Aspects of safety: what should be considered?

Main objectives: 1. To appreciate the core competencies and the radiographer's role as a key element to ensure patient safety at the imaging department. 2. To learn about the main concepts of patient safety related to the radiographer's professional responsibility and ethics outlines at the imaging department level from a public or private hospital or even at the private practice level. 3. To discuss ways to promote patient safety and quality in imaging

Evidence based practice in radiology: the radiographer perspective

This study is included in the exploratory-descriptive type, since it aims to analyze the applicability of knowledge and evidence based radiology by radiographers during their daily work and their academic education

Comparação de vários materiais de cobertura através de índices de conforto térmico

The thermal behaviour of different roof coating materials was studied through the thermal comfort index. For summer condictions the effect of the Globe and Humidity Index (ITGU) and the Radiant Thermal Load (CTR) were used to study the interior of shelters. Fiberglass, aluminum and zinc tiles were more recently introduced in this project. Other tested materials were clay, asbestos, cement and thermal tiles. To evaluate the comfort index the following measurements were performed: maximum and minimum temperatures, wind velocity, relative humidity and "black globe" temperature. The conclusions were: clay tiles continue being the most efficient and fiberglass tiles the least thermal efficient, and other tiles had an intermediate behaviour.O comportamento térmico de diferentes materiais de cobertura foi estudado através dos índices de conforto. Para as condições de verão, estudou-se o efeito do índice de Temperatura de Globo e Umidade (ITGU) e da Carga Térmica Radiante (CTR) no interior de abrigos. As telhas de fibra transparente, alumínio e zinco foram os mais recentes materiais inseridos neste projeto. Além delas, foram estudados os comportamentos das telhas de barro, cimento amianto e térmica. Para a avaliação dos índices de conforto foram registrados: temperatura máxima e mínima, velocidade do vento, umidade relativa e temperatura de globo negro. Concluiu-se que: a telha de barro continuou sendo a mais eficiente e a telha de fibra transparente a de menor eficiência térmica e as demais apresentaram um comportamento intermediário

Thermodynamics of Trapped Imbalanced Fermi Gases at Unitarity

We present a theory for the low-temperature properties of a resonantly interacting Fermi mixture in a trap, that goes beyond the local-density approximation. The theory corresponds essentially to a Landau-Ginzburg-like approach that includes self-energy effects to account for the strong interactions at unitarity. We show diagrammatically how these self-energy effects arise from fluctuations in the superfluid order parameter. Gradient terms of the order parameter are included to account for inhomogeneities. This approach incorporates the state-of-the-art knowledge of the homogeneous mixture with a population imbalance exactly and gives good agreement with the experimental density profiles of Shin et al. [Nature 451, 689 (2008)]. This allows us to calculate the universal surface tension of the interface between the equal-density superfluid and the partially polarized normal state of the mixture. We also discuss the possibility of a metastable state to explain the deformation of the superfluid core that is seen in the experiment of Partridge et al. [Science 311, 503 (2006)].Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, contribution to Lecture Notes in Physics "BCS-BEC crossover and the Unitary Fermi Gas" edited by W. Zwerge

Lipase mediated enzymatic kinetic resolution of phenylethyl halohydrins acetates: A case of study and rationalization

Racemic phenylethyl halohydrins acetates containing several groups attached to the aromatic ring were resolved via hydrolysis reaction in the presence of lipase B from Candida antarctica (Novozym\uae 435). In all cases, the kinetic resolution was highly selective (E > 200) leading to the corresponding (S)-\u3b2-halohydrin with ee > 99 %. However, the time required for an ideal 50 % conversion ranged from 15 min for 2,4-dichlorophenyl chlorohydrin acetate to 216 h for 2-chlorophenyl bromohydrin acetate. Six chlorohydrins and five bromohydrins were evaluated, the latter being less reactive. For the \u3b2-brominated substrates, steric hindrance on the aromatic ring played a crucial role, which was not observed for the \u3b2-chlorinated derivatives. To shed light on the different reaction rates, docking studies were carried out with all the substrates using MD simulations. The computational data obtained for the \u3b2-brominated substrates, based on the parameters analysed such as NAC (near attack conformation), distance between Ser-O and carbonyl-C and oxyanion site stabilization were in agreement with the experimental results. On the other hand, the data obtained for \u3b2-chlorinated substrates suggested that physical aspects such as high hydrophobicity or induced change in the conformation of the enzymatic active site are more relevant aspects when compared to steric hindrance effects

National Cancer Institute Biospecimen Evidence-Based Practices: Harmonizing Procedures for Nucleic Acid Extraction from Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded Tissue

Variable and suboptimal biospecimen handling practices have been identified as impediments to biomarker discovery, including predictive biomarkers for oncology indicating a clear and present need for evidence-based, standardized practices. The United States and international efforts have been launched to better understand andmitigate variability during the preanalytical phase and decrease associated effects by promoting harmonization of procedures both within and across institutions. The Biorepositories and Biospecimen Research Branch (BBRB) of the United States National Cancer Institute (NCI) publishes best practice documents aimed at improving the quality of data generated from human biospecimens (https://biospecimens.cancer.gov/bestpractices/overview.asp) and sponsors research initiatives (https://biospecimens.cancer.gov/programs/default.asp) and the Biospecimen Research Database (BRD; http://biospecimens.cancer.gov/brd) to better understand thresholds and effects of individual preanalytical factors in biospecimen handling. The BRD allows users to query both a curated literature repository and standard operating procedure (SOP) library for a specific preservative, diagnosis, analyte, or preanalytical factor. The BRD incorporates information from international efforts, including those by the International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) and the European Union-sponsored SPIDIA program (standardization and improvement of generic preanalytical tools and procedures for in vitro diagnostics; www.spidia.eu), among others

FGF receptor genes and breast cancer susceptibility: results from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium

Background:Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women. Genome-wide association studies have identified FGFR2 as a breast cancer susceptibility gene. Common variation in other fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptors might also modify risk. We tested this hypothesis by studying genotyped single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and imputed SNPs in FGFR1, FGFR3, FGFR4 and FGFRL1 in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Methods:Data were combined from 49 studies, including 53 835 cases and 50 156 controls, of which 89 050 (46 450 cases and 42 600 controls) were of European ancestry, 12 893 (6269 cases and 6624 controls) of Asian and 2048 (1116 cases and 932 controls) of African ancestry. Associations with risk of breast cancer, overall and by disease sub-type, were assessed using unconditional logistic regression. Results:Little evidence of association with breast cancer risk was observed for SNPs in the FGF receptor genes. The strongest evidence in European women was for rs743682 in FGFR3; the estimated per-allele odds ratio was 1.05 (95 confidence interval=1.02-1.09, P=0.0020), which is substantially lower than that observed for SNPs in FGFR2. Conclusion:Our results suggest that common variants in the other FGF receptors are not associated with risk of breast cancer to the degree observed for FGFR2. © 2014 Cancer Research UK

Measurement of Bottom versus Charm as a Function of Transverse Momentum with Electron-Hadron Correlations in p+p Collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV

The momentum distribution of electrons from semi-leptonic decays of charm and bottom for mid-rapidity |y|<0.35 in p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV is measured by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) over the transverse momentum range 2 < p_T < 7 GeV/c. The ratio of the yield of electrons from bottom to that from charm is presented. The ratio is determined using partial D/D^bar --> e^{+/-} K^{-/+} X (K unidentified) reconstruction. It is found that the yield of electrons from bottom becomes significant above 4 GeV/c in p_T. A fixed-order-plus-next-to-leading-log (FONLL) perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) calculation agrees with the data within the theoretical and experimental uncertainties. The extracted total bottom production cross section at this energy is \sigma_{b\b^bar}= 3.2 ^{+1.2}_{-1.1}(stat) ^{+1.4}_{-1.3}(syst) micro b.Comment: 432 authors, 6 pages text, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm