Comparison of high-specific-activity ultratrace 123/131I-MIBG and carrier-added 123/131I-MIBG on efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and tissue distribution

Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is an enzymatically stable synthetic analog of norepinephrine that when radiolabled with diagnostic ((123)I) or therapeutic ((131)I) isotopes has been shown to concentrate highly in sympathetically innervated tissues such as the heart and neuroendocrine tumors that possesses high levels of norepinephrine transporter (NET). As the transport of MIBG by NET is a saturable event, the specific activity of the preparation may have dramatic effects on both the efficacy and safety of the radiodiagnostic/radiotherapeutic. Using a solid labeling approach (Ultratrace), noncarrier-added radiolabeled MIBG can be efficiently produced. In this study, specific activities of >1200 mCi/micromol for (123)I and >1600 mCi/micromol for (131)I have been achieved. A series of studies were performed to assess the impact of cold carrier MIBG on the tissue distribution of (123/131)I-MIBG in the conscious rat and on cardiovascular parameters in the conscious instrumented dog. The present series of studies demonstrated that the carrier-free Ultratrace MIBG radiolabeled with either (123)I or (131)I exhibited similar tissue distribution to the carrier-added radiolabeled MIBG in all nontarget tissues. In tissues that express NETs, the higher the specific activity of the preparation the greater will be the radiopharmaceutical uptake. This was reflected by greater efficacy in the mouse neuroblastoma SK-N-BE(2c) xenograft model and less appreciable cardiovascular side-effects in dogs when the high-specific-activity radiopharmaceutical was used. The increased uptake and retention of Ultratrace (123/131)I-MIBG may translate into a superior diagnostic and therapeutic potential. Lastly, care must be taken when administering therapeutic doses of the current carrier-added (131)I-MIBG because of its potential to cause adverse cardiovascular side-effects, nausea, and vomiting

Pitting and Repair of the Space Shuttle's Inconel(Registered TradeMark) Honeycomb Conical Seal Panel

During return to flight servicing of the rudder speed brake (RSB) for each Space Shuttle Orbiter, inspectors discovered numerous small pits on the surface of the #4 right hand side honeycomb panel that covers the rudder speed brake actuators. Shortly after detection of the problem, concurrent investigations were initiated to determine the extent of damage, the root cause, and to develop a repair plan, since fabrication of a replacement panel is impractical for cost, schedule, and sourcing considerations. This paper describes the approach, findings, conclusions and recommendations associated with the investigation of the conical seal pitting. It documents the cause and contributing factors of the pitting, the means used to isolate each contributor, and the supporting evidence for the primary cause of the pitting. Finally, the selection, development and verification of the repair procedure used to restore the conical seal panel is described with supporting process and metallurgical rationale for selection

Variability of Surface Pigment Concentrations in the South Atlantic Bight

A 1‐year time sequence (November 1978 through October 1979) of surface pigment images from the South Atlantic Bight (SAB) was derived from the Nimbus 7 coastal zone color scanner. This data set is augmented with in situ observations of hydrographic parameters, freshwater discharge, sea level, coastal winds, and currents for the purpose of examining the coupling between physical processes and the spatial and temporal variability of the surface pigment fields. The SAB is divided into three regions: the east Florida shelf, the Georgia‐South Carolina shelf and the Carolina Capes. Six‐month seasonal mean pigment fields and time series of mean values within subregions were generated. While the seasonal mean isopleths were closely oriented along isobaths, significant differences between seasons in each region were found to exist. These differences are explained by correlating the pigment time series with physical parameters and processes known to be important in the SAB. Specifically, summertime concentrations between Cape Romain and Cape Canaveral were greater than those in winter, but the opposite was true north of Cape Romain. It is suggested that during the abnormally high freshwater discharge in the winter‐spring of 1979, Cape Romain and Cape Fear were the major sites of cross‐shelf transport, while the cross‐shelf exchange during the fall of 1979 occurred just north of Cape Canaveral. Finally, the alongshore band of high pigment concentrations increased in width throughout the year in the vicinity of Charleston, but near Jacksonville it exhibited a minimum width in the summer and a maximum width in the fall of 1979

The Big Ten IPE Academic Alliance: A regional approach to developing Interprofessional Education and practice

Interprofessional practice and education (IPE) efforts has greatly increased in the past few years, primarily through the leadership of several national and international organizations. These organizations have sponsored forums for information exchange and best practices, which has significantly influenced the development of programs across various educational institutions and practice environments. Several regional groups have emerged, organized around a common purpose and geographic proximity, to share ideas and implement new IPE programs across the cooperating organizations. This article describes the history and growth of one of the newer regional groups, the Big Ten IPE Academic Alliance. Included in this discussion is how the group was created, its governing structure and the various results of its efforts. The intent is to provide expanded guidance how to develop regional groups that are effective vehicles for the successful implementation of IPE within educational and health settings

Population assessment of the American crocodile Crocodylus acutus (Crocodilia: Crocodylidae) on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica

