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ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Healthy Body Weight Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #66628
Title: A MODULAR DISTRIBUTED SOURCE WHOLE BODY COUNTER PHANTOM ("FUZZY"). I PRELIMINARY MODELING

Author
item CASSOLA, STEPHEN - UND
item LYKKEN, GLENN - UND
item MOMCILOVIC, BERISLAV - UNIV OF ZAGREB

Submitted to: North Dakota Academy of Science Proceedings
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/25/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: A human whole body counter (HWBC) is a device that measures radiation emitted from the human body. The Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center HWBC detectors, 16 above and 16 below a subject's bed, can be utilized to measure this radiation. The total radiation detected by the HWBC depends upon the location of the radioactivity in the body and upon the body shape and size. The object of this experiment was to determine the response of the individual detectors of the HWBC to localized (point) radiation sources placed at different positions along the subject's bed. This allowed the foundation of a mathematical expression that could describe this response in terms of position of the detector and position and strength of the radioactive point sources. This expression will allow the determination of where radioisotope tracers of mineral nutrients go in the body; this will tell where in the body the mineral nutrients are needed.

Technical Abstract: The USDA, ARS Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center (GFHNRC) has a human whole body counter (HWBC) that is composed of one upper and one lower 2m long and 0.75m wide array of sixteen crystal detectors, respectively, so that human body can be "sandwiched" between them. Any source of radioactivity in the "sandwich" can be detected simultaneously by all the detectors, but to various degrees. In this study, an attempt was made to interpret how the HWBC "sees" single and multiple radioactive sources with its multiple detector "eyes." The results obtained were used to develop a prediction model on how the HWBC multiple detector eyes see point sources of radioactivity.