Impact of discrete source step size on the 3D dosimetry of interstitial implants with high dose rate brachytherapy

ABSTRACTBackground: High dose rate remote after loading brachytherapy machines have seen tremendous advancement both technologically and their clinical applications during the last 25 years. With the introduction of computerized remote after loading machines and computerized planning system, stepping source dosimetry system (SSDS) has become the system of choice making almost all traditional dosimetry systems obsolete. In this study we evaluated the impact of source step size on dosimetry of interstitial implant using parameters of ICRU-58 and various quality indices (QI).Material & Methods: For this study, 10 implant cases which have 3-D CT image based planning were selected. Contouring of clinical target volume and various organs were done following standard guidelines for the same. Plans were optimized to achieve the desired clinical outcome using different source step sizes of 2.5, 5 and 10 mm respectively. Cumulative DVH’s were calculated for the estimation of various ICRU-58 parameters and quality indices.Results and Conclusion: The mean values of the target volumes, minimum target doses, treated volumes, low dose volumes; high dose volumes, overdose volumes, reference volumes, coverage, external volume, relative dose homogeneity, overdose volume and COIN indices have been presented for the source step sizes of 2.5 mm, 5 mm and 10 mm respectively. Among source step sizes used in this study, most favorable clinically acceptable dose distributions & dose homogeneity occurs around step size of 5 mm as predicted by the various parameters of ICRU-58 and dose quality indices. Keywords: Brachytherapy, interstitial implant, source step-size, remote after loading, optimization, quality indices

Lateral movement of vehicles under weak-lane discipline heterogeneous traffic

Safe driving can be achieved by prevention of risky situations which requires the knowledge of the vehicle dynamics and road geometry. The Indian traffic condition is heterogeneous in nature and has weak lane discipline. Hence, vehicles interactions takes place laterally also along with their longitudinal interaction. Vehicles lateral movements (interactions) are quite high due to absence of lane discipline. Therefore, the lateral acceleration of vehicles are an important variable which characterizes the corresponding vehicle dynamics. Several studies have been done by various authors on lateral acceleration in curves, however, lateral movement study of vehicles on straight road section is also important to analyze vehicles’ maneuver in such traffic (i.e. traffic stream with weak lane discipline). Therefore, the present study is about the observation of lateral movements of vehicles over different types of roads in three metropolitan cities of India (Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune) under moderate traffic conditions. Lateral acceleration variation of five different types of vehicles (SUV cars, Sedan cars, Hutch Back cars, motorized three wheeler and two wheeler) have been recorded to investigate its relationship with vehicles longitudinal characteristics (i.e. longitudinal speed) in Indian heterogeneous and weak lane disciplined traffic. Lateral acceleration values quickly rises with initial increase in speed afterward lateral acceleration values reduces with further increase in vehicles longitudinal speed. Impact of vehicle type and locations on the lateral maneuvering of vehicles have also been studied

Microwave Absorption Performance of Graphene Nanoplatelets Dispersed SiC

Microwave absorption performance of graphene nanoplatelets based SiC composites have been studied in the present work. Graphene nanoplatelets were dispersed at varying weight fractions viz. 0.5, 1, 2, 2.5 and 3 wt.% in SiC using ultrasonication and ball milling methods. Microwave attenuation behaviour of the prepared composites have been observed in the 2-18 GHz range. The results reflect that dispersion of graphene in SiC proves to be very instrumental in attenuating the incident microwave signals translating into enhanced absorption. The enhancement in the microwave absorption performance is due to the presence of conductive graphene nanoplatelets which is very instrumental in promoting conduction and polarisation losses in the composite translating into enhanced absorption. For 3 wt.% graphene nanoplatelets dispersion in SiC, the value of reflection loss (RL) was obtained as -38.67 dB at 14.67 GHz frequency for 2.2 mm thickness with the corresponding bandwidth of 5 GHz

QUALITY CONTROL STANDARDIZATION OF THE BARK OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LAM.

Objective: Moringa oleifera Lam. (Morangaceae) is a large glabrous tree, found throughout India. It is well known for curing a variety of ailments such as wound Healing, dysentery, fever, diarrhea and urinary problems. The present study highlights the pharmacognostical and phytochemical parameters of the bark of M. oleifera.Methods: The quality control standardization was performed following the standard parameters prescribed in World Health Organization guidelines and Indian Herbal Pharmacopoeia.Results: Standardization parameters show that it contains calcium oxalate crystal, starch grains and stone cells. High ash value may be due to presence of calcium oxalate crystals. Extractive value is high for water as compared to other solvent which accounts for the presence of comparatively more polar compounds. It contains different chemical constituents as carbohydrate, amino acid, terpenoid and saponin. Total saponin content was found to be 3.022 mg/g equivalent to diosgenin.Conclusion: The present observations will aid in the botanical identification and standardization of the drug in crude form and will help to distinguish the drug from its other species.Â

Experimental Assessment of Moringa oleifera Leaf and Fruit for Its Antistress, Antioxidant, and Scavenging Potential Using In Vitro and In Vivo Assays

