Upper-bound adjustment is analogous to the "limited hold" procedure used in DRL, where non-reinforcement of the longest IRTs is intended to discourage task delinquency; it allows for a direct comparison between LHT and DRL (with limited hold) performance.
All experimental and holding procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Carlos Chagas Filho Institute of Biophysics, Health Sciences Centre, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Protocol no. IBQM049).
When the electrolyte contained MPA, the extended potential holding procedure resulted in significant roughening of the electrode with no detectable quantities of Au in the electrolyte.
Patients were asked to hold their breath for 30 s and keep breathing normally until the initiation of breath-holding procedure to avoid the Valsalva manoeuver or hyperventilation.
When the electrolyte contained DMSA, the Au electrode appeared smoother, 56.6 ± 9.6 ppb of Au was detected in the electrolyte and the XPS analysis displayed a single species in the Au 4f7/2 spectrum indicative of metallic Au after the potential holding procedure.
Subgroups were based on radiation dose (low or normal dose) and breath-hold procedure (inspiratory or expiratory).
In a previous paper, we found that tangential IMRT in combination with a breath-hold procedure resulted in a significant decrease of the dose to the heart and LAD-region compared to 3D-CRT in breath-hold, while retaining optimal target volume coverage [ 11].
Several trials were put on hold while procedures were reviewed.
ROS conceived the study, held surgical procedures, and drafted the manuscript.
