Using total-variation regularization for intensity modulated radiation therapy inverse planning with field-specific numbers of segments

Currently, there are two types of treatment planning algorithms for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). The beamlet-based algorithm generates beamlet intensity maps with high complexity, resulting in large numbers of segments in the delivery after a leaf-sequencing algorithm is applied. The segment-based direct aperture optimization (DAO) algorithm includes the physical constraints of the deliverable apertures in the calculation, and achieves a conformal dose distribution using a small number of segments. However, the number of segments is pre-fixed in most of the DAO approaches, and the typical random search scheme in the optimization is computationally intensive. A regularization-based algorithm is proposed to overcome the drawbacks of the DAO method. Instead of smoothing the beamlet intensity maps as in many existing methods, we include a total-variation term in the optimization objective function to reduce the number of signal levels of the beam intensity maps. An aperture rectification algorithm is then applied to generate a significantly reduced number of deliverable apertures. As compared to the DAO algorithm, our method has an efficient form of quadratic optimization, with an additional advantage of optimizing field-specific numbers of segments based on the modulation complexity. The proposed approach is evaluated using two clinical cases. Under the condition that the clinical acceptance criteria of the treatment plan are satisfied, for the prostate patient, the total number of segments for five fields is reduced from 61 using the Eclipse planning system to 35 using the proposed algorithm; for the head and neck patient, the total number of segments for seven fields is reduced from 107 to 28. The head and neck result is also compared to that using an equal number of four segments for each field. The comparison shows that using field-specific numbers of segments achieves a much improved dose distribution.     

An evaluation of two methods of laboratory quality control.

Two methods for quality control of automated blood counters have been compared: (1) monitoring results from patients' samples, and (2) analysis of results of a stable whole-blood control. The latter method proved better able to distinguish calibration changes from patient variation.     

An Improved Technique for Chromosomal Analysis of Human ES and iPS Cells

Prolonged in vitro culture of human embryonic stem (hES) cells can result in chromosomal abnormalities believed to confer a selective advantage. This potential occurrence has crucial implications for the appropriate use of hES cells for research and therapeutic purposes. In view of this, time-point karyotypic evaluation to assess genetic stability is recommended as a necessary control test to be carried out during extensive ‘passaging’. Standard techniques currently used for the cytogenetic assessment of ES cells include G-banding and/or Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (FISH)-based protocols for karyotype analysis, including M-FISH and SKY. Critical for both banding and FISH techniques are the number and quality of metaphase spreads available for analysis at the microscope. Protocols for chromosome preparation from hES and human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells published so far appear to differ considerably from one laboratory to another. Here we present an optimized technique, in which both the number and the quality of chromosome metaphase spreads were substantially improved when compared to current standard techniques for chromosome preparations. We believe our protocol represents a significant advancement in this line of work, and has the required attributes of simplicity and consistency to be widely accepted as a reference method for high quality, fast chromosomal analysis of human ES and iPS cells.     

Polymerase chain reaction-based detection of Trypanosoma cruzi DNA in serum.

DNAs prepared from chagasic patients' sera were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction using oligonucleotide primers which anneal specifically to a highly repetitive sequence of Trypanosoma cruzi nuclear DNA. Samples from both acutely and chronically infected patients yielded positive results by this method. No significant difference was observed when either whole blood or serum samples of the patients were used. These results indicate that serum instead of whole-blood samples could be used for polymerase chain reaction-based detection of T. cruzi in field studies without the need of applying any special chemical treatment to the specimens. This would represent a considerable advantage due to the easier handling and transportation of serum as compared with whole-blood samples, especially in tropical climates.     

Fast Monte Carlo dose calculation for photon beams based on the VMC electron algorithm.

A new Monte Carlo algorithm for 3D photon dose calculation in radiation therapy is presented, which is based on the previously developed Voxel Monte Carlo (VMC) for electron beams. The main result is that this new version of VMC (now called XVMC) is more efficient than EGS4/PRESTA photon dose calculation by a factor of 15-20. Therefore, a standard treatment plan for photons can be calculated by Monte Carlo in about 20 min. on a "normal" personal computer. The improvement is caused mainly by the fast electron transport algorithm and ray tracing technique, and an initial ray tracing method to calculate the number of electrons created in each voxel by the primary photon beam. The model was tested in comparison to calculations by EGS4 using several fictive phantoms. In most cases a good coincidence has been found between both codes. Only within lung substitute dose differences have been observed.     

