Introduction The Hybrid Gamma Camera (HGC) is being developed to enhance the localisation of radiopharmaceutical uptake in targeted tissues during surgical procedures such as sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. Purpose To assess the capability of the HGC, a lymph-node-contrast (LNC) phantom was constructed for an evaluative study simulating medical scenarios of varying radioactivity concentration and SLN size. Materials and methods The phantom was constructed using two methyl methacrylate PMMA plates (8 mm thick). The SLNs were simulated by drilling circular wells of diameters ranging between 10 mm and 2.5 mm (16 wells in total) in one plate. These simulated SLNs were placed underneath scattering material with thicknesses ranging between 5 mm and 40 mm. The second plate contains four rectangular wells to simulate background activity uptake surrounding the SLNs. The activity used ranged between 4 MBq and 0.025 MBq for the SLNs. The background activity was 1/10 of the SLNs activity. The collimator to source distance was 120 mm. Results Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) analysis and spatial resolution measurements of the simulated SLN were used to compare the imaging sets over acquisition times ranging between 60s and 240s. The HGC successfully detected 87.5% to 100% of the SLNs through 20mm of scattering material, and it could detect 75% to 93.75% of the SLNs through 40mm of scattering material. Measurement of Full-Width-at-Half-Maximum (FWHM) for the detected SLNs ranged between 9.5 mm and 12 mm. Conclusion The HGC is capable of detecting low activity uptake in small SLNs indicating its usefulness as an intraoperative imaging system during surgical SLN procedures.
This study is carried out to investigate the prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) infections in cattle using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting IS1111A transposase gene. A total of 130 lactating cows were randomly selected from different areas in Wasit province, Iraq and subjected to blood and milk sampling during the period extended between November 2018 and May 2019. ELISA and PCR tests revealed that 16.15% and 10% of the animals studied were respectively positive. Significant correlations (P<0.05) were detected between the positive results and clinical data. Two positive PCR products were analyzed phylogenetically, named as C. burnetii IQ-No.5 and C. burnet
... Show MorePersistence of antibiotics in the aquatic environment has raised concerns regarding their potential influence on potable water quality and human health. This study analyzes the presence of antibiotics in potable water from two treatment plants in Baghdad City. The collected samples were separated using a solid-phase extraction method with hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) cartridge before being analyzed. The detected antibiotics in the raw and finished drinking water were analyzed and assessed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), with fluorometric detector and UV detector. The results confirmed that different antibiotics including fluoroquinolones and
The mechanical design of elevator elements is always performed by international standards. The engineer selects the appropriate elements of elevator according to catalogues without knowing scientific details. Therefore, a theoretical analysis is achieved at two operating conditions for guide rails (1) safety gear operation, and (2) running condition with the loads unevenly distributed on the elevator car. The guide rail is considered a continuous beam with variable supports. Then the British code is listed showing the equations used in it.
The theoretical equations showed that guide rails are never subjected to stress in simultaneous combined buckling and bending in the plane, where the bending moment is exerted. It is always a c
... Show MoreMoney matters exert a considerable influence on man’s life-style, social
rank and his relationship with other people. This paper aims at exploring the impact
of money matters on the characters’ inner feelings, social status, and personal
relationships in Muriel Spark’s modern novel The Ballad Of Peckham Rye. This
paper aspires to show that Spark’s subtle portrayal of characters reveals the
dominance of money matters over human and social relationships.
Muriel Spark ( 1918-2006) is a modern Scottish novelist whose wit and
detached sense of humour has brought her prolific body of both popular and critical
acclaim. Spark is interested not in building suspense but in exploring the moral
significance of the
Strives Total Productive Maintenance to increase the overall effectiveness of the equipment through the early involvement in the design and manufacture of equipment productivity. It also operates in an environment of simultaneous engineering work on the synchronization of activities to take advantage of early information by maintenance engineers, design, operation, and that helps to reduce the faults and facilitate future maintenance tasks.
Has adopted a search in the theoretical concept of the total maintenance productivity and concurrent engineering activities carried out during which the conjunction a
... Show MoreJob stress is considered one of the most important obstacles that may appear in the work field. In order to deal with the obstacles and challenges , the idea to deal with job stress has come to address job stress as one of the most important trends that enable organizations to face those challenges through focusing on the role of job stress and the organizational climate of the organization.
The research deals with two variables: the job stress as an independent variable, and the organizational climate as a dependent one. Each variable includes five sub-dimensions. These dimensions have been involved in an interaction to form
... Show MoreThe research aims to identify the availability of some basic competencies that are required to be available to workers in digital agricultural Extension from the point of view of senior management, middle management, and, employees with Post-graduate education degrees, represented by the following: Transition to digital agricultural Extension for sustainable and smart family farms, benefiting from international expertise and experiences in applying for Digital agricultural Extension, preparing and implementing Extension messages through platforms, factors affecting the effectiveness of digital agricultural Extension and its platforms, following up and evaluating the activities and programs of the digital Extension platform. The research pop
... Show MoreIraq has seen many changes at the social, economic and political levels. This led to cause many shifts in the structure of its society and imposed great challenges reflected in the behavior and awareness of that society in general and youth in particular.
Those changes made the Iraqi society undergoing the transformation of value and culture aspects formed a political awareness that caused cultural and political diversity within the family and society. A greater openness to the outside world caused by the communication revolution, as the world has witnessed during the past two decades, has helped in making that change. Iraq had its share of media and political openness, which were included after the US occupation in 2003. As a re
... Show MoreZnO organic hybrid junction (electroluminescence EL device) was fabricated using phase segregation method. ZnO-nanoparticle (NPs) was prepared as a colloidal by self–assembly method of Zinc acetate solution with KOH solution. Nanoparticle is employed to form organic-inorganic hybrid film and generate white light emission, while N,N’–diphenyl-N,N’ –bis(3-methylphenyl)-1,1’-biphenyl 4,4’-diamine (TPD) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) are adopted as the organic matrices. ZnO NPs was used to fabricate TPD: PMMA: ZnO NPs hybrid junction device. The photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the TPD: PMMA: ZnO NPs hybrid device provided a broad emission band covering entirely the visible spectrum (∼350-∼700
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