16 Eskalowane hiperfrakcjonowanie w radioterapii nowotworów regionu głowy i szyi – 5-letnie wyniki leczenia

Cel pracyOcena 5-letnich wyników leczenia nowotworów regionu głowy i szyi w aspekcie wyleczalności miejscowej i późnych powikłań popromiennych.Materiał i metodykaW latach 1988–1992 w Centrum Onkologii-Instytucie w Gliwicach leczono promieniami wg systemu eskalowanego Hiperfrakconowania 48 chorych na płaskonabtonkowego raka jamy ustnej (34 pts), garłta środkowego (11 pts) i krtani (3 pts). U 4 chorych kliniczne zaàwansowanie raka ocenionego jako stopień T1, u 27 na T2 i u 2 na T4; u czterechnie moźna było określićc zaawansowania – TX.U wszystkich chorych radioterapia była jedynym leczeniem, a jego technika polegała na napromienianiu dwóch pól boznych na przeciwległych. W pierwszym etapie chorzy otrzymywali dawkę 32 Gy w 20 frakcjach po 1,6 Gy (2×1,6 Gy/ tydzień), wyłąctczają soboty i niedziele. Eskalacja dawki – co drugi dzień leczenia o 0,2 Gy/dzień – następowała po planowanej przerwie (po dawce 32 Gy). Dawka całkowita mieściła się w zakresie 62,2 – 74 Gy.WynikiPomimo stosunkowo wysokiego odsetka całkowitych regresji zanotowanych bezpośrednio po zakończeniu leczenia (75%), 5-letnia wyleczalnoąć miejscowa w całej grupie pacjentów wyniosła 58% i w zależności od stopnia zawansowania przedstawia się następująco: 100% dla T1 i TX, 55% dla T2, 45% dla T3 i 0% dla T4. Przebieg ostrego odczynu popromiennego był u większości chorych znacznie bardziej nasilony w porównaniu do typowego odczynu występujątcego przy konwencjonalnym napromienianiu. U wszystkich pacjentów wystątPiło rozlane popromienne zapalenie błony śluzowej, a jego przebieg w zwiątzku z obecnościąt przerwy był dwufazowy.WnioskiZastosowanie eskalowanego hiperfrakcjonowania w radioterapii nowotworów regionu głowy i szyi nie przyniosło poprawy wyników leczenia w porównaniu do konwencjonalnych schematów napromieniania.Możliwe przyczyny takiego wyniku to: dłuzsza niż zaplanowana przerwa pomiędzy dwoma etapami leczenia, jej umiejscowienie (w 13 dniu od rozpoczęcia radioterapii), ryzyko błędu geograficznego w drugiej (eskalowanej) części leczenia

Pre-discovery and Follow-up Observations of the Nearby SN 2009nr: Implications for Prompt Type Ia SNe

We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of the Type Ia supernova SN 2009nr in UGC 8255 (z=0.0122). Following the discovery announcement at what turned out to be ten days after peak, we detected it at V ~15.7 mag in data collected by the All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) North telescope 2 weeks prior to the peak, and then followed it up with telescopes ranging in aperture from 10-cm to 6.5-m. Using early photometric data available only from ASAS, we find that the SN is similar to the over-luminous Type Ia SN 1991T, with a peak at Mv=-19.6 mag, and a slow decline rate of Dm_15(B)=0.95 mag. The early post-maximum spectra closely resemble those of SN 1991T, while the late time spectra are more similar to those of normal Type Ia SNe. Interestingly, SN 2009nr has a projected distance of 13.0 kpc (~4.3 disk scale lengths) from the nucleus of the small star-forming host galaxy UGC 8255. This indicates that the progenitor of SN 2009nr is not associated with a young stellar population, calling into question the conventional association of luminous SNe Ia with the "prompt" component directly correlated with current star formation. The pre-discovery observation of SN 2009nr using ASAS demonstrates the science utility of high cadence all sky surveys conducted using small telescopes for the discovery of nearby (d=<50 Mpc) supernovae.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ on 11/02/201

