Common sources of radiations in a medical environment

Use of radiation is now a days so common in most of the tertiary care hospitals for diagnostic and therapeutic purpose. The ionizing radiation provides many benefits in both diagnostic as well as therapeutic interventions, but they are also potential harmful. Radiation risks, exposure and mitigation strategies should always be in mind while using to an individual (public, radiation worker, and patient) and the environment should not exceed the prescribed safe limits. Regular monitoring of hospital area and radiation workers is mandatory to assess the quality of radiation safety. This review article emphasis on radiation risks, exposure and prevention and treatment strategies.

Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Rice: Insight in Climate Change Scenario

Rice, world’s second major, staple cereal crop that feed the more than 50% of world’s population. To safeguard the production and to fulfill the demand of ever the increasing population and urbanization there is need to increase the rice production. Though the rice yield has increased due to the development of modern technology and climate resilient high yielding cultivars but still it is 10–15 per cent lower than its potential yield due to various biotic and abiotic stress. Drought, extreme temperature, salinity, harmful radiation, heavy metals, gaseous pollutants are the most detrimental abiotic stresses factors that cause the morphological, physiological and biochemical changes in the rice crops and ultimate result is the reduction of rice production globally. Tolerance against these stresses through exploitation of potent biotechnological tools, molecular markers, QTL mapping omices approaches, phytohormones which could offer a more adequate and rapid solution to overcome these abiotic stresses and to enhance the ultimate grain yield of rice.

Segmentation of the Scaphoid Bone in Ultrasound Images

For the percutaneous fixation of scaphoid fractures, navigated approaches have been proposed to facilitate screw placement. Based on ultrasound imaging, navigation can be carried out in a cost-effective and fast manner, furthermore avoiding harmful radiation. For this purpose, a fast and efficient architecture for the automated segmentation of scaphoid bone in ultrasound volume images is needed. Methods: For 2D segmentation of the scaphoid, two architectures are taken into account: 2D nnUNet and Deeplabv3+. These architectures are trained and evaluated on a newly created dataset consisting of 67 annotated in-vivo ultrasound volume images (4576 slice images). Results: In terms of Dice coefficient, the 2D nnUNet achieves 0.67 compared to 0.57 for the Deeplabv3+. In terms of distance metrics, the 2D nnUNet shows an average symmetric surface distance error of 0.66mm, while the Deeplabv3+ achieves 0.55mm. Conclusion: Fast and accurate segmentation of the scaphoid in ultrasound volumes is feasible. Both architectures show competitive results.

How does volcanic outgassing differ on geological time scales between planets with and without plate tectonics?

<div>One of the main factors to assess the possible habitability of a rocky planet (either in or beyond our solar system) is its capability to maintain an atmosphere that allows for moderate temperatures at the surface and would allow water to occur in a liquid form, and that can help shield surface life from harmful radiation.</div> <div>The existence of an atmosphere depends on several factors - possible accretion from the nebula and catastrophic degassing from the crystallizing magma ocean during planet formation, later delivery of volatiles via comets, sinks of atmosphere gases to the surface or to space, and last, but definitely not least, volcanic release of volatiles from the mantle that where stored in the planet's interior during its formation stage.</div> <div>For planets of masses not too different from Earth, volcanic degassing plays a major role for the question if the planet could have an atmosphere. Lower-mass planets might not be able to keep an atmosphere but loose it entirely to space, and much more massive super-Earth planets will likely keep the primordial, catastrophically outgassed atmosphere during magma ocean crystallization, and may never be habitable at their surface due to a thick atmosphere rather comparable to Venus. The "Goldilocks zone" for potentially habitable rocky planets is therefore limited to a range from above Mars' mass to a few Earth masses. However, planets of a few Earth masses may not be able to efficiently outgas volcanic gases, if they are in a stagnant-lid regime. This may be different, though, for planets experiencing plate tectonics like Earth, where hot, molten material reaches the surface at plate boundaries and may therefore build up or replenish an atmosphere. The work presented here compares the efficiency of interior volatile depletion and degassing to the surface for rocky planets of different size and composition, either in the stagnant-lid or in the plate-tectonics regime.</div>

The Effects of Cosmic and Ultraviolet Rays on Yeast and Seeds

Cosmic and ultraviolet rays are pervasive and often difficult to avoid, for atmospheric pollution has caused an increase in harmful radiation reaching the Earth's surface due to the rapid depletion of the ozone layer. Because the deterioration of the ozone layer is a recent phenomenon, it is important to understand the rays’ effects on the DNA of organisms. It is also an area of interest in the field of astrobiology as humans begin to consider the possibility of long-term exposure of crops to these types of radiation in prolonged space travel. The Bioballoon project, described in this paper, was a payload for a weather balloon built to expose samples of yeast and seeds to cosmic and ultraviolet rays in the middle to upper stratosphere. After plating the yeast and planting the seeds, it was found that although cosmic and UV radiation appeared to induce mutations in yeast genes, they do not produce significant phenotypic differences in plants.

