New material for low-dose brachytherapy seeds: Xe-doped amorphous carbon films with post-growth neutron activated 125I.

We report a novel material for use in (125)I brachytherapy that consists of amorphous carbon films grown by ion-beam-assisted deposition and doped with Xe (5 at%) by implantation. Samples of these films grown on Si substrates were irradiated with neutrons in a TRIGA-I nuclear reactor for the production (125)Xe, and latter characterized by gamma spectroscopy. The results indicate that the (124)Xe was efficiently converted into (125)Xe, the precursor of (125)I, and support the activity calculations for a model brachytherapy seed.

[Associated and prognosis in apparent life threatening events (ALTE)] / Patologias associadas e prognóstico de eventos com aparente risco de vida (ALTE).

OBJECTIVE: To verify the etiology and prognosis of ALTE in infancy and its possible relationship to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). METHODS: We studied a group of infants that presented ALTE episodes and were evaluated in our hospital. First we reviewed their clinical history and polysomnographies, then we sent a letter to the families with questions regarding the outcome. RESULTS: 56 patients were included. 92% had ALTE during their first 6 months and 83% in the first trimester. Symptomatic ALTE predominated (71%). The disease most frequently associated was gastroesophageal reflux, followed by neurological diseases. The follow up showed 51.5% of normal outcome, 4 children repeated ALTE, no cases of SIDS were registered. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that multifactorial etiologies can be associated to ALTE, and the outcome is generally related to the associated disease. We did not observe any relationship between ALTE and SIDS considering a predominantly symptomatic ALTE population.