A complete dosimetric characterization of two Sr-90-Y-90 dermatologic applicators

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Análise histológica em tecido epitelial sadio de ratos Wistar (in vivo) irradiados com diferentes intensidades do ultrassom

CONTEXTUALIZAÇÃO: O Ultrassom (US) é um dos recursos físicos amplamente utilizado e pesquisado nos tratamentos de fisioterapia. Sabe-se que diante de uma escassa literatura sobre efeitos do US em tecidos sadios, muitos profissionais fisioterapeutas acabam realizando aplicações infundadas de métodos e parâmetros. OBJETIVO: Avaliar possíveis alterações histológicas e morfométricas do tecido sadio in vivo de ratos Wistar irradiados com diferentes intensidades de US. MÉTODOS: Trinta ratos da linhagem Wistar, distribuídos aleatoriamente em cinco grupos de seis animais cada foram tratados na região dorsal do lado direito numa área de 4cm². O lado esquerdo serviu como controle. O tratamento foi feito durante quatro dias com 2 minutos de irradiação. Verificou-se a intensidade de saída com dosímetro de precisão antes das aplicações. Analisou-se a histologia e a morfometria por meio do software Image Tool. RESULTADOS: Observou-se um discreto infiltrado inflamatório e adelgaçamento das fibras da derme, principalmente dos grupos irradiados com 1.5 e 2W/cm². Notou-se também um aumento na espessura da epiderme nas amostras dos animais irradiados. Para avaliar os resultados quantitativos, utilizou-se como análise estatística ANOVA one way e o teste post hoc de Tukey. Na espessura da epiderme, obtiveram-se diferenças significativas entre grupo controle e os grupos irradiados com 1.0, 1.5 e 2.0W/cm². CONCLUSÃO: Sob ação do US nas doses maiores houve alterações na epiderme e derme, respectivamente, o aumento da espessura e proliferação com adelgaçamento das fibras colágenas, o que alerta para possíveis implicações do uso do US em estética.

In vivo determination of incorporated activity of Tc-99(m)-MDP in bone tissue

In vivo determination of the incorporated activity of Tc-99(m)-MDP (methylene diphosphonate) in bone tissue by means of a scintillation camera requires calibration of the device. This can be carried out by using an anthropomorphic physical phantom. In this work, a new human tibia and fibula phantom is presented to estimate incorporated activity to bone tissue. A tibia and a fibula, taken from a real skeleton, were used to develop the phantom. Images were acquired of the legs of 65 volunteers at different times of incorporation (minimum of 120 and maximum of 2500 min after injection) and count rates of such a region were obtained by means of a computer program. The calibration factor obtained was then used to assess the activity in the two bents. The final result is 0.4995 kBq per cpm for technetium. The proposed method can be used both for radiation protection purposes and for metabolism studies.

Quantitative estimation of Br, Cl, K and Na in sample blood by NAA

Neutron activation analysis, using Au as flux monitor, was applied to determine the concentrations of Br, Cl, K and Na in blood of healthy male and female blood donors, selected from blood banks and hematological laboratories from different regions of Brazil. The aims of this study were to collect more reference values of the Brazilian population as well as to perform hematological investigations. The advantages as well as the limitations of using this nuclear procedure are discussed.

Thermoluminescence measurements of entrance surface skin dose in exams of dog's chest in veterinary radiology

This study aims to determine the entrance surface skin doses in dogs (with suspected pulmonary metastasis) submitted to chest X-rays using the technique of thermoluminescence (TL) dosimetry. Twenty seven radiologic exams of dogs of different breed and sizes were performed. The radiation doses were assessed using thermoluminescent dosimeters of calcium sulphate doped with dysprosium (CaSO(4):Dy) produced at Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN-CNEN). The entrance surface skin dose range evaluated in this type of procedure was between 0.43 mGy to small size dogs and 4.22 mGy to big size dogs with repeated exams. The obtained results indicate that is extremely important the assessment of radiation doses involved in veterinary diagnostic radiology procedures, to evaluate the delivered doses to the animals, to be used as a parameter in the individual monitoring of pet's owners, who assist the animal positioning, and to protect occupationally exposed workers at the Veterinary Radiology Clinics. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Radii in weakly-bound light halo nuclei

A systematic study of the root-mean-square distance between the constituents of weakly-bound nuclei consisting of two halo neutrons and a core is performed using a renormalized zero-range model. The radii are obtained from a universal scaling function that depends on the mass ratio of the neutron and the core, as well as on the nature of the subsystems, bound or virtual. Our calculations are qualitatively consistent with recent data for the neutron-neutron root-mean-square distance in the halo of Li-11 and Be-14 nuclei. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.

