521 research outputs found
Overview of bladder heating technology: matching capabilities with clinical requirements.
Moderate temperature hyperthermia (40-45°C for 1 h) is emerging as an effective treatment to enhance best available chemotherapy strategies for bladder cancer. A rapidly increasing number of clinical trials have investigated the feasibility and efficacy of treating bladder cancer with combined intravesical chemotherapy and moderate temperature hyperthermia. To date, most studies have concerned treatment of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) limited to the interior wall of the bladder. Following the promising results of initial clinical trials, investigators are now considering protocols for treatment of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). This paper provides a brief overview of the devices and techniques used for heating bladder cancer. Systems are described for thermal conduction heating of the bladder wall via circulation of hot fluid, intravesical microwave antenna heating, capacitively coupled radio-frequency current heating, and radiofrequency phased array deep regional heating of the pelvis. Relative heating characteristics of the available technologies are compared based on published feasibility studies, and the systems correlated with clinical requirements for effective treatment of MIBC and NMIBC
Concentration Gradient, Diffusion, and Flow Through Open Porous Medium Near Percolation Threshold via Computer Simulations
The interacting lattice gas model is used to simulate fluid flow through an
open percolating porous medium with the fluid entering at the source-end and
leaving from the opposite end. The shape of the steady-state concentration
profile and therefore the gradient field depends on the is found to scale with
the porosity according to porosity p. The root mean square (rms) displacements
of fluid and its constituents (tracers) show a drift power-law behavior, in the
asymptotic regime. The flux current density is found to scale with the porosity
according to an exponent near 1.7.Comment: 8 figure
Numerical investigation of novel microwave applicators based on zero-order mode resonance for hyperthermia treatment of cancer
This paper characterizes three novel microwave applicators based on zero-order mode resonators for use in hyperthermia treatment of cancer. The radiation patterns are studied with numerical simulations in muscle tissue-equivalent model at 434 MHz. The relative performance of the applicators is compared in terms of reflection coefficient, current distribution, power deposition (SAR) pattern, effective field size in 2D and 3D tissue volumes, and penetration depth. One particular configuration generated the most uniform SAR pattern, with 25% SAR covering 84 % of the treatment volume extending to 1 cm depth under the aperture, while remaining above 58% coverage as deep as 3 cm under the aperture. Recommendations are made to further optimize this structure
Use of mill certficates to establish material properties in testing of colf-formed steel compoenents
Testing is often used to establish the available strength of cold-formed steel components. The evaluation of this test data requires adjustment based on the material properties of the tested components to account for values that exceed the minimum specified values. Currently, it is required that this adjustment be based on samples taken from the tested specimen or the flat sheet used to form the test specimen. However, in many cases it is not practical to obtain these samples. Instead, it is desired to permit an alternate that allows the use of mechanical properties reported by the steel supplier. The purpose of this study was to provide data for use in developing such an alternate approach
Scene reconstruction using accumulated line-of-sight
Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 49-52).by Christopher P. Stauffer.M.S
Percolation in suspensions of polydisperse hard rods : quasi-universality and finite-size effects
We present a study of connectivity percolation in suspensions of hard
spherocylinders by means of Monte Carlo simulation and connectedness
percolation theory. We focus attention on polydispersity in the length, the
diameter and the connectedness criterion, and invoke bimodal, Gaussian and
Weibull distributions for these. The main finding from our simulations is that
the percolation threshold shows quasi universal behaviour, i.e., to a good
approximation it depends only on certain cumulants of the full size and
connectivity distribution. Our connectedness percolation theory hinges on a
Lee-Parsons type of closure recently put forward that improves upon the
often-used second virial approximation [ArXiv e-prints, May 2015, 1505.07660].
The theory predicts exact universality. Theory and simulation agree
quantitatively for aspect ratios in excess of 20, if we include the
connectivity range in our definition of the aspect ratio of the particles. We
further discuss the mechanism of cluster growth that, remarkably, differs
between systems that are polydisperse in length and in width, and exhibits
non-universal aspects.Comment: 7 figure
Novel Microwave Applicators Based on Zero-Order Mode Resonance for Hyperthermia Treatment of Cancer
In this paper, three novel microwave applicator prototypes based on zero-order mode resonators are proposed for use in hyperthermia treatment of cancer. The ability of all three applicators to homogenously irradiate muscle tissue-equivalent phantoms is demonstrated with results of numerical simulations, and relative performance of the applicators is compared
Dielectric properties measurements of brown and white adipose tissue in rats from 0.5 to 10 GHz
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays an important role in whole body metabolism and with appropriate stimulus could potentially mediate weight gain and insulin sensitivity. Although imaging techniques are available to detect subsurface BAT, there are currently no viable methods for continuous acquisition of BAT energy expenditure. Microwave (MW) radiometry is an emerging technology that allows the quantification of tissue temperature variations at depths of several centimeters. Such temperature differentials may be correlated with variations in metabolic rate, thus providing a quantitative approach to monitor BAT metabolism. In order to optimize MW radiometry, numerical and experimental phantoms with accurate dielectric properties are required to develop and calibrate radiometric sensors. Thus, we present for the first time, the characterization of relative permittivity and electrical conductivity of brown (BAT) and white (WAT) adipose tissues in rats across the MW range 0.5-10GHz. Measurements were carried out in situ and post mortem in six female rats of approximately 200g. A Cole-Cole model was used to fit the experimental data into a parametric model that describes the variation of dielectric properties as a function of frequency. Measurements confirm that the dielectric properties of BAT (εr = 14.0-19.4, σ = 0.3-3.3S/m) are significantly higher than those of WAT (εr = 9.1-11.9, σ = 0.1-1.9S/m), in accordance with the higher water content of BAT
Domain Growth in Ising Systems with Quenched Disorder
We present results from extensive Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of domain
growth in ferromagnets and binary mixtures with quenched disorder. These are
modeled by the "random-bond Ising model" and the "dilute Ising model" with
either nonconserved (Glauber) spin-flip kinetics or conserved (Kawasaki)
spin-exchange kinetics. In all cases, our MC results are consistent with
power-law growth with an exponent which depends on the
quench temperature and the disorder amplitude . Such exponents
arise naturally when the coarsening domains are trapped by energy barriers
which grow logarithmically with the domain size. Our MC results show excellent
agreement with the predicted dependence of .Comment: 11 pages, 15 figure
Utility of Microwave Radiometry for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications of Non-Invasive Temperature Monitoring
This paper describes the use of microwave radiometry for several diagnostic and therapeutic applications that can benefit from accurate non-invasive measurement of volume average temperature of tissue regions extending 4cm or more into the body. Design features are summarized for an appropriate high sensitivity long term stable system with 2.5 and 7 cm diameter receive antennas and integral 1.35 GHz total power radiometer electronics. Radiometer performance is characterized with electromagnetic and thermal simulations and experimental measurements in realistic models of two typical clinical applications. Results demonstrate sufficient sensitivity to track clinically significant changes in temperature of deep tissue targets for applications like the non-invasive detection of vesicoureteral reflux and monitoring brain “core” temperature during extended hypothermic surgery
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