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29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1993

Tanning facility compliance with state and federal regulations in North Carolina: a poor performance.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the compliance of commercial tanning facilities with regulations governing their operation. We inspected some tanning parlors to assess the degree to which they follow federal and North Carolina state regulations. METHODS: An inspection of 32 tanning facilities was conducted between March and May 1991 as part of an ongoing effort to educate tanning parlor operators and proprietors about UV light safety. Compliance with each of 21 distinct state and federal requirements was recorded for each facility. RESULTS: Only 1 of 32 facilities was in complete compliance with both state and federal regulations. The number of infractions ranged from none to 21 (mean [+/- SD] 7.1 +/- 4.1). Nineteen percent of facilities had timers that were not within the required +/- 10% accuracy level. Twenty-two percent also had timers that did not meet Code of Federal Regulations standards. The estimated proportion of the total light output in the UVB spectrum ranged from 0.5% to 5.0% (mean 4.25% +/- 0.95%). CONCLUSIONS: These limited data suggest that many commercial tanning establishments are not uniformly compliant with regulations. Although we cannot extrapolate these findings to other states, we anticipate that facilities in states with less rigorous regulations than North Carolina have similar or inferior safety profiles.

Beauty Culture↗

PubMed1993

Numerical simulation of leaflet flexure in bioprosthetic valves mounted on rigid and expansile stents.

Recent studies suggest that flexural stresses induced during the opening phase may be responsible for much of the mechanical failures of bioprosthetic heart valves. Sharp leaflet bending is promoted by the mounting of valves on rigid stents that do not mimic the systolic expansion of the natural aortic root. We, therefore, hypothesized that flexural stresses could be significantly reduced by incorporating a flexible or expansile supporting stent into the valve design. Using our own non-linear finite element code (INDAP) and the pre- and post-processor modules of a commercial finite element package (PATRAN), we simulated the opening and closing behaviour a trileaflet bovine pericardial valve. The leaflets of this valve were assumed to be of uniform thickness, with a non-linear elastic behaviour adapted from experimentally obtained bending stiffness data. Our simulations have shown that during maximal systolic valve opening, sharp curvatures are induced in the leaflets near their commissural attachment to the supporting stent. These areas of sharp flexure experience compressive stresses of similar magnitude to the tensile stresses induced in the leaflets during valve closure. By incorporating a stent with posts that pivot about their base, such that a 10% expansion at the commissures is realized, we were able to reduce the compressive commissural stressing from 250 to 150 kPa. This was a reduction of 40%. Conversely, a simple pliable stent with stent posts that deflect inward and outward under load did not achieve a significant reduction of compressive stresses. This numerical analysis, therefore, supports the theory that (i) high flexural and compressive stresses exist at sites of sharp leaflet bending and may promote bioprosthetic valve failure, and (ii) that proper design of the supporting stent can significantly reduce such flexural stresses.

Bioprosthesis↗

PubMed2002

Computational analysis of a human inhalation test chamber for dosimetry-and-health effect studies.

Proper air flow and tracer gas distribution or contaminant ventilation are of great importance in biomedical test chambers or industrial workrooms. The focus is on mass transfer in an inhalation test chamber with a breathing subject on a bike exposed to a tracer gas environment (e.g., carbon monoxide). This is an environmentally realistic setup for dosimetry-and-health effect studies, which require controlled, near-uniform pollutant concentrations. However, unmodified test chambers exhibit a strong single vortex in the larger breathing zone, which, depending upon the subject's location, implies possible trace gas depletion during inhalation, foreign particle entrainment, excessive air velocities, and so on. Employing a commercial finite-volume code with user-enhanced Fortran programs, the transient three-dimensional turbulent momentum, mass, and heat transfer equations have been solved and the configurations of a suitable flow redirection device, different man-machine locations, and thermal effects have been analyzed. As a result, the best air flow device configuration and man-machine orientation have been determined to achieve high and consistent trace gas concentrations inhaled by the subject, for example, 96 percent of the CO concentration at the chamber inlet is inhaled by the subject for the optimal scenario.

