The interest in positron emission tomography (PET) as a tool for treatment verification in proton therapy has become widespread in recent years, and several research groups worldwide are currently ...investigating the clinical implementation. After the first off-line investigation with a PET/CT scanner at MGH (Boston, USA), attention is now focused on an in-room PET application immediately after treatment in order to also detect shorter-lived isotopes, such as O15 and N13, minimizing isotope washout and avoiding patient repositioning errors. Clinical trials are being conducted by means of commercially available PET systems, and other tests are planned using application-dedicated tomographs. Parallel to the experimental investigation and new hardware development, great interest has been shown in the development of fast procedures to provide feedback regarding the delivered dose from reconstructed PET images. Since the thresholds of inelastic nuclear reactions leading to tissue β+ -activation fall within the energy range of 15-20 MeV, the distal activity fall-off is correlated, but not directly matched, to the distal fall-off of the dose distribution. Moreover, the physical interactions leading to β+ -activation and energy deposition are of a different nature. All these facts make it essential to further develop accurate and fast methodologies capable of predicting, on the basis of the planned dose distribution, expected PET images to be compared with actual PET measurements, thus providing clinical feedback on the correctness of the dose delivery and of the irradiation field position. The aim of this study has been to validate an analytical model and to implement and evaluate it in a fast and flexible framework able to locally predict such activity distributions directly taking the reference planning CT and planned dose as inputs. The results achieved in this study for phantoms and clinical cases highlighted the potential of the implemented method to predict expected activity distributions with great accuracy. Thus, the analytical model can be used as a powerful substitute method to the sensitive and time-consuming Monte Carlo approach.
During particle therapy irradiation, positron emitters with half-lives ranging from 2 to 20 min are generated from nuclear processes. The half-lives are such that it is possible either to detect the ...positron signal in the treatment room using an in-beam positron emission tomography (PET) system, right after the irradiation, or to quickly transfer the patient to a close PET/CT scanner. Since the activity distribution is spatially correlated with the dose, it is possible to use PET imaging as an indirect method to assure the quality of the dose delivery. In this work, we present a new dedicated PET system able to operate in-beam. The PET apparatus consists in two 10 cm × 10 cm detector heads. Each detector is composed of four scintillating matrices of 23 × 23 LYSO crystals. The crystal size is 1.9 mm × 1.9 mm × 16 mm. Each scintillation matrix is read out independently with a modularized acquisition system. The distance between the two opposing detector heads was set to 20 cm. The system has very low dead time per detector area and a 3 ns coincidence window, which is capable to sustain high single count rates and to keep the random counts relatively low. This allows a new full-beam monitoring modality that includes data acquisition also while the beam is on. The PET system was tested during the irradiation at the CATANA (INFN, Catania, Italy) cyclotron-based proton therapy facility. Four acquisitions with different doses and dose rates were analysed. In all cases the random to total coincidences ratio was equal or less than 25%. For each measurement we estimated the accuracy and precision of the activity range on a set of voxel lines within an irradiated PMMA phantom. Results show that the inclusion of data acquired during the irradiation, referred to as beam-on data, improves both the precision and accuracy of the range measurement with respect to data acquired only after irradiation. Beam-on data alone are enough to give precisions better than 1 mm when at least 5 Gy are delivered.
Dominance of neotropical tree communities by a few species is widely documented, but dominant trees show a variety of distributional patterns still poorly understood. Here, we used 503 forest ...inventory plots (93,719 individuals ≥2.5 cm diameter, 2609 species) to explore the relationships between local abundance, regional frequency and spatial aggregation of dominant species in four main habitat types in western Amazonia. Although the abundance‐occupancy relationship is positive for the full dataset, we found that among dominant Amazonian tree species, there is a strong negative relationship between local abundance and regional frequency and/or spatial aggregation across habitat types. Our findings suggest an ecological trade‐off whereby dominant species can be locally abundant (local dominants) or regionally widespread (widespread dominants), but rarely both (oligarchs). Given the importance of dominant species as drivers of diversity and ecosystem functioning, unravelling different dominance patterns is a research priority to direct conservation efforts in Amazonian forests.
Dominance of neotropical tree communities by a few species is widely documented, but dominant trees show a variety of distributional patterns still poorly understood. Contrary to the widely supported positive abundance‐occupancy relationship in ecology, we found that among dominant Amazonian tree species, there is a strong negative relationship between local abundance and regional frequency and/or spatial aggregation across habitat types. Our findings suggest an ecological trade‐off whereby dominant species can be locally abundant (local dominants) or regionally widespread (widespread dominants), but rarely both (oligarchs).
