Imaging of tumor hypoxia with [124I]IAZA in comparison with [18F]FMISO and [18F]FAZA – first small animal PET results

PURPOSE: This study was performed to compare the 2-nitroimidazole derivatives [124I]IAZA, [18F]FAZA and well known [18F]FMISO in visualization of tumor hypoxia in a mouse model of human cancer using small animal PET. METHODS: PET imaging of female Balb/c nude mice bearing A431 tumors on a Phillips Mosaic small animal PET scanner was performed 3 h p.i. for all three tracers. Mice injected with [124I]IAZA were scanned again after 24 h and 48 h. In addition to the mice breathing air, in the case of [18F]FAZA and [124I]IAZA a second group of mice for each tracer was kept in an atmosphere of carbogen gas (5% of CO2 + 95 % of O2; from 1 h before to 3 h after injection) to evaluate the oxygenation dependency on uptake (all experiments n = 4). After the final PET scan animals were sacrificed and biodistribution was studied. RESULTS: Mice injected with [18F]FAZA displayed significantly higher tumor-to background (T/B) ratios (5.19 +/- 0.73) compared to those injected with [18F]FMISO (3.98 +/- 0.66; P $lt; 0.05) or [124I]IAZA (2.06 +/- 0.26; P$lt; 0.001) 3 h p.i. Carbogen breathing mice showed lower ratios ([18F]FAZA: 4.06 +/- 0.59; [124I]IAZA: 2.02 +/- 0.36). The T/B ratios increased for [124I]IAZA with time (24 h: 3.83 +/- 0.61; 48 h: 4.20 +/- 0.80), but after these late time points the absolute whole body activity was very low, as could be seen from the biodistribution data (< 0.1 %ID/g for each investigated organ) and ratios were still lower than for [18F]FAZA 3 h p.i. Due to de-iodination uptake in thyroid was high. Biodistribution data were in good agreement with the PET results. CONCLUSIONS: [18F]FAZA showed superior biokinetics compared to [18F]FMISO and [124I]IAZA in this study. Imaging at later time points that are not possible with the short lived 18F labeled tracers resulted in no advantage for [124I]IAZA, i. e. tumor to normal tissue ratios could not be improved. © 1999 Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences

Building an inclusive cycling "movement": Exploring the charity-led mobilisation of recreational cycling in communities across Merseyside, England.

This article examines the charity-led implementation of an inclusive cycling programme across Merseyside in the North West of England. The project itself is delivered via a network of cycling 'hubs' that the charity has set up and run typically in deprived communities. Using resource mobilisation theory (RMT), the article specifically examines how the Cycling Projects charity mobilises a raft of diverse resources from the financial to the human, and from the cultural to the physical, to drive and sustain its Pedal Away product. To do this, the article utilises qualitative data captured from 15 in-depth semistructured interviews undertaken with stakeholders both internal and external to the charity, as well as focus group data yielded from programme participants (n=32). The findings illustrate how the charity is able to garner and exchange resources from its partners and funders, and the ways in which it mobilises both participants and personnel from within the communities it serves. As an original contribution to the sport management field, this article demonstrates both the value and applicability of RMT as a theoretical framework by which to understand how a non-profit organisation derives the resources it requires in order to deliver a network of community embedded recreational cycling programmes

Resolved SPLASH Chemodynamics in Andromeda's PHAT Stellar Halo and Disk: On the Nature of the Inner Halo Along the Major Axis

Stellar kinematics and metallicity are key to exploring formation scenarios for galactic disks and halos. In this work, we characterized the relationship between kinematics and photometric metallicity along the line-of-sight to M31's disk. We combined optical HST/ACS photometry from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey with Keck/DEIMOS spectra from the Spectroscopic and Photometric Landscape of Andromeda's Stellar Halo (SPLASH) survey. The resulting sample of 3536 individual red giant branch stars spans 4-19 projected kpc, making it a useful probe of both the disk and inner halo. We separated these stars into disk and halo populations by modeling the line-of-sight velocity distributions as a function of position across the disk region, where 70.9% stars have a high likelihood of belonging to the disk and 17.1% to the halo. Although stellar halos are typically thought to be metal-poor, the kinematically identified halo contains a significant population of stars (29.4%) with disk-like metallicity ([Fe/H]$_{\rm phot} \sim -0.10$). This metal-rich halo population lags the gaseous disk to a similar extent as the rest of the halo, indicating that it does not correspond to a canonical thick disk. Its properties are inconsistent with those of tidal debris originating from the Giant Stellar Stream merger event. Moreover, the halo is chemically distinct from the phase-mixed component previously identified along the minor axis (i.e., away from the disk), implying contributions from different formation channels. These metal-rich halo stars provide direct chemodynamical evidence in favor of the previously suggested "kicked-up'' disk population in M31's inner stellar halo.Comment: Submitted to AJ. Conclusions on page 20. 18 figures, 2 tables, 4 appendice

THE PREV A LENCE OF AN TI BOD IES AGAINST EQUINE IN FLU ENZA VI RUS, EQUINE HERPESVIRUS 1 AND 4, EQUINE ARTERITIS VI RUS AND EQUINE RHINOVIRUS 1 AND 2 IN DUTCH STAN DARD BRED HORSES

