One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying. -Joan of Arc

Regardless of what intrinsic differences any person or group of people have from another, everyone deserves to be treated as an individual, afforded the same opportunities to pursue their passions, goals and dreams, and evaluated on the merits of their performance. Although this is not yet the way the world works, I am confident that many strides are consistently being made in the right direction, and I was overjoyed earlier this year when I came across the following international news story.

Image credit: The Express Tribune with the International Herald Tribune, http://tribune.com.pk/.

I felt a personal connection to this story since astrophysics is my specialty, and its important for everyone to see more examples that great scientists in general come from all backgrounds, races, religions, countries, and genders. If you have a passion to be a scientist, Ive always encouraged everyoneto follow itand become whatever it is you want to, to the best of your abilities.

But this story was more than just an important milestone and step forward; when I saw it, I felt it was an opportunity to bring a much richer story to the world. Theres a story here not of the first Pakistani woman to get her PhD in Astrophysics but of a human being who followed her passions to achieve her goals, the struggles she faced, the help and support she had along her way, and a window into the unique life of a real person. So I approached her in July and asked her if shed be willing to do an email interview with me. She not only agreed, but encouraged me to ask as many questions as I wanted; I solicited them on twitter, google+ and facebook, and chose many of them to ask her.

Image credit: Flickr user Kashiff, http://www.flickr.com/photos/15025651@N08.

Mariam Sultana is from Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, and has graciously provided some insightful answers about her experiences and perspectives, and has agreed to share them with the entire world. I am overjoyed and privileged to share with you the following exclusive interview with Mariam Sultana, astrophysicist!

Youve recently gotten your PhD in extragalactic astronomy. What has your research been about?

My research is about the formation theory of ring-like structures in a disk-like self-gravitating system in the background of a non-stationary Universe.

How did you first get interested in astronomy?

Read more from the original source:

The First Pakistani Woman PhD in Astrophysics: Exclusive Interview with Mariam Sultana! [Starts With A Bang]

By Robert Sanders, Media Relations | October 4, 2012

Astronomer Alex Filippenko shows hes ready for take-off in a jet fighter piloted by Lt. Mark Tedrow, one of the Navys elite Blue Angels team. Noelle Filippenko photo.

For the lucky few, soaring over San Francisco with the Blue Angels is the dream of a lifetime you want to sit back and enjoy. But for UC Berkeley astronomer Alex Filippenko, it was a teaching opportunity.

As he banked and rolled over the Bay Area yesterday (Wednesday, Oct. 3), he took the opportunity to videotape in-flight physics lessons he hopes to use in outreach to the public.

It was an out-of-this-world experience, he wrote in an email. We broke the sound barrier It was incredible!

The Blue Angels, the Navys elite flight-demonstration team, are in town to celebrate the annual Fleet Week.

Filippenko flew as part of the Blue Angels Key Influencers program, in part because of Filippenkos role in the research that led to last years Nobel Prize in physics. One of the other Key Influencers was local heroCapt. Chesley Sully Sullenberger, the famed US Airways pilot who landed a passenger liner in the Hudson River three years ago.

Filippenkos jet was piloted by Navy Lt. Mark Tedrow, who took Berkeleys well-known black hole expert through rolls and turns where he felt the effects of 6.2 Gs more than six times the force of gravity as well as weightlessness at 0 G and even negative Gs, all perfect conditions for experiments that will wow his Astro 10 students.

Besides being a heck of a lot of fun, there were so many interesting physical principles to talk about before and during theflight, he told a San Francisco Chronicle reporter.

Read more from the original source:

Astronomer jets up, up and away with Blue Angels

Public release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

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

Researchers have identified 12 DNA sequences that may help doctors determine which men will suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED) following radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Identifying these patients in advance of treatment may better inform men and their families as to which prostate cancer treatments are best for their specific cancer and lifestyle, according to a study to be published online September 27, 2012, in advance of the October 1, 2012 print issue, in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology.Biology.Physics (Red Journal), the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). The findings could also guide doctors in recommending the most effective treatments that carry the least risk of patients developing ED.

The main treatments for prostate cancersurgery, brachytherapy (seed implants) and external beam radiation therapyare all very effective at curing prostate cancer. Unfortunately, each treatment places patients at risk for ED. Although many men will maintain their potency, doctors would like to identify which men are at greatest risk for the development of difficulty with sexual function.

In this multi-institutional, multi-national study, researchers from New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in Bronx, N.Y., New York University School of Medicine, Florida Radiation Oncology Group in Jacksonville, Fla., and Maastricht University Medical Center in Maastricht, the Netherlands, examined 593 men who were treated with brachytherapy and/or external beam radiation therapy and hormone therapy. Of them, 260 reported erectile dysfunction.

"Through a two-stage genome-wide association study, 12 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified that were associated with the development of erectile dysfunction after radiation treatment for prostate cancer," said Barry S. Rosenstein, PhD, department of radiation oncology at New York's Mount Sinai Medical School. "If validated further, these SNPs could provide the basis for a blood test that would enable radiation oncologists to predict more accurately which men are most likely to develop erectile dysfunction after prostate cancer radiation therapy."

"Prostate cancer screening and treatment are undergoing major shifts," said Harry Ostrer, MD, professor of pathology and genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, director of genetic and genomic testing at Montefiore Medical Center and co-principal investigator of the study. "This is part of our ongoing effort to personalize and optimize treatment for prostate cancer."

