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Radiotherapy treatment strategies should be personalized based on the radiosensitivity of individual tumors. Clonogenic assays are the gold standard method for in vitro assessment of radiosensitivity. Reproducibility is the critical factor for scientific rigor; however, this is reduced by insufficient reporting of methodologies. In reality, the reporting standards of methodologies pertaining to clonogenic assays remain unclear. To address this, we performed a literature search and qualitative analysis of the reporting of methodologies pertaining to clonogenic assays. A comprehensive literature review identified 1672 papers that report the radiosensitivity of human cancer cells based on clonogenic assays. From the identified papers, important experimental parameters (i.e. number of biological replicates, technical replicates, radiation source and dose rate) were recorded and analyzed. We found that, among the studies, (i) 30.5% did not report biological or technical replicates; (ii) 47.0% did not use biological or technical replicates; (iii) 3.8% did not report the radiation source; and (iv) 32.3% did not report the dose rate. These data suggest that reporting of methodologies pertaining to clonogenic assays in a considerable number of previously published studies is insufficient, thereby threatening reproducibility. This highlights the need to raise awareness of standardization of the methodologies used to conduct clonogenic assays.

Introduction: Stroke is a relatively common in hospitalized patients. However, previous studies have shown delays in recognition and initial assessment of in-hospital stroke. We aimed to elucidate that reorganization of in-hospital stroke code protocol can improve process of acute stroke care and save the treatment time. Methods: Our reorganization of in-hospital stroke code comprises the development of in-hospital stroke code protocol and workshop for hospital medical staff. Before the intervention, if the medical staff identified patients with suspected stroke, they first contacted the attending physician, then the physician consulted the stroke neurologists immediately or after imaging. After the intervention, to quickly identify stroke patients, the medical staff can directly consult stroke neurologists when they identified patients with at least one of acute-onset symptoms, including face droop, arm drift, speech disturbance, eye deviation, aphasia, or neglect, within 6-hour from last seen well or stroke recognition. As an educational intervention, we held workshop for nurses and residents with an understanding of how to evaluate stroke symptoms, use the protocol, and manage stroke. Data were compared between 24-month period before and 12-month period after the intervention. Outcome measure included the time from stroke recognition to initial imaging, and evaluation by stroke neurologist, and from initial imaging to groin puncture. Results: One hundred four patients were included (before, 42; after, 62). Significant time savings were seen in the median time from stroke recognition to evaluation by stroke neurologist (91 vs. 56 minutes, p=0.015), and time from initial imaging to groin puncture (113 vs. 68, p=0.040). The rate of consultation to stroke neurologists before initial imaging was significantly increased (21% vs. 47%, p=0.012). The time from stroke recognition (234 vs. 103, p=0.126), and evaluation by stroke neurologist (135 vs. 81, p=0.056) to groin puncture tended to decrease. Conclusion: Reorganization of in-hospital stroke code protocol can improve the time for initial management of in-hospital stroke.

Mouthpieces are used to fix the positions of the lower jaw and teeth during carbon-ion radiotherapy for head and neck tumors. We used a customized mouthpiece to reduce radiation mucositis by displacing the tongue. Acute radiation mucositis gradually increased for the palate and tongue after approximately six irradiation fractions (maximal mean grade: palate, 2.5 during radiation fractions 15; tongue, 0.8 during radiation fractions 12 and 13). The mean grade of mucositis was significantly lower for the tongue than for the palate from irradiation fraction six until two weeks after irradiation. Keywords: Carbon-ion radiotherapy, Head and neck tumor, Customized mouthpiece

This study evaluated whether reduced compression mammography to relieve breast tenderness is feasible. Women can better tolerate a compression force of approximately 90 N in mammography. The breast thickness increased approximately 3 mm when the compression force was reduced to 90 N, and although the radiation dose increased approximately 20%, the image quality was identical to that with standard compression. Many patients experience breast pain with a compression force of 120 N. Reduced compression force mammography is acceptable in women whose breasts are particularly sensitive.