3D Monte Carlo radiation transfer modelling of photodynamic therapy

We acknowledge the support of the UK Engineering and Physics Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for funding through a studentship for C L Campbell as well as the Alfred Stewart Trust.The effects of ageing and skin type on Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) for different treatment methods have been theoretically investigated. A multilayered Monte Carlo Radiation Transfer model is presented where both daylight activated PDT and conventional PDT are compared. It was found that light penetrates deeper through older skin with a lighter complexion, which translates into a deeper effective treatment depth. The effect of ageing was found to be larger for darker skin types. The investigation further strengthens the usage of daylight as a potential light source for PDT where effective treatment depths of about 2 mm can be achieved.Publisher PD

Quantifying the value of ecosystem services: a case study of honeybee pollination in the UK

There is concern that insect pollinators, such as honey bees, are currently declining in abundance, and are under serious threat from environmental changes such as habitat loss and climate change; the use of pesticides in intensive agriculture, and emerging diseases. This paper aims to evaluate how much public support there would be in preventing further decline to maintain the current number of bee colonies in the UK. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to obtain the willingness to pay (WTP) for a theoretical pollinator protection policy. Respondents were asked whether they would be WTP to support such a policy and how much would they pay? Results show that the mean WTP to support the bee protection policy was £1.37/week/household. Based on there being 24.9 million households in the UK, this is equivalent to £1.77 billion per year. This total value can show the importance of maintaining the overall pollination service to policy makers. We compare this total with estimates obtained using a simple market valuation of pollination for the UK

Krill biomass estimation : sampling and measurement variability

FB is funded by an EPSRC studentship (grant code: EP/R513337/1).Krill are the subject of growing commercial fisheries and therefore fisheries management is necessary to ensure long-term sustainability. Krill catch limits, set by Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, are based on absolute krill biomass, estimated from acoustic-trawl surveys. In this work, we develop a method for determining an error budget for acoustic-trawl surveys of krill which includes sampling and measurement variability. We use our error budget method to examine the sensitivity of biomass estimates to parameters in acoustic target strength (TS) models, length frequency distribution and length to wetmass relationships derived from net data. We determined that the average coefficient of variation (CV) of estimated biomass was 17.7% and the average CV due from scaling acoustic observations to biomass density was 5.3%. We found that a large proportion of the variability of biomass estimates is due to the krill orientation distribution, a parameter in the TS model. Orientation distributions with narrow standard deviations were found to emphasise the results of nulls in the TS to length relationship, which has to potential to lead to biologically implausible results.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Sintering of calcium phosphates with a femtosecond pulsed laser for hard tissue engineering

The authors acknowledge support from the sponsors of this work; the EPSRC LUMIN (EP/K020234/1) and EU-Marie-Curie-IAPP LUSTRE (324538) projects.Direct laser sintering on hard tissues is likely to open new pathways for personalised medicine. To minimise irradiation damage of the surrounding soft tissues, lasers operating at wavelengths that are ‘safe’ for the tissues and biomaterials with improved optical properties are required. In this work laser sintering is demonstrated with the use of an ultrafast, femtosecond (100 fs) pulsed laser operating at a wavelength of 1045 nm and two existing calcium phosphate minerals (brushite and hydroxyapatite) which have been improved after doping with iron (10 mol%). Femtosecond laser irradiation caused transformation of the Fe3+-doped brushite and Fe3+-doped HAp samples into β-calcium pyrophosphate and calcium-iron-phosphate, respectively, with simultaneous evidence for microstructural sintering and densification. After estimating the temperature profile at the surface of the samples we suggest that soft tissues over 500 μm from the irradiated zone would be safe from thermal damage. This novel laser processing provides a means to control the phase constitution and the morphology of the finished surfaces. The porous structure of β-pyrophosphate might be suitable for applications in bone regeneration by supporting osteogenic cell activity while, the densified Fe3+-rich calcium-iron-phosphate may be promising for applications like dental enamel restoration.PostprintPeer reviewe

South American streamflow and the extreme phases of the Southern Oscillation

This study investigates the extent of the affect [sic] of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation on South American streamflow. The response of South American precipitation and temperature to the extreme phases of ENSO (El Niño and La Niña events) is well documented; but the response of South American hydrology has been barely studied. Such paucity of research contrasts sharply with that available on the response of North American streamflow to ENSO events

A novel light source with tuneable uniformity of light distribution for artificial daylight photodynamic therapy

This project was supported by the University of St. Andrews through the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Impact Accelerator Award (IAA) and by the Laser Research and Therapy Fund (registered charity SC030850). P O’M is funded by Medi-lase (registered charity SC 037390) and the Alfred Stewart Trust.Objectives: Implementation of daylight photodynamic therapy (dPDT) is somewhat limited by variable weather conditions. Light sources have been employed to provide artificial dPDT indoors, with low irradiances and longer treatment times. Uniform light distribution across the target area is key to ensuring effective treatment, particularly for large areas. A novel light source is developed with tuneable direction of light emission in order to meet this challenge. Methods: Wavelength composition of the novel light source is controlled such that the protoporphyrin-IX (PpIX) weighed spectra of both the light source and daylight match. The uniformity of the light source is characterised on a flat surface, a model head and a model leg. For context, a typical conventional PDT light source is also characterised. Additionally, the wavelength uniformity across the treatment site is characterised. Results: The PpIX-weighted spectrum of the novel light source matches with PpIX-weighted daylight spectrum, with irradiance values within the bounds for effective dPDT. By tuning the direction of light emission, improvements are seen in the uniformity across large anatomical surfaces. Wavelength uniformity is discussed. Conclusions: We have developed a light source that addresses the challenges in uniform, multiwavelength light distribution for large area artificial dPDT across curved anatomical surfaces.PostprintPeer reviewe

