Cancer of the colon in an egg donor: policy repercussions for donor recruitment

This paper describes the tragic case of a young woman who died of cancer of the colon after successfully donating eggs to her younger sister. Although there is no direct link between her operation and the subsequent development of bowel carcinoma, this case imparts a feeling of unease when seen in conjunction with other cases reported during the last few years. It is a reminder that little is known of the long-term consequences of some aspects of assisted conception. Women undergoing ovarian stimulation for themselves or a matched recipient have the right to be advised, in an agreed format, that there is some concern about unproven potential risks from the stimulatory drugs. The safety of egg donors must assume priority over all other considerations, including lack of donors or any moral position. The recent decision by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to withdraw any form of payment or recompense to egg donors does not seem to us to be based on a balance of scientific advances, patient needs and the ethics of gamete supply. They state that the intention to withdraw payments was implicit in the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology (HFE) Act. However the Act was based on the Warnock report made 6 years earlier. Even in 1990 ovum donation was uncommon and fertility drugs had not yet caused any unease. The Act provided the HFEA with discretionary powers to issue directions so that the future policies would be consistent with any emerging new medical evidence. It is imperative that the HFEA provide convincing evidence on how the current policy of payment to donors harms society, donors or recipients, and how in the UK the new policy will improve medical practice in assisted conception. Successful pilot studies must precede the implementation of any new policy. Failure to do this could cause irreversible harm to the practice of assisted conception using donor gametes, which will ultimately be against the basic aims of the 1990 HFE Act.      

Ion beam transport in tissue-like media using the Monte Carlo code SHIELD-HIT

The development of the Monte Carlo code SHIELD-HIT (heavy ion transport) for the simulation of the transport of protons and heavier ions in tissue-like media is described. The code SHIELD-HIT, a spin-off of SHIELD (available as RSICC CCC-667), extends the transport of hadron cascades from standard targets to that of ions in arbitrary tissue-like materials, taking into account ionization energy-loss straggling and multiple Coulomb scattering effects. The consistency of the results obtained with SHIELD-HIT has been verified against experimental data and other existing Monte Carlo codes (PTRAN, PETRA), as well as with deterministic models for ion transport, comparing depth distributions of energy deposition by protons, 12C and 20Ne ions impinging on water. The SHIELD-HIT code yields distributions consistent with a proper treatment of nuclear inelastic collisions. Energy depositions up to and well beyond the Bragg peak due to nuclear fragmentations are well predicted. Satisfactory agreement is also found with experimental determinations of the number of fragments of a given type, as a function of depth in water, produced by 12C and 14N ions of 670 MeV u(-1), although less favourable agreement is observed for heavier projectiles such as 16O ions of the same energy. The calculated neutron spectra differential in energy and angle produced in a mimic of a Martian rock by irradiation with 12C ions of 290 MeV u(-1) also shows good agreement with experimental data. It is concluded that a careful analysis of stopping power data for different tissues is necessary for radiation therapy applications, since an incorrect estimation of the position of the Bragg peak might lead to a significant deviation from the prescribed dose in small target volumes. The results presented in this study indicate the usefulness of the SHIELD-HIT code for Monte Carlo simulations in the field of light ion radiation therapy.     

On the neuromuscular effects of pindolol and sotalol in the rat

The effects of pindolol and sotalol on neuromuscular transmission were tested using intracellular micro-electrode recording of resting membrane potentials, miniature end-plate potentials and end-plate potentials, and recording of muscle contractions upon nerve stimulation of rat phrenic nerve-hemidiaphragm preparations. Both pindolol and sotalol reduced the amplitudes of miniature end-plate potentials and end-plate potentials in a dose-dependent manner without significantly affecting their time-courses. Pindolol, but not sotalol, also increased the frequency of the miniature end-plate potentials and decreased the number of acetylcholine quanta released by nerve impulses. Neither of the drugs significantly affected resting membrane potentials of the muscle fibres or excitability of the motor nerve to electric stimulation.     

Mean energy in electron beams

The mean energy of the energy spectrum is an essential parameter for the dosimetry of therapeutic electron beams. Frequently it is assumed that the mean energy of such beams remains constant across the beam and only its degradation with depth is considered. The present work analyzes the variation of the mean energy of primary electrons with depth and lateral position in an electron beam using the Monte Carlo method. Results are compared with relations commonly employed for determination of mean energy at a depth. For the variation of the mean electron energy with depth in broad beams, good agreement was found between Monte Carlo results and an analytic continuous slowing down expression, which takes the variation of radiation stopping power with depth into account. Due to the calculated lateral variation of the mean energy, the relative absorbed dose profile determined with an air ionization chamber in a clinical beam should differ by less than 1% from the measured ionization profile.     

Investigation of three new mouse mammary tumor cell lines as models for transforming growth factor (TGF)-β and Neu pathway signaling studies: identification of a novel model for TGF-β-induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

Introduction  

This report describes the isolation and characterization of three new murine mammary epithelial cell lines derived from mammary tumors from MMTV (mouse mammary tumor virus)/activated Neu + TβRII-AS (transforming growth factor [TGF]-β type II receptor antisense RNA) bigenic mice (BRI-JM01 and BRI-JM05 cell lines) and MMTV/activated Neu transgenic mice (BRI-JM04 cell line).     

The IAEA/WHO TLD postal dose quality audits for radiotherapy: a perspective of dosimetry practices at hospitals in developing countries.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The IAEA/WHO TLD postal programme for external audits of the calibration of high-energy photon beams used in radiotherapy has been in operation since 1969. This work presents a survey of the 1317 TLD audits carried out during 1998-2001. The TLD results are discussed from the perspective of the dosimetry practices in hospitals in developing countries, based on the information provided by the participants in their TLD data sheets. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A detailed analysis of the TLD data sheets is systematically performed at the IAEA. It helps to trace the source of any discrepancy between the TLD measured dose and the user stated dose, and also provides information on equipment, dosimetry procedures and the use of codes of practice in the countries participating in the IAEA/WHO TLD audits. RESULT: The TLD results are within the 5% acceptance limit for 84% of the participants. The results for accelerator beams are typically better than for Co-60 units. Approximately 75% of participants reported dosimetry data, including details on their procedure for dose determination from ionisation chamber measurements. For the remaining 25% of hospitals, who did not submit these data, the results are poorer than the global TLD results. Most hospitals have Farmer type ionisation chambers calibrated in terms of air kerma by a standards laboratory. Less than 10% of the hospitals use new codes of practice based on standards of absorbed dose to water. CONCLUSION: Despite the differences in dosimetry equipment, traceability to different standards laboratories and uncertainties arising from the use of various dosimetry codes of practice, the determination of absorbed dose to water for photon beams typically agrees within 2% among hospitals. Correct implementation of any of the dosimetry protocols should ensure that significant errors in dosimetry are avoided.