Cell Locating with the Image Analysis System of the CAS-LIBB Single-Particle Microbeam Facility

A single-particle microbeam facility has been constructed at the Key Laboratory ofIon Beam Bioengineering (LIBB), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). At the CAS-LIBB microbeam facility, we have developed protocols to place exact numbers of charged particles through nuclear centroids of cells, at defined positions in the cytoplasm relative to the nucleus, and through defined fractions of cells in a population. In this paper, we address the methods for nucleus, cytoplasm and bystander (either a single or an exact number of ions is delivered to a certain percentage of cells in a population to study the bystander effects of radiation) irradiation in detail from theprecision of target finding and cell locating in the image analysis system. Moreover, for cells touching slightly in an image, a watershed method is used to separate these touching objects;after that, the number of objects in an image is counted accurately and the irradiation points are located precisely.     

Bonding effect on channeling of C ions in a carbon nanotube

The channeling phenomenon of carbon ions in single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is investigated by using the molecular dynamics simulation with analytical potentials.The relationship between the channeling critical angles in the SWCNT and the bonding interaction is analyzed.It was found that,at 200-5000 eV and 10°-20° of incident angle,the ions with the bonding interaction or chemical effect,have decreased dechanneling probabilities and increased critical angles,compared to that of non-bonding ions.So the bonding effect cannot be ignored in the channeling mechanism of carbon ions through a SWCNT.     

Soft x-ray Diode-array Diagnostic System for HT-7 Superconducting Tokamak

1. IntroductionEnergy loss caused by radiation of hightemperature plasma is produced during collisions between electrons and ions through the processes ofbrernsstrahlung radiation, recombination radiation,line radiation, and cyclotron radiation. A large portion Of radiation belongs to the ultra-soft and softx-ray regions of spectrum and carries a plenty ofphysical information in the plasma. Moreover, softx-ray (SXR) radiation emitted from any point inplasma can arrive outside of the plasma w…     

Alterations of mtDNA copy number and 4977 bp deletion induced by ionizing radiation in human peripheral blood

Alterations of mitochondria DNA （mtDNA） 4977 bp common deletion （CD） and mtDNA copy number induced by ionizing radiation were observed in human different cell lines and total body irradiation patients. However, only few experiments have evaluated the levels of the CD and mtDNA copy number in human peripheral blood exposed to ionizing radiation till now. The aim of this study is to analyze the mtDNA alterations in irradiated human peripheral blood from healthy donors as well as to explore their feasibility as biomarkers for constructing new biodosimeter. Peripheral blood samples were collected from six healthy donors, and exposed to 6~Co gamma ray with the doses of 0 Gy, 1 Gy, 2 Gy, 3 Gy, 4 Gy and 5 Gy. Levels of the CD and mtDNA copy number in irradiated samples after 2h or 24h incubation were detected using TaqMan real-time PCR, and the CD ratio was calculated. The results showed that the mean of the CD ratio and the CD copy number exhibited a dose-dependent increase 2 h in the dose range from 0-5 Gy, and of the mtDNA copy number significantly increased 24 h in irradiated groups compared with 0 Gy group after irradiation. It indicates that the parameters in human peripheral blood may be considered as molecular biomarkers to applying construction of new biodosimeter.     

Modeling Density and Anisotropy of Energetic Electrons Along Magnetic Field Lines

The electromagnetic wave growth or damping depends basically on the number density and anisotropy of energetic particles as the resonant interaction takes place between the particles and waves in the magnetosphere. The variance of both the number density and anisotropy along the magnetic field line is evaluated systematically by modeling four typically prescribed distribution functions. It is shown that in the case of ＂the positive anisotropy＂ （namely, the perpendicular temperature T⊥ exceeds the parallel temperature T｜｜）, the number density of energetic electrons always decreases with the magnetic latitude for a regular increasing magnetic field and the maximum wave growth is therefore generally confined to the equator where the resonant energy is minimum, and the number density is the largest. However, the ＂loss-cone＂ anisotropy of the electrons with a ＂pancake＂ distribution or kappa distribution keeps invariant or nearly invariant, whereas the ＂temperature＂ anisotropy with a pure bi-Maxwellian distribution or Ashour-Abdalla and Kennel＇s distributions decreases with the magnetic latitude. The results may provide a useful approach to evaluating the number density and anisotropy of the energetic electrons at latitudes where the observation information is not available.     

