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Radiotherapy is one of the therapeutics selected for localized prostate cancer, in cases where the tumour is confined to the prostate, penetrates the prostatic capsule or has reached the seminal vesicles (T1 to T3 stages). The radiation therapy can be administered through various modalities, being historically used the 3D conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT). Other modality of radiation administration is the intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), that allows an increase of the total dose through modulation of the treatment beams, enabling a reduction in toxicity. One way to administer IMRT is through helical tomotherapy (TH). With this study we intent to analyze the advantages of helical tomotherapy when compared with 3DCRT, by evaluating the doses in the organs at risk (OAR) and planning target volumes (PTV).

Recent research has suggested a number of applications for gold in fuel cells and related hydrogen fuel processing, which include coatings for light weight corrosion resistance bipolar plates and the incorporation of gold as catalyst to provide improvements in electrode conductivity, among others. This paper reports on the electroless deposition of gold on copper substrates from a HAuCl4.3H2O solution in 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium dicyanamide (BMP-DCA), in normal atmospheric conditions. The electrochemical behaviour of the plating solution was studied by potential sweep techniques. Results indicate that gold ions are deposited on copper without the aid of external polarization. The deposition process probably involves a displacement reaction involving copper dissolution, since no other oxidation reaction was identified. Preliminary studies using SEM/EDX showed that gold thin films, deposited on copper substrates at 333 K, present a granular nanostructured morphology, typical of electrodeposited films from DCA containing ionic liquids.

In this paper, four different binders were investigated in the process of aqueous tape casting of cordierite-based glass-ceramics and their effects on the rheological behaviour of the suspensions and on the microstructures of the green tapes were compared. Meanwhile, a good compatibility between the dispersant and binder was found to be a predominant factor to obtain an optimised cordierite glass-ceramic tape. The microstructure of the green tape was observed by SEM and the weight loss during binder burn out process was determined by DTA/TG. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the sintered tapes (at 1150 degrees C for 2 h) was also measured. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of the European Ceramic Society