###

Disclosures: One author (NS) reports to have received consulting fees or honoraria from Amgen, Ferring, Janssen, Diversified Conference Management, Prologics LLC, and Nihon MediPhysics. Another author (RS) has received fees for developing lectures and educational materials for Bard.

For complete text of the study, contact Michelle Kirkwood, 703-286-1600, press@astro.org. To learn more about the Red Journal, visit http://www.redjournal.org.

Follow this link:

Predicting erectile dysfunction from prostate cancer treatment

WVEC.com

Posted on September 23, 2012 at 12:58 AM

Updated yesterday at 1:06 AM

HAMPTON-- NASA Langley held an open house Saturday.

Visitors were encouraged to wear sneakers because they were covering a lot of ground. The Gibbons family drove all the way from Kentucky because their daughter is a straight "A" student who loves NASA.

"I would love to go into astro physics just to learn about space, it's just like an astronomer but you just have more science and math," Cassidy Gibbons said.

There is a lot to cover with 54 years of NASA. Astronaut Anna Lee Fisher flew in the Shuttle Discovery. She still works for NASA.

"With the new commercialization of space for going up to the international space station how is all that going to work? I just like being a part of all those efforts."

Excerpt from:

NASA Langley Holds Open House

It's entitled "The Ligher Side of Black Holes." For the first time in the university's history, Memorial will host the Canadian Conference on General Relativity and Astro Physics. The Biennial event will feature more than three dozen delegates from across the country, discussing such 'light' topics as gravity and string theory. The conference runs from July 9 to 12 at MUN's St. John's campus. A public lecture on black holes will take place Tuesday at the university's Bruneau Center.

Originally posted here:

A First for MUN

ssDNA/Au Tracking Chamber: A WIMP from the Galaxy scatters elastically with a gold nucleus situated in a thin gold foil. The recoiling Au nucleus traverses hanging strings of single stranded DNA, and severs any ssDNA it hits. The location of the breaks can be found by amplifying and sequencing the fallen ssDNA segment, thereby allowing reconstruction of the track of the recoiling Au nucleus with nanometer accuracy. Image: arXiv:1206.6809v1

(Phys.org) -- One of the precepts of scientific theory is that at some point, physical evidence should become available to prove it true. In physics this is an ongoing process in many areas of study, one of which is the detection and measurement of so called dark matter. Most astrophysicists agree it exists, yet no one has been able to definitively prove it though the presentation of physical evidence. While there are some ongoing projects attempting to do just that, the results have not been strong enough to offer proof. To overcome that problem a team of physicists and biologists have proposed a new type of detector based on a thin sheet of gold with many strands of DNA dangling below. The idea the team says in its paper uploaded to the preprint server arXiv, is to follow the path of a gold nucleus after being struck by a dark matter particle as it makes its way through strands of DNA, severing them as it goes.

Dark matter, the theory goes, is all around us, but we cant see it or detect it using conventional means. Scientists believe its moving though, from the center of the universe towards us. The best analogy is water, in a stream; were like an island in it as is the sun. Thus, because we orbit the sun, and because our planet spins, we ought to be facing upstream sometimes and downstream others. Thats the basis of any dark matter detector, to first detect the weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs as researchers call them, and then to measure the amounts of them over the course of a day, or year to see if they conform to theory.

One way to build such a detector this new team says, is to dangle a dense forest of DNA strands from a thin sheet of gold. The idea is that when a WIMP strikes one of the gold atoms, its nucleus will be sent crashing down through the mass of DNA strands breaking the ones it strikes. Then, because each DNA strand would have a unique marker at its end, researchers could, by collecting the broken strands, figure out the trajectory of the nucleus though the strands and likewise that of the WIMP that struck it. Such a detector would go a long way towards proving that theories about dark matter are true.

Unfortunately, its not as simple as all that, because building such a detector would be a feat in and of itself. Making DNA strands that would be long enough to work in such a detector, for example, would be a challenge as would getting them all to align in a meter square trap and to dangle straight down instead of curling up.

On the other hand, the researchers say building such a detector would cost far less money than other efforts underway, and the detector once built would be far more accessible since it could be used at room temperature. Plus, if it worked, the team that built it would almost certainly go down in history as the scientists that finally proved that dark matter is real.

More information: New Dark Matter Detectors using DNA for Nanometer Tracking, arXiv:1206.6809v1 [astro-ph.IM] arxiv.org/abs/1206.6809

Abstract Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) may constitute most of the matter in the Universe. While there are intriguing results from DAMA/LIBRA, CoGeNT and CRESST-II, there is not yet a compelling detection of dark matter. The ability to detect the directionality of recoil nuclei will considerably facilitate detection of WIMPs by means of "annual modulation effect" and "diurnal modulation effect". Directional sensitivity requires either extremely large gas (TPC) detectors or detectors with a few nanometer spatial resolution. In this paper we propose a novel type of dark matter detector: detectors made of DNA could provide nanometer resolution for tracking, an energy threshold of 0.5 keV, and can operate at room temperature. When a WIMP from the Galactic Halo elastically scatters off of a nucleus in the detector, the recoiling nucleus then traverses thousands of strings of single stranded DNA (ssDNA) (all with known base sequences) and severs those ssDNA strands it hits. The location of the break can be identified by amplifying and identifying the segments of cut ssDNA using techniques well known to biologists. Thus the path of the recoiling nucleus can be tracked to nanometer accuracy. In one such detector concept, the transducers are a few nanometer-thick Au-foils of 1m times1m, and the direction of recoiling nuclei is measured by "DNA Tracking Chamber" consisting of ordered array of ssDNA strands. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and ssDNA sequencing are used to read-out the detector. The detector consists of roughly 1 kg of gold and 0.1 kg of DNA packed into (1m)^3. By leveraging advances in molecular biology, we aim to achieve about 1,000-fold better spatial resolution than in conventional WIMP detectors at reasonable cost.

