Physical property measurement of therapeutic carbon ion beam in the shallow-seated tumor therapy terminal at HIRFL

For the first time the physical properties of therapeutic carbon-ion beam supplied by, the shallow-seated tumor therapy terminal at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) are measured. For a 80.55MeV/u C-12 ion beam delivered to the therapy terminal, the homogeneity of irradiation fields is 73.48%, when the beam intensity varied in the range of 0.001-0.1nA (i.e. 1 X 10(6) - 1 X 10(8) particles per second). The stability of the beam intensity within a few minutes is estimated to be 80.87%. The depth-dose distribution of the beam at the isocenter of the therapy facility is measured, and the position of the high-dose Bragg peak is found to be located at the water-equivalent depth of 13.866mm. Based on the relationship between beam energy and Bragg peak position, the corresponding beam energy at the isocenter of the therapy terminal is evaluated to be 71.71MeV/u for the original 80.55MeV/u C-12 ion beam, which consisted basically with calculation. The readout of the previously-used air-free ionization chamber regarding absorbed dose is calibrated as well in this experiment. The results indicate that the performance of the therapy facility should be optimized further to meet the requirements of clinical trial.

Conformal irradiation to moving targets in heavy ion radiotherapy with raster-scanning beam delivery system: (II) feasibility experiments

Within the framework of the pilot heavy-ion therapy facility at GSI equipped with an active beam delivery system of advanced raster scanning technique, a feasibility study on actively conformal heavy-ion irradiation to moving tumors has been experimentally conducted. Laterally, real-time corrections to the beam scanning parameters by the raster scanner, leading to an active beam tracing, compensate for the lateral motion of a target volume. Longitudinally, a mechanically driven wedge energy degrader (called depth scanner) is applied to adjust the beam energy so as to locate the high-dose Bragg peak of heavy ion beam to the slice under treatment for the moving target volume. It has been experimentally shown that compensations for lateral target motion by the raster scanner and longitudinal target shift by the depth scanner are feasible.

Simulations to design an online motion compensation system for scanned particle beams

Respiration-induced target motion is a major problem in intensity-modulated radiation therapy. Beam segments are delivered serially to form the total dose distribution. In the presence of motion, the spatial relation between dose deposition from different segments will be lost. Usually, this results in over-and underdosage. Besides such interplay effects between target motion and dynamic beam delivery as known from photon therapy, changes in internal density have an impact on delivered dose for intensity-modulated charged particle therapy. In this study, we have analysed interplay effects between raster scanned carbon ion beams and target motion. Furthermore, the potential of an online motion strategy was assessed in several simulations. An extended version of the clinical treatment planning software was used to calculate dose distributions to moving targets with and without motion compensation. For motion compensation, each individual ion pencil beam tracked the planned target position in the lateral aswell as longitudinal direction. Target translations and rotations, including changes in internal density, were simulated. Target motion simulating breathing resulted in severe degradation of delivered dose distributions. For example, for motion amplitudes of +/- 15 mm, only 47% of the target volume received 80% of the planned dose. Unpredictability of resulting dose distributions was demonstrated by varying motion parameters. On the other hand, motion compensation allowed for dose distributions for moving targets comparable to those for static targets. Even limited compensation precision (standard deviation similar to 2 mm), introduced to simulate possible limitations of real-time target tracking, resulted in less than 3% loss in dose homogeneity.

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.

重离子治癌相关研究；Researches Related to Heavy Ion Cancer Therapy

癌症是现代医学的难题,一直危害着人类的健康。放射治疗是癌症治疗的有效手段之一。由于重离子束在物理学和生物学性质上所具有的优势,它已成为放疗用的最佳射线。简述了重离子治癌的发展历程、现状以及特点,详细讨论了在医学物理和放射生物学研究领域值得关注的若干热点问题。

兰州重离子治癌研究装置的准直测量技术；Survey and alignment for the heavy ion therapy facility at IMP

介绍了中国科学院近代物理研究所重离子治癌装置的安装定位测量技术和方法。利用激光跟踪仪通过控制网的建立,和多重坐标系的转换,使最后的磁铁安装径向相对误差不超过±(0.05-0.1)mm,真空管道的横向及竖向精度也达到了±(0.1-0.2)mm。

兰州重离子加速器团簇内靶装置控制系统设计；Design of a Control System for HIRFL-CSRe Internal Target Facility in Lanzhou

介绍了兰州重离子加速器冷却储存环(HIRFL-CSR)的实验环(CSRe)团簇内靶装置控制系统的设计。该内靶系统由多种设备构成,包括喷嘴测温与加热控制子系统、真空与阀门监测/控制子系统、分子泵监测与控制子系统、数据处理与流程软件子系统等部分。该系统在内靶实验中工作状态良好,满足了内靶实验的需求。在该控制系统的支持下,2010年1月第一轮辐射电子俘获物理实验顺利完成。

Evidence of strong projectile-target-core interaction in single ionization of neon by electron impact

The momentum distributions of recoil ions were measured in the single ionization of neon by electron impact at incident energies between 80 and 2300 eV. It was found that there are a noticeable number of recoil ions carrying large momenta, and the relative contributions of these ions becomes more pronounced with the further decrease of incident electron energy. These observed behaviors indicate that there is a strong projectile-target-core interaction in the single-ionization reaction. By comparing our results with those of electron-neon elastic scattering, we concluded that the elastic scattering of the projectile electron on the target core plays an important role at low and intermediate collision energies.

