Anniversary of Edith Hinkley Quimby

At the beginning of the 20th century, the whole world was searching for radioactive substances application, in particular radium. Radium can be used to treat oncology, but no one knew the verge of overdosing and underdosing. The founder of radiobiology can be considered Lewis Gray, who introduced unit for absorbed dose of radiation [1]. It was Edith Quimby who started looking for that therapeutically effective absorbed dose. It’s to calculate the minimum effective dose of activity for each patient. She has written 75 articles, published books that have become used concepts in biophysics, and handbooks of modern editions of radiologists. She became the first woman and the first physicist to become president of the American Radium Society, an organization dedicated to the study and treatment of cancer. At one time, Arthur Compton spoke about the need to introduce and apply physics in medicine, and Quimby, in her acceptance speech, outlined the need for an organization of medical physicists, and in 1958, owing to her, the American Society of Medical Physicists was created. Edith Quimby was and remains an iconic figure in the history of the development of medical physics.

Ranking Anti-Agglomerant Efficiency for Gas Hydrates Through Molecular Dynamic Simulations

Computational and experimental methods were employed to assess the capacity of four surfactant molecules to inhibit the agglomeration of sII hydrate particles. Using both steered and non-steered Molecular Dynamics (MD), the coalescence process of a hydrate slab and a water droplet, both covered with surfactant molecules, was computationally simulated. The experimental assessment was based on rocking cell measurements, determining the minimum effective dose necessary to inhibit agglomeration. Overall, the performance ranking obtained by the simulations and the experimental measurements agreed very well. Moreover, the simulations gave additional insights that are not directly accessible via experiments, such as an analysis of the mass density profiles or the orientations of the surfactant tails. The possibility to perform systematic computational high-throughput screenings of many molecules allows an efficient funnel approach for molecular optimization and customization.

Repellent Efficacy of Eucalyptus globulus and Syzygium aro-maticum Essential Oils against Malaria Vector, Anopheles ste-phensi (Diptera: Culicidae)

Background: Mosquito species are highly considering as disease transmission as well as nuisance insects. One of the principal strategy to protect human from the mosquito bites is repellent agents. This study aimed to assess repellency of two organic essential oils, Eucalyptus globulus and Syzygium aromaticum from bites of malaria vector, Anopheles stephensi. Methods: The study was conducted in 2019-2020. The components of essential oils of E. globulus and S. aromaticum was determined using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The unfed female mosquitoes aged 2-5 d old were used in all experiments. In vivo Klun and Debboun module bioassays were utilized on human-volunteer skin. The essential oils at serial concentrations were used to find repellent efficacy against Anopheles landings and bites. To find the synergistic effect, four combinations of the essential oils were tested. Results: The main composition of E. globulus essential oil was 1,8-Cineol (78.20%), whereas that of S. aromaticum essential oil was 2-methoxy-3-(2-propenyl) (77.04%). Based on minimum effective dose (≤1% biting), 10% (v/v) of E. globulus showed high landing repellency (77.78%), whereas minimum effective dose of S. aromaticum at concentration of 1% had high landing repellency (88.89%). Among four combinations, the ratio of 1:1 of E. globulus (10%):S. aromaticum (1%) showed the most landing repellency (94.44%). Conclusion: The combinations of two essential oils had the most potential repellency effect against landing of mosquitoes. As essential oils are eco-friendly with less irritation for human skin, E. globulus and S. aromaticum essential oils are recommended as effective and safe mosquito repellents.

Diagnostic and therapeutic applications of radiopharmaceutical agents: The medical use of radioactive iodine (I-131) therapy for hyperthyroidism treatments.

The treatment of hyperthyroidism with iodine-131 has been recognized on nuclear medicine as simple, effective and inexpensive, this kind of radiopharmaceutical is chosen by the majority of medical centers by administering a minimum effective dose enabling euthyroidism to be easily compensated as quickly as possible while avoiding radiation problems. In this mini_review, we are going to explain the diagnostic and therapeutic aspect of radiopharmaceuticals by taking an example of radioiodine I-131 and its role on hyperthyroidism treatment .

