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.
Abstract
Sovereign wealth funds are an important tool for achieving economic stability and avoiding the local economy from external shocks, including the shocks of international oil prices. The spread of these funds is the result of large current account surpluses in many Asian and oil-exporting economies. These surpluses are due to higher commodity prices Has led to a rapid accumulation of foreign assets in central banks. Many countries with rent economies face the problem of their dependence on non-renewable natural resources, especially the oil countries, including Iraq. Oil revenues are more than 97% of oil exports, so they suffer from structural imbal
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Objective: The study aimed to identify the adolescents' family meal eating patterns, and find out the relationship between adolescents' family meal eating patterns and their weight control behaviors. Methodology: A descriptive study was conducted on impact of adolescents' family meal eating patterns upon their weight control behaviors in secondary schools at Baghdad city, starting from 20th of April 2013 to the end of October 2014. Non- probability (purposive) sample of 1254 adolescents were chosen from secondary schools of both sides of Al-Karkh and Al-Russafa sectors. Data was collected through a specially
This paper assesses the impact of changes and fluctuations in bank deposits on the money supply in Iraq. Employing the research constructs an Error Correction Model (ECM) using monthly time series data from 2010 to 2015. The analysis begins with the Phillips-Perron unit root test to ascertain the stationarity of the time series and the Engle and Granger cointegration test to examine the existence of a long-term relationship. Nonparametric regression functions are estimated using two methods: Smoothing Spline and M-smoothing. The results indicate that the M-smoothing approach is the most effective, achieving the shortest adjustment period and the highest adjustment ratio for short-term disturbances, thereby facilitating a return
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The research aimed to study the political discourse in the drawings of Faisal Laibi, where it shed light on the discourse in the plastic field - concepts and applications, as well as the representations of discourse in the modern and contemporary plastic field, and to study the experience of Faisal Laibi and the uniqueness of his style in artistic performance. The site has collected more than (210 works) whose sources varied between the artist's website himself on the social network, the Internet, and the published paper publications. The researcher conducted an analysis of some of the drawings to achieve the research objectives. Among the most important results he reached:
1. The political discourse of Faisal Laibi is to direct these
Background: The Streptococcus genus are the predominant bacteria in the mouth and the Streptococcus sanguinis is one of them which performing a primary function for expansion of dental biofilm. Gingival and periodontal disorders are caused by dental biofilm, today, there is a necessity to discover naturally presenting antibacterial compounds from herbs with less side effects as a substitutive to the commonly handled chlorohexidine. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the antibacterial activity of thymus vulgaris oil on Streptococcus sanguinis bacteria In vitro. Materials and Methods: Human supragingival plaque samples were taken from 10 subjects, then morphological and microscopical examination, bioch
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Pots experiment was conducted at the greenhouse of botanical garden belong to Department of Biology, College of Education for Pure Science, Ibn-AL-Haithum, University of Baghdad, for growth season 2018-2019. The aim of the experiment was to study the effects of foliar application of a-tocopherol concentrations (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 mg.L-1) on growth parameters and the activity of some antioxidant enzymes of wheat plant irrigated with sodium chloride concentrations (0, 75, 150, 225) mM.L-1. Salinity reduced plant growth parameter, plant height, flag leaf area, flag leaf chlorophyll content and increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase and peroxidase. Plant growth parameters were enhanced by foliar application of a-t
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In this work, spinel ferrites (NiCoFe2O4) were prepared as thin films by dc reactive dual-magnetron co-sputtering technique. Effects of some operation parameters, such as inter-electrode distance, and preparation conditions such as mixing ratio of argon and oxygen in the gas mixture, on the structural and spectroscopic characteristics of the prepared samples were studied. For samples prepared at inter-electrode distance of 5 cm, only one functional group of OH- was observed in the FTIR spectra as all bands belonging to the metal-oxygen vibration were observed. Similarly, the XRD results showed that decreasing the pressure of oxygen in the gas mixture lead to grow more crystal planes in the samples prepare
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This study was aimed to monitor oral zinc sulfate role on local cervical proinflammatory cytokines in HPV-infected women comparing with these cytokines before treatment application. A cervical secretion got from 28 infected women before and after treatment with zinc sulfate, these samples assessed various markers of inflammation including interleukin-1β, IL-8, and IL-12. Results manifested that improve and clear the cervical HPV infections after three months of zinc treatment 46.43% and 21.43%, respectively. Viral infections with single and multiple HPV high-risk types are raising of studied cytokines after 3-month compared with single HPV low-risk type. Moreover, this increasing was statistically significant only in IL-12 and IL-1. Women
... Show MoreThis research is carried out to investigate the behavior of self-compacting concrete (SCC) two-way slabs with central square opening under uniformly distributed loads. The experimental part of this research is based on casting and testing six SCC simply supported square slabs having the same dimentions and reinforcement. One of these slabs was cast without opening as a control slab. While, the other five slabs having opening ratios (OR) of 2.78%, 6.25%, 11.11%, 17.36% and 25.00%. From the experimental results it is found that the maximum percentage decrease in cracking and ultimate uniform loads were 31.82% and 12.17% compared to control slab for opening ratios (OR
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