Dosimetry characteristics of ultra-high dose rate X-ray: a short review

FLASH radiotherapy (FLASH-RT) has emerged as a significant area of research in the field of radiotherapy in recent years. This innovative technology delivers ultra-high dose rate radiation in a very short time, effectively damaging tumor cells while minimizing the impact on surrounding normal tissues. Currently, the beams that have been proven to achieve the FLASH effect include electrons, protons, and photons. X-ray FLASH-RT exhibits enhanced penetration capabilities and superior cost-effectiveness. However, the detectors currently used for X-ray FLASH-RT dose rate measurement generally exhibit saturation effects and a limited dose linear response range. In this review, we provide a comprehensive summary of the primary devices used to generate ultra-high dose rate X-rays. Additionally, we classify and describe the reported detectors for monitoring the high-dose rate in X-ray FLASH-RT according to three main types: gaseous detectors, scintillators, and semiconductors. This offers researchers valuable insights and a solid reference for selecting and optimizing detectors to achieve more precise and reliable high-dose rate X-ray measurements in X-ray FLASH-RT. Additionally, it provides significant support for the further development and clinical implementation of FLASH-RT technology

Rapid and sustainable fabrication of antibacterial chitosan/PVA–SiO2 nanofiber air filters by needleless electrospinning

With the growing demand for air purification, the large-scale deployment of filtration materials is of increasing importance. However, conventional nanofiber membranes derived from synthetic polymers often generate non-degradable waste upon disposal, which can lead to secondary environmental pollution. In this study, chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol were used as the primary raw materials to fabricate environmentally friendly nanofiber membranes via needleless electrospinning. Under optimized processing conditions (60 kV, 20 min), the resulting membranes exhibited excellent filtration performance, achieving a quality factor of 0.059 41 Pa−1, high filtration efficiencies of 96.94% for PM2.5 and 99.34% for PM10, and a pressure drop of only 15.7 Pa. Moreover, the membranes demonstrated complete (100%) antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli within 16 h under our experimental conditions. This work presents a rapid, sustainable, and scalable strategy for producing high-performance air filtration membranes that combine efficient particulate removal, low air resistance, and antibacterial properties, thereby offering a promising solution to reduce secondary pollution from spent filters

The protective effect of hydrogen sulfide on systemic sclerosis associated skin and lung fibrosis in mice model

BACKGROUD: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) caused fibrosis can be fatal and it still lack of effective treatment. Hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) appears to be an attractive therapeutic candidates. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of H(2)S on SSc-associated skin and lung fibrosis. METHODS: We developed a model of SSc by subcutaneous injecting BLM to female C3H mice. The mice received daily subcutaneous injections of NaHS (56 and 112 μg/kg), an H(2)S donor. On days 7, 28, and 42, the mice were killed and blood samples were collected to measure the plasma H(2)S concentration, the skin and lung tissues was harvested for microscopic examination, immunohistochemistry and quantify biological parameters (hydroxyproline content, RT-qPCR and Western blot). RESULTS: In model group, the dermis of skin tissues at different time points gradually thickened, collagen deposition increased. The lung tissues presented pathological changes such as obvious inflammatory cell infiltration, increased collagen deposition and the plasma H(2)S concentrations points significantly decreased. Administration of NaHS markedly decreased the biomarkers of fibrosis such as α-smooth muscle actin, collagen-I, collagen-III, fibronectin, transforming growth factor-β1, Smad2/3 phosphorylation and inflammation including the marker protein of monocyte/macrophage and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in the lung. Compared to the low dose group, the expression in the high dose group have decreased trend, but the difference was not significant. CONCLUSION: We demonstrate the beneficial effects of H(2)S on SSc-associated skin and lung fibrosis. H(2)S may be a potential therapy against this intractable disease

Unambiguous discrimination of general quantum operations

The discrimination of quantum operations has long been an intriguing challenge, with theoretical research significantly advancing our understanding of the quantum features in discriminating quantum objects. This challenge is closely related to the discrimination of quantum states, and proof-of-principle demonstrations of the latter have already been realized using optical photons. However, the experimental demonstration of discriminating general quantum operations, including both unitary and non-unitary operations, has remained elusive. In general quantum systems, especially those with high dimensions, the preparation of arbitrary quantum states and the implementation of arbitrary quantum operations and generalized measurements are non-trivial tasks. Here, for the first time, we experimentally demonstrate the optimal unambiguous discrimination of up to 6 displacement operators and the unambiguous discrimination of non-unitary quantum operations. Our results demonstrate powerful tools for experimental research in quantum information processing and are expected to stimulate a wide range of valuable applications in the field of quantum sensing.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 2 table