7Be-recoil radiolabelling of industrially manufactured silica nanoparticles

Radiolabelling of industrially manufactured nanoparticles is useful for nanoparticle dosimetry in biodistribution or cellular uptake studies for hazard and risk assessment. Ideally for such purposes any chemical processing post production should be avoided as it may change the physico-chemical characteristics of the industrially manufactured species. In many cases proton irradiation of nanoparticles allows radiolabelling by transmutation of a tiny fraction of their constituent atoms into radionuclides. However, not all types of nanoparticles offer nuclear reactions leading to radionuclides with adequate radiotracer properties. We describe here a process whereby in such cases nanoparticles can be labelled with 7Be, which exhibits a physical halflife of 53.29 days and emits γ-rays of 478 keV energy and is suitable for most radiotracer studies. 7Be is produced via the proton-induced nuclear reaction 7Li(p,n)7Be in a fine-grained lithium compound with which the nanoparticles are mixed. The high recoil energy of 7Be-atoms gives them a range that allows the 7Be-recoils to be transferred from the lithium compound into the nanoparticles by recoil implantation. The nanoparticles can be recovered from the mixture by dissolving the lithium compound and subsequent filtration or centrifugation. The method has been applied to radiolabel industrially manufactured SiO2 nanoparticles. The process can be controlled in such a way that no alterations of the 7Be-labelled nanoparticles are detectable by dynamic light scattering, X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. Moreover, cyclotrons with maximum proton energies of 17 to 18 MeV that are available in most medical research centres could be used for this purpose.JRC.I.4-Nanobioscience

Towards a review of the EC Recommendation for a definition of the term "nanomaterial" Part 2: Assessment of collected information concerning the experience with the defintion

This report provides the JRC assessment of feedback on the experiences of stakeholders with the EC nanomaterial definition, published in 2011 (EC Recommendation 2011/696/EU). The report is a follow-up report of the previous JRC report (EUR 26567 EN, 2014), which compiled feedback collected by JRC in 2013 and early 2014, partly through a dedicated survey. Based on the current report, JRC will prepare a set of recommendations for the revision of the EC nanomaterial definition, as part of the review process foreseen in the 2011 EC Recommendation.JRC.D.2-Standards for Innovation and sustainable Developmen

The Spaceborne Imaging Spectrometer DESIS: Data Access and Scientific Applications

The DLR Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS) is a space-based instrument installed and operated on the International Space Station (ISS). This space mission is the achievement of the collaboration between the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the US company Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE). DLR has developed the instrument and the software for data processing, while TBE provides the Multi-User System for Earth Sensing (MUSES) platform, where DESIS is installed, and the infrastructure for operation and data tasking

Radiopharmaceutical production

Radiopharmaceuticals play an increasingly important role in medical imaging especially in oncology for diagnosis and staging of cancer, and for the early assessment of therapy response. Considerable progress has been made in targeted radionuclide therapy and the ¿rst antibody-guided radiophar¬maceuticals obtained FDA approval in 2002 for the treatment of relapsed or refractory B-cell Non-Hodgkin¿s lymphoma. Further progress depends on the availability of radionuclides that meet the radiobiological requirements for a given purpose and can be supplied reliably with high purity and speci¿c activity, in sufficient quantity at reasonable cost. The radioconjugate must preserve the physiological and biochemical properties of the biological vector. This goal is only achievable for favourable combinations of radionuclide, carrier molecule and labelling procedure. Moreover, the production of radiopharmaceuticals, dealing simultaneously with pharmaceuticals and open radioactive sources, requires a demanding quality assurance system in order to meet the legal requirements for drug approval by the regulatory authorities.JRC.DG.I.5-Nanobioscience

Mechanical and Thermomechanical Properties of Commercially Pure Chromium and Chromium Alloys.

Abstract not availableJRC.I-Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (Ispra

Total hip arthroplasty : State of the art, prospects and challenges

Recently increasing revision rates of certain types of metal-on-metal (MoM) hip prostheses [1], introduced on the medical device market during the last decade, have created uncertainty concerning the safety and effectiveness of artificial hip joints [2]. Eventhough medical progress is generally expected to be a continuous process leading to improved medical treatment, problems occured with some hip-resurfacing systems that failed to deliver the expected improvement. Moreover, this created severe health problems for many patients worldwide [2]. This report reviews the historical development and the state-of-the-art of total hip arthroplasty from a biomedical engineering point of view and illustrates the motivation for the efforts to improve the quality of hip prostheses. The report also aims at explaining the peculiar problems related to evaluating the safety and effectiveness of hip prostheses, which are supposed to last for at least 20 to 25 years. Furthermore, it addresses some medical and biological aspects of total hip arthroplasty (THA).JRC.I-Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (Ispra

The Precipitation Behaviour of ITER-Grade Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy after Simulating the Thermal Cycle of Hot Isostatic Pressing.

Abstract not availableJRC.I-Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (Ispra

The Scherrer equation versus the ‘Debye–Scherrer equation’

X-ray diffraction on crystalline powders offers a convenient method for determining the mean size of single crystal nanoparticles or nanograins in nanocrystalline bulk materials. The first to investigate the effect of limited particle size, and hence limited number of lattice planes contributing to diffraction, on the width of x-ray diffraction peaks was Paul Scherrer who published his results in 19181 in a paper that included what became known as Scherrer’s formula (or Scherrer’s equation). This still represents the most useful x-ray method for determining average particle or grain size Dhkl perpendicular to the analyzed lattice planes with the Miller indices (hkl).JRC.I.5-Nanobioscience