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EDITOR: GEORGE n. MORRISON EDITORIAL HEADQUARTERS 1155 Sixteenth St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Phone: 202-872-4570 Teletype: 710-8220 151 Executive Editor: Josephine M. Petruzzi Managing Editor: Barbara Cassatt Associate Editor; Stuart A. Borman Assistant Editors: Marcia S. Cohen, Rani A. George Editorial Assistant: Louise Voress Production Manager: Leroy L. Corcoran Art Director: John V. Sinnett Staff Artist: Linda M. Mattingly Copy Editor: Gall M. Mortenson Circulation Manager: Cynthia G. Smith Journals Dept., Columbus, Ohlo Associate Head: Marianne Brogan Associate Editor; Rodney L. Temos Advisory Board: Joel A. Carter, Richard S. Danchik, Richard Durst, Dennis H. Evans, Jack W. Frazer, Helen M. Free, Shizuo Fujiwara, Roland F. Hirsch, Csaba Howath, Wilbur I. Kaye, Thomas C. O’Haver, Janet Osteryoung, Herbert L. Retcofsky, Robert E. Sievers, Wilhelm Simon, Rudolph H.Stehi Instrumentation Advisory Panel: Edward M. Chait, M. Bonner Denton, Raymond E. Dessy, Larry R. Faulkner, Martin S. Frant, Michael L. Gross, Fred E. Lytle, Curt Reimann, Andrew T. Zander Contributing Editor, AIC Interface: Raymond E. Dessy The Analytical Approach Advisory Panel: Edward C. Dunlop, Robert A. Hofstader, Wilbur D. Shuits Regulatory Affalrs, Analytical Dlvlslon Committee: Curt W. Reimann (Chairman) Published by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 1155 16th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Books and Journals Dlvlslon Director: D. H. Michael Bowen Journals: Charles R. Bertsch Production: Elmer Pusey, Jr.
“Real” Samples Medical diagnosticians are the analytical chemists of the medical profession. They use a wide array of physical and chemical techniques to extract information from the human body. One of the most exciting recent developments in this field has been the rapid growth in imaging technology. This field, which was recently reviewed by Dr. C. Carl Jaffe [Am.Sci. 1982, 70 (6), 576-851, is of considerable interest to those of us involved in imaging techniques for chemical analysis. Techniques discussed include film radiography, computed tomography, nuclear medicine (radioisotopes), positron emission tomography, ultrasonography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and digital radiography. We chemists make use of some of these techniques in our study of physical and chemical systems; however, it is the use of these techniques in the imaging mode that suggests many exciting applications. All of the medical imaging techniques involve some form of radiation which is transformed into a visual pattern in a spatially well-defined manner. The energy may be either transmitted or reflected by structures deep inside the body. The use of imaging to study structure is obvious; however, a medical image can also serve as a physiological record that may be transient or permanent, depending on the medium and the problem to be addressed. Thus, both form and function can be studied. It is now possible to image blood flow and metabolic processes, as well as the structure of connective tissue and the sizes and configurations of organs. The uses of these medical imaging techniques in the chemical analysis of nonmedical systems should be actively explored. For example, to properly sample a heterogeneous meteorite for the analysis of inclusions, Dr. James Arnold and his colleagues at La Jolla nondestructively probed the interior of this precious material by computed tomographic scanning (Science 1983,219,383-84). The tools for three-dimensional analysis exist. It is now up to the imagination and ingenuity of investigators to apply them to complex and challenging problems.
Marketing & Sales: Claud K. Robinson Research and Development: Seldon W. Terrant Manuscript requirements are published in the January 1983 issue, page 171. Manuscripts for publication (4 copies) should be submitted to ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY at the ACS Washington address. The American Chemical Society and its editors assume no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors. Views expressed in the editorials are those of the editors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the American Chemical Society. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 55,
NO. 4,
APRIL 1983
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