Towards clinical application of ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy and the FLASH effect: Challenges and current status.

Ultra-high dose rate external beam radiotherapy (UHDR-RT) uses dose rates of several tens to thousands of Gy/s, compared with the dose rate of the order of a few Gy/min for conventional radiotherapy techniques, currently used in clinical practice. The use of such dose rate is likely to improve the therapeutic index by obtaining a radiobiological effect, known as the "FLASH" effect. This would maintain tumor control while enhancing tissues protection.

Outcomes Analysis of Patients Receiving Local Ablative Therapy for Oligoprogressive Metastatic NSCLC Under First-Line Immunotherapy.

Context: Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) treatment relies on first-line immunotherapy as single agent or combined with chemotherapy. Oligoprogression may be observed in this setting.

Material And Method: We performed a European multicentric retrospective study on patients treated with first-line immunotherapy, who presented with oligoprogressive disease, treated with a local ablative treatment.

Joint EURADOS-EANM initiative for an advanced computational framework for the assessment of external dose rates from nuclear medicine patients.

Background: In order to ensure adequate radiation protection of critical groups such as staff, caregivers and the general public coming into proximity of nuclear medicine (NM) patients, it is necessary to consider the impact of the radiation emitted by the patients during their stay at the hospital or after leaving the hospital. Current risk assessments are based on ambient dose rate measurements in a single position at a specified distance from the patient and carried out at several time points after administration of the radiopharmaceutical to estimate the whole-body retention. The limitations of such an approach are addressed in this study by developing and validating a more advanced computational dosimetry approach using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations in combination with flexible and realistic computational phantoms and time activity distribution curves from reference biokinetic models.

Factors Influencing Adherence to the Risk Management Program for Women With a Genetic Predisposition to Breast Cancer: Real-World Data from a French Multicenter Program.

Background: Risk management programs targeting women with genetic predispositions to breast cancer (BC), eg, BRCA1 and BRCA2, are effective assuming full adherence with the program protocol. However, high risk to BC in women and equal access to care may not result in high and uniform adherence with the program.

Objective: To elucidate factors influencing adherence with screening program in women with genetic predispositions to BC.

MR compatible detectors assessment for a 0.35 T MR-linac commissioning.

Purpose: To assess a large panel of MR compatible detectors on the full range of measurements required for a 0.35 T MR-linac commissioning by using a specific statistical method represented as a continuum of comparison with the Monte Carlo (MC) TPS calculations. This study also describes the commissioning tests and the secondary MC dose calculation validation.

IL-6 Trans-Signaling Is Increased in Diabetes, Impacted by Glucolipotoxicity, and Associated With Liver Stiffness and Fibrosis in Fatty Liver Disease.

Unlabelled: Many people living with diabetes also have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is involved in both diseases, interacting with both membrane-bound (classical) and circulating (trans-signaling) soluble receptors. We investigated whether secretion of IL-6 trans-signaling coreceptors are altered in NAFLD by diabetes and whether this might associate with the severity of fatty liver disease.

Dysfunction of the Salivary and Lacrimal Glands After Radioiodine Therapy for Thyroid Cancer: Results of the START Study After 6-Months of Follow-Up.

Understanding of changes in salivary and lacrimal gland functions after radioactive iodine therapy (I-therapy) remains limited, and, to date, no studies have evaluated dose-response relationships between absorbed dose from I-therapy and dysfunctions of these glands. This study investigates salivary/lacrimal dysfunctions in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients six months after I-therapy, identifies I-therapy-related risk factors for salivary/lacrimal dysfunctions, and assesses the relationships between I-therapy radiation dose and these dysfunctions. A cohort study was conducted involving 136 DTC patients treated by I-therapy of whom 44 and 92 patients received 1.

Effectiveness of staff radiation protection devices for interventional cardiology procedures.

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of currently available radioprotective (RP) devices in reducing the dose to interventional cardiology staff, especially to the eye lens and brain.

Methods: The performances of five RP devices (masks, caps, patient drapes, staff lead and lead-free aprons and Zero-Gravity (ZG) suspended radiation protection system) were assessed by means of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. A geometry representative of an interventional cardiology setup was modelled and several configurations, including beam projections and staff distance from the source, were investigated.

Circulating microvesicles correlate with radiation proctitis complication after radiotherapy.

In a large retrospective study, we assessed the putative use of circulating microvesicles (MVs), as innovative biomarkers of radiation toxicity in a cohort of 208 patients with prostate adenocarcinoma overexposed to radiation. The level of platelet (P)-, monocyte (M)- and endothelial (E)-derived MVs were assessed by flow cytometry. Rectal bleeding toxicity scores were collected at the time of blood sampling and during the routine follow-up and were tested for association with MVs using a multivariate logistic regression.

