Towards in vivo dosimetry for contrast enhanced synchrotron stereotactic radiation therapy based on iodine x-ray spectroscopy

The first trial applications of Contrast-Enhanced Synchrotron Stereotactic Radiation Therapy (SSRT) is underway since June 2012 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble (France). The phase I-II clinical trial is designed to test the feasibility and safety of SSRT through a dose escalation protocol. Contrast enhanced radiotherapy achieves localized dose enhancement due to higher photoelectric effect rate in the target. This increase is obtained through the preferential uptake of high-Z media (iodine) in the tumoral area combined with irradiations with medium energy synchrotron x-rays. In vivo dosimetry (i.e. experimental dosimetry in real time during the treatment) would be a serious added value to the project, in terms of online dose monitoring and quality control. It is challenging to perform in vivo dosimetry with the currently available conventional clinical techniques. In this work we investigated a method using x-ray fluorescence detection to derive the iodine concentration contained in a tumor during the treatment of a patient, as a first step towards in vivo dosimetry. A mean iodine concentration of 0.33 ± 0.22 mg/ml has been retrieved in the tumor of the patient compared to 2 mg/ml expected would correspond to 3% local dose enhancement in the tumor. Further work will be performed to improve the attenuation correction method. The expected amount of iodine should be 2 mg/ml in the tumor (20% dose enhancement). This method is suitable to detect iodine in the target but has some problem in quantifying the real amount of iodine present during the irradiation

TG‐69: Radiographic film for megavoltage beam dosimetry

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134818/1/mp6779.pd

Theoretical investigation of the design and performance of a dual energy (kV and MV) radiotherapy imager

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134977/1/mp5120.pd

Influence of firm size on the competencies required to management engineers in the Jordanian telecommunications sector

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Engineering Education on [13 jun 2016], available online:http://www.tandfonline.com/ doi/abs/10.1080/03043797.2016.1197890.[EN] The objective of this study is to identify the competencies required to achieve success in the transition from higher education to the labour market based on the perceptions of employers. This paper analyses the assessments made by a group of engineering company employers. An item-battery of 20 competencies was grouped into 3 dimensions by using factor analysis. Subsequently, respondents scores were also clustered into three groups and characterised through contingency tables. The competencies demanded by employers were grouped into business and finance, problem-solving and strategic planning. Significant differences were found between responses from employers working in medium and small companies, who placed more importance on competencies related to problem-solving and strategic planning, and employers in big companies, who were more concerned about the difficulties of finding well-trained graduates. The findings from this paper have important implications for research in the areas of higher education and organisations that usually employ graduate engineers.The authors would like to thank the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) [Tempus program. Project number 511074] of the European Commission for providing funding for conducting this study. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.Conchado Peiró, A.; Bas Cerdá, MDC.; Gharaibeh, KM.; Kaylani, H. (2016). 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Synchrotron radiation-based experimental determination of the optimal energy for cell radiotoxicity enhancement following photoelectric effect on stable iodinated compounds

This study was designed to experimentally evaluate the optimal X-ray energy for increasing the radiation energy absorbed in tumours loaded with iodinated compounds, using the photoelectric effect. SQ20B human cells were irradiated with synchrotron monochromatic beam tuned at 32.8, 33.5, 50 and 70 keV. Two cell treatments were compared to the control: cells suspended in 10 mg ml1 of iodine radiological contrast agent or cells pre-exposed with 10 mM of iodo-desoxyuridine (IUdR) for 48 h. Our radiobiological end point was clonogenic cell survival. Cells irradiated with both iodine compounds exhibited a radiation sensitisation enhancement. Moreover, it was energy dependent, with a maximum at 50 keV. At this energy, the sensitisation calculated at 10% survival was equal to 2.03 for cells suspended in iodinated contrast agent and 2.60 for IUdR. Cells pretreated with IUdR had higher sensitisation factors over the energy range than for those suspended in iodine contrast agent. Also, their survival curves presented no shoulder, suggesting complex lethal damages from Auger electrons. Our results confirm the existence of the 50 keV energy optimum for a binary therapeutic irradiation based on the presence of stable iodine in tumours and an external irradiation. Monochromatic synchrotron radiotherapy concept is hence proposed for increasing the differential effect between healthy and cancerous tissue irradiation

Data from: Using multiple imputation to estimate missing data in meta-regression

1. There is a growing need for scientific synthesis in ecology and evolution. In many cases, meta-analytic techniques can be used to complement such synthesis. However, missing data is a serious problem for any synthetic efforts and can compromise the integrity of meta-analyses in these and other disciplines. Currently, the prevalence of missing data in meta-analytic datasets in ecology and the efficacy of different remedies for this problem have not been adequately quantified. 2. We generated meta-analytic datasets based on literature reviews of experimental and observational data and found that missing data were prevalent in meta-analytic ecological datasets. We then tested the performance of complete case removal (a widely used method when data are missing) and multiple imputation (an alternative method for data recovery) and assessed model bias, precision, and multi-model rankings under a variety of simulated conditions using published meta-regression datasets. 3. We found that complete case removal led to biased and imprecise coefficient estimates and yielded poorly specified models. In contrast, multiple imputation provided unbiased parameter estimates with only a small loss in precision. The performance of multiple imputation, however, was dependent on the type of data missing. It performed best when missing values were weighting variables, but performance was mixed when missing values were predictor variables. Multiple imputation performed poorly when imputing raw data which was then used to calculate effect size and the weighting variable. 4. We conclude that complete case removal should not be used in meta-regression, and that multiple imputation has the potential to be an indispensable tool for meta-regression in ecology and evolution. However, we recommend that users assess the performance of multiple imputation by simulating missing data on a subset of their data before implementing it to recover actual missing data

Contrasting Perceptions of Home Dialysis Therapies Among In-Center and Home Dialysis Staff

Home dialysis offers many advantages over in-center dialysis, but peritoneal dialysis and home hemodialysis are infrequently used. To better understand why, a survey of dialysis healthcare professionals (N = 273) in the United States was conducted to assess their knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs about home dialysis modalities. Most survey respondents demonstrated a lack of knowledge about home dialysis and perceived many barriers to home therapy, which may affect patient modality choice; however, 90% of respondents stated they would choose home dialysis for themselves if they required dialysis. Additional staff education may help reduce misperceptions, address knowledge gaps, and subsequently, increase use of home modalities