Measurements of fluorine in contemporary urban Canadians: a comparison of the levels found in human bone using in vivo and ex vivo neutron activation analysis.

Non-invasive in vivo neutron activation analysis (NAA) was used to measure the fluorine concentration in 35 people in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Measurement and precision data of this second generation NAA system were determined in 2013, and the results were compared with the performance of a first generation system used in a pilot study of 33 participants from the Hamilton area in 2008. Improvements in precision in line with those predicted by phantom studies were observed, but the use of fewer technicians during measurement seemed adversely to affect performance.