Effect of intra-organizational factors on research

      Along with other areas in our country, the research in medical sciences is a necessity for the maintenance and improvement of community health. The objectives of this study were to determine the intra-organizational factors of conducting research in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The matrix of the study included entire academic members and research staff of the university where 121 of them were selected randomly for a descriptive cross sectional study. A questionnaire was designed to collect data using Likert Spectrum. The major difficulty was the lack of sufficient free time. Significant differences were seen in respect with the access to facilities and conducting research, assessing expected benefits of conducting research, level of research awareness among academic members with and without research project. Differences in respect with motivation force, collaboration, job satisfaction and expected benefits from conducting research were shown to be not significant. As stated by academic members, their problems involved with conducting research projects provides lesser role of intra-organizational factors compared to that of personal factors. In other words, the most major problems in not doing research are the lack of sufficient time and proper skills in research method and innovation in looking for problems to be solved.

Influencing Factors on Reproducibility and Stability of MRI NIPAM Polymer Gel Dosimeter

Introduction: At present, the polymer gel dosimeter is considered to be the best possible dosimeter for measuring 3-dimesional radiation dose distribution in radiotherapy. These gels are normally toxic; therefore, manufacturing, handling and discarding them require special attention. In order to find less toxic recipe, N-isopropyle acrylamide polymer gel (NIPAM) was introduced. In this study, the reproducibility and stability of NIPAM polymer gel dose response together with some influencing factors related to MR imaging were studied. Methods: The NIPAM gel was prepared according to a method, described by senden et al in 2006. The gels were irradiated approximately 2 h after manufacturing and MR images of the gel were made 24 h after irradiation. The effects of different batches, post-irradiation time and the MRI room temperature on reproducibility and stability of polymer gel dose response were explored by analyzing the NMR response (R2) of the gel. Results: In a fixed temperature, the response of the gel was found to be stable 24 h after irradiation. The results showed that the dose response of the NIPAM polymer gel is highly reproducible in the same and different batches of chemical. No inhomogeneity was observed for magnetic fields in the specified position of measurements and 5°C fluctuation was recorded for MRI room temperature. Conclusion: Fluctuation in MRI room temperature necessitates that stringent attention to be paid to controlling the gel temperature at the time of imaging. The new formulation of polymer gel ensures stability of the gels’ spatial resolution and makes it a suitable dosimeter for distant or remote measurements

Comparison of non-electrophoresis grade with electrophoresis grade BIS in NIPAM polymer gel preparation

Introduction: The main objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of replacing electrophoresis cross-linker with non-electrophoresis N, N′-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS) in N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAM) polymer gel and its possible effect on dose response. Methods: NIPAM polymer gel was prepared from non-electrophoresis grade BIS and the relaxation rate (R2) was measured by MR imaging after exposing the gel to gamma radiation from Co-60 source. To compare the response of this gel with the one that contains electrophoresis grade BIS, two sets of NIPAM gel were prepared using electrophoresis and non-electrophoresis BIS and irradiated to different gamma doses. Results: It was found that the dose–response of NIPAM gel made from the non-electrophoresis grade BIS is coincident with that of electrophoresis grade BIS. Conclusion: Taken all, it can be concluded that the non-electrophoresis grade BIS not only is a suitable alternative for the electrophoresis grade BIS but also reduces the cost of gel due to its lower price