Journal reference: arXiv

2012 Phys.Org

Originally posted here:

Researchers propose gold and DNA based dark matter detector

03.07.2012 - (idw) Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie

Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie (MPIfR, Bonn, Germany) and the Astro Space Center (ASC, Moscow, Russia) have obtained the first detection of interferometric signals between the Effelsberg 100 m telescope in Germany, and the RadioAstron spacecraft telescope orbiting the Earth using the DiFX software correlator. This breakthrough enables new research to be pursued by the collaborators at the highest angular resolutions in astronomy, with simultaneous observations of two radio telescopes more than 300,000 km apart. Both telescopes were targeted at BL Lacertae, an Active Galactic Nucleus at a distance of approximately 900 million light years. RadioAstron is an international project for VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) observations in space, led by the Astro Space Center (ASC) in Moscow and employing a 10-meter radio antenna on board of the Russian Spektr-R satellite. Launched in July 2011, the Spektr-R is a spacecraft orbiting the Earth on an elliptical orbit reaching out to 350 000 km from Earth. Combining the space borne antenna together with other radio telescopes on Earth, the RadioAstron project uses interferometric measurements to achieve extremely high angular resolutions --- equivalent to the resolution that would be achieved by a single telescope the size of the distance from the Earth to the Moon! The RadioAstron mission will enable astronomers to study exciting scientific topics including particle acceleration near supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, neutron stars and pulsars, to dark matter and dark energy.

The radio interferometry technique utilized by the RadioAstron mission relies on having pairs of telescopes that record the incoming radio wave signals, which are then electronically compared in a process called correlation. This processes, directly comparable to the optical "double-slit experiment" encountered in elementary optics classes by physics students, results in a series of sinusoidal intensity fluctuations as a function of the direction on the sky. Such sinusoidal variations are called "fringes" in radio astronomy, and the greater the distance between the two telescopes, the more precisely astronomers can measure the direction on the sky where a radio source is located.

In order to fit within the mass and size limits of the launch vehicle (rocket), the size of the RadioAstron antenna was limited to 10 meters. The RadioAstron antenna is therefore not very sensitive on its own. This is where the collaboration with the MPIfR is extremely important. The MPIfR operates the 100 meter diameter radio telescope in Effelsberg, Germany, a large and extremely sensitive radio telescope that is well suited for participating in interferometry experiments such as this.

First fringes for the RadioAstron project were already detected using the Effelsberg 100 m telescope and the ASC correlator in 2011 and presented in an earlier press release. The observation described here has targeted BL Lacertae, an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) in the constellation Lacerta (the Lizard) in a distance of approximately 900 million light years. With its high variability and significant optical polarization, BL Lacerta forms the prototype for a whole class of AGNs.

"An important new aspect of this analysis is that instead of having the radio signals processed by a hardware correlator, the radio signals were processed using the DiFX software correlator running on the VLBI computing stations at our institute in Bonn", states Anton Zensus, Director at MPIfR. "Our scientists, in consultation with RadioAstron experts, modified the DiFX source code to enable the use of radio signals from spacecraft orbiting the Earth." As traditional VLBI is performed using radio telescopes fixed to the surface of the Earth, these software changes included enabling DiFX to deal with telescopes moving in arbitrary ways, as well as correcting for the difference in the rate at which time progresses between the telescope on the ground and the spacecraft --- subtle changes predicted by the general relativity theory of Einstein that are essential for detecting interference signals between the two telescopes. The DiFX correlator is an open project involving many radio astronomers and geodetic (Earth science) scientists around the world, from Australia where it was initially developed to Europe and the United States. This will allow RadioAstron data to be processed using arrays of telescopes around the world, greatly opening up the opportunities for the RadioAstron mission to work together with other instruments around the world.

Another significant benefit of processing RadioAstron data using the DiFX correlator is that software tools commonly used by astronomers to process radio interferometry data already know how to use the data produced by DiFX, and astronomers can immediately start using their favorite software packages for processing RadioAstron data.

"This is an exciting development for the RadioAstron mission because it means that we can now successfully analyze the RadioAstron data from the point of view of studying the astronomy and physics", says James Anderson from Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie. "We can sit down and make radio images of these objects at resolutions approaching the micro-arcsecond level --- something we have never been able to do before."

Dr. Andrei Lobanov, Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie. Fon: +49(0)228-525-191 E-mail: alobanov@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de

Dr. James Anderson, Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie. Fon: +49(0)228-525-356 E-mail: anderson@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de

Link:

Earth is not Enough

a): VLBI computing cluster at Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie, Bonn; b): Active galactic nucleus BL Lac - detection of interferometric signals ("fringes") between RadioAstron and the Effelsberg 100m radio telescope (PDF file). Credit: MPIfR/W. Alef (Fig. 1a); MPIfR/J. Anderson (Fig. 1b).

(Phys.org) -- Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institut fr Radioastronomie (MPIfR, Bonn, Germany) and the Astro Space Center (ASC, Moscow, Russia) have obtained the first detection of interferometric signals between the Effelsberg 100 m telescope in Germany, and the RadioAstron spacecraft telescope orbiting the Earth using the DiFX software correlator.