CSR外靶实验终端中CsI(Tl)晶体的测试；Test of CsI(Tl) Crystal at External Target Experimental Terminal of Cooling Storage Ring

为测量重离子加速器冷却储存环(HIRFL-CSR)的外靶实验终端上不同能量的γ射线,一种用于探测γ射线的高能量分辨的探测装置正在中国科学院近代物理研究所建设,该探测器由中国科学院近代物理研究所自行生长的铊激活的碘化铯CsI(Tl)晶体组成。与日本Hamamatsu公司生产的S8664-1010型雪崩光二极管(APD)耦合,测试其光输出的非均匀性和能量分辨,从测试结果给出了所需CsI(Tl)晶体合格的标准。目前已完成该γ探测球计划的六分之一,所提供的晶体合格率达94%以上。

CSRe团簇内靶温度闭环控制器设计；Design of Closed Loop Temperature Controller for CSRe Internal Target System

介绍了国家重大科学工程项目——兰州重离子加速器冷却存储环(HIRFL-CSR)的实验环(CSRe)团簇内靶温度闭环控制器的设计。该控制器给气体喷嘴处测温电阻提供长时间稳定度为0.1%的1mA恒定电流,通过12位ADC得到喷嘴温度,并通过混合信号处理器MSP430F149来实现制冷/加热闭环操作。在多种不同实验气体的情况下,该控制器的温度控制精度小于0.5K。目前,该控制器在现场工作良好。

Emittance estimation by an ion optical element with variable focusing strength and a viewing target

The emittance of an extracted ion beam can be estimated to first order by a series of three linear independent profile measurements. This estimation is restricted to the evaluation of an upper limit of the emittance value for a homogeneous, nonfilamented beam. The beam is assumed to be round, respectively elliptical, without any structure of the intensity distribution, no space charge has been assumed for the drifting beam, and the optics is assumed to be linear. Instead of using three different drift sections, a linear focusing element with three different focusing strengths can be used. Plotting the beam radius as function of focusing strength, three independent solutions can be used to calculate the Twiss parameters alpha, beta, and gamma and furthermore the emittance epsilon. Here we describe the measurements which have been performed with the SECRAL ion source at Institute of Modern Physics Lanzhou.

The Compact Pulsed Hadron Source: A Design Perspective

During the past. decades, large-scale national neutron sources have been developed in Asia, Europe, and North America. Complementing such efforts, compact hadron beam complexes and neutron sources intended to serve primarily universities and industrial institutes have been proposed, and some have recently been established. Responding to the demand in China for pulsed neutron/proton-beam platforms that are dedicated to fundamental and applied research for users in multiple disciplines from materials characterization to hadron therapy and radiography to accelerator-driven sub-critical reactor systems (ADS) for nuclear waste transmutation, we have initiated the construction of a compact, yet expandable, accelerator complex-the Compact Pulsed Hadron Source (CPHS). It consists of an accelerator front-end (a high-intensity ion source, a 3-MeV radio-frequency quadrupole linac (RFQ), and a 13-MeV drift-tube linac (DTL)), a neutron target station (a beryllium target with solid methane and room-temperature water moderators/reflector), and experimental stations for neutron imaging/radiography, small-angle scattering, and proton irradiation. In the future, the CPHS may also serve as an injector to a ring for proton therapy and radiography or as the front end to an ADS test facility. In this paper, we describe the design of the CPHS technical systems and its intended operation.

Prostate cancer cell-specific VEGF siRNA delivery system using cell targeting peptide conjugated polyplexes

A polymeric gene carrier was developed to deliver vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) small interfering RNA (siRNA) for prostate cancer cells in a target-specific manner. Prostate cancer-binding peptide (PCP) was conjugated with polyethylenimine (PEI) via a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) linker (PEI-PEG-PCP). The PEI-PEG-PCP conjugate could effectively condense siRNA to form stable polyelectrolyte complexes (polyplexes) with an average diameter of approximately 150 nm in an aqueous solution. VEGF siRNA/PEI-PEG-PCP polyplexes exhibited significantly higher VEGF inhibition efficiency than PCP-unmodified polycationic carriers (PEI-PEG or PEI) in human prostate carcinoma cells (PC-3 cells). The enhanced gene silencing activity of VEGF siRNA/PEI-PEG-PCP was maintained even under serum conditions, owing to the steric stabilization of the polyplexes with hydrophilic PEG grafts. Confocal microscopic studies revealed that the siRNA/PEI-PEG-PCP polyplexes were delivered into PC-3 cells in a PCP ligand-specific manner.

Label-free electrochemical detection of DNA in blood serum via target-induced resolution of an electrode-bound DNA pseudoknot

We have demonstrated a fully covalent, signal-on E-DNA architecture based on the target-induced resolution of a DNA pseudokont. In the absence of target, the electrode-bound DNA probe adopts a pseudoknot conformation that segregates an attached methylene blue (MB) from the electrode. Upon target binding, the pseudoknot is resolved, leading to the formation of a single-stranded DNA element that supports electron transfer from the methylene blue to the electrode.