A PET detector featuring a pseudo-monolithic crystal is being developed as a more cost-effective alternative to a full monolithic crystal PET detector. This work evaluates different methods to ...localize the scintillation events in quartered monolithic crystals that are optically coupled. A semi-monolithic crystal assembly was formed using four 26 × 26 × 10 mm
LYSO crystals optically coupled together using optical adhesive, to mimic a 52 × 52 × 10 mm
monolithic crystal detector. The crystal assembly was coupled to a 64-channel multi-anode photomultiplier tube using silicon grease. The detector was calibrated using a 34 × 34 scan grid. Events were first filtered and depth separated using a multi-Lorentzian fit to the collected light distribution. Next, three different techniques were explored to generate the look up tables for the event positioning. The first technique was 'standard interpolation' across the interface. The second technique was 'central extrapolation', where a bin was placed at the midpoint of the interface and events positioned within the interface region were discarded. The third technique used a 'central overlap' method where an extended region was extrapolated at each interface. Events were then positioned using least-squares minimization and maximum likelihood methods. The least-squares minimization applied to the look up table generated with the standard interpolation technique had the best full width at half maximum (FWHM) intrinsic spatial resolution and the lowest bias. However, there were discontinuities in the event positioning that would most likely lead to artifacts in the reconstructed image. The central extrapolation technique also had discontinuities and a 30% sensitivity loss near the crystal-crystal interfaces. The central overlap technique had slightly degraded performance metrics, but it still provided ~2.1 mm intrinsic spatial resolution at the crystal-crystal interface and had a symmetric and continuously varying response function. Results using maximum likelihood positioning were similar to least-squares minimization for the central overlap data.
Studies of silicon photomultipliers at cryogenic temperatures Collazuol, G.; Bisogni, M.G.; Marcatili, S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
02/2011, Volume:
628, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
We investigate the behavior of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) at low temperatures:
I–
V characteristics, breakdown voltage, dark noise, afterpulsing, crosstalk, pulse shape, gain and photon ...detection efficiency are studied as a function of temperature in the range
50
K
<
T
<
320
K
. We discuss our measurements on the basis of the temperature dependent properties of silicon and of the models related to carrier generation, transport and multiplication in high electric field. We conclude that SiPMs provide an excellent alternative to vacuum tube photomultipliers (PMTs) in low temperature environments, even better than in room temperature ones: in particular they excel in the interval
100
K
<
T
<
200
K
.
The characterization of a PET detector head based on continuous LYSO crystals and silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays as photodetectors has been carried out for its use in the development of a ...small animal PET prototype. The detector heads are composed of a continuous crystal and a SiPM matrix with 64 pixels in a common substrate, fabricated specifically for this project. Three crystals of 12 mm × 12 mm × 5 mm size with different types of painting have been tested: white, black and black on the sides but white on the back of the crystal. The best energy resolution, obtained with the white crystal, is 16% FWHM. The detector response is linear up to 1275 keV. Tests with different position determination algorithms have been carried out with the three crystals. The spatial resolution obtained with the center of gravity algorithm is around 0.9 mm FWHM for the three crystals. As expected, the use of this algorithm results in the displacement of the reconstructed position toward the center of the crystal, more pronounced in the case of the white crystal. A maximum likelihood algorithm has been tested that can reconstruct correctly the interaction position of the photons also in the case of the white crystal.
Introduction.
Cardiotoxicity represents a major limitation for the use of anthracyclines or trastuzumab in breast cancer patients. Data from longitudinal studies of diastolic dysfunction (DD) in this ...group of patients are scarce. The objective of the present study was to assess the incidence, evolution, and predictors of DD in patients with breast cancer treated with anthracyclines.
Methods.
This analytical, observational cohort study comprised 100 consecutive patients receiving anthracycline‐based chemotherapy (CHT) for breast cancer. All patients underwent clinical evaluation, echocardiogram, and measurement of cardiac biomarkers at baseline, end of anthracycline‐based CHT, and at 3 months and 9 months after anthracycline‐based CHT was completed. Fifteen patients receiving trastuzumab were followed with two additional visits at 6 and 12 months after the last dose of anthracycline‐based CHT. A multivariate analysis was performed to find variables related to the development of DD. Fifteen of the 100 patients had baseline DD and were excluded from this analysis.
Results.
At the end of follow‐up (median: 12 months, interquartile range: 11.1–12.8), 49 patients (57.6%) developed DD. DD was persistent in 36 (73%) but reversible in the remaining 13 patients (27%). Four patients developed cardiotoxicity (three patients had left ventricular systolic dysfunction and one suffered a sudden cardiac death). None of the patients with normal diastolic function developed systolic dysfunction during follow‐up. In the logistic regression model, body mass index (BMI) and age were independently related to the development of DD, with the following odds ratio values: BMI: 1.19 (95% confidence interval CI: 1.04–1.36), and age: 1.12 (95% CI: 1.03–1.19). Neither cardiac biomarkers nor remaining clinical variables were predictors of DD.
Conclusion.
Development of diastolic dysfunction after treatment with anthracycline or anthracycline‐ plus trastuzumab chemotherapy is common. BMI and age were independently associated with DD following anthracycline chemotherapy.
