4 research outputs found
A practical method for the estimation of therapeutic activity in the treatment of Graves' hyperthyroidism
No full textAIM: to test the efficacy of a practical method which allows the calculation of personalized activity in Graves' disease. METHODS: The method is based on International Commission of Radiological Protection (ICRP) 53 data. The model allows the prediction of the activity administered in order to release 300 Gy to the thyroid, once its iodine uptake and mass are known. We applied it to 289 patients investigated by clinical examination, biochemical assessment and neck ultrasonography. The method was applied considering the thyroid 131I uptake and the ultrasound mass. The patients were followed by check of TSH, FT3, FT4 and clinical examination. Finally, we evaluated the difference between our dosimetric method and the hypothetic administration of a fix amount of 131I (185, 370 and 600 Mbq respectively) in term of adsorbed dose. RESULTS: The average activity administered was 403.3+92.5 MBq with an average dose released to thyroid of 304.9+24.8 Gy. From a statistical point of view the administration of standard activities (185 and 600 MBq) would represent respectively a wrong estimate of the optimal dose (meanly 140.8+44.7 Gy and 473.6+142.6 Gy respectively). The administration of a standard activity (370 MBq) would release a dose close to that prescribed (291.2 Gy) with a standard deviation (86.9 Gy), which is considerably higher than the one obtained with the dosimetric model (24.8 Gy).Twenty four months after radioiodine treatment, 57.8% of patients presented hypothyroidism, 23.2% euthyroidism and 19% of hyperthyroidism. The overall therapeutic efficiency was of 81%. CONCLUSION: The dosimetric method based on IRCP 53 data, is effective in controlling Graves' hyperthyroidism. Advantages in adopting this method are: dose optimization to patient, easy implementation in the clinical practice, low budget impact
Author Correction: A Novel 3D In Vitro Platform for Pre-Clinical Investigations in Drug Testing, Gene Therapy, and Immuno-oncology (Scientific Reports, (2019), 9, 1, (7154), 10.1038/s41598-019-43613-9)
No full textThe original version of this Article contained an error in Affiliation 5, which was incorrectly given as ‘Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University of Padova, Istituto Oncologico Veneto IRCCS, Padova, Italy’. The correct affiliation is listed below: Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy In addition, the original version of this Article omitted an affiliation for Pierfranco Conte. The correct affiliations for Pierfranco Conte are listed below: Medical Oncology 2, Veneto Institute of Oncology IOV, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Padova, Italy Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy These errors have now been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of this Article, and in the accompanying Supplementary Information
Euclid preparation. XXIX. Water ice in spacecraft part I: The physics of ice formation and contamination
No full textMolecular contamination is a well-known problem in space flight. Water is the
most common contaminant and alters numerous properties of a cryogenic optical
system. Too much ice means that Euclid's calibration requirements and science
goals cannot be met. Euclid must then be thermally decontaminated, a long and
risky process. We need to understand how iced optics affect the data and when a
decontamination is required. This is essential to build adequate calibration
and survey plans, yet a comprehensive analysis in the context of an
astrophysical space survey has not been done before.
In this paper we look at other spacecraft with well-documented outgassing
records, and we review the formation of thin ice films. A mix of amorphous and
crystalline ices is expected for Euclid. Their surface topography depends on
the competing energetic needs of the substrate-water and the water-water
interfaces, and is hard to predict with current theories. We illustrate that
with scanning-tunnelling and atomic-force microscope images.
Industrial tools exist to estimate contamination, and we must understand
their uncertainties. We find considerable knowledge errors on the diffusion and
sublimation coefficients, limiting the accuracy of these tools. We developed a
water transport model to compute contamination rates in Euclid, and find
general agreement with industry estimates. Tests of the Euclid flight hardware
in space simulators did not pick up contamination signals; our in-flight
calibrations observations will be much more sensitive.
We must understand the link between the amount of ice on the optics and its
effect on Euclid's data. Little research is available about this link, possibly
because other spacecraft can decontaminate easily, quenching the need for a
deeper understanding. In our second paper we quantify the various effects of
iced optics on spectrophotometric data.Comment: 35 pages, 22 figures, A&A in press. Changes to previous version:
language edits, added Z. Bolag as author in the arxiv PDF (was listed in the
ASCII author list and in the journal PDF, but not in the arxiv PDF). This
version is identical to the journal versio
Origins of ion energy distribution function (IEDF) in high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) plasma discharge
No full textThe ion energy distribution function (IEDF) in high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) discharges was studied by plasma sampling energy-resolved mass spectroscopy. HIPIMS of chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti) and carbon ( C) targets in argon (Ar) atmosphere was analysed. Singly and doubly charged ions of both the target and the gas were detected. Time-averaged IEDFs were measured for all detected ions at the substrate position at a distance of 150mm from the target. The effects of target current and discharge pressure on the IEDF were investigated. Measurements were done at two pressures and for three peak discharge currents. The IEDF of both the target and the gas ions was found to comprise two Maxwellian distributions. Quantitative analysis of target IEDFs at a low pressure showed that the main peak had a lower average energy with an approximate value of E-AV = 1 eV which is attributed to collisions with thermalized gas atoms and ions. The higher energy distribution has a tail extending up to 70 eV, which is assumed to originate from a Thompson distribution of sputtered metal atoms which, due to collisions, are thermalized and appear as a Maxwell distribution. The proportion of high energy IEDFs for metal ions increases monotonically as a function of Id. The effective ion temperature k(B)T, extracted from the main low energy peak, showed a weak dependence on peak current. The effective ion temperature extracted from the high energy tail showed a strong correlation with the change in Id. The IEDF at high pressure shows that a proportion of high energy IEDFs was very low and dominated by a low energy main peak. The gas IEDF at high pressure was completely thermalized. The metal-ion-to-gas-ion ratio was found to increase with Id and with the sputtering yield of the target material
