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A detailed study has been made of the method for labeling streptokinase with 99Tc(m) in order to get a radioactive indicator for rapid scintigraphic visualization of thrombi and emboli. The best method found for preparing 99Tc(m) streptokinase was by reducing 99Tc(m) pertechnetate with 2 μmole SnCl2 at pH 0.7 and then adding 50,000 to 75,000 IU of streptokinase at a final pH of about 2. After 1 hr
Objective: Predicting treatment response and disease progression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains an elusive endeavour. Identifying subgroups of patients with similar progression is essential for understanding what hinders improvement. However, this cannot be achieved with response criteria based on current versus previous Disease Activity Scores, as they lack the time component. We propose a
We analyse the performance of risk reduction strategies for terrorist attacks with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) for large governmental building structures in terms of cost-efficiency, significance and effectiveness accounting for life safety in conjunction with societal preferences and capabilities. The approach builds upon an extended Bayesian pre-posterior decision analysis and the princi
This article introduces an approach and framework for the quantification of the value of structural health monitoring (SHM) in the context of the structural risk and integrity management for systems. The quantification of the value of SHM builds upon the Bayesian decision and utility theory, which facilitates the assessment of the value of information associated with SHM. The principal approach fo
The provision and administration of high quality urban public green spaces intertwines issues of planning, design, management and maintenance with governance. The benefits of such spaces are often tied to social justice, public health and recreation, biodiversity and helping cities to deal with climate change. International policies and changes in public administration have encouraged user partici
Photonic materials for high-temperature applications need to withstand temperatures usually higher than 1000 °C, whilst keeping their function. When exposed to high temperatures, such nanostructured materials are prone to detrimental morphological changes, however the structure evolution pathway of photonic materials and its correlation with the loss of material's function is not yet fully underst
To contribute to contemporary rural development debates, the present thesis conducts a contextual analysis of rural development using Kenya as a case study from the colonial era to today. To perform the analysis, two critical trends in rural Africa are focused on: socioeconomic differentiation and rural income diversification, with a particular focus on large-scale farm employment. By pointing to
The presence or absence of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) at the centre of Milky Way globular clusters (GCs) is still an open question. This is due to either observational restrictions or limitations in the dynamical modelling method; in this work, we explore the latter. Using a sample of high-end Monte Carlo simulations of GCs, with and without a central IMBH, we study the limitations of s
High diagnostic efficiency as well as the optimization of patient and staff doses in positron emission tomography (PET) can be achieved by implementing quality assurance program. This study was focused on the requirements and basic aspects of quality assurance (QA) in PET combined with computed tomography (CT), that include equipment quality control (QC). QA systems include methods of image QC, ex
Modern health care requires a proactive and individualized response to diseases, combining precision diagnosis and personalized treatment. Accordingly, the approach to patients with allergic diseases encompasses novel developments in the area of personalized medicine, disease phenotyping and endotyping, and the development and application of reliable biomarkers. A detailed clinical history and phy
We study planning problems where the transition function is described by a learned binarized neural network (BNN). Theoretically, we show that feasible planning with a learned BNN model is NP-complete, and present two new constraint programming models of this task as a mathematical optimization problem. Experimentally, we run solvers for constraint programming, weighted partial maximum satisfiabil
Beam line optics for synchrotron facilities are generally designed from geometric calculations wherein the bending magnet, undulator, or wiggler photon source is approximated by a high divergence point source. In this article we will, however, show that in the case of a synchrotron radiation source with very small divergence (such a source can be encountered at an undulator based third generation
This special issue brings together scholars of media, sociology, and political science to examine the discursive opportunities for radical-right populist politics across Eastern Europe. The articles concentrate on such soft factors as the role of media, the radicalization of public discourse, and the communication repertoires of radical-right populist actors across the region. The contributions em
Some years ago it was decided that a European curriculum should be developed for medical physicists professionally engaged in the support of clinical diagnostic imaging departments. With this in mind, EFOMP (European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics) in association with ESR (European Society of Radiology) nominated an expert working group. This curriculum is now to hand. The curricu
Mycosis fungoides is a disease with manifestation of the skin that has traditionally been treated with electron therapy. In this paper, we present a method of treating the entire skin with megavoltage photons using helical tomotherapy (HT), verified through a phantom study and clinical dosimetric data from our first two treated patients. A whole body phantom was fitted with a wetsuit as bolus, and
The Natura 2000 network of protected sites is one of the means to enable biodiversity conservation in Europe. EU member states have to undertake surveillance of habitats and species of community interest protected under the Habitat Directive. Remote sensing techniques have been applied successfully to monitor biodiversity aspects according to Natura 2000, but many challenges remain in assessing dy
The burdens of resource constraints in publicly funded healthcare systems urge decision makers in countries like Sweden, Norway and the UK to find new financial solutions. One proposal that has been put forward is co-payment—a financial model where some treatment or care is made available to patients who are willing and able to pay the costs that exceed the available alternatives fully covered by