This breakthrough enables new research to be pursued by the collaborators at the highest angular resolutions in astronomy, with simultaneous observations of two radio telescopes more than 300,000 km apart. Both telescopes were targeted at BL Lacertae, an Active Galactic Nucleus at a distance of approximately 900 million light years.

RadioAstron is an international project for VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) observations in space, led by the Astro Space Center (ASC) in Moscow and employing a 10-meter radio antenna on board of the Russian Spektr-R satellite. Launched in July 2011, the Spektr-R is a spacecraft orbiting the Earth on an elliptical orbit reaching out to 350 000 km from Earth. Combining the space borne antenna together with other radio telescopes on Earth, the RadioAstron project uses interferometric measurements to achieve extremely high angular resolutions --- equivalent to the resolution that would be achieved by a single telescope the size of the distance from the Earth to the Moon! The RadioAstron mission will enable astronomers to study exciting scientific topics including particle acceleration near supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, neutron stars and pulsars, to dark matter and dark energy.

The radio interferometry technique utilized by the RadioAstron mission relies on having pairs of telescopes that record the incoming radio wave signals, which are then electronically compared in a process called correlation. This processes, directly comparable to the optical "double-slit experiment" encountered in elementary optics classes by physics students, results in a series of sinusoidal intensity fluctuations as a function of the direction on the sky. Such sinusoidal variations are called "fringes" in radio astronomy, and the greater the distance between the two telescopes, the more precisely astronomers can measure the direction on the sky where a radio source is located.

In order to fit within the mass and size limits of the launch vehicle (rocket), the size of the RadioAstron antenna was limited to 10 meters (Fig. 2b). The RadioAstron antenna is therefore not very sensitive on its own. This is where the collaboration with the MPIfR is extremely important. The MPIfR operates the 100 meter diameter radio telescope in Effelsberg, Germany (Fig. 2a), a large and extremely sensitive radio telescope that is well suited for participating in interferometry experiments such as this.

Enlarge

Figure 2: a): 100m radio telescope near Bad Mnstereifel-Effelsberg/Germany. b): Artist's impression of Spektr-R, the 10-meter space-borne antenna of the RadioAstron project. Credit: MPIfR/N. Junkes (Fig. 2a), Lavochkin Association (Fig. 2b).

Figure 1b shows an image of the first Effelsberg to RadioAstron fringe detection of BL Lacertae using the DiFX correlator with different colors showing the intensity of the measured fringe signal.

"An important new aspect of this analysis is that instead of having the radio signals processed by a hardware correlator, the radio signals were processed using the DiFX software correlator running on the VLBI computing stations at our institute in Bonn", states Anton Zensus, Director at MPIfR. "Our scientists, in consultation with RadioAstron experts, modified the DiFX source code to enable the use of radio signals from spacecraft orbiting the Earth." As traditional VLBI is performed using radio telescopes fixed to the surface of the Earth, these software changes included enabling DiFX to deal with telescopes moving in arbitrary ways, as well as correcting for the difference in the rate at which time progresses between the telescope on the ground and the spacecraft --- subtle changes predicted by the general relativity theory of Einstein that are essential for detecting interference signals between the two telescopes. The DiFX correlator is an open project involving many radio astronomers and geodetic (Earth science) scientists around the world, from Australia where it was initially developed to Europe and the United States. This will allow RadioAstron data to be processed using arrays of telescopes around the world, greatly opening up the opportunities for the RadioAstron mission to work together with other instruments around the world.

Read more:

Earth is not enough: First fringes between effelsberg and RadioAstron using the DiFX correlator

Public release date: 2-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Beth Bukata bethb@astro.org 703-839-7332 American Society for Radiation Oncology

As part of an initiative to give back to the cancer communities in the cities visited during its annual scientific meetings, the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is partnering with the Surviving And Moving Forward: The SAMFund for Young Adult Survivors of Cancer to raise awareness of cancer survivorship issues.

The SAMFund for Young Adult Survivors of Cancer will work with ASTRO by participating in the Survivor Circle exhibit at ASTRO's 54th Annual Meeting, scheduled for October 28-31, 2012, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston. The Survivor Circle was created to recognize those living with a diagnosis of cancer. This year, it will focus on the programs offered by Boston-area cancer organizations helping patients and their families cope with this disease. Within the Survivor Circle, there is a place for attendees to learn more about the SAMFund for Young Adult Survivors of Cancer. The SAMFund received this opportunity, along with a $10,000 grant, through the Survivor Circle Grant Program. They were one of two groups chosen from the applications received this year.

"The SAMFund is an outstanding organization that helps young adult cancer survivors whose lives have been financially impacted by cancer treatment," Michael Steinberg, MD, FASTRO, ASTRO President, said. "We must remember how these tough economic times can take a stressful toll on the sick and the recovering. Thankfully, organizations like the SAMFund help provide financial assistance to young cancer survivors, so that they may lead normal lives post-treatment. I am pleased to have this organization as part of the Survivor Circle."

"We are honored and grateful to receive this grant from ASTRO," Samantha Watson, the SAMFund's Executive Director and founder, said. "The financial impact of cancer treatment on young adults is one that is not often discussed but is arguably the most devastating. The piles of medical and other ongoing bills, together with depleted savings accounts and skyrocketing insurance premiums, make it close to impossible for young adults to consider moving forward with their lives. The SAMFund is proud to support them as they begin to take steps towards regaining their financial health and achieving the goals they set for themselves."

###

ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through education, clinical practice, advancement of science and advocacy. For more information on radiation therapy, visit http://www.rtanswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org.