Administration, Inhalation↗

PubMed2004

Automated high through-put colocalization analysis of multichannel confocal images.

The laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) generates images of multiple labelled fluorescent samples. Colocalization of fluorescent labels is frequently examined. Here we present an example where localization of fluorescent analogues of cloned protein were referenced to fluorescent antibodies directed against the proteins of cellular compartments. Colocalization is usually evaluated by visual inspection of signal overlap or by using commercially available software tools, but there are limited possibilities to automate the analysis of large amounts of data. We developed a simple tool using Matlab to automate the colocalization procedure and to exclude the biased estimations resulting from visual inspections of images. The script in Matlab language code automatically imports confocal images and converts them into arrays. The contrast of all images is uniformly set by linearly reassigning the values of pixel intensities to use the full 8-bit range (0-255). Images are binarized on several threshold levels. The area above a certain threshold level is summed for each channel of the image and for colocalized regions. As a result, count of pixels above several threshold levels in any number of images is saved in an ASCII file. In addition Pearson's r correlation coefficient is calculated for fluorescence intensities of both confocal channels. Using this approach quick quantitative analysis of colocalization of hundreds of images is possible. In addition, such automated procedure is not biased by the examiner's subject visualization.

Automation↗

PubMed2004

Stable transformation of petunia plastids.

Plastid transformation results in stably expressed foreign genes, which for most Angiosperms are largely excluded from sperm cells, thereby greatly reducing the risk of foreign gene spread through pollen. Prior to this work, fertile plastid transformants were restricted to tobacco, tomato and Lesquerella. Application of plastid engineering in the important floriculture industry requires the development of stable plastid transformation in a major ornamental plant species such as Petunia hybrida. Here we describe the successful isolation of fertile and stable plastid transformants in a commercial cultivar of P. hybrida (var. Pink Wave). Plastid targeting regions from tobacco were used to integrate aadA and gusA between the accD and rbcL genes of P. hybrida plastid DNA following particle bombardment of leaves. For three spectinomycin and streptomycin resistant lines, DNA blot analysis confirmed transgene integration into plastid DNA and homoplasmy. Maternal inheritance and homoplasmy resulted in 100% transmission of spectinomycin resistance to progeny after selfing. Plastid transformants expressed the gusA gene uniformly within leaves and to comparable levels in all three lines. Insertion of trait genes in place of gusA coding sequences enables immediate applications of our plastid transformation vector. Establishment of plastid transformation in P. hybrida facilitates a safe and reliable use of this important ornamental plant for research and plant biotechnology.

Drug Resistance↗

PubMed2003

Comparison of dose calculation algorithms with Monte Carlo methods for photon arcs.

The objective of this study is to seek an accurate and efficient method to calculate the dose distribution of a photon arc. The algorithms tested include Monte Carlo, pencil beam kernel (PK), and collapsed cone convolution (CCC). For the Monte Carlo dose calculation, EGS4/DOSXYZ was used. The SRCXYZ source code associated with the DOSXYZ was modified so that the gantry angle of a photon beam would be sampled uniformly within the arc range about an isocenter to simulate a photon arc. Specifically, photon beams (6/18 MV, 4 x 4 and 10 x 10 cm2) described by a phase space file generated by BEAM (MCPHS), or by two point sources with different photon energy spectra (MCDIV) were used. These methods were used to calculate three-dimensional (3-D) distributions in a PMMA phantom, a cylindrical water phantom, and a phantom with lung inhomogeneity. A commercial treatment planning system was also used to calculate dose distributions in these phantoms using equivalent tissue air ratio (ETAR), PK and CCC algorithms for inhomogeneity corrections. Dose distributions for a photon arc in these phantoms were measured using a RK ion chamber and radiographic films. For homogeneous phantoms, the measured results agreed well (approximately 2% error) with predictions by the Monte Carlo simulations (MCPHS and MCDIV) and the treatment planning system for the 180 degrees and 360 degrees photon arcs. For the dose distribution in the phantom with lung inhomogeneity with a 90 degrees photon arc, the Monte Carlo calculations agreed with the measurements within 2%, while the treatment planning system using ETAR, PK and CCC underestimated or overestimated the dose inside the lung inhomogeneity from 6% to 12%.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2002

