[en] This book, based on the lectures given at the School, is related to the following main fields: Nuclear and Subnuclear physics; Experiments with polarized beams and targets; Coherence phenomena; Gravitational waves and 5th force experiments; Experimental techniques and particle accelerators

[en] Low dose hyper-radiosensitivity of V79 cells was demonstrated after irradiation with gamma rays and ⁴He²⁺ ions of various linear energy transfer (LET) values (58.9, 79.3 and 101.7 keV.μm^-1). In parallel, the cytogenetic analysis showed an LET dependence of aberrations at a dose of 1 Gy, while the observed chromatid fragments appeared to vary with the number of ⁴He²⁺ ions traversing the cell nucleus. The results of both studies are correlated so as to achieve a better understanding of the so-called induced radioresistance. The cell mechanism of radioresistance appears to be induced after a certain amount of energy is deposited in the cell nucleus. This amount depends both on the radiation quality as well as the number of particles traversing the cell, inducing chromosome alterations and chromatid damage. (author)

[en] The Sixteenth International Symposium on Microdosimetry (MICROS2013) was held at the Congress Centre of the Hotel 'B4 Treviso - Maggior Consiglio' in Treviso-Italy, from 20 to 25 October 2013. It was jointly organized by INFN-Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Legnaro-Padova, Italy; NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston and Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences Dept of University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA; ICRU, International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements; Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Continuing in the spirit of successful previous editions, the Symposium provided an stimulating platform for Researchers of all ages and levels of expertise of different scientific disciplines to exchange and discuss recent scientific data and findings on relevant basic physical, chemical and biological mechanisms of radiation action and their consequences for risk assessment on Earth and in Space and for radiation therapy, including neutron, proton and carbon ion therapy. It offered also the opportunity to reinforce scientific collaborations among different scientists and to foster new collaborations. The current status of topical low-dose non-linear phenomena, such as non-targeted and delayed effects, including radiation-induced bystander effects, genomic instability, adaptive response and hyper-radiosensitivity was reported and debated. The most recent technical developments in radiation detection, in particular advances in micro- and nano-dosimeters, as well as in irradiation techniques, including the current state of the art of microbeam technology for single cell irradiation and of its biological applications were also extensively discussed. The scientific sessions of the Symposium included invited keynote lectures and selected oral and poster presentations. Following the format of the previous Symposia, the scientific program was opened daily with an early-morning refresher lecture which covered an introduction to one of the symposium's main topic areas, providing a critical overview of the recent specific achievements and the conceptual evolution over time. These proceedings contain 79 refereed papers from the body of the contributions presented at the Symposium and related submitted manuscripts. The Symposium was attended by 110 participants from different countries worldwide, including many young researchers, all actively contributing to the scientific sessions. (authors)

[en] Higher linear energy transfer radiation, such as heavy ions or neutrons, has an increased biological effectiveness compared to X rays for gene mutation, genomic instability, and carcinogenesis. In the traditional paradigm, mutations or chromosomal aberrations are causative of late effects. However, in recent years experimental evidence has demonstrated the important role of the description of the modification of gene expression by radiation in understanding the mechanisms of radiation action. In this report, approaches are discussed to the mathematical description of mRNA and protein expression kinetics following DNA damage. Several hypotheses for models of radiation modulation of protein expression are discussed including possible non-linear processes that evolve from the linear dose responses that follow the initial DNA damage produced by radiation. (author)

[en] Endpoints related to cell cycle perturbations were investigated in human primary fibroblasts irradiated with 1-4 Gy of either protons (7.7 and 28.5 keV.μm^-1) or X rays. Regardless of the quality of radiation, 8 h after irradiation cells accumulated in the G2 phase, but such accumulation was maintained at 24 h from treatment only in 28.5 keV.μm^-1 protons. A marked G1/S-transition block was observed in proton as well as in X ray-treated cultures up to 24 h, with doses as low as 1 Gy. On the other hand, the number of cells positive to p21 antibody reaction was higher after proton than after X ray treatment, indicating that the 'complexity' of lesions may play a critical role in the induction of p21. (author)

