A gas scintillation monitor for tritium gas in argon or in nitrogen.

For civilian purposes tritium is presently used in quantities of tens of PBq (MCi) in laboratories for the studies of tritium technology, at the Joint European Torus plant (Abingdon, Oxon, OX143A, UK) as fuel for the process of nuclear fusion, and in the manufacture of radio-luminescent items. Given the extreme mobility of tritium in most materials, it is necessary to use systems for double containment, such as glove boxes or spaces between primary and secondary containers, in which inert gas like argon or nitrogen flows. With these systems it is possible to recover tritium that escapes from the primary containment.

Value of spirometric investigations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The respiratory function has been studied in 37 patients with ALS. 15 of them (5 till death) were followed with serial spirometric tests. The data, as a whole, show a diminution of vital capacity, a diminution of forced expiratory volume per second, an increase of the residual volume and of the Motley index; blood gas analysis showed no significant alterations apart from slight hypoxemia.

Cerebral atrophy in motor neuron disease evaluated by computed tomography.

Thirty-two (64%) of 50 patients with motor neuron disease showed various patterns of cerebral atrophy (cortical, ventricular or both) at CT examination. The incidence of cerebral atrophy, particularly cortical atrophy, in motor neuron disease was greater than in a matched control group.