Thyroid Patient Salivary Radioiodine Transit and Dysfunction Assessment Using Chewing Gums.

Radiation-induced salivary gland dysfunction is the most frequent side-effect of I-131 thyroid therapy. Here, a novel saliva sampling method with ordinary chewing gums administered to the patients at appropriate time intervals post-treatment (TIPT) was used to relate this effect to chewing gum saliva activity (CGSA) content. Saliva samples were acquired after the oral administration of prescribed I-131 activity (radioactivity administered [RA]) to 19 differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) and 16 hyperthyroidism patients of the radioisotope unit (RIU) during 2014 and 2015.

The Result of Multiple I-131 Treatments on the Effective Half-Life of Retained Radioactivity in Patients Ablated for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Possible Evidence for Thyroid Remnant Function Impairment.

The ablation of differentiated thyroid cancer by ingested I-131 depends on the activity absorbed by the remnant. This depends on the function of the thyroid cells and on the rate that radioactivity is excreted from the blood. The reduction of radioiodine is described by the effective half-life (EHL), which is the time taken to half the retained radioactivity.

Recent international regulations: low dose-low rate radiation protection and the demise of reason.

The radiation protection measures suggested by the International Committee for Radiation Protection (ICRP), national regulating bodies and experts, have been becoming ever more strict despite the decrease of any information supporting the existence of the Linear no Threshold model (LNT) and of any adverse effects of Low Dose Low Rate (LDLR) irradiation. This tendency arises from the disproportionate response of human society to hazards that are currently in fashion and is unreasonable. The 1 mSv/year dose limit for the public suggested by the ICRP corresponds to a 1/18,181 detriment-adjusted cancer risk and is much lower than other hazards that are faced by modern societies such as e.

Contrast reduction in digital images due to x-ray induced damage to a TV camera's CCD image receptor.

The CCD image receptor in a monochrome TV camera was irradiated in the dark with a single-phase 80 kVp narrow beam carrying an additional 0.5 mm Al filter. It was found that the CCD responded to the x-rays with a transient signal which would reach a maximum value at about 70 mR per image frame.

Assessment of commercial compression algorithms, of the lossy DCT and lossless types, applied to diagnostic digital image files.

The need for diagnostic image compression of the lossy or irreversible type has been declining due to the rapid increase in commercially available formatted hard disk capacity. It is estimated that the latter has increased about three orders of magnitude in the past 14 years while the size of diagnostic image files has, of course, remained constant. During the same period, despite claims for significantly improved performance by vendors, it seems that only small progress has been made in commercial lossless and lossy compression algorithms.