The Pixel Chamber project purpose is the production of the first solid state active target capable of performing continuous, high-resolution (O(μm)) 3D tracking. The aim is to create a bubble ...chamber-like high-granularity stack of hundreds of very thin monolithic active pixel sensors (MAPS) glued together. In this paper, the R&D to develop the first prototypes with ALPIDE sensors, designed for the ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC, will be presented. Tracking and vertexing algorithms were developed to reconstruct tracks and vertices inside Pixel Chamber. They were tested on Monte Carlo simulations which show that it is possible to obtain a high efficiency for the reconstruction of hadronic tracks, and for the primary and secondary vertices inside the detector. The tracking algorithm has been tested on test beam data to reconstruct long tracks produced in a single ALPIDE sensor parallel to a beam. Results show that it is possible to obtain very good performances in long track reconstruction on a single ALPIDE. Among the possible applications, Pixel Chamber used as an active target, has the potential to allow precision measurements of charm and beauty production. Even more interesting are possible medical and astrophysical applications. The usage of the Pixel Chamber as scatterer detector in Compton Cameras would reduce by orders of magnitude the numbers of gammas required for performing a precise source imaging, both for in vivo monitoring during hadron therapy and for astrophysics measurements.
Natural killer (NK) cells are immune innate effectors playing a pivotal role in the immunosurveillance of multiple myeloma (MM) since they are able to directly recognize and kill MM cells. In this ...regard, among activating receptors expressed by NK cells, NKG2D represents an important receptor for the recognition of MM cells, being its ligands expressed by tumor cells, and being able to trigger NK cell cytotoxicity. The MHC class I-related molecule A (MICA) is one of the NKG2D ligands; it is encoded by highly polymorphic genes and exists as membrane-bound and soluble isoforms. Soluble MICA (sMICA) is overexpressed in the serum of MM patients, and its levels correlate with tumor progression. Interestingly, a methionine (Met) to valine (Val) substitution at position 129 of the α2 heavy chain domain classifies the MICA alleles into strong (
) and weak (
) binders to NKG2D receptor. We addressed whether the genetic polymorphisms in the MICA-129 alleles could affect MICA release during MM progression. The frequencies of
, and
MICA-129 genotypes in a cohort of 137 MM patients were 36, 43, and 22%, respectively. Interestingly, patients characterized by a
genotype exhibited the highest levels of sMICA in the sera. In addition, analysis of the frequencies of MICA-129 genotypes among different MM disease states revealed that
patients had a significant higher frequency of relapse. Interestingly, NKG2D was downmodulated in NK cells derived from
MM patients. Results obtained by structural modeling analysis suggested that the Met to Val dimorphism could affect the capacity of MICA to form an optimal template for NKG2D recognition. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the
variant is associated with significantly higher levels of sMICA and the progression of MM, strongly suggesting that the usage of soluble MICA as prognostic marker has to be definitely combined with the patient MICA genotype.
The aim of this paper was to conduct a survey about the evolution of the information provided by Italian radiotherapy departments with a special focus on patients' perspective.
A two-steps analysis ...was conducted in 2013 and 2020. Starting from analysis of data for the existing websites of Italian radiotherapy departments, main potential areas of interest for patients were discussed within a dedicated multidisciplinary team composed of radiation oncologists, a web designer, a blogger, a psyco-oncologist, a volunteer and a representative of patients' association.
Six patient-oriented features to evaluate the websites of Italian radiotherapy departments were identified and several other features not specifically patient-oriented were also reported in our survey.
A major effort is still needed to develop websites intended to be used by patients which should be both user-friendly and easily accessible. Social media are rapidly gaining a growing importance.
A pivotal role could be played by patients' organization who should be empowered by connecting all the stakeholders involved in this field.