The SAMFund is a unique nonprofit organization created to help young adult survivors of cancer recover from the financial aftereffects of treatment. Through three programs a free Webinar series called Moving Forward With Your Financial Health, an in-person Survivors Network and direct financial assistance The SAMFund helps young adults get back on their feet, regain their independence and keep themselves healthy and strong. For more information on The SAMFund for Young Adult Survivors of Cancer, please attend the ASTRO Annual Meeting October 28-31, 2012, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, or visit their website at http://www.thesamfund.org.

For more information about ASTRO's 54th Annual Meeting, please visit http://www.astro.org/Meetings-and-Events/2012-Annual-Meeting/Index.aspx.

Continue reading here:

ASTRO, SAMFund join to promote cancer survivorship

The formation, composition and physical properties of lunar dust are incompletely characterised with regard to human health. While the physical and chemical determinants of dust toxicity for materials such as asbestos, quartz, volcanic ashes and urban particulate matter have been the focus of substantial research efforts, lunar dust properties, and therefore lunar dust toxicity may differ substantially.

In this contribution, past and ongoing work on dust toxicity is reviewed, and major knowledge gaps that prevent an accurate assessment of lunar dust toxicity are identified. Finally, a range of studies using ground-based, low-gravity, and in situ measurements is recommended to address the identified knowledge gaps. Because none of the curated lunar samples exist in a pristine state that preserves the surface reactive chemical aspects thought to be present on the lunar surface, studies using this material carry with them considerable uncertainty in terms of fidelity.

As a consequence, in situ data on lunar dust properties will be required to provide ground truth for ground-based studies quantifying the toxicity of dust exposure and the associated health risks during future manned lunar missions.

Prisk, Urs Staufer, Erin M. Tranfield, Wim van Westrenen (Submitted on 27 Jun 2012)

Comments: 62 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Planetary and Space Science Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Medical Physics (physics.med-ph) Cite as: arXiv:1206.6328v1 [astro-ph.IM] Submission history From: Wim van Westrenen [view email] [v1] Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:26:10 GMT (411kb)

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Discovered After 40 Years: Moon Dust Hazard Influenced by Sun's Elevation, AGU

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Toxicity of Lunar Dust

ScienceDaily (June 29, 2012) Accelerated whole breast irradiation after lumpectomy is an effective treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a very common early stage and noninvasive form of breast cancer, meaning many more breast cancer patients could see their treatment times reduced by half, according to a study in the June issue of the International Journal of Radiation OncologyBiologyPhysics, the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

The widespread use of mammography beginning in the early 1980s has led to a dramatic increase in the number of DCIS instances detected, making this one of the most common forms of breast cancer. Multiple studies have proven that lumpectomy plus radiation significantly reduces the risk of recurrence in both noninvasive and invasive breast cancers and for DCIS, the current standard of treatment is lumpectomy followed by five to six weeks of whole breast radiation.

However, for invasive cancers, the use of an accelerated form of radiation that increases the strength of the dose per treatment and uses fewer treatment sessions overall has been well-established as effective, providing patients with a shorter treatment time with similar positive results. The effectiveness of an accelerated treatment time has not been established for DCIS.

Researchers in the study followed 145 DCIS patients who were treated with lumpectomy and accelerated whole breast irradiation or lumpectomy with accelerated whole breast irradiation plus an additional daily boost. At five years post-treatment, only 4.1 percent of patients experienced a recurrence, which is comparable to the five to 10 percent recurrence rate demonstrated in randomized trials for patients receiving standard radiation.

"The results of our study suggest that DCIS patients can be safely treated with a shorter regimen of radiotherapy," Silvia Formenti, MD, senior author of the study and a radiation oncologist at New York University School of Medicine, said. "This is good news for many breast cancer patients who would prefer to receive their treatments in a shorter period of time, but also want the peace of mind that they are receiving the most effective treatment available."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Accelerated radiation effective for noninvasive breast cancer: Cut treatment time in half, study suggests

Treatment time for this common cancer could be cut in half

Accelerated whole breast irradiation after lumpectomy is an effective treatment for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a very common early stage and noninvasive form of breast cancer, meaning many more breast cancer patients could see their treatment times reduced by half, according to a study in the June issue of the International Journal of Radiation OncologyBiologyPhysics, the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO).

The widespread use of mammography beginning in the early 1980s has led to a dramatic increase in the number of DCIS instances detected, making this one of the most common forms of breast cancer. Multiple studies have proven that lumpectomy plus radiation significantly reduces the risk of recurrence in both noninvasive and invasive breast cancers and for DCIS, the current standard of treatment is lumpectomy followed by five to six weeks of whole breast radiation.

However, for invasive cancers, the use of an accelerated form of radiation that increases the strength of the dose per treatment and uses fewer treatment sessions overall has been well-established as effective, providing patients with a shorter treatment time with similar positive results. The effectiveness of an accelerated treatment time has not been established for DCIS.

Researchers in the study followed 145 DCIS patients who were treated with lumpectomy and accelerated whole breast irradiation or lumpectomy with accelerated whole breast irradiation plus an additional daily boost. At five years post-treatment, only 4.1 percent of patients experienced a recurrence, which is comparable to the five to 10 percent recurrence rate demonstrated in randomized trials for patients receiving standard radiation.

The results of our study suggest that DCIS patients can be safely treated with a shorter regimen of radiotherapy, Silvia Formenti, MD, senior author of the study and a radiation oncologist at New York University School of Medicine, said. This is good news for many breast cancer patients who would prefer to receive their treatments in a shorter period of time, but also want the peace of mind that they are receiving the most effective treatment available.

ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through education, clinical practice, advancement of science and advocacy. For more information on radiation therapy, visit http://www.rtanswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org. ###

Go here to see the original:

Accelerated Radiation Treatment Effective for Noninvasive Breast Cancer

By Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 12:28 EST, 22 June 2012 | UPDATED: 13:27 EST, 22 June 2012

It is difficult to think of the sun as anything more than how we view it from Earth - a great, bright ball, uniform in appearance as it placidly heats our planet.

But seen in close-up, the view is startling - a raging sea of fire, as the hydrogen fuel of the sun burns away in a five-billion-year explosion.

The artistic, and out-of-this-world photographs were taken by sun enthusiast and solar photographer Alan Freidman, from the Mount Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles, California.

The sun the day before: Alan set up his solar equipment at Mount Wilson the day before the Transit of Venus and ran a test to make sure that everything had survived the trip and was working well

The detail captured by Alan is stunning: Far from being the placid, uniform ball we see each day, the sun is a raging and turbulent ball of flames

Alan, described as a 'master of solar photography' by Discovery News, took this first image a day before the transit of Venus earlier this month.

He was preparing his equipment in advance of the transit, and his practice runs led to these stunning images.

What we see here are the mingling of the upper layers of the sun - known as the photosphere and chromosphere.

Read more here:

The swirling maelstrom of the sun, pictured in outstanding detail during the Transit of Venus by one dedicated space ...

Illustration By Deanna Staffo

Maryland Science Center

601 Light St., (410) 685-2370, mdsci.org

Open House: Friday evenings from 7-10 p.m.; call (410) 545-2999 after 5 p.m. to find out if the observatory is open that night.

Logistics: Parking is available on both Light Street and Key Highway for $2/hour, 24/7 (boo). Once parked, go in the Constellation Energy entrance on Key Highway. Volunteers will take you up the elevator to the roof. The 8-inch Clark telescope is a 119-inch-long red tube built in 1927 and originally housed on the roof of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The acoustics in the domed room are strange. Everyone sounds softly miked, and outside conversations echo in the domes curves. Everybody thinks theres mics everywhere, but its just science, observatory manager Rick Stein says, moving among the growing crowd on a recent Friday. On the night I visited, I caught Saturn (though I arrived too early for it to be dark enough to see its moons) and Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in our night sky, plus a naked-eye flyby of the International Space Station.

Bonus points: The observatory is also open on Saturdays for sungazing (free with museum admission) from 1-4 p.m. Check out sun spots, flares, and other solar features through a set of filters. Call (410) 545-2999 after noon.

Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins Homewood Campus

3701 San Martin Drive, (410) 516-7106, md.spacegrant.org

Open House: Friday evenings after sunset and the first Tuesday of every month; call (410) 516-6525 after 5 p.m.

Logistics: Park on University Parkway or turn left onto San Martin Drive and pull into the lot of the ROTC building on the left. The building is on the left across the street from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Go up the main stairs and follow signs up the elevator and to the dome. Observatory operator Chris Martin will be there to let people in. This is a big ol scopeits main mirror is 20 inches across. Saturn looked spectacular; I also caught Arcturus and a star cluster.

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Guide to Seeing Stars in Charm City

Public release date: 14-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Nicole Napoli nicolen@astro.org 703-839-7336 American Society for Radiation Oncology

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has selected J. Robert Cassady, MD, FASTRO, George T.Y. Chen, PhD, FASTRO, and Mark W. Dewhirst, DVM, PhD, FASTRO, as the Society's 2012 Gold Medal recipients. Drs. Cassady, Chen and Dewhirst will be recognized with this honor at an Awards Ceremony held during ASTRO's 54th Annual Meeting taking place October 28-31, 2012, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston.

The Gold Medal is the Society's highest honor. It is bestowed on revered members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of radiation oncology, including research, clinical care, teaching and service. Recipients are drawn from any of the scientific disciplines represented by the members of the Society.

Dr. Cassady's service spans over four decades with a major influence in the fields of pediatric oncology, prostate cancer and hyperthermia. During his residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, Dr. Cassady published, with Robert Sagerman, MD, FASTRO, a highly regarded paper on the treatment of orbital rhabdomyosarcoma. After serving at the National Center for Radiologic Health in Rockville, Md., and a Fellowship at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., Dr. Cassady joined the Joint Center for Radiation Therapy at Harvard Medical School, where he became a professor and division head at the Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He is noted as an esteemed educator and clinician. In 1984, he became head of the radiation oncology department at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and, in 1995, he became chairman of the department of radiation oncology at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass. Dr. Cassady was also professor of radiation oncology at Tufts University Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Cassady recently retired from his position at the Lahey Clinic.

Dr. Chen is a former member of the ASTRO Board of Directors and a 33-year member of the Society. During his long and prosperous career, Dr. Chen has been interested in the use of imaging in radiotherapy, particularly in multimodality image registration. In collaboration with Charles Pelizzari, PhD, and Marc Kessler, PhD, he was an early innovator in retrospective image fusion. He has also made contributions to 4-D CT imaging for target delineation of moving tumors, heavy ion radiotherapy treatment planning, and proton and photon radiotherapy. In addition to research, education has been a high priority for Dr. Chen, who served as professor of radiation oncology at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in Chicago, and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Chen is currently a medical physicist at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he served as head of the radiation physics division from 1999-2008.