A Quantitative Study of In Vivo Protoporphyrin IX Fluorescence Build Up During Occlusive Treatment Phases

C L Campbell acknowledges financial support from an UK EPSRC PhD studentship (EP/K503162/1), the Alfred Stewart Trust, the Russell trust award, the Santander mobility award and the FAPESP CEPOF grant 2013/07276.Background: Topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a non-invasive light based therapy used to treat non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) and dysplasia. During PDT, the light sensitive molecule protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) is activated, resulting in the production of singlet oxygen, which subsequently leads to cell death. PpIX is metabolised from a topically applied pro-drug and the strong fluorescence signal associated with PpIX can be utilised as an indicator of the amount of PpIX present within the tumour tissue. In this work we measure the build up PpIX during the occlusive treatment phase and investigate how the PpIX production rate is affected by different lesion and patient characteristics. Methods : Fluorescence measurements were used to investigate the build up of PpIX within the tumour tissue during the 3 hour long occlusive treatment prior to irradiation. The study included in vivo measurements of 38 lesions from 38 individual patients. Actinic keratosis (AK) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC) were the lesion types included in this study. The resulting data from the study was analysed using generalised linear mixed effects models. Results : It was found that the surface fluorescence signal linearly increased with occlusive treatment time. The predictive models suggest that there is a significant difference in PpIX production between lesion location, however no significant difference is demonstrated between different lesion types, gender and skin type. Conclusions : The study extends and supports previous knowledge of PpIX production during the occlusive treatment phase.PostprintPeer reviewe

Роль научно-технической олимпиады в развитии интереса к профессиональной деятельности учащихся

We acknowledge the support of the UK Engineering and Physics Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for funding through a studentship for C L Campbell (EP/K503162/1), the Alfred Stewart Trust as well as the BMLA Education Award.Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been theoretically investigated using a Monte Carlo radiation transfer (MCRT) model. By including complex three dimensional (3D) tumour models a more appropriate representation of the treatment was achieved. The 3D clustered tumour model was compared to a smooth model, resulting in a significantly deeper penetration associated with the clustered model. The results from the work presented here indicates that light might penetrate deeper than suggested by 2D or simple layered models.Publisher PD

Imaging in thick samples, a phased Monte Carlo radiation transfer algorithm

This work was supported by the EPSRC (Grant No. EP/K503162/1).Significance : Optical microscopy is characterized by the ability to get high resolution, below 1  μm, high contrast, functional and quantitative images. The use of shaped illumination, such as with lightsheet microscopy, has led to greater three-dimensional isotropic resolution with low phototoxicity. However, in most complex samples and tissues, optical imaging is limited by scattering. Many solutions to this issue have been proposed, from using passive approaches such as Bessel beam illumination to active methods incorporating aberration correction, but making fair comparisons between different approaches has proven to be challenging. Aim : We present a phase-encoded Monte Carlo radiation transfer algorithm (φMC) capable of comparing the merits of different illumination strategies or predicting the performance of an individual approach. Approach : We show that φMC is capable of modeling interference phenomena such as Gaussian or Bessel beams and compare the model with experiment. Results : Using this verified model, we show that, for a sample with homogeneously distributed scatterers, there is no inherent advantage to illuminating a sample with a conical wave (Bessel beam) instead of a spherical wave (Gaussian beam), except for maintaining a greater depth of focus. Conclusion : φMC is adaptable to any illumination geometry, sample property, or beam type (such as fractal or layered scatterer distribution) and as such provides a powerful predictive tool for optical imaging in thick samples.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

An expression atlas of human primary cells: inference of gene function from coexpression networks

BACKGROUND: The specialisation of mammalian cells in time and space requires genes associated with specific pathways and functions to be co-ordinately expressed. Here we have combined a large number of publically available microarray datasets derived from human primary cells and analysed large correlation graphs of these data. RESULTS: Using the network analysis tool BioLayout Express(3D) we identify robust co-associations of genes expressed in a wide variety of cell lineages. We discuss the biological significance of a number of these associations, in particular the coexpression of key transcription factors with the genes that they are likely to control. CONCLUSIONS: We consider the regulation of genes in human primary cells and specifically in the human mononuclear phagocyte system. Of particular note is the fact that these data do not support the identity of putative markers of antigen-presenting dendritic cells, nor classification of M1 and M2 activation states, a current subject of debate within immunological field. We have provided this data resource on the BioGPS web site (http://biogps.org/dataset/2429/primary-cell-atlas/) and on macrophages.com (http://www.macrophages.com/hu-cell-atlas)