MTV News

16:43, Tuesday, 04 November 2014

UK Release Date: 7th Nov Certificate: 12A Running Time: 169 mins Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck. Michael Caine, Matt Damon Director: Christopher Nolan Plot: Earth is dying. Well, its not really dying, but its decided its had enough of the human race. Devastating droughts and famines have pushed human existence to the very edge of extinction. But salvation may lie through a wormhole that has suspiciously just appeared near Saturn and a top secret NASA mission sends farmer Cooper (McConaughey), scientist Brand (Hathaway) and a merry band of brave explorers into an unknown galaxy far away to find a hospitable planet that the human race can call home. Needless to say, things dont go to plan and space, the final frontier, is not a friendly place.

Best Scene: So many contenders. The WTF ending, chasing a drone through a corn field in a truck, and landing on an ocean world with waves even bigger than Matthew McConaughys career revival among them. But the most dramatic, edge-of-an-uncomfortable-cinema-seat scene is a deep space chase back to the Endurance between Dr. Mann (Damon), Coop and Brand. Best One Liner: Thats relativity, folks! quips David Gyasi's Romilly after he explains that through the wormhole, one hour for the Endurance crew equates to seven years back on Earth. Which is an all round bummer because mankind doesnt really have much time to spare. Date Movie or Mate Movie: Love transcending space, time and the 5th and 6th dimensions is a theme in this film, so definitely a date movie. Also, with mankinds fate resting upon the shoulders of Coop and his crew, friendships on his spaceship quickly turn very tetchy.

Scene Stealer: Gargantua. No, not a WWF wrestler or a pet name for a tarantula, but a great big massive black hole which is at the centre of Instellars narrative. It just sits there eating light and time like a trucker with a service station full English breakfast. After crunching lots and lots of astro-physics formulas and rendering out the CG Gargantua, this black hole is the most realistic example of a black hole ever seen. And, curiously, it isnt actually black. Its bright and absolutely beautiful.

WTF Moment: The ending. I will say no more.

The ending, however will divide opinion more than the timeless debate: should cinemas be allowed to sell stinking cheesy nachos. Youll either see it as a satisfying resolution to the emotional arc of McConaughys character or a bat s**t cop out on an intergalactic scale. Either way, I watched this intelligent sci-fi movie with awe and the questions it left propelled me to enter the BFIs very own black hole of a website and buy IMAX tickets for a repeat viewing of this certain classic.

By Michael Currell@MTVUK

Continue reading here:

MTV Review | Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar' Is Out Of This World

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Fairfax, Va., November 3, 2014The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) today applauds the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for not implementing proposed payment cuts for radiation therapy starting January 1, 2015, as detailed in the final 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), issued on Friday, October 31, 2014. ASTRO also thanks radiation oncologys congressional champions for working with CMS to protect cancer patients access to radiation therapy across the country.

The 2015 MPFS estimates that radiation oncologists will see no change in total allowed charges beginning January 1, 2015. The MPFS sets 2015 Medicare payment rates and policies for global payments (professional and technical) performed in the freestanding environment and professional payments for services performed in the hospital outpatient environment.

The 2015 MPFS final rule states that CMS will delay its decision for one year regarding classification of the radiation treatment vault because the issue needs detailed study and evaluation. In addition, CMS has delayed implementation of new radiation treatment delivery codes until 2016. For 2015, CMS will continue to use 2014 price inputs, however, reimbursement rates may change. Since some 2014 treatment codes were deleted, CMS will create G-codes as necessary to allow for reporting these services in 2015. The agency said it will pay for the G-codes the same way it did for the predecessor codes in 2014.

ASTRO greatly appreciates federal policymakers attention to the importance of preserving patients access to radiation oncology services, said Bruce G. Haffty, MD, FASTRO, chair of ASTROs Board of Directors. As CMS reconsiders these issues next year, we look forward to working with the agency and Congress to end the instability in reimbursement for community-based radiation therapy centers so we can ensure that patients and their treatment team can focus on whats most important: curing their cancer. We are extremely grateful to several congressional leaders, particularly Sens. Stabenow and Burr, as well as Reps. Pitts, Pallone, Nunes, Tonko, for their commitment and tireless work to support radiation oncology and the life-saving care we provide to more than one million cancer patients.

On July 3, 2014, Medicare proposed rates for the 2015 physician fee schedule that would have cut radiation oncology payments by 4 percent and community-based radiation therapy centers by 6 to 8 percent. The proposal most significantly impacting radiation oncology would have removed the radiation treatment vault as a direct practice expense input from radiation treatment procedure codes. ASTRO expressed serious concerns in July about the proposed cuts and their potential negative impact on patient access to radiation therapy. More than 160 bipartisan Senators and Representatives, led by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Richard Burr (R-N.C.), as well as Reps. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Gary Tonko (D-N.Y.), agreed with ASTRO and sent several letters in September 2014 to CMS expressing serious concerns about the proposed Medicare payment cuts.

ABOUT ASTRO ASTRO is the premier radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who are physicians, nurses, biologists, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other health care professionals that specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through professional education and training, support for clinical practice and health policy standards, advancement of science and research, and advocacy. ASTRO publishes two medical journals, International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (www.redjournal.org) and Practical Radiation Oncology (www.practicalradonc.org); developed and maintains an extensive patient website, http://www.rtanswers.org; and created the Radiation Oncology Institute (www.roinstitute.org), a non-profit foundation to support research and education efforts around the world that enhance and confirm the critical role of radiation therapy in improving cancer treatment. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org. ###

The rest is here:

ASTRO Praises Medicare and Congress for Protecting Patient Access to Radiation Oncology Care

By Blaine P. and Friedlander Jr. November 1 at 5:13 PM

Grab your gloves, a coat and fresh coffee: In mid-November, the Washington skies will feature a modest few shooting stars darting across the heavens. The annual Leonid meteor shower occurs the night of Nov. 17-18.

The Leonids have produced some of historys most spectacular meteor storms, but astronomers from the American Meteor Society and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada predict as in most years a normal, tame shower this year, with between 15 and 20 falling stars an hour at peak. In realistic terms, that means youll catch a handful each hour.

Hopefully well have a clear night. Find a dark place, allow your eyes to acclimate to the night and look up. Sip that coffee slowly because youll need to be patient. For us here on the East Coast, the showers official peak will be early evening Nov. 17, but you should see a skittering meteor or two even after the official peak for several hours.

Meteors happen when the Earth, on its annual trek around the sun, smacks into the dusty trails left behind by comets. These dirt particles strike our atmosphere and burn up thats when we see brilliant streaks of light. As the American Meteor Society explains, the Leonids are often bright meteors with a high percentage of persistent trains. Also, the moon will be out of the way, making viewing easier.

