Top quark mass in ATLAS

ATLAS has made several measurements of the top quark mass using proton-proton collision data recorded in 2012 at the LHC with a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. Those summarised here include an indirect determination of the top quark pole mass from lepton differential cross-sections; previous direct measurements of the top quark mass in the $t\bar{t}\to\textrm{dilepton}$ and $t\bar{t}\to\textrm{all-jets}$ decay channels as well as in the $t$-channel of single-top-quark production; and lastly, the new direct measurement of the top quark mass in the $t\bar{t}\to\textrm{lepton+jets}$ decay channel and its combination with previous measurements.Comment: Proceedings of Top2017 conference 7 pages, 6 figure

Are Local Filters Blind to Provenance? Ant Seed Predation Suppresses Exotic Plants More than Natives

The question of whether species’ origins influence invasion outcomes has been a point of substantial debate in invasion ecology. Theoretically, colonization outcomes can be predicted based on how species’ traits interact with community filters, a process presumably blind to species’ origins. Yet, exotic plant introductions commonly result in monospecific plant densities not commonly seen in native assemblages, suggesting that exotic species may respond to community filters differently than natives. Here, we tested whether exotic and native species differed in their responses to a local community filter by examining how ant seed predation affected recruitment of eighteen native and exotic plant species in central Argentina. Ant seed predation proved to be an important local filter that strongly suppressed plant recruitment, but ants suppressed exotic recruitment far more than natives (89% of exotic species vs. 22% of natives). Seed size predicted ant impacts on recruitment independent of origins, with ant preference for smaller seeds resulting in smaller seeded plant species being heavily suppressed. The disproportionate effects of provenance arose because exotics had generally smaller seeds than natives. Exotics also exhibited greater emergence and earlier peak emergence than natives in the absence of ants. However, when ants had access to seeds, these potential advantages of exotics were negated due to the filtering bias against exotics. The differences in traits we observed between exotics and natives suggest that higher-order introduction filters or regional processes preselected for certain exotic traits that then interacted with the local seed predation filter. Our results suggest that the interactions between local filters and species traits can predict invasion outcomes, but understanding the role of provenance will require quantifying filtering processes at multiple hierarchical scales and evaluating interactions between filters.Fil: Pearson, Dean. University of Montana; Estados Unidos. United States Department of Agriculture; Estados UnidosFil: Icasatti, Nadia Soledad. United States Department of Agriculture; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Hierro, Jose Luis. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de La Pampa. Universidad Nacional de La Pampa. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ciencias de la Tierra y Ambientales de La Pampa; ArgentinaFil: Bird, Benjamin B.. United States Department of Agriculture; Estados Unido

Adherence to prescribing restrictions for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer in Australia: A national population-based observational study (2001-2016)

Background: Targeted cancer therapy is often complex, involving multiple agents and chemotherapeutic partners. In Australia, prescribing restrictions are put in place to reflect existing evidence of cost-effectiveness of these medicines. As therapeutic options continue to expand, these restrictions may not be perceived to align with best practice and it is not known if their use in the real-world clinic adheres to these restrictions. We examined the treatment of women receiving trastuzumab for HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer (HER2+MBC) to determine the extent to which treatment adhered to national prescribing restrictions. Patients and methods: Our population-based, retrospective cohort study used dispensing records for every Australian woman initiating publicly-subsidised trastuzumab for HER2+MBC between 2001±2013, followed through 2016. We used group-based trajectory models (GBTMs) to cluster patients, first on their patterns of trastuzumab exposure, and then on their patterns of lapatinib and chemotherapy exposure. We described the characteristics of patients within each cluster, and examined their treatments and combinations of treatments to determine restriction adherence. Results: Of 5,052 patients initiating trastuzumab, 1,795 (36%) received at least one non-adherent HER2-targeted treatment. The most common non-adherent treatments were trastuzumab combinations involving vinorelbine (24% of non-adherent treatments); capecitabine (24%); and anthracyclines (10%). Non-adherent lapatinib use was observed in 4% of patients. GBTM identified three trastuzumab exposure clusters, each containing three further subclusters. The largest proportions of non-adherent treatments were in sub-clusters with longer trastuzumab exposure and more non-taxane chemotherapy. Patients in these sub-clusters were younger than those in sub-clusters with less non-adherent treatment. Conclusions: Our study highlights that, even during the relatively simpler treatment era of our study period, a substantial amount of treatment did not adhere to prescribing restrictions. As more trials are conducted exploring pertuzumab and T-DM1 in combination with different chemotherapies and other HER2-targeted therapies, the regulation and funding of HER2-targeted treatment will become more challenging