We have investigated effect of Moringa oleifera leaf and fruit extracts on markers of oxidative stress, its toxicity evaluation, and correlation with antioxidant properties using in vitro and in vitro assays. The aqueous extract of leaf was able to increase the GSH and reduce MDA level in a concentration-dependent manner. The ethanolic extract of fruit showed highest phenolic content, strong reducing power and free radical scavenging capacity. The antioxidant capacity of ethanolic extract of both fruit and leaf was higher in the in vitro assay compared to aqueous extract which showed higher potential in vivo. Safety evaluation studies showed no toxicity of the extracts up to a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight. Our results support the potent antioxidant activity of aqueous and ethanolic extract of Moringa oleifera which adds one more positive attribute to its known pharmacological importance

Training the Trainees in Radiation Oncology with Telemedicine as a Tool in a Developing Country: A Two-Year Audit

Purpose. The estimated new cancer patient load in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is 0.1–0.12 million per year. Approximately two thirds of these require treatment by a radiation oncologist. Radiation oncologists: cancer patient ratio in this state is 1 : 2000 as compared to the recommended 1 : 250. This problem is compounded by the poor infrastructure of radiation oncology departments in the state which is suboptimal for teaching, training of resident doctors, and treatment in most barring a few departments. To bridge some gap in the sociodemographics stated above and enhancement of training of residents, we submitted a project for establishment of a telemedicine facility in our department to the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. We present the design, implementation, and a two-year audit of our tele-education activities. Materials and Methods. After the sanction of the project, we established telemedicine linkage with another medical institute in the city located 25 kms away in 2007. After implementation of the project, academic sessions designed for trainee residents in our department were shared with the remote end. A record of these activities and a feedback of the activities were audited at the end of 2 years of implementation of this project. Results. Regular videoconferencing sessions comprising of lectures on clinical oncology, medical physics, and radiobiology were held. Feedback from the users revealed satisfaction with the content of the academic sessions for the purpose of MD training. Conclusions. Distance education in radiation oncology is an important tool for training of the trainee residents

Metabolomics-Driven Mining of Metabolite Resources:Applications and Prospects for Improving Vegetable Crops

Vegetable crops possess a prominent nutri-metabolite pool that not only contributes to the crop performance in the fields, but also offers nutritional security for humans. In the pursuit of identifying, quantifying and functionally characterizing the cellular metabolome pool, biomolecule separation technologies, data acquisition platforms, chemical libraries, bioinformatics tools, databases and visualization techniques have come to play significant role. High-throughput metabolomics unravels structurally diverse nutrition-rich metabolites and their entangled interactions in vegetable plants. It has helped to link identified phytometabolites with unique phenotypic traits, nutri-functional characters, defense mechanisms and crop productivity. In this study, we explore mining diverse metabolites, localizing cellular metabolic pathways, classifying functional biomolecules and establishing linkages between metabolic fluxes and genomic regulations, using comprehensive metabolomics deciphers of the plant’s performance in the environment. We discuss exemplary reports covering the implications of metabolomics, addressing metabolic changes in vegetable plants during crop domestication, stage-dependent growth, fruit development, nutri-metabolic capabilities, climatic impacts, plant-microbe-pest interactions and anthropogenic activities. Efforts leading to identify biomarker metabolites, candidate proteins and the genes responsible for plant health, defense mechanisms and nutri-rich crop produce are documented. With the insights on metabolite-QTL (mQTL) driven genetic architecture, molecular breeding in vegetable crops can be revolutionized for developing better nutritional capabilities, improved tolerance against diseases/pests and enhanced climate resilience in plants

Understanding our seas: National Institute of Oceanography, Goa

The present article summarizes the research done at the CSIR–National Institute of Oceanography in 2014 in ocean science, resources and technology. Significant research has been conducted on air–sea interactions and coastal circulation, biogeochemistry, biology, marine geophysics, palaeoceanography, marine fishery, gas hydrates and wave energy. Technological advances covered topics like oceanographic tools. Major strides have been made in marine resources research and evaluation

Understanding our seas: National Institute of Oceanography, Goa

The present article summarizes the research done at the CSIR–National Institute of Oceanography in 2014 in ocean science, resources and technology. Significant research has been conducted on air–sea interactions and coastal circulation, biogeochemistry, biology, marine geophysics, palaeoceanography, marine fishery, gas hydrates and wave energy. Technological advances covered topics like oceanographic tools. Major strides have been made in marine resources research and evaluation

Identification of Novel Mt-Guab2 Inhibitor Series Active against M. tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide. With the emergence of multidrug resistant TB, extensively drug resistant TB and HIV-associated TB it is imperative that new drug targets be identified. The potential of Mycobacterium tuberculosis inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) as a novel drug target was explored in the present study. IMPDH exclusively catalyzes the conversion of inosine monophosphate (IMP) to xanthosine monophosphate (XMP) in the presence of the cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+). Although the enzyme is a dehydrogenase, the enzyme does not catalyze the reverse reaction i.e. the conversion of XMP to IMP. Unlike other bacteria, M. tuberculosis harbors three IMPDH-like genes, designated as Mt-guaB1, Mt-guaB2 and Mt-guaB3 respectively. Of the three putative IMPDH's, we previously confirmed that Mt-GuaB2 was the only functional ortholog by characterizing the enzyme kinetically. Using an in silico approach based on designed scaffolds, a series of novel classes of inhibitors was identified. The inhibitors possess good activity against M. tuberculosis with MIC values in the range of 0.4 to 11.4 µg mL−1. Among the identified ligands, two inhibitors have nanomolar Kis against the Mt-GuaB2 enzyme