Multiple sensory illusions are evoked during the course of proton therapy.

Visual illusions from astronauts in space have been reported to be associated with the passage of high energy charged particles through visual structures (retina, optic nerve, brain). Similar effects have also been reported by patients under proton and heavy ion therapies. This prompted us to investigate whether protons at the Loma Linda University Proton Therapy and Research Center (PTRC) may also affect other sensory systems beside evoking similar perceptions on the visual system.

Patterns of proton therapy use in pediatric cancer management in 2016: An international survey.

Purpose: To facilitate the initiation of observational studies on late effects of proton therapy in pediatric patients, we report on current patterns of proton therapy use worldwide in patients aged less than 22 years.

Materials & Methods: Fifty-four proton centers treating pediatric patients in 2016 in 11 countries were invited to respond to a survey about the number of patients treated during that year by age group, intent of treatment, delivery technique and tumor types.

Results: Among the 40 participating centers (participation rate: 74%), a total of 1,860 patients were treated in 2016 (North America: 1205, Europe: 432, Asia: 223).

Fractionated Proton Beam Therapy for Acoustic Neuromas: Tumor Control and Hearing Preservation.

Purpose: This prospective cohort evaluated patients with acoustic neuroma treated with proton irradiation at Loma Linda University Medical Center. A dose of 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions was given to improve hearing preservation while maintaining tumor control.

Effects of vertebral-body-sparing proton craniospinal irradiation on the spine of young pediatric patients with medulloblastoma.

Purpose: To investigate the long-term effects of vertebral-body-sparing proton craniospinal irradiation (CSI) on the spine of young patients with medulloblastoma.

Methods And Materials: Six children between the ages of 3 and 5 years with medulloblastoma were treated with vertebral-body-sparing proton CSI after maximal safe resection. Radiation therapy was delivered in the supine position with posterior beams targeting the craniospinal axis, and the proton beam was stopped anterior to the thecal sac.

Efficacy and safety of liraglutide versus placebo added to basal insulin analogues (with or without metformin) in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Aim: To confirm the superiority, compared with placebo, of adding liraglutide to pre-existing basal insulin analogue ± metformin in adults with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes [glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) 7.0-10.0% (53-86 mmol/mol)].

Fractionated proton radiotherapy for benign cavernous sinus meningiomas.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of fractionated proton radiotherapy for a population of patients with benign cavernous sinus meningiomas.

Methods And Materials: Between 1991 and 2002, 72 patients were treated at Loma Linda University Medical Center with proton therapy for cavernous sinus meningiomas. Fifty-one patients had biopsy or subtotal resection; 47 had World Health Organization grade 1 pathology.

Biosynthetic approach for functional protein microarrays.

Protein microarrays have emerged as an indispensable research tool for providing information about protein functions and interactions through high-throughput screening. Traditional methods for immobilizing biomolecules onto solid surfaces have been based on covalent and noncovalent binding, entrapment in semipermeable membranes, microencapsulation, sol gel, and hydrogel methods. Each of these techniques has its own strengths but fails to combine the most important tenets of a functional protein microarray such as covalent attachment, native protein conformation, homogeneity of the protein monolayer, control over active site orientation, and retention of protein activity.

Renal cell carcinoma metastasis to the ciliary body responds to proton beam radiotherapy: a case report.

Introduction: We report an unexpected presentation of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) to the ciliary body and an interesting response to proton beam radiotherapy.

Case Presentation: We encountered a case of angle-closure glaucoma as the initial presentation of ocular metastasis to the ciliary body in a 65-year-old Caucasian man who had undergone right radical nephrectomy for RCC 15 years earlier. He underwent YAG (yttrium aluminium garnet) laser peripheral iridotomy while further metastatic workup took place.

Proton-beam therapy for tumors of the CNS.

The focus of this review is proton radiotherapy for primary neoplasms of the brain. Although glial cells are among the most radioresistant in the body, the presence of sensitive critical structures and the high doses needed to control CNS tumors present a formidable challenge to the treating radiation oncologist. Treatment with conventional photon radiation at doses required to control disease progression all too often results in unacceptable toxicity.

Surgery and radiotherapy: complementary tools in the management of benign intracranial tumors.

Historically, radiation therapy has been used extensively in the treatment of malignant and aggressive intracranial tumors, and the importance of its role has been repeatedly verified by prolonged patient survival rates and increased tumor control. As more modern capabilities are employed in surgery and radiotherapy, attention is being directed to the utility of radiation as either primary or secondary treatment of benign tumors. Specifically, primary treatment encompasses irradiation of small benign tumors without biopsy confirmation of tumor type; secondary treatment involves postoperative radiation therapy, with the possibility that less-aggressive tumor resection may be performed in areas that have a higher probability of resultant neurological deficit.

[Psycho-pathological risk factor of arterial disease (prevalence, superposition or vinculation with other factors)].

Alexitimia and depression may or not coexist with others risk factors (comportment o physical). Frecuently they have relation with socio-echonomic status and with ethnia. Sometimes are determinants of the atherosclerotic process by increasing the vascular reactivity by the alteration of the evolution.

Fractionated proton radiation treatment for pediatric craniopharyngioma: preliminary report.

Unlabelled: This retrospective preliminary review evaluated the efficacy and toxicity of fractionated proton radiotherapy in the management of pediatric craniopharyngioma.

Methods: Sixteen patients, aged 7-34 years, were treated with proton-beam radiation. All had undergone at least one tumor resection.

Fractionated proton beam irradiation of pituitary adenomas.

Purpose: Various radiation techniques and modalities have been used to treat pituitary adenomas. This report details our experience with proton treatment of these tumors.

Methods And Materials: Forty-seven patients with pituitary adenomas treated with protons, who had at least 6 months of follow-up, were included in this analysis.