Uveal melanoma represents the most common intraocular neoplasia among adults. Brachytherapy (interventional radiotherapy; IRT) has a great advantage, when compared with enucleation, both in terms of ...organ and function sparing. The Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study introduced into clinical practice a standardised procedure that allowed the equivalence of IRT with enucleation in terms of overall survival to be demonstrated. IRT is carried out by placing a plaque in direct contact with the sclera under the uveal melanoma. Several radioactive sources may be used, including 106-ruthenium, 125-iodine, 103-palladium and 90-strontium. It is a multidisciplinary procedure requiring the collaboration of interventional radiation oncologists and ophthalmologists in the operating theatre and medical physicists for an accurate treatment time calculation. It also relies on ultrasound imaging to identify the lesion and verifiy the correct plaque placement. An emerging tool of paramount importance could be the use of artificial intelligence and predictive models to identify those patients at higher risk of developing late side-effects and therefore who may deserve preventive and supportive therapies.
The objective of this study is to find a contrast-enhanced CT-radiomic signature to predict clinical incomplete response in patients affected by hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent locoregional ...treatments.
190 patients affected by hepatocellular carcinoma treated using focal therapies (radiofrequency or microwave ablation) from September 2018 to October 2020 were retrospectively enrolled. Treatment response was evaluated on a per-target-nodule basis on the 6-months follow-up contrast-enhanced CT or MR imaging using the mRECIST criteria. Radiomics analysis was performed using an in-house developed open-source R library. Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test was applied for univariate analysis; features with a p-value lower than 0.05 were selected. Pearson correlation was applied to discard highly correlated features (cut-off=0.9). The remaining features were included in a logistic regression model and receiver operating characteristic curves; sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value were also computed. The model was validated performing 2000 bootstrap resampling.
56 treated lesions from 42 patients were selected. Treatment responses were: complete response for 26 lesions (46.4%), 18 partial responses (32.1%), 10 stable diseases (17.9%), 2 progression diseases (3.6%). Area-Under-Curve value was 0.667 (95% CI: 0.527-0.806); accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were respectively 0.66, 0.85, 0.50, 0.59 and 0.79.
This contrast-enhanced CT-based model can be helpful to early identify poor responder's hepatocellular carcinoma patients and personalize treatments.
Objective
The aim of our systematic review was to assess the role of interventional radiotherapy (IRT, brachytherapy) in the management of primary and/or recurrent vulvar carcinoma.
Evidence ...acquisition
A systematic research using PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane library was performed. ClinicalTrials.gov was searched for ongoing or recently completed trials, and PROSPERO was searched for ongoing or recently completed systematic reviews. Only full-text English-language articles related to IRT for treatment of primary or recurrent VC were identified and reviewed. Conference paper, survey, letter, editorial, book chapter and review were excluded. Time restriction (1990–2018) as concerns the years of the publication was considered.
Evidence synthesis
Primary disease: the median 5-year LC was 43.5% (range 19–68%); the median 5-year DFS was 44.5% (range 44–81%); the median 5-year OS was 50.5% (range 27–85%). Recurrent disease: the median 5-year DFS was 64% (range 56–72%) and the median 5-year OS was 45% (range 33%-57%). Acute ≥ grade 2 toxicity was reported in three patients (1.6%). The severe late toxicity rates (grade 3–4) ranged from 0% to 14.3% (median 7.7%).
Conclusion
IRT as part of primary treatment for primary and/or recurrent vulvar cancer is associated with promising clinical outcomes.
The aim of this paper is to provide an update about the current clinical indications of RT in this poorly explored field outside the traditional oncological setting.
We performed a literature search ...on the main databases, including PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane from their inception until 31st December 2020. An additional manual check of scientific meeting proceedings and books was conducted in order to identify all the potentially useful sources. Only essays published in English have been considered for the purposes of this analysis. The searched items included: "Radiotherapy or Radiation Therapy" and "Benign disorder or Benign disease".
We provided a list of current clinical indications for benign disorders based on the latest international surveys available, including major sites: eye, bone, head and neck, skin, brain, heart and peripheral vascular system.
Radiotherapy for benign diseases is still a feasible therapeutic strategy, which may allow to treat several invalidating conditions, especially after medical therapies have failed thus avoiding potentially invalidating major surgical procedures. A careful evaluation in selecting the indication is essential and all the choices should be thoroughly discussed with the patients.
