Yuzvendra Chahal rubbishes Steve Smith’s ‘two new balls’ excuse
While Steve Smith asserted that it was never going to be easy chasing 160 with two new balls in Sunday’s game in Chennai, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, said the visitors would have said two new balls was a plus-point for them had Australia won the game.The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) Method is often considered to favour the chasing team. That seemed to be the case on Sunday during the five-match series opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.A two-hour rain delay after India posted 281 for 7 from 50 overs saw Australia’s target being revised to 164 from 21 overs. It might not have been wrong to think the equation favoured the visitor, especially in the era of T20 cricket, but Australia only managed 137 for 9.The reason, according to Smith, was the crucial difference between T20s and rain-curtailed ODIs – one new ball from either end.”It was never going to be easy chasing 160 with two new balls,” Smith said at the post-match press conference.”It was sort of a good new-ball wicket to bowl with. We could have perhaps played things a little bit differently and tried to take a little bit more time upfront. It’s always hard in 20 overs to judge that. We weren’t good enough tonight,” he added.Replying to this assertion from Smith, Chahal said, “The 21-over game was a plus-point for Australia because the rules were not according to T20.””The extra fielder was always inside the circle. If they had won the game, they would have said it (two new balls) was a plus-point for them. Because in T20s, if there is a new ball from both ends, then it is good for the batsmen. There was something in the wicket, so we too had an advantage,” he added.advertisementThe leg-spinner, however, said that India’s minus-point was that they had to bowl ten overs with each new ball.”So we’ve bowled well. Whether it is a new ball or an old ball, our bowlers bowled well. We got a good start with the way our pacers bowled. We managed to keep the pressure on them from the start and didn’t give them a chance to come into the game,” he said.The 27-year-old picked up 3 for 30 from his five overs, including the crucial wicket of Glenn Maxwell and led India to a 26-run win to take a 1-0 lead in the series.The two teams will now meet in the second ODI to be played on Thursday at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah could be excused for celebrating a little more loudly than normal if he scores against Chelsea in the standout clash in the Premier League this weekend.The Egypt striker endured a miserable time at Stamford Bridge after joining Chelsea from FC Basel in 2014 — making only a handful of appearances and scoring twice before being shipped out on loan to Fiorentina.Via a move to AS Roma, where he became a crowd favourite, Salah joined Liverpool in the close season and has not looked back.The 25-year-old livewire, signed for 34 million pounds, has scored 14 goals in all competitions so far this season and will relish the chance to show Chelsea fans what he can do when the champions visit Anfield on Saturday.Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has a fearsome frontline, including fit-again Sadio Mane who scored in the topsy-turvy 3-3 draw at Sevilla in the Champions League on Tuesday when the Merseysiders surrendered a three-goal lead.But Salah’s contribution from a wide position has been particularly spectacular – not that Klopp ever doubted it.”He was a kid when he came to Chelsea, now he’s a man,” the German said.Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard believes Salah poses a significant threat to his old side, who will arrive at Anfield having won four league games in a row.”Salah is absolutely on his game. He’s superb,” Lampard told BT Sport on Tuesday, before the game in Sevilla that left both teams still battling for a place in the last 16.advertisementMOMENTUM RUINEDWhile Liverpool’s capitulation in Spain ruined the momentum built up by three league wins, Klopp’s side have conceded only one league goal at Anfield this season and the German is yet to lose to Chelsea in five clashes since taking over two years ago.Photo Credit: ReutersThey start fifth, three points behind third-placed Chelsea who might be suffering the effects of their long Champions League trip to Azerbaijan where they beat Qarabag 4-0 on Wednesday.Both sides are already being left behind by leaders Manchester City who have racked up 17 straight victories in all competitions, including 10 in the Premier League.City face Huddersfield Town away on Sunday by which time Manchester United could have cut their lead to five points if they beat buoyant visitors Brighton & Hove Albion.City are only three short of the record winning streak in a Premier League season set by Chelsea, last term, and Arsenal.Fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who were overtaken by Chelsea last week after losing at Arsenal, host struggling West Bromwich Albion who sacked manager Tony Pulis this week.Arsenal, in sixth place, face a testing trip to high-flying Burnley, hoping to prove that an impressive 2-0 win over Spurs can provide a platform for a sustained upward push.West Ham United’s new manager David Moyes will hope for a morale-boosting win at home to Leicester City. The last time the third-bottom Hammers played on a Friday they were hammered by Brighton — a result that hastened the exit of Slaven Bilic.
