Methodological assessment of HCC literature

Despite the fact that the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a major health problem, very few interventions are available for this disease, and only sorafenib is approved for the treatment of advanced disease. Of note, only very few interventions have been thoroughly evaluated over time for HCC patients compared with several hundreds in other, equally highly lethal, tumours. Additionally, clinical trials in HCC have often been questioned for poor design and methodological issues. As a consequence, a gap between what is measured in clinical trials and what clinicians have to face in daily practice often occurs. As a result of this scenario, even the most recent guidelines for treatment of HCC patients use low strength evidence to make recommendations. In this review, we will discuss some of the potential methodological issues hindering a rational development of new treatments for HCC patient

Coupled quintessence and vacuum decay

We discuss observational consequences of a class of cosmological models characterized by the dilution of pressureless matter attenuated with respect to the usual $a^{-3}$ scaling due to the decay of vacuum energy. We carry out a joint statistical analysis of observational data from the new \emph{gold} sample of 182 SNe Ia, recent estimates of the CMB shift parameter, and BAO measurements from the SDSS to show that such models favor the decay of vacuum only into the dark matter sector, and that the separately conserved baryons cannot be neglected. In order to explore ways to more fundamentally motivated models, we also derive a coupled scalar field version for this general class of vacuum decay scenarios.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, LaTe

Large-scale analysis of the SDSS-III DR8 photometric luminous galaxies angular correlation function

We analyse the large-scale angular correlation function (ACF) of the CMASS luminous galaxies (LGs), a photometric-redshift catalogue based on the Data Release 8 (DR8) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III. This catalogue contains over $600 \, \, 000$ LGs in the range $0.45 \leq z \leq 0.65$, which was split into four redshift shells of constant width. First, we estimate the constraints on the redshift-space distortion (RSD) parameters $b\sigma_8$ and $f\sigma_8$, where $b$ is the galaxy bias, $f$ the growth rate and $\sigma_8$ is the normalization of the perturbations, finding that they vary appreciably among different redshift shells, in agreement with previous results using DR7 data. When assuming constant RSD parameters over the survey redshift range, we obtain $f\sigma_8 = 0.69 \pm 0.21$, which agrees at the $1.5\sigma$ level with Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey DR9 spectroscopic results. Next, we performed two cosmological analyses, where relevant parameters not fitted were kept fixed at their fiducial values. In the first analysis, we extracted the baryon acoustic oscillation peak position for the four redshift shells, and combined with the sound horizon scale from 7-year \textit{Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe} $(WMAP7)$ to produce the constraints $\Omega_{m}=0.249 \pm 0.031$ and $w=-0.885 \pm 0.145$. In the second analysis, we used the ACF full shape information to constrain cosmology using real data for the first time, finding $\Omega_{m} = 0.280 \pm 0.022$ and $f_b = \Omega_b/\Omega_m = 0.211 \pm 0.026$. These results are in good agreement with $WMAP7$ findings, showing that the ACF can be efficiently applied to constrain cosmology in future photometric galaxy surveys.Comment: MNRAS accepted. Minor corrections to match publish versio

Avaliação dos parâmetros físicos e nutricionais de amêndoas de chichá, sapucaia e castanha-do-gurguéia.

O Brasil, graças a sua localização geográfica e dimensão territorial, é um dos maiores repositórios de espécies nativas do mundo. Existem na flora nativa brasileira e, em especial, na Região Meio-Norte do Brasil, constituída pelos estados do Piauí e Maranhão, algumas espécies ainda pouco conhecidas, mas que apresentam potencialidades para o mercado de amêndoas, tais como, o chichá (Sterculia striata St. Hill. et Naud), a sapucaia (Lecithys pisonis Camb.) e a castanha-do-gurguéia (Dipteryx spp.). Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar os parâmetros físicos e nutricionais de sementes e amêndoas de chichá, sapucaia e castanha-do-gurguéia, assim como o potencial destas para a nutrição humana. Foram realizadas análises físicas do diâmetro, comprimento e peso médio das amêndoas, e as análises físico-químicas do teor de proteína bruta, fi bra bruta, lipídios, carboidratos totais, energia, umidade e cinzas. Os três tipos de amêndoas analisadas mostraram-se bastante distintas em suas características físicas e nos seus valores nutricionais, porém, todas possuem uma boa composição nutricional no que se referem, principalmente, ao teor de proteínas, lipídios e carboidratos totais. A sapucaia destacou-se, dentre as amêndoas avaliadas, por apresentar as maiores médias para a maioria dos parâmetros avaliados (exceto umidade e carboidratos totais), sendo, do ponto de vista energético e protéico, a mais promissora como alimento. Os aspectos nutricionais das três amêndoas avaliadas conferem a elas características que podem torná-las competitivas com as principais amêndoas amplamente comercializadas no mercado nacional e internacional