Evaluation of the Tendencies of Urology Residents in Different Training Centers in Turkey on the Use of Fluoroscopy in Operations

Aim: To evaluate the tendency, knowledge, awareness and behavior patterns of urology residents training at different institutions in Turkey about the use of fluoroscopy in operations. Methods: The 13-questioned survey prepared using “Google Forms©” as of 01.03.2021 was shared for four weeks in the “WhatsApp®” application group, which includes 279 urology residents studying with university hospitals and training and research hospitals in Turkey. One hundred and thirteen participants, who completed the questionnaire were included in the study. Results: Of the 113 urology residents included in the study, 56 (49.6%) were studying in university hospitals and 57 (50.4%) were in training and research hospitals. 67.3% of the residents stated that they never hesitated to participate in the operations which fluoroscopy was used. Additionally, the residents stated that, also 43.4% of the auxiliary healthcare staff frequently refrain from being involved in these cases(p <0.001). While 21 (37.5%) of the residents trained in the university hospital reported that they hesitated from these cases, this rate was found that 16 (28.2%) of the residents who were trained in the training and research hospitals and a significant difference was observed between two groups (p <0.016). Among residents, the rate of using radioprotective lead apron was 94.7%, and the rate of thyroid shield use was 98.2%. While the rate of using radiation protective glasses was 1.8%, it was learned that none of the residents used radioprotective gloves. Only 5.3% of the residents stated that they are trained in subjects about the harmful radiation effect. Conclusion: Urology residents in Turkey do not receive sufficient training on the harmful effects of fluoroscopy, which they frequently use in their daily practice. In addition, the residents whom training in university hospitals are more scared of the radiation exposure from fluoroscopy than their colleagues working in training and research hospitals.

Computed tomography noise reduction based on total variation minimization and morphological component analysis

X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) scans, while useful, emit harmful radiation which is why low-dose image acquisition is desired. However, noise corruption in these cases is a difficult obstacle. CT image denoising is a challenging topic because of the difficulty in modeling noise. In this study, we propose taking an image decomposition approach to removing noise from low-dose CT images. We model the image as the superposition of a structure layer and a noise layer. Total Variation (TV) minimization is used to learn two dictionaries to represent each layer independently, and sparse coding is used to separate them. Finally, an iterative post-processing stage is introduced that uses image-adapted curvelet dictionaries to recover blurred edges. Our results demonstrate that image separation is a viable alternative to the classic K-SVD denoising method.

Computed tomography noise reduction based on total variation minimization and morphological component analysis

X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) scans, while useful, emit harmful radiation which is why low-dose image acquisition is desired. However, noise corruption in these cases is a difficult obstacle. CT image denoising is a challenging topic because of the difficulty in modeling noise. In this study, we propose taking an image decomposition approach to removing noise from low-dose CT images. We model the image as the superposition of a structure layer and a noise layer. Total Variation (TV) minimization is used to learn two dictionaries to represent each layer independently, and sparse coding is used to separate them. Finally, an iterative post-processing stage is introduced that uses image-adapted curvelet dictionaries to recover blurred edges. Our results demonstrate that image separation is a viable alternative to the classic K-SVD denoising method.

Hybrid Spine Simulator Prototype for X-ray Free Pedicle Screws Fixation Training

Simulation for surgical training is increasingly being considered a valuable addition to traditional teaching methods. 3D-printed physical simulators can be used for preoperative planning and rehearsal in spine surgery to improve surgical workflows and postoperative patient outcomes. This paper proposes an innovative strategy to build a hybrid simulation platform for training of pedicle screws fixation: the proposed method combines 3D-printed patient-specific spine models with augmented reality functionalities and virtual X-ray visualization, thus avoiding any exposure to harmful radiation during the simulation. Software functionalities are implemented by using a low-cost tracking strategy based on fiducial marker detection. Quantitative tests demonstrate the accuracy of the method to track the vertebral model and surgical tools, and to coherently visualize them in either the augmented reality or virtual fluoroscopic modalities. The obtained results encourage further research and clinical validation towards the use of the simulator as an effective tool for training in pedicle screws insertion in lumbar vertebrae.

Thermography in Biomedicine

The historical details are important to understand the development and application of thermography with particular emphasis on its application in medicine, explained on breast cancer detection. Today, recommendations for breast cancer include the use of mammography as the gold standard screening method. In public health, the importance of screening women for possible breast cancer is indisputable, especially in light of the fact that the size of the cancer directly corresponds to the success of the cure. A method that will allow early detection of cancer and/or successful follow-up of postoperative or adjuvant treatment is unquestionable. Thermography as a non-invasive method is harmless and therefore enables repetition without harmful radiation to the patient, unlike mammography. These features should be sufficient to empower its application. However, its breakthrough does not proceed as expected. This chapter particularly emphasizes the importance of conducting studies in a uniform manner to enable the collected data to be comparable appropriately with the methods used so far.