Spin Dependence in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at RHIC

The STAR (Solenoidal Tracker At RHIC - Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) experiment is equipped with Roman Pots, insertion devices that allow detectors to be moved close to the beam for the measurement of high energy protons scattered at very small angles. This setup, together with the unique capability of RHIC to collide spin-polarized proton beams, allows STAR to study both the dynamics and the spin-dependence of the proton-proton ( pp) elastic scattering process. Silicon strip detectors, installed inside the Roman Pots, measure tracks of protons scattered diffractively at very small angles. In a dedicated run with special beam optics during the 2009 RHIC run, the collaboration collected about 20 million elastic events with transversely polarized proton beams at the center of mass energy √s= 200 GeV and four momentum transfer squared (t) range of 0.003 ≤ |t| ≤ 0.035 (GeV/c)2, where, due to the Coulomb Nuclear Interference (CNI), a measurable single spin asymmetry arises. While the electromagnetic interaction can be determined in QED, the description of the hadronic interaction at small -t scattering requires the use of nonperturbative techniques in QCD, and, phenomenological models, rather than pQCD, are used to describe the exchange mechanism. High energy diffractive scattering at small-t is dominated by the Pomeron exchange, treated in pQCD as a color singlet combination of two gluons carrying quantum numbers of the vacuum (JPC = 0++). In this dissertation, I report on a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin asymmetry AN at √s= 200 GeV in pp elastic scattering at RHIC. The measured AN and its t-dependence are consistent with the absence of a hadronic spin-flip amplitude. The major contribution to the uncertainty in AN comes from the uncertainty in the beam polarization measurement. The presented results provide a precise measurement in the non-perturbative QCD regime, where experimental data are indispensable, and, a significant constraint on the spin-flip component of the Pomeron

Strengths and weaknesses of a planar whole-body method of 153Sm dosimetry for patients with metastatic osteosarcoma and comparison with three-dimensional dosimetry

Purpose: Dosimetric accuracy depends directly upon the accuracy of the activity measurements in tumors and organs. The authors present the methods and results of a retrospective tumor dosimetry analysis in 14 patients with a total of 28 tumors treated with high activities of (153)Sm-ethylenediaminetetramethylenephosphonate ((153)Sm-EDTMP) for therapy of metastatic osteosarcoma using planar images and compare the results with three-dimensional dosimetry. Materials and Methods: Analysis of phantom data provided a complete set of parameters for dosimetric calculations, including buildup factor, attenuation coefficient, and camera dead-time compensation. The latter was obtained using a previously developed methodology that accounts for the relative motion of the camera and patient during whole-body (WB) imaging. Tumor activity values calculated from the anterior and posterior views of WB planar images of patients treated with (153)Sm-EDTMP for pediatric osteosarcoma were compared with the geometric mean value. The mean activities were integrated over time and tumor-absorbed doses were calculated using the software package OLINDA/EXM. Results: The authors found that it was necessary to employ the dead-time correction algorithm to prevent measured tumor activity half-lives from often exceeding the physical decay half-life of (153)Sm. Measured half-lives so long are unquestionably in error. Tumor-absorbed doses varied between 0.0022 and 0.27 cGy/MBq with an average of 0.065 cGy/MBq; however, a comparison with absorbed dose values derived from a three-dimensional analysis for the same tumors showed no correlation; moreover, the ratio of three-dimensional absorbed dose value to planar absorbed dose value was 2.19. From the anterior and posterior activity comparisons, the order of clinical uncertainty for activity and dose calculations from WB planar images, with the present methodology, is hypothesized to be about 70%. Conclusion: The dosimetric results from clinical patient data indicate that absolute planar dosimetry is unreliable and dosimetry using three-dimensional imaging is preferable, particularly for tumors, except perhaps for the most sophisticated planar methods. The relative activity and patient kinetics derived from planar imaging show a greater level of reliability than the dosimetry

Pharmacokinetic modeling of [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) for premature infants, and newborns through 5-year-olds

Background: Absorbed dose estimates for pediatric patients require pharmacokinetics that are, to the extent possible, age-specific. Such age-specific pharmacokinetic data are lacking for many of the diagnostic agents typically used in pediatric imaging. We have developed a pharmacokinetic model of [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) applicable to premature infants and to 0- (newborns) to 5-year-old patients, which may be used to generate model-derived time-integrated activity coefficients and absorbed dose calculations for these patients. Methods: The FDG compartmental model developed by Hays and Segall for adults was fitted to published data from infants and also to a retrospective data set collected at the Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH). The BCH data set was also used to examine the relationship between uptake of FDG in different organs and patient weight or age. Results: Substantial changes in the structure of the FDG model were required to fit the pediatric data. Fitted rate constants and fractional blood volumes were reduced relative to the adult values. Conclusions: The pharmacokinetic models developed differ substantially from adult pharmacokinetic (PK) models which can have considerable impact on the dosimetric models for pediatric patients. This approach may be used as a model for estimating dosimetry in children from other radiopharmaceuticals. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13550-016-0179-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Additional file 1: of Pharmacokinetic modeling of [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) for premature infants, and newborns through 5-year-olds

Pharmacokinetic model equations for premature infants and newborn through 5-year-olds. Equations from SAAM II compartment model used to derive TIAC in each source tissue (or sample) for brain, lungs, heart wall, kidneys, and liver are also provided. For each source organ or each sample, qi represents the differential equations created internally and solved by SAAM II. (DOCX 290 kb

11C-Para-aminobenzoic acid PET imaging of S. aureus and MRSA infection in preclinical models and humans

Tools for noninvasive detection of bacterial pathogens are needed but are not currently available for clinical use. We have previously shown that para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) rapidly accumulates in a wide range of pathogenic bacteria, motivating the development of related PET radiotracers. In this study, 11C-PABA PET imaging was used to accurately detect and monitor infections due to pyogenic bacteria in multiple clinically relevant animal models. 11C-PABA PET imaging selectively detected infections in muscle, intervertebral discs, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-infected orthopedic implants. In what we believe to be first-in-human studies in healthy participants, 11C-PABA was safe, well-tolerated, and had a favorable biodistribution, with low background activity in the lungs, muscles, and brain. 11C-PABA has the potential for clinical translation to detect and localize a broad range of bacteria