A study of the interacting binary V 393 Scorpii

We present high resolution J-band spectroscopy of V 393 Sco obtained with the CRIRES at the ESO Paranal Observatory along with a discussion of archival IUE spectra and published broad band magnitudes. The best fit to the spectral energy distribution outside eclipse gives $T_{1}$= 19000 $\pm$ 500 $K$ for the gainer, $T_{2}$= 7250 $\pm$ 300 $K$ for the donor, $E(B-V)$= 0.13 $\pm$ 0.02 mag. and a distance of $d$= 523 $\pm$ 60 pc, although circumstellar material was not considered in the fit. We argue that V 393 Sco is not a member of the open cluster M7. The shape of the He I 1083 nm line shows orbital modulations that can be interpreted in terms of an optically thick pseudo-photosphere mimicking a hot B-type star and relatively large equatorial mass loss through the Lagrangian L3 point during long cycle minimum. IUE spectra show several (usually asymmetric) absorption lines from highly ionized metals and a narrow L$\alpha$ emission core on a broad absorption profile. The overall behavior of these lines suggests the existence of a wind at intermediate latitudes. From the analysis of the radial velocities we find $M_{2}/M_{1}$= 0.24 $\pm$ 0.02 and a mass function of $f$= 4.76 $\pm$ 0.24 M$\odot$. Our observations favor equatorial mass loss rather than high latitude outflows as the cause for the long variability.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS, main journa

38. The own experience in monitoring the late radiation reaction of criticual tissues in head and neck region

PurposeThe estimation of scoring system SOMA-LENT in classification the late radiation toxicity in patients with squamous cell cancer irradiated in H&N region.Material and methodsThe material includes 97 patients with oral cavity, pharyngeal and supraglottic cancer T2–4N0–1 irradited by conventional method (18 patients), continous accelerated irradiation CAIR (42 patients) and concomitant boost CB (37 patients). Total dose was in range 66–74 Gy. The late radiation toxicity was evaluated by SOMA-LENT system for pharyngeal and oral cavity mucosal membrane, skin, larynx, salivary glands, spinal cord. The estimation was done every 6 months after completing of radiotherapy. In statistical analysis the values were normalisated to maximal intensity of all symptoms in the scale.ResultsThe intensity of late radiation toxicity for mucosal membrane was increasing between 12th–18 th month after radiotherapy and next decreased from 24 after irradiation. For skin the intensity of late radiation reaction increased to 24 months after treatment. For larynx we noticed two peaks of late radiation toxicity: between 18th–24th month and about 54 month after irradiation. The intensity of late radiation effect for salivary glands increased to 18 month and next diminished to 60 months. For spinal cord there was observed significant progression of intensity late toxicity (mild functional) during second year after irradiation.Conclusions1.SOMA-LENT scale seems to be adequate in the clinical practice for the estimation of late radiation toxicity of H&N region tissues.2.Ongoing study has preliminary nature and is being continued

Variability of Luminous Stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud Using 10 Years of ASAS Data

Motivated by the detection of a recent outburst of the massive luminous blue variable LMC-R71, which reached an absolute magnitude M_V = -9.3 mag, we undertook a systematic study of the optical variability of 1268 massive stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using a recent catalog by Bonanos et al. (2009) as the input. The ASAS All Star Catalog (Pojmanski 2002) provided well-sampled light curves of these bright stars spanning 10 years. Combining the two catalogs resulted in 599 matches, on which we performed a variability search. We identified 117 variable stars, 38 of which were not known before, despite their brightness and large amplitude of variation. We found 13 periodic stars that we classify as eclipsing binary (EB) stars, eight of which are newly discovered bright, massive eclipsing binaries composed of OB type stars. The remaining 104 variables are either semi- or non-periodic, the majority (85) being red supergiants. Most (26) of the newly discovered variables in this category are also red supergiants with only three B and four O stars.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures and 3 tables; published in A

A cyclic bipolar wind in the interacting binary V393 Scorpii

V393 Scorpii is a Double Periodic Variable characterized by a relatively stable non-orbital photometric cycle of 253 days. Mennickent et al. argue for the presence of a massive optically thick disc around the more massive B-type component and describe the evolutionary stage of the system. In this paper we analyze the behavior of the main spectroscopic optical lines during the long non-orbital photometric cycle. We study the radial velocity of the donor determining their orbital elements and find a small but significant orbital eccentricity (e = 0.04). The donor spectral features are modeled and removed from the spectrum at every observing epoch using the light-curve model given by Mennickent et al. We find that the line emission is larger during eclipses and mostly comes from a bipolar wind. We find that the long cycle is explained in terms of a modulation of the wind strength; the wind has a larger line and continuum emissivity on the high state. We report the discovery of highly variable chromospheric emission in the donor, as revealed by Doppler maps of the emission lines MgII 4481 and CI 6588. We discuss notable and some novel spectroscopic features like discrete absorption components, especially visible at blue-depressed OI 7773 absorption wings during the second half-cycle, Balmer double emission with V/R-curves showing "Z-type" and "S-type" excursions around secondary and main eclipse, respectively, and H_beta emission wings extending up to +- 2000 km/s. We discuss possible causes for these phenomena and for their modulations with the long cycle.Comment: 19 pages, 22 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

