Potentials of additional copper filtration on radiation dose and image quality for adults underwent digital chest X-ray imaging in Dubai Health Authority - UAE.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the potentials of adding copper (Cu) filter on image quality and patient dose of adult patients underwent chest X-ray examination METHODS: Patients were divided into four groups. Group 1, patients were exposed with no added Cu filter (standard or control), group 2 a 0.1 mm Cu filter was added, group 3 acquired with 0.2 mm Cu filter and group 4 performed with 0.3 mm Cu filter. Exposure index (EI), entrance surface dose (ESD) and dose area product (DAP) were recorded from the modality and retrospectively analyzed. The visual grading analysis score (VGAS) was used to evaluate image quality. Mann-Whitney T-Test and one-way ordinary ANOVA Test were used to evaluate statistical differences including gender-based findings. RESULTS: EI, ESD and DAP data for a total of 784 patients (422 male and 362 female) that underwent indirect digital chest radiography exam were collected. Image quality was maintained when adding 0.1 mm Cu filter achieved with ∼19% DAP reduction. Female showed a significant DAP reduction comparing to male registered in the same group. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing dose when using indirect digital chest radiography is possible with no trade-off on image quality. No loss of image quality was reported, images were broadly comparable. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study highlights the importance of utilizing the additional copper filter in digital chest radiography.

Second derivative synchronous fluorescence determination of avanafil in the presence of its acid-induced degradation product aided by powerful Lean Six Sigma tools augmented with D-optimal design.

In this work, the quantitative determination of an erectile dysfunctional drug avanafil in the presence of its acid-induced degradation product was achieved via the application of a pre-optimized novel spectrofluorimetric method. The fluorescence emission wavelength was recorded at 370 and 407 nm, after being excited at 268 and 271 nm for avanafil and its acid-induced degradation product, respectively. Direct determination of avanafil based on its native fluorescence is restricted because the emission spectra of both components are heavily overlapped. Therefore, to overcome this constraint, a novel second derivative synchronous fluorescence method was evolved to eliminate this overlapping. The ideal determination wavelength was found to be 377 nm. Augmentation of lean six sigma (LSS) with response surface methodology (RSM) play a significant role in the development of robust specifications to ensure quality at the six sigma level with a high level of statistical confidence and targeted performance. All of the experimental conditions were optimized using D-optimal design as a RSM to select the optimal parameters. In addition, this work includes a graphical representation of the relationships between various variables that can greatly affect the results and the intensity of the synchronous fluorescence.