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Background: For preclinical evaluations of radiopharmaceuticals, most studies are carried out on mice. Electron specific absorbed fractions (SAF) values have had vital role in the assessment of absorbed dose. In past studies, electron SAFs were given for limited source target pairs using older reports of human organ compositions. Objective: Electron specific absorbed fraction values for monoenergetic electrons of energies 15, 50, 100, 500, 1000 & 4000 keV were evaluated for the Digimouse voxel phantom incorporated in Monte Carlo code FLUKA. From the latest report (International Commission on Radiological Protection ICRP) 110, organ compositions and densities were adopted. Material and Methods: We have used the Digimouse voxel phantom which was incorporated in Monte Carlo code FLUKA. Simulation studies were performed using FLUKA. The organ sources considered in this study were lungs, skeleton, heart, bladder, testis, stomach, spleen, pancreas, liver, kidney, adrenal, eye and brain. The considered target organs were lungs, skeleton, heart, bladder, testis, stomach, spleen, pancreas, liver, kidney, adrenal and brain. Eye and brain were considered as target organs only for eye and brain as source organs. Results: The electron SAF values for self-irradiation decreases with increasing electron energy. The electron SAF values for cross-irradiation are also found to be dependent on the electron energy and the geometries of source and target. Organ masses and electron SAF values are presented in tabular form. Conclusion: The results of this study will be useful in evaluating the absorbed dose to various organs of mice similar in size to the present study

BACKGROUND: The STRONG-HF trial (Safety, Tolerability and Efficacy of Up-Titration of Guideline-Directed Medical Therapies for Acute Heart Failure) demonstrated substantial reductions in the composite of mortality and morbidity over 6 months among hospitalized patients with heart failure (HF) who were randomized to intensive guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) optimization compared with usual care. Whether an intensive GDMT optimization program would be cost-effective for patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction is unknown. METHODS: Using a 2-state Markov model, we evaluated the effect of an intensive GDMT optimization program on hospitalized patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction. Two population models were created to simulate this intervention, a clinical trial model, based on the participants in the STRONG-HF trial, and a real-world model, based on the Get With The Guidelines-HF registry of patients admitted with worsening HF. We then modeled the effect of a 6-month intensive triple therapy GDMT optimization program comprised of cardiologists, clinical pharmacists, and registered nurses. Hazard ratios from the intervention arm of the STRONG-HF trial were applied to both population models to simulate clinical and financial outcomes of an intensive GDMT optimization program from a US health care sector perspective with a lifetime time horizon. Optimal quadruple GDMT use was also modeled. RESULTS: An intensive GDMT optimization program was extremely cost-effective with incremental cost-effectiveness ratios <$10 000 per quality-adjusted life-year in both models. Optimal quadruple GDMT implementation resulted in the most gains in life-years with incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of $60 000 and $54 000 in the clinical trial and real-world models, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: An intensive GDMT optimization program for patients hospitalized with HF with reduced ejection fraction would be cost-effective and result in substantial gains in clinical outcomes, especially with the use of optimal quadruple GDMT. Clinicians, payers, and policymakers should prioritize the creation of such programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Most preclinical studies are carried out on mice. For internal dose assessment of a mouse, specific absorbed fraction (SAF) values play an important role. In most studies, SAF values are estimated using older standard human organ compositions and values for limited source target pairs. Objective: SAF values for monoenergetic photons of energies 15, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 4000 keV were evaluated for the Digimouse voxel phantom incorporated in Monte Carlo code FLUKA. The organ sources considered in this study were lungs, skeleton, heart, bladder, testis, stomach, spleen, pancreas, liver, kidney, adrenal, eye and brain. The considered target organs were lungs, skeleton, heart, bladder, testis, stomach, spleen, pancreas, liver, kidney, adrenal and brain. Eye was considered as a target organ only for eye as a source organ. Organ compositions and densities were adopted from International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) publication number 110. Results: Evaluated organ masses and SAF values are presented in tabular form. It is observed that SAF values decrease with increasing the source-to-target distance. The SAF value for self-irradiation decreases with increasing photon energy. The SAF values are also found to be dependent on the mass of target in such a way that higher values are obtained for lower masses. The effect of composition is highest in case of target organ lungs where mass and estimated SAF values are found to have larger differences. Conclusion: These SAF values are very important for absorbed dose calculation for various organs of a mouse

Abstract Background The combination of hyponatremia and renovascular hypertension is called hyponatremic hypertensive syndrome (HHS). Malignant hypertension as a presentation has been reported in adults with HHS but is rare in children. Case presentation An eighteen month-old male presented with drowsiness, sudden onset status epilepticus and blood pressure of 210/160. The electrolytes on admission revealed sodium of 120 mEq/L and potassium of 2.1 mEq/L. The peripheral renin activity (PRA) was 172 ng/ml/min (normal 3–11 ng/ml/min) and serum aldosterone level was 91 ng/dl (normal 4 to 16 ng/dl). Patient underwent angioplasty with no success, followed by surgical correction. Two years since the diagnosis, the blood pressure is controlled with labetolol and amlodipine (at less than sixth of the pre-operative dosages). The PRA is 2.4 ng/ml/min and aldosterone 15.5 ng/dl. The child not only had three renal arteries on left but all of them were stenosed which to best of our knowledge has not been described. Conclusion As uncommon as HHS with malignant hypertension may be in adults it is under-reported in children and purpose of the case report is to raise its awareness.

In a tandem cold-rolling mill, a strip is successively reduced in gauge at each stand as it passes through the mill. The optimal scheduling of a tandem mill is an important but difficult task. In this work, a scheduling problem is considered as an optimization problem which minimizes the total specific power and satisfies certain constraints. Since the material properties and friction coefficient are not known precisely, they are treated as fuzzy numbers. The fuzzy set theory is applied to find out an optimum drafting pattern. The methodology is illustrated by means of a few examples. It is observed that the schedule in which the maximum reduction is achieved in the first pass results in minimum specific power; however, its reliability is poor. Optimization using fuzzy set theory provides a solution which meets the twin requirements of high reliability and minimum power. [S1087-1357(00)00902-3]