Effect of Re-sintering on the morphological and thermoluminescence properties of the ALOX-520 detector.

Significant research is being conducted on new materials suitable for dosimetry in recent decades with particular focus on their luminescent properties. For instance, a new ceramic detector, aluminum oxide 520 (ALOX-520), was developed at CDTN in 2011 using the sol-gel method. The detectors were doped with C, Fe, Mg, Ca, Cr, Ni, and Mo impurities that generated the necessary dosimetric trap levels to enhance the luminescence effects. Consequently, the resultant material was appropriate for the quantification of ionizing radiation fields by both thermally and optically stimulated luminescence techniques. Originally, ALOX 520 was sintered at 2023 K under a highly reducing atmosphere. At the end of this process, it exhibited important dosimetric properties, as already described in existing literature. The objective of this study is to conduct tests at higher temperatures in vacuum to investigate the effect of thermal treatments under these conditions on the structural and dosimetric properties of the material. Accordingly, ALOX-520 was re-sintered at high temperatures and the changes in its physical, morphological, and dosimetric properties were analyzed. ALOX 520T exhibited better dosimetric properties in terms of homogeneity, reproducibility, linearity, and signal fading. Physically, an increase in the detection threshold value of ALOX-520T could be linked to a decrease in the sensitivity of this detector. The energy dependence, the thermal quenching correction, and kinetic studies for ALOX-520T conducted as part of this work are original. However, the obtained results are consistent with those reported in the literature for α-Al2O3 ceramic detectors. XRD and XRF analyses demonstrated that the thermal treatment did not change the crystalline structure or composition of the material. All the results indicate that an appropriate thermal treatment could improve the dosimetric properties of the ALOX-520 detector without causing significant changes in its crystalline structure.

Methodology for characterizing seeds under development for brachytherapy by means of radiochromic and photographic films.

The development of new medical devices possess a number of challenges, including designing, constructing, and assaying prototypes. In the case of new brachytherapy seeds, this is also true. In this paper, a methodology for rapid dosimetric characterization of (125)I brachytherapy seeds during the early stages of their development is introduced. The characterization methodology is based on the joint use of radiochromic and personal monitoring photographic films in order to determine the planar anisotropy due to the radiation field produced by the seed under development, by means of isodose curves. To evaluate and validate the process, isodose curves were obtained with both types of films after irradiation with a commercial (125)I brachytherapy seed.

Feasibility of EBT Gafchromic films for comparison exercises among standard beta radiation fields.

The feasibility of using radiochromic films to verify the metrological coherence among standard beta radiation fields was evaluated. Exercises were done between two Brazilian metrology laboratories in beta fields from (90)Sr/(90)Y, (85)Kr and (147)Pm radiation sources. Results showed that the radiochromic film was useful for field mapping aiming uniformity and alignment verification and it was not reliable for absorbed dose measurements only for (147)Pm beta field.

Helicobacter pylori genotypes may determine gastric histopathology.

The outcome of Helicobacter pylori infection has been associated with specific virulence-associated bacterial genotypes. The present study aimed to investigate the gastric histopathology in Portuguese and Colombian patients infected with H. pylori and to assess its relationship with bacterial virulence-associated vacA, cagA, and iceA genotypes. A total of 370 patients from Portugal (n = 192) and Colombia (n = 178) were studied. Corpus and antrum biopsy specimens were collected from each individual. Histopathological features were recorded and graded according to the updated Sydney system. H. pylori vacA, cagA, and iceA genes were directly genotyped in the gastric biopsy specimens by polymerase chain reaction and reverse hybridization. Despite the significant differences between the Portuguese and Colombian patient groups, highly similar results were observed with respect to the relation between H. pylori genotypes and histopathology. H. pylori vacA s1, vacA m1, cagA+ genotypes were significantly associated with a higher H. pylori density, higher degrees of lymphocytic and neutrophilic infiltrates, atrophy, the type of intestinal metaplasia, and presence of epithelial damage. The iceA1 genotype was only associated with epithelial damage in Portuguese patients. These findings show that distinct H. pylori genotypes are strongly associated with histopathological findings in the stomach, confirming their relevance for the development of H. pylori-associated gastric pathology.

Singular polarization eigenstates in anisotropic stratified structures.

A new optical element that displays singular polarization eigenstates is proposed. It consists of a planar stratified structure composed of alternate gyrotropic and birefringent layers. The orthogonality of the polarization eigenstates is lost because of anisotropic reflections at the interfaces, which are enhanced by the special condition chosen for the multiple-beam interference. First we show that the anisotropic reflection at the interface between the layers with linear and circular symmetries does produce strong enough dichroism to break the orthogonality of polarization eigenstates. Second, we investigate the behavior of these eigenstates with respect to their linearity and orthogonality as a function of the width of the layers. Our results concretely demonstrate that it is possible to control the effective optical parameters of such stratified structures by adjusting the thickness of each anisotropic layer. Finally, we obtain the necessary conditions for designing a double-layer system with singular eigenstates of linear polarization.