Program for Determining the Dosimetric Contribution of Tc-99m Biokinetics in Estimating the Dose to the Heart of a Male Adult.

Purpose: To calculate the contribution of absorbed dose by organs in the biokinetics of Tc-99m when used for radiodiagnosis of the adult male heart employing a Matlab program. Methods: The absorbed self-dose of the adult male heart and absorbed dose by organs in the biokinetics of the heart when administering Tc-99m are estimated using the MIRD formalism and the Cristy-Eckerman representation, which have been employed to develop the algorithm in Matlab. Results: The results indicate that electron capture emissions of 1.446 (mGy/MBq) and Auger electrons of 0.062 (mGy/MBq) are entirely directed towards the target organ (heart) and contribute 29.33% and 1.25% respectively to its total dose. Additionally, the dosimetric contributions of biokinetic organs correspond to characteristic radiation emissions and gamma photons at 2.578 (mGy/MBq) for Tc-99m, representing 52.29% of its total dose. Conclusion: These dosimetric contributions are significant in estimating the total absorbed dose by the heart in adult males and should not be disregarded.

Use of Pineapple Waste as Fuel in Microbial Fuel Cell for the Generation of Bioelectricity.

The excessive use of fossil sources for the generation of electrical energy and the increase in different organic wastes have caused great damage to the environment; these problems have promoted new ways of generating electricity in an eco-friendly manner using organic waste. In this sense, this research uses single-chamber microbial fuel cells with zinc and copper as electrodes and pineapple waste as fuel (substrate). Current and voltage peaks of 4.95667 ± 0.54775 mA and 0.99 ± 0.03 V were generated on days 16 and 20, respectively, with the substrate operating at an acid pH of 5.21 ± 0.18 and an electrical conductivity of 145.16 ± 9.86 mS/cm at two degrees Brix. Thus, it was also found that the internal resistance of the cells was 865.845 ± 4.726 Ω, and a maximum power density of 513.99 ± 6.54 mW/m2 was generated at a current density of 6.123 A/m2, and the final FTIR spectrum showed a clear decrease in the initial transmittance peaks. Finally, from the biofilm formed on the anodic electrode, it was possible to molecularly identify the yeast Wickerhamomyces anomalus with 99.82% accuracy. In this way, this research provides a method that companies exporting and importing this fruit may use to generate electrical energy from its waste.

Literature Review: Evaluation of Drug Removal Techniques in Municipal and Hospital Wastewater.

There are several techniques for the removal of pharmaceuticals (drugs) from wastewater; however, strengths and weaknesses have been observed in their elimination processes that limit their applicability. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the best techniques for the removal of pharmaceuticals from municipal and hospital wastewater. For this, a non-experimental, descriptive, qualitative-quantitative design was used, corresponding to a systematic review without meta-analysis. Based on established inclusion and exclusion criteria, 31 open-access articles were selected from the Scopus, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, and ScienceDirect databases. The results showed that high concentrations of analgesics such as naproxen (1.37 mg/L) and antibiotics such as norfloxacin (0.561 mg/L) are frequently found in wastewater and that techniques such as reverse osmosis, ozonation, and activated sludge have the best removal efficiency, achieving values of 99%. It was concluded that reverse osmosis is one of the most efficient techniques for eliminating ofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, and diclofenac from municipal wastewater, with removal rates ranging from 96 to 99.9%, while for hospital wastewater the activated sludge technique proved to be efficient, eliminating analgesics and antibiotics in the range of 41-99%.