A high-resolving-power x-ray spectrometer for the OMEGA EP Laser (invited).

A high-resolving-power x-ray spectrometer has been developed for the OMEGA EP Laser System based on a spherically bent Si [220] crystal with a radius of curvature of 330 mm and a Spectral Instruments (SI) 800 Series charge-coupled device. The instrument measures time-integrated x-ray emission spectra in the 7.97- to 8.

A Respiratory Therapist Disease Management Program for Subjects Hospitalized With COPD.

Background: Patients with COPD often require repeated emergency department visits and hospitalizations for COPD exacerbations. Such readmissions increase health-care costs and expose COPD patients to the added risks of nosocomial infections and increased mortality.

Methods: To determine whether a respiratory therapist (RT) disease management program could reduce re-hospitalization and emergency department visits, a prospective, single-center, unblinded, randomized trial was performed.

Pseudo-obstruction of the biliary tract associated with a traumatic biliary fistula.

Documentation of a biliary fistula as a complication of hepatic trauma may be made simply and noninvasively using radionuclide cholescintigraphy. This report describes the utility of this approach in the evaluation of the pathophysiology underlying apparent biliary obstruction in a patient with a large traumatic biliary fistula.

Fast count-dependent digital filtering of nuclear medicine images: concise communication.

The formulation of an "optimal" filter for improving the quality of digitally recorded nuclear medicine images is reported in this paper. The method forms a Metz filter for each image based upon the total number of counts in the image, which in turn determines the average noise level. The parameters of the filter were optimized for a set of simulated images using the minimization of the mean-square error as the criterion.

Preliminary measurements of x-ray and neutron emission from laser-produced plasmas.

Two Nd-glass laser systems have been assembled for producing high-temperature plasmas. The smaller laser, which gives subnanosecond pulses of about 5 J, has been used primarily for x-ray studies. The spectrum above 2 keV is being explored using Bragg reflection from a cylindrically curved graphite crystal.