London, Jan 27 (PTI) A new portal of an interactive digital timeline of images celebrating Indians in Britain was launched as part of celebrations to mark Indias 69th Republic Day here.”Whatwedid.co.uk/timeline/IndiaInBritain” is a visual resource which brings together photographs included in the India in Britain exhibition, curated as part of the UK India Year of Culture 2017, with other images from the last 200 years.The portal was officially launched yesterday by Indian high commissioner to the UK, Y K Sinha alongside UK Foreign Office minister for Asia Mark Field during a special Republic Day reception.”We have had a historic and eventful year in our bilateral relationship with the UK India Year of Culture and I am certain 2018 will not be barren as far as culture goes,” said Sinha.”India and the UK are firmly looking to a very bright future based on not just our shared culture and values but also shared interests. I am very excited about the work we can do together in the decades ahead,” noted Field, the chief�guest of the reception.The new portal, born out of the photographic exhibition which toured the UK last year, marks a collaboration between the Open University, the University of Exeter, the High Commission of India and Nehru Centre in London.It grew out of decade-long research projects exploring South Asian and Indian-British connections, spanning almost two centuries ? from the period of the British Raj through to the post-war migration to present day.The exhibition was conceived and curated by Professor Susheila Nasta in collaboration with Dr Florian Stadtler and Dr Maya Parmar as an illuminating visual history of Indias impact on Britains cultural, intellectual and political life, national and global politics, human rights and equality, the arts and sport.advertisementFamous personalities are celebrated, alongside images of the ordinary and every day. The images also document moments of adversity and the discrimination faced by those who made their homes in Britain.From giants of history to the unnamed and unrecognised, the exhibition shines a light on the many individuals who helped shaped British life. PTI AK SMJ
This post is part of WRI’s “Extreme Weather Watch” series, which explores the link between climate change and extreme events. Read our other posts in this series.This post originally appeared on the National Journal’s Energy Expert Blog. It was a response to the question “Is global warming causing wild weather?”It’s the question on everyone’s minds these days: What’s up with the weather?The answer is increasingly clear: It’s our changing climate.The trends we are currently experiencing– a warmer world with more intense, extreme weather events– could not be clearer. It’s exactly what climate scientists and their models have, for many years now, forecast global warming will bring.Evidence of a Changing ClimateJuly 2011 to June 2012 was the warmest 12-month period on record for the contiguous U.S. Globally, June 2011 was the 316th month in a row that posted a higher temperature than the 20th-century average. Spring 2012, not to be outdone, was the hottest on record in the U.S. And record drought in the Southwest has helped fuel the wildfires that have already consumed about two million acres this year. (See our recent post on forest fires and climate change.)For the impact such weather has on U.S. society and economy, look no further than the record-breaking heat wave that finally let up this week. The intense heat paired with the recent derecho storm left 35 people dead, 3.5 million people without power, two trains derailed, and Midwestern crops withered. As NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco vividly put it in a speech last week, climate change is now “playing out in real time.”None of these events should come as a surprise. A small mountain of research not only corroborates what’s happening on the ground, but suggests that we are only getting a taste of what is to come. For the continental U.S., both the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the U.S. Academy of Sciences have shown that we will likely see warmer nights, more heat waves, and heavier downpours.The Public Is Catching OnNot for the first time, the public is ahead of the politicians on an issue of increasing national importance. NOAA, says Lubchenco, is experiencing “skyrocketing demand” from individuals, businesses, communities, and planners, who are clamoring for climate change data and projections. “People’s perceptions … are in many cases beginning to change as they experience something firsthand that they, at least, think is directly attributable to climate change,” she told an audience in Canberra, Australia.A recent national poll from the Washington Post appears to support her statement, with 77 percent of respondents saying government should intervene to limit U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.More Urgency Needed from GovernmentSo, with its chief atmospheric advisor ringing the alarm bell and the citizens it serves wanting action, where are leaders in Washington? Where’s the sense of urgency from a capital city that on Sunday endured its 11th straight day of temperatures that reached 95 degrees or higher – the longest such streak in 141 years of record-keeping?Congress may be loath to tackle an issue that has become a lightning rod for America’s red-blue divide, but this is a threat that should transcend politics and receive bipartisan action. What’s more, it is in our economic interest to transition to a low-carbon economy now, rather than let other countries capitalize on clean energy markets.The extreme weather is providing clear evidence that politicians should take action to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. While good progress has been made on reducing emissions from vehicles, the U.S. needs to take strong action to decrease emissions across the economy, whether through use of existing authority under the Clean Air Act or through new measures, such as Clean Energy Standard Act of 2012, introduced by Sen. Bingaman.This election so far has been all about the economy, and for good reason. But if voters want to know what’s up with the weather, they require–and deserve–an honest answer. Nature may not have a vote, but it has a voice, and it’s speaking to us loud and clear. Climate change has already made our heat waves hotter and downpours more torrential, at great cost to American lives and livelihoods.The question is: How much longer will the very real risks of a rapidly warming world continue to be trumped by perceived political risks that favor last century’s energy system?
OSU Michigan TrophyOhio State debuted a new trophy display earlier this month at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Included in it is the Buckeyes’ 2014 National Championship Trophy.On that trophy is a listing of all 15 games from the program’s 2014 title run. What is not on that trophy is the name “Michigan.” That’s right. For OSU’s victory last Nov. 29, the opponent is listed as “TUN” which stands for “Team Up North.” That’s the pejorative moniker Ohio State uses to refer to its biggest rival. Ohio State’s 2014 National Championship trophy leaves Michigan’s name off the opponent list: Buckeye Breakfast http://t.co/gNN5wRgqly— Doug Lesmerises (@DougLesmerises) September 17, 2015College football rivalries are just the best.[ Cleveland.com ]
STANFORD, CA – NOVEMBER 26: Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly argues a call with side judge Glenn Crowther during their game against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 26, 2011 in Stanford, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)After a 12-0 regular season record and a trip to the College Football Playoff, expectations at Notre Dame are surely for Brian Kelly’s squad to finish the job. Unfortunately, the latest projected bowl games don’t appear to see that happening in 2019.Following the release of the 2019-20 bowl schedule on Thursday, Sporting News came out with their projection for every bowl matchup. Fighting Irish fans will certainly be disappointed to know that their school was not projected to make it into the College Football Playoff.Instead, Sporting News is projecting that the Fighting Irish will take on AAC giants UCF in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl on December 28.Notre Dame appeared in the Cotton Bowl last year as part of the College Football Playoff, but the historic game will not be a venue for the tournament this year.At the 2018 Cotton Bowl, Notre Dame was beaten soundly by eventual national champions Clemson, 30-3. Notre Dame has never played against UCF, nor are they scheduled to over the next ten years.The Fighting Irish certainly have a tougher road to the College Football Playoff than most teams, as their lack of a potential conference championship game essentially forces them to run the table in order to be considered against one-loss teams that won their conference titles.Of the school’s 11 national championships, seven of them came when the team had a perfect record without ties.Their presence in the Cotton Bowl seems to suggest that analysts think the Fighting Irish are due for at least one or two losses in 2019.
zoom The joint venture group behind the China FOB Transportation project took delivery of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier CESI Qingdao from China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding on January 6.The joint venture of Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited (China COSCO Shipping) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) teamed up to construct and manage six LNG carriers in April 2013.The 174,100m3 CESI Qingdao is the second vessel in the series to be delivered and will sail under a long-term charter to transport LNG that Sinopec purchases from the Australia Pacific LNG project.The first vessel, the CESI Gladstone, was delivered at the end of October, 2016.The remaining four carriers will be delivered in succession by 2018. All six LNG carriers will be built by Hudong-Zhonghua.MOL controls a 20% stake in China Energy Ship Management Co., Limited, the company that owns and manages the six LNG carriers.The remaining 80% stake in the company is held by China Energy Shipping Investment Co., Limited (CESI), a joint venture of China COSCO Shipping (51%) and Sinopec (49%).
BATH, Ont. – Convicted rapist and killer Paul Bernardo has been denied early release.A National Parole Board panel at the Millhaven Institution in eastern Ontario made the decision today.Bernardo has spent more than 25 years of his life sentence behind bars for kidnapping, torturing and killing two teen girls in the early 1990s.The 54-year-old told the hearing he did dreadful things in the past that he cries over frequently, and argued he has improved himself.The panel disagreed with the designated dangerous offender, who has been eligible for parole since February.Bernardo has spent most of his incarceration in maximum-security isolation.
(The immediate aftermath of Boston Marathon explosions. Photo via Twitter by @NightShiftPol)APTN National NewsBOSTON–Kathryn Burton was sitting and chatting with her husband when the second explosion near the Boston Marathon’s finish line detonated, shattering the restaurant’s windows and sending patrons scrambling toward the back exit.Burton spoke with APTN National News via cell phone while she was walking away from the scene late Monday afternoon. She said the smoke from the second explosion also drifted into the restaurant, which sits about two blocks from the marathon’s finish line.Boston police said at least two people were killed and at least 100 were reportedly injured by the two explosions which hit the world’s most famous marathon at about 2:50 p.m. Monday. The explosions occurred nearly simultaneously about 50 to 100 yards apart, authorities said. There was a report of a third explosion occurred at about 4:30 p.m. at the JFK Library, but it turned out to be fire related.There was no warning before the explosions shattered the festive atmosphere at the marathon.There were about 26,000 runners in the race, including 2,000 Canadians.Burton, who is Mi’kmaq and originally from Eskasoni, said no one really reacted to the first explosion which sounded like a “firework.” The second explosion, however, shattered the restaurant’s windows and knocked over tables and chairs.She said people immediately began calling loved ones on their cell phones and heading toward the restaurant’s back exit.“The first explosion did not seem troublesome and then the second one was more intense and that is when the glass started exploding and the smoke was coming in,” said Burton, who works for the Massachusetts State Democrats in Boston. “It is mass chaos right now.”Burton said there was a widespread belief immediately following the explosions that it was the result of a terror attack.“That is the belief by those who have been in the area,” she said.NBC, quoting law enforcement sources, said a homemade bomb caused the explosions.The Associated Press, quoting intelligence sources, reported that two more explosive devices were also found and disabled.The airspace over the Boston explosion site was closed and security was tightened in New York City and at the White House.
The Canadian PressWINNIPEG – An internal federal government report says almost half the First Nations across Canada have “little to no fire protection” and rely too heavily on poorly trained volunteer firefighters who can’t do the job. The 2011 report examining insurance coverage for First Nations communities, obtained by The Canadian Press through Access to Information legislation, found only 56 per cent of First Nation sites across Canada have adequate fire protection – most because they depend on a neighbouring municipality. British Columbia and Manitoba had the highest percentage of First Nation sites with little to no fire protection while First Nations in Atlantic Canada had the most sites with adequate service. “The number of fire-related deaths in First Nations is also a major concern,” the consultant’s report said. “The fire death rates in First Nations are substantially higher than those off reserve.” The report found that fire incidence rates for First Nations are 2.4 times higher than for the rest of Canada. First Nations residents are also 10 times more likely to die in a house fire. The victims are often young children. A two-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl were carried by their father from a burning home this year on the Makwa Sahgaiehcan reserve in Saskatchewan. They were pronounced dead at the scene. The fire department from a neighbouring municipality didn’t respond due to a funding dispute with the First Nation. Two-month-old Errabella Harper died in a house fire on the St. Theresa Point First Nation in 2011. At the time, the community’s fire truck was broken, with no fire hoses and no one knew where the keys were. A second fire about two months later on the God’s Lake Narrows First Nation killed Demus James and his two grandchildren. Neighbours tried unsuccessfully to douse the flames with buckets, wet towels and a low-pressure hose. An inquest into the deaths found the reserves were woefully unprepared. Reserves rely too much on volunteers who aren’t properly trained to protect homes that are dilapidated and not built to code, the government report found. There is a high attrition rate and volunteers don’t “adequately serve the public interest,” it added. As the Liberal Indigenous Affairs critic, Carolyn Bennett called federal funding for fire protection services “appalling.” Now Indigenous Affairs minister, Bennett said the report’s findings are “not acceptable.” First Nations need better fire prevention tools and adequate housing, as well as the ability to fight fires when they break out, she said. “We think there are far too many First Nations families living in homes that other Canadians wouldn’t be subject to,” Bennett said in an interview. “This is a goal for all of us and for all Canadians _ they don’t think that First Nations people should be living in third-world conditions.” Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson, with Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, which represents northern First Nations, said the lack of fire protection provided to First Nations would never be tolerated in any other Canadian community. “It’s appalling,” North Wilson said. “Are we second, third-class citizens?” First Nations have very little discretionary spending and fire protection has to go up against housing, education, water and sewer systems, she said. Deliberately under-funding basic priorities like fire protection is “racist,” she said. A spokesperson for the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada said the government takes issue with parts of its report. The report “does not provide a complete picture of fire protection coverage in First Nation communities today,” said Michelle Perron, in an emailed statement. A reserve can have more than one site, some of which may not have housing or infrastructure and “therefore no fire protection service,” she said. On Wasagamack First Nation, a remote northern Manitoba reserve, last week, a brand-new youth centre which hadn’t even opened yet burned to the ground. Chief Sharon Mason said the volunteer fire department was only able to keep the fire from destroying the adjacent community hall. It was the best the department could do with an ancient fire truck that still bears the name of a town in the United States. “We need a proper fire hall. We need a truck that actually works. We need supplies for our volunteers,” she said, adding the reserve can’t afford to lose any homes because it is already struggling with a chronic housing shortage. “Fire safety is really critical.”
HACCI and HABC have collaborated and bought a joint stand at the Thessaloniki International Trade Fair (TIF) this year. They are seeking interest from Australian businesses to share a stall within their exhibition space.Held annually and now in its 78th year, the fair is designed to showcase businesses in the European and international market.It is the largest trade fair in the region and offers businesses the opportunity to reach a wide and lucrative market within Greece, Europe and the Balkans. TIF is the only trade and consumer exhibition in Greece and attracts more than 800 exhibitors and approximately 200,000 visitors.The theme for TIF 2013 is ‘Innovation – Technology – Development – Regeneration’ and is open to all industries, including construction, furniture, energy, IT, farming, tourism, hospitality, food, clothing/fashion, design, architecture and engineering. Facebook Twitter: @NeosKosmos Instagram
Medical staff take plane crash victim Syangboche Karki to Grande International Hospital, in Kathmandu on 14 April. Photo: AFPA small plane veered off the runway and hit two helicopters while taking off near Mount Everest on Sunday, killing three people and injuring three, officials said.The accident happened at Lukla airport which is the main gateway to the Everest region and is reputed to be one of the most difficult in the world for landings and take-offs.A co-pilot from the Let-410 run by Summit Air bound for Kathmandu and a police officer on the ground were killed on the spot, Lukla airport official Ema Nath Adhikari told AFP.Another policeman died in hospital in Kathmandu, a police spokesman confirmed.”The plane slipped towards the helipad during take-off and collided with two helicopters. The injured have been sent to Kathmandu for treatment,” Adhikari said.”We are not sure about the cause of the accident.”Lukla airport is used by thousands of trekkers and climbers heading for the Everest region each year.It is particularly busy in April as the spring mountain climbing season begins.Nepal’s aviation industry has boomed in recent years, flying tourists and goods to remote corners of the Himalayan nation where road access is limited.But the impoverished country has a poor air safety record due to weak training and maintenance. The European Union has banned all Nepalese airlines from its airspace over safety concerns.Seven people, including the country’s tourism minister, were killed in February when a helicopter crashed in the hilly east.
Living in the metro comes with its own suite of benefits – one of which is the option of living in luxury homes or dreaming of buying one. The Sikka group has realized this dream for many families having made its foray in the luxury real estate business. On 26 July, the Sikka group launched their upcoming dream project at Noida, Sikka the Downtown, unveiled by Anil Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. The event was followed by a thundering performance by Honey Singh and Prachi Desai. Also Read – ‘Playing Jojo was emotionally exhausting’Friday evening became enthralling with the Sikka Group’s launch party of their new upcoming luxury homes project called Sikka the Downtown, Noida at Sector 98, Noida Expressway. The august presence of Gurinder Singh Sikka, Chairman and his two sons Harvinder Singh Sikka and Gurneet Singh Sikka, added color to the launch night.The Sikka Group is a three decade old organization which was started in 1986 and now has a foothold is various fields of the Indian industries like Real Estate, Hospitality, Automobiles and Outdoor media decided to now amplify their presence and step into Luxury Real Estate in North India, Delhi and national capital region. Also Read – Leslie doing new comedy special with NetflixThe basic idea behind this dream project is to meet the burgeoning demand of luxury homes and real estate and to cater to young customers who travel frequently and aspire to own a home with rooms like luxurious hotels. The key highlights of the project are its central location, high-end retails spaces, corporate suites, branded residences and a luxurious 5 Star Hotel, to be managed by an international chain of hotels which is yet to be disclosed. The pricing for the homes starts from Rs 15000 per square foot approximately according to Piyush Sharma, Vice President of the firm. The land is acquired and the license and clearance is done for the land.Guests were entertained by a dance performance on top Bollywood item songs by Prachi Desai. It was followed by an equally breath taking performance by Honey Singh who sang all of his popular songs making the crowd dance to his music beats. The audiences were mesmerized by the performances and showed their enjoyment through the hoots and whistle while cheering encore! In the end, the audience went back dreaming of owning a home in Sikka – The Downtown, which for many, would probably be dream come true!
