NAME: BONAYA STANLEY HIRIBAE

ID NUMBER:656913

SEMESTER: FALL

COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL MECHANICS

COURSE CODE: NSC 2215

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: PROF PATEL

ASSIGNMENT: APPLICATIONS OF PHYSICS TO MEDICINE FOR BETTER LIFE

PHYSICS IN THE MEDICINE

Medical physics is the application of physics principles to medicine or health care. It's
basically a way of using our physics knowledge to develop tools and treatments that help
humans live longer and be healthier.It helps in improving ways of treatment and diagnosing
diseases effectively.

1) USING PARTICLE ACCELERATORS TO DEFEAT CANCER

Accelerator physics, this is a branch of applied physics, concerned with designing, building
and operating of particle accelerators. As such, it can be described as the study of motion,
manipulation and observation of charged particles and their interaction with accelerator
structures by electromagnetic fields.

This branch of physics has spearheaded the development and application of particle
accelerators for cancer treatment.

Better detection of breast cancer, through the continued advancement in applied physics
techniques for breast imaging have had a significant development. This has enabled early
detection of cancer and growths through the use of computer tomography (CT) and Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI) for breast imaging.

Nuclear Medical Physics – This is a branch of medical physics that uses radiation to provide
information about the functioning of a person's specific organs or to treat disease. In most
cases, the information is used by physicians to make a quick, accurate diagnosis of the
patient's illness. This has made it easy and accurate to detect a disease.
 Use of laser medicine – this is the use of laser in medical diagnosis. Laser technology would
not have been possible without an understanding that light is a form of electromagnetic
radiation. Laser technology in medicine is used in; cutting into tissue in surgical procedures,
reshaping the cornea of the eye to improve light, cleaning clogged arteries and reshaping the
face in plastic surgery procedures among other applications.

2) BETTER DETECTION OF BREAST CANCER

Techniques for breast imaging have undergone substantial advances since the introduction of the
original film techniques. The early emulsion films were replaced with more sensitive film stocks
and finally with digital imaging. As each of these newer techniques was introduced, doses to the
patient were reduced and the sensitivity of the techniques for finding early and treatable disease
increased. Computer-aided diagnosis and the use of MRI and CT for breast imaging promises to
further advance cancer detection and treatment in the 21st century. MRI breast imaging is
proving particularly useful at finding growths in younger women and at earlier .

3) MATTER/ANTIMATTER COLLISION IMAGING

Another rapidly growing technique used to detect diseases in people of all ages is positron
emission tomography (PET). This technique uses short-lived radionuclides produced in
cyclotrons. These nuclides are labeled to compounds such as glucose, testosterone and amino
acids to monitor physiological factors including blood flow and glucose metabolism. These
images can be crucial in detecting seizures, coronary heart disease and ischemia. In cancer care
PET imaging is used to detect tumors and monitor the success of treatment courses as well as
detecting early recurrent disease.

The actual imaging technique sounds like a science fiction movie -- it involves matter and
antimatter annihilating one another. The short-lived radionuclides decay and emit particles
known as positrons -- the antimatter equivalent to electrons. These positrons rapidly encounter
electrons, collide, annihilate, and produce a pair of photons which move in opposite directions.
These photons can be captured in special crystals and the images produced by computer
techniques.
Other techniques, such as radioimmunoassay, use the decay of radioactive materials to study a
variety of physiological conditions by imaging or chemical methods.

4.Therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals.
For some medical conditions, it is useful to destroy or weaken malfunctioning cells using
radiation. The radioisotope that generates the radiation can be localized in the required organ in
the same way it is used for diagnosis – through a radioactive element following its usual
biological path, or through the element being attached to a suitable biological compound. In most
cases, it is beta radiation, which causes the destruction of the damaged cells. This is radionuclide
therapy (RNT) or radiotherapy. Short-range radiotherapy is known as brachytherapy, and this is
becoming the main means of treatment.