SDWFS-MT-1: A Self-Obscured Luminous Supernova at z~0.2

We report the discovery of a six-month-long mid-infrared transient, SDWFS-MT-1 (aka SN 2007va), in the Spitzer Deep, Wide-Field Survey of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey Bootes field. The transient, located in a z=0.19 low luminosity (M_[4.5]~-18.6 mag, L/L_MilkyWay~0.01) metal-poor (12+log(O/H)~7.8) irregular galaxy, peaked at a mid-infrared absolute magnitude of M_[4.5]~-24.2 in the 4.5 micron Spitzer/IRAC band and emitted a total energy of at least 10^51 ergs. The optical emission was likely fainter than the mid-infrared, although our constraints on the optical emission are poor because the transient peaked when the source was "behind" the Sun. The Spitzer data are consistent with emission by a modified black body with a temperature of ~1350 K. We rule out a number of scenarios for the origin of the transient such as a Galactic star, AGN activity, GRB, tidal disruption of a star by a black hole and gravitational lensing. The most plausible scenario is a supernova exploding inside a massive, optically thick circumstellar medium, composed of multiple shells of previously ejected material. If the proposed scenario is correct, then a significant fraction (~10%) of the most luminous supernova may be self-enshrouded by dust not only before but also after the supernova occurs. The spectral energy distribution of the progenitor of such a supernova would be a slightly cooler version of eta Carina, peaking at 20-30 microns.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Ap

The evolution stage and massive disc of the interacting binary V393 Scorpii

V393 Scorpii is a bright Galactic Double Periodic Variable showing a long photometric cycle of approx. 253 days. We present new VIJK photometric time series for V393 Scorpii along with the analysis of ASAS V-band photometry. We disentangled all light curves into the orbital and long cycle components. The ASAS V-band orbital light curve was modeled with two stellar components plus a circumprimary optically thick disc assuming a semidetached configuration. We present the results of this calculation, giving physical parameters for the stars and the disc, along with general system dimensions. Our results are in close agreement with those previously found by Mennickent et al. (2010) from IR spectroscopy and the modeling of the spectral energy distribution. The stability of the orbital light curve suggests that the stellar + disc configuration remains stable during the long cycle. Therefore, the long cycle should be produced by an additional variable and not-eclipsed emitting structure. We discuss the evolutionary stage of the system finding the best match with one of the evolutionary models of van Rensbergen et al. (2008). According to these models, the system is found to be after an episode of fast mass exchange that transferred 4 M_sun from the donor to the gainer in a period of 400.000 years. We argue that a significant fraction of this mass has not been accreted by the gainer but remains in an optically thick massive (about 2 M_sun) disc-like surrounding pseudo-photosphere whose luminosity is not driven by viscosity but probably by reprocessed stellar radiation. Finally, we provide the result of our search for Galactic Double Periodic Variables and briefly discuss the outliers beta Lyr and RX Cas.Comment: 10 pages, 5 tables, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS main journa

The LAGUNA design study- towards giant liquid based underground detectors for neutrino physics and astrophysics and proton decay searches

The feasibility of a next generation neutrino observatory in Europe is being considered within the LAGUNA design study. To accommodate giant neutrino detectors and shield them from cosmic rays, a new very large underground infrastructure is required. Seven potential candidate sites in different parts of Europe and at several distances from CERN are being studied: Boulby (UK), Canfranc (Spain), Fr\'ejus (France/Italy), Pyh\"asalmi (Finland), Polkowice-Sieroszowice (Poland), Slanic (Romania) and Umbria (Italy). The design study aims at the comprehensive and coordinated technical assessment of each site, at a coherent cost estimation, and at a prioritization of the sites within the summer 2010.Comment: 5 pages, contribution to the Workshop "European Strategy for Future Neutrino Physics", CERN, Oct. 200