Purpose: To consider the uncertainty in the construction of target boundaries for optimization, and to demonstrate how the principles of mathematical programming can be applied to determine and display the effect on the tumor dose of making small changes to the target boundary.
Methods: The effect on the achievable target dose of making successive small shifts to the target boundary within its range of uncertainty was found by constructing a mixed-integer linear program that automated the placement of the beam angles using the initial target volume.
Results: The method was demonstrated using contours taken from a nasopharynx case, with dose limits placed on surrounding structures. In the illustrated case, enlarging the target anteriorly to provide greater assurance of disease coverage did not force a sacrifice in the minimum or mean tumor doses. However, enlarging the margin posteriorly, near a critical structure, dramatically changed the minimum, mean, and maximum tumor doses.
Conclusion: Tradeoffs between the position of the target boundary and the minimum target dose can be developed using mixed-integer programming, and the results projected as a guide to contouring and plan selection.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2004.09.003 | DOI Listing |
Ann Emerg Med
January 2025
Division of Medical Toxicology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA.
Study Objective: The osmol gap can help detect and manage those with toxic alcohol exposure, and it is altered by all alcohols including ethanol. The optimal correction for ethanol that would allow accurate detection of an alternative alcohol is unclear.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study to assess baseline variations in osmol gap, and then to assess the validity of 2 commonly used coefficients (correction factors) for ethanol.
BMC Cancer
January 2025
Department of Radiation Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, 295 Xichang Road, Kunming, 650032, P. R. China.
Introduction: The core objective of this study was to precisely locate metastatic lymph nodes, identify potential areas in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients that may not require radiotherapy, and propose a hypothesis for reduced target volume radiotherapy on the basis of these findings. Ultimately, we reassessed the differences in dosimetry of organs at risk (OARs) between reduced target volume (reduced CTV2) radiotherapy and standard radiotherapy.
Methods And Materials: A total of 209 patients participated in the study.
Methods Cell Biol
January 2025
T Cell Lymphoma Group, Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address:
T cell lymphoma constitutes a complex group of diseases, characterized by heterogeneous molecular features and clinical symptoms, and a dismal outcome no matter the therapeutic strategy chosen. In an attempt to improve patients' survival chances, treatment combinations (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy and thermotherapy) have been tested for their synergistic effects that may dramatically improve outcomes and reduce the side effects of each single modality treatment when therapeutic effects add up while side effects are distributed. In this context, nanoscale drug delivery agents have been developed and exploited to enhance the release of drugs in the treatment of several diseases, showing potential benefits in terms of pharmaceutical flexibility, selectivity, dose reduction and minimization of adverse effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethods Cell Biol
January 2025
Institut de Recherche en Cancérologie de Montpellier (IRCM), INSERM U1194, Université de Montpellier, Institut régional du Cancer de Montpellier (ICM), Montpellier, France. Electronic address:
Currently, Ovarian Cancer (OC) is the most lethal gynecological malignancy. In most patients, it progresses without clinical signs or symptoms, leading to a late diagnosis when it has already spread in the peritoneal cavity as peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC). To date, OC PC management is based on cytoreductive surgery to remove the macroscopic disease, followed by chemotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRMD Open
January 2025
Department of Immunology and Rheumatology, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan
Objectives: To evaluate the potential of clinical factors, ultrasound findings, serum autoantibodies, and serum cytokine and chemokine profiles as predictors of clinical outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Patients And Methods: We included 200 patients with RA treated with biological and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in a prospective multicentre ultrasound cohort study. Their serum levels of multiple cytokines and chemokines, rheumatoid factors, and serum autoantibodies (anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide-2 (anti-CCP2) and anti-carbamylated protein antibodies) were measured at baseline, 3 months and 12 months.
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