Feasibility study for the development of multilayered solar cells for proton linear energy transfer depth profile measurement.

Background: Previous study proposed a method to measure linear energy transfer (LET) at specific points using the quenching magnitude of thin film solar cells. This study was conducted to propose a more advanced method for measuring the LET distribution.

Purpose: This study focuses on evaluating the feasibility of estimating the proton LET distribution in proton therapy.

A Multicenter, Prospective, Observational Study to Evaluate Ethanol-Induced Symptoms in Patients Receiving Docetaxel Chemotherapy.

Purpose: Several previous studies and case reports have reported ethanol-induced symptoms in patients receiving anticancer drugs containing ethanol. Most docetaxel formulations contain ethanol as a solvent. However, there are insufficient data on ethanol-induced symptoms when docetaxel-containing ethanol is administered.

Herbal formula PM012 induces neuroprotection in stroke brain.

Stroke is a major cause of long-term disability world-wide. Limited pharmacological therapy has been used in stroke patients. Previous studies indicated that herb formula PM012 is neuroprotective against neurotoxin trimethyltin in rat brain, and improved learning and memory in animal models of Alzheimer's disease.

Determination of the proton LET using thin film solar cells coated with scintillating powder.

Purpose: The amount of luminescent light detected in a scintillator is reduced with increased proton linear energy transfer (LET) despite receiving the same proton dose, through a phenomenon called quenching. This study evaluated the ability of a solar cell coated with scintillating powder (SC-SP) to measure therapeutic proton LET by measuring the quenching effect of the scintillating powder using a solar cell while simultaneously measuring the dose of the proton beam.

Methods: SC-SP was composed of a flexible thin film solar cell and scintillating powder.

Deep learning method for prediction of patient-specific dose distribution in breast cancer.

Background: Patient-specific dose prediction improves the efficiency and quality of radiation treatment planning and reduces the time required to find the optimal plan. In this study, a patient-specific dose prediction model was developed for a left-sided breast clinical case using deep learning, and its performance was compared with that of conventional knowledge-based planning using RapidPlan™.

Methods: Patient-specific dose prediction was performed using a contour image of the planning target volume (PTV) and organs at risk (OARs) with a U-net-based modified dose prediction neural network.

Evaluation of the dosimetric effect of scattered protons in clinical practice in passive scattering proton therapy.

The present study verified and evaluated the dosimetric effects of protons scattered from a snout and an aperture in clinical practice, when a range compensator was included. The dose distribution calculated by a treatment planning system (TPS) was compared with the measured dose distribution and the dose distribution calculated by Monte Carlo simulation at several depths. The difference between the measured and calculated results was analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation with filtration of scattering in the snout and aperture.

Reduction of superficial radiation dose with bolus in passive scattering proton beam therapy.

Purpose: In passive scattering proton beam therapy, scattered protons from the snout and aperture increase the superficial dose, however, treatment planning systems (TPSs) based on analytic algorithms (such as proton convolution superposition) are often inaccurate in this aspect. This additional dose can cause permanent alopecia or severe radiation dermatitis. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of bolus on the superficial radiation dose in passive scattering proton beam therapy.

FMCW LiDAR System to Reduce Hardware Complexity and Post-Processing Techniques to Improve Distance Resolution.

As the autonomous driving technology develops, research on related sensors is also being actively conducted. One system that is widely used today uses a light source with a wavelength in the 905 nm band for the pulse Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) system. This has the disadvantages of being harmful to the human eye and in making digital signal processing difficult at high sampling rates.

Facial expression monitoring system for predicting patient's sudden movement during radiotherapy using deep learning.

Purpose: Imaging, breath-holding/gating, and fixation devices have been developed to minimize setup errors so that the prescribed dose can be exactly delivered to the target volume in radiotherapy. Despite these efforts, additional patient monitoring devices have been installed in the treatment room to view patients' whole-body movement. We developed a facial expression recognition system using deep learning with a convolutional neural network (CNN) to predict patients' advanced movement, enhancing the stability of the radiation treatment by giving warning signs to radiation therapists.

Comparative clinical evaluation of atlas and deep-learning-based auto-segmentation of organ structures in liver cancer.

Background: Accurate and standardized descriptions of organs at risk (OARs) are essential in radiation therapy for treatment planning and evaluation. Traditionally, physicians have contoured patient images manually, which, is time-consuming and subject to inter-observer variability. This study aims to a) investigate whether customized, deep-learning-based auto-segmentation could overcome the limitations of manual contouring and b) compare its performance against a typical, atlas-based auto-segmentation method organ structures in liver cancer.

The incidence of venous thromboembolism is not lowin Korean patients with advanced pancreatic cancer [corrected].

Background: Pancreatic cancer is among the most common malignancies associated with venous thromboembolism (VTE). Asian patients are known to have a lower incidence of VTE compared to Caucasian patients. However, few studies have investigated the incidence of VTE in Asian patients with pancreatic cancer.

A wearable robotic orthosis with a spring-assist actuator.

This paper introduces a wearable robotic orthosis with spring-assist actuators, which is designed to assist people who have difficulty in walking. The spring-assist actuator consists of an electrical motor and a spring, which are attached to a rotational axis in parallel to each other. The spring-assist actuator is developed based on the analysis on the stiffness of the knee and hip joints during walking.

CALCULATION OF GAMMA SPECTRA IN A PLASTIC SCINTILLATOR FOR ENERGY CALIBRATIONAND DOSE COMPUTATION.

