9 research outputs found
Skin dose saving of the staff in 90Y/177Lu peptide receptor radionuclide therapy with the automatic dose dispenser
No full textOBJECTIVE: When handling Y-labelled and Lu-labelled radiopharmaceuticals, skin exposure is mainly due to β-particles. This study aimed to investigate the equivalent dose saving of the staff when changing from an essentially manual radiolabelling procedure to an automatic dose dispenser (ADD). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The chemist and physician were asked to wear thermoluminescence dosimeters on their fingertips to evaluate the quantity of Hp(0.07) on the skin. Data collected were divided into two groups: before introducing ADD (no ADD) and after introducing ADD. RESULTS: For the chemist, the mean values (95th percentile) of Hp(0.07) for no ADD and ADD are 0.030 (0.099) and 0.019 (0.076) mSv/GBq, respectively, for Y, and 0.022 (0.037) and 0.007 (0.023) mSv/GBq, respectively, for Lu. The reduction for ADD was significant (t-test with P<0.05) for both isotopes. The relative differences before and after ADD collected for every finger were treated using the Wilcoxon test, proving a significantly higher reduction in extremity dose to each fingertip for Lu than for Y (P<0.05). For the medical staff, the mean values of Hp(0.07) (95th percentile) for no ADD and ADD are 0.021 (0.0762) and 0.0143 (0.0565) mSv/GBq, respectively, for Y, and 0.0011 (0.00196) and 0.0009 (0.00263) mSv/GBq, respectively, for Lu. The t-test provided a P-value less than 0.05 for both isotopes, making the difference between ADD and no ADD significant. CONCLUSION: ADD positively affects the dose saving of the chemist in handling both isotopes. For the medical staff not directly involved with the introduction of the ADD system, the analysis shows a learning curve of the workers over a 5-year period. Specific devices and procedures allow staff skin dose to be limited
Reduction of EpCAM-Positive Cells from a Cell Salvage Product Is Achieved by Leucocyte Depletion Filters Alone
No full textIntraoperative cell salvage reduces the need for allogeneic blood transfusion in complex cancer surgery, but concerns about the possibility of it re-infusing cancer cells have hindered its application in oncology. We monitored the presence of cancer cells on patient-salvaged blood by means of flow cytometry; next, we simulated cell salvage, followed by leucodepletion and irradiation on blood contaminated with a known amount of EpCAM-expressing cancer cells, assessing also residual cancer cell proliferation as well as the quality of salvaged red blood cell concentrates (RBCs). We observed a significant reduction of EpCAM-positive cells in both cancer patients and contaminated blood, which was comparable to the negative control after leucodepletion. The washing, leucodepletion and leucodepletion plus irradiation steps of cell salvage were shown to preserve the quality of RBCs in terms of haemolysis, membrane integrity and osmotic resistance. Finally, cancer cells isolated from salvaged blood lose their ability to proliferate. Our results confirm that cell salvage does not concentrate proliferating cancer cells, and that leucodepletion allows for the reduction of residual nucleated cells, making irradiation unnecessary. Our study gathers pieces of evidence on the feasibility of this procedure in complex cancer surgery. Nevertheless, it highlights the necessity of finding a definitive consensus through prospective trials
The Open Architecture To Come: an Interview with Esra Akcan
No full textOpen Architecture: Migration, Citizenship, and the Urban Renewal of Berlin-Kreuzberg by IBA-1984/87 is a unique book in its genre, dealing with a unique case in the history of European cities.1 Written by Esra Akcan, associate professor of architectural history at Cornell University, it sheds light on some of the neglected aspects around the celebrated Internationale Bauaustellung Berlin (IBA), the last and largest urban regeneration process in Europe through public housing, which gathered in the same neighbourhood the works of some of the most famous architects of the time. While the general strategy of the “critical reconstruction” of Berlin’s 19th-century fabric and the single architect’s buildings are well known, the political context in which the architects were called is often overlooked. IBA operated on the area of Kreuzberg, a district of West Berlin, where great part of its inhabitants were foreigners, in particular Turkish guest workers who started arriving after 1961 and refugees from the 1980 coup, living segregated in torn-down buildings in poor hygienic and structural conditions.This is a conversation with the Author of the book
Red blood cells metabolome changes upon treatment with different X-ray irradiation doses
No full textThe upholding of red blood cells (RBC) quality and the removal of leukocytes are two essential issues in transfusion therapy. Leukodepletion provides optimum results, nonetheless there are cases where irradiation is recommended for some groups of hematological patients such as the ones with chronic graft-vs-host disease, congenital cellular immunodeficiency, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. The European guidelines suggest irradiation doses from 25 to 50 Gray (Gγ). We evaluated the effect of different prescribed doses (15 to 50 Gγ) of X-ray irradiation on fresh leukodepleted RBCs bags using a novel protocol that provides a controlled irradiation. Biochemical assays integrated with RBCs metabolome profile, assessed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, were performed on RBC units supernatant, during 14 days storage. Metabolome analysis evidenced a direct correlation between concentration increase of three metabolites, glycine, glutamine and creatine, and irradiation dose. Higher doses (35 and 50 Gγ) effect on RBC mean corpuscular volume, hemolysis, and ammonia concentration are considerable after 7 and 14 days of storage. Our data show that irradiation with 50 Gγ should be avoided and we suggest that 35 Gγ should be the upper limit. Moreover, we suggest for leukodepleted RBCs units the irradiation with the prescribed dose of 15 Gγ, value at center of bag, and ranging between 13.35–15 Gγ, measured over the entire bag volume, may guarantee the same benefits of a 25 Gγ dose assuring, in addition, a better quality of RBCs
