Selective partial salivary glands sparing during intensity-modulated radiation therapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Objective This study evaluated the dosimetric consequences of selective partial salivary gland sparing during intensity-modulated radiotherapy(IMRT) for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC).Methods Ten patients with NPC were enrolled in the study.Two IMRT plans were produced for each patient:conventional(control) and partial salivary glands-sparing(treatment),with dose constraints to the entire parotid glands or partial salivary glands(including the parotid and submandibular glands,delineated with the adjacent distance of at least 0.5 cm between the glands and PTV,the planning target volume) in planning,respectively.Dosimetric parameters were compared between the two plans,including the V_(110%),V_(100%),V_(95%)(the volume covered by more than 110%,100%,or 95% of the prescribed dose),Dmin(the minimum dose) of PTV,homogeneity index(HI),conformity index(CI),and the mean dose and percentage of the volume receiving 30 Gy or more(V_(30)) for the parotid glands and submandibular glands.Results Treatment plans had significantly lower mean doses and V_(30) to both the entire parotid glands and partial parotid glands than those in control plans.The mean doses to the partial submandibular glands were also significantly lower in treatment plans than in control plans.The PTV coverage was comparable between the two plans,as indicated by V_(100%),V_(95%),Dmin,CI,and HI.The doses to critical structures,including brainstem and spinal cord,were slightly but not significantly higher in treatment plans than in control plans.Conclusion A selective partial salivary gland-sparing approach reduces the doses to parotid and submandibular glands during IMRT,which may decrease the risk of post-radiation xerostomia while not compromising target dose coverage in patients with NPC.

Review of Crashworthiness Studies on Cellular Structures

The application of lightweight structures with excellent energy absorption performance is crucial for enhancing vehicle safety and energy efficiency.Cellular structures,inspired by the characteristics observed in natural organisms,have exhibited exceptional structural utilization in terms of energy absorption compared with traditional structures.In recent years,various innovative cellular structures have been proposed to meet different engineering needs,resulting in significant performance improvements.This paper provides a comprehensive overview of novel cellular structures for energy absorption applications.In particular,it outlines the application forms and design concepts of cellular structures under typical loading conditions in vehicle collisions,including axial loading,oblique loading,bending loading,and blast loading.Cellular structures have evolved to meet the demands of complex loading conditions and diverse research methods,focusing on achieving high-performance characteristics across multiple load cases.Moreover,this review discusses manufacturing techniques and strate-gies for enhancing the manufacturing performance of cellular structures.Finally,current key challenges and future research directions for cellular structures are discussed.The aim of this study is to provide valuable guidelines for researchers and engineers in the development of next-generation lightweight cellular structures.

Nanofibril Organization in Silk Fiber as Inspiration for Ductile and Damage-Tolerant Fiber Design

Ductile and damage-tolerant fibers(DDTFs)are desired in aerospace engineering,mechanical engineering,and biomedical engineering because of their ability to prevent the catastrophic sudden structural/mechanical failure.However,in practice,design and fabrication of DDTFs remain a major challenge due to finite fiber size and limited processing techniques.In this regard,animal silks can provide inspirations.They are hierarchically structured protein fibers with an elegant trade-off of mechanical strength,extensibility and damage tolerance,making them one of the toughest materials known.In this article,we confirmed that nanofibril organization could improve the ductility and damage-tolerance of silk fibers through restricted fibril shearing,controlled slippage and cleavage.Inspired by these strategies,we further established a rational strategy to produce polyamide DDTFs by combining electrospinning and yarn-spinning techniques.The resultant polymeric DDTFs show a silk-like fracture resistance behavior,indicating potential applications in smart textile,biomedicine,and mechanical engineering.