Plastic scintillation detectors have practical advantages in the field of dosimetry. Energy calibration of measured gamma spectra is important for dose computation, but it is not simple in the plastic scintillators because of their different characteristics and a finite resolution. In this study, the gamma spectra in a polystyrene scintillator were calculated for the energy calibration and dose computation.

PLASTIC SCINTILLATOR FOR RADIATION DOSIMETRY.

Inorganic scintillators, composed of high-atomic-number materials such as the CsI(Tl) scintillator, are commonly used in commercially available a silicon diode and a scintillator embedded indirect-type electronic personal dosimeters because the light yield of the inorganic scintillator is higher than that of an organic scintillator. However, when it comes to tissue-equivalent dose measurements, a plastic scintillator such as polyvinyl toluene (PVT) is a more appropriate material than an inorganic scintillator because of the mass energy absorption coefficient. To verify the difference in the absorbed doses for each scintillator, absorbed doses from the energy spectrum and the calculated absorbed dose were compared.

Changes in foot pressure elicited by 3D air balance exercise and pelvic stability exercise for functional leg-length discrepancy in adult women.

[Purpose] This study was conducted to examine the effect of pelvic stabilization exercise and 3D equipment exercise on adult women with Functional Leg-Length Discrepancy (FLLD). [Subjects and Methods] Twenty female students in their 20's having FLLD without Structural Leg Length Discrepancy were selected. Exercise was performed for 50 min per session, three times a week, for six weeks.

Influence of plasma conditions on the intensity ratio calibration curve during laser induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis.

Quantitative prediction of elemental concentration or concentration ratio of solid samples can be achieved by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy if a calibration curve that is little influenced by plasma conditions could be obtained. This work demonstrates that such a calibration curve is available for copper indium gallium diselenide (CuIn(1-x)Ga(x)Se₂) thin film solar cells for properly selected spectral lines. The possible changes of calibration curves based on the selected spectral lines are discussed in consideration of self-absorption in optically thick plasma and the dependency of spectral line properties on plasma temperature.

Independence of elemental intensity ratio on plasma property during laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.

The authors report that the elemental composition ratio of Ga to In in a CuIn(1-x)Ga(x)Se(2) compound semiconductor, a thin-film solar cell material, can be measured with little influence of plasma property changes by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (λ = 1064 nm, τ = 5 ns). It is shown that the similarity in excitation energy levels of the selected Ga and In emission lines and the fact that these elements belong to the same group of the periodic table are the critical factors ensuring the independence of intensity ratio on plasma conditions.

Development of an environmental radiation analysis research capability in the UAE.

The UAE has started a nuclear energy program with the aim of having its first four units on-line between 2017 and 2020 and it is important that the country has an environmental radiation analysis capability to support this program. Khalifa University is therefore implementing a research laboratory to support both experimental analysis and radionuclide transport modeling in the aquatic and terrestrial environment. This paper outlines the development of this capability as well as the work in progress and planned for the future.

Myeloid skewing in murine autoimmune arthritis occurs in hematopoietic stem and primitive progenitor cells.

Skewing toward myeloid cell production is often observed in chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Herein, we determined whether persistent myeloid activation and proinflammatory output occurring in pathologic conditions is at the level of hematopoietic stem and primitive progenitor cells (HSPPCs). By using a mouse arthritis model, we found that even though HSPPCs in arthritis still retained the capacity to differentiate into different lineages, they acquired enhanced in vitro and in vivo propensity in a disease-dependent manner to generate myeloid cells, the key perpetrators of tissue damage in arthritis.

Low-dose combinations of LBH589 and TRAIL can overcome TRAIL-resistance in colon cancer cell lines.

Background: Despite the considerable advances in the treatment of colorectal cancer, substantial changes in treatment strategies are required to overcome the problems of drug resistance and toxicity.

Materials And Methods: Combinations of Pan-deacetylase inhibitor LBH589 and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) were studied in three colon cancer cell lines, HCT116, colo205, and HT29 (HCT116 and colo205 are TRAIL sensitive, whereas HT29 is TRAIL resistant).

Results: It was found that TRAIL-induced cytotoxicity was enhanced by LBH589 cotreatment in the TRAIL-sensitive cell lines, and in the TRAIL-resistant HT29 cell line.

Co-transplantation of human mesenchymal stem cells promotes human CD34+ cells engraftment in a dose-dependent fashion in NOD/SCID mice.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have recently been identified and characterized in humans. Moreover, MSC secrete cytokines that can support hematopoietic progenitor growth. In the present study, we evaluated whether the efficacy of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is improved by their co-transplantation with MSC, and whether this is positively correlated with the dose of infused MSCs.

Phase II study of docetaxel and cisplatin as first-line chemotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer.

Purpose: Palliative chemotherapy for patients with recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer has been shown to have a survival benefit. Docetaxel monotherapy has achieved appreciable results for treating gastric cancer. We investigated the clinical efficacy and feasibility of a docetaxel and cisplatin combination regimen for patients suffering with recurrent or metastatic gastric cancer.

Successful eradication of relapsed primary effusion lymphoma with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation in a patient seronegative for human immunodeficiency virus.

Primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) is a recently recognized disease that occurs most often in immunosuppressed patients, either with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or in the posttransplantation setting, and it occasionally occurs in nonimmunosuppressed patients. Patients present with lymphomatous effusions in serous cavities--pleura, pericardium, or peritoneum--without any identifiable tumor mass. PEL rarely responds to systemic chemotherapy, and the prognosis is poor, with a median survival time of less than 6 months for most cohorts.