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Preclinical studies established [125I]-N-(2-diethylaminoethyl) 4-iodobenzamide (BZA) as a potential radiopharmaceutical in the management of patients with malignant melanoma. External detection of both murine and human melanotic melanomas was possible after intravenous injection of 125I-BZA in tumor-bearing mice. This article reports a Phase II clinical trial evaluating 123I-BZA as an imaging agent of primary melanomas and metastases. A total of 110 patients with a history of melanoma were investigated in two nuclear medicine departments. Subjects were imaged from 20 to 24 hr after the intravenous injection of 3.5 mCi (130 MBq) of 123I-BZA. After injection, no short-term or long-term side effects were noted. Calculated on a lesion-site basis, diagnostic sensitivity was 81%, accuracy was 87% and specificity was 100%. The melanoma nature of previously occult lesions was confirmed by clinical criteria and/or additional investigations in follow-up studies. The scintigraphies were normal in 44 patients in clinical remission after treatment of malignant melanoma and in seven patients with nonmelanoma disease. No false positive results were observed. Iodine-123-BZA scintigraphy appears to be a safe and useful agent for the detection and follow-up of patients with malignant melanoma. BZA also allowed the detection of unsuspected lesions and the evaluation of the results of various therapeutic procedures such as surgery, chemotherapy, immunobiology, biological therapy or radiotherapy.

The synthesis, labeling, and biodistribution of four 125I radiopharmaceuticals designed to localize in melanoma were tested. Uptake in tumors was demonstrated by autoradiography of whole-body sections and quantitated by measurement of radioactivity of selected tissues and tumors using melanoma-bearing mice. N-(2-diethylaminoethyl)-4-iodobenzamide was selected for its highest melanoma uptake: 60 min after IV injection of 6.5% and 4% ID/g, respectively for murine B16 and human melanotic melanoma. Tumor uptake showed the highest values of all analyzed tissues from 6 to 24 hr after injection. High uptake in melanotic tumor tissue with relatively low uptake in blood, muscle, brain, lung, and liver tissue resulted in high tumor/nontumor ratios (at 24 hr for B16, tumor/blood = 37, tumor/brain = 147, tumor/muscle = 95). This agent was compared with iodoamphetamine. Scintigraphic images of the tumor confirmed that external detection of melanoma is possible with this new radiopharmaceutical.

Drying is a very important phase of papermaking. Both the energy consumption and investment costs required by this process are high. This paper describes a method giving systematic analysis of industrial drying sections during their run and based on a mathematical model of paper cylinder drying. Working on measurements data, it is possible to compute the heat and mass transfer coefficient values to get the complete identification of the considered drying section. Then, it is possible to test by simulation, the effect of new investments (increasing the number of cylinders, moving the size-press location, etc) or of operating point changes (increase of steam-pressure or moisture content at the entrance... etc) on the machine production and on the steam consumption. This method has been used for an industrial printing paper machine. Computer simulations have allowed to get the optimal size-press location in the drying section and the machine speed variations obtained after the increase of the number of cylinders and this for three different basis weights.