Search

For several years the ID17 Biomedical beamline at the ESRF has developed synchrotron radiation therapy preclinical programmes to treat aggressive brain tumours. Two techniques have been developed at the ESRF: a) The Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT) using spatially fractionated “white beam” (energies 50–300 keV) irradiation (beam widths 25–100 μm, spacing between beams 200–400 μm ) with extremely high dose rates (up to about 20 kGy/s) and depositing very high doses (300–1000 Gy) in the targeted tissue. b) The Stereotactic Synchrotron Radiation Therapy (SSRT) using spatially homogeneous monochromatic beam with the energy closely above that of the K-edge of a contrast- or chemotherapeutical agent (iodine, gadolinium, platinum) loaded into the tumour volume for obtaining a dose-enhancement. In 2005 an International review panel of oncology experts has recommended to move to clinical trials on humans in SSRT and on large animals in MRT. The works required for this program were launched in autumn 2007 with constructing a new, dedicated experimental hutch for MRT and a major upgrade of the existing sample-positioning station to a patient-positioning station for SSRT. In parallel, safety systems are developed and progressively implemented and a patient treatment-planning system developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phonon dispersion of graphite was determined by inelastic X-ray scattering along the Γ-K, K-M, and Γ-K direction. In contrast to many predictions, the dispersion of the transverse branch is large, leading to a minimum at the K point. We present ab initio calculations which agree very well with the experiment. The minimum of the transverse branch at the K point is due to a strong electron-phonon coupling for this phonon. This coupling dominates the scattering mechanism in both electronic transport and Raman scattering. © 2004 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]