Conclusions: This audit confirms the underprovision of radiotherapy in England and shows that it is largely accounted for by low access rates of 37% rather than the 50% accepted in the literature. In consequence we estimate that 33 881 patients (13.9%) of the 243 748 patients diagnosed with cancer in England during 2006/2007 did not receive the radiotherapy we would have expected. Some of this gap in provision may be accounted for by differences in stage and performance status, which limit treatment options, for example in lung cancer. The NRAG model should be updated to take account of new data from this and other national audits, to ensure that it describes the stage and performance status of

English patients and is sensitive to the range of professional opinion about treatment options. This will be essential for long-term planning as cancer incidence increases over the next decade, but it does not weaken selleck the conclusion that there is a substantial current shortfall to be addressed immediately

to improve timely access to treatment and thus the outcomes of therapy. As more resource becomes available, it should find more be possible to consider changing dose fractionation to comply with evidence-based practice and national guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and other bodies without disadvantaging patients by increasing waiting times. Williams, M. V., Drinkwater, K. J. (2009). Clinical Oncology 21, 575-590 (C) 2009 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights Selleck CAL101 reserved.”
“Upconversion (UC) of subband-gap photons is a promising possibility to enhance solar cell efficiency by making also the subband-gap photons useful. For this application, we investigate the material system of trivalent erbium doped sodium yttrium fluoride (NaYF(4):20%Er(3+)), which shows efficient UC suitable for silicon solar cells. We determine the optical UC efficiency by calibrated photoluminescence measurements. Because these data are free from any influence of losses associated with

the application of the upconverter to the solar cell, the obtained values constitute the upper limit that can be achieved with an optimized device. Subsequently, we compare the results of the optical measurements with the results obtained by using solar cells as detectors on which the upconverter material is applied. We find an optical UC quantum efficiency of 5.1% at a monochromatic irradiance of 1880 W m(-2) (0.27 cm(2) W(-1)) at 1523 nm. The device of silicon solar cell and applied upconverter showed an external quantum efficiency of 0.34% at an irradiance of 1090 W m(-2) (0.03 cm(2) W(-1)) at 1522 nm. The differences are explained by the optical losses occurring in the upconverter solar cell device, which are dominated by the transmission of the solar cell and the incomplete absorption of the upconverting layer, and the nonlinear behavior of the upconverter. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi : 10.