In the case of the Leonids, the parent is Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Horace P. Tuttle, a co-discoverer, was an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory after the Civil War. He died in 1923 and is buried in an unmarked grave in Falls Church. (German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel was the other discoverer.)

Early in November, the big gaseous Jupiter rises in the east around midnight. Coincidently, the planet loiters near the front paws of the constellation Leo. (The Leonids are named from the constellation Leo, from whence the shooting stars appear to emanate.) Jupiter can be seen quite well at negative second magnitude, very bright. By mid-month, the planetary king ascends our heavens around 11 p.m., and by months end, the planet climbs into prime time, rising around 10:15 p.m.

With a good view of the southeastern horizon, catch the fleet Mercury in the morning early in November. At about 6 a.m. Monday, for example, this quick little planet is about 11 degrees above the southeastern horizon, at zero magnitude. By the end of this week, it sinks a few degrees to start the day, making it hard to observe by mid-November.

Our reddish neighbor Mars lazily lollygags low above the horizon after sunset in the southwestern sky. The red planet is now near first magnitude (dim), setting after 8 p.m. this month. Venus is hard to see, and Saturn is lost in the suns glare now.

Down-to-Earth events

Continued here:

Leonid meteor shower in mid-November expected to be tame

U.S. College Search is a great place for senior high school students, parents, and anybody seeking for Astrophysics Colleges. U.S. College Search keeps a database of over 9,000 4 year Universities, Technical Colleges, Vocational Schools, Job Training Programs, Technical Certification Programs, 2 Year Colleges, and Junior Colleges.

Search by Degree If you have a particular academic degree program in mind like Astrophysics, this is the search for you. Pick from several main major categories. You will then be able to narrow your search by City.

Search Colleges by Name Learn about your favorite college. Want to find out about a peculiar college a guidance counselor depicted? Check over our huge list of school names, listed alphabetically.

Online Colleges For people on the run, online university courses are becoming a popular way to work toward a major or pick up a new tradeskill. Even though rather new, on-line courses are becoming just as worthy as physical classroom programs.

Don't forget to view our additional resources: College Funding Center - Study about the most expert sites on the web to find loans, subsidizations, and scholarships for Astrophysics Colleges. Occupations Guide - Learn about wage ranges, working environments, and employment opportunities in over one hundred occupations in the Astrophysics field.

USCollegeSearch is committed to furnishing the most complete list of Astrophysics schools and universities in the US. We currently list Astrophysics school name, address, phone, website, Astrophysics degree program offering, Astrophysics degree type, and student statistical data. Future students are encouraged to contact Astrophysics colleges and get additional facts for any university they are interested in.

Selecting the best Astrophysics School: Tips

Tip 1: Ascertain what you may like to study or major in at college. You dont need to develop a firm knowledge here - numbers of 1st year students are "undeclared" -- however if you do know, then you'll be able to search for colleges that feature a program that corresponds your pursuit.

Tip 2: Write a list of criteria you want to use to measure and comb out Astrophysics schools. There are piles of available specifications, such as degrees offered, major programs and minor degrees, location, prices, sizing, caliber, standing, ranking, positioning record, staff sizing, and others...

Tip 3: Compile a group of potential schools and universities. There are heaps of resources to aid you to produce a listings of possible Astrophysics universities.

Read more here:

Astrophysics Colleges, Degrees and Schools ...

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Fairfax, Va., October 20, 2014Tumor laterality (left-side vs. right-side) does not impact overall survival in breast cancer patients treated with breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant external beam radiation therapy, according to a study published in the October 1, 2014 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Studies have shown that breast cancer patients treated with radiation therapy have improved local-regional recurrence, and breast cancer-specific survival after breast-conserving surgery and overall survival (OS) after mastectomy. Long-term follow-up of historic radiation therapy trials for breast cancer has demonstrated a potential increase in cardiac mortality. However, these studies used earlier modes of radiation therapy including Cobalt and orthovoltage radiotherapy, and did not employ CT-based planning, which allows for greater cardiac avoidance. Three recent studies suggest that cardiac mortality has not been greater for patients treated for left-sided breast cancer since the 1980s, when techniques allowing for greater cardiac avoidance became more commonplace[1-3].

This study, Breast Cancer Laterality Does Not Influence Survival in a Large Modern Cohort: Implications for Radiation-Related Cardiac Mortality, examines the impact of tumor laterality on overall survival in a modern cohort of patients from the National Cancer Database (NCDB). The NCDB, a joint project of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society, contains deidentified data from approximately 70 percent of newly diagnosed cancers in the United States. The NCBD is more than two times larger than the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database, and the NCBD contains data not found in SEER, including histopathologic data and specific treatment information such as sequencing of therapies, dose, technique (e.g., intensity modulated radiation therapy vs. brachytherapy) and target (e.g., breast only vs. breast and regional nodes).

This study analyzed 344,831 patients diagnosed with breast cancer between 1998 and 2006. All patients had a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or invasive carcinoma of any histologic subtype, and received external beam radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery. Patients without tumor laterality or with bilateral disease were not included in the study. Left breast tumors were present in 50.7 percent (174,956) of patients, and 49.3 percent (169,875) had tumors in the right breast. The median follow-up time for all patients was 6.04 years, and subset analyses were performed in patients with extended follow-up of 10 years or more.

Of the patients included in the study, 41,646 (12.1 percent) had DCIS and 303,185 (87.9 percent) had invasive carcinoma. Invasive histologic subtypes included ductal (79.3 percent, n=240,352); lobular (7.2 percent, n=21,908); mixed (6.4 percent, n=19,431); and missing or not specified (7.1 percent, n=21,494). Fifty-seven percent (96,829) of right-sided patients and 56 percent (97,975) of left-sided patients received chemotherapy, of which a majority were multiagent regimens (68.5 percent and 70.8 percent, respectively). Additionally, 59 percent (100,226) of right-sided patients and 58.5 percent (102,349) of left-sided patients received endocrine therapy. The median whole breast radiation dose was 50.4 Gy in patients with DCIS, and 81 percent (33,733) of those patients received a boost to a median dose of 10 Gy. Of the patients with invasive disease, 85 percent (257,707) were treated with radiation therapy to the breast only with a median dose of 50.4 Gy. A boost was given to a median dose of 12 Gy to 85.8 percent (221,112) of patients treated to the breast only.

Overall survival (OS) did not differ based on tumor laterality in all patients when a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was completed. At five years, overall survival was 92 percent in both left- and right-sided groups, and at 10 years, overall survival was 78 percent in both groups (p=.132). A multivariate analysis with Cox regression was performed to adjust for demographic and pathologic factors that could impact OS, including age, grade, estrogen receptor status, tumor size, number of positive nodes, receipt of chemotherapy and receipt of endocrine therapy. The multivariate analysis showed no difference in OS by tumor laterality (Hazard Ratio 1.002, 95 percent Confidence Interval, p=.874).

