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At least 1,333 records · Page 74

Unified Approach to the Biomechanics of Dental Implantology

The human need for safe and effective dental implants is well-recognized. Although many implant designs have been tested and are in use today, a large number have resulted in clinical failure. These failures appear to be due to biomechanical effects, as well as biocompatibility and surgical factors. A unified approach is proposed using multidisciplinary systems technology, for the study of the biomechanical interactions between dental implants and host tissues. The approach progresses from biomechanical modeling and analysis, supported by experimental investigations, through implant design development, clinical verification, and education of the dental practitioner. The result of the biomechanical modeling, analysis, and experimental phases would be the development of scientific design criteria for implants. Implant designs meeting these criteria would be generated, fabricated, and tested in animals. After design acceptance, these implants would be tested in humans, using efficient and safe surgical and restorative procedures. Finally, educational media and instructional courses would be developed for training dental practitioners in the use of the resulting implants.

Grenoble, D. E.↗

Establishing High-Quality Prostate Brachytherapy Using a Phantom Simulator Training Program

Purpose: To design and implement a unique training program that uses a phantom-based simulator to teach the process of prostate brachytherapy (PB) quality assurance and improve the quality of education. Methods and Materials: Trainees in our simulator program were practicing radiation oncologists, radiation oncology residents, and fellows of the American Brachytherapy Society. The program emphasized 6 core areas of quality assurance: patient selection, simulation, treatment planning, implant technique, treatment evaluation, and outcome assessment. Using the Iodine 125 ({sup 125}I) preoperative treatment planning technique, trainees implanted their ultrasound phantoms with dummy seeds (ie, seeds with no activity). Pre- and postimplant dosimetric parameters were compared and correlated using regression analysis. Results: Thirty-one trainees successfully completed the simulator program during the period under study. The mean phantom prostate size, number of seeds used, and total activity were generally consistent between trainees. All trainees met the V100 >95% objective both before and after implantation. Regardless of the initial volume of the prostate phantom, trainees' ability to cover the target volume with at least 100% of the dose (V100) was not compromised (R=0.99 pre- and postimplant). However, the V150 had lower concordance (R=0.37) and may better reflect heterogeneity control of the implant process. Conclusions: Analysis of implants from this phantom-based simulator shows a high degree of consistency between trainees and uniformly high-quality implants with respect to parameters used in clinical practice. This training program provides a valuable educational opportunity that improves the quality of PB training and likely accelerates the learning curve inherent in PB. Prostate phantom implantation can be a valuable first step in the acquisition of the required skills to safely perform PB.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Suppressing light reflection from polycrystalline silicon thin films through surface texturing and silver nanostructures

This work demonstrates a novel method combining ion implantation and silver nanostructures for suppressing light reflection from polycrystalline silicon thin films. Samples were implanted with 20-keV hydrogen ions to a dose of 10¹⁷/cm², and some of them received an additional argon ion implant to a dose of 5×10¹⁵ /cm² at an energy between 30 and 300 keV. Compared to the case with a single H implant, the processing involved both H and Ar implants and post-implantation annealing has created a much higher degree of surface texturing, leading to a more dramatic reduction of light reflection from polycrystalline Si films over a broadband range between 300 and 1200 nm, e.g., optical reflection from the air/Si interface in the AM1.5 sunlight condition decreasing from ~30% with an untextured surface to below 5% for a highly textured surface after post-implantation annealing at 1000°C. Formation of Ag nanostructures on these ion beam processed surfaces further reduces light reflection, and surface texturing is expected to have the benefit of diminishing light absorption losses within large-size (>100 nm) Ag nanoparticles, yielding an increased light trapping efficiency within Si as opposed to the case with Ag nanostructures on a smooth surface. A discussion of the effects of surface textures and Ag nanoparticles on light trapping within Si thin films is also presented with the aid of computer simulations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Measurement and Simulation of Ultra-Low-Energy Ion–Solid Interaction Dynamics

Ion implantation is a key capability for the semiconductor industry. As devices shrink, novel materials enter the manufacturing line, and quantum technologies transition to being more mainstream. Traditional implantation methods fall short in terms of energy, ion species, and positional precision. Here, we demonstrate 1 keV focused ion beam Au implantation into Si and validate the results via atom probe tomography. We show the Au implant depth at 1 keV is 0.8 nm and that identical results for low-energy ion implants can be achieved by either lowering the column voltage or decelerating ions using bias while maintaining a sub-micron beam focus. We compare our experimental results to static calculations using SRIM and dynamic calculations using binary collision approximation codes TRIDYN and IMSIL. A large discrepancy between the static and dynamic simulation is found, which is due to lattice enrichment with high-stopping-power Au and surface sputtering. Additionally, we demonstrate how model details are particularly important to the simulation of these low-energy heavy-ion implantations. Finally, we discuss how our results pave a way towards much lower implantation energies while maintaining high spatial resolution.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

