Prolonged mechanical ventilation (MV) results in oxidative damage in the diaphragm; however, it is unclear whether this MV-induced oxidative injury occurs rapidly or develops slowly over time. Furthermore, it is unknown whether both soluble (cytosolic) and insoluble (myofibrillar) proteins are equally susceptible to oxidation during MV. These experiments tested two hypotheses: 1). MV-induced ox...

BACKGROUND For patients with high risk breast cancer and mastectomy, radiotherapy is the treatment of choice to improve survival and local control. Target dose is mainly limited due to skin reactions. The feasibility of using 4 MV beams for chest wall treatment was studied and compared to standard 6 MV bolus radiotherapy. METHODS Post-mastectomy IMRT was planned on an Alderson-phantom using 4...

A major source of inflammatory cytokines in the measles virus (MV)-infected brain are astrocytes, which produce a variety of soluble mediators including interferons-alpha/beta (IFN-alpha/beta), interleukin-1 (IL-1), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Using the MV-strain Edmonston (ED) and the recombinant MV-strain MGV in which the MV-envelope proteins H and F hav...

Background: Commissioning tests are recommended before implementing Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. This study evaluated five different plans of IMRT mocks for different modulation indices. Materials and Methods: IMRT tests were done in slab phantom for both 6MV and 15 MV photon energies using a 2D array ion chamber dosimeter. Results: The acceptance criteria were based on 3% /3mm. All t...

Background: Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) followed by radiotherapy (RT) is the standard of care for women with breast cancer. Evidence shows that RT dose to the heart can result in ischemic heart disease. In this study we compared 3 different RT techniques were for heart, left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) and lung doses in left breast cancer patients after breast-conserving surge...