[en] Alanine response to low-energy protons was studied with alanine dosemeters of 2 mm thickness, irradiated with proton beams of energy in the 1.6-6.1 MeV range. The detector's range-averaged relative effectiveness to ⁶⁰Co radiation ranged from 0.61 to 0.65. For fluence values up to 5x10¹⁰ protons.cm^-2, the alanine response was linear. (author)

[en] The induction of mutations at the Hprt locus and minisatellite sequences was studied in V79 cells, peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and lymphoblastoid cells (CCRF-CEM) exposed to gamma rays. In V79 cells the Hprt mutant frequency increased with dose at least up to 6.0 Gy, whereas the number of HPRT mutant lymphocytes increased up to 3 Gy. Clones derived from single irradiated cells were screened for mutations at minisatellite sequences by DNA fingerprint analysis. In V79 cells, a dose-response curve for minisatellite alterations was obtained up to 4.5 Gy. In contrast, very few mutations at minisatellite sequences (2/137) were detected among clones isolated from PBL of two donors irradiated with 1-4 Gy. Similar results were observed in lymphoblastoid CCRF-CEM cells irradiated with 2-3 Gy (4 mutants/180 clones), suggesting that in human lymphoid cells minisatellite DNA is more stable than in other mammalian and human cell lines. (author)

[en] Published data on inactivation of V79 cells irradiated with monoenergetic proton and ion beams (He, C, O, Ne) have been analysed. Values for RBE_a, RBE_10% and the inactivation cross section s have been evaluated in the LET range between 5 and 400 keV.μm^-1. RBE against LET curves and inactivation cross sections against LET and against Z*²/β² curves have been studied in a comparative approach with respect to the different ion types. RBE-LET curves depend strongly on the type of ion for LET>30 keV.μm^-1. At LET<30 keV.μm^-1 and low doses protons show the greatest effectiveness: at LET>30 keV.μ^-1 and high doses He ions provide the most effective radiation. Apart from protons, separation among the various ion curves is less marked in the s against Z*²/β² plot that in the s against LET plot, s against Z*²/β² curves for ions with 2(Z(10 and 200< Z*²/β² <1500 show a common trend independent of Z and are well represented by a linear relationship. (author)

[en] Shrot communication

[en] Full text: Charged particle microbeams provide a unique method to control precisely the dose and its localisation within the cell. Such a kind of tool allows studying a number of important radiobiological processes in ways that cannot be achieved using conventional broad beam irradiation, which has the inherent experimental limitation imposed by the random Poisson-distributed particle hitting. We have designed and developed an apparatus for the micro-collimation in air of low-energy light ion beams, able to deliver targeted and counted particles to individual cells with an overall spatial resolution of few micrometers. The apparatus has been built up at the 7MV Van de Graaff CN accelerator, delivering protons, deuterons, helium-3 and helium-4 ion beams in an LET range from 7 to 180 keV/μm. The beam section is reduced down to 3-7 μm² by means of a tantalum pinhole microcollimator. A semi-automatic cell visualization and an automatic cell positioning and (after irradiation) cell revisiting system, based on an inverted phase contrast optical microscope and on X-Y micro-positioning stages with 0.1μm positioning precision, has been developed. Cell recognition is performed without using fluorescent staining and UV light. Particle detection in air is based on a silicon detector while beam profile and precise hit position measurements are accomplished by a high resolution and high sensibility cooled-CCD camera and Solid State Nuclear Track detectors, respectively. A dedicated software program, CELLView named, has been developed by using the LabView 6.0 package (National Instruments) to control all the irradiation protocol operations of sample holder movement, cell visualization, image acquisition and processing, cell data logging, cell positioning and revisiting. Facility performances and preliminary experimental results will be presented