The delivery of radiation therapy for breast cancer is markedly different today than it was several decades ago when the association between breast radiation, cardiac disease and cardiac death was observed. Treatment planning and more advanced treatment techniques and technologies have reduced the risk to the heart, said Charles E. Rutter, MD, lead author of the study and a fourth-year resident in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. This study demonstrates that the advances in breast radiation oncology have made treatment safer, and should reduce patients fears of cardiac risk and impact on their overall health after they complete their cancer treatment.

For a copy of the study manuscript, contact ASTROs Press Office at press@astro.org. For more information about the Red Journal, visit http://www.redjournal.org.

More:

Patients Treated with Radiation Therapy Who Have Tumors in Left Breast Have Comparable Overall Survival to Those with ...

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

20-Oct-2014

Contact: Michelle Kirkwood press@astro.org 703-286-1600 American Society for Radiation Oncology @ASTRO_org

Fairfax, Va., October 20, 2014Tumor laterality (left-side vs. right-side) does not impact overall survival in breast cancer patients treated with breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant external beam radiation therapy, according to a study published in the October 1, 2014 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Studies have shown that breast cancer patients treated with radiation therapy have improved local-regional recurrence, and breast cancer-specific survival after breast-conserving surgery and overall survival (OS) after mastectomy. Long-term follow-up of historic radiation therapy trials for breast cancer has demonstrated a potential increase in cardiac mortality. However, these studies used earlier modes of radiation therapy including Cobalt and orthovoltage radiotherapy, and did not employ CT-based planning, which allows for greater cardiac avoidance. Three recent studies suggest that cardiac mortality has not been greater for patients treated for left-sided breast cancer since the 1980s, when techniques allowing for greater cardiac avoidance became more commonplace[1-3].

This study, "Breast Cancer Laterality Does Not Influence Survival in a Large Modern Cohort: Implications for Radiation-Related Cardiac Mortality," examines the impact of tumor laterality on overall survival in a modern cohort of patients from the National Cancer Database (NCDB). The NCDB, a joint project of the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society, contains deidentified data from approximately 70 percent of newly diagnosed cancers in the United States. The NCBD is more than two times larger than the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database, and the NCBD contains data not found in SEER, including histopathologic data and specific treatment information such as sequencing of therapies, dose, technique (e.g., intensity modulated radiation therapy vs. brachytherapy) and target (e.g., breast only vs. breast and regional nodes).

This study analyzed 344,831 patients diagnosed with breast cancer between 1998 and 2006. All patients had a diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or invasive carcinoma of any histologic subtype, and received external beam radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery. Patients without tumor laterality or with bilateral disease were not included in the study. Left breast tumors were present in 50.7 percent (174,956) of patients, and 49.3 percent (169,875) had tumors in the right breast. The median follow-up time for all patients was 6.04 years, and subset analyses were performed in patients with extended follow-up of 10 years or more.

Of the patients included in the study, 41,646 (12.1 percent) had DCIS and 303,185 (87.9 percent) had invasive carcinoma. Invasive histologic subtypes included ductal (79.3 percent, n=240,352); lobular (7.2 percent, n=21,908); mixed (6.4 percent, n=19,431); and missing or "not specified" (7.1 percent, n=21,494). Fifty-seven percent (96,829) of right-sided patients and 56 percent (97,975) of left-sided patients received chemotherapy, of which a majority were multiagent regimens (68.5 percent and 70.8 percent, respectively). Additionally, 59 percent (100,226) of right-sided patients and 58.5 percent (102,349) of left-sided patients received endocrine therapy. The median whole breast radiation dose was 50.4 Gy in patients with DCIS, and 81 percent (33,733) of those patients received a boost to a median dose of 10 Gy. Of the patients with invasive disease, 85 percent (257,707) were treated with radiation therapy to the breast only with a median dose of 50.4 Gy. A boost was given to a median dose of 12 Gy to 85.8 percent (221,112) of patients treated to the breast only.

Overall survival (OS) did not differ based on tumor laterality in all patients when a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was completed. At five years, overall survival was 92 percent in both left- and right-sided groups, and at 10 years, overall survival was 78 percent in both groups (p=.132). A multivariate analysis with Cox regression was performed to adjust for demographic and pathologic factors that could impact OS, including age, grade, estrogen receptor status, tumor size, number of positive nodes, receipt of chemotherapy and receipt of endocrine therapy. The multivariate analysis showed no difference in OS by tumor laterality (Hazard Ratio 1.002, 95 percent Confidence Interval, p=.874).

"The delivery of radiation therapy for breast cancer is markedly different today than it was several decades ago when the association between breast radiation, cardiac disease and cardiac death was observed. Treatment planning and more advanced treatment techniques and technologies have reduced the risk to the heart," said Charles E. Rutter, MD, lead author of the study and a fourth-year resident in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. "This study demonstrates that the advances in breast radiation oncology have made treatment safer, and should reduce patients' fears of cardiac risk and impact on their overall health after they complete their cancer treatment."

Read the rest here:

Patients who have left breast tumors have comparable OS to those with right breast tumors

20.10.2014 - (idw) Georg-August-Universitt Gttingen

An international group of astronomers including a scientist from the University of Gttingen has found an explanation of the long-standing mystery of why magnetic fields are more common among cool white dwarf stars than among young and hotter ones. The results were published in Nature. Press release No. 242/2014

Magnetic white dwarfs appear younger than they are Scientists from Gttingen University link magnetic fields to atmospheric convection

(pug) An international group of astronomers including a scientist from the University of Gttingen has found an explanation of the long-standing mystery of why magnetic fields are more common among cool white dwarf stars than among young and hotter ones. The researchers showed that strong magnetic fields are sufficient to suppress convection over the entire surface in cool magnetic white dwarfs, which inhibits their cooling evolution relative to weakly magnetic and non-magnetic ones, making them appear younger than they truly are. The results were published in Nature.

White dwarf (WD) stars are the remnants of intermediate mass stars at the final stage of their evolution. Since the white dwarf does not burn any fusion in its interior, it cools down from the time it is born pretty much like a pot of hot water left out the fire. Therefore, the surface temperature of any white dwarf star can be uniquely linked to its age.

If a star-progenitor has a magnetic field, then the contraction process during the formation of the WD will amplify this field by many orders of magnitude. This is how magnetic white dwarf stars (MWD) appear. Because magnetic fields are expected to decay with time, and because surface temperature also drops when WD cools down, one might expect to detect more non-magnetic or weakly magnetic objects at cool temperatures, but the opposite is observed.

