This first week was an interesting one to say the least. I got called a newbie for mistaking the lotion moisturizing dispenser for a hand sanitizer dispenser. I must admit, I have never come across a lotion moisturizing dispenser in a hospital setting before.
As part of my introduction to the hospital, I was allowed to have a self-guided tour. I admit, scrounging about, and lurking in the corners and tunnels of the hospital is the most exciting thing I've done in a while. You gain a sense of authority when you're the only one in an enormous underground tunnel. You can walk with clipped steps and hear the sound roll and echo.
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To start off with the description of my internship, I will explain Nuclear Medicine. There are two types of medical imaging: structural, and functional. Nuclear Medicine is in the latter, where it uses the bodies physiological functions to help analyze and provide imaging. By using radioactive tags, Nuclear Radiologists can see if there are any abnormalities in the body. For example, Iodine 131 is used in the imaging of thyroid cancer. By using a detector, one can determine the path Iodine 131 takes through the body before it leaves or decomposes. Because thyroid tissue uses Iodine to create the thyroid hormone, the detector will show a gathering of Iodine in the thyroid gland. If a person has thyroid cancer, and is forced to have their thyroid gland removed, a full body Iodine scan will show if there is any thyroid tissue remaining. If there is metastasis, the spreading of cancerous cells throughout the body, the cancer cells will absorb Iodine, because it is still thyroid tissue, and will show up on the scan.
Because I am not officially a Nuclear Medicine student, I am not allowed to do many of the hands-on activities. On the other hand, I can do some of my own research with small radioactive sources and a detector. I spent most of my first week discussing and brainstorming with my on-site mentor, Mr. McCormick. Our idea is to check the attenuation of certain types of tissues. Attenuation is the gradual loss in intensity of any kind of flux through a medium. In this case, it will be the amount of radiation absorbed by the material, which will be determined by placing it between the radiation source and the detector. Cancer by radiation comes mostly from two factors: attenuation, and mitotic rate of the tissues. If the mitotic rate is high, then the chance for cancer is also high because there is a chance for mutations to spiral out of control. So developing children or teenagers will be more vulnerable to radiation than adults. I hope to make a model using probability, attenuation, and mitotic rate to help determine the possibility of getting cancer at different ages/stages.
A fascinating concept that I discussed with Mr. McCormick is radiation hormesis, the hypothesis that low doses of radiation is good because it stimulates repair mechanisms that would otherwise not be usually used. It not only negates the damage done by radiation, but may also help inhibit diseases not caused by radiation. It is a fascinating subject and I will continue to research the topic.
Signing off
-Phillip Yang
Polluting coffee with sugar and cream always helps in getting it down faster. Did you ever figure out how to incorporate the flux of a vector field into your problem?
ReplyDeleteI forgot about the fact that gamma rays pass straight through things. Because of that, the flux is generally negligible because of other variables such as bone density and different types of tissues. A CT or x-ray scan, which calculates the flux through the entire body, is much more efficient than any mathematical model I might create (I assume that the inventors of x-ray and CT already made a mathematical flux model as well). I still plan to incorporate math into my project by using probability to find the chances of mutation of cells. Different types of tissues have different types of cells and orientations and thickness, so I think it will be difficult but interesting.
DeleteHi Phillip,
ReplyDeleteWill you be continuing your research on radiation hormesis mainly through reading articles about it, or is this a topic you can research on-site at your internship?
Radiation hormesis is still a developing theory and Banner does not currently conduct research on it (I believe). It will mostly be on my own time researching educational articles. I think it will take a while for me to actually understand some of the articles themselves.
Deletehello there! What kind of research are you doing on your own there? What kind of tools do you have access to? And also, can you observe other Nuclear Medicine procedures?
ReplyDeleteI observed a few full iodine body scans and two SPECT-CT scans. The full iodine body scans are used to see if there is any spreading of thyroid cancer. The SPECT-CT scans is a combination of CT(x-ray) scanning and detecting the radiation from the chemical tag. It provides a 3-D structural image which can help doctors with diagnostics. I am mostly just double checking the attenuation of materials. Because of paperwork and regulations I will be unable to do much by myself but with the help of my mentor, Mr. McCormick, I will be able to use certain scanners there. Most of the tools I will have access to are small radioactive sources such as Cobalt 52 (I believe?... will have to double-check).
Delete-continuing- radioactive sources such as Cobalt, and handheld detectors, and anything I think of to use as a barrier (I will try to not bring in anything organic). I mostly stay behind lead-walls and leaded-windows to protect myself. Sometimes I stick a little too much outside of the wall and have to move back to not get irradiated (even though it isn't much).
DeletePhillip, have you researched any other harmful effects that radiation can cause besides cancer? Also, do you plan to pursue the field of Nuclear Medicine as a career?
ReplyDeleteI have not so far, but from my own knowledge, there are multiple things that could happen. In Nuclear Medicine, we are detecting the Gamma radiation, but there are still Alpha and Beta radiation (smaller particles). This mostly causes mutations in the chromosomes/DNA of the cells. This refers back to the two factors that cause cancer: attenuation and cell replication rate. In theory, anything can happen because of mutation caused by radiation. I currently am only studying cancer as a side-effect but I will take into account that there might be other harmful effects.
DeleteThought about your question a little more. I'm not sure if you are wondering if there are any genetic diseases caused by radiation or if you are referring to side effects of radiation. The reason why there are not that many genetic diseases caused by radiation is because genetic diseases are more the result of entire portions of the DNA/chromosome missing. Radiation causes random mutations, and not all parts of the DNA is actually essential to the functioning cell. The probability that there would be enough mutation to cause an entire segment or chromosome to change is actually very slim. So the possibility of changing the cell to become cancerous is more likely than the development of genetic diseases.
DeleteI do hope you can further explore the concept of hormesis. This is a fascinating area and very little has gotten into mainstream biology. Conceptually this makes a lot of sense but it appears much more work needs to be done to verify or confirm. As an aside, your presentation would be greatly enhanced and a big hit if you do your final presentation with all the lights out and you emit an eerie green glow. It would be a first. Think about it.
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks Mr. Nish, I will consider that, maybe some Radium. I have read some articles where a certain area in the Middle East receives about 2.6 rem of background radiation because of the composition of the rocks and landscape. The average radiation worker in the U.S. receives about .2 rem (forgot if the article said yearly/mothly/weekly). When compared, there was no change in the cancer rates of lymphocytes. Small tidbit of info that might be interesting. I will continue my research.
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