Objectives: Small field of view gamma detection and imaging technologies for monitoring in vivo tracer uptake are rapidly expanding and being introduced for bed-side imaging and image guided surgical procedures. The Hybrid Gamma Camera (HGC) has been developed to enhance the localization of targeted radiopharmaceuticals during surgical procedures; for example in sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsies and for bed-side imaging in procedures such as lacrimal drainage imaging and thyroid scanning. In this study, a prototype anthropomorphic head and neck phantom has been designed, constructed, and evaluated using representative modelled medical scenarios to study the capability of the HGC to detect SLNs and image small organs. Methods: An anthropomorphic head and neck phantom has been designed to mimic the adult head and neck including some internal organs and tissues of interest, such as the thyroid gland and sentinel lymph nodes. The design of the head and neck phantom included an adjustable inner jig holding the simulated SLNs and thyroid gland. The simulated thyroid gland was designed and 3D printed taking into consideration the size and the shape of a healthy adult thyroid gland. The inner sealed space of the thyroid was filled with 15MBq of 99mTc through two upper filling valves. Sealed micro-tubes (0.2ml) have been employed to simulate SLNs containing various 99mTc activity concentrations ranging between 0.1MBq and 1MBq, and can be positioned at any desired place in the head and neck region. An active background was simulated through mixing 10MBq of 99mTc solution with the water used to fill the outer shell of the head and neck phantom. Results: The head and neck phantom was employed to simulate a situation where there are four SLNs distributed at two different vertical levels and at two depths within the neck. Contrast to noise ratio (CNR) calculations were performed for the detected SLNs at an 80mm distance between both pinhole collimators (i.e. 0.5mm and 1.0mm diameters) and the surface of the head and neck phantom with a 100s acquisition time. The recorded CNR values for the simulated SLNs are higher when the HGC was fitted with the 1.0mm diameter pinhole collimator. For instance, the recorded CNR values for the superficially simulated SLN containing 0.1MBq of 99mTc using 0.5mm and 1.0mm diameter pinhole collimators are 6.48 and 16.42, respectively (~87% difference). The anatomical context provided by the hybrid imaging aided the localization process of radioactivity accumulation in simulated SLNs. Gamma and hybrid optical images were acquired using the HGC with both available pinhole collimators for the simulated thyroid gland. The thyroid images produced varied in terms of spatial resolution and detectability. The count profiles through the middle of the simulated thyroid gland images provided by both pinhole collimators were obtained. The HGC could clearly differentiate the individual peaks of both thyroid lobes in the gamma image produced by the 0.5mm pinhole collimator. In contrast, the recorded count profile for the acquired image using the 1.0mm diameter pinhole collimator showed broader peaks for both lobes, reflecting the degradation of the spatial resolution with increasing the diameter of the pinhole collimator. Conclusion: The capability of the HGC has been evaluated utilizing a prototype anthropomorphic head and neck phantom, and the gamma and hybrid images obtained demonstrate that it is ideally suited for intraoperative SLNs detection and small organ imaging. The standardization of test phantoms and protocols for SFOV portable gamma systems will provide an opportunity to collect data across various medical centers and research groups. Moreover, it will provide a technical baseline for researchers and clinical practitioners to consider when assessing their SFOV gamma imaging systems. The anthropomorphic head and neck phantom described is cost effective, reproducible, flexible and anatomically representative.
In the present article, we implement the new iterative method proposed by Daftardar-Gejji and Jafari (NIM) [V. Daftardar-Gejji, H. Jafari, An iterative method for solving nonlinear functional equations, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 316 (2006) 753-763] to solve two problems; the first one is the problem of spread of a non-fatal disease in a population which is assumed to have constant size over the period of the epidemic, and the other one is the problem of the prey and predator. The results demonstrate that the method has many merits such as being derivative-free, overcome the difficulty arising in calculating Adomian polynomials to handle the nonlinear terms in Adomian Decomposition Method (ADM), does not require to calculate Lagrange multiplier a
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The purpose of this research is to improve the organizational performance of the Oil Projects Company by adopting an approach to strategic change، and finding appropriate solutions to the problems facing the company. The researcher adopted in designing his research by conducting a survey of previous literature that dealt with approaches to strategic change، as the results of the survey showed that most researchers agree on the approach of renewal and modernization، Which formed a starting point for the researcher to identify the extent of the company's management interest in renewal and modernization to improve its level of performance، and the quality of the procedures followed on the ground that is related to
... Show MoreThe research aims to determine the strength of the relationship between time management and work pressure and administrative leadership, where he was taken a sample of (47) of the administrative leadership at the Higher Institute of security and administrative development in the Ministry of Interior was used questionnaire as a key tool in collecting data and information and analyzed the answers to the sample surveyed by using Statistical program (spss) in the arithmetic mean of the calculation and test (t) and the correlation coefficient, the research found the most important results: the existence of significant moral positive relationship between both time management and work pressure and administrative leadership, the leadership of th
... Show MoreThe Late Cretaceous-Early Paleocene Shiranish and Aliji formations have been studied in three selected wells in Jambur Oil Field (Ja-50, Ja-53, and Ja-67) in Kirkuk, Northeastern Iraq. This study included lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy. The Late Campanian-Maastrichtian Shiranish Formation consist mainly of thin marly and chalky limestone beds overlain by thin marl beds, with some beds of marly limestone representing an outer shelf basinal environment, the unconformable contact with the above Middle Paleocene-Early Eocene Aliji Formation contain layers of limestone with marly limestone and chalky limestone which represents an outer shelf basinal environment. Five Biozones in the Shiranish Formation were determined which are: 1
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This research aims to evaluate the application of the inspectors general of global indicators offices according to the axles (leadership, strategy and planning, employees, partners and resources, process management) and through the assumption main research which states that (there is an application for global indicators to evaluate performance in the offices of the ministries under study) which are subdivided into five sub-hypotheses according to the classification and division of the five axes of the checklist.
The researchers have taken refuge in the process of assessing the performance of the check list which included global i
... Show MoreIn this work, we construct the projectively distinct (k, n)-arcs in PG (3, 4) over Galois field GF (4), where k 5, and we found that the complete (k, n)-arcs, where 3 n 21, moreover we prove geometrically that the maximum complete (k, n)-arc in PG (3, 4) is (85, 21)-arc. A (k, n)-arcs is a set of k points no n+ 1 of which are collinear. A (k, n)-arcs is complete if it is not contained in a (k+ 1, n)-arcs
This study aimed to investigate the role of Big Data in forecasting corporate bankruptcy and that is through a field analysis in the Saudi business environment, to test that relationship. The study found: that Big Data is a recently used variable in the business context and has multiple accounting effects and benefits. Among the benefits is forecasting and disclosing corporate financial failures and bankruptcies, which is based on three main elements for reporting and disclosing that, these elements are the firms’ internal control system, the external auditing, and financial analysts' forecasts. The study recommends: Since the greatest risk of Big Data is the slow adaptation of accountants and auditors to these technologies, wh
... Show MoreThe different crises and financial collapses place in many companies, particularly in developed countries as a result of administrative and financial corruption return aspects of the task to the role of the company and the external auditor, both in their emphasis on honesty and fairness of financial statements and the Provisions of accounting information and on the contrary to the truth, you may have to the loss of the rights of stakeholders, particularly existing investors, and the loss of confidence of prospective investors in the accounting information contained in the financial statements of these companies, which led to a crisis of confidence and credibility in the profession of accounting and auditing where the wonder of ma
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