Practical Dosimetry of 131I in Patients with Thyroid Carcinoma

Radioiodine treatments of patients with well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma have generally been safe and beneficial. Safety can be ensured while efficacy is increased through practical methods of dosimetry that measure body retention of 131I. Prescriptions for therapeutic 131I can be decreased when the retention level is high and increased when the level is low. Assays of serum free T4 will alert the physician to possible increased radiation to blood and bone marrow, and appreciable concentrations of free T4 are indications to reduce the therapeutic 131I. Carcinomas ≥1 cm in diameter that are not visible on diagnostic scintigraphy are unlikely to respond to the commonly prescribed mCi of 131I. Biologic responses to commonly prescribed levels of therapeutic 131I, as seen in toxic changes of normal tissues and in indices of tumor size, will be the final dosimeters. With lower levels of prescribed diagnostic 131I, stunning should not impair dosimetry. Thus, readily obtained measurements make dosimetry a practical method for improving carcinoma therapy with 131I.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63166/1/10849780252824118.pd

When participants don’t wish to participate in participatory action research, and when others participate on their behalf: the representation of communities by real and faux participants

This article focuses on methodological and epistemological issues arising from a research project with two Gypsy communities (2010–2012) in the South West of England. Although the two communities seem to share cultural roots and values, and live within a few miles of each other, they have contrasting experiences within the education system and very different relationships with the surrounding mainstream communities. The article explores difficulties emerging as a consequence of the contrasting positions of the participant communities, the differing research aspirations and practices across the research team, and also the tensions between ethnographic work and participatory action research. It queries the problematic nature of participation, and proposes the concept of the faux-participant

Urban Media Trends for Enabling Citizen Participation in Urban Planning: Old Wine in New Barrels?

Part 1: General E-Democracy and E-ParticipationInternational audienceIn recent years, a plethora of new possibilities for interactive urban planning emerged, fuelled by the rise of smart cities. This paper studies the potential of urban media for reshaping the role of citizens in urban planning. Both the historical role that citizens have played in the development of neighbourhoods and the process of urban planning are presented from a literature review. Furthermore, present visions on urban planning and citizen participation in smart cities are reviewed. Lessons learned from this literature study, are confronted with six main trends in urban media from expert interviews. As a result, we deliver an overview that helps urban planners in neighbourhoods in order to profit from advantages of urban media while avoiding their risks. We found that the development of urban media could have both positive and negative effects with regard to citizen participation in urban planning in neighbourhoods