Rationale of a lower dexamethasone dose in prenatal congenital adrenal hyperplasia therapy based on pharmacokinetic modelling

Context: Prenatal dexamethasone therapy is used in female foetuses with congenital adrenal hyperplasia to suppress androgen excess and prevent virilisation of the external genitalia. The traditional dexamethasone dose of 20 µg/kg/d has been used since decades without examination in clinical trials and is thus still considered experimental. Objective: Because the traditional dexamethasone dose potentially causes adverse effects in treated mothers and foetuses, we aimed to provide a rationale of a reduced dexamethasone dose in prenatal congenital adrenal hyperplasia therapy based on a pharmacokinetics-based modelling and simulation framework. Methods: Based on a published dexamethasone dataset a nonlinear mixed-effects model was developed describing maternal dexamethasone pharmacokinetics. In stochastic simulations (n=1000) a typical pregnant population (n=124) was split into two dosing arms receiving either the traditional 20 µg/kg/d dexamethasone dose or reduced doses between 5 and 10 µg/kg/d. Target maternal dexamethasone concentrations, identified from literature, served as threshold to be exceeded by 90% of mothers at steady state to ensure foetal hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis suppression. Results: A two-compartment dexamethasone pharmacokinetic model was developed and subsequently evaluated to be fit for purpose. The simulations, including a sensitivity analysis regarding the assumed foetal:maternal dexamethasone concentration ratio, resulted in 7.5 µg/kg/d to be the minimum effective dose and thus our suggested dose. Conclusions: We conclude that the current experimentally used dexamethasone dose is 3-fold higher than needed, possibly causing harm in treated foetuses and mothers. The clinical relevance and appropriateness of our recommended dose should be tested in a prospective clinical trial.

Minimum Effective Dose of Chlorantraniliprole and Chromafenozide to Control Oil Palm Bunch Moth Tirathana mundella Walker

The bunch moth, Tirathaba mundella is one of the leading pests in oil palm estates established on peatland. Severely infested male inflorescences usually would fail reaching anthesis. Reduction in the number of inflorescences at anthesis stage would suggest less food source and breeding ground for oil palm pollinating weevils, Elaeidobius kamerunicus, thus, affecting the fruiting percentage of oil palm and its yield. Despite to be less detrimental to the environment, biopesticide usages in the field is losing favour due to its slower rate of kill compared with conventional chemical pesticides, shorter persistence in the environment and susceptibility to unfavourable environmental conditions. The use of high host specificity chemical pesticides, such as chlorantraniliprole and chromafenozide are gaining popularity in pest management regimes. In this study, the optimum dose for chlorantraniliprole and chromafenozide in controlling T. mundella was assessed to provide valuable information for sustainable oil palm pest management. Several dosages of pesticide were evaluated for their effectiveness against T. mundella in a 7-year-old oil palm estate for six months. Based on the results obtained, application of 30 g or 40 g active ingredient (a.i.) per ha chlorantraniliprole were recommended to provide the longest protection period. To make plan for an effective pest management that could reduce material and labour cost per ha as well as the risks in developing pesticide resistance among pest, 30 g a.i per ha of chlorantraniliprole is recommended to be rotated with 25 g a.i. per ha chromafenozide for a total of four rounds in a year.

Identifying Minimum Effective Dose Under Heteroscedasticity

We propose a stepwise confidence procedure for identifying minimum effective dose (MED) without multiplicity adjustment.Stepwise procedures strongly control the familywise error rate (FWER) which is a critical requirement for statistical methodologies in identification of MED. The partitioning principle is invoked to validate the control of the FWER. Our simulation study indicates that the FWER was properly controlled in the case with balanced design but failed in some cases of sample sizes for situations of unbalanced design. In addition, the power of the procedure increases with increasing mean of ratio differences and the sample sizes.

Peculiarities of micronutrient metabolism in obese pregnant women (literature review)

Here we summarize uptodate data on the influence of the most significant micro, macroelements, and vitamins, such as magnesium, vitamin D, iron, and folic acid, on the course of pregnancy and childbirth in obese women. The paper considers both domestic and foreign recommendations for correcting nutritional deficiencies to prevent the development of complications from the pregravid stage to the end of lactation. Nowadays, the deficiency of micro-, macroelements and vitamins is an extremely urgent problem, especially in a group of special risk, i.e. overweight and obese women, whose number is steadily growing simultaneously with an increase of the number of pregnant women of 35+ years of age. It is important to consider a woman's body mass index to prescribe the minimum effective dose of the necessary drugs. Timely preventive personalized correction of the micronutrient state can reduce the risks of such major obstetric syndromes as preeclampsia, premature birth, fetal growth retardation, miscarriage, and placental dysfunction.