Numerical Simulations to Evaluate and Compare the Performances of Existing and Novel Degrader Materials for Proton Therapy

The performance of the energy degrader in terms of beam properties directly impacts the design and cost of cyclotron-based proton therapy centers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performances of different existing and novel degrader materials. The quantitative estimate is based on detailed GEANT4 simulations that analyze the beam-matter interaction and provide a determination of the beam emittance increase and transmission. Comparisons between existing (aluminum, graphite, beryllium) and novel (boron carbide and diamond) degrader materials are provided and evaluated against semi-analytical models of multiple Coulomb scattering. The results showing a potential in emittance reduction for novel materials are presented and discussed in detail.Comment: Submitted for IPAC 2018 "light peer review

Ambient dose simulation of the ProtherWal proton therapy centre radioactive shielding decay using BDSIM and FISPACT-II

Next-generation proton therapy centres couple treatment and research programs, leading to higher beam currents and longer irradiation times than in clinical conditions. Large fluxes of energetic secondary particles are produced and long- and short-term radioactive nuclides are generated in the concrete shielding of the cyclotron vault. While the overall long-term activation of the centre is well known from the shielding design activation studies, the short-term activation peaks are still of importance when radiation protection studies are involved. The centre shielding design was validated using the BDSIM/FISPACT-II methodology combining particle tracking and Monte Carlo particle-matter interactions simulations using Beam Delivery Simulation (BDSIM) and the computation of the activation using FISPACT-II. We establish, as the next stage of our methodology, the simulation of the decay radiation of the activated concrete shielding and the accurate scoring of the related radiation protection quantities. A single BDSIM simulation per radioactive nuclide is performed based on the nuclide concentration obtained from the prior FISPACT-II activation computations at the start of a given cooling period. The evolution of the radiation protection quantities is obtained by scaling the results with the nuclides activity obtained at later times from fast FISPACT-II computations. We show the evolution of the ambient dose equivalent in the centre vault when considering regular concrete and Low Activation Concrete (LAC) as shielding material to demonstrate the efficiency of LAC mix in mitigating the shielding activation

Meiotic Recombination Hotspots of Fission Yeast Are Directed to Loci that Express Non-Coding RNA

Polyadenylated, mRNA-like transcripts with no coding potential are abundant in eukaryotes, but the functions of these long non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are enigmatic. In meiosis, Rec12 (Spo11) catalyzes the formation of dsDNA breaks (DSBs) that initiate homologous recombination. Most meiotic recombination is positioned at hotspots, but knowledge of the mechanisms is nebulous. In the fission yeast genome DSBs are located within 194 prominent peaks separated on average by 65-kbp intervals of DNA that are largely free of DSBs.). Furthermore, we tested and rejected the hypothesis that the ncRNA loci and DSB peaks localize preferentially, but independently, to a third entity on the chromosomes.Meiotic DSB hotspots are directed to loci that express polyadenylated ncRNAs. This reveals an unexpected, possibly unitary mechanism for what directs meiotic recombination to hotspots. It also reveals a likely biological function for enigmatic ncRNAs. We propose specific mechanisms by which ncRNA molecules, or some aspect of RNA metabolism associated with ncRNA loci, help to position recombination protein complexes at DSB hotspots within chromosomes

Analyse stratégique de la fusion Sanofi-Aventis

LILLE2-BU Santé-Recherche (593502101) / SudocSudocFranceF

Modeling and implementation of vertical excursion FFA in the Zgoubi ray-tracing code

0info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Resistance Genes Underlying the LS A Phenotype of Staphylococcal Isolates from France

International audienceThere exist numerous genes disseminated by mobile elements that can confer cross-resistance to lincosamides and streptogramin A compounds in staphylococci. This study investigated the nature and means of dissemination of genes responsible for LSA resistance among 24 French clinical isolates screened for reduced susceptibility to lincomycin. The vga(A)v gene was found to be the most prevalent determinant of LSA resistance, while Tn5406 appeared to be its exclusive gene support

Modeling and implementation of vertical excursion FFA in the Zgoubi ray-tracing code

Vertical Fixed Field Accelerators (vFFAs) feature complex and highly non-linear magnetic fields, which require simulation codes allowing step-wise particle tracking. Methods to model the 3D magnetic field of scaling vFFAs have been developed in the ray-tracing code Zgoubi. The field modeling and particle tracking methods include the field non-linearities, the fringe fields, and the field superposition of neighboring magnets. The procedure implements the vFFA analytical field expressions, allowing design studies and parameter optimizations using the Zgoubi built-in fit method. The vFFA procedure has been applied to a ten-fold symmetry ring with a triplet focusing structure designed to accelerate protons from 3 MeV to 12 MeV and studied under the ISIS-II proton driver prototype project. Results from particle tracking in externally generated 3D semi-analytical field maps and the developed vFFA analytical model are shown to be in excellent agreement

GEANT4 benchmark with MCNPX and PHITS for activation of concrete

The activation of concrete is a real problem from the point of view of waste management. Because of the complexity of the issue, Monte Carlo (MC) codes have become an essential tool to its study. But various codes or even nuclear models exist in MC. MCNPX and PHITS have already been validated for shielding studies but GEANT4 is also a suitable solution. In these codes, different models can be considered for a concrete activation study. The Bertini model is not the best model for spallation while BIC and INCL model agrees well with previous results in literature.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Upgrade of a Proton Therapy Eye Treatment Nozzle Using a Cylindrical Beam Stopping Device for Enhanced Dose Rate Performances

Proton therapy is a well established treatment method for ocular cancerous diseases. General-purpose multi-room systems which comprise eye-treatment beamlines must be thoroughly optimized to achieve the performances of fully dedicated systems in terms of depth-dose distal fall-off, lateral penumbra, and dose rate. For eye-treatment beamlines, the dose rate is one of the most critical clinical performances, as it directly defines the delivery time of a given treatment session. This delivery time must be kept as low as possible to reduce uncertainties due to undesired patient movement. We propose an alternative design of the Ion Beam Applications (IBA) Proteus Plus (P+) eye treatment beamline, which combines a beam-stopping device with the already existing scattering features of the beamline. The design is modelled with Beam Delivery SIMulation (BDSIM), a Geant4-based particle tracking and beam-matter interactions Monte-Carlo code, to demonstrate that it increases the maximum achievable dose rate by up to a factor §I{3} compared to the baseline configuration. An in-depth study of the system is performed and the resulting dosimetric properties are discussed in detail

The Zgoubidoo Python Framework for Ray-Tracing Simulations with Zgoubi: Applications to Fixed-Field Accelerators

The study of beam dynamics in accelerators featuring main magnets with complex geometries such as Fixed Field Accelerators (FFAs) requires simulation codes allowing step-by-step particle tracking in complex magnetic fields, such as the Zgoubi ray-tracing code. To facilitate the use of Zgoubi and to allow readily processing the resulting tracking data, we developed a modern Python 3 interface, Zgoubidoo, using Zgoubi in the backend. In this work, the key features of Zgoubidoo are illustrated by detailing the main steps to obtain a non-scaling FFA accelerator from a scaling design. The results obtained are in excellent agreement with prior results, including the tune computation and orbit shifts. These results are enhanced by Zgoubidoo beam dynamics analysis and visualization tools, including the placement of lattice elements in a global coordinate system and the computation of linear step-by-step optics. The validation of Zgoubidoo on conventional scaling and non-scaling FFA designs paves the way for future uses in innovative FFA design studies