Pre-feasibility Study for Establishing Radioisotope and Radiopharmaceutical Production Facilities in Developing Countries.

Background: A significant number of developing countries have no facilities to produce medical radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals.

Objective: In this paper we show that access to life-saving radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals and the geographical distribution of corresponding infrastructure is highly unbalanced worldwide.

Methods: We discuss the main issues which need to be addressed in order to establish the production of radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, which are especially important for developing countries as newcomers in the field.

Equilibrium and kinetic studies for silver removal from aqueous solution by hybrid hydrogels.

Hybrid hydrogels were prepared by blending Carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCts), Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) with Sodium sulfonate styrene (SSS) by 60-kGy gamma rays. The prepared hydrogels were utilized as silver-ion (Ag) sorbent under non- and competitive cases. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted in functional conditions including contact time, ratios of (CMC:CMCts) and SSS, pH value, temperature and adsorbent weight.

Radiation synthesis and characterization of super-absorbing hydrogel from natural polymers and vinyl monomer.

This article exploits a new approach for synthesis of polysaccharide-based grafted sodium styrene sulfonate (SSS) super absorbent hydrogels (SAHs) in aqueous solution by γ-radiation under ambient conditions. Important optimal conditions for preparation of hydrogels with the best swelling ratio, such as gamma irradiation dose and the ratio of feed composition have been discussed. Characterization techniques such as the SEM/EDS, FTIR and DSC were used in describing the newly prepared hydrogels.

Removal of metal ions from aqueous solutions using carboxymethyl cellulose/sodium styrene sulfonate gels prepared by radiation grafting.

Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMCNa)/Sodium Styrene Sulfonate (SSS) hydrogels with grafted and crosslinked polymeric networks were prepared by γ-radiation at atmosphere condition. The obtained hydrogels were characterized by gel fraction, swelling ratio, TGA and FTIR spectroscopy. The results showed the ratio of CMC and SSS 1:0 gave the highest gel fraction, compared with other ratios.