The researchers found that the magnetic field may have a global control of surface convection in cool MWD stars which explains their puzzling characteristics. By analyzing the light variability of the cool dwarf WD 1953-011 we found a direct link between the strength of local magnetic field and the local surface temperature, explains Dr. Denis Shulyak from Gttingen Universitys Institute for Astrophysics. This suggests that the magnetic field suppresses atmospheric convection, leading to dark spots in the most magnetized areas similar to that occurring in sunspots.

But if the global magnetic field is very strong (hundreds of kilogauss and above), it can then inhibit convective motions everywhere over the stellar surface and deep into the interior of the star. Because convection transfers a significant fraction of the total energy flux from subphotospheric layers to the surface in WD stars with surface temperatures below approximately 12,000 K, its suppression by strong magnetic fields will result in decrease of the stellar luminosity. If we now remember that cooling times of WD stars are inversely proportional to luminosities, then objects with globally suppressed convection should have longer cooling timescales than their non-magnetic or weakly magnetic twins. Therefore, magnetic suppression of cooling provides a natural explanation for the increase in number of MWD stars at cool temperatures where convection is the dominant energy transport mechanism. This result fully agrees with our theoretical predictions, says Shulyak.

The analysis of photometric variability of cool MWD stars and their unexpectedly high frequencies compared to non-magnetic stars, as well as the high dispersion of their space velocities (which carries the information about the stellar age) all these observational facts ultimately point towards the existence of a magnetic suppression of cooling in strongly magnetic, isolated WD stars.

If we imagine the WD star as an open pot with hot water left on the table to cool, then covering it with a lid will slow its cooling time. Strong magnetic field is this kind of lid in WD stars which suppresses convection and therefore heat loses. Our findings imply that the ages of most magnetic and cool MWD stars can be underestimated. This prompts a revision of our interpretation of the MWD cooling sequence that, in turn, may require tuning of our understanding of the evolution of the Galaxy and the Universe, concludes Shulyak.

See the original post here:

Magnetic white dwarfs appear younger than they are

View from the root top of the Tate Laboratory of Physics at the University of Minnesota on Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. (Pioneer Press: Juan Pablo Ramirez)

The graduate students who run public-viewing nights at the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics assume the public knows very little about the cosmos. This is a good thing, since what I know about the origins of the universe can be summed up in the theme song from the sitcom "The Big Bang Theory."

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state.

Then nearly 14 billion years ago, expansion started. Wait ...

I recently took my 12-year-old son to the observatory on top of the Tate Laboratory of Physics on the University of Minnesota campus, where every Friday night during spring and fall semesters, astrophysics teaching assistants give a short talk and let the public look through the 19th-century telescope.

My son is not one of those kids who is captivated by outer space, but he likes science, and I knew he would be interested in the antique scope.

"We do what we can to bring astronomy to the public because it's one of those sciences that captures the imagination," said graduate student Melanie Beck, whose interest in astronomy was sparked by seeing Comet Hale-Bopp as a child and who now heads up astrophysics outreach programs.

The Friday topics range from asteroids to the Big Bang, from spacecraft and satellites to the life and death of stars.

"People love to hear about galaxies, and they love to hear about colonizing Mars, and they always love black holes," Beck said. "Even if the topic is not about black holes, people always ask questions about black holes.

The night we were there, the subject was the most-distant galaxies. About 40 people, including college students on date nights and a few families, sat on hard chairs in a classroom with old radiators and a poster of the periodic table on one wall. It felt like Cosmos 101.

Read more:

At UMN lab, use 100-year-old telescope to see billion-year-old stars

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

17-Oct-2014

Contact: Michelle Kirkwood press@astro.org 703-286-1600 American Society for Radiation Oncology @ASTRO_org

Fairfax, Va., October 17, 2014Image guided radiation therapy (IGRT) is a commonly used modality to ensure treatment accuracy in the management of pediatric tumors; however, consensus recommendations are needed in order to guide clinical decisions on the use of IGRT in treating pediatric patients, according to a study published in the September-October 2014 issue of Practical Radiation Oncology (PRO), the official clinical practice journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

IGRT is the process of using frequent imaging, typically performed in the treatment room prior to radiation delivery, throughout a patient's course of radiation therapy treatment to improve localization of the target and normal structures, which allows for more precise and accurate radiation delivery. IGRT is a common practice in both photon (traditional radiation therapy) and proton therapy to treat tumors close to sensitive structures and organs or in areas of the body prone to movement or change in shape.

This study, "Practice patterns of photon and proton pediatric image guided radiation treatment: Results from an International Pediatric Research Consortium," evaluates the use of IGRT in treatment planning for pediatric cancers in an international consortium comprised of seven institutions using either photon or proton therapy with dedicated pediatric expertise. Choosing optimal IGRT regimens that spare healthy tissue and organs is a particular concern for pediatric patients to help prevent potential late effects associated with the distribution of the radiation dose and the total radiation dose the patient receives.

Nine international institutions were selected to participate in the consortium and were sent a 53-item survey comprised of mixed dichotomous, rank order, constant sum and open-ended questions to evaluate patterns of IGRT use in definitive radiation therapy for patients 21 years old. Seven of the nine institutions completed the survey. The seven institutions treated a total of approximately 750 pediatric patients, on average, per year. Five institutions use photon therapy alone, one uses proton therapy alone and one uses both photon and proton therapy.

Among the seven sites, an estimated 623 patients were treated with photon therapy annually and up to 133 patients were treated with proton therapy annually. The central nervous system (CNS) was the most frequent treatment site at four of the seven institutions, comprising 25 to 65 percent of treated cases across the facilities. The two facilities using proton therapy most commonly treated CNS and head and neck cancers.

Both proton facilities used kV-planar IGRT in 100 percent of proton cases. One photon facility used IGRT in 100 percent of cases, and IGRT use in the other photon facilities varied. At all seven sites, IGRT was used in 90 to 100 percent of CNS cases and in 100 percent of head and neck cases. IGRT use was inconsistent in abdomen or pelvis site treatment, ranging from 20 to 100 percent of cases across the seven facilities.

IGRT use also varied across consortium facilities depending on tumor type. All seven institutions used IGRT for treatment of ependymoma (cancer of the tissue of the brain or spinal cord), abdominal and pelvic sarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma (cancer of the muscles attached to the bones). Five facilities implemented IGRT for management of medulloblastoma, neuroblastoma and extremity sarcoma.

Read this article:

Image guided radiation therapy is commonly used to ensure accuracy in treating pediatric tumors

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise Fairfax, Va., October 16, 2014 The fifth annual 5K Run for the Future set new records during the September 15, 2014 event held at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco220 runners participated, including six teams from academic institutions, and more than $70,000 was raised to support the Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI). The 2014 total is nearly triple 2013s record of $24,000. Donations were generated through runners registration fees and fundraising, as well as corporate sponsorships. The five-year total (2010-2014) raised for the ROI by the Race now stands at more than $150,000.

