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US scientists focus radiation beams to beat cancer
Index:
US scientists focus radiation beams to beat cancer
S. Korean bomb survivor's supporters ask state not to appeal
Global Energy Industry Evaluates Nuclear Power to Meet Future Electric Demand
Triconex Receives Certification From the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
===============================================
US scientists focus radiation beams to beat cancer
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Handyman Mort Levy said he hadn't been sick a day in his life
until he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Levy left his California home two years ago to undergo 10 weeks of intense state-of-
the-art radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York,
one of a handful of hospitals then offering the treatment.
Levy's tumor was successfully destroyed and he has since returned to work.
"I did a lot of research," said Levy, 72. "I didn't like my other options. I didn't want
surgery and I didn't want local radiation -- there are too many complications, like
incontinence."
The increasingly popular treatment Levy received, called intensity modulated
radiation therapy (IMRT), uses digital technology and computer-generated images to
aim powerful radiation beams at tumors and avoid damaging healthy organs and
tissue nearby.
Because the radiation beams are more precise, doctors can deliver more cancer-
killing energy than with conventional radiation and patients suffer fewer and less
severe side effects such as hair loss, dry mouth due to gland damage, or rectal
problems.
Studies on prostate cancer patients have shown that delivering higher doses of
radiation improves the cure rate and reduces complications.
A growing number of U.S. hospitals, almost four dozen in 23 states, are equipping
themselves to provide IMRT, which requires costly specialized training.
The treatment option will gain adherents with higher government health insurance
reimbursement rates that go into effect in early 2002, according to Varian Medical
Systems Inc.<VAR.N>, the world's largest maker of radiation equipment.
"Our goal is to have 180 or 200 hospitals offering this (technology) a year from now,"
Varian president and chief executive Richard Levy said. Levy is no relation to patient
Mort Levy.
CANCER ON THE RISE
The incidence of cancer of all kinds is rising about 3 percent a year in the United
States as the population ages. The American Cancer Society has estimated that 1.2
million new U.S. U.S. cancer cases are diagnosed each year.
U.S. cancer treatment outlays total about $60 billion annually, with $1.4 billion of that
spent on radiation therapy. The balance mostly is spent on drugs for chemotherapy
and on surgical procedures.
IMRT, which has mostly been used to treat prostate and head and neck cancers, is
increasingly being employed against breast and lung cancers thanks to the
enhancements that allow radioactive beams to hit moving targets as the patient
breathes.
"Respiratory gating (the tracking technology) tackles a problem we've had with
radiotherapy since it's inception. The tumor moves as the patient breathes, especially
a tumor in the abdomen and lungs," said Richard Emory, chief medical physicist at
Saint Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York.
"The radiation beams have been fixed and we have not been able to compensate for
that until now," he said.
Radiation therapy has come a long way since being introduced in the 1930s when
cobalt machines were were used to treat cancer patients.
"It was a very brute force-type approach. It was sort of like dropping an atom bomb
on a city ... everything else anywhere near the tumor also gets radiation," Varian's
Levy said.
In the late 1960s, improvements in radiology made it possible to focus the radiation
better, and radiation therapy became a standard treatment for U.S. cancer patients.
The advent of sophisticated computers made it possible to scan the diseased area
and plan out treatment.
"The next challenge is to make (eradicating tumors) so easy and so fast that it
minimizes the amount of training so that it's essentially a push-button type of
operation. We're not there yet, but we've made giant steps in that direction," he said.
------------------
S. Korean bomb survivor's supporters ask state not to appeal
NAGASAKI, Jan. 1 (Kyodo) - Supporters of a South Korean survivor of the 1945
atomic bombing of Nagasaki staged a sit-in in the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima
for about one hour Tuesday, calling for the state not to appeal a court ruling made
last December in favor of the survivor.
About 25 people supporting 74-year-old Lee Kang Young's court case conducted the
sit-in at Peace Park in Nagasaki, while another group of about 25 people conducted
a sit-in in Hiroshima in rainy weather. Lee's supporters in Nagasaki will stage a sit-in
every day through Jan. 9, the expiration date for filing an appeal.
On Dec. 26 last year, the Nagasaki District Court ordered the state to pay a total of
1.03 million yen in health-care allowances that it failed to give Lee after he left Japan
following a brief stay for treatment in 1994.
The ruling was in favor of Lee, who claimed that the 1994 Atomic Bomb Victims
Relief Law does not say A-bomb survivors living outside Japan are excluded from
receiving such benefits. He had demanded 4 million yen in compensation.
The Nagasaki court's decision followed a landmark ruling by the Osaka District Court
on June 1 last year that ordered the state to pay Kwak Kwi Hoon, a South Korean
survivor of the 1945 A-bombing in Hiroshima, health-care allowances that it stopped
providing after he left Osaka for South Korea following treatment in 1998.
''A judicial decision approving the application of the Atomic Bomb Victims Relief Law
for atomic bomb survivors abroad has been presented at the two district courts in
Osaka and Nagasaki. As long as (this country is) a country ruled by law, the state
should not file an appeal,'' said Nobuto Hirano, a member of Lee's support group.
Lee was exposed to radiation when he was working at a munitions factory in
Nagasaki when the United States dropped the A-bomb on the city Aug. 9, 1945. He
was 17 years old at that time.
The ruling came after Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi
announced Dec. 18 that Japan will help overseas A-bomb survivors visit Japan to
undergo treatment beginning fiscal 2002, with Tokyo earmarking some 500 million
yen for the project for the year.
