We have developed a high-frequency, high-resolution Doppler spectrum analyzer (DSPW) and compared its performance against an adapted clinical Medasonics spectrum analyzer (MSA) and a zero-crossing interval histogram (ZCIH) used previously by us to evaluate cardiovascular physiology in mice. The aortic velocity (means +/- SE: 92.7 +/- 2.5 versus 82.2 +/- 1.8 cm/s) and aortic acceleration (8194 +/- 319 versus 5178 +/- 191 cm/s2) determined by the DSPW were significantly higher compared to those by the MSA. Aortic ejection time was shorter (48.3 +/- 0.9 versus 64.6 +/- 1.8 ms) and the isovolumic relaxation was longer (17.6 +/- 0.6 versus 13.5 +/- 0.6 ms) when determined by the DSPW because it generates shorter temporal widths in the velocity spectra when compared to the MSA. These data indicate that the performance of the DSPW in evaluating cardiovascular physiology was better than that of the MSA. There were no significant differences between the aortic pulse wave velocity determined by using the ZCIH (391 +/- 16 cm/s) and the DSPW (394 +/- 20 cm/s). Besides monitoring cardiac function, we have used the DSPW for studying peripheral vascular physiology in normal, transgenic, and surgical models of mice. Several applications such as the detection of high stenotic jet velocities (> 4 m/s), vortex shedding frequencies (250 Hz), and subtle changes in wave shapes in peripheral vessels which could not obtained with clinical Doppler systems are now made possible with the DSPW.

Adapting radiation fields to a moving target requires information continuously on the location of internal target by detecting it directly or indirectly. The aim of this study is to make the breathing regular effectively with minimizing stress to the patient. A system for regulating patient's breath consists of a respiratory monitoring mask (ReMM), a thermocouple module, a screen, inner earphones, and a personal computer. A ReMM with thermocouple was developed previously to measure the patient's respiration. A software was written in LabView 7.0 (National Instruments, TX), which acquires respiration signal and displays its pattern. Two curves are displayed on the screen: One is a curve indicating the patient's current breathing pattern; the other is a guiding curve, which is iterated with one period of the patient's normal breathing curve. The guiding curves were acquired for each volunteer before they breathed with guidance. Ten volunteers participated in this study to evaluate this system. A cycle of the representative guiding curve was acquired by monitoring each volunteer's free breathing with ReMM and was then generated iteratively. The regularity was compared between a free breath curve and a guided breath curve by measuring standard deviations of amplitudes and periods of two groups of breathing. When the breathing was guided, the standard deviation of amplitudes and periods on average were reduced from 0.0029 to 0.00139 (arbitrary units) and from 0.359 s to 0.202 s, respectively. And the correlation coefficients between breathing curves and guiding curves were greater than 0.99 for all volunteers. The regularity was improved statistically when the guiding curve was used.

There is a long history of hyperthermia in oncology, but its wide range acceptance and application are missing even today. A new approach of oncological hyperthermia, oncothermia, looks promising modality of the complementary treatment of advanced malignant cases. Our present paper is targeting this method, trying to answer the question of its feasibility to treat various advanced cases in monotherapy process, as well as its applicability for a long, large number of treatment sessions protocols.

The purpose of this study was to measure the accuracy of a three-dimensional surface imaging system (3-D SIS) in comparison to a 3-laser system by analyzing the setup errors obtained from a RANDO Phantom and head and neck cancer patients. The 3-D SIS used for the evaluation of the setup errors was a C-RAD Sentinel.In the phantom study, the OBI setup errors without the thermoplastic mask of the 3-laser system vs. the 3-D SIS were measured. Furthermore, the setup errors with the thermoplastic mask of the 3-laser system vs. the 3-D SIS were measured. After comparison of the CBCT, setup correction about 1 mm was performed in a few cases. The probability of the error without the thermoplastic mask exceeding 1 mm in the 3-laser system vs. the 3-D SIS was 75.00% vs. 35.00% on the X-axis, 80.00% vs. 40.00% on the Y-axis, and 80.00% vs. 65.00% on the Z-axis. Moreover, the probability

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