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Indium-111 and 99mTc have been proposed for colonic transit study, but 111In is expensive and the half-life of 99mTc is too short for the study. Gallium-67 citrate is inexpensive and has a suitable half-life. In our previous study, we successfully labeled 67Ga-citrate activated charcoal, and the labeling efficiency exceeded 91% after a 96 hour incubation period. In this work, we evaluated the influence of the size of activated charcoal particles on the labeling efficiency with 67Ga-citrate. The data showed that the influence of particle size on the labeling efficiency of activated charcoal with 67Ga was insignificant. Both sizes of activated charcoal particles can be used for labeling with 67Ga in colonic transit study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the interaction between corporate financing decisions and investment decisions in a dynamic framework. When the production decision involves an expansion option, the firm trades off tax benefits of debt against two costs of debt financing, namely the investment distortion related to exercise of the expansion option and the loss of a valuable expansion opportunity if the firm defaults. The optimal capital structure is all equity for firms with more value in growth options (or intangible assets) and tends to involve debt financing for firms with more value in tangible assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to understand gall-bladder function in liver cirrhosis. METHODS: Gallbladder function was measured in 45 patients with liver cirrhosis by Tc-99m-labeled imino-diacetic acid analog cholescintigraphy. Gallbladder function was represented by the filling fraction and the ejection fraction (EF). The patients were divided into three groups, based on cirrhotic severity, using the modified Child's classification: A = good, B = fair, and C = poor. Fifteen normal control subjects were selected for comparison. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in filling fraction among all of the study groups. Normal controls had significantly higher 60-min EF values than did liver cirrhosis patients. Among the liver cirrhosis patients, class A patients had the highest EF values, and class C patients had the lowest EF values. CONCLUSIONS: We found that liver cirrhosis may significantly impair the gallbladder emptying, based on the evidence of quantitative Tc-99m-labeled imino-diacetic acid analog cholescintigraphy findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]