The 2014 Race included a new Academic Team Challenge, whereby institutional teams competed for a $1,000 academic scholarship. Each teams top three runners times were averaged for a Total Team Time. Team Mayo Clinic won the challenge with the fastest Total Team Time of 20:35.

The top two 2014 individual winners, male and female, were Matt McCurdy, MD, PhD, of the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin, with a time of 15:52, and Megan Daly, MD, of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in Davis, California, with a time of 18:55.

Held each year on the Monday of the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in the Meetings host city, the 5K Run for the Future was held previously in Atlanta (2013), Boston (2012), Miami (2011) and San Diego (2010). Runners include radiation oncology physicians, medical students and other members of the radiation oncology treatment team, as well as radiation oncology industry leaders.

Thank you to all of the runners, supporters and sponsors of this fun and exciting race, particularly Radiation Business Solutions for their leadership of this event, said Theodore S. Lawrence, MD, PhD, FASTRO, president of the ROI Board of Trustees. It is extraordinary to witness the growth of the race this year, and we appreciate the generous support it generates for the ROI. Each dollar raised for the ROI strengthens our ability to support critical radiation oncology research that will improve patient outcomes and sustain the specialty for years to come.

The 5K Run for the Future is hosted and organized each year by Radiation Business Solutions, and all proceeds from the Race are donated to the ROI. The 2014 event was also sponsored by Elekta Inc., Varian Medical Systems, AE Design and Northwest Medical Physics Center.

ABOUT ROI The Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI) is a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) foundation created in 2006 by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Board of Directors to support research and education efforts around the world that enhance and confirm the critical role of radiation therapy in improving cancer treatment. ROI strategically funds research on new and existing radiation therapy treatments to identify links between best practices and improved outcomes, to evaluate the efficacy and cost-benefit of radiation therapy and to foster multi-institutional research in radiation oncology. For more information, visit http://www.roinstitute.org. ###

Go here to read the rest:

Fifth Annual "5K Run for the Future" Raises More Than $70,000 for ROI

Oct 13, 2014

Astronomers Chih-Hao Li and David Phillips of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics want to rediscover Venusthat familiar, nearby planet stargazers can see with the naked eye much of the year.

Granted, humans first discovered Venus in ancient times. But Li and Phillips have something distinctly modern in mind. They plan to find the second planet again using a powerful new optical device installed on the Italian National Telescope that will measure Venus' precise gravitational pull on the sun. If they succeed, their first-of-its-kind demonstration of this new technology will be used for finding Earth-like exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

"We are building a telescope that will let us see the sun the way we would see other stars," said Phillips, who is a staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He and Li, a research associate at the Center for Astrophysics, will describe the device in a paper to be presented at The Optical Society's (OSA) 98th Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, being held Oct. 19-23 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Li is the lead author of the paper, which has 12 collaborators.

Astronomers have identified more than 1,700 exoplanets, some as far as hundreds of light years away. Most were discovered by the traditional transit method, which measures the decrease in brightness when a planet orbiting a distant star transits that luminous body, moving directly between the Earth and the star. This provides information about the planet's size, but not its mass.

Li and Phillips are developing a new laser-based technology known as the green astro-comb for use with the "radial velocity method," which offers complementary information about the mass of the distant planet. From this information, astronomers will be able to determine whether distant exoplanets they discover are rocky worlds like Earth or less dense gas giants like Jupiter. The method is precise enough to help astronomers identify Earth-like planets in the "habitable zone," the orbital distance "sweet-spot" where water exists as a liquid.

Better Precision with a Laser

The radial velocity method works by measuring how exoplanet gravity changes the light emitted from its star. As exoplanets circle a star, their gravitation tugs at the star changing the speed with which it moves toward or away from Earth by a small amount. The star speeds up slightly as it approaches Earth, with each light wave taking a fraction of a second less time to arrive than the wave before it. To an observer on Earth, the crests of these waves look closer together than they should, so they appear to have a higher frequency and look bluer. As the star recedes, the crests move further apart and the frequencies seem lower and redder.

This motion-based frequency change is known as the Doppler shift. Astronomers measure it by capturing the spectrum of a star on the pixels of a digital camera and watching how it changes over time.

Today's best spectrographs are only capable of measuring Doppler shifts caused by velocity changes of 1 meter per second or more. Only large gas giants or "super-earths" close to their host stars have enough gravity to cause those changes.

Originally posted here:

New optical device designed to measure gravitational pull of a planet should speed the search for Earth-like exoplanets

Astronomers Chih-Hao Li and David Phillips of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics want to rediscover Venus-that familiar, nearby planet stargazers can see with the naked eye much of the year.

Granted, humans first discovered Venus in ancient times. But Li and Phillips have something distinctly modern in mind. They plan to find the second planet again using a powerful new optical device installed on the Italian National Telescope that will measure Venus' precise gravitational pull on the sun. If they succeed, their first-of-its-kind demonstration of this new technology will be used for finding Earth-like exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

"We are building a telescope that will let us see the sun the way we would see other stars," said Phillips, who is a staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He and Li, a research associate at the Center for Astrophysics, will describe the device in a paper to be presented at The Optical Society's (OSA) 98th Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, being held Oct. 19-23 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Li is the lead author of the paper, which has 12 collaborators.

Astronomers have identified more than 1,700 exoplanets, some as far as hundreds of light years away. Most were discovered by the traditional transit method, which measures the decrease in brightness when a planet orbiting a distant star transits that luminous body, moving directly between the Earth and the star. This provides information about the planet's size, but not its mass.

Li and Phillips are developing a new laser-based technology known as the green astro-comb for use with the "radial velocity method," which offers complementary information about the mass of the distant planet.

From this information, astronomers will be able to determine whether distant exoplanets they discover are rocky worlds like Earth or less dense gas giants like Jupiter. The method is precise enough to help astronomers identify Earth-like planets in the "habitable zone," the orbital distance "sweet-spot" where water exists as a liquid.

Better Precision with a Laser The radial velocity method works by measuring how exoplanet gravity changes the light emitted from its star. As exoplanets circle a star, their gravitation tugs at the star changing the speed with which it moves toward or away from Earth by a small amount.

The star speeds up slightly as it approaches Earth, with each light wave taking a fraction of a second less time to arrive than the wave before it. To an observer on Earth, the crests of these waves look closer together than they should, so they appear to have a higher frequency and look bluer. As the star recedes, the crests move further apart and the frequencies seem lower and redder.

This motion-based frequency change is known as the Doppler shift. Astronomers measure it by capturing the spectrum of a star on the pixels of a digital camera and watching how it changes over time.