The American crocodile, Crocodylus acutus, is widely distributed in the American neotropics. It is endangered throughout most of its range and is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Natural Fauna and Flora (IUCN) and on Appendix I of the Convention for the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). Despite this listing, there are few published reports on population status throughout most of its range. We investigated the status of the C. acutus, at several locations along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. We carried out spotlight and nesting surveys from 2007-2009 along the Costa Rican Pacific coast in four distinct areas, coastal areas of Las Baulas (N=40) and Santa Rosa (N=9) National Parks and the Osa Conservation Area (N=13), and upriver in Palo Verde National Park (N=11). We recorded crocodile locations and standard environmental data at each observation. Encounter rates, population structure, distribution within each area and data on successful nesting (presence of hatchlings, nests, etc) were determined. We attempted to capture all crocodiles to record standard morphometrics. A total of 586 crocodiles were observed along 185.8km of survey route. The majority of animals encountered (54.9%) were either hatchlings (<0.5m) or juveniles (0.5-1.25m). The average non-hatchling encounter rate per survey for the Pacific coast was 3.1 crocodiles/km, with individual encounter rates ranging from 1.2 crocodiles/km to 4.3 crocodiles/km in Las Baulas National Park and the Osa Conservation Area respectively. Distribution of size classes within the individual locations did not differ with the exception of Santa Rosa and Las Baulas National Parks, where hatchlings were found in water with lower salinities. These were the first systematic surveys in several of the areas studied and additional work is needed to further characterize the American crocodile population in Costa Rica.Rev. Biol. Trop. 60 (4): 1889-1901. Epub 2012 December 01

The Place of Fish Production in a Program of Multiple Water Use

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142268/1/tafs0297.pd

Neutron Correlations in the Decay of the First Excited State of 11Li

The decay of unbound excited 11Li was measured after being populated by a two-proton removal from a 13B beam at 71 MeV/nucleon. Decay energy spectra and Jacobi plots were obtained from measurements of the momentum vectors of the 9Li fragment and neutrons. A resonance at an excitation energy of ∼1.2 MeV was observed. The kinematics of the decay are equally well fit by a simple dineutron-like model or a phase-space model that includes final state interactions. A sequential decay model can be excluded

NEOWISE-R Observation of the Coolest Known Brown Dwarf

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft has been reactivated as NEOWISE-R to characterize and search for Near Earth Objects. The brown dwarf WISE J085510.83-071442.5 has now been reobserved by NEOWISE-R, and we confirm the results of Luhman (2014b), who found a very low effective temperature ($\approx 250$ K), a very high proper motion (8.1 +/- 0.1 arcsec/yr) , and a large parallax (454 +/- 45 mas). The large proper motion has separated the brown dwarf from the background sources that influenced the 2010 WISE data, allowing a measurement of a very red WISE color of W1-W2 $> 3.9$ mag. A re-analysis of the 2010 WISE astrometry using only the W2 band, combined with the new NEOWISE-R 2014 position, gives an improved parallax of 448 +/- 33 mas and proper motion of 8.08 +/- 0.05\; arcsec/yr. These are all consistent with Luhman (2014b).Comment: 6 pages, AJ accepte

Highly confined In-plane Exciton-Polaritons in monolayer semiconductors

2D materials support unique excitations of quasi-particles that consist of a material excitation and photons called polaritons. Especially interesting are in-plane propagating polaritons, which can be confined to a single monolayer and carry large momentum. In this work, we theoretically predict the existence of a new type of in-plane propagating polariton, supported on monolayer transition-metal-dicalcogonides (TMDs) in the visible spectrum. This 2D in-plane exciton-polariton (2DEP) is described by the coupling of an electromagnetic light field with the collective oscillations of the excitons supported by monolayer TMDs. We experimentally demonstrate the specific conditions required for the excitation of the 2DEP and show that these can be achieved if the TMD is encapsulated with hexagonal-boron-nitride (hBN) and cooled to cryogenic temperatures. In addition, we compare the properties of the 2DEP with those of the surface-plasmon-polariton at the same spectral range, and find that the 2DEP exhibit over two orders-of-magnitude larger wavelength confinement. Finally, we propose and numerically demonstrate two configurations for the possible experimental observation of 2DEPs.- I E thanks Dr Fabien Vialla. J H and D R acknowledge the funding support by the NSF MRSEC program through Columbia in the Center for Precision Assembly of Superstratic and Superatomic Solids (DMR-1420634). H G and B F acknowledge support from ERC advanced grant COMPLEXPLAS. F H L K acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the "Severo Ochoa" Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0522), support by Fundacio Cellex Barcelona, Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA program, and the Mineco grants Plan Nacional (FIS2016-81044-P) and the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR) 2017 SGR 1656. Furthermore, the research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement no.785219 (Core2) and no. 881603 (Core3) Graphene Flagship. This work was supported by the ERC TOPONANOP under grant agreement no. 726001

WISE/NEOWISE Observations of Comet 103P/Hartley 2

We report results based on mid-infrared photometry of comet 103P/Hartley 2 taken during 2010 May 4-13 (when the comet was at a heliocentric distance of 2.3 AU, and an observer distance of 2.0 AU) by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Photometry of the coma at 22 μm and data from the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope obtained on 2010 May 22 provide constraints on the dust particle size distribution, d log n/d log m, yielding power-law slope values of alpha = –0.97 ± 0.10, steeper than that found for the inbound particle fluence during the Stardust encounter of comet 81P/Wild 2. The extracted nucleus signal at 12 μm is consistent with a body of average spherical radius of 0.6 ± 0.2 km (one standard deviation), assuming a beaming parameter of 1.2. The 4.6 μm band signal in excess of dust and nucleus reflected and thermal contributions may be attributed to carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide emission lines and provides limits and estimates of species production. Derived carbon dioxide coma production rates are 3.5(± 0.9) × 10^(24) molecules per second. Analyses of the trail signal present in the stacked image with an effective exposure time of 158.4 s yields optical-depth values near 9 × 10^(–10) at a delta mean anomaly of 0.2 deg trailing the comet nucleus, in both 12 and 22 μm bands. A minimum chi-squared analysis of the dust trail position yields a beta-parameter value of 1.0 × 10^(–4), consistent with a derived mean trail-grain diameter of 1.1/ρ cm for grains of ρ g cm^(–3) density. This leads to a total detected trail mass of at least 4 × 10^(10) ρ kg