Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) comply with an advanced disease and are not eligible for radical therapy. In this distressed scenario new treatment options hold great promise; among them ...transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and transarterial metabolic radiotherapy (TAMR) have shown efficacy in terms of both tumor shrinking and survival. External radiation therapy (RTx) by using novel three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy has also been used for HCC patients with encouraging results while its role had been limited in the past for the low tolerance of surrounding healthy liver. The rationale of TAMR derives from the idea of delivering exceptional radiation dose locally to the tumor, with cell killing intent, while preserving normal liver from undue exposition and minimizing systemic irradiation. Since the therapeutic efficacy of TACE is being continuously disputed, the TAMR with 131I Lipiodol or 90Y microspheres has gained consideration providing adequate therapeutic responses regardless of few toxicities. The implementation of novel radioisotopes and technological innovations in the field of RTx constitutes an intriguing field of research with important translational aspects. Moreover, the combination of different therapeutic approaches including chemotherapy offers captivating perspectives. We present the role of the radiation-based therapies in hepatocellular carcinoma patients who are not entitled for radical treatment.
Fine grained nuclear emulsion with several 10nm silver halide crystals can detect submicron tracks. This detector is expected to be worked as dark matter detector with directional sensitive. Now, ...nuclear emulsion became possible to be produced at Nagoya University, and extreme fine grained nuclear emulsion with 20nm diameter was produced. Using this emulsion and new reading out technique with expansion technique, for optical selection and X-ray microscopy, recoiled tracks induced by dark matter can be detected automatically. Then, readout efficiency is larger than 80% at 120nm, and angular resolution for final confirmation with X-ray microscopy is 20°. In addition, we started to construct the R&D underground facility in Gran Sasso.
The assessment of the radiological impact of decommissioning activities at a nuclear power plant requires a detailed analysis of the distribution of radionuclides in the environment surrounding it. ...The present work concerns data of three campaigns carried out during the last twenty years in the plain of the Garigliano river surrounding the Garigliano Nuclear Power Plant (GNPP), which is located in Southern Italy and shut down in 1979. Moreover, some data from surveys held in the eighties, across the Chernobyl accident, have been taken in account. The results for the soil samples, in particular for 137Cs and 236U specific activity, were analyzed for their extension in space and in time. Some of the problems related to the classical analysis of environmental radiological data (non-normal distribution of the values, small number of sample points, multiple comparison and presence of values lesser than the minimum detectable activity) have been overcome with the use of Bayesian methods.
The scope of the paper is threefold: (1) to introduce the data of the last campaign held in the Garigliano plain; (2) to insert these data in a larger spatio-temporal frame; (3) to show how the Bayesian approach can be applied to radiological environmental surveys, stressing out its advantages over other approaches, using the data of the campaigns.
The results show that radionuclides specific activity in soil is dominated by the natural sources with the contribution of the atmospheric fallout. A detailed study was performed on the 137Cs data to evaluate both their statistical distribution and the trend over the space and the time. It results that (i) no new contribution there was in the last decades, (ii) specific activity values of the area surrounding the GNPP are consistent with those obtained in other farther areas, (iii) the effective depletion half-life factor for 137Cs is much lower than the half-life of the radionuclide.
•The Bayesian approach in the study of environment has some clear-cut benefits.•Specific activity in soil is dominated by the atmospheric fallout.•Effective half-life factor for 137Cs is much lower than that of the radionuclide.
Direct Dark Matter searches are nowadays one of the most fervid research topics with many experimental efforts devoted to the search for nuclear recoils induced by the scattering of Weakly ...Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs). Detectors able to reconstruct the direction of the nucleus recoiling against the scattering WIMP are opening a new frontier to possibly extend Dark Matter searches beyond the neutrino background. Exploiting directionality would also prove the galactic origin of Dark Matter with an unambiguous signal-to-background separation. Indeed, the angular distribution of recoiled nuclei is centered around the direction of the Cygnus constellation, while the background distribution is expected to be isotropic. Current directional experiments are based on gas TPC whose sensitivity is limited by the small achievable detector mass. In this paper we present the discovery potential of a directional experiment based on the use of a solid target made of newly developed nuclear emulsions and of optical read-out systems reaching unprecedented nanometric resolution.
Objective : To investigate the feasibility of using a wireless wearable device (WD) in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients undergoing radionuclide therapy with I-131 (RAI) and protected ...hospitalization, this study compared the measurements of residual radioactivity obtained with those registered by a permanent environmental home device (HD). Methods : Twenty consecutive patients undergoing RAI hospitalized in restricted, controlled areas were enrolled. The patients underwent comprehensive monitoring of vital/nonvital parameters. We obtained 45580± 13 measurements from the WD, detecting the residual radioactivity for each patient during approximately 56 hours of hospitalization, collecting data 53 times per hour. The samples, collected during daily activities, were averaged every two hours, and the results correlated with those from the HD. Bland-Altman analysis was also used to evaluate the agreement between the two techniques. Results : A significant relationship between the WD and HD was observed (r = 0.96, p < 0.0001). Bland-Altman analysis recognized the agreement between measurements by the WD and HD. The mean value at the end of the first day of hospitalization was 80.81 microSv/h and 60.77 microSv/h (p = ns for WD and HD), whereas those at the end of the second day were 47.08 and 24.96 (p = ns). In the generalized linear model (GLM), a similar trend in performance across time was found with the two techniques. Conclusion : This study demonstrates good agreement between the residual radioactivity measures estimated by the WD and HD modalities, rendering them interchangeable. This approach will allow both the optimization of medical staff exposure and safer patient discharge. Abbreviations : wireless device (WD); differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC); radionuclide therapy with I-131 (RAI); home device (HD); generalized linear model (GLM).
The assessment of the radiological impact of decommissioning activities at a Nuclear Power Plant requires a detailed mapping of the distribution of radionuclides both in the environment surrounding ...the NPP and in its structural material. The detection of long-lived actinide isotopes and possibly the identification of their origin is particularly interesting and valuable if ultrasensitive measurement of the relative abundance of U isotopes is performed via Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). In this paper we present an investigation carried out on the structural materials of the Garigliano NPP aiming to determine the abundance of 235,236,238U in the various compartments of the plant buildings under decommissioning. Since the expected values both for isotopic ratios and total U concentrations range over different orders of magnitude, we have developed a novel methodology for the measurement of 234,235U/238U isotopic ratios in low U concentration samples. This allowed a systematic investigation of the distribution of all U isotopes in concrete and metal matrices of the NPP. The behavior of 235,236U/238U isotopic ratios in the different compartments of the NPP is discussed. The correlation of these ratios with 60Co and 137Cs specific activities is also studied to show a different behavior for concrete and metal samples. These data represent a very valuable information to direct the decommissioning procedures under course.
Euclid is an ESA mission designed to understand why the expansion of the Universe is accelerating and what is the nature of the dark energy responsible for this acceleration. By measuring two ...cosmological probes simultaneously, the Weak Gravitational Lensing and the Galaxy Clustering (BAO and Redshift-Space distorsions), Euclid will constrain dark energy, general relativity, dark matter and the initial conditions of the Universe with unprecedented accuracy. Euclid will be equipped with a 1.2 m diameter SiC mirror telescope feeding 2 instruments: the visible imager and the Near-Infrared Spectro-Photometer. Here the Euclid's observation probes and main aims are recalled, and the NISP instrument and expected performances are presented.
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