An exploratory study on helium mobility in amorphous and crystallized bulk metallic glasses

In this study, Zr 52.5 Cu 17.9 Ni 14.6 Al 10 Ti 5 and Cu 60 Zr 20 Hf 10 Ti 10 amorphous and crystallized bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) were implanted at room temperature by 150 keV 3 He + ions to fluences of 2 × 10 15 cm -2 and 5 × 10 15 cm -2 , producing peak implanted He concentrations of ~1,100 and 3,500 appm, respectively. Nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) performed on post-implantation annealed samples at various temperatures between 250 and 600 °C (~0.30 to 0.75 of the absolute melting temperature T m of the BMGs) revealed no appreciable He migration. Complementary thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) on as-implanted samples, which involved in situ annealing, showed appreciable He release only at temperatures higher than ~700 °C (~0.76-0.90 T m ) in all the samples. Half or more of the implanted He did not desorb up to the maximum investigated TDS annealing temperature of 770 °C (~0.85-0.97 T m ). The lack of pronounced He diffusion up to 600 °C as observed from the NRA and TDS data was attributed to He trapping in free volume sites present in the BMGs, which seems to play a similar role to vacancies in crystalline materials. It was also observed that in both the amorphous and crystallized forms of the Zr BMG, the sample implanted to the lower fluence released more He as compared to the sample implanted with a higher fluence. The crystalline forms of both the Cu and Zr BMGs released more He as compared to their amorphous counterparts.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

First experiments with Cs doped Mo as surface converter for negative hydrogen ion sources

A study was conducted on the properties of molybdenum implanted with caesium as an approach to reduce the Cs consumption of negative hydrogen ion sources based on evaporated Cs. The depth profiles of the implanted Cs were simulated by SDTrimSP and experimentally determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profiling. In particular, one year after implantation, the depth profiles showed no signs of Cs diffusion into the molybdenum, suggesting long term stability of the implanted Cs atoms. The H{sup −} surface generation mechanisms on the implanted samples in hydrogen plasma were investigated, and the stability of the H{sup −} yield during four hours low power hydrogen plasma discharges was demonstrated. An estimation of the work function reduction (−0.8 eV) by the Cs implantation was performed, and a comparison of the relative negative ion yields between the implanted samples and highly oriented pyrolitic graphite showed that the Cs doped Mo negative ion yield was larger.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A comparison of postimplant dosimetry for {sup 103}Pd versus {sup 131}Cs seeds on a retrospective series of PBSI patients

Purpose: Permanent breast seed implantation (PBSI) is an accelerated partial breast irradiation technique performed using stranded {sup 103}Pd radioactive seeds (average energy of 21 keV, 16.97 day half-life). Since 2004, {sup 131}Cs brachytherapy sources have become clinically available. The {sup 131}Cs radionuclide has a higher energy (average energy of 30 keV) and a shorter half-life (9.7 days) than {sup 103}Pd. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there are dosimetric benefits to using {sup 131}Cs brachytherapy seeds for PBSI. Methods: The prescribed dose for PBSI using {sup 103}Pd is 90 Gy, which was adjusted for {sup 131}Cs implants to account for the shorter half-life. A retrospective cohort of 30 patients, who have already undergone a {sup 103}Pd implant, was used for this study. The treatments were planned using the Variseed treatment planning system. The air kerma strength of the {sup 131}Cs seeds was adjusted in all preimplantation treatment plans so that the V{sub 100} (the volume within the target that receives 100% or more of the prescribed dose) were equivalent at time of implantation. Two month follow-up CT scans were available for all 30 patients and each patient was reevaluated using {sup 131}Cs seeds. The postimplant dosimetric parameters were compared using a two tailed t-test. Results: The prescribed dose for {sup 131}Cs was calculated to be 77 Gy; this dose would have the same biological effect as a PBSI implant with {sup 103}Pd of 90 Gy. The activities of the {sup 131}Cs sources were adjusted to an average of 2.2 {+-} 0.8 U for {sup 131}Cs compared to 2.5 {+-} 1.1 U for {sup 103}Pd in order to get an equivalent V{sub 100} as the {sup 103}Pd preimplants. While the use of {sup 131}Cs significantly reduces the preimplant V{sub 200} (the volume within the target that receives 200% or more of the prescribed dose) compared to {sup 103}Pd by 13.5 {+-} 9.0%, the reduction observed on the 2 month postimplant plan was 12.4 {+-} 5.1% which accounted for seed motion, implantation inaccuracies and tissue changes. This translates into an absolute reduction of 4.1 cm{sup 3} of tissue receiving 200% of the dose. Conclusions: This analysis of 30 early stage breast cancer patients who underwent the PBSI procedure shows that there is a theoretical dosimetric advantage to using {sup 131}Cs. However, in a realistic implant that will have seed misplacements and tissue changes, the use of {sup 131}Cs may not result in any clinically significant benefit.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Improving radiograph analysis throughput through transfer learning and object detection

