No abstract available.
Aluminum Hydroxide* ; Aluminum* ; Korea*

PURPOSE: NEMA NU2-2001 was proposed as a new standard for performance evaluation of whole body PET scanners. In this study, system performance of Siemens CTI ECAT EXACT 47 PET scanner including spatial resolution, sensitivity, scatter fraction, and count rate performance in 2D and 3D mode was evaluated using this new standard method. METHODS: ECAT EXACT 47 is a BGO crystal based PET scanner and covers an axial field of view (FOV) of 16.2 cm. Retractable septa allow 2D and 3D data acquisition. All the PET data were acquired according to the NEMA NU2-2001 protocols (coincidence window: 12 ns, energy window: 250 ~ 650 keV). For the spatial resolution measurement, F-18 point source was placed at the center of the axial FOV ( (a) x=0, and y=1, (b) x=0, and y=10, (c) x=10, and y=0cm) and a position one fourth of the axial FOV from the center ( (a) x=0, and y=1, (b) x=0, and y=10, (c) x=10, and y=0cm). In this case, x and y are transaxial horizontal and vertical, and z is the scanner's axial direction. Images were reconstructed using FBP with ramp filter without any post-processing. To measure the system sensitivity, NEMA sensitivity phantom filled with F-18 solution and surrounded by 1~5 aluminum sleeves were scanned at the center of transaxial FOV and 10 cm offset from the center. Attenuation free values of sensitivity were estimated by extrapolating data to the zero wall thickness. NEMA scatter phantom with length of 70 cm was filled with F-18 or C-11solution (2D: 2, 900 MBq, 3D: 407 MBq), and coincidence count rates were measured for 7 half-lives to obtain noise equivalent count rate (NECR) and scatter fraction. We confirmed that dead time loss of the last frame were below 1%. Scatter fraction was estimated by averaging the true to background (scatter + random) ratios of last 3 frames in which the fractions of random rate are negligibly small. RESULTS: Axial and transverse resolutions at 1cm offset from the center were 0.62 and 0.66 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D), and 0.67 and 0.69 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D). Axial, transverse radial, and transverse tangential resolutions at 10cm offset from the center were 0.72 and 0.68 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D), 0.63 and 0.66 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D), and 0.72 and 0.66 cm (FBP in 2D and 3D). Sensitivity values were 708.6 (2D), 2931.3 (3D) counts/sec/MBq at the center and 728.7 (2D), 3398.2 (3D) counts/sec/MBq at 10 cm offset from the center. Scatter fractions were 0.19 (2D) and 0.49 (3D). Peak true count rate and NECR were 64.0 kcps at 40.1 kBq/mL and 49.6 kcps at 40.1 kBq/mL in 2D and 53.7 kcps at 4.76 kBq/mL and 26.4 kcps at 4.47 kBq/mL in 3D. CONCLUSION: Information about the performance of CTI ECAT EXACT 47 PET scanner reported in this study will be useful for the quantitative analysis of data and determination of optimal image acquisition protocols using this widely used scanner for clinical and research purposes.
Aluminum ; Architectural Accessibility ; Noise

Inveon PET is a recently developed preclinical PET system for small animal. This study was conducted to measure the performance of Inveon PET as recommended by the NEMA NU 4-2008. We measured the spatial resolution, the sensitivity, the scatter fraction and the NECR using a F-18 source. A 3.432 ns coincidence window was used. A 1 mm3 sized F-18 point source was used for the measurement of spatial resolution within an energy window of 350~625 keV. PET acquisition was performed to obtain the spatial resolution from the center to the 5 cm offset toward the edge of the transverse FOV. Sensitivity, scatter fraction, and NECR were measured within an energy window of 350~750 keV. For measuring the sensitivity, a F-18 line source (length: 12.7 cm) was used with concentric 5 aluminum tubes. For the acquisition of the scatter fraction and the NECR, two NEMA scatter phantoms (rat: 50 mm in diameter, 150 mm in length; mouse: 25 mm in diameter, 70 mm in length) were used and the data for 14 half-lives (25.6 hr) was obtained using the F-18 line source (rat: 316 MBq, mouse: 206 MBq). The spatial resolution of the F-18 point source was 1.53, 1.50 and 2.33 mm in the radial, tangential and axial directions, respectively. The volumetric resolution was 5.43 mm3 in the center. The absolute sensitivity was 6.61%. The peak NECR was 486 kcps @121 MBq (rat phantom), and 1056 kcps @128 MBq (mouse phantom). The values of the scatter fraction were 20.59% and 7.93% in the rat and mouse phantoms, respectively. The performances of the Inveon animal PET scanner were measured in this study. This scanner will be useful for animal imaging.
Aluminum ; Animals ; Mice ; Rats

