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.
In the present work, silver nanoparticles were prepared. Nonlinear optical properties and
optical limiting of silver nanoparticles were investigated.Standard chemical synthesis method was used at
diffrent weight ratio(0.038, 0.058 and 0.078) of silver nitrate. Several testing were done to obtain the
characteristics of the sample. Z-Scan experiments were performed using 30 ns Q-switched Nd:YAG
laser at 1064 nm and 532 nm at different intensities. The results showed that the nonlinear refractive
index is directly proportional to the input intensities, which caused by the self-focusing of the material.
In addition, the optical limiting behavior has been studied. The results showed that the sample could be
used as an opt
The wound healing process is incredibly intricate, consisting of a series of cellular activities. Although, this complex process has the potential to degenerate and result in chronic wound problems that are resistant to biological healing mechanisms. Nanoparticles can help to reduce inflammation, promote tissue regeneration, and accelerate wound healing. The proteolytic enzymes are believed to break down proteins and other molecules that can cause inflammation and impede the healing process. Wound was created in vivo using adult mice, and by taking blood samples the hematological parameters were evaluated to detected the effects of bromelain, silver nanoparticles and Br-AgNPs. The results shows an increased in white blood cells WBC, RBC, MC
... Show MoreThe research aims to measure the accounting conservatism practice of listed companies in the Iraq stock exchange using Basu model to measure the degree of accounting conservatism in a sample of companies of (21) companies for the period from 2007 to 2011, the researcher found that most of the listed companies in the market exercised accounting conservatism when measurement and disclosure of the result of the activity and financial position and there is a variation in the degree of accounting conservatism between economic sectors , which included banking , investment , insurance , industry , agriculture , tourism and hotels.
Because the practice of accounting conservatism properly
... Show MoreThe matter of handwritten text recognition is as yet a major challenge to mainstream researchers. A few ways deal with this challenge have been endeavored in the most recent years, for the most part concentrating on the English pre-printed or handwritten characters space. Consequently, the need to effort a research concerning to Arabic texts handwritten recognition. The Arabic handwriting presents unique technical difficulties because it is cursive, right to left in writing and the letters convert its shapes and structures when it is putted at initial, middle, isolation or at the end of words. In this study, the Arabic text recognition is developed and designed to recognize image of Arabic text/characters. The proposed model gets a single l
... Show MoreObjectives of the study: Assess pregnant women's knowledge about tetanus toxoid vaccination, to find out the
relationship between pregnant women's knowledge and some variables which included: (age, level of
education, occupational status, socio-economic level, gravidity, parity, following visits of antenatal care,
tetanus toxoid vaccination coverage).
Methods and Materials: Descriptive analytic study conducted on multistage probabilistic sample of 130
pregnant women during period from 30th January 2012 to the 24th April 2013 was carried out in the six primary
health care centers at Karbala city. The questionnaire was consisted of four parts which include of: sociodemographic
characteristics, reproductive information,
Specimens of the hedgehog Hemiechinus auritus Gmelin. which were trapped in two places on the Eastern shores of the Tigris River, some 50 and 60 Km, south of Baghdad. central Iraq. were searched for ectoparasites. They revealed the following parasites: One species of Anoplura: polyplex spinulosa (Burm.), family Hoplople uridae, two species of fleas: Synostrnus pallidus (Tasch.) and Ctenocephalides felis (Bouche), family pulicidae, One mite species: Ornithonyssus bacoti (Hirst), family Macronyssidae and two tick species: Rhipicephalus leporis and R. turanicum family Ixodidae. All these ectoparasite species are new records on this hedgehog in Iraq.
In recent years, there has been a rapid development in research on high performance ceramics for mechanical, electrical and medical industries. This development will be shown for alumina as a representative for oxide ceramics powders.
Dry–pressing forming technique was used to prepare different ceramic compacts for alumina grafted by polymethacrylate polymers. All Alumina compact were fired firstly at 1200 ◌ْ C, then
at 1600 ◌ْ C.
Mechanical strength was examined in different means, some
depends on compression and other depends on impact. Hardness was
also measured .The results obtained were compared with that of
Alumina compact prepared under the same condition from Alumina
especially made for pressing .
The tentative list of the biodiversity (plants and vertebrates) of Bahr Al-Najaf depression is found to comprise 104 vertebrate species including 2 fishes, 14 reptiles, 73 resident and migratory birds and 15 mammals. The flora consists of 31 species, mainly of plants well adapted to desert conditions that dominate the area, besides few examples of water plants. The salinity was found, through chemical analysis of the lake water, to be of high value which reduces the diversity of aquatic animal and plant diversity.
Objective: To assess nurses' exposure to hospitals chronic diseases hazards in Thi-Qar governorate, and to identify the association between nurses' socio-demographic characteristics of age, sex, marital status, place of work, the experience and educational attainment and their exposure to the hazards of chronic diseases. Methodology: A purposive "non-probability" sample of (433) nurses who were selected from four public hospitals in Thi-qar governorate for the period from November 4th 2013 to June 8th of 2014. Results: The study results indicated that that the vast majority of participants have mild chronic di
This paper examines the most important historical knowledge and knowledge of the Arabs in the pre-Islamic era based on the Holy Quran, which is the oldest and most reliable Arab Islamic sources recorded at all, as a major source of this study, to ensure a great interest in history, especially the news of the prophets, and the positions of their nations Some of them, as well as some of the news of the old Arab people such as Aad and Thamud and the owners of the elephant and others, and some of which are repeated in several Quranic fence and various methods of presentation, cited as a lesson and exhortation to the Arab opponents of Islam and a reminder of what befell the peoples of the world B relict of doom to discredit them the apostles
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