductive drive. Due to the cylindrical symmetry of the drives involved, a number of analytical dependencies were applied to develop the mathematical models. Additionally, the paper presents research results for a physical IDD model, those results determining the application range for the electrodynamic model assuming that the driven disc is perfectly stiff. Magnetic pressure acting on the disc obtained from the electrodynamic model can used as input in the mechanical model.     

Correlation of patient maximum skin doses in cardiac procedures with various dose indicators

In most countries of European Union, legislation requires the determination of the total skin dose received by patients during interventional procedures in order to prevent deterministic damages. Various dose indicators like dose-area product (DAP), cumulative dose (CD) and entrance dose at the patient plane (EFD) are used for patient dosimetry purposes in clinical practice. This study aimed at relating those dose indicators with doses ascribed to the most irradiated areas of the patient skin usually expressed in terms of local maximal skin dose (MSD). The study was performed in two different facilities for two most common cardiac procedures coronary angiography (CA) and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). For CA procedures, the registered values of fluoroscopy time, total DAP and MSD were in the range (0.7-27.3) min, (16-317) Gy cm(2) and (43-1507) mGy, respectively, and for interventions, accordingly (2.1-43.6) min, (17-425) Gy cm(2), (71-1555) mGy. Moreover, for CA procedures, CD and EFD were in the ranges (295-4689) mGy and (121-1768) mGy and for PCI (267-6524) mGy and (68-2279) mGy, respectively. No general and satisfactory correlation was found for safe estimation of MSD. However, results show that the best dose indicator which might serve for rough, preliminary estimation is DAP value. In the study, the appropriate trigger levels were proposed for both facilities.     

Strain rate sensitivity of hydroxyapatite coatings

The strain-rate sensitivity of strength is a significant factor to evaluate the deformation mode of crystalline materials. The strain rate sensitivity of hardness is experimentally investigated here for hydroxyapatite coatings that are sputter deposited onto titanium-coated silicon wafers. These biocompatible HA coatings can provide a strong, dense interface between metal alloy implants and porous hydroxyapatite that can help in-growth of tissue. The interface to the metal alloy implant is important to transfer stress during loading. So, it is very important to know the behavior of the coating under different conditions of loading. Our dynamic test procedure now takes advantage of nanoscratch testing to measure the change in scratch hardness of the coating over a strain rate range that may well simulate the mechanical loading conditions found at the interface between implants and hydroxyapatite coatings.     

A Vacuum Infrared Standard Radiation Thermometer at the PTB

A thermal infrared radiation thermometer was jointly developed by the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt and Raytek GmbH for temperature measurements from − 150°C to 170°C under vacuum. The radiation thermometer is a purpose-built instrument to be operated with the PTB reduced-background infrared calibration facility. The instrument is a stand-alone system with an airtight housing that allows operation inside a vacuum chamber, attached to a vacuum chamber, and in air. The radiation thermometer will serve to calibrate thermal radiation sources, i.e., blackbody radiators, by comparing their radiance temperature to that of a variable-temperature reference blackbody inside the reduced-background calibration facility. Furthermore, since it can be operated under vacuum and in air, the instrument also allows the water- and ammonia-heat-pipe reference blackbodies of the PTB low-temperature calibration facility operated in air to be compared with the variable-temperature blackbody operated under vacuum. Finally, provided that sufficient long-term stability is achieved, the instrument shall be used as a transfer radiation thermometer to carry and compare the temperature scale of PTB by means of radiation thermometry to remote-sensing calibration facilities outside PTB. The mechanical, optical, and electrical designs of the instrument are reported. Results of investigations on the temperature resolution, size-of-source effect, and the reference function are given. The heat-pipe blackbodies operating in air are compared to the variable-temperature blackbody operated under vacuum by using the vacuum radiation thermometer. References to commercial products are provided for identification purposes only and constitute neither endorsement nor representation that the item identified is the best available for the stated purpose.