Appendix B
Glossary and Acronyms
Accelerator: A machine used to accelerate charged particles to high energies to create radionuclides.
Agreement States: States to which the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S. NRC) has transferred its regulatory authority. Transfer of U.S. NRC’s authority to a state is an agreement that is signed by the governor of the state and the chairman of the commission.
Alpha particle: Subatomic matter consisting of two protons and two neutrons.
Antibody: A protein made by the immune system to detect and destroy foreign intruders, such as viruses and bacteria.
Antigen: Substances such as proteins that elicit an immune response.
Atherosclerosis: A cardiovascular disease in which fatty material builds up in the arteries.
Auger electron: The second electron that is ejected when emission of an initial electron from an atom causes an emission of a second electron.
Authorized user: The U.S. NRC regulates the use of radioactive material used in medicine by issuing licenses to medical facilities and users. Research using radioactive materials on human subjects may only be performed if the licensee has fulfilled the requirements outlined in 10 CFR Part 35, which include completing a minimum of 700 hours of training.
B-cells: Lymphocytes that are produced in the bone marrow, which play an important role in immune response.
Combinatorial library: Sets of compounds prepared using combinatorial chemistry, which allow scientists to access a wide range of substances and to search for compounds that bind to specific biological and non-biological targets.
Cyclotron: Circular accelerator.
Excitation function: The amount of radionuclide produced is dependent upon the energy of the particle with which the target is bombarded. The yield of the radioactive product versus the energy of the particle is called an excitation function.
Genomics: Describes molecular assessment of the entire genome.
Half-life: The length of time it takes for one-half of the radioactive material to decay by emitting radiation.
Hot atom chemistry: The study of the chemical reactions that occur between high-energy atoms or molecules.
Hypoxia: Shortage of oxygen or reduction in the concentration of oxygen in the environment.
Materials science: An interdisciplinary field comprising applied physics, chemistry, and engineering that studies the physical properties of matter and its applications.
Microfluidics: A multidisciplinary field that studies how fluids behave at microliter and nanoliter volumes and the design of systems in which small volumes of fluids will be used to provide automated sample processing, synthesis, separation, and measurements in devices commonly described by the term “lab-on-a-chip.”
Minimal residual disease: Presence of residual malignant cells, even when few cancer cells can be detected by conventional means (i.e., at subclinical level).
Molecular imaging: Scientific discipline that studies new ways of imaging molecular events and biochemical reactions in a living organism using labeled tracers with high molecular specificity.
Monoclonal antibody: Antibodies that are identical and produced by one type of immune cell.
Nanotechnology: Broad scientific field that creates and uses materials and devices on the nanoscale (i.e., 10−9).
Neurotransmitters: Chemicals that relay signals between the brain and other cells, for example, dopamine and serotonin.
Personalized medicine: Tailoring of strategies to detect, treat, and prevent disease based on an individual’s genetic profile.
Pharmacodynamics: A branch of pharmacology that studies what a drug does to the body.
Pharmacokinetics: A branch of pharmacology that studies what the body does to the drug (i.e., how it is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted).
Positron: An elementary particle of antimatter that undergoes mutual annihilation with a nearby electron, which produces two gamma rays traveling in opposite directions.
Proteomics: Comprehensive analysis of the proteins found in cells and tissues.
Radionuclide: An atom with an unstable nucleus that emits gamma-rays, x-ray photons, or positrons, and also known as a radioisotope.
Radiopharmaceutical: Radioactive drug composed of a radionuclide and a pharmaceutical that is used for diagnosis or therapy.
Refractory disease: A condition that is unresponsive to treatment.
Scintillator: A substance that absorbs high-energy charged-particle radiation and then releases this energy through fluorescence.
Sensitivity: Percentage of radioactive decays that are detected by an imaging instrument.
Specific activity: Amount of radioactivity of a specific radionuclide or labeled compound divided by the mass of the radionuclide or labeled compound to which it has been incorporated.
Stage: A method of classifying patients by how far a disease has progressed.
Systems biology: A discipline that models the interactions within a biological system and studies how these interactions give rise to the function and behavior of that system.
Target: An element or chemical compound that is irradiated in an accelerator or reactor to produce a radionuclide.
Targeted radionuclide therapy: A form of treatment that delivers therapeutic doses of radiation to malignant tumors, for example, by administration of a radiolabeled molecule designed to seek out certain cells.
Targetry: Study of cyclotron target composition and structure to optimize the production of a desired nuclide from the “target” and minimize impurities made through nuclear reactions.
Time-of-flight: For each annihilation event the precise time that each of the coincident photons is detected is noted and the difference in arrival time is calculated.
Tracer: A measurable substance used to mimic, follow, or trace a chemical compound or element without perturbing the process.
ACRONYMS
ACRIN American College of Radiology Imaging Network
AEC Atomic Energy Commission
BERAC Biological and Environmental Research Advisory Committee
BNL Brookhaven National Laboratory
CEA carcinoembryonic antigen
cGMP current Good Manufacturing Practices
CMS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
CT computed tomography
DOE U.S. Department of Energy
DOE-NE Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy
DOE-OBER Department of Energy Office of Biological and Environmental Research
eIND Exploratory Investigational New Drug
ERDA Energy Research and Development Agency
FDA U. S. Food and Drug Administration
FDG 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-d-glucose (also called fluorodeoxyglucose)
GBM glioblastoma multiforme
HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency
IND Investigational New Drug
INL Idaho National Laboratory
IRB Institutional Review Board
LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory
MIBG meta-iodobenylguanidine
MRI magnetic resonance imaging
MURR Missouri University Research Reactor
NCI National Cancer Institute
NEMA National Electrical Manufacturers Association
NERAC Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee
NHLBI National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
NIBIB National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
NIDA National Institute of Drug Abuse
NIH National Institutes of Health
NIMH National Institute of Mental Health
NINDS National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
NRC U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory