Activity

Corresponding results for the high-energy collimator are -15 % to -31 %. The corresponding Monte Carlo simulations show standard deviations of a few percentage points. For the anthropomorphic phantom, before application of recovery coefficients the bias ranges from -16 % to -46 % (medium-energy collimator) and -10 % to -28 % (high-energy collimator), with standard deviations of 2 % to 14 % and 1 % to 16 %. After the application of recovery coefficients, the biases range from -3 % to -35 % (medium energy collimator) and from 0 % to -18 %. The errors decrease with increasing concentrations. Activity-concentration estimation of223Ra with SPECT is feasible, but problems with repeatability need to be further studied. TAK-242 inhibitor Creative Commons Attribution license.The physical range uncertainty limits the exploitation of the full potential of charged particle therapy. In this work we face this issue aiming to measure the absolute Bragg peak position in the target. We investigate p,4He,12C and16O beams accelerated at the Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center. The residual range of the primary12C ions is measured using the prompt gamma spectroscopy method, which was demonstrated for proton beams accelerated by cyclotrons and is developed here for the first time for heavier ions accelerated by a synchrotron. We develop a detector system that includes (i) a spectroscopic unit based on cerium(III) bromide and bismuth germanium oxide scintillating crystals, (ii) a beam trigger based on an array of scintillating fibers and (iii) a data acquisition system based on a FlashADC. We test the system in two different scenarios. In the first series of experiments we detect and identify 19 independent spectral lines over a wide gamma energy spectrum in presence of the four ion species for different targets, including also a water target with a titanium insert. In the second series of experiments we introduce a collimator aiming to relate the spectral information to the range of the primary particles. We perform extensive measurements for a12C beam and demonstrate submillimetric precision for the measurement of its Bragg peak position in the experimental setup. The features of the energy and time spectra for gamma radiation induced by p,4He and16O are investigated upstream and downstream the Bragg peak position. We conclude the analysis extrapolating the required future developments, which would be needed to achieve range verification with a 2 mm accuracy during a single fraction delivery of D = 2 Gy physical dose. © 2020 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.Despite intracellular molecular dynamics being fundamental to understand pathological, biomechanical or biochemical events, several processes are still not clear because of the difficulty of monitoring and measuring these phenomena. To engineer an effective fluorescent tool useful to improve protein intracellular tracking studies, we fused a supernegative green fluorescent protein, (-30)GFP, to a myogenic transcription factor, MyoD. The (-30)GFP-MyoD was able to pass the plasma membrane when complexed with cationic lipids. Fluorescence confocal microscopy showed the protein delivery in just 3 hours with high levels of protein transduction efficiency. Confocal acquisitions also confirmed the maintenance of the MyoD nuclear localization. To examine how the supernegative GFP influenced MyoD activity, we did gene expression analyses, which showed an inhibitory effect of (-30)GFP on transcription factor function. This negative effect was possibly due to a charge-driven interference mechanism, as suggested by further investigations by molecular dynamics simulations. Summarizing these results, despite the functional limitations related to the charge structural characteristics that specifically affected MyoD function, we found (-30)GFP is a suitable fluorescent label for improving protein intracellular tracking studies, such as nucleocytoplasmic transport in mechanotransduction.Understanding the processes underlying sensorimotor coupling with the environment is crucial for sensorimotor rehabilitation and sensory substitution. In doing so, devices which provide novel sensory feedback consequent to body movement may be optimized in order to enhance motor performance for particular tasks. The aim of the study reported here was to investigate audio-motor coupling when the auditory experience is linked to movements of the head or the hands. The participants had to localize and reach a virtual source with the dominant hand in response to sounds. An electromagnetic system recorded the position and orientation of the participants’ head and hands. This system was connected to a 3D audio system that provided binaural auditory feedback on the position of the virtual listener located on the participants’ body. The listener’s position was computed either from the hands or from the head. For the hand condition, the virtual listener was placed on the dominant hand (the one used to reach the target) in Experiment 1 and on the non-dominant hand, which was constrained in order to have similar amplitude and degrees of freedom as that of the head, in Experiment 2. The results revealed that, in the two experiments, the participants were able to localize a source within the 3D auditory environment. Performance varied as a function of the effector’s degrees of freedom and the spatial coincidence between sensor and effector. The results also allowed characterizing the kinematics of the hand and head and how they change with audio-motor coupling condition and practice.Instead of understanding symptoms in a way where a latent cause exists and symptoms serve as its indicators, the network approach enables an innovative comprehension on psychological disorders that focuses on causal interactions. There is need to update the knowledge in this direction in Chinese context. This study strives to apply network approach to deepening the understanding of complicated grief (CG) among older adults in rural China. A sample of older participants (N = 352) who experienced spousal bereavement living in Zhejiang Province of China were administrated with face-to-face interviews. Networks analysis was conducted to realize the object of this study. The 19-item ICG network revealed that symptoms were both positively and negatively connected within the network. The most three central symptoms were “feeling longing for the person who died” and “memories of the dead”, and feeling lonely”. Edge-weights accuracy and centrality stability were tested in order to remind carefulness when interpreting the results.