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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #104078
Title: TOTAL BODY CALCIUM MEASUREMENTS: COMPARISON OF TWO DELAYED-GAMMA NEUTRON ACTIVATION FACILITIES

Author
item MA, R - BROOKHAVEN NATL. LAB.
item ELLIS, KENNETH - BAYLOR COLL. OF MEDICINE
item YASUMURA, S - BROOKHAVEN NATL. LAB.
item SHYPAILO, ROMAN - BAYLOR COLL. OF MEDICINE
item PIERSON, R - ST.LUKE'S/ROOSEVELT HOSP.

Submitted to: Physics in Medicine and Biology (London)
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/8/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Total body-calcium measurements are useful in terms of evaluating an individual's bone health status and risk with respect to the development of serious bone problems like osteoporosis. These measurements can be obtained using a delayed-gamma neutron activation (DGNA) facility, which is capable of measuring a variety of body elements in conjunction with clinical evaluations pertaining to malnutrition, aging, and disease. A DGNA facilit is located at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, and a newer facility exists at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston. We wanted to cross-reference these two independently calibrated systems, exchanging sets of differently made phantoms substituting for human subjects. Both facilities showed high precision and the results showed remarkable agreement in the total body-calcium measurements, which increases the likelihood of reasonable accuracy. In addition, because the two total body-calcium measurements within the DGNA systems have such high precision, this increases our sense of confidence in the reliability of the absolute mass measurements for total body calcium. These findings are valuable because they will allow us to appropriately compare the results of clinical studies performed at both facilities and to interchange reference databases.

Technical Abstract: This study compares two independently calibrated delayed-gamma neutron activation (DGNA) facilities, one at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, New York, and the other at the Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC), Houston, Texas, that measure total body calcium (TBCa). A set of BNL phantoms was sent to CNRC for neutron activation analysis, and a aset of CNRC phantoms was measured at BNL. Both facilities showed high precision (less than 2%), and the results were in good agreement, within 5%.