Proton radiotherapy at PTC Czech in Prague

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Pluronic® F-68 enhances the nanoparticle-cell interaction

No abstract available

Clinical intensity modulated proton therapy for Hodgkin lymphoma: which patients benefit the most?

Purpose Radiation therapy (RT) improves control of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), but patients who undergo RT are at risk for late effects, including cardiovascular disease and second cancers, because of radiation doses to organs at risk (OARs). Proton therapy (PT) can reduce OAR doses compared with conventional photon RT. However, access to PT is currently limited, so referrals must be appropriately selective. We aimed to identify subgroups of patients with HL who could benefit the most dosimetrically from RT with PT based on the prechemotherapy disease characteristics. Methods and materials Normal tissue radiation doses were calculated for 21 patients with HL who were treated with deep-inspiration breath-hold pencil-beam scanning (PBS) PT and compared with doses from 3-dimensional conformal (3D-CRT) and partial arc volumetric modulated (PartArc) photon RT. Prechemotherapy disease characteristics associated with significant dosimetric benefits from PBS compared with photon RT were identified. Results Treatment with PBS was well tolerated and provided with good local control. PBS provided dosimetric advantages for patients whose clinical treatment volume extended below the seventh thoracic level and for female patients with axillary disease. In addition, an increasing dosimetric benefit for some OARs was observed for increasing target volume. PBS significantly reduced the mean dose to the heart, breast, lungs, spinal cord, and esophagus. Dose homogeneity and conformity within the target volume were also superior with PBS, but some high-dose measures and hot spots were increased with PBS compared with partial arc volumetric modulated photon RT. Conclusions PBS gives good target coverage and local control while providing reductions in radiation dose to OARs for individuals who receive RT for HL compared with advanced photon RT. Our findings highlight groups of patients who would be expected to gain more dosimetric benefit from PBS. These findings facilitate the selection of patients who should be considered a priority for PT.</p

Keeping up with our students: The evolution of technology and standards in art education

This article addresses the standards of technology in the visual arts, arguing the standards function as de facto policy, the guidelines that shape what teachers teach. In this study, we investigate how art education standards approach technology as a teaching tool and artmaking medium, analyzing the current National Visual Arts Standards, the 21st Century Skills, the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Standards for Art Teacher Preparation, the NAEA Professional Standards for Visual Arts Educators, and how 26 university art education programs teach technology. Because a new set of digital standards were developed as media arts, separate from the visual arts, we believe that media arts should be considered a subset of the larger umbrella of visual arts, seeing visual art educators are the best equipped to address the new digital media arts standards and forms of making. Finally the article makes suggestions about how university art teacher preparation programs can redirect their courses to better relate to contemporary art practices, current educational uses of technology, and the world of ubiquitous computing