Toxicity and the cardiovascular activity of organotin compounds: a review

A comprehensive review on toxicity of organotin compounds including sources of their intake and mode of action, and cardiovascular activity of organotin compounds is presented. Further research to develop novel useful organotin compounds having hypertensive activity needs to be carried out. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Portable,Ambient PM2.5 Sensor for Human and/or Animal Exposure Studies

A field-portable device for logging PM_2.5 mass concentration data has been developed. The device combines the Arduino microprocessor with an SD card, a Sharp DN7C3CA006 optical dust monitor, and 10,000-mAh battery. The dust sensor uses a virtual impactor to size select particles <2.5 microns prior to illuminating the selected fraction with an LED. The LED is triggered by a circuit controlled with the Arduino. Nephelometric detection at 120° referenced to incidence is used. The voltage signal reported by the dust sensor is converted to PM_2.5 mass through calibration onboard the Arduino. Data points can be saved to the SD card as rapidly as 0.3?s, although averaging signals over 60?s produced more optimal detection limits. For a 60?s average, the PM_2.5 mass limit of detection was 9?µg?m^?3, indicating that the sensor will be useful for monitoring human exposure to fine particles. Portable exposure monitoring has been demonstrated with the sensing platform as several individuals carried the device with them during daily activities in Lubbock, TX and Atlanta, GA. For this group of test subjects, values of PM_2.5 exposure varied from 0 to 1000?µg?m^?3 during the sampling periods. It was observed that, by far, the highest levels of PM_2.5 occur during periods of cooking, or being near cooking operations. Other periods of high PM_2.5 occurred during ground transportation, use of personal care products, vacuuming, and visiting restrooms. When hourly personal exposure data were correlated with hourly average PM_2.5 for outdoor air for the Atlanta data set, a very weak correlation was found (R²?=?0.026). Only two out of eight sampling periods did the personal monitoring estimate of exposure agree with that predicted by outdoor monitoring to within 15%. Personal exposure was often affected by circumstantial, short-term, high exposure events that are difficult to model or predict effectively. The short-term exposure events generally cause true exposure to be higher than that predicted by using outdoor ambient PM_2.5 to generate estimates. This finding complicates interpretation of epidemiological studies that find links between ambient outdoor PM_2.5 levels and human health, while it buttresses the case for using personal ambient monitors.     

Tetrahydrofuran–water extraction,in-line clean-up and selective liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry for the quantitation of perfluorinated compounds in food at the low picogram per gram level

A new solvent extraction system was developed for extraction of PFCs from food. The extraction is carried out with 75:25 (v/v) tetrahydrofuran:water, a solvent mixture that provides an appropriate balance of hydrogen bonding, dispersion and dipole–dipole interactions to efficiently extract PFCs with chains containing 4–14 carbon atoms from foods. This mixture provided recoveries above 85% from foods including vegetables, fruits, fish, meat and bread; and above 75% from cheese. Clean-up with a weak anion exchange resin and Envi-carb SPE, which were coupled in line for simplicity, was found to minimize matrix effects (viz. enhancement or suppression of electrospray ionization). The target analytes (PFCs) were resolved on a perfluorooctyl phase column that proved effective in separating mass interferences for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in fish and meat samples. The mass spectrometer was operated in the negative electrospray ionization mode and used to record two transitions per analyte and one per mass-labeled method internal standard. The target PFCs were quantified from solvent based calibration curves. The limits of detection (LODs) were as low as 1–5 pg analyte g⁻¹ food; by exception, those for C₄ and C₅ PFCs were somewhat higher (25–30 pg g⁻¹) owing to their less favourable mass response. To the best of our knowledge these are among the best LODs for PFCs in foods reported to date. The analysis of a variety of foods revealed contamination with PFCs at levels from 4.5 to 75 pg g⁻¹ in 25% of samples (fish and packaged spinach). C₁₀–C₁₄ PFCs were found in fish, which testifies to the need to control long-chain PFCs in this type of food. The proposed method is a useful tool for the development of a large-scale database for the presence of PFCs in foods.     

MCNP Dose Calculations in a CT Phantom for Therapeutic External Photon Beam

In this paper, we have addressed the problem of the radiation transport with the Monte Carlo N particle(MCNP) code. This is a general purpose Monte Carlo tool designed to transport neutron, photon and electron in three dimensional geometries. To examine the performance of MCNP5 code in the field of external radiotherapy, we performed the modeling of an Electron Density phantom (EDP) irradiated by photons from 60Co source. The model was used to calculate the Percent Depth Dose (PDD) at different depths in an EDP. One field size for PDD has been examined. A 60Co photons source placed at 80 cm source to surface distance (SSD). The results of calculations were compared to TPS data obtained at National Institute of Oncology of Rabat.     

