First Quarter Seismic Report for Fiscal Year 2006

This report describes the earthquake data collected from October 2005 to December 2005 from the Hanford Seismic Networ

Fiscal Year 2006

This report summarizes the earthquake activity at the Hanford Site a vicinty that occurred during FY 200

Mechanistic Basis for the Failure of Cone Transducin to Translocate: Why Cones Are Never Blinded by Light

The remarkable ability of our vision to function under ever-changing conditions of ambient illumination is mediated by multiple molecular mechanisms regulating the light-sensitivity of rods and cones. One such mechanism involves massive translocation of signaling proteins, including the G protein transducin, into and out of the light-sensitive photoreceptor outer segment compartment. Transducin translocation extends the operating range of rods, but in cones transducin never translocates, which is puzzling because cones typically function in much brighter light than rods. Using genetically manipulated mice in which the rates of transducin activation and inactivation were altered, we demonstrate that, like in rods, transducin translocation in cones can be triggered when transducin activation exceeds a critical level essentially saturating the photoresponse. However, this level is never achieved in wild type cones: their superior ability to tightly control the rates of transducin activation and inactivation, responsible for avoiding saturation by light, also accounts for prevention of transducin translocation at any light intensity

Postsurgical pain outcome of vertical and transverse abdominal incision: Design of a randomized controlled equivalence trial [ISRCTN60734227]

BACKGROUND: There are two ways to open the abdominal cavity in elective general surgery: vertically or transversely. Various clinical studies and a meta-analysis have postulated that the transverse approach is superior to other approaches as regards complications. However, in a recent survey it was shown that 90 % of all abdominal incisions in visceral surgery are still vertical incisions. This discrepancy between existing recommendations of clinical trials and clinical practice could be explained by the lack of acceptance of these results due to a number of deficits in the study design and analysis, subsequent low internal validity, and therefore limited external generalisability. The objective of this study is to address the issue from the patient's perspective. METHODS: This is an intraoperatively randomized controlled observer and patient-blinded two-group parallel equivalence trial. The study setting is the Department of General-, Visceral-, Trauma Surgery and Outpatient Clinic of the University of Heidelberg, Medical School. A total of 172 patients of both genders, aged over 18 years who are scheduled for an elective abdominal operation and are eligible for either a transverse or vertical incision. To show equivalence of the two approaches or the superiority of one of them from the perspective of the patient, a primary endpoint is defined: the pain experienced by the patient (VAS 0–100) on day two after surgery and the amount of analgesic required (piritramide [mg/h]). A confidence interval approach will be used for analysis. A global α-Level of 0.05 and a power of 0.8 is guaranteed, resulting in a size of 86 patients for each group. Secondary endpoints are: time interval to open and close the abdomen, early-onset complications (frequency of burst abdomen, postoperative pulmonary complications, and wound infection) and late complications (frequency of incisional hernias). Different outcome variables will be ranked by patients and surgeons to assess the relevance of possible endpoints from the patients' and surgeons' perspective. CONCLUSION: This is a randomized controlled observer and patient-blinded two-group parallel trial to answer the question if the transverse abdominal incision is equivalent to the vertical one due to the described endpoints

Draft low level waste technical summary

The purpose of this document is to present an outline of the Hanford Site Low-Level Waste (LLW) disposal program, what it has accomplished, what is being done, and where the program is headed. This document may be used to provide background information to personnel new to the LLW management/disposal field and to those individuals needing more information or background on an area in LLW for which they are not familiar. This document should be appropriate for outside groups that may want to learn about the program without immediately becoming immersed in the details. This document is not a program or systems engineering baseline report, and personnel should refer to more current baseline documentation for critical information

Precision of the PET activity range during irradiation with ¹⁰C, ¹¹C, and ¹²C beams

