Capability verification of the beam delivery system in the superficially-placed tumor therapy terminal at HIRFL

The passive beam delivery system in the superficially-placed tumor therapy terminal at Heavy Ion Researc h Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL), which includes two orthogonal dipole magnets as scanning system, a motor-driven energy degrader as range-shifter, series of ridge filters as range modulator and a multileaf collimator, is introduced in detail. The capacities of its important components and the whole system have been verified experimentally. The tests of the ridge filter for extending Bragg peak and the range shifter for energy adjustment show both work well. To examine the passive beam delivery system, a beam shaping experiment were carried out, simulating a three-dimensional (3D) conformal irradiation to a tumor. The encouraging experimental result confirms that 3D layer-stacking conformal irradiation can be performed by means of the passive system. The validation of the beam delivery system establishes a substantial basis for upcoming clinical trial for superficially-placed tumors with heavy ions in the therapy terminal at HIRFL.

The neutron/proton ratio of squeezed-out nucleons and the high density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy

Within a transport model it is shown that the neutron/proton ratio of squeezed-out nucleons perpendicular to the reaction plane, especially at high transverse momenta, in heavy-ion reactions induced by high energy neutron-rich nuclei can be a useful tool for studying the high density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy.

Pre-irradiation with low-dose C-12(6+) beam significantly enhances the efficacy of AdCMV-p53 gene therapy in human non-small lung cancer

The combination of ionizing radiation and gene therapy has been investigated. However, there are very few reports about the combination of heavy-ion irradiation and gene therapy. To determine if the pre-exposure to low-dose heavy ion beam enhances the suppression of AdCMV-p53 on non-small lung cancer (NSLC), the cells pre-irradiated or non-irradiated were infected with 20, 40 MOI of AdCMV-p53. Survival fraction and the relative biology effect (RBE) were determined by clonogenic assay. The results showed that the proportions of p53 positive cells in C-12(6+) beam induced AdCMV-p53 infected cells were more than 90%, which were significantly more than those in gamma-ray induced AdCMV-p53 infected cells. The pre-exposure to low-dose 12C6+ beam significantly prevented the G(0)/G(1) arrest and activated G(2)/M checkpoints. The pre-exposure to C-12(6+) beam significantly improved cell to apoptosis. RBEs for the C-12(6+)+ AdCMV-p53 infection groups were 30%-60%,20% -130% and 30%-70% more than those for the C-12(6+)_irradiated only, AdCMV-p53 infected only, and gamma-irradiation induced AdCMVp53 infected groups, respectively. The data suggested that the pre-exposure to low-dose C-12(6+) beam significantly promotes exogenous p53 expression in NSLC, and the suppression of AdCMV-p53 gene therapy on NSLC.

Isotopic dependence of production cross sections of superheavy nuclei in hot fusion reactions

The dinuclear system model has been further developed by introducing the barrier distribution function method in the process of heavy-ion capture and fusion to synthesize superheavy nuclei. The capture of two colliding nuclei, formation and de-excitation process of compound nucleus are decribed by using empirical coupled channel model, solving master equation numerically and statistical evaporation model, respectively. Within the framework of the dinuclear system model, the fusion-evaporation excitation functions of the systems Ca-48(Am-243, 3n-5n) (288-286)115 and Ca-48(Cm-248, 3n-5n)(293-291)116 are calculated, which are used for synthesizing new superheavy nuclei at Dubna in recent years. Isotopic dependence of production cross sections with double magic nucleus Ca-48 bombarding actinide targets U, Np, Pu, Am, Cm to synthesize superheavy nuclei with charged numbers Z=112-116 is analyzed systematically. Based on these analysis, the optimal projectile-target combination and the optimal excitation energy are proposed. It is shown that shell correction energy and neutron separation energy will play an important role on the isotopic dependence of production cross sections of superheavy nuclei.

Probing the symmetrical potential in nuclear reaction iinduced by neutron-halo nuclei

In terms of the isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics model (IQMD), important isospin effect in the halo-neutron nucleus induced reaction mechanism is. investigated, and consequently, the symmetrical potential form is extracted in the intermediate energy heavy ion collision. Because the interactive potential and in-medium nucleon-nucleon (N-N) cross section in the IQMD model sensitively depend on the density distribution of the colliding system, this type of study is much more based on the extended density distribution with a looser inner nuclear structure of the halo-neutron nucleus. Such a density distribution includes averaged characteristics of the isospin effect of the reaction mechanism and the looser inner nuclear structure. In order to understand clearly the isospin effect of the halo-neutron nucleus induced reaction mechanism, the effects caused by the neutron-halo nucleus and by the stable nucleus with the same mass are compared under the same condition of the incident channel. It is found that in the concerned beam energy region, the ratio of the emitted neutrons and protons and the ratio of the isospin fractionations in the neutron-halo nucleus case are considerably larger than those in the stable nucleus case. Therefore, the information of the symmetry potential in the heavy ion collision can be extracted through such a procedure.