SIGN Fracture Care International partners with surgeons in low-resource hospitals worldwide to provide access to effective orthopedic care by donating educational materials and innovatively designed surgical implants. Over two decades, SIGN’s Online Surgical Database (SOSD) has grown to contain over 500,000 medical images, with radiographs holding the majority share. One challenge in working with hospitals worldwide is that both the radiographs uploaded to the SOSD and the data entry accompanying the uploads vary in quality. To improve the accuracy of data in the SOSD, we trained a model to detect surgical implants in radiographs. We first developed a tool to automatically detect radiographs, then trained an object detection model to determine the number and placement of surgical implants visible in the radiograph. Active learning was used to generate a training set containing 2,510 radiographs with screws, nails, and plates labeled by bounding boxes. Training a model to simultaneously recognize all three classes of implants gave a low average precision (AP) for the plate class, likely due to the low number of plate instances in our training set and the large variety of surgical plates used by SIGN-partnered surgeons. Applying standard image augmentation techniques to increase the plate count in our training set did not appreciably increase the AP of plate detection. To improve plate detection, we redrew the bounding boxes to account for correlations between the screw and plate classes. Training one model to detect nails and screws and a separate model to detect plates increased the AP of plate detection by 78.8 percentage points. The AP of each class was 80.7% for screws, 93.6% for nails, and 92.6% for plates; meanwhile, the sensitivity was 92% for screws, 86% for nails, and 81% for plates. We show that object detection methods can be used to detect surgical implants in radiographs of varying quality; however, the detection ability is dependent on the type of implant, and some implants, in our case plates, must be treated differently than others. Such tools can improve the throughput of radiograph analysis, assisting physicians and surgeons with the treatment of bone fractures.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Development of pulsed processes for the manufacture of solar cells

Low-energy ion implantation processes for the automated production of silicon solar cells were investigated. Phosphorus ions at an energy of 10 keV and dose of 2 x 10 to the 15th power/sq cm were implanted in silicon solar cells to produce junctions, while boron ions at 25 keV and 5 x 10 to the 15th power were implanted in the cells to produce effective back surface fields. An ion implantation facility with a beam current up to 4 mA and a production throughput of 300 wafers per hour was designed and installed. A design was prepared for a 100 mA, automated implanter with a production capacity of 100 MW sub e/sq cm per year. Two process sequences were developed which employ ion implantation and furnace or pulse annealing. A computer program was used to determine costs for junction formation by ion implantation and various furnace annealing cycles to demonstrate cost effectiveness of these methods.

Minnucci, J. A.↗

Hand Held Device for Wireless Powering and Interrogation of Biomems Sensors and Actuators

A compact, hand-held device for wireless powering, interrogation and data retrieval from at least one implanted sensor. The hand-held device includes an antenna for powering an implanted sensor and for receiving data from the implanted sensor to the hand-held device for at least one of storage, display or analysis. The hand-held device establishes electromagnetic coupling with a low radiating radio frequency power inductor in the implanted sensor at a predefined separation and the antenna geometry allows for the antenna to power, interrogate and retrieve data from the implanted sensor without strapping the hand-held device to a human body housing the implanted sensor The hand-held device optionally allows for activation of the implanted sensor only during interrogation and data retrieval.