Kolkata: Amid ongoing agitation in tea gardens of Dooars and Terai in West Bengal, planters on Tuesday appealed to workers’ unions not to resort to disruptive activities while discussions on minimum wages are on. “The unions have taken to agitation during the peak season. We appeal to them not to resort to disruptive activities… We feel it is unjustified as the issue is pending at the government level,” Indian Tea Association’s Secretary General Arijit Raha told reporters here. Also Read – Speeding Jaguar crashes into Merc, 2 B’deshi bystanders killed Regular gate meetings at the garden in Dooars and Terai during the morning hours since July 2 had resulted in production loss, he said. A July 23-25 strike notice has been given by the workers unions. “The government convened a meeting on July 4 in Siliguri and subsequently appealed to all unions not to resort to gate meetings or strike work since the issue of minimum wages is under discussion,” Raha said, adding that planters are concerned about the “adverse development”. Also Read – Naihati: 10 councillors return to TMC from BJP Tea production in June was down by 10 per cent, he said, adding that production in West Bengal fell by almost 9 per cent in 2018 as per ITA crop estimates. “Unless normal operations are restored, this will further bring down the production,” Raha said, adding that Darjeeling unions had fortunately decided not to take part in the proposed strike. In fact, the West Bengal government proposed an interim hike of Rs 17.50 to increase the remuneration from Rs 132.50 to Rs 150 with effect from January 1, 2018. “The state also introduced interim payment of compensation on account of savings on the procurement cost of foodgrains at the rate Rs 9 per day per worker from May 1, 2018. These have already been implemented by the managements,” Raha said. Usually, wage agreement for tea workers is executed for a three-year period and the last agreement had expired on March 31, 2017. According to Zia-Ul-Alam, Convenor of Joint Forum of Trade Unions, an umbrella organisation of trade unions working in the tea sector, and Citu’s General Secretary (tea industry), unions protested against the minuscule hike in minimum wages. As many as 10 rounds of discussions of the Minimum Wages Advisory Committee have been held so far but no decision had been forthcoming.
Related Content News | Radiation Therapy | August 16, 2019 Drug Accelerates Blood System’s Recovery After Radiation, Chemotherapy A drug developed by UCLA physician-scientists and chemists speeds up the regeneration of mouse and human blood stem… read more News | Patient Positioning Radiation Therapy | August 07, 2019 Qfix kVue One Proton Couch Top Validated by Mevion Medical Systems Qfix and Mevion Medical Systems announced that a special version of the kVue One Proton couch top is now both validated… read more Following radiation, the bone marrow shows nearly complete loss of blood cells in mice (left). Mice treated with the PTP-sigma inhibitor displayed rapid recovery of blood cells (purple, right). Credit: UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center/Nature Communications The CT scanner might not come with protocols that are adequate for each hospital situation, so at Phoenix Children’s Hospital they designed their own protocols, said Dianna Bardo, M.D., director of body MR and co-director of the 3D Innovation Lab at Phoenix Children’s. Videos | CT Angiography (CTA) | August 07, 2019 VIDEO: Walk Around of a GE Cardiographe Dedicated Cardiac CT Scanner This is a quick walk around of the GE Healthcare Cardiographe dedicated cardiac CT system on display at the… read more One of the most important recent advances in radiation oncology has been the integration of 4-D treatment planning tools into the clinic. 4-D treatment tools have enabled the radiation oncologist to better plan and account for the tumor motion in a specific patient.During a 4-D computed tomography (CT) scan, the CT scanner continuously acquires projection data at each couch position for an interval equal to the patient’s respiratory period plus the interval needed for one CT tube rotation. The beam is turned off and the table is advanced. This process is repeated until full longitudinal coverage of the region of interest has been obtained. Typically, a total of 1,000-1,500 images are acquired during a 4-D CT study.These images are then collected and analyzed so the treating physician can understand what the tumor looks like as it moves, and also better understand the magnitude of motion for a specific tumor. The treating physician can then define a target volume that includes the shape of the tumor and the volume that accounts for motion. Some physicians treat the volume of space where the tumor spends any amount of time. Others treat a volume that represents where the tumor spends a portion of its time (i.e., 75 percent of its time is spent in this space). Data from ongoing research on the optimum volume that should be treated should be considered.For decades prior to the development of 4-D treatment planning tools, the incorporation of motion into treatment planning was based on anecdotal information, small series of studies using older technology to understand motion, and always the application of generic or population-based averages to a specific patient. With the advent of 4-D treatment planning tools, the motion for a patient can be specifically accounted for. In some instances, the motion is greater than anticipated. In this situation, it is possible the conventional approach of arbitrarily assigning a margin to account for motion may have undertreated these tumors, because their motion was significantly greater than anticipated. In other instances, the motion is far less than anticipated. In this situation, the arbitrary expansions used to encompass the expected motion result in significantly more normal tissue exposure than is necessary.Over the years, radiation oncologists have attempted to find surrogates for 4-D information. Some have tried obtaining inspiration and expiration treatment planning studies and others have used a conventional positron emission tomography (PET)/CT target volume. 