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.
Geophysics is one of the branches of Earth sciences and deals with studying the Earth's interior by studying the variation of physical properties within rock layers. Applied geophysics depends on procedures that involve the measurements of potential fields, such as the gravitational method. One of the significant oil fields in southern Iraq is represented by the Nahr Omar structure. A power spectrum analysis (SPA) technique was used to collect gravity data within the chosen oil field area in order to confirm the salt dome in the subsurface layers. The analysis of SPA resulted from six surfaces representing the gravity variation values of the depths (m)14300, 3780, 3290, 2170, 810, and 93.5. Gravity surfaces have been converted to de
... Show More
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a liver disease that affects14 million people. Feasible research was conducted for identifying the genotypes and allele frequency of some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the IL-28β genes and their predictive role in disease incidence in Iraqi patients. The SNPs (rs28416813, rs4803219, rs11881222, and rs8103142) of IL-28β have been associated with susceptibility to several diseases. Ninety eight (98) HCV patients were included in this research; with average age ± SE (42.28 ± 3.44) years. Also, 80 healthy people (with average age ± SE (29.40 ± 2.84) years) were included as a control group. The SNPs were detected by allele-specific PCR (polymerase chain reaction) using specific primers. The re
... Show More
(1)
The measurements and tests of the samples conducted in the laboratories of the College of Agriculture included isolating bio-fertilizers and testing the efficiency of isolates that fix atmospheric nitrogen and solubilize phosphorous compounds. Bacteria were isolated and identified from the rhizosphere soils of different plants collected from various agricultural areas. A total of 74 bacterial isolates were obtained based on the phenotypic characteristics of the developing colonies, as well as biochemical and microscopic traits. The results of isolation and identification showed that among the 74 bacterial isolates, there were 15 isolates of A. chroococcum, 13 of Az. lipoferum, 13 of B. megaterium, 10 of P. putida, 10 of Actinomycetes, and n
... Show More
(3)
In this manuscript, the effect of substituting strontium with barium on the structural properties of Tl0.8Ni0.2Sr2-xBrxCa2Cu3O9-δcompound with x= 0, 0.2, 0.4, have been studied. Samples were prepared using solid state reaction technique, suitable oxides alternatives of Pb2O3, CaO, BaO and CuO with 99.99% purity as raw materials and then mixed. They were prepared in the form of discs with a diameter of 1.5 cm and a thickness of (0.2-0.3) cm under pressures 7 tons / cm2, and the samples were sintered at a constant temperature o
... Show More
(3)
Abstract: Iatrogenic furcal root perforations are serious complications during dental treatment. This study was aimed to compare the sealing ability of new bioceramic root repair material TotalFill® with the other perforation repair materials (GIC, MTA and Biodentine) using a dye- extraction method.Materials and Methods: Forty extracted, human mandibular molars with non-fused well developed root were collected. Artificial perforations were made from the external surface of the teeth. Then the teeth were randomly divided into 4 experimental groups (n= 10) according to the type of repair material used in this study; Medifil glass ionomercement, TotalFill® bioceramic root repair material, BiodentineTM and MTA Plus. The specimens were then im
... Show MoreNovel derivatives of 1-(´1, ´3, ´4, ´6-tetra benzoyl-β-D-fructofuranosyl)-1H- benzotriazole and 1-(´1, ´3, ´4, ´6-tetra benzoyl-β-D-fructofuranosyl)-1H- benzotriazole carrying Schiff bases moiety were synthesised and fully characterised. The protection of D- fructose using benzoyl chloride was synthesized, followed by nucleophilic addition/elimination between benzotria- zole and chloroacetyl chloride to give 1-(1- chloroacetyl)- 1H-benzotriazole. The next step was condensation reaction of protected fructose and 1-(1-chloroacetyl)-1H- benzotriazole producing a new nucleoside analogue. The novel nucleoside analogues underwent a second conden- sation reaction with different aromatic and aliphatic amines to provide new Schiff b
... Show MoreThis study is concerned with the comparison of the results of some tests of passing and dribbling of the basketball of tow different years between teams of chosen young players in Baghdad. Calculative methods were used namely (Arithmetic mean, Value digression and T.test for incompatible specimens). After careful calculative treatments, it has been that there were abstract or no abstract differences in the find results of chestpass, highdribble and cross-over dribble. The clubs were: (Al-Khark, Air defence, Police and Al-Adamiyah) each one separate from the other for the year (2000-2001). After all that many findings were reached such as the lack of objective valuation (periodical tests) between one sport season and the other. In the light
... Show More
(5)
(3)
Objective: Determination the effectiveness of educational program on female students’ practices toward premenstrual.
Methodology: A quasi-experimental design study was conducted involving (140) student purposely in four secondary schools at Al-sadder city (70) student for study group and (70) for control group. The prevalence of PMS selected through American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) (2015) criteria to select PMS students before program. The education program were set in four steps, the first step (pre-test) is to assess the practices, before the implementation of the program, the second step is implementing the program, following two steps post-test I and II betwe
... Show MoreThe problem of the study was to identify the possibility of benefiting from the application of the target cost system as a modern cost system to activate the environmental cost management instead of the traditional systems used in the company due to the great transformations witnessed by the business environment in all fields, which have resulted in the search for modern systems to provide more accurate and more appropriate information to reduce Costs, because accurate information makes the company have a complete vision to achieve the company’s goals. To solve this problem, the research was based on the following hypothesis (that the role of the target cost system leads to the activation of environmental cost management). Target c
... Show More