Differences in carbonate chemistry up-regulation of long-lived reef-building corals.

With climate projections questioning the future survival of stony corals and their dominance as tropical reef builders, it is critical to understand the adaptive capacity of corals to ongoing climate change. Biological mediation of the carbonate chemistry of the coral calcifying fluid is a fundamental component for assessing the response of corals to global threats. The Tara Pacific expedition (2016-2018) provided an opportunity to investigate calcification patterns in extant corals throughout the Pacific Ocean.

Comparison of gadolinium nanoparticles and molecular contrast agents for radiation therapy-enhancement.

Purpose: Nanoparticles appear as a novel tool to enhance the effectiveness of radiotherapy in cancer treatments. Many parameters influence their efficacy, such as their size, concentration, composition, their cellular localization, as well as the photon source energy. The current Monte Carlo study aims at comparing the dose-enhancement in presence of gadolinium (Gd), either as isolated atoms or atoms clustered in nanoparticles (NPs), by investigating the role played by these physical parameters at the cellular and the nanometer scale.

Development of a synthetic single crystal diamond dosimeter for dose measurement of clinical proton beams.

The scope of this work was to develop a synthetic single crystal diamond dosimeter (SCDD-Pro) for accurate relative dose measurements of clinical proton beams in water. Monte Carlo simulations were carried out based on the MCNPX code in order to investigate and reduce the dose curve perturbation caused by the SCDD-Pro. In particular, various diamond thicknesses were simulated to evaluate the influence of the active volume thickness (e ) as well as the influence of the addition of a front silver resin (250 µm in thickness in front of the diamond crystal) on depth-dose curves.