Radiation exposure awareness from patients undergoing nuclear medicine diagnostic 99mTc-MDP bone scans and 2-deoxy-2-(18F) fluoro-D-glucose PET/computed tomography scans

INTRODUCTION: Medical imaging is on average the largest source of artificial radiation exposure worldwide. This study seeks to understand patient's awareness of radiation exposure derived from nuclear medicine diagnostic scans and assess if current information provided by leaflets is adequate. METHODS: Single-centre cross-sectional questionnaire study applied to bone scan and FDG PET/computed tomography patients, at a nuclear medicine and PET/computed tomography department over a 15-week period in 2018. Questionnaires on dose comparators were designed in collaboration with patients, public, and experts in radiation exposure. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis and quantitative data using SPSS (V. 24). RESULTS: A total of 102 questionnaires were completed (bone scan = 50; FDG PET/computed tomography = 52). Across both groups, 33/102 (32.4%) patients reported having a reasonable understanding of nuclear medicine and 21/102 (20.6%) reported a reasonable knowledge of ionising radiations. When asked to compare the exposure dose of respective scans with common comparators 8/50 (16%) of bone scan patients and 11/52 (21.2%) FDG PET/computed tomography answered correctly. On leaflet information, 15/85 (17.6%) patients reported the leaflets do not provide enough information on radiation exposure and of these 10/15 (66.7%) commented the leaflets should incorporate more information on radiation exposure dose. CONCLUSION: More observational and qualitative studies in collaboration with patients are warranted to evaluate patients' understanding and preferences in communication of radiation exposure from nuclear medicine imaging. This will ensure communication tools and guidelines developed to comply with ionising radiation (medical exposure) regulation 2017 are according to patients needs and preferences

The Apparent Fractal Conjecture: Scaling Features in Standard Cosmologies

This paper presents an analysis of the smoothness problem in cosmology by focussing on the ambiguities originated in the simplifying hypotheses aimed at observationally verifying if the large-scale distribution of galaxies is homogeneous, and conjecturing that this distribution should follow a fractal pattern in perturbed standard cosmologies. This is due to a geometrical effect, appearing when certain types of average densities are calculated along the past light cone. The paper starts reviewing the argument concerning the possibility that the galaxy distribution follows such a scaling pattern, and the premises behind the assumption that the spatial homogeneity of standard cosmology can be observable. Next, it is argued that to discuss observable homogeneity one needs to make a clear distinction between local and average relativistic densities, and showing how the different distance definitions strongly affect them, leading the various average densities to display asymptotically opposite behaviours. Then the paper revisits Ribeiro's (1995: astro-ph/9910145) results, showing that in a fully relativistic treatment some observational average densities of the flat Friedmann model are not well defined at z ~ 0.1, implying that at this range average densities behave in a fundamentally different manner as compared to the linearity of the Hubble law, well valid for z < 1. This conclusion brings into question the widespread assumption that relativistic corrections can always be neglected at low z. It is also shown how some key features of fractal cosmologies can be found in the Friedmann models. In view of those findings, it is suggested that the so-called contradiction between the cosmological principle, and the galaxy distribution forming an unlimited fractal structure, may not exist.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX. This paper is a follow-up to gr-qc/9909093. Accepted for publication in "General Relativity and Gravitation

Frustration and sound attenuation in structural glasses

Three classes of harmonic disorder systems (Lennard-Jones like glasses, percolators above threshold, and spring disordered lattices) have been numerically investigated in order to clarify the effect of different types of disorder on the mechanism of high frequency sound attenuation. We introduce the concept of frustration in structural glasses as a measure of the internal stress, and find a strong correlation between the degree of frustration and the exponent alpha that characterizes the momentum dependence of the sound attenuation $Gamma(Q)$$\simeq$$Q^\alpha$. In particular, alpha decreases from about d+1 in low-frustration systems (where d is the spectral dimension), to about 2 for high frustration systems like the realistic glasses examined.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages including 4 figure

Características químicas e estoque de carbono dos solos sob diferentes coberturas vegetais e em sistemas tradicionais de uso da terra na região do Alto Solimões - Amazonas.

As atividades humanas transformam os ambientes naturais com diferentes intensidades de manejo e uso do solo. Com o objetivo de verificar as alterações causadas nos solos pelo manejo realizado por agricultores da região, foram feitas seis grades amostrais (janelas), com cento e um pontos ao todo, contendo os sistemas de uso da terra: floresta primária (FP), floresta secundária (FS > sete anos), florestas secundárias (CAP < sete anos), sistemas agroflorestais (SAF?s), roças (RÇ) e pastagens (PAS), no município de Benjamin Constant

Entropy and holography constraints for inhomogeneous universes

We calculated the entropy of a class of inhomogeneous dust universes. Allowing spherical symmetry, we proposed a holographic principle by reflecting all physical freedoms on the surface of the apparent horizon. In contrast to flat homogeneous counterparts, the principle may break down in some models, though these models are not quite realistic. We refined fractal parabolic solutions to have a reasonable entropy value for the present observable universe and found that the holographic principle always holds in the realistic cases.Comment: 4 pages, revtex style, 3 figures in 8 eps-file

Growth and phosphorus absorption by common bean 'Xodó' genotype under effect of glyphosate reduced rates.

Avaliou-se o efeito de subdoses de glyphosate no crescimento e na absorção de fósforo (P) pelo feijoeiro comum (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cv. Xodó. O experimento foi conduzido em esquema fatorial 4 x 2 em blocos casualizados com quatro repetições, sendo o primeiro fator constituído pelas subdoses de 0; 4,32; 8,64 e 12,96 g ha-1 de equivalente ácido (e.a.) de glyphosate e o segundo fator constituído por doses de P no solo (50 e 250 mg dm-3). Avaliações foram realizadas 30 dias após a aplicação do glyphosate (DAA). A subdose de 12,96 g ha-1 estimulou o crescimento do feijoeiro comum cv. Xodó, assim como aumentou o teor de P no ramo e o conteúdo de P na parte aérea das plantas

Comportamento de variedades de aipim no estado de Sergipe.

Dez variedades de aipim foram avaliadas quanto à produção de parte aérea, de raízes e teores de matéria seca e de amido, em diferentes épocas de colheita, em três microrregiões do estado de Sergipe, no período de 2004 a 2006, visando à recomendação daquelas mais promissoras para cultivo nessas regiões.bitstream/CPATC/19760/1/bp-20.pd