Gamma irradiator facilities can be used in a wide range of applications such as biological and chemical researches, sterilization of medical devices and products. Dose mapping must be performed in these equipments in order to establish plant operational parameters, as dose uniformity, source utilization efficiency and maximum and minimum dose positions. The isodoses curves are measured using dosimeters or computer simulations. This work evaluates the absorbed dose in the CDTN/CNEN GammaCell Irradiation Facility, using the Monte Carlo N-Particles (MCNP) code.

A 42-year-old male complaining of thoracic spine pain was admitted to the hospital for evaluation. An X-ray and computer tomography of the thoracic spine showed spondylodiscitis of the L3 lumbar and L2-L3 intervertebral disk. The tuberculin skin test (PPD) was strongly positive. A radioscopy-guided fine needle aspirate of the affected area was cultured but did not reveal the cause of the disease. Two biopsy attempts failed to reveal the cause of the disease by culturing or by acid-fast-resistant staining (Ziehl Neelsen) of the specimens. A third biopsy also failed to detect the infectious agent by using microbiological procedures, but revealed the presence of a 245-bp amplicon characteristic of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex after PCR of the sample. The result demonstrates the efficacy of PCR for the identification of M. tuberculosis in situations in which conventional diagnosis by culturing techniques or direct microscopy is unable to detect the microorganism. Following this result the patient was treated with the antituberculous cocktail composed by rifampicin, pirazinamide and isoniazid during a six-month period. At the end of the treatment the dorsalgia symptoms had disappeared.

Neste trabalho estudamos o espalhamento quântico de uma partícula por um potencial generalizado que engloba em si todas as formas de potenciais retangulares unidimensionais. Neste contexto nós calculamos as probabilidades de reflexão e transmissão de uma partícula incidente sobre este potencial generalizado e avaliamos os efeitos de sua assimetria na transmissão dessa partícula através dele para energias abaixo e acima da barreira de potencial.

A potential which encompasses all kinds of rectangular one-dimensional potentials is studied in the context of quantum particle scattering. We calculate the reflection and transmission coefficients for this general potential. The effects of the potential asymmetry on transmission, at energies below and above barrier, are studied, as well.

C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured by ELISA in the sera of 165 healthy blood donors and 125 normal children 1 to 14 years old. The serum levels of blood donors ranged from 0.05 to 57.6 mg/l with median and mean values of 1.8 mg/l and 4.86 mg/l, respectively. CRP levels ranged from 0.02 to 14.4 mg/l in the children's sera, the median being 0.45 mg/l and the mean 1.65 mg/l. No individual lacking CRP was detected. The high CRP levels observed in the present study suggest that the population of the State of São Paulo may usually be exposed to subacute infections and/or inflammation without presenting clinical symptoms