The calculated detection limit is 0.16 g Mn per gram dry bone (ppm) for Mn and 17 ppm for K, with an equivalent dose of 36 mSv to the hand for a 10 min irradiation.

This more sensitive in vivo neutron activation analysis system will detect trace elements in vivo.

This more sensitive in vivo neutron activation analysis system will detect trace elements in vivo.The purpose of this study was to compare various multisource configurations applied to cone beam CT (CBCT) using phantom imaging and Monte Carlo simulations. Image quality, scatter, and dose were evaluated in both overlapping (large cone angle) and collimated (small cone angle) configurations for CBCT. Four x-ray tube configurations were considered traditional one source, three source overlapping, six source overlapping, and six source collimated. Image quality was evaluated on a prototype breast CT system using the following five phantoms a Defrise phantom, a previously reported CBCT QA phantom (Corgi), a polyethylene cylinder, and two anthropomorphic phantoms (hand and knee). Scatter contamination and radiation dose were evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations of a voxelized polyethylene cylinder. The modulation of the Defrise phantom disks on average was 2.7X greater for the six source collimated configuration than the six source overlapping configuration. The data lost from cone beam artifact (spatial domain) and the null cone (frequency domain) in the overlapping configuration were completely recovered using the collimated configuration. The maximum scatter-to-primary ratio (SPR) for the overlapping configuration was 0.81 and the maximum SPR for the collimated configuration was 0.26. The average dose and maximum dose was 4X less in the collimated six source configuration when compared with the overlapping configurations. The maximum dose for the overlapping configurations (one, three & six) remained constant, but the average dose for the multisource (three & six source) overlapping configurations increased 25% when compared to the one source configuration. Use of a collimated multisource x-ray tube configuration was shown to provide significant improvements in image quality throughout the cone-beam geometry field-of-view, reduction in scatter contamination, and more efficient use of dose in comparison to both the traditional CBCT geometry with a single source and the overlapping multisource configurations.The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for COVID-19 pneumonia, a pandemic that precipitates huge pressures on the world’s social and economic systems. Disease severity varies among individuals. SARS-CoV-2 infection can be associated with e.g. flu-like symptoms, dyspnoea, severe interstitial pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiorgan dysfunction, and generalized coagulopathy. Nitric oxide (NO), is a small signal molecule that impacts pleiotropic functions in human physiology, which can be involved in the significant effects of COVID-19 infection. NO is a neurotransmitter involved in the neural olfactory processes in the central nervous system, and some infected patients have reported anosmia as a symptom. Additionally, NO is a well-known vasodilator, important coagulation mediator, anti-microbial effector and inhibitor of SARS-CoV replication. Exhaled NO is strongly related to the type-2 inflammatory response found in asthma, which has been suggested to be protective against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Several reports indicate that the use of inhaled NO has been an effective therapy during this pandemic since the ventilation-perfusion ratio in COVID-19 patients improved afterwards and they did not require mechanical ventilation. The aim of this mini-review is to summarize relevant actions of NO that could be beneficial in the treatment of COVID-19.Radioactive ion beams combined with in-beam positron emission tomography (PET) enable accurate in situ beam range verification in heavy ion therapy. However, the energy spread of the radioactive beams generated as secondary beams is wider than that of conventional stable heavy ion beams which causes Bragg peak region and distal falloff region broadening. Therefore, the energy spread of the radioactive ion beams should be measured carefully for their quality control. Here, we proposed an optical imaging technique for the energy spread estimation of radioactive oxygen ion beams. A polymethyl methacrylate phantom (10.0 × 10.0 × 9.9 cm3) was irradiated with an 15O beam (mean energy = 247.7 MeV/u, sigma = 6.8 MeV/u) in the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba. Three different momentum acceptances of 1%, 2% and 4% were used to get energy spreads of 1.9 MeV/u, 3.4 MeV/u and 5.5 MeV/u, respectively. The in-beam luminescence light and offline beam Cerenkov light images were acquired with an optical system consisting of a lens and a cooled CCD camera. To estimate energy spread of the 15O ion beams, we proposed three optical parameters 1) distal-50% falloff length of the prompt luminescence signals; 2) full-width at half maximum of the Cerenkov light signals in the beam direction; and 3) positional difference between the peaks of the Cerenkov light and the luminescence signals. These parameters estimated the energy spread with the respective mean squared errors of 2.52×10-3 MeV/u , 5.91×10-3 MeV/u, and 0.182 MeV/u. The distal-50% falloff length of the luminescence signals provided the lowest mean squared error among the optical parameters. From the findings, we concluded optical imaging using luminescence and Cerenkov light signals offers an accurate energy spread estimation of 15O ion beams. In the future, the proposed optical parameters will be used for energy spread estimation of other radioactive ion beams as well as stable ion beams.All inorganic layer-by-layer (LbL) thin films composed by TiO2 nanoparticles and [Al(OH)4]- anions (TiO2/AlOx) as well as Al2O3 and Nb2O5 nanoparticles (Al2O3/Nb2O5) have been deposited to FTO surfaces and applied as blocking layers in DSCs. Structural and morphological characterization of the LbL films by different techniques reveal that in TiO2/AlOx assembly, aluminate anions undergo condensation reactions on the TiO2 surface leading to the formation of highly homogeneous films with unique optical properties. After 25 depositions transmittance losses below 10% in relation to the bare FTO substrate are observed. selleck chemical Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy shows that TiO2/AlOx layers impose an effective barrier for the charge recombination at FTO/electrolyte interface with an electron exchange time constant 50-fold higher than that for bare FTO. As a result, an improvement of 85% in the overall conversion efficiency of DSCs was observed with the employment of TiO2/AlOx blocking layers. Al2O3/Nb2O5 LbL films can also work as blocking layers in DSCs but not as efficient, which is associated with the poor homogeneity of the film and its capacitive behavior.