Dr. Dewhirst is a 26-year member of ASTRO and a former member of the ASTRO Board of Directors. As a veterinary clinician for over 25 years, Dr. Dewhirst has gained world-wide recognition for his work, which has been cited a remarkable 17,400 times. His contributions have been essential to the research of hypoxia, angiogenesis and the development of heat activated drug delivery using liposomes. Dr. Dewhirst was an assistant professor in the department of radiation oncology at the University of Arizona in Tucson from 1979-1894. He currently serves as the Gustavo S. Montana professor in the department of radiation oncology at Duke University in Durham, N.C., with joint appointments in pathology and biomedical engineering. As a mentor, his knowledge has been transferred to trainees with interests in radiation oncology, pathology, pharmacology, surgery and medical oncology. In addition to his research, Dr. Dewhirst is the associate dean for faculty mentoring in the School of Medicine.

"It is exciting to have such a diverse group of winners this year," Leonard L. Gunderson, MD, MS, FASTRO, chairman of the ASTRO Board of Directors and Awards Committee, said. "Having a radiation oncologist, medical physicist and a biologist win the Society's most prestigious award is a true testament to the diversity of fields that can be found within ASTRO. It will be an extreme pleasure to present these outstanding individuals with their awards at the Annual Meeting."

###

ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 10,000 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As the leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the Society is dedicated to improving patient care through education, clinical practice, advancement of science and advocacy. For more information on radiation therapy, visit http://www.rtanswers.org. To learn more about ASTRO, visit http://www.astro.org.

Original post:

Cassady, Chen, Dewhirst to be honored with ASTRO Gold Medals

The University of Leicester is to host a supercomputer capable of analysing space in unprecedented detail, helping scientists to address some of the most challenging questions in physics and astronomy.

The University of Leicester is one of four sites that will host national high-performance computing (HPC) facilities for theoretical astrophysics and particle physics research.

Funding for the new facility is being provided by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills e-infrastructure budget. The University of Leicester was selected on the strength of its astronomy department and the proximity of the National Space Centre, which is also in Leicester.

The facility will be managed by the university's IT services department, along with the Department of Physics & Astronomy. The university is further supporting the project by investing in a major upgrade of its datacentre to host the new facility. HP will supply the new computer system, which will be used to run state-of-the-art simulations.

The system will help astronomers and physicists to answer such questions as what is dark matter? How do stars form? And why do galaxies always have black holes at their centres?

"We will now be able to carry out the largest and most detailed simulations of planets, stars and galaxies that have ever been performed and answer questions that we could not even have asked just a few years ago," said Dr Mark Wilkinson, principal scientist for the project and a member of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at the University of Leicester.

Once operational, the machine will be part of the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) DiRAC facility. The DiRAC consortium, of which the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at the University of Leicester is a founder member, provides high-performance computing facilities for top UK research institutes in particle physics and astronomy.

"The unique feature of DiRAC is that researchers have access to four national facilities, each of which use different computing architectures designed to attack specific science problems," said Wilkinson.

The new facility will be commissioned over the summer.

See more here:

Leicester to host supercomputer capable of answering the ultimate questions

Venus will cross the face of the sun for the last time until 2117. Here's what it will look like.

Today's historic Venus transit is a marathon event lasting nearly seven hours, but skywatchers who don't have that kind of time can break it down into a handful of key milestones.

Venus treks across the sun's face from Earth's perspective today (June 5; June 6 in much of the Eastern Hemisphere), marking the last suchVenus transituntil 2117. Few people alive today will be around to see the next transit, which makes the rare celestial sight a premier event in the astronomical and skywatching communities.

The Venus-sun show will begin around 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) and end at roughly 12:50 a.m. EDT (0450 GMT) Wednesday, with the exact timing varying by a few minutes from point to point around the globe.

Before you even attempt to observe the transit of Venus, a warning:NEVERstare at the sun through binoculars orsmall telescopesor with the unaided eye without the proper safety equipment. Doing so can result in serious and permanent eye damage, including blindness.

Astronomers use special solar filters on telescopes to view the sun safely, while No. 14 welder's glass and eclipse glasses can be used to observe the sun directly. [How to Safely Photograph the Venus Transit]

With that warning stated, here's a look at the first major stage of thetransit of Venus.

The transit officially commences when the leading edge ofVenusfirst touches the solar disk, an event astronomers call "Contact I" or "ingress exterior." This milestone occurs at 6:03 p.m. EDT (2203 GMT) for observers in eastern North America, while skywatchers on the other side of the continent will see it a few minutes later, at 3:06 p.m. PDT.

Next up is "Contact II," or "ingress interior" the moment when Venus moves fully onto the sun's face. This will happen 18 minutes after Contact I. [Venus Transit of 2004: 51 Amazing Photos]

If you're viewing the transit through a good telescope, you may see a dark teardrop form, briefly joining Venus' trailing edge and the solar disk just before Contact II. This so-called "black-drop effect" bedeviled efforts in 1761 and 1769 tomeasure the Earth-sun distanceby precisely timing Venus transits from many spots around the globe.

Read more:

Transit of Venus: What to expect

Venus will cross the face of the sun for the last time until 2117. Here's what it will look like.

Today's historic Venus transit is a marathon event lasting nearly seven hours, but skywatchers who don't have that kind of time can break it down into a handful of key milestones.

Venus treks across the sun's face from Earth's perspective today (June 5; June 6 in much of the Eastern Hemisphere), marking the last suchVenus transituntil 2117. Few people alive today will be around to see the next transit, which makes the rare celestial sight a premier event in the astronomical and skywatching communities.