Reducing toxicity from craniospinal irradiation: using proton beams to treat medulloblastoma in young children.

Purpose: We report on a radiation treatment technique that has reduced the dose to critical normal structures in children with medulloblastoma.

Patients And Methods: Three children between the ages of 3 and 4 with stage M2 or M3 medulloblastoma were treated between 2001 and 2003 with craniospinal irradiation using protons. Patients received 36 cobalt gray equivalent to the craniospinal axis, then 18 cobalt gray equivalent to the posterior fossa.

Prevalence of diabetes, obesity, hypertension and hyperlipidemia in the central area of Argentina.

Objectives: There is little information available about the prevalence of chronic metabolic diseases in many Latin American countries. Between 1995 and 1998, studies on the prevalence of obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes were carried out in four cities located in central Argentina: Dean Funes, Oncativo, Pehuajo and Venado Tuerto. The data provided by these surveys are reanalysed here in order to determine prevalence of obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes using new epidemiological criteria.

[Annex: Prevalence of insulin resistance and its association with type 2 diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors].

We present the results of an epidemiological research undertaken in the province of Córdoba (Argentina) with the aim of studying insulin-resistance (IR) in relation to the increased risk for diabetes and its association with risk factors of arterial disease (RFAD). Overall, there were 1413 subjects between 20 and 70 years of age, from both sexes (Dean Funes 18885 inhabitants; sample 715; Oncativo 13880 inhabitants; sample 696). We studied traditional arterial risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity, sedentary life, smoking).

Conformal proton radiation therapy for pediatric low-grade astrocytomas.

Background: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of proton radiation therapy (PRT) for intracranial low-grade astrocytomas, the authors analyzed the first 27 pediatric patients treated at Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC).

Patients And Method: Between September 1991 and August 1997, 27 patients (13 female, 14 male) underwent fractionated proton radiation therapy for progressive or recurrent low-grade astrocytoma. Age at time of treatment ranged from 2 to 18 years (mean: 8.

Fractionated proton beam radiotherapy for acoustic neuroma.

Objective: This study evaluated proton beam irradiation in patients with acoustic neuroma. The aim was to provide maximal local tumor control while minimizing complications such as cranial nerve injuries.

Methods: Thirty-one acoustic neuromas in 30 patients were treated with proton beam therapy from March 1991 to June 1999.

Proton radiation therapy for medium and large choroidal melanoma: preservation of the eye and its functionality.

Purpose: Evaluation of efficacy and safety of proton radiation therapy (PRT) for medium- and large-size choroidal melanoma with focus on preservation of the eye and its function.

Methods: Retrospective review of 78 patients with 60 medium and 18 large-size choroidal melanomas at a median follow-up of 34 months.

Results: The 5-year data for local control, metastases-free survival, and disease-specific survival were estimated to be 90.

Proton radiation therapy for chordomas and chondrosarcomas of the skull base.

Object: Local tumor control, patient survival, and treatment failure outcomes were analyzed to assess treatment efficacy in 58 patients in whom fractionated proton radiation therapy (RT) was administered for skull base chordomas and chondrosarcomas.

Methods: Between March 1992 and January 1998, a total of 58 patients who could be evaluated were treated for skull base tumors, 33 for chordoma and 25 for chondrosarcoma. Following various surgical procedures, residual tumor was detected in 91% of patients; 59% demonstrated brainstem involvement.

Treatment of macular degeneration with proton beams.

Subfoveal neovascular membranes (SNVMs) are a leading cause of severe visual loss in the elderly in the United States. Previously, the only treatment that could halt progression of this disease was laser photocoagulation, which was, however, accompanied by immediate reduction in visual acuity. A single narrow proton beam was used to irradiate 45 patients to either 8 or 14 Cobalt Gray Equivalent.

Conformal proton therapy for prostate carcinoma.

Background: The role and optimum dose of radiation to eradicate prostate cancer continues to be evaluated. Protons offer an opportunity to increase the radiation dose to the prostate while minimizing treatment toxicity.

Methods: Six hundred forty-three patients with localized prostate cancer were treated with protons, with or without photons.

Pilot evaluation of cytokine levels in patients undergoing radiotherapy for brain tumor.

This study was undertaken to evaluate plasma levels of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in 3 pediatric and 14 adult patients receiving radiotherapy for brain tumor. Patients with glioblastoma, astrocytoma, chondrosarcoma, meningioma, schwannoma, and lung adenocarcinoma that had metastasized to the brain were included. Peripheral blood samples were collected before and after treatment with conventional photon and/or proton radiation; samples from healthy volunteers served as controls.

Proton therapy for pediatric cranial tumors: preliminary report on treatment and disease-related morbidities.

Purpose: Accelerated protons were used in an attempt to limit treatment-related morbidity in children with tumors in or near the developing brain, by reducing the integral dose to adjacent normal tissues.

Methods And Materials: Children treated with protons at Loma Linda University Medical Center between August 1991 and December 1994 were analyzed retrospectively. Twenty-eight children, aged 1 to 18 years, were identified as at risk for brain injury from treatment.

Combined proton and photon conformal radiation therapy for locally advanced carcinoma of the prostate: preliminary results of a phase I/II study.

Purpose: A study was developed to evaluate the use of combined photons and protons for the treatment of locally advanced carcinoma of the prostate. This report is a preliminary assessment of treatment-related morbidity and tumor response.

Methods And Materials: One hundred and six patients in stages T2b (B2), T2c (B2), and T3 (C) were treated with 45 Gy photon-beam irradiation to the pelvis and an additional 30 Cobalt Gray Equivalent (CGE) to the prostate with 250-MeV protons, yielding a total prostate dose of 75 CGE in 40 fractions.