Recent studies have identified highly tumorigenic cells with stem cell-like characteristics in human cancers, termed cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs are resistant to conventional radiotherapy and chemotherapy owing to their high DNA repair ability and oncogene overexpression. However, the mechanisms regulating CSC radio-resistance, particularly proton beam resistance, remain unclear. We isolated...

The goal of this work was to further improve an experimental proton radiosurgery system at Loma Linda University Medical Center to reach sub-millimeter accuracy before proton radiosurgery with narrow beams can be used in a clinical trial. Radiosurgery precisely targets a specific anatomical region with high doses of radiation. We have developed a program that provides correcting translational o...

Background: Recent studies in eye plaque brachytherapy have shown a considerable difference between the dosimetric results using water phantom and a model of human eye containing realistic materials. In spite of this fact, there is a lack of simulation studies based on such a model in proton therapy literatures. In the presented work, the effect of utilizing an eye model with ocular media on pr...

Studies suggest that anterior beams with in vivo range verification would improve rectal dosimetry in proton therapy for prostate cancer. We investigated whether prostate-rectum spacers would enhance or diminish the benefits of anterior proton beams in these treatments. Twenty milliliters of hydrogel was injected between the prostate and rectum of a cadaver using a transperineal approach. Compu...

Recent results obtained by the NA48 Collaboration on rare neutral kaon and hyperon decays are presented. These include measurements performed with the simultaneous KL and KS beams during the " 0 =" programme as well as investigations of rare KS and neutral hyperon decays using high intensity proton beams at the KS target station. Future projects aiming to search for very rare KS decays and to s...

In this work, we present experimental results of a novel prompt gamma-ray detector for proton beam range verification. The detection system features an actively shielded cerium-doped lanthanum(III) bromide scintillator, coupled to a digital data acquisition system. The acquisition was synchronized to the cyclotron radio frequency to separate the prompt gamma-ray signals from the later-arriving ...

Light and proton emission from rear surface of sandwich-like targets, which are irradiated by intense femtosecond laser pulses, have been measured. It is found that both of them depend on the transport material and density inside the targets. For metal transport layers the patterns of the optical images and the proton beams are uniform. While for the transport layers of dielectric, low-density ...

Accelerator-based neutron sources are an attractive alternative to nuclear reactors for providing epithermal neutron beams for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy. Based on clinical requirements and neutronics modeling the use of proton and deuteron induced reactions in 7Li and 9Be targets has been compared. Excellent epithermal neutron beams can be produced via the 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction at proton ene...

Particle beams, i.e. proton or ion beams, have a depth dose distribution with a maximum at the end of the particle track, which makes them exceptionally useful for radiosurgery, especially cancer treatment. This article gives a short summary of different types of radiation and points out the advantages of particle beams. It will then cover basic aspects of the theoretical description before exp...

Although the Monte Carlo (MC) method allows accurate dose calculation for proton radiotherapy, its usage is limited due to long computing time. In order to gain efficiency, a new macro MC (MMC) technique for proton dose calculations has been developed. The basic principle of the MMC transport is a local to global MC approach. The local simulations using GEANT4 consist of mono-energetic proton p...