Denoising proton reference dosimetry spectrum using a large area ionization chamber-physical basis and type A uncertainty.

Reference dosimetry measurement in a pencil beam scanning system can exhibit dose fluctuation due to intra-spill spot positional drift. This results in a noisy reference dosimetry measurement against energy which could introduce errors in monitor unit calibration. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of smoothing the reference dosimetry measurements on the type A uncertainty.

A treatment-site-specific evaluation of commercial synthetic computed tomography solutions for proton therapy.

Background And Purpose: Despite the superior dose conformity of proton therapy, the dose distribution is sensitive to daily anatomical changes, which can affect treatment accuracy. This study evaluated the dose recalculation accuracy of two synthetic computed tomography (sCT) generation algorithms in a commercial treatment planning system.

Materials And Methods: The evaluation was conducted for head-and-neck, thorax-and-abdomen, and pelvis sites treated with proton therapy.

The influence of sex on the dosage of remimazolam co-administered with remifentanil for loss of consciousness in adult patients: an up-and-down sequential allocation trial.

Background: This study aimed to determine the 50% effective dose of remimazolam co-administered with remifentanil for loss of consciousness in men and women as well as to investigate whether there are between-sex differences.

Methods: Using a modified Dixon's up-and-down allocation approach, we sequentially enrolled male and female patients aged 19-60 years with American Society of Anesthesiologists class I or II who were scheduled for robotic surgery. For both sexes, the starting remimazolam dose was 0.

Real-time gated proton therapy with a reduced source to imager distance: Commissioning and quality assurance.

Introduction: Real-time gated proton therapy (RGPT) is a motion management technique unique to the Hitachi particle therapy system. It uses pulsed fluoroscopy to track an implanted fiducial marker. There are currently no published guidelines on how to conduct the commissioning and quality assurance.

Repurposing DailyQA3 for an efficient and spot position sensitive daily quality assurance tool for proton therapy.

Introduction: Daily quality assurance is an integral part of a radiotherapy workflow to ensure the dose is delivered safely and accurately to the patient. It is performed before the first treatment of the day and needs to be time and cost efficient for a multiple gantries proton center. In this study, we introduced an efficient method to perform QA for output constancy, range verification, spot positioning accuracy and imaging and proton beam isocenter coincidence with DailyQA3.

First clinical experience following the consensus guide for calibrating a proton stopping power ratio curve in a new proton centre.

Background And Purpose: This work introduces the first assessment of CT calibration following the ESTRO's consensus guidelines and validating the HLUT through the irradiation of biological material.

Methods: Two electron density phantoms were scanned with two CT scanners using two CT scan energies. The stopping power ratio (SPR) and mass density (MD) HLUTs for different CT scan energies were derived using Schneider's and ESTRO's methods.

Anticoagulation in patients with end-stage kidney disease and atrial fibrillation: a national population-based study.

Background: The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is high and increasing. However, evidence regarding oral anticoagulant (OAC) use in these patients is insufficient and conflicting.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients in the Korea National Health Insurance System diagnosed with AF after ESKD onset from January 2007 to December 2017.

Utilizing cost-effective portable equipment to enhance COVID-19 variant tracking both on-site and at a large scale.

Despite optimistic predictions on the eventual end of COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019), caution is necessary regarding the emergence of new variants to sustain a positive outlook and effectively address any potential future outbreaks. However, ongoing efforts to track COVID-19 variants are concentrated in developed countries and unique social practices and remote habitats of indigenous peoples present additional challenges. By combining small-sized equipment that is easily accessible and inexpensive, we performed SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) whole genome sequencing and measured the sample-to-answer time and accuracy of this portable variant tracking tool.

Effects of modern aesthetic dental fillings on proton therapy.

Background And Purpose: High-density dental fillings pose a non-negligible impact on head and neck cancer treatment. For proton therapy, stopping power ratio (SPR) prediction will be significantly impaired by the associated image artifacts. Dose perturbation is also inevitable, compromising the treatment plan quality.

The effect of ulinastatin on acute kidney injury in patients undergoing off-pump cardiac bypass surgery.

Background: Ulinastatin, an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant trypsin inhibitor, has shown potential in mitigating acute kidney injury (AKI) and reducing serum creatinine levels after various surgeries. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the effects of ulinastatin on AKI in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery.

Methods: We hypothesized that the administration of ulinastatin could prevent AKI in OPCAB.

The Effect of Sex on the Remimazolam Dosage Required for Successful i-gel Supraglottic Airway Insertion with Remifentanil in Non-Paralyzed Patients: An Up-and-Down Sequential Allocation Trial.

The physiological and pharmacological variations between men and women are known to influence drug efficacy. The objective of this study was to determine the 50% and 95% effective doses (ED and ED) of remimazolam required for i-gel supraglottic airway (ISA) insertion under remifentanil infusion without neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) in both males and females. Patients aged 19-65 years, scheduled for general anesthesia using ISA, were enrolled in this study.

Preventive effect of aripiprazole once-monthly on relapse into mood episodes in bipolar disorder: A multicenter, one-year, retrospective, mirror image study.

