Showing papers by "G.A.P. Cirrone published in 2015"

Induction and Repair of DNA DSB as Revealed by H2AX Phosphorylation Foci in Human Fibroblasts Exposed to Low- and High-LET Radiation: Relationship with Early and Delayed Reproductive Cell Death

Abstract: The spatial distribution of radiation-induced DNA breaks within the cell nucleus depends on radiation quality in terms of energy deposition pattern. It is generally assumed that the higher the radiation linear energy transfer (LET), the greater the DNA damage complexity. Using a combined experimental and theoretical approach, we examined the phosphorylation-dephosphorylation kinetics of radiation-induced γ-H2AX foci, size distribution and 3D focus morphology, and the relationship between DNA damage and cellular end points (i.e., cell killing and lethal mutations) after exposure to gamma rays, protons, carbon ions and alpha particles. Our results showed that the maximum number of foci are reached 30 min postirradiation for all radiation types. However, the number of foci after 0.5 Gy of each radiation type was different with gamma rays, protons, carbon ions and alpha particles inducing 12.64 ± 0.25, 10.11 ± 0.40, 8.84 ± 0.56 and 4.80 ± 0.35 foci, respectively, which indicated a clear influence of the track structure and fluence on the numbers of foci induced after a dose of 0.5 Gy for each radiation type. The γ-H2AX foci persistence was also dependent on radiation quality, i.e., the higher the LET, the longer the foci persisted in the cell nucleus. The γ-H2AX time course was compared with cell killing and lethal mutation and the results highlighted a correlation between cellular end points and the duration of γ-H2AX foci persistence. A model was developed to evaluate the probability that multiple DSBs reside in the same gamma-ray focus and such probability was found to be negligible for doses lower than 1 Gy. Our model provides evidence that the DSBs inside complex foci, such as those induced by alpha particles, are not processed independently or with the same time constant. The combination of experimental, theoretical and simulation data supports the hypothesis of an interdependent processing of closely associated DSBs, possibly associated with a diminished correct repair capability, which affects cell killing and lethal mutation.

The INSIDE Project: Innovative Solutions for In-Beam Dosimetry in Hadrontherapy

Abstract: Dosimetry in Hadrontherapy M. Marafini, A. Attili, G. Battistoni, N. Belcari, M.G. Bisogni, N. Camarlinghi, F. Cappucci, M. Cecchetti, P. Cerello, F. Ciciriello , G.A.P. Cirrone, S. Coli, F. Corsi , G. Cuttone, E. De Lucia, S. Ferretti, R. Faccini, E. Fiorina, P.M. Frallicciardi, G. Giraudo, E. Kostara, A. Kraan, F. Licciulli , B. Liu, N. Marino, C. Marzocca , G. Matarrese , C. Morone, M. Morrocchi, S. Muraro, V. Patera, F. Pennazio, C. Peroni, L. Piersanti, M.A. Piliero, G. Pirrone, A. Rivetti, F. Romano, V. Rosso, P. Sala, A. Sarti, A. Sciubba, G. Sportelli, C. Voena, R. Wheadon and A. Del Guerra Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche E. Fermi , Roma, Italy b−f INFN Sezione di: Roma, Roma; Torino, Torino; Milano, Milano; Pisa, Pisa; Bari, Bari; Italy Laboratori Nazionali del Sud dell'INFN, Catania, Italy Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell'INFN, Frascati, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze di Base e Applicate per Ingegneria, Sapienza Universita di Roma, Roma, Italy

Design of the ELIMAIA ion collection system

Abstract: A system of permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs) is going to be realized by INFN-LNS to be used as a collection system for the injection of laser driven ion beams up to 60 MeV/u in an energy selector based on four resistive dipoles. This system is the first element of the ELIMED (ELI-Beamlines MEDical and Multidisciplinary applications) beam transport, dosimetry and irradiation line that will be developed by INFN-LNS (It) and installed at the ELI-Beamlines facility in Prague (Cz). ELIMED will be the first user's open transport beam-line where a controlled laser-driven ion beam will be used for multidisciplinary researches. The definition of well specified characteristics, both in terms of performances and field quality, of the magnetic lenses is crucial for the system realization, for the accurate study of the beam dynamics and for the proper matching with the magnetic selection system which will be designed in the next months. Here, we report the design of the collection system and the adopted solutions in order to realize a robust system form the magnetic point of view. Moreover, the first preliminary transport simulations are also described.

Transport and dosimetric solutions for the ELIMED laser-driven beam line

Abstract: Within 2017, the ELIMED (ELI-Beamlines MEDical applications) transport beam-line and dosimetric systems for laser-generated beams will be installed at the ELI-Beamlines facility in Prague (CZ), inside the ELIMAIA (ELI Multidisciplinary Applications of laser–Ion Acceleration) interaction room. The beam-line will be composed of two sections: one in vacuum, devoted to the collecting, focusing and energy selection of the primary beam and the second in air, where the ELIMED beam-line dosimetric devices will be located. This paper briefly describes the transport solutions that will be adopted together with the main dosimetric approaches. In particular, the description of an innovative Faraday Cup detector with its preliminary experimental tests will be reported.