4-D CT scans, however, provide more accurate spatial and geometric information than these techniques.In addition to the obvious advantages of more accurately incorporating motion into the target volume, 4-D CT imaging has some other benefits. These include overcoming the issues of blurred images associated with slow CT scans. The loss of resolution that occurs with these slow CT scans can lead to errors in the target delineation or normal tissue delineation.There are several advances in 4-D treatment planning and radiation treatment delivery that also have been recently introduced into the clinic. Linear accelerators are now being equipped with 4-D conebeam CT capabilities. This will allow the treating physician to even more accurately prove the tumor is encompassed within the treatment field at the particular instant the patient is treated. (See sidebar for more information.)Vivek Mehta, M.D., is a radiation oncologist at the Swedish Cancer Institute in Seattle, Wash. He is also the director for the Center for Advanced Targeted Radiotherapies at the Swedish Cancer Institute.SIDEBAR: 4-D Cone Beam CTThe Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AvL) in Amsterdam, a clinical partner of Elekta, has been doing studies on 4-D computed tomography (CT) for a number of years. Jan-Jakob Sonke, Ph.D., at NKI-AvL has been part of several presentations on 4-D CT and cone beam CT (CBCT) at meetings of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). In an abstract of a program presented at the 2004 annual meeting, Sonke gives the following overview:“Advances in image acquisition and reconstruction now permit generation of temporally varying (4-D) models of periodic movement (e.g. breathing) in patients from a single session of scanning. In currently emerging commercial applications the methods of data acquisition are generally through the use of fast slip ring CT scanners with single- or multi-slice detectors or through linear accelerator gantry-mounted CBCT scanners.“In conventional CT scanners, data are generally oversampled by either acquiring axial cine data over times beyond the expected periodicity of movement (e.g. 4-6 seconds for breathing) at each index of couch position or via helical acquistion with a very tight pitch. For CBCT, the gantry is generally slowed down to increase the number of projections per rotated gantry angle (limited by the data acquisition rate of the imaging system) compared to what is needed for 3-D static CBCT. To generate patient models at various phases of movement, a signal (either external or internal) of movement is used as an index.“Example external signals for breathing include air volume measured via spirometry, and movement of the chest or abdominal wall assessed from axial CT data or external sensing of reflecting markers. Internal signals have been used especially in the reconstruction of respiratory-correlated cone beam CT (RCCBCT), in these cases based on features present in the projections (e.g. diaphragm position, tracked anatomic region position). Image processing algorithms make the selection of internal signal automatic. Data from conventional CT may be sorted in either image or projection space. RCCBCT involves sorting in projection space exclusively. With current 4-D models, artifacts related to undersampling as well as irregular movement are still present to some extent. Further model-based approaches, such as temporal regularization and iterative optimization, are currently under investigation to improve the quality of 4-D CT.”In a 2006 AAPM presentation describing NKI-AvL’s continued experiences with cone beam-guided radiotherapy, Sonke’s conclusions were:• Cone beam CT provides soft tissue contrast, is efficient and does not require moving or touching the patient;• 4-D CBCT provides a wealth of information (and a huge amount of data);• Dose needed for CBCT scan is considerably smaller than for standard EPID (electronic portal imaging device) localization fields;• Imaging quality [is] sufficient for image guidance;• Several soft-tissue and bony anatomy-based protocols [are] in routine clinical use;• Substantial investment and support of vendors [is] required to enable advanced image-guided protocols;• Image guidance is potentially dangerous. Do not underestimate the residual uncertainties.Sonke and colleagues developed the technology behind Elekta’s Symmetry, which was introduced in 2010. For image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT), Symmetry captures image data during the breathing phase and performs sophisticated computations to provide 4-D data that helps visualize tumor position.— Helen Kuhl FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrint分享 News | Radiation Therapy | August 15, 2019 First Patient Enrolled in World’s Largest Brain Cancer Clinical Trial Henry Ford Cancer Institute is first-in-the-world to enroll a glioblastoma patient in the GBM AGILE Trial (Adaptive… read more News | Brachytherapy Systems | August 14, 2019 Efficacy of Isoray’s Cesium Blu Showcased in Recent Studies August 14, 2019 — Isoray announced a trio of studies recently reported at scientific meetings and published in medica read more News | Proton Therapy | August 08, 2019 MD Anderson to Expand Proton Therapy Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center unveiled plans to expand its Proton Therapy Center during a… read more Catalyst PT image courtesy of C-RAD Siemens Go.Top CT scanner at SCCT19Video Player is loading.Play VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 1:05Loaded: 15.14%Stream Type LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time -1:05 Playback Rate1xChaptersChaptersDescriptionsdescriptions off, selectedCaptionscaptions settings, opens captions settings dialogcaptions off, selectedAudio Trackdefault, selectedFullscreenThis is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window.Close Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. The MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center expansion is expected to be completed in 2023. Rendering courtesy of Stantec. Sponsored Content | Case Study | Radiation Dose Management | August 13, 2019 The Challenge of Pediatric Radiation Dose Management Radiation dose management is central to child patient safety. Medical imaging plays an increasing role in the accurate… read more Videos | CT Angiography (CTA) | August 07, 2019 VIDEO: Walk Around of a Siemens Go.Top Dedicated Cardiac Scanner This is a quick walk around of the new Siemens Somatom Go.top cardiovascular edition compact computed tomography (CT) read more Video Player is loading.GE Cardiographe cardiac CT scanner at SCCT19Play VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 0:38Loaded: 26.15%Stream Type LIVESeek to live, currently playing liveLIVERemaining Time -0:38 Playback Rate1xChaptersChaptersDescriptionsdescriptions off, selectedCaptionscaptions settings, opens captions settings dialogcaptions off, selectedAudio Trackdefault, selectedFullscreenThis is a modal window.Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentBackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparentWindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaqueFont Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadowFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall CapsReset restore all settings to the default valuesDoneClose Modal DialogEnd of dialog window.Close Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. News | Patient Positioning Radiation Therapy | August 15, 2019 Mevion and C-RAD Release Integration for Improved Proton Therapy Treatment Quality Mevion Medical Systems and C-RAD announced the integration between the C-RAD Catalyst PT and the Mevion S250i proton… read more Feature | October 06, 2011 | Vivek Mehta, M.D. 4-D Tools and Radiation Treatment Planning 4-D brings more precise information about tumor motion to the treatment planning process News | Proton Therapy | August 06, 2019 IBA Signs Contract to Install Proton Therapy Center in Kansas IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) recently signed a contract and received the first payment for a Proteus One solution… read more
