Collar Badge Lens Dose Equivalent Values among United States Physicians Performing Fluoroscopically Guided Interventional Procedures

PurposeTo describe the range of occupational badge dose readings and annualized dose records among physicians performing fluoroscopically guided interventional (FGI) procedures using job title information provided by the same 3 major medical institutions in 2009, 2012, and 2015.Materials and MethodsThe Radiation Safety Office of selected hospitals was contacted to request assistance with identifying physicians in a large commercial dosimetry database. All entries judged to be uninformative of occupational doses to FGI procedure staff were excluded. Monthly and annualized doses were described with univariate statistics and box-and-whisker plots.ResultsThe dosimetry data set of interventional radiology staff contained 169 annual dose records from 77 different physicians and 698 annual dose records from 455 nonphysicians. The median annualized lens dose equivalent values among physicians (11.9 mSv; interquartile range [IQR], 6.9–20.0 mSv) was nearly 3-fold higher than those among nonphysician medical staff assisting with FGI procedures (4.0 mSv; IQR, 1.8–6.7 mSv) (P < .001). During the study period, without eye protection, 25% (23 of 93) of the physician annualized lens dose equivalent values may have exceeded 20 mSv; for nonphysician medical staff, this value may have been exceeded 3.5% (6 of 173) of the time. However, these values did not account for eye protection.ConclusionsThe findings from this study highlight the importance of mitigating occupational dose to the eyes of medical staff, particularly physicians, performing or assisting with FGI procedures. Training on radiation protection principles, the use of personal protective equipment, and patient radiation dose management can all help ensure that the occupational radiation dose is adequately controlled.     

Immunogenicity of a recombinant fusion construct composed of intrinsically unstructured,low polymorphic segments derived from merozoite surface protein 2 and trophozoite exported protein 1

To overcome the extensive polymorphism found in human Plasmodium antigens and to avoid the lengthy characterization of their 3 dimensional structure and subsequent production of the native proteins we have been concentrated in large unstructured, non-or low-polymorphic fragments present in the blood stage of P. falciparum. Three fragments derived from the 2 family-specific and constant regions of merozoite surface protein (MSP2) and PFF0165c protein were previously selected for evaluation as potential single vaccine candidates. In order to increase and optimize their potential efficacy against P. falciparum infection the 3 antigens were combined in a single DNA recombinant product (FusN) and compared its antigenicity with that of single antigens in sera of volunteers living in endemic countries. Immunogenicity of the FusN was then compared with that of the mixture of 3 antigens in 3 strains of mice. Antigen specific, affinity purified human antibodies were then tested in antibody dependent cellular inhibition and merozoite opsonization assays. In addition, the antigen specific antibody response and its association with protection from malaria infection were determined. The data collected indicate that the recombinant product is an equal or better antigen /immunogen than fragments used either alone or as a mixture for vaccination in combination with adjuvant. In addition, antibody response to FusN shows a stronger association with protection than single fragments. The use of a single construct as vaccine would drastically reduce the cost of manufacturing and development of the GMP product.     

Éthique de la recherche : réglementations françaises et applications en oncologie radiothérapie

French regulations about research ethics are based on the so-called Jardé law, which defines researches involving human beings. Researches involving human beings require the submission of research protocols to a committee for protection of persons with a precise list of documents to submit for a favourable opinion. This law describes different categories of researches and determines the ethical procedures to apply before setting up a research protocol. This issue of categorisation is central and must be taken into account by researchers from the beginning of the research process. Researches considered as not involving human beings also require a set of ethical precautions focused on patients’ information and the collection of their non-opposition (due to the application of the General Data Protection Regulation adopted by the European Parliament). Thus, many regulations exist and they require a real work for researchers to meet these requirements in research ethics. This article aims to summarise French regulations. Selected examples are specifically taken into the field of radiation oncology research.     

某设备所致脉冲X射线辐射场测量与防护评价

目的 了解某设备实验条件下不同位置脉冲X射线电离辐射水平，提出适当的防护建议。方法 采用热释光测量方法，分别在设备舱周围不同方向不同距离布放热释光剂量计，累积一定数量脉冲辐射后进行测量；采用电离室型X、γ剂量率仪（FJ-347A）实时测量工作状态下不同距离处电离辐射剂量率水平。依据《电离辐射防护与辐射源安全基本标准》（GB18871—2002）规定的职业照射人员和公众个人剂量限值提出不同工作位辐射防护建议。结果 热释光剂量计累计接收3 000个脉冲辐射，设备舱外壁0.01～8.98 mGy，顶部0.01～15.67 mGy，距外壁1～12 m之间0.01～2.18 mGy，工作位0 mGy。工作状态下，X射线剂量率仪测得距设备舱外侧壁1～20 m之间空气比释动能率范围0.26～16 mGy/h。结论 热释光剂量计、电离室型剂量率仪测量结果基本一致，说明两种方法均可用于脉冲X射线测量；工作状态下设备舱外近距离处辐射剂量率较高，可通过采取防护措施或者限制人员工作量以满足辐射防护要求。     

Zebrafish as a novel model for non-typhoidal Salmonella pathogenesis,transmission and vaccine efficacy

Salmonella-induced gastroenteritis causes massive morbidity and mortality in both adults and children of developing countries. However, it is difficult to study the mode of infection and vaccine efficacy due to inadequacies of current animal models. For this reason, we have explored using zebrafish as an improved model for non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) infection, including Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, Salmonella enterica Enteritidis and Salmonella enterica Weltevreden. In this study, we found that after infection of zebrafish with NTS, severe diarrhea like symptoms were observed and NTS significantly colonized the zebrafish intestine without any manipulation of the normal intestinal microbiota of the fish. Furthermore, these strains can colonize for longer than 72 h and induce severe inflammation in the intestine, which may induce fish death. We also found that infected fish can transmit the pathogen into naïve fish. Moreover, we have established that zebrafish is an excellent model for vaccine study. Successive triple bath vaccination with heat-killed single serotype S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis immunogen induced protective efficacy against a high dose (10⁸ CFU/ml) of infection with these pathogens. This study provides a natural infection model for the study of NTS infection, transmission and vaccine efficacy.     

1,5-Iodonaphthyl azide-inactivated V3526 protects against aerosol challenge with virulent venezuelan equine encephalitis virus

Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is a New World alphavirus. VEEV is highly infectious in aerosolized form and has been identified as a bio-terrorism agent. There is no licensed vaccine for prophylaxis against VEEV. The current IND vaccine is poorly immunogenic and does not protect against an aerosol challenge with virulent VEEV. We have previously shown that VEEV inactivated by 1,5-iodonaphthyl azide (INA) protects against footpad challenge with virulent VEEV. In this study, we inactivated an attenuated strain of VEEV, V3526, with INA and evaluated its protective efficacy against aerosol challenge with wild type VEEV. We demonstrated that among three routes of immunization, intramuscular immunization with INA-inactivate V3526 (INA-iV3526) provided complete protection against aerosol challenge with virulent VEEV. Our data suggests that INA-iV3526 can be explored further for development as an effective vaccine candidate against aerosol challenge of virulent VEEV.