Motion and dosimetric criteria for selecting gating technique for apical lung lesions in magnetic resonance guided radiotherapy

IntroductionPatients treatment compliance increases during free-breathing (FB) treatment, taking generally less time and fatigue with respect to deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH). This study quantifies the gross target volume (GTV) motion on cine-MRI of apical lung lesions undergoing a SBRT in a MR-Linac and supports the patient specific treatment gating pre-selection.Material and methodsA total of 12 patients were retrospectively enrolled in this study. During simulation and treatment fractions, sagittal 0.35 T cine-MRI allows real-time GTV motion tracking. Cine-MRI has been exported, and an in-house developed MATLAB script performed image segmentation for measuring GTV centroid position on cine-MRI frames. Motion measurements were performed during the deep inspiration phase of DIBH patient and during all the session for FB patient. Treatment plans of FB patients were reoptimized using the same cost function, choosing the 3 mm GTV-PTV margin used for DIBH patients instead of the original 5 mm margin, comparing GTV and OARs DVH for the different TP.ResultsGTV centroid motion is <2.2 mm in the antero-posterior and cranio-caudal direction in DIBH. For FB patients, GTV motion is lower than 1.7 mm, and motion during the treatment was always in agreement with the one measured during the simulation. No differences have been observed in GTV coverage between the TP with 3-mm and 5-mm margins. Using a 3-mm margin, the mean reduction in the chest wall and trachea–bronchus Dmax was 2.5 Gy and 3.0 Gy, respectively, and a reduction of 1.0 Gy, 0.6 Gy, and 2.3% in Dmax, Dmean, and V5Gy, respectively, of the homolateral lung and 1.7 Gy in the contralateral lung Dmax.DiscussionsCine-MRI allows to select FB lung patients when GTV motion is <2 mm. The use of narrower PTV margins reduces OARs dose and maintains target coverage

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

Probing effective field theory operators in the associated production of top quarks with a Z boson in multilepton final states at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

CDOM dynamics in the presence of inorganic (silica gel) versus polystyrene plastic particles: a laboratory study - experimental part 1

The present dataset relates to a study that explored dissolved organic matter dynamics under three scenarios: a particle-free environment, a particle-enriched system with polystyrene microplastics, and a particle-enriched system with inorganic particles (water insoluble SiO₂). In part 1 of the experiment, natural marine organic matter was obtained by culturing a non-axenic strain of Chaetoceros socialis in 2 L flasks under each of three scenarios (1C = control, 2PS = polystyrene, 3S = silica). After the growth phase, filtered samples from the three flasks containing dissolved organic matter and bacteria were incubated separately in the dark in 4 replicates closed quartz cuvettes per treatment (total = 12 cuvettes, 28 mL capacity quartz cuvettes 10 cm path length, Hellma 120-QS, Quartz SUPRASIL, Hellma Analytics) at a temperature of of 20 °C ± 2 °C for 5 days. This dataset reports cell numbers measured by optical density in each of the three culturing flasks, three replicate measurements per flask.

Microplastics Contamination versus Inorganic Particles: Effects on the Dynamics of Marine Dissolved Organic Matter

Microplastic contamination has been linked to a range of impacts on aquatic environments. One important area that is only beginning to be addressed is the effect of microplastics on marine carbon cycling and how these compare to the effects related to inorganic particles typically present in ocean waters. The present study explores these impacts on dissolved organic matter dynamics by comparing three scenarios: a particle-free environment, a particle-enriched system with polystyrene microplastics, and a particle-enriched system with inorganic particles (water insoluble SiO2). Natural marine organic matter was obtained by culturing a non-axenic strain of Chaetoceros socialis in 2 L flasks under each of three scenarios. Following the diatom growth phase, filtered samples from the three flasks containing dissolved organic matter and bacteria were incubated separately in the dark for 5 days to monitor changes in dissolved organic matter. Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), a bulk optical property, was monitored daily to examine changes in its quality and quantity and to compare degradation dynamics in the three systems. CDOM absorbance (quantity) remained higher in the control with respect to particle-enriched systems, suggesting that the presence of particles led to different rates of CDOM production and degradation. Using indicators for CDOM that could be related to microbial activity, results showed a higher CDOM alteration in the particle-enriched systems. These results indicate that microplastics have a potential role in modifying marine organic matter dynamics, on a similar magnitude to that of biogenic inorganic particles. Given their increasing concentrations of marine ecosystems, their role in marine microbial processing of organic matter needs to be better understood

CDOM dynamics in the presence of inorganic (silica gel) versus polystyrene plastic particles: a laboratory study - oxygen concentrations

The present dataset relates to a study that explored dissolved organic matter dynamics under three scenarios: a particle-free environment, a particle-enriched system with polystyrene microplastics, and a particle-enriched system with inorganic particles (water insoluble SiO₂). In part 1 of the experiment, natural marine organic matter was obtained by culturing a non-axenic strain of Chaetoceros socialis in 2 L flasks under each of three scenarios (1C = control, 2PS = polystyrene, 3S = silica). Dissolved oxygen concentration was used as a proxy for bacterial activity. Oxygen was measured in each cuvette of all of the three scenarios 1C, 2PS and 3S with a FireSting Oxygen needle-type optical probe and temperature sensor, PyroScience® (Aachen, Germany), at the beginning of part 2 (day 7, t7)

