Highs and Lows of Spatially Fractionated Radiation Therapy: Dosimetry and Clinical Outcomes.

Objectives: Spatially fractionated radiation therapy (SFRT) intentionally delivers a heterogeneous dose distribution characterized by alternating regions of high and low doses throughout a tumor. This modality may enhance response to subsequent whole tumor radiation in bulky and radioresistant lesions that are historically less responsive to conventional radiation doses alone. The current study presents a single institution experience with modern era SFRT using predominantly a volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) lattice technique.

Ensuring High Quality Treatment Plans with a Plan Quality Review Checklist.

Treatment plan quality is a crucial component for a successful outcome of radiation therapy treatments. As the complexity of radiation therapy planning and delivery techniques increases, the role of the medical physicist in assessing treatment plan quality becomes more critical. Integrating plan quality review throughout the treatment planning process allows improvements without delaying treatment or rushing to produce changes at the last minute.

Impact of Digital Advertising Policy on Harmful Product Promotion: Natural Language Processing Analysis of Skin-Lightening Ads.

Introduction: Starting June 30, 2022, Google implemented its revised Inappropriate Content Advertising Policy, targeting discriminatory skin-lightening ads that suggest superiority of certain skin shades. This study evaluates the ad content changes from 2 weeks before to 2 weeks after the policy's enforcement.

Methods: Text ads from Google searches in eight countries (Bahamas, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and United States) were collected in 2022, totaling 1,974 prepolicy and 3,262 post-policy ads, and analyzed in 2023.

Role for IRAK-4 and p38 in Neutrophil Signaling in Response to Bacterial Lipoproteins from Staphylococcus aureus.

Neutrophils, polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN), express numerous pattern recognition receptors, including TLRs, capable of recognizing a wide variety of pathogens. Receptor engagement initiates a cascade of PMN responses with some occurring in seconds, and some requiring de novo protein synthesis over the course of many hours. Although numerous species of bacteria and bacterial products have been shown to activate PMN via TLRs, the signaling intermediates required for distinct PMN responses have not been well-defined in human PMN.

Adaptive-Driven CT Simulation-Free Soft Tissue Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy: A Single-Patient Case Report.

Online adaptive radiotherapy (ART) enables accommodation for variations in patient setup and anatomical changes, allowing for fractional replanning for target coverage, organ at risk (OAR) sparing, and application of CT simulation-free (SF) workflows. SF workflows bypass the conventional simulation CT scan at the potential trade-off in dosimetric uncertainty. ART can alleviate many of these uncertainties, and this work extends previous experience with an Ethos adaptive cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT)-based SF process to treating a unique bony and soft tissue case with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).