Anas M. Ababneh

Recent studies related to the polymer gel dosimetry technique for radiation therapy have shown the importance of using additive of different concentrations to the polymer gel to improve the dose sensitivity. This work provides a significant improvement on the developed N-(3-methoxypropyl) acrylamide polymer gel dosimeter by incorporated with an inorganic salt of calcium chloride (CaCl2). Nuclear Magnetic Resonance relaxometry read out technique was used to examine dose-response after irradiation by measuring the change in the relaxation rate of R2. A medical linear accelerator with 6 MV photon beams and a 200 cGy/min dose rate was used to irradiate the developed gel with different absorbed doses. It was evidently clear from the findings that the R2 dose sensitivity of the developed polymer gel increased significantly by adding different concentrations of CaCl2 reaching 3.5 times higher than that without …

-ray mammography modality provides excellent low-contrast resolution images with low scatter radiation, making it the gold standard in diagnosing breast cancer. Anti-scatter grid and air gap techniques are typically used to further minimize the scatter radiation and improve image quality. Thus, Geant4 simulation was used to investigate the effectiveness of these techniques in removing scatter radiation in X-ray mammography. The effectiveness of an anti-scatter grid was evaluated using the Bucky factor, where it linearly increased with increasing the anti-scatter grid ratio. It was found that increasing the grid frequency affects the Bucky factor depending on the design of the grid ratio. This research proved that designing an anti-scatter grid with high grid frequency (80 lp/mm), low grid ratio (2: 1), and proper orientation minimized common anti-scatter grid artifacts. The effectiveness of the air gap technique was also evaluated using the air gap dose factor. It increased non-linearly with increasing magnification. This research validated that using smaller pixel sizes and small focal spot sizes improved spatial resolution with magnification. Our simulation validated that the anti-scatter grid and air gap were effective techniques in removing scatter radiation. By comparing these techniques, the anti-scatter grid was more effective in removing scatter radiation at the expense of increasing the radiation absorbed dose with the exception of 2.0 magnification. It’s recommended to be extremely cautious when using 2.0 magnification or a grid ratio higher or equal to 8: 1. These parameters may cause the radiation absorbed dose to be increased by several folds.

The amorphous/crystalline phase transition behavior of PEO films prepared by spin casting method was studied. According to X-ray diffraction (DELTA) analysis, PEO film has a semicrystalline nature at room temperature. The amorphous to crystalline nature of PEO increases with temperature until reaching an amorphous state at 333 K. 1 H NMR spectra of PEO in the temperatures between 298 K and 323 K exhibit two main peaks at around 1.132 ppm and 3.174 ppm with very different widths, where the narrow component can be assigned to the mobile polymer chains in the amorphous phase, whereas the broad component is assigned to the more rigid molecules in the crystalline phase. The calculated activation energies from the Arrhenius fit of the Γ 1 data of the crystalline and amorphous phases are comparable and found to be 0.252 eV and 0.221 eV, respectively. Form fitting dielectric loss (ε ″) and the …

Quantifying the radiological risk from diagnostic radiography is essential for patients’ safety. Effective dose is considered the best quantity to determine the stochastic risk associated with the radiological examinations. Therefore, the present work investigated organ and effective dose for adult patients in the most common type of X-ray examinations, such as the chest (PA/LAT), abdomen (AP) and lumbar spine (AP/LAT) projections. The PCXMC version 2 Monte Carlo program was used to estimate the organ and effective dose for 547 patients who underwent a radiographic examination at the King Abdulaziz Hospital, Saudi Arabia. The results showed wide variation in organ doses. The largest organ dose in each X-ray examination were 2.72 mGy for the spleen in the lumbar spine (LAT), 1.98 mGy for the urinary bladder in the lumbar spine (AP), 0.40 mGy for the spleen in the chest (PA), 0.11 mGy for the kidney in …

It is inevitable that we are exposed to radiation daily from various sources and products that we consume on daily basis. The use of toothpaste for oral hygiene is one of the most common daily practices by humans and yet very little data are available regarding its radiation content. In this work, we investigated the concentrations of gamma emitting radionuclides in toothpaste samples consumed in Jordan. 40K and 226Ra were detected in almost one-third of the samples, whereas 228Ra was detected in nearly half of them. The corresponding activity concentrations in the detected samples were in the ranges of 68.7–154.2, 4.6–14.1 and 1.3–10.0 Bq/kg, respectively. Dose assessment of accidental ingestion of toothpaste for children and adults was made, and its contribution to the annual effective dose was found to be very minimal with maximum doses of ~2.9 and 1.3 μSv for children and adults, respectively.

Cancer is a major problem in Jordan and is the second leading cause of deaths in the country. Successful cancer treatment involves an advanced team that consists of oncologists, medical physicists, dosimetrists, and others. Medical physicists play a pivotal role in the accurate diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Over the last twenty years, medical physics in Jordan has seen an expansion in academic programs which include clinical training in the fields of medical imaging, nuclear medicine, and radiotherapy. This was accompanied by expansion in medical centers for cancer treatment with state-ofthe-art diagnostic and treatment equipment. Medical physics education is currently offered through one BSc. program in biomedical physics and two MSc. programs in medical physics. The recognition of Medical Physics as a profession with proper licensing and certification is still a work in progress but there is an optimistic hope of accomplishing this in the near future.

In the present work, different brands of baby formula and cereal consumed in Jordan were analyzed for their radioactivity content. The activity concentrations of 40K varied with the designated age group in formula with the average concentrations being (in Bq/kg): 160.2 ± 33.5, 219.0 ± 35.0 and 265.2 ± 56.3 for the age groups of 0–6 months, 6–12 months and 1–3 years, respectively. 226Ra was not detected in any of the samples, while 232Th was detected in nearly half the samples with concentrations ranging from 0.22 to 0.82 Bq/kg. 137Cs was detected in only two samples with concentrations of 0.94 and 3.15 Bq/kg. The concentrations of 40K and 232Th in cereal were in the ranges of 23–294 and 0.49–1.48 Bq/kg, respectively. The resulting committed dose was assessed and found in the range of 154–613 μSv, with insignificant contribution from 137Cs, which is within the worldwide range but generally …

This study aims to measure entrance surface doses during routine chest and abdomen x-ray examinations of adult and child patients. Radiation dose measurements were performed using thermoluminescent dosimeters TLD-100s in three major public hospitals in northern Jordan on a total of 100 patients. Wide variations in entrance surface doses were observed within and between hospitals, which might be attributed to significant variations of the selected exposure parameters. For adult patients, the results have shown that the majority of entrance surface dose values from both chest and abdomen examinations were within recommended values of diagnostic reference levels. For child patients, the mean entrance surface dose from chest examinations in three age groups were 0.131 mGy (0–1 y), 0.136 mGy (1–5 y), and 0.191 mGy (5–10 y). These values were considered relatively high compared to the European …