人脐带血血红蛋白的分离纯化与病毒灭活研究

建立了一套通过热敏法分离纯化及病毒灭活人脐带血血红蛋白的工艺。对该工艺条件的优化。使得纯化血红蛋白产品纯度及回收率等得到提升，并建立了一套较为完善的纯化血红蛋白质量检测指标。与现有的纯化方式相比。热敏法操作简便。仪器设备造价低廉。纯化与病毒灭活同时进行，得到的纯化产品损失少，纯度高。各项理化指标达到国际水平。为规模制备纯化及病毒灭活的血红蛋白以及血液代用品的研发创造了有利条件。     

Speed versus accuracy in a fast convolution photon dose calculation for conformal radiotherapy

A convolution dose calculation for megavoltage photon beams is described and the compromise between speed and accuracy examined. The algorithm is suitable for treatment planning optimization, where the need is for a fast, flexible method requiring minimal beam data but providing an accurate result. The algorithm uses a simple tabular beam model, together with a discrete scatter kernel. These beam parameters are fitted either to a measured dose distribution, or to a dose distribution calculated using a more accurate dose calculation algorithm. The calculation is then applied to pelvic and thoracic conformal plans, and the results compared with those provided by a commercial radiotherapy treatment planning system (Pinnacle3, Philips Radiation Oncology Systems, Milpitas, CA), which has been verified against measurements. The calculation takes around 4 s to compute a 100 x 100 mm field, and agreement of the dose-volume histograms with the commercial treatment planning system is to within 5% dose or 8% volume. Use of a grid resolution coarser than 5 x 5 x 5 mm is found to be inaccurate, whereas calculating primary dose on a coarse grid and interpolating is found to increase speed without significantly reducing accuracy. Kernel resolution influences the speed and accuracy, but using 12 discrete points provides a fast result with a limited error. Thus, the algorithm is suitable for optimization applications.     

A system for intensity modulated dose plan verification based on an experimental pencil beam kernel obtained by deconvolution

The number of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) procedures is continuously growing worldwide and it is necessary to develop tools for patient specific quality assurance (QA) that avoid using machine time that could be employed in treating additional patients. One way of achieving this goal is to perform a multileaf collimator quality assurance periodically in the linear accelerator and check the treatment planning system (TPS) calculation by employing an independent calculation system. Within the work frame of the pencil beam kernel approach, a new system was developed for obtaining an experimental kernel. This new technique is based on a deconvolution procedure using the Hankel transform. The resulting kernel is obtained in a way completely independent of those employed in commercial treatment planning systems, usually calculated by Monte Carlo simulations. Also provided are comparisons between calculated and measured doses with radiographic film, linear array of diodes, and ionization chamber. Measurements taken in polystyrene and water for clinical IMRT plans demonstrate that this method can calculate IMRT dose distributions, as well as treatment times, with great accuracy. Apart from other applications, it can be used as a double-check algorithm for IMRT QA.     

Algorithm and performance of a clinical IMRT beam-angle optimization system

This paper describes the algorithm and examines the performance of an intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) beam-angle optimization (BAO) system. In this algorithm successive sets of beam angles are selected from a set of predefined directions using a fast simulated annealing (FSA) algorithm. An IMRT beam-profile optimization is performed on each generated set of beams. The IMRT optimization is accelerated by using a fast dose calculation method that utilizes a precomputed dose kernel. A compact kernel is constructed for each of the predefined beams prior to starting the FSA algorithm. The IMRT optimizations during the BAO are then performed using these kernels in a fast dose calculation engine. This technique allows the IMRT optimization to be performed more than two orders of magnitude faster than a similar optimization that uses a convolution dose calculation engine. Any type of optimization criterion present in the IMRT system can be used in this BAO system. An objective function based on clinically-relevant dose-volume (DV) criteria is used in this study. This facilitates the comparison between a BAO plan and the corresponding plan produced by a planner since the latter is usually optimized using a DV-based objective function. A simple prostate case and a complex head-and-neck (HN) case were used to evaluate the usefulness and performance of this BAO method. For the prostate case we compared the BAO results for three, five and seven coplanar beams with those of the same number of equispaced coplanar beams. For the HN case we compare the BAO results for seven and nine non-coplanar beams with that for nine equispaced coplanar beams. In each case the BAO algorithm was allowed to search up to 1000 different sets of beams. The BAO for the prostate cases were finished in about 1-2 h on a moderate 400 MHz workstation while that for the head-and-neck cases were completed in 13-17 h on a 750 MHz machine. No a priori beam-selection criteria have been used in achieving this performance. In both the prostate and the head-and-neck cases, BAO is shown to provide improvements in plan quality over that of the equispaced beams. The use of DV-based objective function also allows us to study the dependence of the improvement of plan quality offered by BAO on the DV criteria used in the optimization. We found that BAO is especially useful for cases that require strong DV criteria. The main advantages of this BAO system are its speed and its direct link to a clinical IMRT system.     