Primary Study on Radiation Effect of Biology Induced by Protons

Radiation environment in outspace is a serious threat to astronauts for long duration space flight. Galactic cosmic rays（GCR） and solar particle events（SPE） are the most important space radiation sources. Both the GCR and the SPE contain significant number of high-energy protons, capable of large penetration and important nuclear interaction. Those protons have high linear energy transfer and higher relative biological effectveness（RBE） comparing with the low LET radiation （such as electrons, X-rays and gamma-rays） and thus can induce more damage to biological specimen. Shielding method can not prevent all of radiation risk, radioprotector is essential require for astronauts.     

NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA RADIOSENSITIVITY PREDICTION BY CYTOKINESIS—BLOCK MICRONUCLEUS ASSAY

Cytokinesis-block micronucleus method is used to evaluate the radiosensityvity of a nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line(CNE-1) and biopsies obtained from 31 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma,The number of micronuclei increases with the radiation dose.A good correlation was found between the radiosensitivity determined by the micro-nucleus assay and that measured by the colony-forming assay in CNE-1 cell line(r=-0.998).Moreover,the results of micronucleus assay for tumor cells from biopsies of patients with primary carcinoma look promising for the prediction of tumor radiosensitivity.These results are encouraging but need to be confirmed with a larger number of patients with a longer follow-up.     

An Obliquely Propagating Electromagnetic Lower-Hybrid-Drift Instability in Plasmas with Negative Ions

In this study, by employing a local fluid theory for warm plasma containing negative ions, an obliquely propagating electromagnetic instability in the lower hybrid frequency range driven by cross-field currents or relative drifts between electrons and ions was investigated. It is found that the growth rate of the lower-hybrid-drift instability （LHDI） can be controlled by appropriate selection of the propagation direction, the wave number and the relative population of the negative ions.     

Damping of Geodesic Acoustic Mode by Trapped Electrons

We study the Landau resonance between geodesic acoustic mode（GAM） and trapped electrons as a GAM’s collisionless damping. The assumption of ˉωde 〈〈ωbeis adopted.The damping rate induced by trapped electrons is found to be an increasing function of q. In low q range, circulating-ion-induced damping rate is larger than that induced by trapped electrons.As q increases, the latter becomes larger than the former. The reason is that trapped electrons’ resonant velocity is close to vtefrom the lower side, whiles circulating ions’ resonant velocity gets bigger further from vti. So the number of resonant trapped electrons increases, whiles the number of resonant circulating ions decreases. The amplitude of damping rate induced by trapped electrons in the edge plasma can be comparable to that induced by circulating ions in the low q range.Another phenomenon we found is that in the chosen range of, the damping caused by trapped electrons has a maximum value at point εq for different q. The reason is that as is close to q,trapped electorns’ resonant velocity is close to vte.     

Mechanical Analysis and Optimization of ITER Upper ELM Coil & Feeder

International thermonuclear experimental reactor （ITER） edge localized mode （ELM） coils are used to mitigate or suppress ELMs. The location of the coils in the vacuum vessel and behind the blankets exposes them to high radiation levels and high temperatures. The feeders provide the power and cooling water for ELM coils. They are located in the chinmey ports and experience lower radiation and temperature levels. These coils and feeders work in a high magnetic field environment and are subjected to alternating electromagnetic force due to the interaction between high magnetic field and alternating current （AC） current in the coils. They are also subjected to thermal stresses due to thermal expansion. Using the ITER upper ELM coil and feeder as an example, mechanical analyses are performed to verify and optimize the updated design to enhance their structural performance. The results show that the conductor, jacket and bracket can meet the static, fatigue and crack threshold criteria. The optimization indicates that adding chamfers to the bracket can reduce the high stress of the bracket, and removing two rails can reduce the peak reaction force on the two rails arising from thermal expansion.     

