Aim of the study Parkinson's disease is associated with iron deposition in the brain. The QSM (quantitative susceptibility mapping) is more sensitive than T2-weighted imaging, T2* and R2. Few studies have been used QSM to evaluate the iron in the basal ganglia of patients with Parkinson's disease. Our aim was to evaluate the iron deposition in the basal ganglia using QSM and determination of diagnostic value of this method and evaluation of the association between disease stage with QSM and age with QSM in all nuclei, separately. Materials and methods Thirty patients were tested using Hoehn and Yahr test in three different stages. Fifteen healthy subjects were considered as control group. MRI sequences were performed using SIEMENS 3 T scanner.The Signal Processing in NMR software was used to process and analyze the images. The QSM in every of the basal ganglia was measured separately. Results There was a significant difference for QSM in the Subtania Nigera, Red Nucleus, Thalamic Nucleus and Globus Pallidus nucleus between two groups. The relationship between disease stage with QSM was significant in Subtania Nigera, Red Nucleus, and Globus Pallidus nucleus. The QSM values had a significant association with disease stage in all nuclei. The results showed that QSM has a higher accuracy in Subtania Nigera, Globus Pallidus, Red Nucleus and Thalamic Nucleus, respectively. Conclusions Using QSM in Red Nucleus, Subtania Nigera, and Globus Pallidus nuclei can help diagnosis and staging the patients with Parkinson's disease. In future, studies with emphasis on the disease stage can be helpful in evaluation the different parts of these three nuclei.

Due to the radiosensitivity of paediatric patients to X-ray, it is necessary to survey the paediatric DRLs using size-specific dose estimates (SSDE). In the present study, we determined the local diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for paediatric chest, head and abdomen-pelvis CT examinations and their Surview scans in Kermanshah city, Iran. For ≤1 year, 1–5 years, 5–10 years and 10–15 years the DRLs (mGy) based on SSDE were determined N/A, 6.00, 6.25, 8.27 for abdomen-pelvis, and 8.74, 7.45, 11.15, 10.45 for chest and 19.05, 18.33, 18.22, 20.14 for head examinations, respectively. The differences between body size and default phantom defined in CT scanners are significant and should be considered when determining the DRLs. Based on our findings, use of CTDIv and SSDE parameters for determining DRLs leads to significant different results in children; thus SSDE is suggested as a more accurate index than CTDIV for establishing DRLs in paediatric CT examinations.

No abstract

Background: Recently, iron oxide nanoparticles have attracted attention in various diagnosis and treatment fields. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cytotoxicity of various concentrations and incubation times of dextran-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (DIONPs) on HeLa and MCF-7 cancerous cell lines.