We developed a quantitative method to estimate long-term chemical-specific pesticide exposures in a large prospective cohort study of more than 58000 pesticide applicators in North Carolina and Iowa. An enrollment questionnaire was administered to applicators to collect basic time- and intensity-related information on pesticide exposure such as mixing condition, duration and frequency of applic...

Background: Radiotherapy Treatment Planning requires different dosimetric quantities as input in order to calculate a desired dose distribution. This study has been focused to evaluate the depth dose characteristics of superficial X-rays being used for radiotherapy treatment. Materials and Methods: Computerized 3-D water phantom of multi-data system was used. The measurements were made...

Introduction Interaluminal brachytherapy is one of the important methods of esophageal cancer treatment. The effect of applicator attenuation is not considered in dose calculation method released by AAPM-TG43. In this study, the effect of High-Dose Rate (HDR) brachytherapy esophageal applicator on dose distribution was surveyed in HDR brachytherapy. Materials and Methods A cylindrical PMMA phan...

PURPOSE To compare the short-term toxicity and dosimetry of tandem and ring (TR), and tandem and ovoid (TO) applicators in treatment of gynecologic malignancy. MATERIAL AND METHODS Following pelvic external beam radiation therapy (EBRT), a total of 52 computed tomography-based plans from 13 patients with cervical cancer (FIGO IB2-IIIB) were evaluated for HDR brachytherapy. Prescription was 7 ...

BACKGROUND An association may exist between pesticide exposure and suicide. OBJECTIVE We sought to evaluate the existence of an association between pesticide use and suicide using data from the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), a prospective cohort study of licensed pesticide applicators and their spouses in Iowa and North Carolina. METHODS Via linkage to state mortality files and the Nation...

The objective of this work is to present commissioning procedures to clinically implement a three-dimensional (3D), image-based, treatment-planning system (TPS) for high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy (BT) for gynecological (GYN) cancer. The physical dimensions of the GYN applicators and their values in the virtual applicator library were varied by 0.4 mm of their nominal values. Reconstruction ...

In this study, the survey was conducted on pesticide applicators in Chebrolu Mandal of Guntur district to understand mode, frequency and type used, related health aspects constraints using protective garments.

BACKGROUND Organophosphorus (OPs) pesticides are the most commonly used pesticides in Peruvian agriculture. The population at risk for OPs exposure includes formulators, applicators and farmers. Majes Valley is the most important agricultural center of the Southern region of Peru. The present study was aimed to determine the knowledge about using OPs, safety practice and urinary dialkylphosphat...

BACKGROUND Permethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid insecticide widely used in agriculture, in public health, and in many U.S. homes and gardens. OBJECTIVE In this study we evaluated the incidence of cancer among pesticide applicators exposed to permethrin in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS). METHODS A total of 49,093 pesticide applicators were included in this analysis of the AHS, a prospec...

BACKGROUND Pesticide poisoning is an important health problem among Chinese farm workers, but there is a paucity of pesticide poisoning data from China. Using the WHO standard case definition of a possible acute pesticide poisoning, we investigated the prevalence and risk factors of acute work-related pesticide poisoning among farmers in Southern China. METHODS A stratified sample of 910 pest...