The nucleon structure function and the quark effective potential

By considering a statistical model for the quark content of the nucleon, where the quark levels are generated by a Dirac equation with a harmonic scalar-plus-vector potential, we note that a good fit for the ratio between the structure functions of the neutron and proton, F-2(n)/F-2(p), can be obtained if different strengths are used for the effective confining potentials of the up and down quarks.

Vacuum polarization effects in hyperon-rich dense matter - a nonperturbative treatment

We derive the equation of state (EOS) for electrically charged neutral dense matter using the quantum hadrodynamics (QHD) model. This is carried out in a non-perturbative manner including quantum corrections for baryons through a realignment of vacuum with baryon-antibaryon condensates. This yields the results of relativistic Hartree approximation of summing over baryonic tadpole diagrams. The quantum corrections from the scalar meson is also taken into account in a similar way. This leads to a softening of the EOS for the hyperonic matter. The formalism also allows Lis to make a self-consistent calculation of the in-medium sigma meson mass. The effects of such quantum corrections on the composition of charged neutral dense matter is considered. The effect of the resulting EOS on the structure of neutron stars is also studied.

Quark clustering and chiral symmetry breaking in nuclear matter

Chiral symmetry breaking at finite baryon density is usually discussed in the context of quark matter, i.e. a system of deconfined quarks. Many systems like stable nuclei and neutron stars however have quarks confined within nucleons. In this paper we construct a Fermi sea of three-quark nucleon clusters and investigate the change of the quark condensate as a function of baryon density. We study the effect of quark clustering on the in-medium quark condensate and compare results with the traditional approach of modeling hadronic matter in terms of a Fermi sea of deconfined quarks.

Chiral-symmetry restoration in clustered hadronic matter

Chiral-symmetry restoration is usually discussed in the context of quark matter, a system of deconfined quarks. However, many systems like stable nuclei and neutron stars have quarks confined within nucleons. In the present paper we use a Fermi sea of three-quark clusters instead of a Fermi sea of deconfined quarks to investigate the in-medium quark condensate. We find that an enhancement of the chiral breaking in clustered matter as claimed in the literature is not a consequence of the clustering but rather dependent on the microscopic model dynamics.

Kinematical and nonlocality effects on the nonmesonic weak hypernuclear decay

We make a careful study about the nonrelativistic reduction of one-meson-exchange models for the nonmesonic weak hypernuclear decay. Starting from a widely accepted effective coupling Hamiltonian involving the exchange of the complete pseudoscalar and vector meson octets (pi, eta, K, rho, omega, K*), the strangeness-changing weak LambdaN --> NN transition potential is derived, including two effects that have been systematically omitted in the literature, or, at best, only partly considered. These are the kinematical effects due to the difference between the lambda and nucleon masses, and the first-order nonlocality corrections, i.e., those involving up to first-order differential operators. Our analysis clearly shows that the main kinematical effect on the local contributions is the reduction of the effective pion mass. The kinematical effect on the nonlocal contributions is more complicated, since it activates several new terms that would otherwise remain dormant. Numerical results for C-12(Lambda) and He-5(Lambda) are presented and they show that the combined kinematical plus nonlocal corrections have an appreciable influence on the partial decay rates. However, this is somewhat diminished in the main decay observables: the total nonmesonic rate, Gamma(nm), the neutron-to-proton branching ratio, Gamma(n)/Gamma(p), and the asymmetry parameter, a(Lambda). The latter two still cannot be reconciled with the available experimental data. The existing theoretical predictions for the sign of a(Lambda) in He-5(Lambda) are confirmed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On the calculation of inner products of Schur functions

Two methods for calculating inner products of Schur functions in terms of outer products and plethysms are given and they are easy to implement on a machine. One of these is derived from a recent analysis of the SO(8) proton-neutron pairing model of atomic nuclei. The two methods allow for generation of inner products for the Schur functions of degree up to 20 and even beyond.

Study of W boson production in PbPb and pp collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Quark sea asymmetry of the nucleon

The light anti-quark and quark distribution in the proton, as well as the neutron to proton ratio of the structure functions, extracted from experimental data, are well fitted by a, statistical model of linear-confined quarks. The parameters of the model are given by a temperature, which is adjusted by the Gottfried sum-rule violation, and two chemical potentials given by the corresponding up (u) and down (d) quark normalizations in the nucleon. The quark energy levels are generated by a relativistic linear-confined scalar plus vector potential.

IMPROVED STATISTICAL QCD MODEL FOR THE QUARK CONTENT of THE NUCLEON

The neutron-to-proton ratio of the structure functions, F(2)(n)/F(2)(p), as well as the corresponding difference F(2)(p)-F(2)(n) are obtained within a statistical quark model for the nucleon, where the quark energy levels are given by a central linear confining potential.