Use and outcomes of targeted therapies in early and metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer in Australia: Protocol detailing observations in a whole of population cohort

Background: The management of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer (BC) has changed dramatically with the introduction and widespread use of HER2-targeted therapies. However, there is relatively limited real-world information on patterns of use, effectiveness and safety in whole of population cohorts. The research programme detailed in this protocol will generate evidence on the prescribing patterns, safety monitoring and outcomes of patients with BC treated with HER2- targeted therapies in Australia. Methods/design: Our ongoing research programme will involve a series of retrospective cohort studies that include every patient accessing Commonwealth-funded HER2-targeted therapies for the treatment of early BC and advanced BC in Australia. At the time of writing, our cohorts consist of 11 406 patients with early BC and 5631 with advanced BC who accessed trastuzumab and lapatinib between 2001 and 2014. Pertuzumab and trastuzumab emtansine were publicly funded for metastatic BC in 2015, and future data updates will include patients accessing these medicines. We will use dispensing claims for cancer and other medicines, medical service claims and demographics data for each patient accessing HER2- targeted therapies to undertake this research. Ethics and dissemination: Ethics approval has been granted by the Population Health Service Research Ethics Committee and data access approval has been granted by the Australian Department of Human Services (DHS) External Review Evaluation Committee. Our findings will be reported in peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and policy forums. By providing detailed information on the use and outcomes associated with HER2-targeted therapies in a national cohort treated in routine clinical care, our research programme will better inform clinicians and patients about the real-world use of these treatments and will assist third-party payers to better understand the use and economic costs of these treatments

Altitude dependence of atmospheric temperature trends: Climate models versus observation

As a consequence of greenhouse forcing, all state of the art general circulation models predict a positive temperature trend that is greater for the troposphere than the surface. This predicted positive trend increases in value with altitude until it reaches a maximum ratio with respect to the surface of as much as 1.5 to 2.0 at about 200 to 400 hPa. However, the temperature trends from several independent observational data sets show decreasing as well as mostly negative values. This disparity indicates that the three models examined here fail to account for the effects of greenhouse forcings.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Opportunities for post-market surveillance of high cost medicines in Australia: Observing trastuzumab-treated women from early through late stage HER2-positive breast cancer (HER2BC)

ABSTRACT Objectives In 2001 the Australian government circumvented traditional drug subsidy listing processes to create the Herceptin Program (HP) for HER2 metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients; in 2006 trastuzumab was subsidised for early breast cancer (EBC) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) creating opportunities for data linkage and observing patients across both treatment settings. Clinical trials established the efficacy of trastuzumab for MBC in trastuzumab-naïve patients but little is known about patients initiating trastuzumab in the adjuvant setting and subsequently receiving trastuzumab for MBC. We characterise patterns of treatment and outcomes for these patients in Australia. We estimate time from adjuvant trastuzumab initiation to metastatic trastuzumab initiation and overall survival (OS). Approach We identified a cohort of patients with a trastuzumab claim in both PBS and HP records. We calculated duration of EBC treatment as date of first trastuzumab dispensing until 21 days after the last PBS dispensing for trastuzumab or observation of a trastuzumab dispensing record in HP claims, whichever came first. We used Kaplan-Meier methods to estimate time-to-MBC treatment and OS. Results Of 11,477 EBC patients treated with trastuzumab between December 2006 and December 2012, 637 were also treated with trastuzumab for MBC. Median age at EBC treatment initiation was 53 (range 17 – 87). 94% of EBC patients received a taxane, anthracycline, cyclophosphamide and/or carboplatin as part of their treatment protocol. 61% of MBC patients received trastuzumab with a taxane, 18% as monotherapy and 7% with capecitabine. Median duration of trastuzumab therapy in EBC and MBC therapy was 11.3 (95% CI 10.7-11.6) and 9.3 (8.6-10.4) months, respectively. Median time-to-MBC therapy was 27.3 (25.5-28.2) months. Median OS from initiation of EBC and MBC treatment was 58.1 (52.9-65.7) and 23.2 (20.5-25.4) months, respectively. Conclusion HER2BC patients initiating trastuzumab for EBC therapy and progressing to MBC treatment are little examined in the clinical trial and observational literature. Australia’s unique funding arrangements allowed us to clearly distinguish between treatment for EBC and MBC which is not always possible in dispensing claims alone. We demonstrated: most EBC patients are treated according to guideline recommendations; that this patient cohort receive approximately 20 months of trastuzumab therapy across both settings; and median OS from initiation of MBC trastuzumab is approximately 2 months shorter than in the pivotal clinical trial (25.1 months)