TLD measurements and Monte Carlo simulations for glandular dose and scatter fraction assessment in mammography: A comparative study

The main purpose of this study was to validate and compare Mean Glandular Dose (MGD) values obtained using Monte Carlo simulations with experimental values obtained from Entrance Surface Dose (ESD) and depth dose measurements performed in a Hospital mammography unit. ESD and depth dose were measured using ThermoLuminescent Dosimeters (TLDs), and a tissue equivalent mammography phantom recommended by the American College of Radiology (ACR). Measurements and Monte Carlo simulations were also compared with the MGD calculated using the Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) system of the mammographic unit. In the simulations the Doppler energy broadening effect was also taken into account. The simulated ESD are about 5%–10% higher than the measured ESD values. The deviation between the measured and simulated MGD values in the phantom is of about 15%. The MGD evaluated using the AEC system is smaller both with respect to the Monte Carlo simulation and experimental result by a factor of about 15% and 25% respectively. Moreover the BackScatter Factor (BSF) estimated by Monte Carlo simulations was used for the MGD calculation according to the Wu’s method. Finally the inclusion of the energy broadening effect on MGD calculation produces negligible variations on the simulated results.     

UV dosimeter based on polyamide woven fabric and nitro blue tetrazolium chloride as an active compound

This paper reports on the preparation and features of a UV light dosimeter composed of nitro blue tetrazolium chloride (NBT) and polyamide woven fabric. This textile dosimeter is based on the conversion reaction of NBT into formazan, which was initially examined in aerated aqueous solutions through steady state UV irradiation. Irradiated solutions change their colour as a consequence of the formation of polydisperse NBT formazan particles. This was analysed in relation to the absorbed dose of UV light through UV–VIS spectrophotometry and dynamic laser light scattering measurements. When NBT substrate molecules are embedded in polyamide textile, UV irradiation leads to similar effects as in solution. However, the tinge intensity changes at much lower absorbed doses. The dependence of the tinge intensity on the absorbed dose was followed by measurements of the remission of light from the NBT-polyamide samples. Consequently, the calibration parameters were calculated such as the dose sensitivity, dose range, and quasi-linear dose range. An improvement of the NBT-polyamide samples by application of a colour levelling agent and improvement of their resistance to humidity is presented. Finally, the samples were used for estimation of absorbed UV energy distribution showing their capability as new dosimeters for in-plane high resolution radiation dose measurements.     

p型金属氧化物半导体场效应晶体管低剂量率辐射损伤增强效应模型研究

对一种非加固4007电路中p型金属氧化物半导体场效应晶体管(PMOSFET)在不同剂量率条件下的电离辐射损伤效应及高剂量率辐照后的退火效应进行了研究. 通过测量不同剂量率条件下PMOSFET的亚阈I-V特性曲线,得到阈值电压漂移量随累积剂量、退火时间的变化关系. 实验发现,此种型号的PMOSFET具有低剂量率辐射损伤增强效应. 通过描述H⁺在氧化层中的输运过程,解释了界面态的形成原因,初步探讨了非加固4007电路中PMOSFET低剂量率辐射损伤增强效应模型. 关键词： p型金属氧化物半导体场效应晶体管 60Co γ射线')" href="#">⁶⁰Co γ射线 电离辐射损伤 低剂量率辐射损伤增强效应     

Study on induced radioactivity of China Spallation Neutron Source

China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) is the first High Energy Intense Proton Accelerator planned to be constructed in China during the State Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, whose induced radioactivity is very important for occupational disease hazard assessment and environmental impact assessment. Adopting the FLUKA code, the authors have constructed a cylinder-tunnel geometric model and a line-source sampling physical model, deduced proper formulas to calculate air activation, and analyzed various issues with regard to the activation of different tunnel parts. The results show that the environmental impact resulting from induced activation is negligible, whereas the residual radiation in the tunnels has a great influence on maintenance personnel, so strict measures should be adopted.     

Study of radiation background at the north crossing point of the BEPCⅡ in collision mode

Understanding the radiation background at the north crossing point (NCP) in the tunnel of BEPCII is crucial for the performance safety of the High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector, and in turn of great significance for long-term stable running of the energy measurement system. Therefore, as the first step, a NaI(Tl) detector is constructed to continuously measure the radiation level of photons as background for future experiments. Furthermore, gamma and neutron dosimeters are utilized to explore the radiation distribution in the vicinity of the NCP where the HPGe detector will be located. Synthesizing all obtained information, the shielding for neutron irradiation is studied based on model-dependent theoretical analysis.     

Radiation induced inter-device leakage degradation

The evolution of inter-device leakage current with total ionizing dose in transistors in 180 nm generation technologies is studied with an N-type poly-gate field device (PFD) that uses the shallow trench isolation as an effective gate oxide. The overall radiation response of these structures is determined by the trapped charge in the oxide. The impacts of different bias conditions during irradiation on the inter-device leakage current are studied for the first time in this work, which demonstrates that the worst condition is the same as traditional NMOS transistors. Moreover, the two-dimensional technology computer-aided design simulation is used to understand the bias dependence.