News | February 13, 2012 Largest Neurosurgical Center in Russia Acquires Elekta’s Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion Related Content News | Brachytherapy Systems | August 14, 2019 Efficacy of Isoray’s Cesium Blu Showcased in Recent Studies August 14, 2019 — Isoray announced a trio of studies recently reported at scientific meetings and published in medica read more Feature | August 05, 2019 | Dave Fornell, Editor Most Popular Radiology and Radiotherapy Topics in July 2019 August 5, 2019 — Here is the list of the most popular content on the Imaging Technology New (ITN) magazine website fr read more News | Radiation Oncology | July 31, 2019 Laura Dawson, M.D., FASTRO, Chosen as ASTRO President-elect The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) elected four new officers to ASTRO’s Board of… read more The MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center expansion is expected to be completed in 2023. Rendering courtesy of Stantec. News | Patient Positioning Radiation Therapy | August 07, 2019 Qfix kVue One Proton Couch Top Validated by Mevion Medical Systems Qfix and Mevion Medical Systems announced that a special version of the kVue One Proton couch top is now both validated… read more February 13, 2012 — Russia’s first Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion system has found a home at the renowned N.N. Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute, five minutes by car from Moscow’s Red Square. On June 2, 2011, a 59-year-old woman was the first Perfexion patient, receiving Gamma Knife radiosurgery to treat tumor tissue that remained following open surgery. Now, eight months later, the Institute has treated more than 400 patients on the system, half of them with one or more metastases, tumors for which Gamma Knife surgery is increasingly regarded as the preferred frontline treatment.Gamma Knife surgery is a gentler alternative to traditional brain surgery for illnesses such as metastatic disease – cancer that has traveled to the brain from elsewhere in the body. The system precisely delivers up to thousands of low-intensity radiation beams to one or more targets in a single session.Gamma Knife technology is not new to Burdenko clinicians – they had operated a Leksell Gamma Knife C since 2005, treating a total of 1,812 patients and comprising 2,075 radiosurgery treatments over six years. Many of these patients received Gamma Knife surgery to treat multiple metastases, which often involved multiple treatment sessions or single sessions that could stretch to several hours.”In the United States and European countries, there is some discussion about a threshold for the number of mets treated in a single session – three or four or more, but we’ve tried to treat all of them,” says Andrey Golanov, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Department of Radiotherapy and Radiosurgery. “The most we’ve treated with our previous Gamma Knife is 32 mets in one session, but of course that took many hours. In the past, however, many patients with multiple mets had deposits located in different parts of the brain or had radioresistant mets. Both types of cases have required more than one session. Leksell Gamma Knife Perfexion has completely changed our approach to multiple metastases – we no longer have any limitations.”Perfexion dramatically streamlines the radiosurgery workflow and expands the treatable volume through an automated, multi-source collimator. The result has been faster set-up and treatment delivery to one or more tumors in a single session.”Everything’s easier with Perfexion, and that makes it easier for both patients and staff,” said Golanov. “There’s the potential for more indications, it’s easier to plan and treat and the dose planning is superior with higher conformity. This is particularly evident in treating patients with multiple mets. For example, just yesterday we treated a patient with five metastases in only one hour – and these were large lesions requiring more than one beam per tumor.””In November 2011, Dr. Golanov won a prestigious radiotherapy award for best treatment of brain metastasis, using Perfexion,” said Nabil Elias Romanos, vice president, Elekta Eastern Europe & Middle East. “This recognition by radiation oncology professionals of this system’s applications and efficacy for brain metastasis is good news for patients and clinicians.”Single and multiple metastases represent 37 percent of Burdenko’s Perfexion weekly volume of 15-20 patients, while classic Gamma Knife indications – a variety of benign and malignant vascular and functional targets – comprise the rest. Golanov notes that Perfexion also presents the potential to treat new indications.”We’re really happy to have Perfexion, no doubt,” Dr. Golanov says. “Leksell Gamma Knife has been the gold standard for intracranial radiosurgery for years. Perfexion makes Gamma Knife surgery even more refined, precise and efficient.”For more information: www.elekta.com FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrint分享 News | Radiation Therapy | August 02, 2019 Varian Showcases Cancer Care Systems and Software at AAPM 2019 Varian showcased systems and software from its cancer care portfolio, including the Identify Guidance System, at the… read more News | Patient Positioning Radiation Therapy | August 15, 2019 Mevion and C-RAD Release Integration for Improved Proton Therapy Treatment Quality Mevion Medical Systems and C-RAD announced the integration between the C-RAD Catalyst PT and the Mevion S250i proton… read more News | Proton Therapy | August 08, 2019 MD Anderson to Expand Proton Therapy Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center