一种快速斜截面医学图像重建算法

提出了一种基于矢量旋转的快速任意截面医学图像重建方法.算法采用矢量方程描述成像截平面,通过两步计算,把成像截平面法矢量的方向数换算为相对于空间参照系三个坐标轴的旋转量,从而将定解问题转化为求不定解的一个特解.算法的优点是避免直接求解方程,直接计算截平面与三维图像场之间点坐标的转换关系.计算仅涉及成像截平面法矢量的方向数,计算量小,易于对人机交互的描述,便于接口软件开发.实验结果表明,算法速度快,实用性强.     

Detection of cytomegalovirus in blood donors by PCR using the digene SHARP signal system assay: effects of sample preparation and detection methodology.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an important cause of transfusion-associated morbidity and mortality; however, only 0.4 to 12% of the blood products obtained from seropositive blood donors transmit infection. The effects of three commercially available whole-blood sample preparation kits on the detection of CMV PCR products by a semiquantitative adaptation of the Digene SHARP Signal System Assay (DSSSA) in samples from volunteer blood donors was assessed. Of 101 samples from seropositive blood donors, CMV was detected in 0 (0%) of the samples extracted with a QIAamp blood kit (QIAGEN), 1 (1%) of the samples extracted with an Amplicor whole-blood specimen preparation kit (Roche), and 8 (8%) of the samples extracted with an Isoquick nucleic acid extraction kit (modified by the addition of carrier tRNA) (Microprobe). CMV DNA was not detected in samples from seronegative blood donors (n = 13). Nested PCR of selected samples confirmed the detection of CMV in the sane eight samples extracted with the modified Isoquick nucleic acid extraction kit and detected an additional nine CMV-positive samples (n = 50). Samples from volunteer blood donors contain low copy numbers of CMV DNA. PCR amplification of such specimens can result in analytical sampling errors, giving results similar to the variations in titers recognized during determinations of the 50% tissue culture infective dose. The detection of CMV in blood samples from volunteer blood donors by PCR is a function of sample preparation, amplification conditions, and detection methodology. Accurate assessments of the clinical utility of CMV DNA detection by nucleic acid amplification for blood product screening and patients will require highly standardized and quantitative methodology.     

Study of allergenic fungi by means of a laser beam.

Laser microscopy was employed to detect some elements of Mendeleev's classification in allergenic moulds for humans. It permits the detection of 74 elements in the periodic system, from lithium (3) to uranium (92). This method requires little specimen preparation and has the advantage of not requiring large masses of tissue.     

Numerical calculation of energy deposition by high-energy electron beams: III. Three-dimensional heterogeneous media

The phase space time evolution model of Huizenga and Storchi and Morawska-Kaczyńska and Huizenga has been modified to accommodate calculations of energy deposition by arbitrary electron beams in three-dimensional heterogeneous media. This is a further development aimed at the use of the phase space evolution model in radiotherapy treatment planning. The model presented uses an improved method to control the evolution of the phase space state. This new method results in a faster algorithm, and requires less computer memory. An extra advantage of this method is that it allows the pre-calculation of information, further reducing calculation times. Typical results obtainable with this model are illustrated with the cases of (i) a 20 MeV pencil beam in a water phantom, (ii) a 20 MeV 5 x 5 cm2 beam in a water phantom containing two air cavities, and (iii) a 20 MeV 5 x 5 cm2 beam in a water phantom containing an aluminium region. The results of the dose distribution calculations are in good agreement with and require significantly less computation time than results obtained with Monte Carlo methods.     

The determination of the diethylene glycol incorporated in poly(ethylene terephthalate) by thin layer chromatography. III.1

The purpose of this study is to propose a new method for the determination of diethylene glycol units, incorporated in PET-chains. After saponification overnight at 150°C with aqueous KOH, the diethylene glycol is determinated by thin layer chromatography. This method is not as accurate as the currently used gas chromatographic ones, but has the advantage to be much simpler and it is also quite sufficient for quality control purposes.     

