Carbon Cornhole

The purpose of this design project is to create a durable lightweight yard game for players of all skill levels. Carbon Cornhole is a composite improvement on the already popular yard game, cornhole, with a new twist. The final product is based on valued feedback from customers. The board is manufactured of carbon fiber/epoxy sandwich panels with a closed cell foam core. The composite design provides a lightweight product. The panels are specifically manufactured to retain their mechanical properties when exposed to outdoor elements such as water and UV radiation. The addition of inlayed LED lights and two new skill holes allows for a new playing experience and the ability to play at night. The addition of 3D printed feet allows for the board to be played on multiple different outdoor surfaces such as grass, gravel, or concrete. Testing on the finished product will ensure the customer experiences years of enjoyment from their purchase

The contest between internal and external-beam dosimetry: The Zeno's paradox of Achilles and the tortoise.

Radionuclide therapy, also called molecular radiotherapy (MRT), has come of age, with several novel radiopharmaceuticals being approved for clinical use or under development in the last decade. External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is a well-established treatment modality, with about half of all oncologic patients expected to receive at least one external radiation treatment over their disease course. The efficacy and the toxicity of both types of treatment rely on the interaction of radiation with biological tissues. Dosimetry played a fundamental role in the scientific and technological evolution of EBRT, and absorbed doses to the target and to the organs at risk are calculated on a routine basis. In contrast, in MRT the usefulness of internal dosimetry has long been questioned, and a structured path to include absorbed dose calculation is missing. However, following a similar route of development as EBRT, MRT treatments could probably be optimized in a significant proportion of patients, likely based on dosimetry and radiobiology. In the present paper we describe the differences and the similarities between internal and external-beam dosimetry in the context of radiation treatments, and we retrace the main stages of their development over the last decades

Inter-comparison of quantitative imaging of lutetium-177 (177Lu) in European hospitals

Background: This inter-comparison exercise was performed to demonstrate the variability of quantitative SPECT/CT imaging for lutetium-177 (177Lu) in current clinical practice. Our aim was to assess the feasibility of using international inter-comparison exercises as a means to ensure consistency between clinical sites whilst enabling the sites to use their own choice of quantitative imaging protocols, specific to their systems. Dual-compartment concentric spherical sources of accurately known activity concentrations were prepared and sent to seven European clinical sites. The site staff were not aware of the true volumes or activity within the sources—they performed SPECT/CT imaging of the source, positioned within a water-filled phantom, using their own choice of parameters and reported their estimate of the activities within the source. Results: The volumes reported by the participants for the inner section of the source were all within 29% of the true value and within 60% of the true value for the outer section. The activities reported by the participants for the inner section of the source were all within 20% of the true value, whilst those reported for the outer section were up to 83% different to the true value. Conclusions: A variety of calibration and segmentation methods were used by the participants for this exercise which demonstrated the variability of quantitative imaging across clinical sites. This paper presents a method to assess consistency between sites using different calibration and segmentation methods

EANM practical guidance on uncertainty analysis for molecular radiotherapy absorbed dose calculations.

A framework is proposed for modelling the uncertainty in the measurement processes constituting the dosimetry chain that are involved in internal absorbed dose calculations. The starting point is the basic model for absorbed dose in a site of interest as the product of the cumulated activity and a dose factor. In turn, the cumulated activity is given by the area under a time-activity curve derived from a time sequence of activity values. Each activity value is obtained in terms of a count rate, a calibration factor and a recovery coefficient (a correction for partial volume effects). The method to determine the recovery coefficient and the dose factor, both of which are dependent on the size of the volume of interest (VOI), are described. Consideration is given to propagating estimates of the quantities concerned and their associated uncertainties through the dosimetry chain to obtain an estimate of mean absorbed dose in the VOI and its associated uncertainty. This approach is demonstrated in a clinical example

Comparison between superdarn flow vectors and equivalent ionospheric currents from ground magnetometer arrays

[1] Equivalent ionospheric currents obtained with the spherical elementary current systems (SECS) method and derived from nearly 100 ground magnetometers spread over North America and Greenland are compared with ionospheric flow vectors measured by the SuperDARN radars during both the summer and winter seasons. This comparison is done over a range of spatial separations, magnetic latitudes, magnetic local times, and auroral electrojet activity to investigate under what conditions the vectors are anti-parallel to one another. Our results show that in general the equivalent ionospheric currents are anti-parallel to the flows and the best results are achieved within the auroral oval during active geomagnetic conditions in the dawn, dusk and noon sectors in the northern hemisphere summer. These results indicate the best anti-parallel alignment occurs when the currents and flows are large and well defined. Factors that may influence the alignment include ionospheric conductivity gradients and quiet time backgrounds. Our results can be used to approximate the macroscopic ($1000 km) ionospheric convection patterns. The SECS maps represent a value-added product from the raw magnetometer database and can be used for contextual interpretation; they can help with our understanding of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling mechanisms using ground arrays and the magnetospheric spacecraft data, and they can be used as input for other techniques

