GPU Accelerated Viscous-fluid Deformable Registration for Radiotherapy

In cancer treatment organ and tissue deformation betweenradiotherapy sessions represent a significant challenge to op-timal planning and delivery of radiation doses. Recent de-velopments in image guided radiotherapy has caused a soundrequest for more advanced approaches for image registrationto handle these deformations. Viscous-fluid registration isone such deformable registration method. A drawback withthis method has been that it has required computation timesthat were too long to make the approach clinically appli-cable. With recent advances in programmability of graph-ics hardware, complex user defined calculations can now beperformed on consumer graphics cards (GPUs). This pa-per demonstrates that the GPU can be used to drasticallyreduce the time needed to register two medical 3D imagesusing the viscous-fluid registration method. This facilitatesan increased incorporation of image registration in radio-therapy treatment of cancer patients, potentially leading tomore efficient treatment with less severe side effects

Whole Life Carbon Impact of:45 Timber Buildings

Sustainable buildings are increasingly a key concern, especially when it comes to reducing their climate footprints. This has resulted in the 2023 Building Regulations introducing requirements for the environmental impact of buildings. Buildings of more than 1000 square meters must now comply with requirements of 12 kg CO2 eq per square meter per year.To reduce the impact from buildings, focus is increasingly on bio-based materials, including wood, since wood will capture CO2 during growth and store it until end-of-life breakdown. Consequently, bio-based materials are frequently used, largely because of the potential to reduce existing environmental impact from buildings now and in the future.This report highlights the environmental potential of using bio-based materials in the construction industry. The report investigates the environmental impact of 45 timber buildings along with the practical challenges encountered when using timber in construction. First, the report presents the findings of all 45 case studies and, second, a case collection comprising 35 of these to provide inspiration for using wood in construction

Housing construction from 4 to 1 planet:24 best practice cases

This report is part of the initiative Housing Construction from 4 to 1 Planet’s body of knowledge, which sets out to gather, analyse, and present knowledge about best-practice housing construction to ensure that the initiative rests on a strong foundation of knowledge and makes use of the best possible tools, as well as inspiring and showing the way forward for future housing construction with a lower carbon footprint.Data and experience from building case studies are obtained in collaboration with architects, engineers, architectural technologists and construction managers, and building owners

Tumor volume and cancer stem cell expression as prognostic markers for high-dose loco-regional failure in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma - A DAHANCA 19 study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Reliable and accessible biomarkers for patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) are warranted for biologically driven radiotherapy (RT). This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of putative cancer stem cell (CSC) markers, hypoxia, and tumor volume using loco-regional high-dose failure (HDF) as endpoint.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tumor tissue was retrieved from patients treated with primary chemo-(C-)RT and nimorazole for HNSCC in the Danish Head and Neck Cancer Study Group (DAHANCA) 19 study. Tumor volume, hypoxic classification, and expression of CSC markers CD44, SLC3A2, and MET were analyzed. For patients with eligible data on all parameters (n = 340), the risk of HDF following primary chemo-(C-)RT were analyzed by these biomarkers as a whole and stratified for p16-positive oropharynx (p16 + OPSCC) vs p16-negative (p16-) tumors (oral cavity, p16- oropharynx, hypopharynx and larynx).RESULTS: Higher risk of HDF was seen for patients with larger primary and nodal volume (&gt;25 cm3, Hazard Ratio (HR): 3.00 [95 % CI: 1.73-5.18]), high SLC3A2 (HR: 2.99 [1.28-6.99]), CD44 (&gt;30 % positive, HR: 2.29 [1.05-5.00]), and p16- tumors (HR: 2.53 [1.05-6.11]). p16- tumors had a higher CSC marker expression than p16 + OPSCC. The factors associated with the highest risk of HDF were larger volume (HR: 3.29 [1.79-6.04]) for p16- tumors (n = 178) and high SLC3A2 (HR: 6.19 [1.58-24.23]) for p16 + OPSCC (n = 162).CONCLUSION: Tumor volume, p16, and CSC markers are potential biomarkers for HDF for patients with HNSCC treated with (C-)RT. Lower expression of CSC in p16 + OPSCC may contribute to better tumor control.</p