Objective. Beams of stable ions have been a well-established tool for radiotherapy for many decades. In the case of ion beam therapy with stable 12C ions, the positron emitters 10,11C are produced via projectile and target fragmentation, and their decays enable visualization of the beam via positron emission tomography (PET). However, the PET activity peak matches the Bragg peak only roughly and PET counting statistics is low. These issues can be mitigated by using a short-lived positron emitter as a therapeutic beam. Approach. An experiment studying the precision of the measurement of ranges of positron-emitting carbon isotopes by means of PET has been performed at the FRS fragment-separator facility of GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Germany. The PET scanner used in the experiment is a dual-panel version of a Siemens Biograph mCT PET scanner. Main results. High-quality in-beam PET images and activity distributions have been measured from the in-flight produced positron emitting isotopes 11C and 10C implanted into homogeneous PMMA phantoms. Taking advantage of the high statistics obtained in this experiment, we investigated the time evolution of the uncertainty of the range determined by means of PET during the course of irradiation, and show that the uncertainty improves with the inverse square root of the number of PET counts. The uncertainty is thus fully determined by the PET counting statistics. During the delivery of 1.6 × 107 ions in 4 spills for a total duration of 19.2 s, the PET activity range uncertainty for 10C, 11C and 12C is 0.04 mm, 0.7 mm and 1.3 mm, respectively. The gain in precision related to the PET counting statistics is thus much larger when going from 11C to 10C than when going from 12C to 11C. The much better precision for 10C is due to its much shorter half-life, which, contrary to the case of 11C, also enables to include the in-spill data in the image formation. Significance. Our results can be used to estimate the contribution from PET counting statistics to the precision of range determination in a particular carbon therapy situation, taking into account the irradiation scenario, the required dose and the PET scanner characteristics.</p

Precision of the PET activity range during irradiation with ¹⁰C, ¹¹C, and ¹²C beams

Objective. Beams of stable ions have been a well-established tool for radiotherapy for many decades. In the case of ion beam therapy with stable ¹²C ions, the positron emitters ¹⁰,¹¹C are produced via projectile and target fragmentation, and their decays enable visualization of the beam via positron emission tomography (PET). However, the PET activity peak matches the Bragg peak only roughly and PET counting statistics is low. These issues can be mitigated by using a short-lived positron emitter as a therapeutic beam. Approach. An experiment studying the precision of the measurement of ranges of positron-emitting carbon isotopes by means of PET has been performed at the FRS fragment-separator facility of GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Germany. The PET scanner used in the experiment is a dual-panel version of a Siemens Biograph mCT PET scanner. Main results. High-quality in-beam PET images and activity distributions have been measured from the in-flight produced positron emitting isotopes ¹¹C and ¹⁰C implanted into homogeneous PMMA phantoms. Taking advantage of the high statistics obtained in this experiment, we investigated the time evolution of the uncertainty of the range determined by means of PET during the course of irradiation, and show that the uncertainty improves with the inverse square root of the number of PET counts. The uncertainty is thus fully determined by the PET counting statistics. During the delivery of 1.6 × 10⁷ ions in 4 spills for a total duration of 19.2 s, the PET activity range uncertainty for ¹⁰C, ¹¹C and ¹²C is 0.04 mm, 0.7 mm and 1.3 mm, respectively. The gain in precision related to the PET counting statistics is thus much larger when going from ¹¹C to ¹⁰C than when going from ¹²C to ¹¹C. The much better precision for ¹⁰C is due to its much shorter half-life, which, contrary to the case of ¹¹C, also enables to include the in-spill data in the image formation. Significance. Our results can be used to estimate the contribution from PET counting statistics to the precision of range determination in a particular carbon therapy situation, taking into account the irradiation scenario, the required dose and the PET scanner characteristics

Seroprevalence of 34 Human Papillomavirus Types in the German General Population

The natural history of infections with many human papillomavirus (HPV) types is poorly understood. Here, we describe for the first time the age- and sex-dependent antibody prevalence for 29 cutaneous and five mucosal HPV types from 15 species within five phylogenetic genera (alpha, beta, gamma, mu, nu) in a general population. Sera from 1,797 German adults and children (758 males and 1,039 females) between 1 and 82 years (median 37 years) were analysed for antibodies to the major capsid protein L1 by Luminex-based multiplex serology. The first substantial HPV antibody reactions observed already in children and young adults are those to cutaneous types of the genera nu (HPV 41) and mu (HPV 1, 63). The antibody prevalence to mucosal high-risk types, most prominently HPV 16, was elevated after puberty in women but not in men and peaked between 25 and 34 years. Antibodies to beta and gamma papillomaviruses (PV) were rare in children and increased homogeneously with age, with prevalence peaks at 40 and 60 years in women and 50 and 70 years in men. Antibodies to cutaneous alpha PV showed a heterogeneous age distribution. In summary, these data suggest three major seroprevalence patterns for HPV of phylogenetically distinct genera: antibodies to mu and nu skin PV appear early in life, those to mucosal alpha PV in women after puberty, and antibodies to beta as well as to gamma skin PV accumulate later in life