Thiesengravgaard5785
Modern type 'c' dose calculation algorithms like Acuros
can predict dose for lung tumors larger than approximately 4cm
with a relative uncertainty up to 5%. However, increasingly better tumor diagnostics are leading to the detection of very small early-stage lung tumors that can be treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for inoperable patients. This raises the question whether dose algorithms like Acuros
can still accurately predict dose within 5% for challenging conditions involving small treatment fields. Current recommendations for Quality Assurance (QA) and dose verification in SBRT treatments are to use phantoms that are as realistic as possible to the clinical situation, although water-equivalent phantoms are still largely used for dose verification. In this work we aim to demonstrate that existing dose verification methods are inadequate for accurate dose verification in very small lung tumors treated with SBRT.
The homogeneous PTW Octavius4D phantom with the Octavius 1000 SRS detg phantom incorporating a water-equivalent target that matches clinical tumor size as closely as possible.
Current verification methods using homogenous phantoms are not adequate for lung tumors with diameters below approximately 0.75 cm. The current Acuros® dose calculation algorithm underestimates dose in very small lung tumors. Dose verification of small lung tumors should be performed in an anthropomorphic lung phantom incorporating a water-equivalent target that matches clinical tumor size as closely as possible.
To develop fast multi-slice apparent T
(T
) mapping for accurate cerebral blood flow (CBF) quantification with arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI.
Fast multi-slice T
was measured using a modified inversion recovery echo planar imaging (EPI) sequence with simultaneous application of ASL tagging radiofrequency (RF) and gradient pulses. The fast multi-slice T
measurement was compared with the single-slice T
imaging approach, repeated per slice. CBF was assessed in healthy adult Wistar rats (N = 5) and rats with acute stroke 24 hours after a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (N = 5).
The fast multi-slice T
measurement was in good agreement with that of a single-slice T
imaging approach (Lin's concordance correlation coefficient = 0.92). CBF calculated using T
reasonably accounted for the finite labeling RF duration, whereas the routine T
-normalized ASL MRI underestimated the CBF, particularly at short labeling durations. In acute stroke rats, the labeling time and the CBF difference (ΔCBF) between the contralateral normal area and the ischemic lesion were significantly correlated when using T
-normalized perfusion calculation (R = 0.844, P = .035). In comparison, T
-normalized ΔCBF had little labeling time dependence based on the linear regression equation of ΔCBF = -0.0247*τ + 1.579 mL/g/min (R = -0.352, P = .494).
Our study found fast multi-slice T
imaging improves the accuracy and reproducibility of CBF measurement.
Our study found fast multi-slice T1app imaging improves the accuracy and reproducibility of CBF measurement.Integrated models combine multiple data types within a unified analysis to estimate species abundance and covariate effects. By sharing biological parameters, integrated models improve the accuracy and precision of estimates compared to separate analyses of individual data sets. We developed an integrated point process model to combine presence-only and distance sampling data for estimation of spatially explicit abundance patterns. Simulations across a range of parameter values demonstrate that our model can recover estimates of biological covariates, but parameter accuracy and precision varied with the quantity of each data type. We applied our model to a case study of black-backed jackals in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, to examine effects of spatially varying covariates on jackal abundance patterns. The model revealed that jackals were positively affected by anthropogenic disturbance on the landscape, with highest abundance estimated along the Reserve border near human activity. We found minimal effects of landscape cover, lion density, and distance to water source, suggesting that human use of the Reserve may be the biggest driver of jackal abundance patterns. Our integrated model expands the scope of ecological inference by taking advantage of widely available presence-only data, while simultaneously leveraging richer, but typically limited, distance sampling data.The mechanisms causing invasive species impact are rarely empirically tested, limiting our ability to understand and predict subsequent changes in invaded plant communities. Invader disruption of native mutualistic interactions is a mechanism expected to have negative effects on native plant species. Specifically, disruption of native plant-fungal mutualisms may provide non-mycorrhizal plant invaders an advantage over mycorrhizal native plants. Invasive Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) produces secondary chemicals toxic to soil microorganisms including mycorrhizal fungi, and is known to induce physiological stress and reduce population growth rates of native forest understory plant species. Here, we report on a 11-yr manipulative field experiment in replicated forest plots testing if the effects of removal of garlic mustard on the plant community support the mutualism disruption hypothesis within the entire understory herbaceous community. We compare community responses for two functional groups the mycorrhizal vs. the non-mycorrhizal plant communities. Our results show that garlic mustard weeding alters the community composition, decreases community evenness, and increases the abundance of understory herbs that associate with mycorrhizal fungi. Conversely, garlic mustard has no significant effects on the non-mycorrhizal plant community. Consistent with the mutualism disruption hypothesis, our results demonstrate that allelochemical producing invaders modify the plant community by disproportionately impacting mycorrhizal plant species. We also demonstrate the importance of incorporating causal mechanisms of biological invasion to elucidate patterns and predict community-level responses.