The Venus-sun show will begin around 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) and end at roughly 12:50 a.m. EDT (0450 GMT) Wednesday, with the exact timing varying by a few minutes from point to point around the globe.

Before you even attempt to observe the transit of Venus, a warning:NEVERstare at the sun through binoculars orsmall telescopesor with the unaided eye without the proper safety equipment. Doing so can result in serious and permanent eye damage, including blindness.

Astronomers use special solar filters on telescopes to view the sun safely, while No. 14 welder's glass and eclipse glasses can be used to observe the sun directly. [How to Safely Photograph the Venus Transit]

With that warning stated, here's a look at the first major stage of thetransit of Venus.

The transit officially commences when the leading edge ofVenusfirst touches the solar disk, an event astronomers call "Contact I" or "ingress exterior." This milestone occurs at 6:03 p.m. EDT (2203 GMT) for observers in eastern North America, while skywatchers on the other side of the continent will see it a few minutes later, at 3:06 p.m. PDT.

Next up is "Contact II," or "ingress interior" the moment when Venus moves fully onto the sun's face. This will happen 18 minutes after Contact I. [Venus Transit of 2004: 51 Amazing Photos]

If you're viewing the transit through a good telescope, you may see a dark teardrop form, briefly joining Venus' trailing edge and the solar disk just before Contact II. This so-called "black-drop effect" bedeviled efforts in 1761 and 1769 tomeasure the Earth-sun distanceby precisely timing Venus transits from many spots around the globe.

Read more from the original source:

Transit of Venus: What to expect (+video)

Today's historic Venus transit is a marathon event lasting nearly seven hours, but skywatchers who don't have that kind of time can break it down into a handful of key milestones.

Venus treks across the sun's face from Earth's perspective today (June 5; June 6 in much of the Eastern Hemisphere), marking the last such Venus transit until 2117. Few people alive today will be around to see the next transit, which makes the rare celestial sight a premier event in the astronomical and skywatching communities.

The Venus-sun show will begin around 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) and end at roughly 12:50 a.m. EDT (0450 GMT) Wednesday, with the exact timing varying by a few minutes from point to point around the globe.

First contact

Before you even attempt to observe the transit of Venus, a warning: NEVER stare at the sun through binoculars or small telescopes or with the unaided eye without the proper safety equipment. Doing so can result in serious and permanent eye damage, including blindness.

Astronomers use special solar filters on telescopes to view the sun safely, while No. 14 welder's glass and eclipse glasses can be used to observe the sun directly. [How to Safely Photograph the Venus Transit]

With that warning stated, here's a look at the first major stage of the transit of Venus.

The transit officially commences when the leading edge of Venus first touches the solar disk, an event astronomers call "Contact I" or "ingress exterior." This milestone occurs at 6:03 p.m. EDT (2203 GMT) for observers in eastern North America, while skywatchers on the other side of the continent will see it a few minutes later, at 3:06 p.m. PDT.

Second contact and beyond

Next up is "Contact II," or "ingress interior" the moment when Venus moves fully onto the sun's face. This will happen 18 minutes after Contact I. [Venus Transit of 2004: 51 Amazing Photos]

See the article here:

Transit of Venus Explained: The Stages of Today's Rare Sun Crossing

The transit of Venus across the solar disk won't make it okay to stare into the sun. Here's how to watch this rare astronomical event safely.

Many people are planning to watch the transit of Venus on Tuesday (June 5), but it's extremely important that prospective viewers be warned to take special precautions (as with a solar eclipse) to view the silhouette of Venus against the brilliant disk of the sun.

For the United States and Canada the transit will begin when the dark disk of Venus first touches the outer edge of the sun, an event that astronomers call Contact I.From the Eastern U.S. and Eastern Canada, Contact I should occur around 6:03 p.m. EDT (2203 GMT).From the Western U.S. and Western Canada, Contact I should occur around 3:06 p.m. PDT.

It will take about 18 minutes for the black disk of Venus tomove completely onto the sun's face; ultimately bringing its black disk just inside the sun's upper left edge. If you imagine the sun's disk as the face of a clock, Contact I will occur between the 11:30 and 12 o'clock position. Venus will then progress along a track that will run diagonally from the upper left to the lower right.

If you wish to generate predictions for the transit times from where you live, the Astronomical Applications Department of the US Naval Observatory has produced an online Transit Computer at:http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/data-services/transit-us

Unlike transits of the sun involving the planet Mercury, those of Venus are readily visible with the unaided eye; the planet appears as a distinct albeit tiny black spot with a diameter just 1/32 that of the sun.This size is large enough to readily perceive with the naked eye. [Venus Transit of 2004: 51 Amazing Photos]

Eye safety is always a prime concern when dealing with the sun. Observing a transit is a lot likestudying sunspotsbecause, after all, you are looking at a dark spot on the sun.

But trying to see a transit is also like trying to view a solar eclipse.You have to be ready at a particular time, and you may have totravel far from home.For the transit of Venus, however, your exact location is much less critical than it is for a total solar eclipse.

In particular, observers in Eastern North America, where the transit will happen in the early evening, your observing site should have a low horizon to the east-northeast.It is a good precaution to check the sun's setting point, to verify that trees or buildings do not block your view. AsVenus moves across the face of the sun, it will appear absolutely jet black in contrast to the lighter gray of any sunspots that may also be present on the solar disk.

Original post:

How to watch the transit of Venus without blinding yourself