CDOM dynamics in the presence of inorganic (silica gel) versus polystyrene plastic particles: a laboratory study - experimental part 2

The present dataset relates to a study that explored dissolved organic matter dynamics under three scenarios: a particle-free environment, a particle-enriched system with polystyrene microplastics, and a particle-enriched system with inorganic particles (water insoluble SiO₂). In part 1 of the experiment, natural marine organic matter was obtained by culturing a non-axenic strain of Chaetoceros socialis in 2 L flasks under each of three scenarios (1C = control, 2PS = polystyrene, 3S = silica). After the growth phase, filtered samples from the three flasks containing dissolved organic matter and bacteria were incubated separately in the dark in 4 replicates closed quartz cuvettes per treatment (total = 12 cuvettes, 28 mL capacity quartz cuvettes 10 cm path length, Hellma 120-QS, Quartz SUPRASIL, Hellma Analytics) at a temperature of of 20 °C ± 2 °C for 5 days to monitor changes in CDOM. In this phase, Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), a bulk optical property, was monitored daily to examine changes in its quality and quantity and to compare degradation dynamics in the three systems (1C, 2PS and 3S). The dataset for part 2 reports CDOM absorption coefficient at 355 nm (a355, m⁻¹) as well as spectral slope parameters in different wavelengths as indicators of CDOM degradation processes and microbial activity: spectral slope S between 302 and 322 nm (S302-322, nm⁻¹), between 275 and 295 nm (S275-295, nm⁻¹), and between 350 and 400 nm (S350-400, nm⁻¹), as well as slope ratio SR, as SR = S275-295:S350-400.OC was estimated estimated in each cuvette from CDOM absorbance by applying the approach developed by Fichot and Benner (Fichot, C.G.; Benner, R. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2011, 38, doi:10.1029/2010GL046152) using culture specific parameters previously calibrated (Galgani, L. et al., Sci. Rep. 2018, 8, doi:10.1038/s41598-018-32805-4)

Clinical Stage III NSCLC Patients Treated with Neoadjuvant Therapy and Surgery: The Prognostic Role of Nodal Characteristics

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to analyze the prognostic factors in patients that underwent induction therapy and surgery for clinical stage III NSCLC. METHODS: Clinical and pathological characteristics of stage III NSCLC patients for N2 involvement that underwent neoadjuvant treatment (NAD) and surgery from 1/01/1998 to 31/12/2017 were collected and retrospectively analyzed. Tumor characteristics, yClinical, yPathological stage and lymph node characteristics were correlated to Overall Survival (OS). RESULTS: The analysis was conducted on 180 patients. Five-year OS (5YOS) was 50.9%. Univariable analysis results revealed old age (p = 0.003), clinical N2 post-NAD (p = 0.01), pneumonectomy (0.005), persistent pathological N2 (p = 0.039, HR 1.9, 95% CI 1.09-2.68) and adjuvant therapy absence (p = 0.049) as significant negative prognostic factors. Multivariable analysis confirmed pN0N1 (p = 0.02, HR 0.29, 95% CI 0.13-0.62) as a favorable independent prognostic factor and adjuvant therapy absence (p = 0.012, HR 2.61, 95% CI 1.23-5.50) as a negative prognostic factor. Patients with persistent N2 presented a 5YOS of 35.3% vs. 55.8% in pN0N1 patients. Regarding lymph node parameters, the lymph node ratio (NR) significantly correlated with OS: 5YOS of 67.6% in patients with NR < 50% vs. 29.5% in NR > 50% (p = 0.029). CONCLUSION: Clinical response aided the stratification of prognosis in patients that underwent multimodal treatment for stage III NSCLC. Adjuvant therapy seemed to be an important option in these patients, while node ratio was a strong prognosticator in patients with persistent nodal involvement

Measurement of the double-differential inclusive jet cross section in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 5.02 TeV

International audienceThe inclusive jet cross section is measured as a function of jet transverse momentum $p_\mathrm{T}$ and rapidity $y$. The measurement is performed using proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 5.02 TeV, recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 27.4 pb$^{-1}$. The jets are reconstructed with the anti-$k_\mathrm{T}$ algorithm using a distance parameter of $R$ = 0.4, within the rapidity interval $\lvert y\rvert$$\lt$ 2, and across the kinematic range 0.06 $\lt$$p_\mathrm{T}$$\lt$ 1 TeV. The jet cross section is unfolded from detector to particle level using the determined jet response and resolution. The results are compared to predictions of perturbative quantum chromodynamics, calculated at both next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order. The predictions are corrected for nonperturbative effects, and presented for a variety of parton distribution functions and choices of the renormalization/factorization scales and the strong coupling $\alpha_\mathrm{S}$