Today's best spectrographs are only capable of measuring Doppler shifts caused by velocity changes of 1 meter per second or more. Only large gas giants or "super-earths" close to their host stars have enough gravity to cause those changes.

See the rest here:

Rediscovering Venus to Find Faraway Earths

Astronomers Chih-Hao Li and David Phillips of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics want to rediscover Venus -- that familiar, nearby planet stargazers can see with the naked eye much of the year.

Granted, humans first discovered Venus in ancient times. But Li and Phillips have something distinctly modern in mind. They plan to find the second planet again using a powerful new optical device installed on the Italian National Telescope that will measure Venus' precise gravitational pull on the sun. If they succeed, their first-of-its-kind demonstration of this new technology will be used for finding Earth-like exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

"We are building a telescope that will let us see the sun the way we would see other stars," said Phillips, who is a staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He and Li, a research associate at the Center for Astrophysics, will describe the device in a paper to be presented at The Optical Society's (OSA) 98th Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, being held Oct. 19-23 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Li is the lead author of the paper, which has 12 collaborators.

Astronomers have identified more than 1,700 exoplanets, some as far as hundreds of light years away. Most were discovered by the traditional transit method, which measures the decrease in brightness when a planet orbiting a distant star transits that luminous body, moving directly between the Earth and the star. This provides information about the planet's size, but not its mass.

Li and Phillips are developing a new laser-based technology known as the green astro-comb for use with the "radial velocity method," which offers complementary information about the mass of the distant planet. From this information, astronomers will be able to determine whether distant exoplanets they discover are rocky worlds like Earth or less dense gas giants like Jupiter. The method is precise enough to help astronomers identify Earth-like planets in the "habitable zone," the orbital distance "sweet-spot" where water exists as a liquid.

Better Precision with a Laser

The radial velocity method works by measuring how exoplanet gravity changes the light emitted from its star. As exoplanets circle a star, their gravitation tugs at the star changing the speed with which it moves toward or away from Earth by a small amount. The star speeds up slightly as it approaches Earth, with each light wave taking a fraction of a second less time to arrive than the wave before it. To an observer on Earth, the crests of these waves look closer together than they should, so they appear to have a higher frequency and look bluer. As the star recedes, the crests move further apart and the frequencies seem lower and redder.

This motion-based frequency change is known as the Doppler shift. Astronomers measure it by capturing the spectrum of a star on the pixels of a digital camera and watching how it changes over time.

Today's best spectrographs are only capable of measuring Doppler shifts caused by velocity changes of 1 meter per second or more. Only large gas giants or "super-earths" close to their host stars have enough gravity to cause those changes.

The new astro-comb Li, Phillips and their colleagues are developing, however, will be able to detect Doppler shifts as small as 10 centimeters per second -- small enough to find habitable zone Earth-like planets, even from hundreds of light years away.

See original here:

Rediscovering Venus to find faraway Earths: Measuring gravitational pull of a planet should speed search

ASTRO-PHYSICS TELESCOPE
PUTTING IT TOGETHER - NO INSTRUCTIONS.

By: Ricky Carva

Read the original here:

ASTRO-PHYSICS TELESCOPE - Video

Autumn is under way in the Northern Hemisphere, and if you are an avid sky gazer you just might have noticed signs of the season's change.

Many of the striking star groups and our beautiful Milky Way galaxy, which made for great stargazing on balmy summer evenings, are still visible in the western sky. But the appearance now of the brilliant star Capella ascending above the northeast horizon in the evening hours is a promise of the chillier nights to come. And indeed, in just another few weeks the constellation Orion and his neighbors will be dominating the evening skies, reminding us of the approaching winter season.

Still very well-placed in the night sky is the "Summer Triangle," a roughly isosceles figure composed of three first-magnitude stars, Vega, Altair and Deneb. Many have asked me over the years why it is called it the "summer" triangle since its nearly overhead during the late-evening hours as summer transitions into fall. But during the summer months the Triangle is visible all night from dusk to dawn, whereas during autumn, as the evenings grow colder, this configuration sinks lower and lower in the west. [The Brightest Stars in the Sky]

Watery stars in the sky

During the mid and late-evening hours, the stars of the autumn season cover much of the eastern and southern parts of the night sky. In fact, this whole area has been called the "Celestial Sea," because many of the constellations have an association with water.

For example, looking toward the south-southeast is one member of this watery fraternity; the only one whose name is attached to a popular song: "Aquarius." And yet how many who have heard the song know what the constellation Aquarius really is. This zodiacal star pattern traditionally represents a man holding a water jar (marked by an inverted Y-shaped group of four stars), which is spilling a vaguely marked stream of water southward into the mouth of another constellation: Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish.

Across southern Canada, the northern United States and much of Europe, the stars that make up Piscis Austrinus usually cannot be seen. Although above the horizon, they are too low to penetrate the horizon haze. At more southerly latitudes these stars are much higher up in the sky, though still quite dim.

The lonely star of autumn

The main star in Piscis Austrinus is all the more conspicuous: silvery-white Fomalhaut, ranked 18th brightest star in the sky and the only first-magnitude star in the whole collection of watery constellations. Indeed, Fomalhaut is the only true first magnitude star of autumn. Fomalhaut, somewhat isolated, lies in an empty region of the autumn skies, and is sometimes referred to as "The Solitary One." It can be identified by extending a line along the western (right) side of the Great Square of Pegasus about three times its own length.

It is often described in various observing books as "reddish," though it is probable that the effects of our atmosphere are responsible for this impression, as this star is always seen at a low altitude for northern observers. Fomalhaut is Arabic for "mouth of the fish." It lies at a distance of 25 light-years, a star approximately twice the diameter of the sun and 19 times more luminous.

Originally posted here:

The Stars of Autumn's Night Sky: What to Look For

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise San Francisco, September 15, 2014 For patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer, the combination of chemotherapy and stereotactic ablative radiation (SABR) may be a promising treatment option, ultimately allowing them to undergo surgery that may not otherwise be an option, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncologys (ASTROs) 56th Annual Meeting.

Surgery is the only potentially curative therapy for individuals with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA), the most common type of pancreatic cancer. However, pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, making surgical removal of the tumor or the organ challenging, if not impossible. In addition, many patients with locally-advanced pancreatic cancer may have microscopic spread of the disease to other parts of the body.

Currently, there is no standard of care for treating patients with pancreatic cancer for whom surgery is not an option. Chemotherapy plays an important role in addressing microscopic disease. Stereotactic ablative radiation (SABR), with its shorter treatment times and precision that lowers the risk of damage to normal cells, is a promising treatment modality for patients with locally advanced PDA.

