AAPM medical physics practice guideline 10.a.: Scope of practice for clinical medical physics.

The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) is a nonprofit professional society whose primary purposes are to advance the science, education, and professional practice of medical physics. The AAPM has more than 8000 members and is the principal organization of medical physicists in the United States. The AAPM will periodically define new practice guidelines for medical physics practice to help advance the science of medical physics and to improve the quality of service to patients throughout the United States.

Development and validation of HIV-related dyadic measures for men who have sex with men.

The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the psychometric properties of several scales that measure dyadic constructs derived from an integrated model of interdependence theory and communal coping perspectives. The scales are specific to HIV risk and men who have sex with men who are in an intimate relationship. These scales are newly developed measures of perceived severity of HIV, preferences for sexual health outcomes, outcome and couple efficacy to avoid HIV, and communal coping strategies.

Informing patients about risks and benefits of radiology examinations: a review article.

Communicating the risks, benefits, and alternatives to a planned medical intervention is integral to high-quality patient care. When effective, such communication promotes patient autonomy, alleviates unfounded patient apprehension, and mitigates medicolegal liability. The topic of medical radiation adds to the usual challenges of effective medical communication some special challenges of its own.

Workers with Libby amphibole exposure: retrospective identification and progression of radiographic changes.

Purpose: To assess how early pleural and/or parenchymal abnormalities consistent with asbestos exposure could be ascertained and to identify factors associated with progression.

Materials And Methods: Informed consent was obtained under an institutional review board-approved protocol. Multiple sequential chest radiographs obtained between 1955 and 2004 in 84 workers exposed to amphiboles associated with vermiculite in the town of Libby, Montana, were studied.

Routine isotropic computed tomography scanning of chest: value of coronal and sagittal reformations.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the usefulness of coronal and sagittal reformations from isotropic chest computed tomography (CT) examinations.

Methods: A total of 30 chest CT examinations were reconstructed into 2 sets of axial source images: 0.9-mm slice width with 0.