Respiratory motion is one of the geometrical uncertainties that may affect the accuracy of thoracic radiotherapy in the treatment of lung cancer. Accounting for tumour motion may allow reducing treatment volumes, irradiated healthy tissue and possibly toxicity, and finally enabling dose escalation. Historically, large population-based margins were used to encompass tumour motion. A paradigmatic change happened in the last decades led to the development of modern imaging techniques during the simulation and the delivery, such as the 4-dimensional (4D) computed tomography (CT) or the 4D-cone beam CT scan, has contributed to a better understanding of lung tumour motion and to the widespread use of individualised margins (with either an internal tumour volume approach or a mid-position/ventilation approach). Moreover, recent technological advances in the delivery of radiotherapy treatments (with a variety of commercial solution allowing tumour tracking, gating or treatments in deep-inspiration breath-hold) conjugate the necessity of minimising treatment volumes while maximizing the patient comfort with less invasive techniques. In this narrative review, we provided an introduction on the intra-fraction tumour motion (in both lung tumours and mediastinal lymph-nodes), and summarized the principal motion management strategies (in both the imaging and the treatment delivery) in thoracic radiotherapy for lung cancer, with an eye on the clinical outcomes.

The circadian clock is an important regulator of growth and development that has evolved to help organisms to anticipate the predictably occurring events on the planet, such as light-dark transitions, and adapt growth and development to these. This review looks back in history on how knowledge about the endogenous biological clock has been acquired over the centuries, with a focus on discoveries in plants. Key findings at the physiological, genetic and molecular level are described and the role of the circadian clock in important molecular processes is reviewed.

Tumors in thoracic and upper abdomen regions such as lungs, liver, pancreas, esophagus, and breast move due to respiration. Respiration-induced motion introduces uncertainties in radiotherapy treatments of these sites and is regarded as a significant bottleneck in achieving highly conformal dose distributions. Recent developments in radiation therapy have resulted in (i) motion-encompassing, (ii) respiratory gating, and (iii) tracking methods for adapting the radiation beam aperture to account for the respiration-induced target motion. The purpose of this review is to discuss the magnitude, impact, and management of respiration-induced tumor motion.

The efficacy of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has been well demonstrated. However, it presents unique challenges for accurate planning and delivery especially in the lungs and upper abdomen where respiratory motion can be significantly confounding accurate targeting and avoidance of normal tissues. In this paper, we review the current literature on SBRT for lung and upper abdominal tumors with particular emphasis on addressing respiratory motion and its affects. We provide recommendations on strategies to manage motion for different, patient-specific situations. Some of the recommendations will potentially be adopted to guide clinical trial protocols.

The unique electronic properties and miniaturized dimensions of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are attractive for label-free, real-time and sensitive detection of biomolecules. Sensors based on SiNWs operate as field effect transistors (FETs) and can be fabricated either by top-down or bottom-up approaches. Advances in fabrication methods have allowed for the control of physicochemical and electronic properties of SiNWs, providing opportunity for interfacing of SiNW-FET probes with intracellular environments. The Debye screening length is an important consideration that determines the performance and detection limits of SiNW-FET sensors, especially at physiologically relevant conditions of ionic strength (>100mM). In this review, we discuss the construction and application of SiNW-FET sensors for detection of ions, nucleic acids and protein markers. Advantages and disadvantages of the top-down and bottom-up approaches for synthesis of SiNWs are discussed. An overview of various methods for surface functionalization of SiNWs for immobilization of selective chemistry is provided in the context of impact on the analytical performance of SiNW-FET sensors. In addition to in vitro examples, an overview of the progress of use of SiNW-FET sensors for ex vivo studies is also presented. This review concludes with a discussion of the future prospects of SiNW-FET sensors.