A critical evaluation of enzyme immunoassay kits for detection of antinuclear autoantibodies of defined specificities. II. Potential for quantitation of antibody content.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the performance of different commercial enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kits for measuring antibody levels of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) specific for double stranded (ds) DNA, SSB/La, Sm, and Scl-70. METHODS: Twenty companies that were known major purveyors of EIA kits for detection of ANA were approached to determine their interest and willingness to participate in this study. The manufacturers were advised that they would be sent coded sera containing mixtures of the Arthritis Foundation/Centers for Disease Control reference reagents, and that they were to use their own test kits to analyze the antibody specificities of these sera and to report the data, in optical density (OD) units, or their equivalent. The analysts were blinded to the concentration of the antibodies and the specificities. RESULTS: Initially, 11 manufacturers out of 20 agreed to participate, but 2 subsequently withdrew. The commercial EIA kits have the potential of being able to quantitate specific autoantibody content to ds-DNA, SSB/La, Sm, and Scl-70. However, certain deficiencies in these kits were also detected, the most obvious being lack of uniformly good performance, with kits of certain manufacturers showing exceptional accuracy in 3 out of 4 of their antibody-specific kits and poor accuracy for a 4th kit. CONCLUSION: It is important for clinicians to appreciate that there is marked inter-manufacturer variation in the performance of EIA kits used as an aid in the diagnosis of systemic rheumatic diseases. Manufacturers need to exercise constant surveillance of kit performance and to provide assurance that such is being done. Improved EIA kits would lend themselves to reliable quantitation of antibody levels in human sera and help to determine whether serial measurement of antibody levels might be useful in monitoring disease activity.

Antibodies, Antinuclear↗

PubMed2002

Monte carlo investigation of the dosimetric properties of the new 103Pd BrachySeedPd-103 Model Pd-1 source.

Recently, 103Pd brachytherapy sources have been increasingly used for interstitial implants as an alternative to 125I sources. The BrachySeedPd-103 Model Pd-1 seed is one of the latest in a series of new brachytherapy sources that have become available commercially. The dosimetric properties of the seed were investigated by Monte Carlo simulation, which was performed using the Integrated Tiger Series CYLTRAN code. Following the AAPM Task Group 43 formalism, the dose rate constant, radial dose function, and anisotropy parameters were determined. The dose rate constant, A, was calculated to be 0.613 +/- 3% cGy h(-1) U(-1). This air kerma strength was derived from Monte Carlo simulation using the point extrapolation method. The radial dose function, g(r), was computed at distances from 0.15 to 10 cm. The anisotropy function, F(r,theta), and anisotropy factor, phi(an)(r), were calculated at distances from 0.5 to 7 cm. The anisotropy constant, phi(an), was determined to be 0.978, which is closer to unity than most other 103Pd seeds, indicating a high degree of uniformity in dose distribution. The dose rate constant and the radial dose function were also investigated by analytical modeling, which served as an independent evaluation of the Monte Carlo data, and found to be in good agreement with the Monte Carlo results.

Anisotropy↗

PubMed2002

Prospective, randomized, blinded evaluation of donor semen quality provided by seven commercial sperm banks.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate variability in donor semen quality between seven commercial donor sperm banks, within sperm banks, and between intracervical insemination and intrauterine insemination. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, blind evaluation of commercially available donor semen samples. SETTING: An academic andrology laboratory. PATIENT(S): Seventy-five cryopreserved donor semen samples were evaluated. INTERVENTION(S): Samples were coded, then blindly evaluated for semen quality. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Standard semen quality parameters, including concentration, motility parameters, World Health Organization criteria morphology, and strict criteria morphology. RESULT(S): Significant differences were observed between donor semen banks for most semen quality parameters analyzed in intracervical insemination samples. In general, the greatest variability observed between banks was in percentage progressive sperm motility (range, 8.8 +/- 5.8 to 42.4 +/- 5.5) and normal sperm morphology (strict criteria; range, 10.1 +/- 3.3 to 26.6 +/- 4.7). Coefficients of variation within sperm banks were generally high. CONCLUSION(S): These data demonstrate the variability of donor semen quality provided by commercial sperm banks, both between banks and within a given bank. No relationship was observed between the size or type of sperm bank and the degree of variability. The data demonstrate the lack of uniformity in the criteria used to screen potential semen donors and emphasize the need for more stringent screening criteria and strict quality control in processing samples.

