Radionuclides for theranostic applications

High Specific Activity Radionuclides (HSARNs), obtained by either proton, deuteron or alpha cyclotron irradiation, followed by selective radiochemical separation from the irradiated target in No Carrier Added (NCA) form represent a powerful analytical tool in pure and applied sciences and technologicies. One of the main applications of HSARNs concern medical radiodiagnostics and metabolic radiotherapy in the relatively novel theranostic paradigm that involves individual \u201cdual-purpose\u201d radionuclides or radionuclide pairs with emissions suitable for both imaging and therapy in the contest of the age-long dream of personalized medicine. We present some examples of radionuclides produced by deuteron beams irradiation, suitable for theranostics applications

Stage per studenti delle scuole secondarie nell’ambito del PLS-Fisica

Il Piano Lauree Scientifiche Fisica pone da sempre grande attenzione alla partecipazione di studenti delle scuole secondarie ad attivita' laboratoriali e stage organizzati presso le strutture universitarie al fine di stimolare la curiosit`a, incoraggiare la passione per la scienza, illustrare il percorso accademico in fisica e le prospettive lavorative. Le iniziative sono ricche e variegate in tutte le sedi e riscontrano sempre un elevato gradimento da parte di studenti, insegnanti e famiglie. La comunicazione che proponiamo illustra lo stato dell\u2019arte di queste iniziative, i loro punti di forza e le criticit`a, anche confrontandosi con la letteratura scientifica di riferimento

BE-7 as tracer for size distribution of particulate at different locations and under different meteorological conditions

The aerosol particles in the atmosphere are liquid or solid particles, with sizes from fraction of \u3bcm to several hundreds of \u3bcm. Atmospheric aerosols may be emitted by both natural and anthropogenic sources. Airborne radionuclides that absorbed on the surface of aerosol particles form the radioactive aerosols and their behaviour is determined by the behaviour of their carrier aerosol particles. Beryllium-7 is a cosmogenic radionuclide that decays with a 53.3 day half-life: once it is formed is attached to aerosol particles, transported by winds and removed by wet and dry deposition in the troposphere. The particle composition and size distribution of radioactive aerosols and their carrier aerosol particles at a site affected by a number of factors like their source, fog and cloud droplet formation, evaporation and condensation, washout, rainout, dispersion conditions, the season of the year and the local meteorological conditions. We study the size distribution of aerosol particles at different locations during the four seasons of a year by mean the Be-7 activity. Since local meteorological conditions might affect strongly the AMAD (Activity Median Aerodynamic Diameter) of 7Be aerosols and disappear any fluctuation due to the location, all measurements under different seasons and under different environments were carried out with a parallel measurement at a reference station, thanking to that we can use two compatible 1ACFM cascade impactors

Proposal of Mo-100(gamma,n)Mo-99 reaction study using Compton backscattering gamma-ray beams at INFN-LNF

The shortage on the world market of 99Mo -> 99mTc \u201cgenerators\u201d for medical radiodiagnostics, due to the recent and incoming shut-down of several isotope production nuclear reactors, does request the development of new production methods based on other kind of radiation sources, like charged particle accelerators (either fast light ions or electrons). The Thomson backscattering of a Joule-class laser pulse colliding with a ~ 900 MeV electron beam, can be a source of ultra-focused ps pulses of X-rays, in the 5-20 MeV energy range, with much narrower bandwidth and higher spectral density. A possible upgrade to these energies of a 500 keV Thomson Source being commissioned in 2011 at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) of INFN, is being considered, with an anticipated operation by the year 2013