This prospective, single-arm, phase II clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of induction chemotherapy followed by SABR in 34 patients who had biopsy-proven PDA. Eighteen patients had borderline resectable PDA (the cancer was primarily located within the pancreas), and 16 patients had locally advanced PDA (the cancer had spread into nearby blood vessels). The average patient age was 71, and 56 percent of the patients were women.

Induction chemotherapy, consisting of gemcitabine and capecitabine, was administered over four, 21-day cycles to 31 of the 34 (91 percent) of the patients. Three of the patients did not complete chemotherapyone died after consent but prior to chemotherapy; one died during chemotherapy because of an arterial occlusion; and one had a myocardial infarction prior to completion of the four courses of chemotherapy.

As evidenced by CT scan, the cancer did not grow or spread in all 31 patients who completed chemotherapy, thus all patients received three SABR treatments of 36 Gy each, including a 2mm expansion around the gross tumor. Four weeks following SABR, radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists and medical oncologists made a multidisciplinary decision as to whether each patients tumor could then be surgically removed.

Of the 31 patients, 12 (40 percent) proceeded to pancreaticoduodenectomy (commonly referred to as the Whipple procedure, which removes the head of the pancreas, part of the small intestine, the gallbladder, the end of the common bile duct and sometimes a portion of the stomach). Ninety percent of patients who had surgery (11) had no local disease after surgery.

Ultimately, for this patient population, the findings translate to approximately 90 percent chance of local disease control at 1 year, and >20 months free of any disease recurrence. This is a promising treatment option that may prove not only to be more effective than chemotherapy alone prior to surgery, it may also be better than chemotherapy and standard radiation, said lead study author Kimmen Quan, MD, a radiation oncologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Patients tolerated the chemotherapy and SABR regimen quite well, with excellent quality of life during treatment. These results appear to translate into better control of disease in the pancreatic region and a longer freedom from disease recurrence. This combination should be considered for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, which is still treatable disease, and could potentially improve survival in this patient population.

Read the original:

Chemotherapy and Stereotactic Ablative Radiation (SABR) Consecutively May Be Promising Treatment Option for Patients ...

Mg Triplet Solar Spectrum - Lhires III, NEX-6
Sun Mg Triplet spectrum with Shelyak Instruments Lhires III and Sony NEX-6 camera. Astro-Physics Mach1 GoTo mount tracking the Sun. Spectrum video at http://...

By: David Haworth

Here is the original post:

Mg Triplet Solar Spectrum - Lhires III, NEX-6 - Video

Doctors from Leading Cancer Center Will Discuss Firsthand Experience with MRIdian's Adaptive and Soft-Tissue Tracking Capabilities

CLEVELAND - ViewRay, a privately held medical device company, announced today that it will showcase its MRIdian (me-rid-i-an) system, the world's first and only MRI-guided radiation therapy system, at the 56(th) Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) being held September 14-17, 2014 in San Francisco. With ViewRay's recent announcements of the world's first on-table adaptive radiation therapy treatment at Siteman Cancer Center and the first patient treated at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Center using soft-tissue tracking, a high level of interest is anticipated around MRI-guided radiation therapy at this year's meeting. A number of clinical presentations will be focused on experience with the MRIdian system in the ASTRO-sponsored Scientific Sessions and in the company's booth, including user experience with MRIdian's adaptive and soft-tissue tracking capabilities.

"Clinicians have been waiting for years for an integrated system that can provide continuous soft-tissue imaging during treatment so they can see the dose delivered and adapt to changes and movement in their patients' anatomy in real-time," said Chris A. Raanes, ViewRay president and CEO. "The fact that this dream is now a reality with the MRIdian system is a huge step forward for doctors and their patients. With some of the first users presenting on their experience at this year's meeting, we expect a great deal of discussion and interest in MRIdian."

Of the various presentations featuring the MRIdian system during ASTRO, one was awarded a "Best of ASTRO" designation by the organization and will be given on Tuesday, September 16 during the Physics Scientific Session on MRI Guided Radiation Therapy beginning at 4:45 p.m. PDT. The talk, titled "The Dawn of a New Era: First Ever MR-IGRT Treatments - Initial Experiences and Future Implications" will be given by Sasa Mutic, Ph.D., Director of Medical Physics at Washington University. For a list of other Scientific Session talks that will focus on the MRIdian system please visit: http://www.viewray.com/astro_2014.htm.

The company will be exhibiting at booth 416 where attendees can also hear about clinical experiences and patient workflow during presentations by a number of clinician users of the MRIdian system. Presentations will take place at various times from Sunday, September 14 through Tuesday, September 16, with a detailed schedule available here. Speakers include Rojano Kashani, Ph.D., medical physicist, and Jeffrey Olsen, M.D., treating physician of the first patient treated with on-table adaptive radiation therapy at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University in St. Louis. Both presenters will discuss their experience with MRI-guided radiation therapy and the clinical impact of adaptive therapy.

Additionally, visitors to the company's booth can receive a treatment planning demonstration and view plan comparisons to see the quality of MRIdian's soft-tissue imaging and understand the value it can provide in adaptive treatment planning.

About ViewRay ViewRay Incorporated of Cleveland, Ohio, is a privately held medical device company developing advanced radiation therapy technology for the treatment of cancer. The MRIdian system provides continuous soft-tissue imaging during treatment, using MRI-guided radiotherapy, so that clinicians are able to see where the actual radiation dose is being delivered and adapt to changes in the patient's anatomy. For more information, visit http://www.viewray.com.

ViewRay and MRIdian are trademarks of ViewRay Incorporated.

ViewRay acknowledges the contribution of the State of Ohio, Department of Development and Third Frontier Commission, which provided funding in support of the MRI Technology Enabling Expansion of MRI into Radiotherapy Guidance Project.

Source ViewRay Incorporated

Here is the original post:

ViewRay to Showcase World's Only MRI-Guided Radiation Therapy System In Clinical Use at ...

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise San Francisco, September 15, 2014A comparison of five-year sexual function outcomes, as reported by patients treated with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) versus combination EBRT plus brachytherapy, indicates that the utilization of vessel-sparing radiation therapy makes cure possible without compromising long-term sexual function, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncologys (ASTROs) 56th Annual Meeting.

The study examined the patient-reported outcomes of 91 men with prostate cancer who received MRI-guided, vessel-sparing radiation at University of Michigan Providence Cancer Institute. The vessel-sparing radiation technique limits the amount of radiation to critical erectile tissues using MRI scans to identify the blood vessels responsible for erections. When radiation dose is limited to these critical structures, the risk of erectile dysfunction is lowered.