Although radiotherapy is less common than diagnostic use of radioactive material in medicine, it
is nevertheless widespread, important, and growing. An ideal therapeutic radioisotope is a strong
beta emitter with just enough gamma to enable imaging (e.g. lutetium-177). This is prepared
from ytterbium-176, which is irradiated to become Yb-177 (which decays rapidly to Lu-177).
Yttrium-90 is used for treatment of cancer, particularly non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and liver
cancer, and it is being used more widely, including for arthritis treatment. Lu-177 and Y-90 are
becoming the main RNT agents.

Iodine-131, samarium-153, and phosphorus-32 are also used for therapy. I-131 is used to treat
the thyroid for cancers and other abnormal conditions such as hyperthyroidism (over-active
thyroid). In a disease called Polycythemia vera, an excess of red blood cells is produced in the
bone marrow. P-32 is used to control this excess.

Caesium-131, palladium-103, and radium-223 are also used for brachytherapy, all being Auger
(soft) X-ray emitters, and having half-lives of 9.7 days, 17 days, and 11.4 days, respectively,
much less than the 60 days of I-125 which they replace.

A new and still experimental procedure uses boron-10, which concentrates in the tumor. The
patient is then irradiated with neutrons, which are strongly absorbed by the boron, to produce
high-energy alpha particles, which kill the cancer. This is boron neutron capture therapy.

For targeted alpha therapy (TAT), actinium-225 is readily available, from which the daughter
bismuth-213 can be obtained (via three alpha decays) to label targeting molecules. The bismuth
is obtained by elution from an Ac-225/Bi-213 generator similar to the Mo-99/Tc-99 one. Bi-213
has a 46-minute half-life. The Ac-225 (half-life 10 days) is formed from radioactive decay of
radium-225, the decay product of long-lived thorium-229, which is obtained from decay of
uranium-233, which in turn is formed from thorium-232 by neutron capture in a nuclear reactor.

Another radionuclide recovered from Th-232, but by natural decay via thorium-228, is Pb-212,
with a half-life of 10.6 hours. Pb-212 can be attached to monoclonal antibodies for cancer
treatment by TAT. A Ra-224/Pb-212 generator system similar to the Mo-99/Tc-99 one is used to
provide Pb-212 from Ra-224 (via Ra-220 and polonium-216 (po-216)). Pb-212 has a half-life of
10.6 hours, and beta decays to Bi-212 (1 hour half-life), then most beta decays to Po-212. The
alpha decays of Bi-212 and Po-212 are the active ones destroying cancer cells over a couple of
hours. Stable Pb-208 results, via Tl-208 for the bismuth decay.

Considerable medical research is being conducted worldwide into the use of radionuclide
attached to highly specific biological chemicals such as immunoglobulin molecules (monoclonal
antibodies). The eventual tagging of these cells with a therapeutic dose of radiation may lead to
the regression – or even cure – of some diseases.

5. Sterilization
Many medical products today are sterilized by gamma rays from a Co-60 source, a technique that
generally is much cheaper and more effective than steam heat sterilization. The disposable
syringe is an example of a product sterilized by gamma rays. Because it is a 'cold' process
radiation can be used to sterilize a range of heat-sensitive items such as powders, ointments, and
solutions, as well as biological preparations such as bone, nerve, and skin to be used in tissue
grafts. Large-scale irradiation facilities for gamma sterilization are installed in many countries.
Smaller gamma irradiators, often utilizing Cs-137, having a longer half-life, are used for treating
blood for transfusions and for other medical applications.

Sterilization by radiation has several benefits. It is safer and cheaper because it can be done after
the item is packaged. The sterile shelf life of the item is then practically indefinite provided the
seal is not broken. Apart from syringes, medical products sterilized by radiation include cotton
wool, burn dressings, surgical gloves, heart valves, bandages, plastic, and rubber sheets and
surgical instruments.