Redshift-Distance Survey of Early-type Galaxies. I. Sample Selection, Properties and Completeness

This is the first in a series of papers describing the recently completed all-sky redshift-distance survey of nearby early-type galaxies (ENEAR) carried out for peculiar velocity analysis. The sample is divided into two parts and consists of 1607 elliptical and lenticular galaxies with cz < 7000 km/s and with blue magnitudes brighter than m_B=14.5 (ENEARm), and of galaxies in clusters (ENEARc). Galaxy distances based on the Dn-sigma and Fundamental Plane (FP) relations are now available for 1359 and 1107 ENEARm galaxies, respectively, with roughly 80% based on new data gathered by our group. The Dn-sigma and FP template distance relations are derived by combining 569 and 431 galaxies in 28 clusters, respectively, of which about 60% are based on our new measurements. The ENEARm redshift-distance survey extends the earlier work of the 7S and the recent Tully-Fisher surveys sampling a comparable volume. In subsequent papers of this series we intend to use the ENEAR sample by itself or in combination with the SFI Tully-Fisher survey to analyze the properties of the local peculiar velocity field and to test how sensitive the results are to different sampling and to the distance indicators. We also anticipate that the homogeneous database assembled will be used for a variety of other applications and serve as a benchmark for similar studies at high-redshift.Comment: 43 pages, 15 figures, submitted to the Astronomical Journa

Redshift-distance Survey of Early-type Galaxies: The D_n-sigma Relation

In this paper R-band photometric and velocity dispersion measurements for a sample of 452 elliptical and S0 galaxies in 28 clusters are used to construct a template D_n-sigma relation. This template relation is constructed by combining the data from the 28 clusters, under the assumption that galaxies in different clusters have similar properties. The photometric and spectroscopic data used consist of new as well as published measurements, converted to a common system, as presented in a accompanying paper. The resulting direct relation, corrected for incompleteness bias, is log{D_n} =1.203 log{sigma} + 1.406; the zero-point has been defined by requiring distant clusters to be at rest relative to the CMB. This zero-point is consistent with the value obtained by using the distance to Virgo as determined by the Cepheid period-luminosity relation. This new D_n-sigma relation leads to a peculiar velocity of -72 (\pm 189) km/s for the Coma cluster. The scatter in the distance relation corresponds to a distance error of about 20%, comparable to the values obtained for the Fundamental Plane relation. Correlations between the scatter and residuals of the D_n-sigma relation with other parameters that characterize the cluster and/or the galaxy stellar population are also analyzed. The direct and inverse relations presented here have been used in recent studies of the peculiar velocity field mapped by the ENEAR all-sky sample.Comment: 46 pages, 20 figures, and 7 tables. To appear in AJ, vol. 123, no. 5, May 200

Seleção de clones de cajueiro comum pelo método em "Tandem" e índice de classificação.

Com o objetivo de selecionar clones de cajueiro comum e avaliar a eficiência da metodologia do índice da soma de classificação no melhoramento da cultura foi instalado, em 1999, um experimento em área de produtor, no município de Beberibe, CE, no delineamento de blocos ao acaso com 40 clones, três repetições e cinco plantas por parcela, no espaçamento de 10 m x 10 m. Os clones foram avaliados, durante cinco anos, para altura de planta (m) e diâmetro da copa (m). A avaliação da produção de castanha (kg/planta/safra) foi feita em três safras. A maior produtividade de castanha foi para o clone Comum 30, com 885 kg.ha-1 e 1.117 kg.ha-1, respectivamente na primeira e segunda safra, enquanto que o clone Comum 21 se destacou no terceiro ano de produção com 1.299 kg.ha-1. Pela avaliação conjunta do porte das plantas, produção de castanha, performance fenotípica do clone e características tecnológicas da amêndoa, os clones Comum 18, Comum 21, Comum 28, Comum 30, Comum 31 e Comum 36 foram selecionados para teste em larga escala. A seleção de clones de cajueiro comum através do índice da soma de classificação revelou-se inapropriada quando comparada ao método em "tandem"