Smartphone application for emergency signal detection

Currently, a number of studies focus on the study and design of new healthcare technologies to improve elderly health and quality of life. Taking advantage of the popularity, portability, and inherent technology of smartphones, we present an emergency application for smartphones, designated as knock-to-panic (KTP). This innovative and novel system enables users to simply hit their devices in order to send an alarm signal to an emergency service. This application is a complete and autonomous emergency system, and can provide an economic, reliable, and unobtrusive method for elderly monitoring or safety protection. Moreover, the simple and fast activation of KTP makes it a viable and potentially superior alternative to traditional ambient assisted living emergency calls. Furthermore, KTP can be further extended to the general population as well and not just be limited for elderly persons. The proposed method is a threshold-based algorithm and is designed to require a low battery power consumption. The evaluation of the performance of the algorithm in collected data indicates that both sensitivity and specificity are above 90%.     

Measurement of tumour reactive antibody and antibody conjugate by competition, quantitated by flow cytofluorimetry

Binding of unlabelled monoclonal antibody preparations has been assessed by cometition at saturation with fluorochrome labelled homologous antibody for binding to antigen bearing target cells. The extent of competition was measured by quantitative flow cytofluorimetry, and simple mathematical procedures have been developed to allow the interpretation of competition data in terms of antibody binding activity. In the system studied, non-specific (non-competitive) fluorescence was minimal, but an iterative method to calculate its contribution to the measured signal is given. This approach has the advantage that the antibody preparation to be tested does not need to be labelled or modified; this is particularly important when evaluating the binding activity of therapeutic antibody conjugates. Comparison with a well characterized standard antibody preparation provides a rapid, sensitive and accurate quality control procedure. This test is also simple to perform, requiring only the mixing of labelled and unlabelled antibodies with target cells, a single incubation, followed by analysis without washing of the target cells.     

一种提高N线模型探头标定精度的解算方法

在超声引导的介入治疗中,为了利用三维定位系统实现对超声成像平面的跟踪,超声探头与定位系统的传感器之间几何关系的标定是影响整体引导精度的重要环节。广泛应用的N线模型和传统最小二乘解算方法在超声探头标定中存在注册点共面性丢失的问题,进而影响标定精度。针对这一问题,提出一种先拟合虚拟成像平面,再进行共面约束下标定的解算方案,以提高利用N线模型进行标定的精度。实际的标定实验结果表明,新的解算方法能够有效地解决共面性丢失带来的精度影响,与传统解算方法相比,标定误差从5.88 mm降低到4.11 mm。     

基于Mean Shift的三维医学图像交互式分割方法

目的：提出一种新的三维医学图像交互式分割方法,利用Mean Shift算法将空间域与特征域相结合的高维计算优势,直接对图像的三维空间分布信息进行处理,同时采用人工与计算机相结合的交互式分割方法在医学图像序列上分割出感兴趣区域。方法：通常将Mean Shift方法用于图像分割都需要对整幅图像中的所有像素点进行大量的迭代计算,这样使得分割效率很低。而本文基于交互式分割算法原理,通过在感兴趣区域人工设定一个或少数几个初始点,利用人工给出的先验信息只需对感兴趣区域进行Mean Shift的自适应迭代计算和处理,不仅可以克服上述缺陷,还能得到较为精确的分割结果。结果：本文根据该方法进行了实验,从肺部图像序列中准确地分割出了三维的肺结节区域,从时间上和准确度上均能满足临床需求。结论：实验结果证明该交互式分割方法是一种非常有效的三维医学图像分割方法。本文的方法可以同时联合灰度域和空间域特征实现分割,而且它基于所选择的分割特征还具有任意多维空间联合分割的潜力,不失为一种深有发展前景的三维交互式分割方法。     

基于变尺度符号化补偿传递熵的EEG压力情感分析

基于脑电信号的情感识别,对于相关情感疾病的诊断与治疗有着重要的临床和科研意义.如何有效地提取特征,提高识别率,减少计算时间是研究的重点.从研究脑通道间定向信息交互的角度出发,结合对瞬时因果效应的补偿算法,提出以变尺度符号化补偿传递熵(VSSCTE)为特征的情感分析方法,并以此构建情感因效性脑网络,使用网络测度与Reli...     

Reference ranges for lymphocyte subsets. A comparison of standard vs rapid whole-blood lysis techniques

Reference ranges for lymphocyte subsets may vary with processing techniques, monoclonal reagents, or analytic methods. We compared reference ranges obtained for T- and B-lymphocyte subsets by means of standard manual whole-blood lysis with a wash step vs a rapid, no-wash whole-blood lysis system. Both techniques demonstrated reference ranges similar to those in previous literature reports. The ranges established with standard and rapid lysis were similar when antibodies directed to the same cluster designation were used. Although slight statistical differences in relative percentages of CD2 and CD3 lymphocytes were observed, these differences were probably not clinically significant. These data indicate that the rapid technique provides a standardized method for enumerating T and B lymphocytes in peripheral blood.