A study of monitoring performances with the INSIDE system

Abstract: The INSIDE collaboration aims to build an on-line hadrontherapy monitoring system, based on a dual-head in-beam PET scanner and a secondary charged particles profiler. In this work preliminary experimental results are presented. The validation of the FLUKA-based Monte Carlo simulation tool is shown together with the expected scanner performances.

Glioblastoma stem cells: radiobiological response to ionising radiations of different qualities.

Abstract: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant primary brain tumour, with very poor prognosis. The high recurrence rate and failure of conventional treatments are expected to be related to the presence of radio-resistant cancer stem cells (CSCs) inside the tumour mass. CSCs can both self-renew and differentiate into the heterogeneous lineages of cancer cells. Recent evidence showed a higher effectiveness of C-ions and protons in inactivating CSCs, suggesting a potential advantage of Hadrontherapy compared with conventional radiotherapy for GBM treatment. To investigate the mechanisms involved in the molecular and cellular responses of CSCs to ionising radiations, two GBM stem cell (GSC) lines, named lines 1 and 83, which were derived from patients with different clinical outcomes and having different metabolic profiles (as shown by NMR spectroscopy), were irradiated with (137)Cs photons and with protons or C-ions of 62 MeV u(-1) in the dose range of 5-40 Gy. The biological effects investigated were: cell death, cell cycle progression, and DNA damage induction and repair. Preliminary results show a different response to ionising radiation between the two GSC lines for the different end points investigated. Further experiments are in progress to consolidate the data and to get more insights on the influence of radiation quality.

Errors and optics study of a permanent magnet quadrupole system

Abstract: Laser-based accelerators are gaining interest in recent years as an alternative to conventional machines [1]. Nowadays, energy and angular spread of the laser-driven beams are the main issues in application and different solutions for dedicated beam-transport lines have been proposed [2,3]. In this context a system of permanent magnet quadrupoles (PMQs) is going to be realized by INFN [2] researchers, in collaboration with SIGMAPHI [3] company in France, to be used as a collection and pre-selection system for laser driven proton beams. The definition of well specified characteristics, both in terms of performances and field quality, of the magnetic lenses is crucial for the system realization, for an accurate study of the beam dynamics and the proper matching with a magnetic selection system already realized [6,7]. Hence, different series of simulations have been used for studying the PMQs harmonic contents and stating the mechanical and magnetic tolerances in order to have reasonable good beam quality downstream the system. In this paper is reported the method used for the analysis of the PMQs errors and its validation. Also a preliminary optics characterization is presented in which are compared the effects of an ideal PMQs system with a perturbed system on a monochromatic proton beams.

Design and characterisation of a YAG(Ce) calorimeter for proton Computed Tomography application

Abstract: The design and the characterization of a calorimeter system, aimed at measuring the residual energy in a proton Computed Tomography (pCT) apparatus, is described. The calorimeter has a 6 × 6 cm2 active area to fully cover the tracker area of the pCT system, being 10 cm thick it is able to stop up to 200 MeV protons and sustain 1 MHz particle rate (average rate on the whole area). The YAG(Ce) scintillator is promising for charged particle detection applications where high-count rate, good energy resolution and compact photodiode readout, not influenced by magnetic fields, are of importance. The aim of this work is to show data acquired with proton beam energy up to 175 MeV and to discuss the performances of this calorimeter.

Thomson parabola spectrometer: A powerful tool for on-line plasma analysis

Abstract: In this paper we report on a new powerful and self-consistent analysis technique aimed in order to get information online on laser generated plasmas. Performance of the method has been carried out during two set of measurement by using two different lasers. The first set of data has been collected at LENS Laboratory of INFN-LNS in Catania by using a laser which produces pulses having energies of 2 J and temporal duration of 6 ns, while the second set of data has been collected at ILIL of INO-CNR in Pisa with a laser system capable of delivering pulses of up to 10 mJ in 40 fs.

A Transport Beamline Solution for Laser-Driven Proton Beams

Abstract: Laser-target interaction represents a very promising field in several potential applications, from nuclear physics to medicine. On the other hand optically accelerated particle beams are characterized by some extreme features, often not suitable for several applications, as an high peak current, a poor shot-to-shot reproducibility and a wide energy and angular distribution. Therefore many efforts are currently ongoing for the development of specific beam transport devices in order to obtain controlled and reproducible output beams. In this framework, this work want to report about a transport beamline solution dedicated to laser-driven beams and made of two main sections: a quadrupole-focusing device and an energy selector system. A test beam-line consisting of prototypes has been realised at INFN-LNS (National Institute of Physics-South National Laboratories, Ct, I) and partially tested with conventional accelerated proton beams. Moreover, some of these prototypes have been already tested with laser-driven beams. Several simulations have been also performed using the Geant4 Monte Carlo toolkit, in order to best exploit the beamline potentiality. Preliminary simulations of a transported beamline to select 5 MeV and 24 MeV proton beams are here reported.