Combined radiation strategies for novel and enhanced cancer treatment.

Numerous studies focus on cancer therapy worldwide, and although many advances have been recorded, the complexity of the disease dictates thinking out of the box to confront it. This study reviews some of the currently available ionizing (IR) and non-ionizing radiation (NIR)-based treatment methods and explores their possible combinations that lead to synergistic, multimodal approaches with promising therapeutic outcomes. Traditional techniques, like radiotherapy (RT) show decent results, although they cannot spare 100% the healthy tissues neighboring with the cancer ones.

Non-ionizing, laser radiation in Theranostics: The need for dosimetry and the role of Medical Physics.

The discovery of coherent laser light in 1960 shifted and expanded the biomedical applications of radiation to the non-ionizing part of the electromagnetic spectrum. As in the case of ionizing radiation, but considering the laser specific features, the effective, safe and ethically acceptable use of biomedical laser technology requires interdisciplinary collaboration between physicists, engineers and physicians. This should extend at the research, preclinical and clinical level, inspiring at this time the dynamic discipline of Medical Physics in new areas.

Reconstructing the colour palette of the Konstantinos Parthenis' burnt paintings.

This case study focuses on the reconstruction of the colour palette and the possibility of laser cleaning of burnt paintings. The paintings ORPHEUS IN THE UNDERWORLD and CONCORDIA, composed by the Greek artist Konstantinos Parthenis (1878-1967), have been severely damaged by fire. The colour palette of Parthenis is thoroughly investigated for the first time, and to perform this, a multi-analytical spectroscopic approach was employed.

Measurements of liposome biomechanical properties by combining line optical tweezers and dielectrophoresis.

Liposomes are well-known cell simulators and are currently studied as drug delivery systems, for a targeted delivery of higher drug concentrations, in specific cells. Novel biophotonic techniques for manipulation and characterization of liposomes have been developed; among which are optical tweezers. In our work, we demonstrate a novel use of line optical tweezers to manipulate and cause liposome deformations.

Laser-induced fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopy for the discrimination of basal cell carcinoma from the surrounding normal skin tissue.

The object of this study was to investigate whether laser-induced skin autofluorescence (LIF) and/or light reflectance spectra could provide a useful contrast between basal cell carcinoma (BCC) tissues and the surrounding healthy skin. Unstained human skin samples, excised from humans undergoing biopsy examination, were irradiated with a nitrogen laser (lambda = 337 nm) for excitation of autofluorescence and a tungsten halogen lamp for the reflectance measurements. The ex vivo spectroscopic results were correlated with the histopathology images to distinguish the areas of BCC from those of the surrounding health skin.