Bystander effects induced by medium from carbon-ion irradiated human cancer cells

The bystander effects induced by medium from human hepatoma SMMC-7721 and adenocarcinoma F56 cells irradiated with carbon ions were investigated. It was found that the survival fraction （SF） of the irradiated cells decreased exponentially along with the increased dose. SMMC-7721 cells were more radiosensitive than F56 cells. The plating efficiency （PE） of the non-irradiated cells treated with irradiated conditioned medium （ICM） was obviously lower than the PE of control cells for SMMC-7721 cells but not for F56 cells. Moreover, the reduced PE and SF by ICM treatment were more significant for IGy irradiation than for 6Gy irradiation on SMMC-7721 cells, These results suggest that the irradiated cells can secrete factor（s） into medium that is cytotoxic to bystander non-irradiated cells. The bystander effects are dependent on cell genotype presented at the time of irradiation and radiation dose, This makes impact on the precise estimation of the effects of radiation and tumor radiotherapy,     

High-Sensitivity In-Situ Diagnosis of NO_2 Production and Removal in DBD Using Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy

A highly-sensitive in-situ diagnosis approach for nitrogen dioxide （NO2） has been developed in dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） based on pulsed cavity ring-down spectroscopy （CRDS）. Absorption bands of NO2 in a spectral region from 508 nm to 509 nm were used, and a detection limit of 17.5 ppb was achieved. At this level of sensitivity, the quantitative and real-time monitoring of the production and removal of NO2 are accomplished for the first time in the discharge region. By measuring the removal amount and rate at different NO2 initial number densities from 1.54 ×10^13 cm^-3 to 2.79 × 10^14 cm^-3, we determined the relationship between them and NO2 initial number densities. The removal amount linearly increases with the initial number density, while the removal rate increases logarithmically. At a lower initial number density, the removal rate is limited. By considering the chemical kinetic mechanism in plasma, a qualitative explanation for the above phenomena is proposed： the additional NO2 produced by discharge limits the removal rate, since the NO2 concentration is dominated by the competition between the forward reactions （production） and the reverse reactions （removal）.     

FDTD Numerical Simulation of Absorption of Microwaves in an Unmagnetized Atmosphere Plasma

Numerical simulations based on the finite-difference-time-domain （FDTD） approximation to multi-fluid equations for positive ions, negative ions and electrons are used to study high frequency electromagnetic wave propagation and absorption in an unmagnetized plasma layer. The interaction between the incident high frequency wave and the plasma layer shows that the existence of negative ions and the nonlinear effect reduces the power absorption capability of the plasma. Parameter dependences of the effects are calculated and discussed.     

Transient Behavior of Negative Hydrogen Ion Extraction from Plasma

For plasma source,the extraction of negative ions is quite diferent from that of positive ions.To understand the efect of extraction field on plasma,the time-dependent behavior of negative hydrogen ion extraction from a negative ion source has been studied by particle-in-cell simulation in the collisionless limit.The simulations have shown that,due to the diference in dynamics between electrons and ions,the imbalance of the numbers of charged particles occurs in the source,results in the broadening of plasma sheath and the great increase of plasma potential.The resultant high sheath field and the ambipolar electric field in plasma make the negatively charged particles congregate inside the sheath and move toward the extraction outlet.The emission area of negative ions is much smaller than that of the extraction aperture,which is in sharp contrast to the case of positive ion extraction.     