Implications for Practice:
This study characterizes the incidence of diastolic dysfunction in a cohort of patients undergoing anthracycline treatment. The incidence of diastolic dysfunction during follow‐up was 57% and persisted at the last follow‐up visit in 73% of patients. Age and body mass index were found to be independent predictors of anthracycline‐related diastolic dysfunction. These findings may help identify patients at higher risk for developing a clinically relevant anthracycline cardiotoxicity from those at lower risk and to differentiate monitoring programs for breast cancer patients according to their risk.
The incidence, evolution, and predictors of diastolic dysfunction were assessed in 100 patients with breast cancer treated with anthracyclines. Development of diastolic dysfunction after treatment with anthracyclines or with anthracyclines and trastuzumab occurred in 57.6% of patients, and was reversible in 27% of these. Body mass index and age were independently associated with diastolic dysfunction following anthracycline chemotherapy.
An appropriate design of a chiller plant is crucial to guarantee highly performing solutions. However, several design variables, such as type of systems, total cooling capacity, and hydraulic ...arrangement, need to be considered. On the one hand, at present, different technical criteria for selecting the most suitable design variables are available. Studies that corroborate the influence of the design variables over the operational variables are missing. In order to fill this knowledge gap, this work proposes a statistical analysis of design variables in chiller plants operating in medium- and large-scale applications and evaluates their influence on energy consumption and life cycle cost (LCC) under the same thermal demand conditions. A case study involving 138 chiller plant combinations featuring different arrangements and a Cuban hotel was selected. The results suggested that the total chiller design and cooling capacity distribution among chillers have a significant influence on the energy consumption of the chiller plant with a Spearman’s Rho and Kendall Tau (τ) correlation index value of −0.625 and 0.559, respectively. However, with LCC, only the cooling capacity distribution among the chillers had a certain influence with a Kendall Tau correlation index value of 0.289. As for the considered total cooling capacity, the applied statistical test showed that this design variable does not have any influence on performing the chiller plant.
The forests of western Amazonia are among the most diverse tree communities on Earth, yet this exceptional diversity is distributed highly unevenly within and among communities. In particular, a ...small number of dominant species account for the majority of individuals, whereas the large majority of species are locally and regionally extremely scarce. By definition, dominant species contribute little to local species richness (alpha diversity), yet the importance of dominant species in structuring patterns of spatial floristic turnover (beta diversity) has not been investigated. Here, using a network of 207 forest inventory plots, we explore the role of dominant species in determining regional patterns of beta diversity (community-level floristic turnover and distance-decay relationships) across a range of habitat types in northern lowland Peru. Of the 2,031 recorded species in our data set, only 99 of them accounted for 50% of individuals. Using these 99 species, it was possible to reconstruct the overall features of regional beta diversity patterns, including the location and dispersion of habitat types in multivariate space, and distance-decay relationships. In fact, our analysis demonstrated that regional patterns of beta diversity were better maintained by the 99 dominant species than by the 1,932 others, whether quantified using species-abundance data or species presence–absence data. Our results reveal that dominant species are normally common only in a single forest type. Therefore, dominant species play a key role in structuring western Amazonian tree communities, which in turn has important implications, both practically for designing effective protected areas, and more generally for understanding the determinants of beta diversity patterns.
Background
Organic soilless production in containers requires substrates with appropriate physicochemical and biological properties to ensure that production is sustainable and profitable for several ...production cycles. The main objective of this study was to comprehensively evaluate these properties in three different mixtures of organic substrates (vermicompost V and coconut fibers CF in ratios 20V80CF, 40V60CF, 60V40CF) for four horticultural crop production cycles (PCs) using vermicompost tea (VT) as the main source of nutrients.
Results
Readily available water (25%) in the control treatment (20V80CF) was below the recommended limit, and dry bulk density (>450 g/L) surpassed the recommended limit in the 60V40CF treatment (p < 0.05). In terms of chemical properties, cations and anions in the saturated media extract decreased significantly to values below established optimal conditions. Furthermore, the substrates presented high enzymatic activity in successive production cycles (p < 0.05), including dehydrogenase (350–400 μg TFF g−1), acid phosphatase (4,700 μg p‐nitrophenol g−1 soil hr−1), and β‐glucosidase (1,200 μg p‐nitrophenol g−1 soil hr−1) activity during transformation from organic matter to inorganic compounds.
Conclusion
The 40V60CF treatment presents adequate physicochemical and biological characteristics for reuse for more than four growing cycles when organic supplements are administered.
Mix of organic substrates (vermicompost and coconut fiber) can be reused for more than four production cycles depending on its physicochemical and biological properties. Organic substrates assure production of four crop cycles without the use of chemical fertilizers. Continuous use of organic substrate shows incremental changes in microbiological activity during transformation from organic to inorganic sources.
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