But critics say the proposal will not help since overseas survivors, most in their 70s
and 80s, have to travel to Japan to receive the allowances for treatment.
The Osaka ruling marked the first time a Japanese court had found overseas A-
bomb survivors eligible to receive such allowances from Japan. But the state and the
Osaka prefectural government appealed the ruling June 15 last year.
---------------------
Global Energy Industry Evaluates Nuclear Power to Meet Future Electric Demand, in
an Advisory by Industrialinfo.com
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 2, 2002 - High energy prices experienced in
2001 will be remembered as the common element in most companies' financial
statements. The news for steel makers and other big electricity consumers
throughout the world was the same -- high energy prices, inadequate power supply,
and interrupted services put a major dent in earnings. The energy crisis in early 2001
forced companies to scale back production, shutdown foundries, mills and smelters,
and layoff employees. Government and industry were forced to ration electricity,
formulate energy saving strategies, and increase capital investment in power
generation projects. For example, the Brazilian government instituted an energy-
rationing plan that forces steel makers and other big electricity consuming industries
to reduce power consumption up to 20%.
With world population continuing to grow the need for more energy infrastructure can
no longer be disputed. What is debatable is how to meet the ever-increasing need for
energy in a more environmental friendly way. As governments and industry scramble
to look for solutions to the recent energy crises, countries are forced to rethink their
stands on nuclear energy.
Countries like the United States, India, Russia, and United Kingdom are turning their
attention to nuclear power. Research by Industrialinfo.com shows that nuclear power
currently provides just under a quarter of the UK's electricity generation. In the U.S.,
there are 103 operational Nuclear Power plants, providing 20% of the nation's
electricity.
Interest to expand nuclear energy continues on. The United Kingdom is considering
a strategic energy policy to revise its current nuclear policy for electricity generation.
Support for nuclear power came last May when the U.S. set up a commission to
license new reactors. The NEI reports that the U.S. will add 50,000MW of nuclear
capacity by 2020. Australia, the leading producer of uranium, just recently authorized
construction of a uranium mine. In India, three nuclear power plants will come online
by 2006. Russia is planning a $700 million (USD) nuclear district heating plant, online
by 2010.
Unlike power generation from fossil fuel, uranium is less fuel intensive and requires
minimal supplies. Uranium averages about two parts per million of the earth's crust.
Although, a vast amount of it occurs in the world's oceans, it is of a lower
concentration. Known recoverable uranium ore resources are found in Australia 27%
(889,000 metric tons), Kazakhstan 17% (558,000 metric tons), Canada 15%
(511,000 metric tons), and South Africa 11% (354,000 metric tons) (Uranium:
resources, production and demand 1999 ECD NEA & IAEA, July 2000). Australia
and Canada are the world's major producers and exporters of Uranium.
Industrialinfo.com provides daily news on the industrial market place including
specialized databases for energy specific markets. For more information on trends
and future opportunities occurring in the Power Generation market, including other
industrial and energy sectors send inquiries to powergroup@industrialinfo.com or
visit us at www.industrialinfo.com or www.iirenergy.com.
-----------------
Triconex Receives Certification From the Nuclear Regulatory Commission For
TRICON
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Triconex, a unit of Invensys and the world
leader in providing industrial safety and critical control applications, announced today
that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a Safety Evaluation
Report (SER) approving Tricon Version 9 for use in 1E nuclear power plant
Instrument and Control (I&C) systems.
"We saw a demand for digital safety system upgrades within the nuclear industry and
knew TRICON would be a perfect fit," said Mike Phillips, vice president of business
development at Triconex. "Triconex has been a quality 10CFR50 appendix B
manufacturer since the start of this initiative, three years ago."
The generic qualification of TRICON Version 9 is the first TMR (Triple Modular
Redundant) system to be qualified by the NRC. The SER encompasses both the
software and hardware, including termination panels, chassis, power supplies, main
processor modules, communication modules, input/output modules and
interconnecting cabling.
"For the existing 103 nuclear plants in the United States and new advanced nuclear
plants to be competitive and reliable, the triple redundant TRICON needs to be an
integral part of the instrumentation and control scheme," said Ted Quinn, vice
president of utility services for MDM of Laguna Niguel, Calif. and past president of
the American Nuclear Society. "The addition of this technology is a milestone that
will enhance the future upgrades and new designs of nuclear facilities."
Since the introduction of the first TRICON in 1986, Triconex has become the leader
in critical controls and safety system applications. Every country and industry that
uses TRICON has scrutinized the design and quality of manufacturing to assure
compliance to their standards. TRICON has passed the rigorous compliance
process in each of these countries. There are over 4,000 TRICONs in use today
worldwide, all in safety and critical control applications, having accumulated over
145,000,000 hours of operation without failure on demand.
About Triconex
Triconex is a global leader in the supply of products, systems, and services for
safety, critical control and turbomachinery applications. Since its inception in 1983,
the company has installed thousands of control systems solutions in a wide variety of
industries and applications worldwide. Triconex products are based on patented
Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) technology. Today, Triconex TMR products
operate in over 4,000 installations throughout the world, making Triconex the largest
and most successful TMR supplier in the world. For more information, visit the
Triconex home page at http://www.triconex.com .
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Sandy Perle Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100
Director, Technical Extension 2306
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service Fax:(714) 668-3149
ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc. E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com
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