Pre va len tie van an ti stof fen te gen equi e ne in flu en za vi rus, equi e ne her pes vi rus 1 en -4, equi ABSTRACT A ran dom cross-sec ti o nal se ropre va len ce stu dy was con duc ted in 1996 by ta king blood sam ples from 330 dif fe rent Stand ard bred hor ses on all ra cet racks in the Ne ther lands. This blood sam pling took pla ce on four con se cu ti ve days, with each hor se being sam pled only once. Sam ples were in ves ti ga ted for an ti bo dies against se ver al strains of equi ne in flu en za vi rus, equi ne her pes vi rus ty pes 1 and 4, equi ne ar te ri tis vi rus, and equi ne rhi no vi rus ty pes 1 and 2. A type spe ci fic gG ELISA was used to de ter mi ne spe ci fic se ropre va lences of equi ne her pes vi ru ses 1 and 4. Influ en za se ro lo gy, using in flu en za A/equi/1/Pra gue/56 as an in di ca tor vi rus for vac ci na ti on, de mon stra ted that 38% of the hor ses were eit her un vac ci na ted or in ade qua te ly vac cina ted. Many of the se hor ses ap pe a red to have ex pe rien ced an in flu en za A/equi-2 field in fec ti on. Neut ra lizing and com ple ment fixing an ti bo dies against both EHV1 and EHV4 were found in a high per cen ta ge of the sam ples. Ho we ver, for EHV1 this high se ropre va len ce was pu ta ti ve ly cau sed by cross-re ac ting EHV4 an ti bo dies sin ce, in a type-spe ci fic gG ELISA, the EHV1 se ropre va len ce was only 28%, as com pa red with a 99% se ropre va len ce for EHV4. High se ropre va len ces were also found for equi ne rhi no vi rus type 1 and for the equi ne ar te ri tis vi rus, thus in di ca ting the en de mic na tu re of the se vi ru ses. Many of the se in fec ti ons may be sub cli ni cal. The se ropre va len ce of equi ne rhi no vi rus type 2 was sur pri sing ly low. The pos si ble re la ti onship be tween vi ral in fec ti ons and up per res pi ra to ry tract dis e a se and/or in flam ma to ry air way dis e a se is discus sed. SAMENVATTING Een ge ran do mi seerd &apos;cross-sectional&apos; se ropre va len tie on der zoek werd uit ge voerd bij warm bloed paar den (n=330) op alle draf-en ren ba nen in Ne der land door het een ma lig ne men van een bloed staal op vier op een vol gen de da gen. De se rum sta len wer den on der zocht op an ti stof fen te gen ver schei de ne equi e ne in flu en zas tam men, equi e ne her pes vi rus type 1 en 4, equi e ne ar te ri tis vi rus en rhi no vi rus type 1 en 2. Voor het be pa len van de af zon der lij ke seropre va len tie van EHV1 en EHV4 werd een ty pes pe ci fie ke gG ELISA ge bruikt. De in flu en zas ero lo gie op ba sis van in flu en za A/equi-1/Praag/56 als in di ca tor vi rus toon de aan dat 38 % van de paar den niet of on vol doen de gevac ci neerd was. Veel van deze paar den ble ken wel een in flu en za A/equi-2 veld in fec tie te heb ben door ge maakt. In een hoog per cen ta ge van de sta len wer den neu tra li se ren de en com ple ment bin den de an ti stof fen te gen EHV1/4 aang etoond. Voor EHV1 werd deze hoge se ropre va len tie waar schijn lijk ver oor zaakt door kruis re a ge ren de an tiVlaams Dier ge nees kun dig Tijd schrift, 2005, 74, 140-145 Ori gi nal Arti cle 140 stof fen te gen EHV4, de se ropre va len tie van 28 % te gen EHV1 en 99 % te gen EHV4 in een ty pes pe ci fie ke gG ELISA in acht ge no men. Ge zien de re la tief hoge se ropre va len ties die bij de Ne der land se warm bloed po pu la tie gevon den wer den, moe ten hier ook equi e ne rhi no vi rus type 1 en equi e ne ar te ri tis vi rus als en zo ötisch wor den beschouwd . Veel van deze in fec ties lij ken sub kli nisch te ver lo pen. De se ropre va len tie van equi e ne rhi no vi rus type 2 was ver ras send laag. In de dis cus sie wordt aan dacht be steed aan het mo ge lij ke ver band tus sen vi ra le in fec ties en ziek te ver schijn se len van de bo ven ste lucht we gen

Twenty years of geomagnetic field observations at Mario Zucchelli Station (Antarctica)

During the 1986-87 austral summer a geomagnetic observatory was installed at Terra Nova Bay. During the first years both geomagnetic field time variation monitoring and absolute measurements were carried out only during summer. Since 1991 variometer measurements are automatically performed during the whole year, while absolute measurements are still performed only during summer. In spite of this, interesting observations were obtained during the life (quite long for Antarctica) of the geomagnetic observatory. In particular in this paper some of the most relevant results are briefly presented: studies about secular variation, daily variation (and its dependence from solar cycle and seasons) and geomagnetic higher frequency variations, such as geomagnetic pulsations