[Touch-Massage® care in support of the helping relationship in child psychiatry].

Providing touch-massage care to children in child psychiatry is a process that requires specific learning and a certain psychological and emotional availability. In this context, clinical training in nursing provides tools and resources for the caregiver. This type of care consolidates the relationship of trust and lays the foundations of the helping relationship.

The effect of lead free cap on the doses of ionizing radiation to the head of interventional cardiologists working in haemodynamic room.

Objectives: The study aim was to analyse the influence of the lead free cap on doses received by interventional cardiologists. The impact of lead free cap on doses to the head were evaluated in number of studies. As different methods used to assess the attenuation properties of protective cap can lead to ambiguous results, a detailed study was performed.

Abdominal motion tracking with free-breathing XD-GRASP acquisitions using spatio-temporal geodesic trajectories.

Free-breathing external beam radiotherapy remains challenging due to the complex elastic or irregular motion of abdominal organs, as imaging moving organs leads to the creation of motion blurring artifacts. In this paper, we propose a radial-based MRI reconstruction method from 3D free-breathing abdominal data using spatio-temporal geodesic trajectories, to quantify motion during radiotherapy. The prospective study was approved by the institutional review board and consent was obtained from all participants.

SEED: An Operational Numerical Tool for Dosimetric Reconstruction in Case of External Radiological Overexposure.

In the event of a radiological accident involving external exposure of one or more victims and potential high doses, it is essential to know the dose distribution within the body in order to sort the victims according to the severity of the irradiation and then to take them to the most suitable medical facilities. However, there are currently few techniques that can be rapidly deployed on field and capable of characterizing an irradiation. Therefore, a numerical simulation tool has been designed.

Reuse of medical face masks in domestic and community settings without sacrificing safety: Ecological and economical lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The need for personal protective equipment increased exponentially in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. To cope with the mask shortage during springtime 2020, a French consortium was created to find ways to reuse medical and respiratory masks in healthcare departments. The consortium addressed the complex context of the balance between cleaning medical masks in a way that maintains their safety and functionality for reuse, with the environmental advantage to manage medical disposable waste despite the current mask designation as single-use by the regulatory frameworks.

Hematopoietic Recovery using Multi-Cytokine Therapy in 8 Patients Presenting Radiation-Induced Myelosuppression after Radiological Accidents.

Treatment of accidental radiation-induced myelosuppression is primarily based on supportive care and requires specific treatment based on hematopoietic growth factors injection or hematopoietic cell transplantation for the most severe cases. The cytokines used consisted of pegylated erythropoietin (darbepoetin alfa) 500 IU once per week, pegylated G-CSF (pegfilgrastim) 6 mg × 2 once, stem cell factor 20 µg.kg-1 for five days, and romiplostim (TPO analog) 10 µg.

3D architecture and structural flexibility revealed in the subfamily of large glutamate dehydrogenases by a mycobacterial enzyme.

Glutamate dehydrogenases (GDHs) are widespread metabolic enzymes that play key roles in nitrogen homeostasis. Large glutamate dehydrogenases composed of 180 kDa subunits (L-GDHs) contain long N- and C-terminal segments flanking the catalytic core. Despite the relevance of L-GDHs in bacterial physiology, the lack of structural data for these enzymes has limited the progress of functional studies.

Deletion of intestinal epithelial AMP-activated protein kinase alters distal colon permeability but not glucose homeostasis.

Objective: The intestinal epithelial barrier (IEB) restricts the passage of microbes and potentially harmful substances from the lumen through the paracellular space, and rupture of its integrity is associated with a variety of gastrointestinal disorders and extra-digestive diseases. Increased IEB permeability has been linked to disruption of metabolic homeostasis leading to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, recent studies have uncovered compelling evidence that the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway plays an important role in maintaining epithelial cell barrier function.

Out-of-field doses from radiotherapy using photon beams: A comparative study for a pediatric renal treatment.

Purpose: First, this experimental study aims at comparing out-of-field doses delivered by three radiotherapy techniques (3DCRT, VMAT (two different accelerators), and tomotherapy) for a pediatric renal treatment. Secondly, the accuracy of treatment planning systems (TPS) for out-of-field calculation is evaluated.

Methods: EBT3 films were positioned in pediatric phantoms (5 and 10 yr old).

Quality assurance for the use of computational methods in dosimetry: activities of EURADOS Working Group 6 'Computational Dosimetry'.

Working Group (WG) 6 'Computational Dosimetry' of the European Radiation Dosimetry Group promotes good practice in the application of computational methods for radiation dosimetry in radiation protection and the medical use of ionising radiation. Its cross-sectional activities within the association cover a large range of current topics in radiation dosimetry, including more fundamental studies of radiation effects in complex systems. In addition, WG 6 also performs scientific research and development as well as knowledge transfer activities, such as training courses.