Survival and initial chromatid breakage in normal and tumour cells exposed in vitro to gamma rays and carbon ions at the HIRFL

Human hepatoma and normal liver cells were irradiated with C-12(6+) ion beams (linear energy transfer (LET) = 96 keV mu m(-1)) and gamma-rays at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). The numbers and types of chromatid breaks were detected using the premature chromosome condensation technique. Irradiation with C-12(6+) ions produced a majority of isochromatid break types, while chromatid breaks were dominant for irradiation with gamma-rays. Experimental results showed that the initial level of chromatid breaks is clearly related to the absorbed dose from C-12(6+), ions and gamma-rays. The (12)C(6+)ions are relatively more effective at inducing initial chromatid breaks when compared with the gamma-rays. A relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of about 2.5 resulted for the induction of initial chromatid breaks by C-12(6+) ions relative to gamma-rays in both cell lines.

Close correlation between the reaction mechanism and inner structure of loosely halo-nuclei

It was based on the comparisons of the variance properties of fragment multiplicities FM's and nuclear stoppings R's for the neutron-halo colliding system with those of FZ's and R's for the proton-halo colliding system with the increases of beam energy in more detail, the closely correlations between the reaction mechanism and the inner structures of halo-nuclei is found. From above comparisons it is found that the variance properties of fragment multiplicities and nuclear stopping with the increases of beam energy are quite different for the neutron-halo and proton-halo colliding systems, such as the effects of loosely bound neutron-halo structure on the fragment multiplicities and nuclear stopping are obviously larger than those for the proton-halo colliding system. This is due to that the structures of halo-neutron nucleus Li-11 is more loosely than that of the proton-halo nucleus Al-23 in this paper. In this case, the fragment multiplicity and nuclear stopping of halo nuclei may be used as a possible probe for studying the reaction mechanism and the correlation between the reaction mechanism and the inner structure of halo-nuclei.

General design of the CSR project in IMP

CSR, a new accelerator project under the construction. to upgrade the existing heavy ion cyclotron system in Lanzhou, is a double cooling-storage-ring system. It consists of a main ring and an experimental ring. The heavy ion beams from the cyclotron system will be accumulated and accelerated first in the main ring, then extracted to produce radioactive ion beams or high-Z beams, and finally to be send to the second ring for internal-target experiments.

SEU ground and flight data in static random access memories

This paper presents the vulnerabilities of single event effects (SEEs) simulated by heavy ions on ground and observed oil SJ-5 research satellite in space for static random access memories (SRAMs). A single event upset (SEU) prediction code has been used to estimate the proton-induced upset rates based oil the ground test curve of SEU cross-section versus heavy ion linear energy transfer (LET). The result agrees with that of the flight data.

Physical design of the new extraction system for SFC

The HIRFL (Heavy Ion Research Facility at Lanzhou) is a cyclotron complex. Its injector is a cector focusing cyclotron with K=69. Since the HIRFL started the operation in 1989, two bigger items of improvements have been finished, the species and intensity of the accelerated particles are increased obviously. But due to the lower extraction efficiency of the SFC, on one hand, a lot of beam lost, and on other hand, outgas from the surface of the electrostatic deflector is serious because of beam hitting. Even sometimes the vacuum press is destroyed. In the paper a new physical design is made to get an extraction system of the SFC with a higher efficiency.

beta(+)/EC-decay study of Ir-176 neutron-deficient isotope

The beta(+)/EC decay of doubly odd Ir-176 has been investigated using Nd-146(Cl-35, 5n gamma)Ir-176 heavy ion fusion evaporation reaction at 210MeV bombarding energy. With the aid of a helium-jet recoil fast tape transport system, the reaction products were transported to a low-background location for measurements. Based on the data analysis, the previously published gamma rays in Ir-176 decay were proved, moreover, 3 new levels and 10 new gamma rays were assigned to Ir-176 decay. The new level scheme of Os-176 with low excitation energy has been established. The time spectra of typical gamma rays clearly indicate a long-lived low-spin isomer in Ir-176 nuclide.

