Brain Linac-Based Radiation Therapy: “Test Drive” of New Immobilization Solution and Surface Guided Radiation Therapy

Aim: To test inter-fraction reproducibility, intrafraction stability, technician aspects, and patient/physician’s comfort of a dedicated immobilization solution for Brain Linac-based radiation therapy (RT). Methods: A pitch-enabled head positioner with an open-face mask were used and, to evaluate inter- and intrafraction variations, 1–3 Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) were performed. Surface Guided Radiation Therapy (SGRT) was used to evaluate intrafraction variations at 3 time points: initial (i), final (f), and monitoring (m) (before, end, and during RT). Data regarding technician mask aspect were collected. Results: Between October 2019 and April 2020, 69 patients with brain disease were treated: 45 received stereotactic RT and 24 conventional RT; 556 treatment sessions and 863 CBCT’s were performed. Inter-fraction CBCT mean values were longitudinally 0.9 mm, laterally 0.8 mm, vertically 1.1 mm, roll 0.58°, pitch 0.59°, yaw 0.67°. Intrafraction CBCT mean values were longitudinally 0.3 mm, laterally 0.3 mm, vertically 0.4 mm, roll 0.22°, pitch 0.33°, yaw 0.24°. SGRT intrafraction mean values were: i_, m_, f_ longitudinally 0.09 mm, 0.45 mm, 0.31 mm; i_, m_, f_ laterally 0.07 mm, 0.36 mm, 0.20 mm; i_, m_, f_ vertically 0.06 mm, 0.31 mm, 0.22 mm; i_, m_, f_ roll 0.025°, 0.208°, 0.118°; i_, m_, f_ pitch 0.036°, 0.307°, 0.194°; i_, m_, f_ yaw 0.039°, 0.274°, 0.189°. Conclusions: This immobilization solution is reproducible and stable. Combining CBCT and SGRT data confirm that 1 mm CTV-PTV margin for Linac-based SRT was adequate. Using open-face mask and SGRT, for conventional RT, radiological imaging could be omitted.

Electric Power Steering Power Circuit Health Assessment and Mitigation Strategy

With recent developments of energy efficient design and control for electric motors, electrical subsystems and components have become integral parts of main actuators in vehicle systems (e.g., steering and propulsion systems). To ensure proper vehicle operations, it is important to make sure that electrical power is properly transmitted through the power circuit from vehicle power source to the electric motor. However, degradation in the power circuit health, which often manifests itself as increased resistance, may affect power transmission and degrade the system performance. For example, in Electric Power Steering (EPS) systems, if the EPS power circuit resistance is increased and the EPS is drawing power to assist the driver, voltage at the EPS module will drop significantly, causing the EPS to reset and, consequently, Loss of Assist (LOA) incidents. Due to compliance in the steering system and suspension design, drivers often feel that the steering system is fighting back when an LOA incident occurs. While previous work has partially addressed this issue by developing algorithms that estimate resistance increase in EPS power circuits, this paper further validates and refines the algorithms for vehicle on-board and off-board implementations using test drive data collected. Since on-board and off-board implementations impose different limits on signal sampling rates, a total of 250 and 465 minutes of data are respectively collected with various vehicle speeds and steering maneuvers. Moreover, a supervisory control solution, referred to as EPS Anti-Loss-of-Assist (ALOA), is proposed that gradually and proactively reduces EPS torque assist as resistance in the EPS power circuit increases so that the EPS voltage is kept above a resetting threshold. Stationary steering tests of the proposed solution as well as demonstrations on parking lot maneuvers at General Motors Milford Proving Grounds are conducted. The stationary steering tests and demonstrations show that, with the proposed supervisory control, negative effects of increased EPS power circuit resistance can be mitigated without noticeable changes in normal driving experience.

The Muscularity-Oriented Eating Test, Drive for Muscularity Scale, and Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder Inventory among Chinese Men: Confirmatory Factor Analyses

Research on eating disorders (EDs) and body image disturbances has focused mostly on females from Western countries, and little is known about EDs in male populations in China, which is partially due to the lack of validated assessment measures. The current work aims to translate the Muscularity-Oriented Eating Test (MOET), Drive for Muscularity Scale (DMS) and Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder Inventory (MDDI) into Chinese and examine their psychometric properties. The factor structures, reliability and validity of the translated scales were examined with two samples: male university students (n = 295, Mage = 18.92 years) and general adult men (n = 406, Mage = 28.53 years). With confirmatory factor analyses, the original factor structures are replicated for the MOET, DMS and MDDI. The results also support the adequate internal consistency for both samples. Strong evidence of convergent and incremental validity for the three measures is also found in both samples. Overall, the three measures prove to be good instruments for use among Chinese male university students and general adult men.

Protocol for nuclei isolation from fresh and frozen tissues using Salty-Ez10 or Salty-Ez50 buffer: compatible with snRNA-Seq and Multiome workflows from 10x Genomics v2

This is a protocol in development, which means it has not yet tested/challenged with multiple samples. So, please make sure you take it for a test drive before committing to it. Once you do please share your experience with me via email, Twitter or as a comment. In this version I labelled DTT as optional since after further testing I have not seen any difference with or without in snRNA-Seq workflow. Also, I recommend WRB1 for snRNA-Seq workflow only (although still works fine for Multiome) and WRB2 for both snRNA-Seq and Multiome workflows. Since WRB2 is 10x Genomics' recommendation for Multiome I have adopted this for this workflow. I include a discussion about cycling during cDNA amp. SaltyEz50 option: this has been particularly useful for samples where lysis in SaltyEz10 showed to be suboptimal. In my hands, those were breast, liver and pancreas.

Virtual Reality Application on Road Markings’ Visibility Analysis

The most important function of road markings is to guide road users; therefore, their visibility, in relation to retroreflectivity (RL), plays an essential role in the markings’ performance at nighttime. Researchers have applied field experiments to determine the minimum acceptable levels of markings’ RL. However, field studies usually involve a large investment of time, personnel, space, and budget. This paper presents a preliminary study that adopted virtual reality (VR) techniques to establish an immersive driving environment for the RL analysis of yellow markings. The objective is to evaluate the minimum required marking visibility for road users, especially senior drivers, while driving at nighttime. The brightness feature created in the VR model does not simulate the optical behavior of markings’ glass beads, but it simulates the marking’s visibility in relation to detection distance at each test drive. This is an alternative method to correlate the field RL and the VR simulation model through the equivalent detection distances that were recorded by the observers who participated in both field and VR driving tests. The relationship between the field markings’ RL, 80 to 130 mcd/m2/lx, and simulated markings’ brightness was successfully established with its limitations of RL between 80 and 130 mcd/m2/lx. Three age clusters are involved in this study, namely 20–30, 40–50, and 60+ years old, with 30 people in each cluster. The simulation study found that the driver’s behavior in relation to reaction time is highly related to age cluster but not driving speed or RL. The average reaction times for the three age clusters are 0.438 s, 0.499 s, and 0.522 s, respectively. However, the perception reaction time 2.5 s was considered while calculating the required RL for markings. Results found that the minimum required yellow markings’ RL increases with driving speed, and it requires 80 mcd/m2/lx for 50 km/h and 130 mcd/m2/lx for 65 km/h to satisfy the 85 percentiles of the driving population in Taiwan.