[Usefulness of low- and medium-energy collimators in 123I-MIBG myocardial scintigraphy].

The heart-to-mediastinum (H/M) ratio on myocardial scintigraphy with (123)I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is used as a semi-quantitative index. However, the scatter from a photopeak of 529 keV on (123)I is thought to affect the H/M ratio, and collimator selection is important as well. We attempted to determine the usefulness of low- and medium-energy general purpose (LME) collimators by comparing them with low-energy high-resolution (LEHR) and medium-energy low-penetration (MELP) collimators in phantom and clinical studies.

Sexual dimorphism of acoustic signals in the oriental white stork: non-invasive identification of sex in birds.

Identification of the sex of birds is important for captive breeding of endangered species. In the oriental white stork (Ciconia boyciana), an endangered species, both sexes produce an acoustic signal called "clatter" by rattling their mandibles together to generate sounds. We examined the structure of male and female clatter to determine whether clatter is sexually dimorphic.