Copper-64 specific activity (the number of decays per second per amount of substance) and low yield through the Cu(n,γ)Cu reaction. At the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center (MURR) Cu was produced using high-energy neutrons via the Zn(n,p)Cu reaction in high specific activity but low yield. Using a biomedical cyclotron the Ni(p,n)Cu nuclear reaction can produce large quantities of the nuclide with high specific activity. Wilson’s disease is a rare condition in which copper is retained excessively in the body. Toxic levels of copper can lead to organ failure and premature death. Cu is used to study whole body retention of
Alcohol-related brain damage these damaging effects. A nutritional deficiency in thiamine can worsen alcohol-related brain damage. There is a genetic component to thiamine deficiency that causes intestinal malabsorption. More frequently however, thiamine deficiency is caused by excessive alcohol consumption. This leads to Wernicke’s encephalopathy and Korsakoff’s Syndrome which frequently occur simultaneously, known as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Lesions, or brain abnormalities, are typically located in the diencephalon which result in anterograde and retrograde amnesia, or memory loss. Neuroimaging is used to study the effect that alcohol has on the brain. The two main imaging methods are hemo-dynamic and electromagnetic. These techniques have allowed for the