Nieman-Pick’s disease

O presente artigo apresenta e discute o caso de um paciente masculino, de 2 meses de idade, que foi encaminhado para o Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre com história de icterícia persistente há 45 dias, apresentando-se em regular estado geral, afebril, com icterícia importante, desproporção peso/altura, abdômen distendido e fígado e baço palpáveis. Ecografia abdominal e cintilografia das vias biliares eram normais. O paciente permaneceu 26 dias no hospital para investigação, onde apresentou quadro respiratório diagnosticado como pneumonia, recebendo alta hospitalar em bom estado. Foi encaminhado para o ambulatório para prosseguir a investigação. Uma semana após a alta, apresentou febre, disfunção respiratória, sangramento difuso, ascite e falência de múltiplos órgãos, evoluindo para o óbito.This article presents and discusses the case of a 2-month old boy who came to Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre with a history of jaundice persisting for 45 days. He presented with regular general state, no fever, important jaundice, low weight/height ratio, abdominal distention and enlargement of the liver and spleen. Abdominal ultrasonography and hepatobiliary scintigraphy were normal. The pacient stayed at HCPA for 26 days, and presented a respiratory dysfunction which was interpreted as pneumonia. He was treated and discharged in good state, and was scheduled for follow-up at the outpatient clinic. One week after discharge, he developed fever, respiratory dysfunction, bleeding, ascite, failure of multiple systems, and died

Doença de Nieman-Pick

This article presents and discusses the case of a 2-month old boy who came to Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre with a history of jaundice persisting for 45 days. He presented with regular general state, no fever, important jaundice, low weight/height ratio, abdominal distention and enlargement of the liver and spleen. Abdominal ultrasonography and hepatobiliary scintigraphy were normal. The pacient stayed at HCPA for 26 days, and presented a respiratory dysfunction which was interpreted as pneumonia. He was treated and discharged in good state, and was scheduled for follow-up at the outpatient clinic. One week after discharge, he developed fever, respiratory dysfunction, bleeding, ascite, failure of multiple systems, and died.O presente artigo apresenta e discute o caso de um paciente masculino, de 2 meses de idade, que foi encaminhado para o Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre com história de icterícia persistente há 45 dias, apresentando-se em regular estado geral, afebril, com icterícia importante, desproporção peso/altura, abdômen distendido e fígado e baço palpáveis. Ecografia abdominal e cintilografia das vias biliares eram normais. O paciente permaneceu 26 dias no hospital para investigação, onde apresentou quadro respiratório diagnosticado como pneumonia, recebendo alta hospitalar em bom estado. Foi encaminhado para o ambulatório para prosseguir a investigação. Uma semana após a alta, apresentou febre, disfunção respiratória, sangramento difuso, ascite e falência de múltiplos órgãos, evoluindo para o óbito

Case studies on sugar production from underutilized woody biomass using sulfite chemistry

We examined two case studies to demonstrate the advantages of sulfite chemistry for pretreating underutilized woody biomass to produce sugars through enzymatic saccharification. In the first case study, we evaluated knot rejects from a magnesium-based sulfite mill for direct enzymatic sugar production. We found that the sulfite mill rejects are an excellent feedstock for sugar production. In the second study, we presented SPORL (sulfite pretreatment to overcome the recalcitrance of lignocelluloses), a sulfite pretreatment process based on modified sulfite pulping for robust bioconversion of softwood forest residues. Sulfite pulping technology is well developed, with proven commercial scalability, and sulfite pretreatment is a strong contender for commercial adoption. Application: Mills can consider sulfite chemistry, which has the advantage of high-yield sugar production from woody biomass through enzymatic saccharification.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by Tappi Press and can be found at: http://www.tappi.org/tappijourna

Radiosensitization by BRAF inhibitor therapy—mechanism and frequency of toxicity in melanoma patients

This study shows radiosensitization by BRAF inhibitors in clinical practice and ex vivo by fluorescence in situ hybridization of chromosomal breaks. Nevertheless, radiotherapy with concomitant BRAF inhibitor therapy is feasible with an acceptable increase in toxicity. Vemurafenib is a more potent radiosensitizer than dabrafenib in both the patient study and the ex vivo experiment

Using sulfite chemistry for robust bioconversion of Douglas-fir forest residue to bioethanol at high titer and lignosulfonate: A pilot-scale evaluation

This study demonstrated at the pilot-scale (50 kg) use of Douglas-fir forest harvest residue, an underutilized forest biomass, for the production of high titer and high yield bioethanol using sulfite chemistry without solid–liquor separation and detoxification. Sulfite Pretreatment to Overcome the Recalcitrance of Lignocelluloses (SPORL) was directly applied to the ground forest harvest residue with no further mechanical size reduction, at a low temperature of 145°C and calcium bisulfite or total SO₂ loadings of only 6.5 or 6.6 wt% on oven dry forest residue, respectively. The low temperature pretreatment facilitated high solids fermentation of the un-detoxified pretreated whole slurry. An ethanol yield of 282 L/tonne, equivalent to 70% theoretical, with a titer of 42 g/L was achieved. SPORL solubilized approximately 45% of the wood lignin as directly marketable lignosulfonate with properties equivalent to or better than a commercial lignosulfonate, important to improve the economics of biofuel production.Keywords: High titer biofuel, Lignosulfonate, Pretreatment, Forest residues, Sulfite pulpin