Cervix Uteri↗

PubMed2006

The WPI's review of Wisconsin's managed care climate for pain management: opportunities for improvement.

BACKGROUND: Reimbursement obstacles, such as inadequate insurance coverage, have been identified as barriers to adequate pain management. The purpose of this study was to determine Wisconsin insurers' and managed care organizations' (MCOs) policies and practices regarding pain treatment and MCO medical directors' perceptions of barriers to providing effective pain management for their enrollees. METHODS: A descriptive qualitative design was used with semi-structured interviews of 6 administrative executives of commercial health management organizations' products from the major insurers in Wisconsin. RESULTS: None of the companies interviewed had systematically tracked data or had processes in place to allow them to track, analyze or trend data specific to pain management. Chronic noncancer pain is recognized more frequently as an insurance coverage issue because of high drug costs. Pharmacologic and interventional therapies are routinely covered compared with nonpharmacologic therapies with some prior authorizations, especially for newer medications. A uniformly identified barrier was lack of a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, integrated approach to pain management and inadequate data on the cost effectiveness of various approaches. CONCLUSIONS: Opportunities exist to educate and improve communication between health care professionals, purchasers of health care (employers), primary care providers and pain specialists. The economics of pain management needs to be made more "visible" through the development of coding and tracking mechanisms.

Data Collection↗

PubMed2000

Validation of a precision radiochromic film dosimetry system for quantitative two-dimensional imaging of acute exposure dose distributions.

We present an evaluation of the precision and accuracy of image-based radiochromic film (RCF) dosimetry performed using a commercial RCF product (Gafchromic MD-55-2, Nuclear Associates, Inc.) and a commercial high-spatial resolution (100 microm pixel size) He-Ne scanning-laser film-digitizer (Personal Densitometer, Molecular Dynamics, Inc.) as an optical density (OD) imaging system. The precision and accuracy of this dosimetry system are evaluated by performing RCF imaging dosimetry in well characterized conformal external beam and brachytherapy high dose-rate (HDR) radiation fields. Benchmarking of image-based RCF dosimetry is necessary due to many potential errors inherent to RCF dosimetry including: a temperature-dependent time evolution of RCF dose response; nonuniform response of RCF; and optical-polarization artifacts. In addition, laser-densitometer imaging artifacts can produce systematic OD measurement errors as large as 35% in the presence of high OD gradients. We present a RCF exposure and readout protocol that was developed for the accurate dosimetry of high dose rate (HDR) radiation sources. This protocol follows and expands upon the guidelines set forth by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Group 55 report. Particular attention is focused on the OD imaging system, a scanning-laser film digitizer, modified to eliminate OD artifacts that were not addressed in the AAPM Task Group 55 report. RCF precision using this technique was evaluated with films given uniform 6 MV x-ray doses between 1 and 200 Gy. RCF absolute dose accuracy using this technique was evaluated by comparing RCF measurements to small volume ionization chamber measurements for conformal external-beam sources and an experimentally validated Monte Carlo photon-transport simulation code for a 192Ir brachytherapy source. Pixel-to-pixel standard deviations of uniformly irradiated films were less than 1% for doses between 10 and 150 Gy; between 1% and 5% for lower doses down to 1 Gy and 1% and 1.5% for higher doses up to 200 Gy. Pixel averaging to form 200-800 microm pixels reduces these standard deviations by a factor of 2 to 5. Comparisons of absolute dose show agreement within 1.5%-4% of dose benchmarks, consistent with a highly accurate dosimeter limited by its observed precision and the precision of the dose standards to which it is compared. These results provide a comprehensive benchmarking of RCF, enabling its use in the commissioning of novel HDR therapy sources.

Brachytherapy↗