Background: We conducted a one-year, retrospective, mirror-image study to investigate the clinical effectiveness and safety of aripiprazole once monthly (AOM) in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). We compared pre-treatment conditions with outcomes after 12 months of AOM treatment.

Methods: Seventy-five bipolar patients were recruited from 12 hospitals in Korea.

Optimizing Optical Dielectrophoretic (ODEP) Performance: Position- and Size-Dependent Droplet Manipulation in an Open-Chamber Oil Medium.

An optimization study is presented to enhance optical dielectrophoretic (ODEP) performance for effective manipulation of an oil-immersed droplet in the floating electrode optoelectronic tweezers (FEOET) device. This study focuses on understanding how the droplet's position and size, relative to light illumination, affect the maximum ODEP force. Numerical simulations identified the characteristic length () of the electric field as a pivotal factor, representing the location of peak field strength.

Portable Nanopore sequencing solution for next-generation HIV drug resistance testing.

Background: Tackling HIV drug resistance is one of major challenges for ending AIDS epidemic, but the elevated expense of cutting-edge genomics hampers the advancement of HIV genotype testing for clinical care.

Methods: We developed a HIV genotype testing pipeline that centers on a cost-efficient portable Nanopore sequencer. Accuracy verification was conducted through comparison with parallel data obtained via fixed-site Pacbio sequencing.

Implementing dispersion measurement as part of scanning proton therapy commissioning and quality assurance.

. Dispersion in an accelerator quantifies the deviation of the proton trajectory when there is a momentum deviation. We present for the first time a safe method of measuring dispersion in the clinic, using a scintillator detector and the momentum deviations within a spill.

Anti-Staphylococcal Activity of SWLA-1 and Its Supernatant against Multidrug-Resistant in Novel Rat Model of Acute Osteomyelitis.

Osteomyelitis caused by staphylococcal infection is a serious complication of orthopedic surgery. is the main causative agent of osteomyelitis in veterinary medicine. Methicillin-resistant (MRSP) has been reported in companion animals, especially dogs.

Precision detection of recent HIV infections using high-throughput genomic incidence assay.

HIV incidence is a key measure for tracking disease spread and identifying populations and geographic regions where new infections are most concentrated. The HIV sequence population provides a robust signal for the stage of infection. Large-scale and high-precision HIV sequencing is crucial for effective genomic incidence surveillance.

Detecting outliers beyond tolerance limits derived from statistical process control in patient-specific quality assurance.

Background: Tolerance limit is defined on pre-treatment patient specific quality assurance results to identify "out of the norm" dose discrepancy in plan. An out-of-tolerance plan during measurement can often cause treatment delays especially if replanning is required. In this study, we aim to develop an outlier detection model to identify out-of-tolerance plan early during treatment planning phase to mitigate the above-mentioned risks.

Effects of Remimazolam Anesthesia with Two Induction Doses on Hemodynamics and Recovery Profile in Older Patients: Comparison with Propofol Anesthesia.

Remimazolam has advantages such as hemodynamic stability and rapid onset. We investigated the effects of induction doses on hemodynamics and recovery profiles for remimazolam compared to propofol in older patients. Sixty-nine patients aged >65 years were randomly assigned to either the propofol anesthesia group (P group) or the remimazolam anesthesia group with an induction dose of 6 mg/kg/h (R6 group) or 12 mg/kg/h (R12 group), followed by 1 mg/kg/h.

Immune cell identifier and classifier (ImmunIC) for single cell transcriptomic readouts.

Single cell RNA sequencing has a central role in immune profiling, identifying specific immune cells as disease markers and suggesting therapeutic target genes of immune cells. Immune cell-type annotation from single cell transcriptomics is in high demand for dissecting complex immune signatures from multicellular blood and organ samples. However, accurate cell type assignment from single-cell RNA sequencing data alone is complicated by a high level of gene expression heterogeneity.

Predicting dice similarity coefficient of deformably registered contours using Siamese neural network.

. Automatic deformable image registration (DIR) is a critical step in adaptive radiotherapy. Manually delineated organs-at-risk (OARs) contours on planning CT (pCT) scans are deformably registered onto daily cone-beam CT (CBCT) scans for delivered dose accumulation.

An arrayed optofluidic system for three-dimensional (3D) focal control via electrowetting.

A new lens capability for three-dimensional (3D) focal control is presented using an optofluidic system consisting of n × n arrayed liquid prisms. Each prism module contains two immiscible liquids in a rectangular cuvette. Using the electrowetting effect, the shape of the fluidic interface can be rapidly adjusted to create its straight profile with the prism's apex angle.

The effect of spill change on reliable absolute dosimetry in a synchrotron proton spot scanning system.

Background: Absolute dosimetry measurement is an integral part of Treatment Planning System (TPS) commissioning and it involves measuring the integrated absorbed dose to water for all energies in a pencil beam scanning delivery system. During the commissioning of Singapore's first proton therapy center, a uniform scanned field with an Advanced Markus chamber method was employed for this measurement, and a large dose fluctuation of at least 5% was observed for 10% of the energy layers during repeated measurements.

Purpose: This study aims to understand the root cause of this fluctuation by relating the actual delivered spot information in the log file with the charge measurement by the ion chambers.