unveiled plans to expand its Proton Therapy Center during a… read more The top piece of content in July was a video interview explaining how Princess Margaret Cancer Center is using machine learning to create automated treatment plans. This was a hot topic at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) 2019 meeting in July. Catalyst PT image courtesy of C-RAD News | Radiation Therapy | August 16, 2019 Drug Accelerates Blood System’s Recovery After Radiation, Chemotherapy A drug developed by UCLA physician-scientists and chemists speeds up the regeneration of mouse and human blood stem… read more News | Radiation Therapy | August 15, 2019 First Patient Enrolled in World’s Largest Brain Cancer Clinical Trial Henry Ford Cancer Institute is first-in-the-world to enroll a glioblastoma patient in the GBM AGILE Trial (Adaptive… read more News | Proton Therapy | August 06, 2019 IBA Signs Contract to Install Proton Therapy Center in Kansas IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) recently signed a contract and received the first payment for a Proteus One solution… read more Following radiation, the bone marrow shows nearly complete loss of blood cells in mice (left). Mice treated with the PTP-sigma inhibitor displayed rapid recovery of blood cells (purple, right). Credit: UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center/Nature Communications
News | Radiation Therapy | August 15, 2019 First Patient Enrolled in World’s Largest Brain Cancer Clinical Trial Henry Ford Cancer Institute is first-in-the-world to enroll a glioblastoma patient in the GBM AGILE Trial (Adaptive… read more Following radiation, the bone marrow shows nearly complete loss of blood cells in mice (left). Mice treated with the PTP-sigma inhibitor displayed rapid recovery of blood cells (purple, right). Credit: UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center/Nature Communications “The graphical user interface is uncomplicated and patient setup is quite simple, contributing to a smooth, efficient workflow,” said Perez-Calatayud. “The patients have accepted the treatment very well and side effects reported for the first treated patients have been very mild — typically just little skin reddening or itching,” said José Perez-Calatayud, head of medical physics, Hospital La Fe. “The treatment delivery times have averaged less than three minutes per lesion, for a total treatment session of seven to eight minutes. This short therapy delivery is important, certainly, for patients with multiple lesions. One of the patients we treated had nine lesions.” November 15, 2013 — Hospital La Fe, a clinical collaborator of Nucletron, an Elekta company, is nearing the conclusion of the enrollment phase of a clinical study with the Esteya electronic brachytherapy system for treating skin cancer. First clinical data on efficacy are expected in about two months, but physicians in the center’s radiotherapy department are already reporting that patients have tolerated the treatments well and that the system is user-friendly. News | Radiation Therapy | August 02, 2019 Varian Showcases Cancer Care Systems and Software at AAPM 2019 Varian showcased systems and software from its cancer care portfolio, including the Identify Guidance System, at the… read more “With five surface applicators ranging in size from 1 cm to 3 cm, we have a great opportunity to adapt to the lesion’s size, thus helping us avoid exposing normal tissue,” said Perez-Calatayud. “And the leakage dose — the dose outside the volume to be treated — is extremely low due to the combination of low energy and tungsten shielding of the applicators.” The top piece of content in July was a video interview explaining how Princess Margaret Cancer Center is using machine learning to create automated treatment plans. This was a hot topic at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) 2019 meeting in July. Catalyst PT image courtesy of C-RAD Planning and delivery of electronic brachytherapy at Hospital La Fe has been exceptionally straightforward. Feature | August 05, 2019 | Dave Fornell, Editor Most Popular Radiology and Radiotherapy Topics in July 2019 August 5, 2019 — Here is the list of the most popular content on the Imaging Technology New (ITN) magazine website fr read more For more information: www.esteya.com FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrint分享 News | Patient Positioning Radiation Therapy | August 15, 2019 Mevion and C-RAD Release Integration for Improved Proton Therapy Treatment Quality Mevion Medical Systems and C-RAD announced the integration between the C-RAD Catalyst PT and the Mevion S250i proton… read more News | Proton Therapy | August 08, 2019 MD Anderson to Expand Proton Therapy Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center unveiled plans to expand its Proton Therapy Center during a… read more The enrollment of the first group of 20 patients ever to receive treatment with Esteya, was completed in October. The center is using a standard treatment protocol of 36.6 Gy over six fractions, 6.1 Gy per fraction delivered twice weekly. News | Patient Positioning Radiation Therapy | August 07, 2019 Qfix kVue One Proton Couch Top Validated by Mevion Medical Systems Qfix and Mevion Medical Systems announced that a special version of the kVue One Proton couch top is now both validated… read more News | Proton Therapy | August 06, 2019 IBA Signs Contract to Install Proton Therapy Center in Kansas IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) recently signed a contract and received the first payment for a Proteus One solution… read more News | November 15, 2013 Hospital in Spain First to Treat Skin Cancer Patients With Esteya Electronic Brachytherapy System Hospital La Fe’s study demonstrates patient-friendliness, short procedure time with Esteya The MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center expansion is expected to be completed in 2023. Rendering courtesy of Stantec. News | Radiation Oncology | July 31, 2019 Laura Dawson, M.D., FASTRO, Chosen as ASTRO President-elect The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) elected four new officers to ASTRO’s Board of… read more News | Radiation Therapy | August 16, 2019 Drug Accelerates Blood System’s Recovery After Radiation, Chemotherapy A drug developed by UCLA physician-scientists and chemists speeds up the regeneration of mouse and human blood stem… read more Related Content News | Brachytherapy Systems | August 14, 2019 Efficacy of Isoray’s Cesium Blu Showcased in Recent Studies August 14, 2019 — Isoray announced a trio of studies recently reported at scientific meetings and published in medica read more 