Search

Mobile X-ray unit have previously been widely used within hospitals in general, predominately for imaging patients admitted to intensive care units or for patients who cannot tolerate a visit to the radiology department. It is now possible to have an X-ray examination outside the hospital in nursing homes or to bring the service to frail, vulnerable or disabled patients. A visit to the hospital can be a frightening experience for vulnerable patients living with dementia or other neurological disorder. It can potentially have a long-term impact on the patient's recovery or behaviour. This technical note aimed to provide insight into the planning and running of a mobile X-ray unit in a Danish setting. This technical note draws on the lived experiences of radiographers operating and managing a mobile X-ray service, sharing experiences with the implementation process and the challenges and successes of a mobile X-ray unit. Successes include that frail patient, especially those with dementia, benefit from mobile X-ray examinations, as they can remain in familiar surroundings during an X-ray procedure. In general, patients experienced an increased quality of life and less need for sedation medication due to anxiety. Also, working within a mobile X-ray unit is meaningful work for radiographers. Challenges included increased physicality of work, the funding required for the mobile unit, planning a communication strategy to the referring general practitioners, and permission from authorities to perform mobile examinations. We have successfully implemented a mobile radiography unit that provides a better service for vulnerable patients through learning from successes and challenges. The mobile radiography setup can benefit vulnerable patients and provide meaningful work for the radiographers. However, transportation of mobile radiography equipment outside the hospital includes many considerations and challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although high-calcium diets have been reported to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, our preliminary data with the adenomatous polyposis coli (Apc) Min mutation (Min/+;ApcMin/+) mouse shows a paradoxical increase in intestinal tumor loads (> 65%) with high calcium diets. Since we previously demonstrated that increasing dietary calcium reduces adiposity, and ApcMin/+ mice on high calcium diets exhibited profound loss of adipose tissue, we hypothesized that loss of an adipose tissue-derived tumor suppressor factor(s) resulted in increased tumor susceptibility in animals on the high calcium diet. Accordingly, tumor prone ApcMin/+ mice were crossed with obesity prone lethal yellow agouti (Ay/a) mice to generate obese Ay/ApcMin/+ mice. Low (0.2%), normal (0.5%), and high (1.2%) calcium diets were fed to both Ay/ApcMin/+ mice and ApcMin/+ mice from 35—40 days until 90 days of age (n=21/strain, n=7/diet group). The high calcium diet reduced weight gain in both strains (P < 0.01) and reduced fat pad mass by 46—57% in Ay/ApcMin/+(P < 0.004) and by 65—82% in ApcMin/+(P < 0.03).ApcMin/+ mice on the high calcium diet exhibited an increase in tumor number (76 vs. 29, P=0.009), but this effect was not seen in the Ay/ApcMin/+ mice.β-Catenin and cyclin D1 gene expression were significantly induced with high calcium diet in intestinal tumor tissue of ApcMin/+ mice but not in Ay/ApcMin/+ mice. We conclude that the differential effect of dietary calcium on intestinal tumorigenesis in lean vs. obese ApcMin/+ may result from the loss of adipose-derived protective factor(s) due to the substantial loss of body fat in ApcMin/+ mice fed a high calcium dairy diet, increasingβ-catenin and cyclin D1 in tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]