[Recent progress in microscopy. I. The reflecting electron microscope].

PURPOSE: In breast radiotherapy, delivery of manually-calculated electron boosts limits retrospective dose-response analyses as dose distribution is unavailable. This work evaluates the feasibility of reconstructing dose distributions from manually planned electron boosts in breast-conserving radiotherapy. METHODS: Only 72 out of 198 breast cancer patients had complete stored dose distributions from sequential electron boosts in the REQUITE study. Arbitrary data from 70/72 patients were used to develop and validate dose reconstruction method. Twenty patients were used to determine optimal parameters for Monte-Carlo-based (MC) electron dose reconstruction on RayStation (v.11B-R), considering CT-calibration curve, MC-history number, andcalculation grid resolution. Remaining 50 patients were used to quantify dose reconstruction accuracy. The similarity between reconstructed and stored dose was evaluated using 3D-gamma index and dosimetric parameters extracted from breast and tumour bed contours. Dose difference location was evaluated using dose-location histogram. RESULTS: Calculation grid resolution significantly impacted electron dose distribution (p < 0.01), where the finest grid (0.15 cm) showed highest similarity to stored doses. CT-calibration curve and MC-history number had a negligible influence on dose reconstruction. Dosimetric difference between reconstructed and stored doses was < 1 Gy for breast and tumour bed. Reconstructed dose was achieved > 90% gamma passing rate in the validation set. However, around 2.5 Gy dose differences were observed at the skin and tissue interface regions. CONCLUSIONS: Retrospective electron boost dose reconstruction is feasible with acceptable accuracy, and could increase data completeness in large cohort studies. Caution is advised when assessing dose near tissue interface and further validation is needed outside the REQUITE dataset.

Electrons↗

PubMed2003

REMGa3Ge and RE3Ni3Ga8Ge3 (M = Ni, Co; RE = rare-earth element): new intermetallics synthesized in liquid gallium. X-ray, electron, and neutron structure determination and magnetism.

New quaternary intermetallic phases REMGa(3)Ge (1) (RE = Y, Sm, Tb, Gd, Er, Tm; M = Ni, Co) and RE(3)Ni(3)Ga(8)Ge(3) (2) (RE = Sm, Gd) were obtained from exploratory reactions involving rare-earth elements (RE), transition metal (M), Ge, and excess liquid Ga the reactive solvent. The crystal structures were solved with single-crystal X-ray and electron diffraction. The crystals of 1 and 2 are tetragonal. Single-crystal X-ray data: YNiGa(3)Ge, a = 4.1748(10) A, c = 23.710(8) A, V = 413.24(2) A(3), I4/mmm, Z = 4; Gd(3)Ni(3)Ga(8)Ge(3), a = 4.1809(18) A, c = 17.035(11) A, V = 297.8(3) A(3), P4/mmm, Z = 1. Both compounds feature square nets of Ga atoms. The distribution of Ga and Ge atoms in the REMGa(3)Ge was determined with neutron diffraction. The neutron experiments revealed that in 1 the Ge atoms are specifically located at the 4e crystallographic site, while Ga atoms are at 4d and 8g. The crystal structures of these compounds are related and could be derived from the consecutive stacking of disordered [MGa](2) puckered layers, monatomic RE-Ge planes and [MGa(4)Ge(2)] slabs. Complex superstructures with modulations occurring in the ab-plane and believed to be associated with the square nets of Ga atoms were found by electron diffraction. The magnetic measurements show antiferromagnetic ordering of the moments located on the RE atoms at low temperature, and Curie-Weiss behavior at higher temperatures with the values of mu(eff) close to those expected for RE(3+) free ions.

Electrons↗

PubMed2003

Study of the binding affinity for corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) using the electron topological method (ETM) as three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D QSAR).

The Electron Topological Method, called ETM, is a descriptor for predicting the biological activities of molecules based on three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relations (3D QSAR). ETM uses a modified electron topological state index to substitute for electronic properties and a topological distance for the relative distance in the molecule. It is shown that the molecular fragments responsible for this activity possess fixed electronic and geometric characteristics associated with a distinct arrangement and the steric accessibility of an oxygen atom and a group of carbon atoms. After that, it is essential to employ a linear regression analysis technique to derive a 3D QSAR model relating the biological activities to the ETM. The ETM is used to study the 3D QSAR of the corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) binding affinity to 31 steroids, and resulting models have a comparable to current 3D methods such as CoMFA. Though the ETM is a descriptor based on 3D topological information obtained by quantum chemical derived descriptors, give the best answer for both the similarity analysis and the statistical fitting.

Electrons↗