Hydrogenation of zirconium film by implantation of hydrogen ions

In order to understand the dnve-in target in a D-D type neutron generator,it is essential to study the mechanism of the interaction between hydrogen ion beams and the hydrogenabsorbing metal film.The present research concerns the nucleation of hydride within zirconium film implanted with hydrogen ions.Doses of 30 keV hydrogen ions ranging from 4.30×10~(17) to1.43×10~(18) ions cm~(-2) were loaded into the zirconium film through the ion beam implantation technique.Features of the surface morphology and transformation of phase structures were investigated with scanning electron microscopy,atomic force microscopy and x-ray diffraction.Confirmation of the formation of 5 phase zirconium hydride in the implanted samples was first made by x-ray diffraction,and the different stages in the gradual nucleation and growth of zirconium hydride were then observed by atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscopy.     

Apoptosis and necrosis of HeLa cells in response to low-energy ion radiation

1 Introduction The biological effects of the different kinds of radiation such as photons, α particles, electrons, and protons have been widely studied over 100 years. However, the interaction between the low-energy ions (with energy lower than 100 keV) and organisms was uncertain. Based on the concept that ions will penetrate into a dense matter, the depth range of the incident ions with such low energies is rather limited, and these may have little or no effect on organisms [1]. However, t…     

Shielding calculation for the thickness of the SR facility safety shutter

The safety shutter of the SR （synchrotron radiation） facility located at the front end of the facility is an indispensable component for radiation protection. Its thickness is decided by the gas bremsstrahlung produced in the SR facility storage ring by the interaction of electrons with the residual gas molecules in the vacuum chamber of the storage ring. In the calculation, the 3.5GeV, 300mA electron beam and a 15 m long insertion-device straight section （0.133 μPa） were taken into account, and the safety shutter was assumed to be located 12 m away from the end of the straight section. The EGSnrc code based on the Monte-Carlo method and empirical formulas were used, respectively, to calculate the thickness to satisfy the shielding requirement of the safety shutter at the front end of the SR facility, and the results were compared and the availability of EGSrlrc was proved.     

Analysis of the Anomalous Phenomenon in the Retarding Potential Analyzer Measurements

An anomalous phenomenon was observed in the retarding potential analyzer （RPA） measurements of the energy of the ion beam from an 8 cm argon ion source. The current-voltage （Ⅰ- Ⅴ） curve, which should theoretically descend, went up as the ion retarding potential was increased. Various explanations, such as the Townsend discharge theory and secondary electron emission etc. were proposed but denied by the theory application condition or the experiment results. An angle of about -10° was found between the axes of the ion beam and the RPA according to the contours of the ion beam density and direction. The particle simulation and experiment of the sum of the collector and wall current were conducted at different incident ion angles. The trends of the Ⅰ- Ⅴ curve in simulation results conformed with the experimental results in most cases. The ion trajectories were simulated at different retarding potentials with an incident angle of -10°. According ：to these results, the reason for the anomalous phenomenon is that when there is a specific angle between the axes of the ion beam and the RPA, more ions are repelled from the vicinity of the ion retarding grid to avoid striking on the grid as the ion retarding potential increases. These redundant ions reach the plate and thus lead to the formation of an ascending Ⅰ- Ⅴ curve.     

Comparison of DNA double—strand breaks induced by ^16O^8＋ in deproteinized DNA and intact cells

The yield of DNA double-strand breaks(DSBs) is sure to be influenced by the environment around DNA molecule.Inverse pulsed-field gel electrophoresis(PIGE)has been applied to compared the sensitivity of B16 cells and their DNA in DSBs induced by 75MeV/u 16O^8 beam.Results show that the percentages of DNA released from the plug(PR)in both kinds of the samples increase with the dose and approach a similar quasi-threshold of about 81%.A simple new equation was presented to calculated the break level of DNA molecules.Within a certain dose,the relationship between the break level and the dose is linear.THe yield of DSBs in deproteinized DNA was 1.11DSBs/100Mbp/Gy,while that in intact cells was 0.60DSBs/100Mbp/Gy.it is testified that deproteinized DNA is more sensitive to oxygen ions irradiation than intact cells.