Objectives: Small field of view gamma detection and imaging technologies for monitoring in vivo tracer uptake are rapidly expanding and being introduced for bed-side imaging and image guided surgical procedures. The Hybrid Gamma Camera (HGC) has been developed to enhance the localization of targeted radiopharmaceuticals during surgical procedures; for example in sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsies and for bed-side imaging in procedures such as lacrimal drainage imaging and thyroid scanning. In this study, a prototype anthropomorphic head and neck phantom has been designed, constructed, and evaluated using representative modelled medical scenarios to study the capability of the HGC to detect SLNs and image small organs. Methods: An anthropomorphic head and neck phantom has been designed to mimic the adult head and neck including some internal organs and tissues of interest, such as the thyroid gland and sentinel lymph nodes. The design of the head and neck phantom included an adjustable inner jig holding the simulated SLNs and thyroid gland. The simulated thyroid gland was designed and 3D printed taking into consideration the size and the shape of a healthy adult thyroid gland. The inner sealed space of the thyroid was filled with 15MBq of 99mTc through two upper filling valves. Sealed micro-tubes (0.2ml) have been employed to simulate SLNs containing various 99mTc activity concentrations ranging between 0.1MBq and 1MBq, and can be positioned at any desired place in the head and neck region. An active background was simulated through mixing 10MBq of 99mTc solution with the water used to fill the outer shell of the head and neck phantom. Results: The head and neck phantom was employed to simulate a situation where there are four SLNs distributed at two different vertical levels and at two depths within the neck. Contrast to noise ratio (CNR) calculations were performed for the detected SLNs at an 80mm distance between both pinhole collimators (i.e. 0.5mm and 1.0mm diameters) and the surface of the head and neck phantom with a 100s acquisition time. The recorded CNR values for the simulated SLNs are higher when the HGC was fitted with the 1.0mm diameter pinhole collimator. For instance, the recorded CNR values for the superficially simulated SLN containing 0.1MBq of 99mTc using 0.5mm and 1.0mm diameter pinhole collimators are 6.48 and 16.42, respectively (~87% difference). The anatomical context provided by the hybrid imaging aided the localization process of radioactivity accumulation in simulated SLNs. Gamma and hybrid optical images were acquired using the HGC with both available pinhole collimators for the simulated thyroid gland. The thyroid images produced varied in terms of spatial resolution and detectability. The count profiles through the middle of the simulated thyroid gland images provided by both pinhole collimators were obtained. The HGC could clearly differentiate the individual peaks of both thyroid lobes in the gamma image produced by the 0.5mm pinhole collimator. In contrast, the recorded count profile for the acquired image using the 1.0mm diameter pinhole collimator showed broader peaks for both lobes, reflecting the degradation of the spatial resolution with increasing the diameter of the pinhole collimator. Conclusion: The capability of the HGC has been evaluated utilizing a prototype anthropomorphic head and neck phantom, and the gamma and hybrid images obtained demonstrate that it is ideally suited for intraoperative SLNs detection and small organ imaging. The standardization of test phantoms and protocols for SFOV portable gamma systems will provide an opportunity to collect data across various medical centers and research groups. Moreover, it will provide a technical baseline for researchers and clinical practitioners to consider when assessing their SFOV gamma imaging systems. The anthropomorphic head and neck phantom described is cost effective, reproducible, flexible and anatomically representative.
The psychological burnout is considered one of dangerous phenomenon’s which appeared in the 70s of the 20th century and suffered by most of the society classes. It is a term which the wide uses and various meaning like emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion and chronic weak exhaustion. The presented research aims t identify the psychological burnout as for the Kindergarten teacher and the differences significance according to the variations (Kindergarten type: private or govern mental). The research sample contains 400 female teachers divided to 170 governmental Kindergarten teachers and 230 private Kindergarten teachers. The researcher prepared a measurement method to measure the psychological burnout for those teachers after
... Show MoreThe fluctuation and expansion ratios have been studied for cylindrical gas-solid fluidized columns by using air as fluidizing medium and Paracetamol as the bed material. The variables were the column diameter (0.0762, 0.15, and 0.18 m), static bed height (0.05, 0.07, and 0.09 m), and air velocity to several times of minimum fluidization velocity. The results showed that both the fluctuation and expansion ratios had a direct relation with air velocity and an inverse one with column diameter and static bed height. A good agreement was between the experimental results and the calculated values by using the correlation equations from the literature.
The aim of the research is to identify the extent of the direct and indirect relationship of the population growth of the cities as a result of the urbanization process witnessed by the Arab region for the urban development of the city structures and their formative structures, changing the planning criteria of some cities and the extent of their changes in spatial and temporal dimensions and their relation to the standards of the western cities. In changing the concept of the modern Arab city, such as the emergence of new functional uses affecting the change in the pattern of formal formations of its urban fabric associated with its ancient morphology and distinctive human nature. The research seeks to identify the extent to which plann
... Show MoreAlthough many technological improvements are occurring in power production worldwide, power plants in third world countries are still using old technologies that are causing thermal pollution to the water bodies. Power facilities that dump hot water into water bodies are damaging aquatic life. In the study, the impact of the Al Dora thermal power plant on a nearby stretch of Tigris River in Baghdad city was assessed by measuring the temperature of the disposed of hot water in various cross-sections of the selected stretch of Tigris River, including measuring the thermal mixing length. The measurements were conducted in winter, spring, and summer. For field measurements, it was found that the impact of recovery distances
... Show MoreThe objective of this research is to measure the training programs and identify the nature and then measure how it reflected on the quality of municipal services provided by the municipal departments investigated by measuring the quality of services based on quality standards, the researcher chose four municipal departments in the Rusafa / Baghdad (164 people) representing the directors and their assistants, officials of the municipal departments, the people and the engineering staff in charge of the task forces as well, including the survey of the views of the concerned persons in the management of the Vocational Training Institute in the Secretariat of the Republic, The quality of the municipal services
... Show MoreThe improvement of the mechanical soil characteristics of jet grouting technique is very attractive. The jet grouted soil cement columns in soft is a complicated issue because it depends on a number of factors such as, soil nature, mixture, influence among soil and grouting materials, jetting force of nozzle, jet grouting and water flow rate, rotation and lifting speed. This paper discusses the estimation of shear strength parameters of soil-cement column (soilcrete) in soft clayey soil based on the relationships between the unconfined compressive and split tensile strength for the soilcrete and the effect of the jet grouting and water pressure in the values of cohesion and internal f
Through this research, We have tried to evaluate the health programs and their effectiveness in improving the health situation through a study of the health institutions reality in Baghdad to identify the main reasons that affect the increase in maternal mortality by using two regression models, "Poisson's Regression Model" and "Hierarchical Poisson's Regression Model". And the study of that indicator (deaths) was through a comparison between the estimation methods of the used models. The "Maximum Likelihood" method was used to estimate the "Poisson's Regression Model"; whereas the "Full Maximum Likelihood" method were used for the "Hierarchical Poisson's Regression Model
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