The Ceará Rise is an aseismic feature located in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean, between the Amazon Cone, Demerara Abyssal Plain and the Ceará Abyssal Plain, which represents a key area for the ...understanding of deep ocean facies. In the oil and gas field, the identification of calcareous nannofossil-based biozones is important for the age modeling and comprehension of depositional evolution of the sedimentary strata. The study of Oligocene calcareous nannofossil-based succession at the Ceará Rise helped to detect paleoecological trends during the Oligocene. Using a polarized light optical microscope, forty-four species were observed, described and accounted in fifteen samples. The biostratigraphic model includes the standard biozones NP23, NP24 and NP25, as well as the recently proposed biozone NP26 - Clausicoccus fenestratus. Among the species found, Sphenolithus ciperoensis, Sphenolithus distentus and Sphenolithus predistentus were the most important biostratigraphic markers for the section. The quantification of the nannofossils, enabled the division of the studied section into eight distinct intervals according to the fluctuation in paleoproxies values and diversity indices: Interval A (CP17: Rupelian): oligotrophic assemblage of warmer surface waters; Interval B (CP18: Rupelian): temperate assemblage of mesotrophic/eutrophic surface waters; Interval C (CP18 and CP19a: Rupelian/Chattian): oligotrophic assemblage of warmer surface waters; Interval D (CP19a and CP19b: Chattian): temperate assemblage of mesotrophic/eutrophic surface waters; Interval E (CP19b: Chattian): oligotrophic assemblage of warmer surface waters; Interval F (CP19b: Chattian): temperate assemblage of oligotrophic surface waters; Interval G (CP19b: Chattian): temperate assemblage of oligotrophic surface waters; and Interval H (CN1a: Chattian): temperate assemblage of eutrophic surface waters.
From a clinical point of view, Kimura's disease is typically characterized by a subcutaneous mass occurring predominantly in the head and neck region. It occurs predominantly in young men of Asian ...descent, with a peak incidence in the second and third decades of life. However, KD has been also reported in other ethnic groups and in children. The most frequently used local treatments are surgical excision, radiotherapy, and surgical excision followed by radiotherapy. The aim of this multicenter systematic review is to highlight the available literature evidence about the outcome of RT in this setting.
A systematic review of any relevant literature in the principal medical databases, such as PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane library, was conducted. The inclusion criteria were original articles specifically reporting about KD and RT, including both prospective and retrospective studies.
We were able to identify 11 studies, published from 1989 to 2021, eligible for inclusion in this review. Overall, data on 124 patients were recorded and are presented in this systematic review. The median recurrence rate, considering all patients, was 11% (ranging from 0% to 41.2%). In seven out of 11 studies, the relapse rate was less than 20%. Moreover, the relapse rate was 0% in four studies.
The results of this multicenter systematic literature review show that evidence on RT of KD is limited and derives only from retrospective studies. In this setting RT seems to be well-tolerated and able to produce very high response rates in unresected lesions and reasonable results in terms of local control both as an exclusive and adjuvant treatment.
This review aimed at examining efficacy of interventional radiotherapy (brachytherapy-IRT) alone or combined with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in stage I esophageal cancer as exclusive ...treatment.
A systematic research using PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane library was performed. ClinicalTrials.gov was searched for ongoing or recently completed trials, and PROSPERO was searched for ongoing or recently completed systematic reviews. We analyzed only clinical study as full-text publication, reporting on patients with stage I esophageal cancer treated with IRT alone or in combination with other treatments (e.g., EBRT). Conference paper, survey, letter, editorial, book chapter, and review were excluded. Patients who underwent previous surgery were excluded. Time restriction (1990-2018) was applied for years of the publication.
Twelve studies have been selected. The number of evaluated patients was 514; the median age was 69 years. In the IRT group, the median: local control (LC) was 77% (range 63%-100%), disease-free survival (DFS) was 68.4% (range 49%-86.3%), the overall survival (OS) was 60% (range 31%-84%), the cancer specific survival (CSS) was 80% (range 55-100%), and grade 3-4 toxicity range was 0%-26%.
IRT alone or combined to EBRT is an effective and safe treatment option for patients with stage I esophageal cancer. Definitive radiation therapy could be an alternative to surgery in patients with superficial cancer.
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