Miranda, Felix Antonio↗

Greater Postimplant Swelling in Small-Volume Prostate Glands: Implications for Dosimetry, Treatment Planning, and Operating Room Technique

Purpose: Postimplant prostatic edema has been implicated in suboptimal permanent implants, and smaller prostates have been reported to have worse dosimetric coverage. In this study we compare the degree of postimplant edema between larger and smaller prostates and examine the effects of prostate size on the dose delivered to 90% of the prostate (D90). Methods and Materials: From September 2003 to February 2006, 105 hormone-naive patients underwent permanent prostate brachytherapy with {sup 125}I Rapid Strand (Oncura Inc., Arlington Heights, IL). All patients underwent pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 3 weeks before implant, transrectal ultrasound at the time of implant, and both computed tomography and MRI 2.5 to 3 weeks after implant. Prostates were divided into 5 subgroups based on preimplant MRI volumes: less than 25 mL, 25 to 35 mL, 35 to 45 mL, 45 to 55 mL, and greater than 55 mL. Prostate swelling was assessed by use of preimplant and postimplant MRI volumes. Postimplant dosimetry was determined by MRI and compared between the subgroups. Results: All prostates showed postimplant swelling on MRI when compared with preimplant MRI, with a mean increase of 31% {+-} 31% (p < 0.0001). The greatest swelling was noted in small prostates (volume less than 25 mL), with a mean increase of 70% {+-} 36%. The degree of swelling in the group with a volume less than 25 mL was significantly larger than the degree of swelling in all other prostate subgroups (p < 0.003). Transrectal ultrasound significantly overestimates the prostate volume when compared with MRI by a mean of 15% {+-} 25% (p = 0.0006) and is more pronounced for smaller prostates. Although prostates with volumes less than 25 mL did not have significantly worse D90 compared with larger prostates, they had the largest percent of suboptimal implants by the standard ratio of D90 divided by the prescription dose. Conclusions: Although small prostates have the greatest postimplant edema, planning ultrasound at the time of implant overestimates the volumes of smaller prostates to a greater degree than larger prostates, which may minimize the effects of edema on postimplant dosimetry.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Novel Technique for Hepatic Fiducial Marker Placement for Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

Purpose: To report experience with fiducial marker insertion and describe an advantageous, novel technique for fiducial placement in the liver for stereotactic body radiation therapy with respiratory tracking. Methods and Materials: We implanted 1444 fiducials (single: 834; linked: 610) in 328 patients with 424 hepatic lesions. Two methods of implantation were compared: the standard method (631 single fiducials) performed on 153 patients from May 2007 to May 2010, and the cube method (813 fiducials: 610 linked/203 single) applied to 175 patients from April 2010 to March 2013. The standard method involved implanting a single marker at a time. The novel technique entailed implanting 2 pairs of linked markers when possible in a way to occupy the perpendicular edges of a cube containing the tumor inside. Results: Mean duration of the cube method was shorter than the standard method (46 vs 61 minutes; P<.0001). Median numbers of skin and subcapsular entries were significantly smaller with the cube method (2 vs 4, P<.0001, and 2 vs 4, P<.0001, respectively). The rate of overall complications (total, major, and minor) was significantly lower in the cube method group compared with the standard method group (5.7% vs 13.7%; P=.013). Major complications occurred while using single markers only. The success rate was 98.9% for the cube method and 99.3% for the standard method. Conclusions: We propose a new technique of hepatic fiducial implantation that makes use of linked fiducials and involves fewer skin entries and shorter time of implantation. The technique is less complication-prone and is migration-resistant.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Stress enhanced diffusion of krypton ions in polycrystalline titanium

An experimental investigation on the mutual influence of pre-existing residual stress and point defect following ion implantation is presented. The study has been carried out using polycrystalline titanium samples energetically implanted with krypton ions at different fluences. Ion beam analysis was used to determine the concentration profile of the injected krypton ions, while synchrotron X-ray diffraction has been used for stress determination. Ion beam analysis and synchrotron X-ray diffraction stress profile measurements of the implanted titanium samples show a clear evidence of stress-enhanced diffusion of krypton ions in titanium. It is further observed that for the titanium samples implanted at low fluence, ion implantation modifies the pre-existing residual stress through the introduction of point and open volume defects. The stress fields resulting from the ion implantation act to drift the krypton inclusions towards the surface of titanium.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

SU-E-J-181: Effect of Prostate Motion On Combined Brachytherapy and External Beam Dose Based On Daily Motion of the Prostate

