INVESTIGATING THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN NONIONIZING RADIATION AND LIVING SYSTEM BY STUDING OF THE DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF PHANTOM MATERIALS
Integration of life sciences & engineering
Integration of Life Sciences & Engineering - Poster (T5-P)
Keywords: dielectric properties, phantom materials, electromagnetic fields, mixing formula.
Acierno Domenico1, Anna Angela Barba2*, Matteo d’Amore2
1Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Materiali e della Produzione, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, p.le V. Tecchio, 80, 80125 Napoli, ITALY
2Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche,
Università di Salerno, via Ponte don Melillo, 84084 Fisciano (SA) ITALY
*aabarba@unisa.it - tel. +39 089969240 fax +39 089969602
Many researches have been done to elucidate the interaction between nonionizing electromagnetic fields (EM) and living systems. The protection from electronic devices leakages (mobile antennas, personal computer, industrial and domestic appliances) and, on the other hand, the use of EM in medical applications can be designed or improved only understanding the mechanism(s) of interactions involved. Crucial point of any investigations on any deleterious effects or induced benefits effects is to quantify the specific absorption rate (SAR) of the biological systems, i.e. to study their dielectric behaviour during electromagnetic fields exposure. Currently, the tools used to evaluated the interactions are experimental measurements, by thermographic methods or dielectric spectrometry, and numerical simulation procedures. In many experimental investigations, tissues-equivalent materials (liquid or solid gel mixtures), are used. Tissues-equivalent or phantom compounds are materials with dielectric and thermal properties similar to biological systems, i.e. fluids (blood), soft tissues (brain), hard tissues (bone). Their interactions with applied EM are studied to evaluate possible biological hazards as well as to determine useful medical applications such as the heating patterns produced in diathermy and hyperthermia for the treatment of cancer.
Formulation of the phantom materials must fulfill some requirements: these have to be easier to obtain than the living tissues which they simulate; their production processes have to be simple and inexpensive; their characteristic have to be known, reproducible and constant.
In this work the development of materials which mimic the behaviour of biological tissues in their responses to EM interactions is performed. In particular, methodologies of formulation and preparations of phantom materials (saline solutions, solid and semi-solid gels) are set up to simulate thermophysical properties (thermal conductivity, specific heat, density, electrical conductivity) of biological tissues. Measurements of dielectric properties (in the range frequency 200 MH - 3 GH) are performed to obtained their EM interaction responses. Literature models and new mixing formula are also applied to describe the observed dielectric behaviours.
Presented Wednesday 19, 13:30 to 15:00, in session Integration of Life Sciences & Engineering - Poster (T5-P).
