A holistic resilience framework development for rural power systems in emerging economies

Infrastructure and services within urban areas of developed countries have established reliable definitions of resilience and its dependence on various factors as an important pathway for achieving sustainability in these energy systems. However, the assessment, design, building and maintenance of power systems situated in rural areas in emerging economies present further difficulties because there is no a clear framework for such circumstances. Aiming to address this issue, this paper combines different visions of energy-related resilience both in general and under rural conditions in order to provide a robust practical framework for local and international stakeholders to derive the right actions in the rural context of emerging economies. An in-depth review is implemented to recompile information of resilience in general, in energy systems and in rural areas in particular, and a number of existing frameworks is also consulted. In order to acknowledge the particular circumstances and identify the important factors influencing the resilience of rural electrification in emerging economies, a holistic rural power system resilience framework is developed and presented. This consists of twenty-one indicators for technical resilience, eight indicators for social resilience, and thirteen indicators for economic resilience. This framework can be used by system owners and operators, policy makers, NGOs and communities to ensure the longevity of power systems. This work also paves the way for the creation of appropriate and effective resilience standards specifically targeted for application in these regions - aiming to achieve the delivery of global and local sustainability goals

Imaging with non-FDG PET tracers: outlook for current clinical applications

Apart from the historical and clinical relevance of positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG), various other new tracers are gaining a remarkable place in functional imaging. Their contribution to clinical decision-making is irreplaceable in several disciplines. In this brief review we aimed to describe the main non-FDG PET tracers based on their clinical relevance and application for patient care

Murine Models and Cell Lines for the Investigation of Pheochromocytoma: Applications for Future Therapies?

Pheochromocytomas (PCCs) are slow-growing neuroendocrine tumors arising from adrenal chromaffin cells. Tumors arising from extra-adrenal chromaffin cells are called paragangliomas. Metastases can occur up to approximately 60% or even more in specific subgroups of patients. There are still no well-established and clinically accepted “metastatic” markers available to determine whether a primary tumor is or will become malignant. Surgical resection is the most common treatment for non-metastatic PCCs, but no standard treatment/regimen is available for metastatic PCC. To investigate what kind of therapies are suitable for the treatment of metastatic PCC, animal models or cell lines are very useful. Over the last two decades, various mouse and rat models have been created presenting with PCC, which include models presenting tumors that are to a certain degree biochemically and/or molecularly similar to human PCC, and develop metastases. To be able to investigate which chemotherapeutic options could be useful for the treatment of metastatic PCC, cell lines such as mouse pheochromocytoma (MPC) and mouse tumor tissue (MTT) cells have been recently introduced and they both showed metastatic behavior. It appears these MPC and MTT cells are biochemically and molecularly similar to some human PCCs, are easily visualized by different imaging techniques, and respond to different therapies. These studies also indicate that some mouse models and both mouse PCC cell lines are suitable for testing new therapies for metastatic PCC

Clinical value of a combined multi-phase contrast enhanced DOPA-PET/CT in neuroendocrine tumours with emphasis on the diagnostic CT component

DOPA cePET/CT was significantly more accurate than DOPA-PET alone and ceCT alone. The CT component itself had a diagnostic impact in a small percentage but contributed to the therapeutic strategies in selected patients