Clinical Evaluation of Onrad, A New Low-cost Version of TomoTherapy that Uses Only Static Beams.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the clinical feasibility of a new low-cost TomoTherapy system (OnradTM) and compared it with low-cost linear accelerator models (linacs). METHODS: Various aspects of treatment and cost were compared between Onrad and linacs for 3-dimensional radiotherapy (3DCRT). Dosimetric comparisons of 10 patients each with breast, stage III lung, prostate, head and neck, and cervical cancers were carried out (total 100 plans). RESULTS: Onrad had advantages in terms of availability of long treatment fields and a smaller mechanical footprint. For breast cancers and lung cancers, target dose homogeneity in Onrad plans was better than that in 3DCRT. In the prostate plans, Onrad plans provided superior D95, conformity and homogeneity. The rectum doses of Onrad plans were lower than those with 3DCRT. Onrad plans provided superior homogeneity and D95 in head and neck cancer. The mean dose and V10-40 Gy of the parotid glands was lower using Onrad. In the cervical cancer plans, target doses were similar with both systems. Normal tissue doses were equal. CONCLUSIONS: Onrad is useful in the clinical setting. Onrad can achieve favorable or comparable dose distributions compared with those of 3DCRT in actual clinical treatment of breast, lung, prostate, head and neck, and cervical cancers.

Establishment of the Commissioning Procedure for Modifying the Beam Model of Helical Tomotherapy.

Although much evidence about the helical tomotherapy system are available, there is not a document about the procedure of quality assurance (QA) for changing the beam model. This study establishes the commissioning procedure for modifying the beam model of helical tomotherapy. Firstly, some intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans were created, and compared them with the calculated dose and the measured dose. Secondly, the absorbed doses to water in the machine-specific reference field and the plan-class specific reference field with a protocol in Japan; Standard Dosimetry of Absorbed Dose to Water in External Beam Radiotherapy (Standard Dosimetry 12) were measured. Thirdly, we reconfirmed patient-specific quality assurance. The recommended commissioning procedure after the change of the beam model was shown through three verification processes. This report would be helpful for not only changing the beam model of helical tomotherapy but also introducing Standard Dosimetry 12 to a clinic.

Foam fractionation of protein: correlation of protein adsorption onto bubbles with a pH-induced conformational transition.

A foam fractionation apparatus was prepared to aid protein separation at the gas-liquid interface. Using lysozyme as a model protein, we investigated the alteration of enzymatic and optical activities through foaming. The lysozyme transferred to the gaseous nitrogen phase after 5 min of bubbling with no exogenous detergent. The bacteriolytic and optical activities of lysozyme from the foamate were nearly equivalent to those of the original lysozyme. This result indicated that lysozyme did not irreversibly denature during foam fractionation. We then performed protein separation using binary mixtures of lysozyme and α-amylase. When the two proteins were dissolved in bulk solution of pH 10.5, which is close to the isoelectric point (pI) of lysozyme (10.7), selective fractionation of lysozyme from the foam was observed. Indeed, this fractionation was identical to that from a single component solution of lysozyme. Similarly, selective fractionation of α-amylase was achieved in pH 3.0 buffer. Furthermore, circular dichroism (CD) and subsequent model fitting revealed that the protein had a reduced or nearly complete absence of α-helical content, whereas the amount of ß-sheet structure and random coil was elevated in the buffer conditions that promoted protein adsorption. These results indicate that a pH-induced conformational transition might correlate with protein foaming.

Selective adsorption of bacterial cells onto zeolites.

Zeolites adsorb microbial cells on their surfaces and selective adsorption for specific microorganisms was seen with certain zeolites. Tests for the adsorption ability of zeolites were conducted using various established microbial cell lines. Specific cell lines were shown to selectively absorb to certain zeolites, species to species. In order to understand the selectivity of adsorption, we tested adsorption under various pH conditions and determined the zeta-potentials of zeolites and cells. The adsorption of some cell lines depended on the pH, and some microorganisms were preferentially adsorbed at acidic pH. The values of zeta-potentials were used for calculating the electric double layer interaction energy between zeolites and microbial cells. There was a correlation between the experimental adsorption results and the interaction energy. Moreover, we evaluated the surface hydrophobicity of bacterial cells by using the microbial adherence to hydrocarbon (MATH) assay. In addition, we also applied this method for zeolites to quantify relative surface hydrophobicity. As a result, we found a correlation between the adsorption results and the hydrophobicity of bacterial cells and zeolites. These results suggested that adsorption could be explained mainly by electric double layer interactions and hydrophobic interactions. Finally, by using the zeolites Na-BEA and H-Y, we succeeded in clearly separating three representative microbes from a mixture of Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. Zeolites could adsorb each of the bacterial cell species with high selectivity even from a mixed suspension. Zeolites can therefore be used as effective carrier materials to provide an easy, rapid and accurate method for cell separation.