No abstract available.
Aluminum* ; Nose* ; Yttrium*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of different surface treatment methods and thermal ageing on the bond strength of autopolymerizing acrylic resin to Co-Cr. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Co-Cr alloy specimens were divided into five groups according to the surface conditioning methods. C: No treatment; SP: flamed with the Silano-Pen device; K: airborne particle abrasion with Al2O3; Co: airborne particle abrasion with silica-coated Al2O3; KSP: flamed with the Silano-Pen device after the group K experimental protocol. Then, autopolymerized acrylic resin was applied to the treated specimen surfaces. All the groups were divided into two subgroups with the thermal cycle and water storage to determine the durability of the bond. The bond strength test was applied in an universal test machine and treated Co-Cr alloys were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant differences among surface treatments and thermocycling. Their interactons were followed by a multiple comparison' test performed uing a post hoc Tukey HSD test (alpha=0.05). RESULTS: Surface treatments significantly increased repair strengths of repair resin to Co-Cr alloy. The repair strengths of Group K, and Co significantly decreased after 6,000 cycles (P<.001). CONCLUSION: Thermocycling lead to a significant decrease in shear bond strength for air abrasion with silica-coated aluminum oxide particles. On the contrary, flaming with Silano-Pen did not cause a significant reduction in adhesion after thermocycling.
Alloys* ; Aluminum Oxide ; Water

No abstract available.
Aluminum Oxide* ; Dental Porcelain*

The purpose of this study was to evaluated the method for quantitative assessment of bone mass from aluminum-equiv alent value of hydroxyapatite by using digital imaging system consisted of Power Macitosh 7200/120, 15-inch color monitor, and GT-9000 scanner with transparency unit. After aluminum-equivalent image made from correlation between aluminum thickness and grey scale, the accuracy of conversion to mass from aluminum-equivalent value was evaluated. Measured bone mass was compared with converted bone mass fr om aluminum-equivalent value of hydroxyapatite block by correlation formula between aluminum-equivalent value of hydroxy apatite block and hydroxyapatite mass. The results of this study were as follows: 1. Correlation between aluminum thickness and grey level for obtaining aluminum-equivalent imge was high positively ass ociated(r2=0.99). Converted masses from aluminum-equivalent value were very similar to measured masses. There was, statistically, no significnat difference(P<0.05) between them. 2. Correlation between hydroxyapatitie aluminum-equivalent and hydroxyapatite mass was shown to linear relation(r2 =0.95). 3. Converted masses from aluminum-equivalent value of 3 dry mandible segments were similar to measured masses. the diff erence between the exposure directions was not significantly different(P<0.05).
Aluminum ; Durapatite ; Equidae ; Mandible

The purpose of this study was to compare the positional stability of removable dies using several dowel pin systems. The removable dies were made by using five dowel pin systems: single dowel pin(Group I), single dowel pin and prepared groove on the die base(Group II), two-single dowel pin(Group III), two separate parallel dowel pins with plastic sleeves(Group IV), double straight dowel pins with metal sleeve(Group V). Special aluminum mold was made for specimens, and the dies of specimens removed and replaced thirty times with universal testing machine. Horizontal and vertical shift of dies was measured by Olympus monocular scanning tunneling microscope(STM5). The results were as follows: 1. The vertical shift was larger than the horizontal shift in all the other groups except Group I. 2. Single dowel pin system(Group I) was the most unstable of five dowel pin systems. 3. Double dowel pin systems with sleeve(group IV, V) were the most stable of five dowel pin systems. 4. This study indicates that excellent horizontal positional stability is attainable with use of additional groove on the die base or double dowel pin, and excellent vertical positional stability is attainable with use of sleeve.
Aluminum ; Fungi ; Plastics

No abstract available.
Aluminum* ; Parkinsonian Disorders*

The purpose of this experiment was to determind whether the gold electrodeposit on Pd-Ag and Ni-Cr alloys influences on the shear bond strength between veneering resin and silicoated metal surface. All the metal specimens were sandblasted with 250microneter aluminum oxide and followed by silicoating and resin veneering. According to the metal surfaces to be veneered, experimental groups were divided into five. Group Prec : Gold alloy without gold coating Group Semi : Pd-Ag alloy without gold coating Group Base : Ni-Cr alloy without gold coating Group Semi-G : Pd-Ag alloy with gold coating Group Base-G : Ni-Cr alloy with gold coating All specimens were thermocycled 1,000 times at temperature of 5degrees C to 55degrees C. The effects of gold electrodeposit on the shear bond strength between resin and metal interface were measured and fractured surface of the resin veneered metal was examined under the scaning electron microscope. The following results were obtained 1. The shear bond strength between resin and metal was 64.51+/-11.11Kg/cm2in Prec group, 62.77+/-11.23Kg/cm2in Base group and 58.97+/-9.20 Kg/cm2in Semi Group. There was no significant difference among the groups. 2. The bond strength in groups Semi-G and Base-G decreased about 17%, compared to the non-gold-electrodeposit groups(Semi, Base). 3. In groups of non electrodeposit(Prec, Semi, Base), fracture occurred at the interface between alloy and resin, while fracture interface was observed between gold coating and resin in group Semi-G, and between metal substrate and gold coating in group Base-G resp[ectively.
Alloys* ; Aluminum Oxide