Purpose Intra-fractional organs at risk (OARs) deformations can lead to dose variation during image-guided adaptive brachytherapy (IGABT). The aim of this study was to modify the final accepted brachytherapy treatment plan to dosimetrically compensate for these intra-fractional organs-applicators position variations and, at the same time, fulfilling the dosimetric criteria. Material and metho...

BACKGROUND Pesticide exposure may be positively associated with depression. Few previous studies have considered the episodic nature of depression or examined individual pesticides. OBJECTIVE We evaluated associations between pesticide exposure and depression among male private pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study. METHODS We analyzed data for 10 pesticide classes and 50 s...

Numerous drift reduction adjuvants and spray deposition aids are available to applicators of crop production and protection chemicals. Performance of many of the newly introduced drift control adjuvants has not been well documented for aerial application. Since there are no product labeling or efficacy regulations for these adjuvants, applicators must rely on experience or information in the te...

BACKGROUND Dicamba is an herbicide commonly applied to crops in the United States and abroad. We evaluated cancer incidence among pesticide applicators exposed to dicamba in the Agricultural Health Study, a prospective cohort of licensed pesticide applicators in North Carolina and Iowa. METHODS Detailed pesticide exposure information was obtained through a self-administered questionnaire comp...

Abstract Robotically assisted painting is widely used for spray and dip applications. However, use of robots coating substrates using a roller applicator has not been systematically investigated. We showed the first time, generic robot arm-supported approach to engineering with constant force at an accurate joint step, while retaining compliance thus safety. optimized design such that it able c...

*Corresponding author: Muhammad Ismail, Department of Physics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, 60800-Pakistan. E-mail: [email protected] Background: Radiotherapy Treatment Planning requires different dosimetric quantities as input in order to calculate a desired dose distribution. This study has been focused to evaluate the depth dose characteristics of superficial X-rays being use...

In this report, we quantify the divergence from the inverse square law (ISL) of the beam output as a function of distance (standoff) from closed-ended applicators for a modern clinical orthovoltage unit. The divergence is clinically significant exceeding 3% at a 1.2 cm distance for 4 × 4 and 10 × 10 cm2 closed-ended applicators. For all investigated cases, the measured dose falloff is more rapi...

The design concept and dosimetric characteristics of a new applicator system for intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) are presented in this work. A new hard-docking commercial system includes polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) applicators with different diameters and applicator end angles and a set of secondary lead collimators. A telescopic device allows changing of source-to-surface distance (S...

The Valencia applicators (Nucletron, an Elekta company, Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden) are cup-shaped tungsten applicators with a flattening filter used to collimate the radiation produced by a high-dose-rate (HDR) 192Ir source, and provide a homogeneous absorbed dose at a given depth. This beam quality provides a good option for the treatment of skin lesions at shallow depth (3-4 mm). The user ...