Braquiterapia de alta taxa de dose como opção terapêutica nos tumores primários da traquéia

PURPOSE: To present experience with high dose-rate endobronchial brachytherapy in the treatment of primary tracheal tumors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Four patients with nonresected primary tracheal tumors are presented: 2 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the trachea, 1 of recurrent adenoid cystic carcinoma, and 1 with recurrent plasmacytoma. All received brachytherapy, alone or as a boost for primary irradiation, in 3 or 4 fractions of 7.5 Gy, calculated at a depth of 1 cm. Follow-up was considered to start from the end of brachytherapy. RESULTS: Local control was achieved in all cases at the time of first bronchoscopic evaluation. Two patients with squamous cell carcinoma died at 6th and 33rd months after brachytherapy, respectively. The first had no evidence of disease, and the latter had local recurrence. The other 2 patients were alive after 64 and 110 months of follow-up, respectively, both with no evidence of disease. Tracheal stenosis developed in these 2 cases, 22 and 69 months after brachytherapy. Tracheal stent placement was needed only for the patient with an adenoid cystic carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Endobronchial high dose-rate brachytherapy may be used for tracheal tumors, even as a boost for external beam irradiation, or in recurrences. Local control in 3 out of 4 patients indicates that individual cases may benefit from the treatment. Long-term survival may also be expected, mainly for tumors with adenoid cystic histology.OBJETIVO: Apresentar a experiência do tratamento de 4 pacientes com tumores primários de traquéia, não operados, submetidos à braquiterapia endobrônquica de alta taxa de dose. PACIENTES E MÉTODOS: Dois casos de carcinoma espinocelular, uma recidiva de carcinoma adenóide cístico e uma recidiva de plasmocitoma primário da traquéia. Todos receberam braquiterapia endobrônquica, exclusiva ou como reforço de dose da radioterapia externa. Foram administradas 3 ou 4 frações de 7,5 Gy cada, calculados a 1 cm de profundidade. O seguimento foi considerado a partir do término da braquiterapia. RESULTADOS: Em todos os casos houve resposta completa. Dois pacientes com carcinoma espinocelular evoluíram a óbito em 6 e 33 meses após a braquiterapia, o primeiro, sem evidência de doença e o outro por recidiva local, respectivamente. As outras 2 pacientes encontravam-se vivas após 64 e 110 meses de seguimento, sem evidência de doença. Esses 2 casos apresentaram estenose traqueal em 22 e 69 meses após a braquiterapia, sendo necessária a colocação de prótese traqueal apenas na paciente com carcinoma adenóide cístico. CONCLUSÕES: A braquiterapia endobrônquica de alta taxa de dose pode ser utilizada tanto como reforço de dose da irradiação externa quanto em recidivas. O controle local obtido em 3 de 4 pacientes indica que casos individuais podem se beneficiar desse procedimento. Sobrevida a longo prazo pode ser observada, principalmente nos casos de histologia adenóide cística

Carrier dynamics investigated by time resolved optical spectroscopy

We have investigated the transport of carriers in GaAs using time resolved optical spectroscopy with picosecond resolution. Carriers are optically created to the sample surface by an ultra-fast laser pulse. They diffuse and drift throught a thick GaAs layer, until they are captured by an InGaAs quantum well, where they recombine with holes from a p-type doped layer at an inner InGaP barrier. Our study was performed with a set of samples with different GaAs layer thickness. As the GaAs thickness increases, the emission from the quantum well is delayed and its decay slows down significantly. We have investigated the effect of an applied DC field between the surface and the InGaAs quantum well. The transient of the quantum well emission is mostly independent of the applied DC voltage up to field of the order of 20 KV/cm, including both polarities. This is a clear indication that the carrier transport is dominated by ambipolar diffusion due to the Coulomb interaction that strongly couples photoinjected electrons and holes. On the other hand, the decay of the GaAs emission varies signi-cantly when a DC gate voltage is applied such as a current appears at the structure.35335

Strained In1-xGaxAsyP1-y/InP quantum well heterostructures grown by low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

We have investigated the optical and the structural properties of strained In1-xGaxAsyP1-y/InP and strain compensated In1-xGaxAsyP1-y/In1-zGazAsqP1-q/InP multi-quantum well heterostructures grown by low-pressure metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy at different growth conditions. Our results indicate an increase of the compositional fluctuation of quaternary materials as the alloy composition moves from the outer spinodal isotherm into the miscibility gap region. In1-xGaxAsyP1-y layers grown at high tensile strained values exhibit a three-dimensional-like growth mode. Strain compensated structures revealed the presence of a broad photoluminescence emission band below the fundamental quantum well transition, well defined elongated features along the [011] direction and interface undulations. All these effects were found to be strongly dependent on the growth temperature and the number of wells.495

Resistance of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis to nitric oxide: correlation with antimony therapy and TNF-α production

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nitric oxide (NO) produced in macrophages plays a pivotal role as a leishmanicidal agent. A previous study has demonstrated that 20% of the <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>isolated from initial cutaneous lesions of patients from the endemic area of Corte de Pedra, Bahia, Brazil, were NO resistant. Additionally, 5 to 11% of the patients did not respond to three or more antimony treatments" (refractory patients). The aim of this study is to investigate if there is an association between the resistance of <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>to NO and nonresponsiveness to antimony therapy and cytokine production.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We evaluated the <it>in vitro </it>toxicity of NO against the promastigotes stages of <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>isolated from responsive and refractory patients, and the infectivity of the amastigote forms of these isolates against human macrophages. The supernatants from <it>Leishmania </it>infected macrophage were used to measure TNF-α and IL-10 levels.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using NaNO₂(pH 5.0) as the NO source, <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>isolated from refractory patients were more NO resistant (IC50 = 5.8 ± 4.8) than <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>isolated from responsive patients (IC50 = 2.0 ± 1.4). Four isolates were selected to infect human macrophages: NO-susceptible and NO-resistant <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>isolated from responsive and refractory patients. NO-resistant <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>isolated from refractory patients infected more macrophages stimulated with LPS and IFN-γ at 120 hours than NO-susceptible <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>isolated from refractory patients. Also, lower levels of TNF-α were detected in supernatants of macrophages infected with NO-resistant <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>as compared to macrophages infected with NO-susceptible <it>L. (V.) braziliensis </it>(p < 0.05 at 2, 24 and 120 hours), while no differences were detected in IL-10 levels.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest that NO resistance could be related to the nonresponsiveness to antimony therapy seen in American Tegumentary Leishmaniasis.</p

Renormalization Group Functions of the \phi^4 Theory in the Strong Coupling Limit: Analytical Results

The previous attempts of reconstructing the Gell-Mann-Low function \beta(g) of the \phi^4 theory by summing perturbation series give the asymptotic behavior \beta(g) = \beta_\infty g^\alpha in the limit g\to \infty, where \alpha \approx 1 for the space dimensions d = 2,3,4. It can be hypothesized that the asymptotic behavior is \beta(g) ~ g for all values of d. The consideration of the zero-dimensional case supports this hypothesis and reveals the mechanism of its appearance: it is associated with a zero of one of the functional integrals. The generalization of the analysis confirms the asymptotic behavior \beta(g)=\beta_\infty g in the general d-dimensional case. The asymptotic behavior of other renormalization group functions is constant. The connection with the zero-charge problem and triviality of the \phi^4 theory is discussed.Comment: PDF, 17 page