Condensed Matter Systems Exposed to Radiation: Multiscale Theory, Simulations, and Experiment.

This roadmap reviews the new, highly interdisciplinary research field studying the behavior of condensed matter systems exposed to radiation. The Review highlights several recent advances in the field and provides a roadmap for the development of the field over the next decade. Condensed matter systems exposed to radiation can be inorganic, organic, or biological, finite or infinite, composed of different molecular species or materials, exist in different phases, and operate under different thermodynamic conditions.

Radiobiological Implications of Nanoparticles Following Radiation Treatment.

Materials with a high atomic number (Z) are shown to cause an increase in the level of cell kill by ionizing radiation when introduced into tumor cells. This study uses in vitro experiments to investigate the differences in radiosensitization between two cell lines (MCF-7 and U87) and three commercially available nanoparticles (gold, gadolinium, and iron oxide) irradiated by 6 MV X-rays. To assess cell survival, clonogenic assays are carried out for all variables considered, with a concentration of 0.

Impact of post mastectomy radiotherapy on the silicone breast implant.

Implant based reconstruction accounts for over half of breast reconstruction performed in the UK. Patients with implant based breast reconstructions undergoing post mastectomy radiotherapy are at increased risk of capsular contracture and reconstructive failure. This study sought to determine the effect of treatment dose radiotherapy on the bulk mechanical, surface chemical properties of silicone implants as well as their cellular response.

Recommendations for clinical translation of nanoparticle-enhanced radiotherapy.

A multi-disciplinary cooperative for nanoparticle-enhanced radiotherapy (NERT) has been formed to review the current status of the field and identify key stages towards translation. Supported by the Colorectal Cancer Healthcare Technologies Cooperative, the cooperative comprises a diverse cohort of key contributors along the translation pathway including academics of physics, cancer and radio-biology, chemistry, nanotechnology and clinical trials, clinicians, manufacturers, industry, standards laboratories, policy makers and patients. Our aim was to leverage our combined expertise to devise solutions towards a roadmap for translation and commercialisation of NERT, in order to focus research in the direction of clinical implementation, and streamline the critical pathway from basic science to the clinic.

A methodology to extract outcomes from routine healthcare data for patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Outcomes for patients in UK with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (LA NSCLC) are amongst the worst in Europe. Assessing outcomes is important for analysing the effectiveness of current practice. However, data quality is inconsistent and regular large scale analysis is challenging.

Clinical Experience and Evaluation of Patient Treatment Verification With a Transit Dosimeter.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate a protocol for transit dosimetry on a patient population undergoing intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and to assess the issues in clinical implementation of electronic portal imaging devices (EPIDs) for treatment verification.

Methods And Materials: Fifty-eight patients were enrolled in the study. Amorphous silicon EPIDs were calibrated for dose and used to acquire images of delivered fields.

Assessment of the dosimetric accuracies of CATPhan 504 and CIRS 062 using kV-CBCT for performing direct calculations.

The dosimetric accuracies of CATPhan 504 and CIRS 062 have been evaluated using the kV-CBCT of Varian TrueBeam linac and Eclipse TPS. The assessment was done using the kV-CBCT as a standalone tool for dosimetric calculations towards Adaptive replanning. Dosimetric calculations were made without altering the HU-ED curves of the planning computed tomography (CT) scanner that is used by the Eclipse TPS.

A 3D in vitro cancer model as a platform for nanoparticle uptake and imaging investigations.

In order to maximize the potential of nanoparticles (NPs) in cancer imaging and therapy, their mechanisms of interaction with host tissue need to be fully understood. NP uptake is known to be dramatically influenced by the tumor microenvironment, and an imaging platform that could replicate in vivo cellular conditions would make big strides in NP uptake studies. Here, a novel NP uptake platform consisting of a tissue-engineered 3D in vitro cancer model (tumoroid), which mimics the microarchitecture of a solid cancer mass and stroma, is presented.

Toward adaptive radiotherapy for head and neck patients: Feasibility study on using CT-to-CBCT deformable registration for "dose of the day" calculations.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the appropriateness of using computed tomography (CT) to cone-beam CT (CBCT) deformable image registration (DIR) for the application of calculating the "dose of the day" received by a head and neck patient.

Methods: NiftyReg is an open-source registration package implemented in our institution. The affine registration uses a Block Matching-based approach, while the deformable registration is a GPU implementation of the popular B-spline Free Form Deformation algorithm.

Wet cooling systems as a source of sporadic Legionnaires' disease: a geographical analysis of data for England and Wales, 1996-2006.

Background: The source of infection for most sporadic cases of Legionnaires' disease remains unknown. This study aims quantify the relationship between cases and wet cooling systems (WCS), a potential source of aerosolised legionella bacteria.

Methods: The study analysed data on 1163 sporadic, community-acquired cases of Legionnaires' disease in England and Wales with onset between 1996 and 2006, and 11630 postcode controls randomly sampled in proportion to population size and matched on region, age group and sex.