Magnetic therapy for relief of pain and inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is a common inflammatory autoimmune disease. Although disease activity
may be managed effectively with prescription drugs, unproven treatments such as magnet
therapy are sometimes used as an adjunct for pain control. Therapeutic devices incorporating
permanent magnets are widely available and easy to use. Magnets may also be perceived as a
more natural and less harmful alternative to analgesic compounds. Of interest to health service
researchers is the possibility that magnet therapy might help to reduce the economic burden of
managing chronic musculoskeletal disorders. When magnetic "flux" (the north/south flow of a
magnet) passes through tissue, a secondary current is created around the flux lines in the tissue
cells. This ionizes the protoplasm and rejuvenates the tissues by activating cell metabolism. The
function of the cell becomes strengthened as the cell metabolism responds to the bioelectrical
currents initiated by the magnetic flux. This current induces muscle spasms to decrease and the
activated cell metabolism lowers inflammation in the tissue. The increase of cellular metabolism
aids in the regeneration as well as in new cell growth. As the use of isomagnetics in clinics
around the world continues to increase, healers are seeing firsthand how natural magnetism
promotes health and provides energy by eliminating disorder in the various biological
systems. Stimulating blood circulation and building new cells to rejuvenate the tissues of the
body does this. The biomagnetic effect on iron and oxygen in the body allows the hemoglobin
active movement, thereby activating circulations in a remarkable way. Ineffective and weakened
blood cells are appropriately strengthened and more fresh, vital blood is pumped in the
system. With the respiratory exchange, improved and cellular metabolism activated to increase
vitality, prevention and cure of disease become a natural conclusion.

6.Use of physics in mechanical therapy

Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health
professions that, by using mechanical force and movements (bio-mechanics
or kinesiology, manual therapy, exercise therapy, and electrotherapy, remediates impairments
and promotes mobility and function. Physical therapy is used to improve a patient's quality of life
through examination, diagnosis, prognosis, physical intervention, and patient education. It is
performed by physical therapists (known as physiotherapists in many countries).

In addition to clinical practice, other activities encompassed in the physical therapy profession
include research, education, consultation and administration. Physical therapy services may be
provided as primary care treatment or alongside, or in conjunction with, other medical services.
Physical therapy attempts to address the illnesses, or injuries that limit a person's abilities to
move and perform functional activities in their daily lives. PTs use an individual's history
and physical examination to arrive at a diagnosis and establish a management plan and, when
necessary, incorporate the results of laboratory and imaging studies like X-rays, CT-scan, or MRI
findings. Electrodiagnostic testing (e.g., electromyograms and nerve conduction velocity testing)
may also be used. PT management commonly includes prescription of or assistance with specific
exercises, manual therapy and manipulation, mechanical devices such as traction, education,
physical agents which includes heat, cold, electricity, sound waves, radiation, assistive devices,
prostheses, orthoses and other interventions. In addition, PTs work with individuals to prevent
the loss of mobility before it occurs by developing fitness and wellness-oriented programs for
healthier and more active lifestyles, providing services to individuals and populations to develop,
maintain and restore maximum movement and functional ability throughout the lifespan. This
includes providing therapeutic treatment in circumstances where movement and function are
threatened by aging, injury, disease or environmental factors. Functional movement is central to
what it means to be healthy.

Physical therapy is a professional career which has many specialties

including musculoskeletal, sports, neurology, woundcare, EMG, cardiopulmonary, geriatrics, ort
hopedics, women's health, and pediatrics. Neurological rehabilitation is in particular a rapidly
emerging field. PTs practice in many settings, such as private-owned physical therapy
clinics, outpatient clinics or offices, health and wellness clinics, rehabilitation hospitals facilities,
skilled nursing facilities, extended care facilities, private homes, education and research
centers, schools, hospices, industrial and this workplaces or other occupational
environments, fitness centers and sports training facilities.

Physical therapists also practise in the non-patient care roles such as health policy,health
insurance, health care administration and as health care executives. Physical therapists are
involved in the medical-legal field serving as experts, performing peer review and independent
medical examinations.