Purpose: In this study, the adequacy of target expansions on the combined external beam and implant dose was examined based on the measured daily motion of the prostate. Methods: Thirty patients received an I–125 prostate implant prescribed to dose of 90Gy. This was followed by external beam to deliver a dose of 90Gyeq (external beam equivalent) to the prostate over 25 to 30 fractions. An ideal IMRT plan was developed by optimizing the external beam dose based on the delivered implant dose. The implant dose was converted to an equivalent external beam dose using the linear quadratic model. Patients were set up on the treatment table by daily orthogonal imaging and aligning the marker seeds in the prostate. Orthogonal images were obtained at the end of treatment to assess prostate intrafraction motion. Based on the observed motion of the markers between the initial and final images, 5 individual plans showing the actual dose delivered to the patient were calculated. A final true dose distribution was established based on summing the implant dose and the 5 external beam plans. Dose to the prostate, seminal vesicles, lymphnodes and normal tissues, rectal wall, urethra and lower sphincter were calculated and compared to ideal. On 18 patients who were sexually active, dose to the corpus cavernosum and internal pudendal artery was also calculated. Results: The average prostate motion in 3 orthogonal directions was less than 1 mm with a standard deviation of less than +2 mm. Dose and volume parameters showed that there was no decrease in dose to the targets and a marginal decrease in dose to in normal tissues. Conclusion: Dose delivered by seed implant moves with the prostate, decreasing the impact of intrafractions dose movement on actual dose delivered. Combined brachytherapy and external beam dose delivered to the prostate was not sensitive to prostate motion.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Elastic knowledge base of bcc Ti alloys from first-principles calculations and CALPHAD-based modeling

Here, titanium alloys are being investigated as suitable materials for load-bearing implants because of their biocompatibility and mechanical properties. Stress shielding, a common issue with the current load-bearing implant materials, occurs due to a Young’s modulus (E) mismatch between bone (~10–40 GPa) and implants (such as Ti-6Al-4V ~ 110 GPa), which leads to bone dying around the implant and ultimately implant failure. Reducing the Young’s modulus of Ti alloys may overcome the issues of stress shielding and improve implant materials. In the present work, first-principles calculations have been used to predict the single crystal elastic stiffness coefficients (c ij ’s) for the Ti-containing ternary alloys Ti-X-Y(X ≠ Y = Mo, Nb, Sn, Ta, Zr) in the bcc lattice. It is found that the ternary Ti-X-Y (X ≠ Y = Mo, Nb, Ta) alloys behave similarly; so do the ternary Ti-X-Sn (X = Mo, Nb, Ta) alloys and the Ti-X-Zr (X = Mo, Nb, Ta) alloys. This is expected due to the similarity between the Mo, Nb and Ta elements. The results also show that the Ti-Zr-X alloys stabilized the bcc phase at lower alloying concentrations. The polycrystalline aggregate properties are also estimated from the c ij ’s, including bulk modulus, shear modulus and Young’s modulus. The results show that Ti-alloys with compositions close to the bcc stability limit have the lowest E. In combination with previous predictions, a complete elastic database has been established using theCALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagram) based modeling approach. The database results are compared with the E of higher order Ti alloys and shown to be able to predict the E accurately. This complete data-base forms a foundation to tailor Ti alloys for desired elastic properties.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Effects of a Novel Acoustic Transmitter on Swimming Performance and Predator Avoidance of Juvenile Chinook Salmon: Determination of a Size Threshold

Abstract Telemetry studies are used worldwide to investigate the behavior and migration of fishes. The miniaturization of acoustic transmitters enables researchers to tag smaller fish, such as the juvenile life stages of salmon, thus representing a greater proportion of the population of interest. The development of an injectable acoustic transmitter has led to research determining the least invasive and quickest method of tag implantation. Swimming performance and predator avoidance were examined. To quantify critical swimming speed (Ucrit; an index of prolonged swimming performance) and predator avoidance for juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), fish were split into three groups: (1) fish implanted with a dummy injectable acoustic transmitter (IAT treatment), (2) fish implanted with a dummy injectable acoustic transmitter and passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag (IAT+PIT treatment), and (3) an untagged control group. The Ucrits and predator avoidance capability of tagged fish were compared with untagged fish to determine if carrying an IAT adversely affected swimming performance or predator avoidance. Fish implanted with only an IAT had lower Ucrit values than untagged fish and a size threshold at 79 mm fork length was found. Conversely, Ucrit values for fish implanted with an IAT+PIT were not significantly different from untagged controls and no size threshold was found. Predator avoidance testing showed no significant difference for fish implanted with an IAT compared to untagged individuals, nor was there a significant difference for IAT+PIT fish compared to untagged fish.

juvenile Chinook salmon, swimming performance, pre↗