Melatonin modulates acute testicular damage induced by carbon ions in mice

The present study was performed to obtain evidence of the radioprotective function of melatonin at different administration levels on carbon ion-induced mouse testicular damage. Outbred Kun-Ming strain mice were divided into six groups, each composed of eight animals: control group, melatonin alone group, irradiation group and three melatonin plus irradiation-treated groups. An acute study was carried out to determine alterations in DNA-single strand break, cell apoptosis, and oxidative stress parameters as well as histopathology in mouse testis 24 h after whole-body irradiation with a single dose of 4 Gy Tie results showed that pre-treatment and post-treatment with high-dose melatonin (10 mg/kg) both significantly alleviated carbon ion-induced acute testicular damage, a greater radioprotective effect being observed in the pre-treatment group. On the other hand, low-dose melatonin (1 mg/kg) had a limited radioprotective effect on irradiation-induced degeneration and DNA lesions in mouse testis. Taken together, the data suggest that prophylactic treatment with a higher dose of melatonin is probably advisable to protect against the effects of heavy-ion irradiation.

Effect of p53 on lung carcinoma cells irradiated by carbon ions or X-rays

The study is to investigate the feasibility and advantages of heavy ion beams on radiotherapy. The cellular cycle and apoptosis, cell reproductive death and p53 expression evaluated with flow cytometry, clonogenic survival assays and Western blot analysis were examined in lung carcinoma cells after exposure to 89.63 MeV/u carbon ion and 6 MV X-ray irradiations, respectively. The results showed that the number colonyforming assay of A549 was higher than that of H1299 cells in two radiation groups; A549 cellular cycle was arrested in G(2)/M in 12 It and the percentage of apoptosis ascended at each time point of carbon ion radiation with doses, the expression of p53 upregulated with doses exposed to X-ray or carbon ion. The cell number in G(2)/M of H1299 and apoptosis were increasing at all time points with doses in C-12(6+) ion irradiation group. The results suggested that the effects of carbon ions or X rays irradiation on lung carcinoma cells were different, C-12(6+) ion irradiation could have more effect on upregulating the expression of p53 than X-ray, and the upregulated expression of p53 might produce the cellular cycle G(2)/M arrested, apoptosis increasing; and p53 gene might affect the lung cancer cells radiosensitivity.

An online monitor ionization chamber used in particle therapy

The clinical trials of tumor therapy using heavy ions beam C-12 are now in progress at Institute of Modem Physics in Lanzhou. In order to achieve the precise radiotherapy with the high energy C-12 beam in active pencil beam scanning mode, we have developed an ionization chamber(IC) as an online monitor for beam intensity and also a dosimeter after calibration. Through the choosing of working gas and voltage, optimizing of the electrics and the read-out system, calibrating the linearity, the detector system provide us one of the simple and highly reliable way to monitoring the beam during the active pencil beam scanning treatments. The measurement results of this detector system show that it could work well under the condition of high energy C-12 beam in active pencil beam scanning mode.

Potential role of DNA-dependent protein kinase in cellular resistance to ionizing radiation

In this paper, we study the ability of DNA-PK-deficient (M059J) and -proficient (M059K) cells to undergo the rate of cellular proliferation, cell cycle distribution and apoptosis after 10 Gy X-ray irradiation, and the role of DNA-PK in radiosensitivity. The results showed that M059J cells exhibited hyper-radiosensitivity compared with M059K cells. A strong G2 phase arrest was observed in M059J cells post irradiation. Significant accumulation in the G2 phase in M059J cells was accompanied by apoptosis at 12 h. Altogether, the data suggested that DNA-PK may have two roles in mammalian cells after DNA damage, a role in DNA DSB repair and a second role in DNA-damaged cells to traverse a G2 checkpoint, by which DNA-PK may affect cellular sensitivity to ionizing radiation. 地址: [Li Ning; Zhang Hong; Wang Yanling; Hao Jifang] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Modern Phys, Lanzhou 730000, Peoples R China; [Li Ning; Zhang Hong; Wang Yanling; Hao Jifang] Key Lab Heavy Ion Radiat Med Gansu Prov, Lanzhou 730000, Peoples R China; [Li Ning; Wang Yanling] Chinese Acad Sci, Grad Sch, Beijing 100039, Peoples R China; [Wang Xiaohu] Gansu Tumor Hosp, Dept Radiotherapy, Lanzhou 730050, Peoples R China