Of the 91 patients studied, all patients received EBRT. Forty-two of the patients received only EBRT (>77.8Gy), and 49 patients received EBRT plus brachytherapy, the implantation of radioactive seeds near the prostate. The combination patients received brachytherapy in the form of an I-125 permanent prostate implant. None of the patients received androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

Sexual function at baseline, two years and five years post-therapy was evaluated via patient reported outcomes using two scales the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) scale and a simple, three-item questionnaire that asked patients to indicate which applied to them: 1) I am able to be sexually active without aids or medications; 2) I am able to be sexually active with aids or medications; or 3) I am not able to be sexually active.

The three-question scale was used in addition to the IIEF, which validates erection quality by sexual performance with a partner, because many men were not sexually active with a partner, despite their ability to be active with a partner. Patient-reported outcome on sexual performance according to the IIEF was lower than the outcome reported according to the three-question scale. The average two-year follow-up IIEF scores for EBRT patients and combination therapy patients were 16.5 and 20.8, respectively. The average five-year follow-up IIEF scores for EBRT patients and combination therapy patients were 15.4 and 16.9, respectively.

According to the three-question scale, erectile function was remarkably preserved using MRI-planned vessel-sparing treatment, even in patients who received combination therapy: 78.6 percent of patients who received EBRT (33 of 42) and 91.8 percent of patients who received combination therapy (45 of 49) reported the ability to be sexually active with or without aids at five years post-treatment.

In the past, men with prostate cancer expected to pay a high toll in loss of quality of life to achieve cure and were willing to accept that as necessary, said lead study author Patrick W. McLaughlin, MD, director of radiation oncology at University of Michigan Providence Cancer Institute in Novi, Mich. This study makes it clear that even with combination radiation protocols, which are capable of curing the majority of prostate cancers more than 90 percent of the time, avoidance of critical adjacent tissues, such as vessel-sparing, makes cure and quality of life an achievable goal for many men.

The abstract, Comparison of External Beam and Combination Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Patient Reported Outcomes of Sexual Function with 5-Year Follow-up will be presented in detail during a scientific session at ASTROs 56th Annual Meeting at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time on Monday, September 15, 2014. To speak with Dr. McLaughlin, please call Michelle Kirkwood on September 14 17, 2014, in the ASTRO Press Office at the Moscone Center in San Francisco at 415-978-3503 or 415-978-3504, or email michellek@astro.org.

See more here:

Majority of Prostate Cancer Patients Surveyed Five Years After Treatment with Vessel-Sparing Radiation Therapy Report ...

Contact Information

Available for logged-in reporters only

Newswise San Francisco, September 16, 2014 Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) survivors who never smoked or who are former smokers at the time of diagnosis have a lower risk of developing secondary primary lung cancers (SPLC) compared to those who are current smokers, suggesting that increased tobacco exposure is associated with a higher risk of SPLC, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncologys (ASTROs) 56th Annual Meeting.

The analysis studied the association between patients smoking histories and their risks of developing SPLC, which is defined as a new lung cancer unrelated to the initial tumor based on histology and location in the lung.

The study analyzed 1,484 patients (372 current smokers, 1,014 former smokers and 98 never smokers) who underwent surgery, with or without adjuvant chemotherapy or radiation therapy, for stage I-IIIA NSCLC at Duke University Medical Center between 1995 and 2008. Baseline covariates and oncologic outcomes including local control (LC), development of distant metastases (DM), overall survival (OS) and rates of SPLC were assessed. SPLC were distinguished from metastases based on histologic evaluation supplemented with clinical presentation, including the anatomic site and chronological onset of diagnosis. Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated with 95 percent confidence intervals, and multivariate analysis (MVA) were performed using a Cox regression model.

The study found that five years after the initial diagnosis, current smokers were more likely to develop SPLC. The five-year incidence of SPLC was 13 percent for current smokers, seven percent for former smokers, and zero percent for patients who had never smoked. In the follow-up period, only one patient who had never smoked developed an SPLC, seven years after surgery for the first cancer. Furthermore, when restricting the analysis to continuing smokers with pack-years (PY) as a continuous variable, the risk of SPLC increased with the number of years of tobacco exposure, corresponding to an 8 percent increased risk per 10 PY.

For all patients, there were no differences in LC or DM based on smoking status. When comparing patients who were current smokers to those who had never smoked or had quit smoking more than five years prior to surgery, OS was significantly worse for current smokers.

In conducting the study, which is one of the largest of its kind, we were particularly interested in how smoking history related to the risk of developing a second lung cancer, said John Michael Boyle, MD, lead author of the study and a radiation oncology resident at the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, N.C. While we believed those who have never smoked would have a low risk of developing a second lung cancer, which was confirmed, we were encouraged to find that smoking cessation led to a lower risk of developing a second lung cancer and overall survival rates similar to nonsmokers. These findings confirm that smoking cessation is crucial and should be an integral component of patient care for patients without a prior cancer diagnosis as well as for cancer survivors.

The abstract, Tobacco Use and Secondary Lung Malignancies after Surgery for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, will be presented in detail during a scientific session at ASTROs 56th Annual Meeting at 2:45 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, September 16, 2014. To speak with Dr. Boyle, please call Michelle Kirkwood on September 14 17, 2014, in the ASTRO Press Office at the Moscone Center in San Francisco at 415-978-3503 or 415-978-3504, or email michellek@astro.org.

ASTROs 56th Annual Meeting, to be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, September 14-17, 2014, is the nations premier scientific meeting in radiation oncology. The 2014 Annual Meeting is expected to attract more than 11,000 attendees including oncologists from all disciplines, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiation therapists, radiation oncology nurses and nurse practitioners, biologists, physician assistants, practice administrators, industry representatives and other health care professionals from around the world. Led by ASTRO President Bruce G. Haffty, MD, FASTRO, a radiation oncologist specializing in breast cancer, the theme of the 2014 Meeting is Targeting Cancer: Technology and Biology, and the Presidential Symposium, Local-regional Management of Breast Cancer: A Changing Paradigm, will feature Jay R. Harris, MD, FASTRO, and Thomas A. Buchholz, MD, FASTRO, to highlight recent practice-changing, landmark studies and current developments in the local-regional management of breast cancer. ASTROs four-day scientific meeting includes presentation of up to four plenary papers, 360 oral presentations, 1,862 posters and 144 digital posters in more than 50 educational sessions and scientific panels for 20 disease-site tracks. Three keynote speakers will address a range of topics including oncologic imaging, biology and targeting in oncology, and human error and safety concerns: Hedvig Hricak, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Radiology and the Carroll and Milton Petrie Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, DSc (hon), Professor Emeritus and the David A. Wood Distinguished Professor of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research of the University of California at San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Sidney Dekker, PhD, MA, MSc, Professor and Director of the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

Read more from the original source:

Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Who Have Never Smoked or Who Have Quit Smoking Have Lower Risk of ...