Preterm birth (PTB) remains the foremost global cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Thus, the prevention of spontaneous PTB still remains of critical importance. In an attempt to prevent PTB in singleton pregnancies, cervical cerclage, in combination with other treatments, has been advocated. This is because, cervical cerclage is an intervention that is commonly recommended in women with a short cervix at high risk of preterm birth but, despite this, many women still deliver prematurely, as the biological mechanism is incompletely understood. Additionally, previous Cochrane Reviews have been published on the effectiveness of cervical cerclage in singleton and multiple pregnancies, however, none has evaluated the effectiveness of using cervical cerclage in combination with other treatments.
To assess whether antibiotics administration, vaginal pessary, reinforcing or second cerclage placement, tocolytic, progesterone, or other interventions at the time of cervical cerclage placement prolong singletould recruit sufficient numbers of women to provide meaningful results and should measure neonatal death and numbers of babies discharged home healthy, as well as other important outcomes listed in this review. We did not identify any studies looking at other treatments in combination with cervical cerclage. Future research needs to focus on the role of other interventions such as vaginal support pessary, reinforcing or second cervical cerclage placement, 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate or dydrogesterone or vaginal micronised progesterone, omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation and bed rest.
The simulation of individual particle tracks and the chemical stage following water radiolysis in biological tissue is an effective means of improving our knowledge of the physico-chemical contribution to the biological effect of ionizing radiation. However, the step-by-step simulation of the reaction kinetics of radiolytic species is the most time-consuming task in Monte Carlo track-structure simulations, with long simulation times that are an impediment to research. In this work, we present the implementation of the independent reaction times (IRT) method in Geant4-DNA Monte Carlo toolkit to improve the computational efficiency of calculating G-values, defined as the number of chemical species created or lost per 100eV of deposited energy.
The computational efficiency of IRT, as implemented, is compared to that from available Geant4-DNA step-by-step simulations for electrons, protons and alpha particles covering a wide range of linear energy transfer (LET). The accuracy of both methods is verified usingrent scavenging capacities and LET-dependent G-values reproduced the behavior of measurements for all radiation qualities.
The comprehensive validation of the Geant4-DNA capabilities to accurately simulate the chemistry following water radiolysis is an ongoing work. The implementation presented in this work is a necessary step to facilitate performing such a task.
The comprehensive validation of the Geant4-DNA capabilities to accurately simulate the chemistry following water radiolysis is an ongoing work. The implementation presented in this work is a necessary step to facilitate performing such a task.Although density regulates the abundance of most wild animal populations by influencing vital rates, such as fecundity and survival, the mechanisms responsible for generating negative density dependence are unclear for many species. Site dependence occurs when there is preferential filling of high-quality territories, which results in higher per capita vital rates at low densities because a larger proportion of occupied territories are of high quality. Using 41 yr of territory occupancy and demographic data, we investigated whether site dependence was a mechanism acting to influence fecundity and, by extension, regulate a population of Canada Jays in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. As predicted by site dependence, the proportion of occupied territories that were of high quality was negatively correlated with population density and periods of vacancy were shorter for high-quality territories than for low-quality territories. We also found evidence that per capita fecundity was positively related to the proportion of occupied territories that were of high quality, but only when environmental conditions, which influence the entire population, were otherwise poor for breeding. Our results suggest that site dependence likely plays a role in regulating this population but that environmental conditions can modulate the strength of density dependence.Where interspecific facilitation favors the establishment of high densities of a beneficiary species, strong intraspecific competition may subsequently impede beneficiary performance. Consequently, the negative influence of intraspecific competition between beneficiary individuals could potentially outweigh the positive influence of interspecific facilitation when, for example, higher densities of a beneficiary are negated by the negative effect of crowding on beneficiary reproduction. The aim of this study was, therefore, to examine the impact of an interspecific interaction on the outcome of intraspecific interactions within the context of plant-plant facilitation. We used the cushion-forming Azorella selago and a commonly co-occurring dominant perennial grass species, Agrostis magellanica, on sub-Antarctic Marion Island as a model system. We assessed the impact of an interspecific interaction (between A. selago and A. magellanica) on the outcome of intraspecific interactions (between A. magellanica individuals), by testing if the impact of A.