Prophecy, figure, consummation and providence in Don Juan Manuel' s Libro de las tres razones
No full textResumen: El presente trabajo se propone realizar una lectura del Libro de las tres razones de Don Jua n
Manuel desde una interpretación figural (tal como la entiende Auerbach en su libro Figura), obser -
vando cómo el autor capitaliza distintos discursos circulantes en el segundo cuarto del siglo XIV par a
defender su linaje frente al de Alfonso XI .Abstract: This paper offers a reading of Don Juan Manuel ' s Libro (le las tres razones from a figura]
interpretation (as proposed by Auerbach in Figura), focusing on how the author capitalizes differen t
circulating discourses in the second fourth of the fourteenth century in order to defend his lineage
against Alfonso XI's
DNA damage in lens epithelial cells exposed to occupationally-relevant X-ray doses and role in cataract formation
No full textThe current framework of radiological protection of occupational exposed medical workers reduced the eye-lens equivalent dose limit from 150 to 20 mSv per year requiring an accurate dosimetric evaluation and an increase understanding of radiation induced effects on Lens cells considering the typical scenario of occupational exposed medical operators. Indeed, it is widely accepted that genomic damage of Lens epithelial cells (LEC) is a key mechanism of cataractogenesis. However, the relationship between apoptosis and cataractogenesis is still controversial. In this study biological and physical data are combined to improve the understanding of radiation induced effects on LEC. To characterize the occupational exposure of medical workers during angiographic procedures an INNOVA 4100 (General Electric Healthcare) equipment was used (scenario A). Additional experiments were conducted using a research tube (scenario B). For both scenarios, the frequencies of binucleated cells, micronuclei, p21-positive cells were assessed with different doses and dose rates. A Monte-Carlo study was conducted using a model for the photon generation with the X-ray tubes and with the Petri dishes considering the two different scenarios (A and B) to reproduce the experimental conditions and validate the irradiation setups to the cells. The simulation results have been tallied using the Monte Carlo code MCNP6. The spectral characteristics of the different X-ray beams have been estimated. All irradiated samples showed frequencies of micronuclei and p21-positive cells higher than the unirradiated controls. Differences in frequencies increased with the delivered dose measured with Gafchromic films XR-RV3. The spectrum incident on eye lens and Petri, as estimated with MCNP6, was in good agreement in the scenario A (confirming the experimental setup), while the mean energy spectrum was higher in the scenario B. Nevertheless, the response of LEC seemed mainly related to the measured absorbed dose. No effects on viability were detected. Our results support the hypothesis that apoptosis is not responsible for cataract induced by low doses of X-ray (i.e. 25 mGy) while the induction of transient p21 may interfere with the disassembly of the nuclear envelop in differentiating LEC, leading to cataract formation. Further studies are needed to better clarify the relationship we suggested between DNA damage, transient p21 induction and the inability of LEC enucleation
Sociologia e critica nel capitalismo reticolare: risorse ed archivi per una proposta
No full textL’articolo affronta il tema del rapporto tra sociologia e critica. Si propone un percorso di ricerca che si muove su due piani. Il primo di essi concerne il rapporto tra modernità e capitalismo. Il sintetico richiamo alla problematica concernente questo rapporto consente di offrire una cornice storica alla ricognizione delle possib.ilità interpretative del secondo e più centrale tema di riflessione, vale a dire quello della critica e del modo in cui la sociologia può contribuire ad essa. Due archivi, eterogenei al loro interno e tra loro assai diversi, vengono convocati a questo proposito, poiché sembrano offrire spunti particolarmente rilevanti: la prospettiva delle “capacità” (e della “capacità di aspirare”) e la svolta riflessiva, per le scienze sociali, introdotta dai “postcolonial studies”. A partire dalle sollecitazioni che è possibile produrre attraverso l’intreccio e l’interazione tra queste due differenti piste di ricerca, l’autore delinea la proposta di una possibile direzione di lavoro per reinterpretare il rapporto tra sociologia e critica.
Sociology and critique in the network capitalism: sources and archives for a proposal
The article deals with the relationship between sociology and critical. A research path moving on two different terrains is advanced. The first of these involves the relationship between modernity and capitalism. A synthetic review of the issues concerning that relationship allows us to offer a historical frame to the exploration of the interpretive possibilities of the second, and more crucial, topics of inquiry, that is the critique and the way sociology can contribute to it. Two cognitive archives, internally and between them heterogeneous, are mobilized with regard to that topics, as they seem to offer fruitful heuristic cues: the “capability approach” (and the related “capacity to aspire”), on the one side, and the reflexive turn on the social sciences opened up by the “postcolonial studies”. Starting from the spurs which can be produced by the interweaving and the interaction between these two different paths of research, the author outlines the proposal for a possible direction of work for reinterpreting the relationship between critique and sociolog