Education varies greatly by country. The span of education ranges from some countries having
little formal education to others having doctoral degrees and postdoctoral residencies and
fellowships.
7.Use of physics in cancer chemotherapy

The Physics of Living Systems Community has collectively become excited at the possibility of
contributing to a better understanding of and better treatment options for cancer. For example,
sessions on the physics of cancer are now commonplace at international meetings and several
special issues of physics journals have been devoted to this topic. And, there is definitely some
reciprocal interest. The NCI has been running a Physical Science-Oncology program for the past
5 years, explicitly devoted to bringing physical scientists into contact with the cancer biology and
clinical oncology communities. As another example, the Cancer Research and Prevention
Institute of Texas has shown a remarkable willingness to fund researchers (such as several
contributors to this special section) who are trying to contribute to this area.

So, what is the logic behind these events? The answer lies in the hope that physical science can
offer both tools and concepts that could help deal with the amazingly complex story of cancer as
it has come to be appreciated. Aside from some special cases, attempting to cure cancer by
following the simple path of finding a single defect (perhaps one key driver mutation leading to
constitutive activity of a specific signaling protein and downstream pathway) and subsequently
devising a small-molecule therapy just has not proven to be a powerful enough strategy. In fact,
cancers often respond to such treatment with short-term retraction that is followed inexorably by
long-term renewed vigor. This defeat of therapy can occur through a variety of individual cell
changes (for example, resistance mutations), through collective changes within the entire tumor,
and through recruitment of surrounding normal cells; the details are sorely absent. Surely,
coupled to this is the fact that cancers are remarkably heterogeneous in their genomic profiles
and in their physical manifestations; there are many redundant pathways leading to similar dire
consequences. We as a society are thus faced with the prospect of spending hundreds of
thousands of dollars per patient on drugs that increase life expectancy by merely a few months. It
may be the height of hubris to think that physicists can make progress on topics that have resisted
the best efforts of the oncology community, but there is certainly a strong motivation to try.

In this special section of Cancer Research, we have asked a small number of prominent
researchers from the physics of cancer community to explain some of their methods, ideas, and
directions to cancer research professionals. As can be seen, there is not one unique aspect of the
cancer problem that specifically attracts the interest of the physical science community. Instead,
mathematical modeling and controlled quantitative experimentation are contributing across the
research spectrum, from fundamental issues about the genetic circuitry underlying cell decisions
correlated with increasingly intractable disease, and the complex role of the chemical and
mechanical microenvironment in tumor progression, to the statistical analysis of large-scale
“omics” data, to advanced imaging modalities, and finally to attempt to glean more insight from
clinical trial response curves. Our potential contributions should not be compartmentalized, as if
there were one identifiable part of each project that somehow needs physics and mathematics
whereas the rest can proceed “normally.” We are not just advanced informatics technicians.
Experience in other areas of biological physics has shown that integrated multidisciplinary
efforts are hard to arrange and maintain, but well worth the effort. We hope that this journal
section will help in this regard and that here too it will prove to be well worth the effort.

The article by Lu and colleagues focuses on the genetic logic underlying the epithelial–
mesenchymal (EMT) transition and its coupling to other cell changes that collectively allow for
the various parts of metastatic spread. The article aims for a general framework for making sense
of disparate data, not for a precise characterization of one type of tumor with one specific set of
data. Underlying this type of work is a strong commitment to the vision espoused by Hanahan
and Weinberg in their updated classic work on the hallmarks of cancer; that vision is that we can
aim toward “cancer research as an increasingly logical science, in which myriad phenotypic
complexities are manifestations of a small set of underlying organizing principles.”

The hallmark of tissue invasion is not just a change in the state of the transcriptional and
translational regulatory network. The genetic changes of course have specific biophysical
consequences, which is of course the whole point of EMT from the cell's perspective. Unlike
most in vitro studies, however, tissue invasion necessitates studying how the cells move within a
complex extracellular matrix (ECM). Interactions between cells and the ECM are the subject
discussed in two articles, by Sander and Rubashkin and colleagues. The first focuses on
mechanical aspects, especially the feedback between forces generated by the cell and the
alignment of the fibrous proteins underlying ECM structure. The other article adds to this, the
clearly important signaling aspects of this interaction, explicitly focusing on the manner in which
ECM affects adhesion complexes and strongly alters signaling therefrom. All this effort follows
the seminal ideas of Mina Bissell, who has long focused attention on the bidirectional crosstalk
that exists between a cell and its surrounding ECM (a “dynamic reciprocity”), in which the ECM
influences cell behavior and the cell, in turn, remodels the ECM, which then further acts on the
cell.
Much of cancer research is focused on the genetic basis for the aberrant behavior seen in cell
decision-making, cell metabolism, and cellular interactions with the microenvironment. The
article by Domany reviews how statistical methods originating from physical science have been
used to construct prognostic classifiers, using correlation to help overcome shortcomings in more
mechanistic approaches. We suspect that a fusion of purely informatic ideas applied to “omics-
scale” data with detailed systems and biophysical models will help overcome the roadblocks that
to date havein many cases prevented the knowledge of individual cancer genotypes from
translating into individualized cancer therapeutics. Unfortunately, the gap between the scale of
networks that can be quantitatively understood, as demonstrated in the articles by Lu and
colleagues and Rubashkin and colleagues, and this omics scale remains quite formidable.

When one considers possible roles for physical science in clinical oncology, one immediately
thinks of the development of improved noninvasive measurement techniques. Two articles in this
section review MRI as an imaging modality, Kalpathy-Cramer and colleagues from a general
perspective and White and colleagues focusing more specifically on methods that use water
diffusion physics as a framework to construct more powerful approaches. As explained clearly,
one main challenge here is to distinguish among the many effects arising from treatment so as to
be able to accurately evaluate efficacy. The fact that modern therapies often operate in
nontraditional manners, such as by “regularizing” the vasculature or by activating tumor-
infiltrating immune system cells, can often lead to the wrong interpretation of images, mistaking
inflammation for progression, or conversely perfusion reduction for shrinkage. This research is
therefore critically needed and will become even more crucial as we learn to conduct a modern
information-based war on tumors and not just continue to assume that success is merely a matter
of counting the dead cells. Eventually, advanced algorithms will be combined with the data
analysis strategies discussed in the article by Blagoev and colleagues, leading to more effective
clinical trials and more rapid assessment of the promise of new treatment options.

The last article returns to one of the most basic questions and indeed to the one with which we
started this discussion, namely the ability of tumors to develop resistance to the some of the best
drugs in our arsenal. This work discusses possible approaches to using clinical data and carefully
designed in vitro experiments to unravel the dynamics of resistance. What is needed here are
critical tests of the assumption that has gone into many resistance models, namely that the
preexisting genetic heterogeneity of the tumor allows for the selection of resistant subclones,
without any need for more complex mechanisms. This idea, although certainly correct in some
cases, does not take into account phenotypic variability leading to drug tolerance (for example, of
“stem-like” subpopulations), does not allow for a more active role for genetic instabilities (for
example, as might be enhanced by treatment-induced hypoxia), and just plain seems too simple
given what we have learned about the sophistication of cancer cells and the tumors they inhabit.
But, these arguments are no substitute for obtaining and fitting real data, and this article takes
some initial steps along this path.

Finally, it is important to be realistic about what can be accomplished by enlisting physics and
mathematics to the cause. One should not imagine that there are waiting off-the-shelf techniques
and technologies that just need to be applied to the problems at hand. Instead, these disciplines
provide a conceptual framework replete with motivated practitioners, in which understanding
slowly emerges from detailed investigations and applications slowly emerge from understanding.
In a field in which there is a recurrent boom-bust cycle for magic bullet cures, perhaps it makes
sense to invest some resources in a long-haul strategy.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/laser-medicine
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ultrasound-scan/ https://www.livescience.com/39074-what-is-
an-mri.html