Evidence of trauma in a ca. 1-million-year-old patella of Homo antecessor, Gran Dolina-Atapuerca (Spain)

We present the palaeopathological study of a left patella (ATD6-56) belonging to the Early Pleistocene species Homo antecessor (Atapuerca-Gran Dolina, Spain). The abnormal morphology observed in the inferior margin of the patella is an osseous overgrowth (osteophyte). Macroscopic and microscopic techniques, including microtomography and zoom stereomicroscope, were used to describe the lesion. Externally, the osteophyte has a smooth and porous texture; the boundary between the more radiolucent osteophyte and the normal bone can be identified in X-ray images. We suggest that the observed signs could be secondary to a local trauma. The lesion would have involved either the bone or related soft tissues of the left limb, possibly affecting the stability of the joint. Consequently, the individual's knee would have suffered an abnormal mechanical load that could have eventually triggered osteoarthritic changes. This is also supported by the lack of changes observed in the associated right patella (ATD6-22)

Comparative Analysis of Some Modal Reconstruction Methods of the Shape of the Cornea from Corneal Elevation Data

Purpose: A comparative study of the ability of some modal schemes to reproduce corneal shapes of varying complexity was performed, by using both standard radial polynomials and radial basis functions (RBFs). The hypothesis was that the correct approach in the case of highly irregular corneas should combine several bases. Methods: Standard approaches of reconstruction by Zernike and other types of radial polynomials were compared with the discrete least-squares fit (LSF) by the RBF in three theoretical surfaces, synthetically generated by computer algorithms in the absence of measurement noise. For the reconstruction by polynomials, the maximal radial order 6 was chosen, which corresponds to the first 28 Zernike polynomials or the first 49 Bhatia-Wolf polynomials. The fit with the RBF was performed by using a regular grid of centers. Results: The quality of fit was assessed by computing for each surface the mean square errors (MSEs) of the reconstruction by LSF, measured at the same nodes where the heights were collected. Another criterion of the fit quality used was the accuracy in recovery of the Zernike coefficients, especially in the case of incomplete data. Conclusions: The Zernike (and especially, the Bhatia-Wolf) polynomials constitute a reliable reconstruction method of a nonseverely aberrated surface with a small surface regularity index (SRI). However, they fail to capture small deformations of the anterior surface of a synthetic cornea. The most promising approach is a combined one that balances the robustness of the Zernike fit with the localization of the RBF

The potential of using climate indices as powerful tools to explain mortality anomalies: An application to mainland Spain

Changes in the frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events represent one of the key indicators of climate change and variability. These events can have an important impact on mortality rates, especially in the ageing population. This study assessed the spatial and seasonal distributions of mortality rates in mainland Spain and their association with climatic conditions over the period 1979–2016. The analysis was done on a seasonal and annual basis using 79 climatic indices and regional natural deaths data. Results indicate large spatial variability of natural deaths, which is mostly related to how the share of the elderly in the population varied across the studied regions. Spatially, both the highest mortality rates and the largest percentage of elders were found in the northwest areas of the study domain, where an extreme climate prevails, with very cold winters and hot summers. A strong seasonality effect was observed, winter shows more than 10% of natural deaths compared to the rest of the seasons. Also, results suggest a strong relation between climatic indices and natural deaths, albeit with a high spatial and seasonal variability. Climatic indices and natural deaths show a stronger correlation in winter and summer than in spring and autumn. © 2021 The Author

Neck circumference and clustered cardiovascular risk factors in children and adolescents: Cross-sectional study

Objective Early detection of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, such as obesity, is crucial to prevent adverse long-term effects on individuals'' health. Therefore, the aims were: (1) to explore the robustness of neck circumference (NC) as a predictor of CVD and examine its association with numerous anthropometric and body composition indices and (2) to release sex and age-specific NC cut-off values to classify youths as overweight/obese. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting 23 primary schools and 17 secondary schools from Spain. Participants 2198 students (1060 girls), grades 1-4 and 7-10. Measures Pubertal development, anthropometric and body composition indices, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP, respectively), cardiorespiratory fitness, blood sampling triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), glucose and inflammatory markers. Homoeostasis model assessment (HOMA-IR) and cluster of CVD risk factors were calculated. Results NC was positively correlated with all anthropometric and body composition indices. NC was negatively associated with maximum oxygen consumption (R 2 =0.231, p<0.001 for boys; R 2 =0.018, p<0.001 for girls) and positively associated with SBP, DBP, TC/HDL-c, TG, HOMA, complement factors C-3 and C-4, leptin, adiponectin and clustered CVD risk factor in both sexes (R 2 from 0.035 to 0.353, p<0.01 for boys; R 2 from 0.024 to 0.215, p<0.001 for girls). Moreover, NC was positively associated with serum C reactive protein, LDL-c and visfatin only in boys (R 2 from 0.013 to 0.107, p<0.05). Conclusion NC is a simple, low-cost and practical screening tool of excess of upper body obesity and CVD risk factors in children and adolescents. Paediatricians can easily use it as a screening tool for overweight/obesity in children and adolescents. For this purpose, sex and age-specific thresholds to classify children and adolescents as normal weight or overweight/obese are provided

The Importance Of Monoclonal Proteins Determination For The Correct Diagnosis Of Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis By [Tc-99m]Tc-diphosphonates

EPS-066 Aim/Introduction: To analyze the influence of the determination of free monoclonal proteins in blood and urine in the final diagnosis of Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis (TTRA). Materials and Methods: We have analyzed 200 [99mTc]Tc-diphosphonates scans: 192 performed on 190 patients under suspicion of TTRA and 7 patients with grade II-III radiotracer myocardial deposit as a casual finding (November/2013 - January/2020). Likewise, clinical and laboratory characteristics (heart failure, LVEF, proBNP levels, immunofixation in serum and/or urine for the detection of monoclonal chains and chronic renal failure) have been evaluated. A positive case has been considered for TTRAwt or senile (Score Perugini II-III scan, negative immunofixation in serum and/or urine, negative genetic study), positive case for hereditary TTRA (Score Perugini II-III scan, negative immunofixation and positive genetic study), positive case for secondary amyloidosis (positive immunofixation and presence of hematologic malignancy) and undetermined amyloidosis (immunofixation not performed or positive and absence of haematologic malignancies at follow-up). Results: 59 positive scans have been detected, 47 men (79’7%) and 12 women (20’3%). The mean age of the group of positives was 82’66 years, while that of the negatives was 72’15. The mean proBNP levels in the positives are 7561, compared to 5869 in the negative group. Immunofixation (serum and/or urine for detection of kappa or lambda monoclonal chains at 30 (50.8%) has been performed on these patients. Finally, 37.2% (22/59) resulted in ATTRwt, 3.4% (2/59) hereditary ATTR (genetic study: variant E54Q and mutation c.424> A (p.Va.122Ile) in exon 4 of TTR) and 1.7% (1/59) secondary amyloidosis. The remaining 34/59 (57.7%) cases were undetermined amyloidosis (6 positive immunofixation and 27 without monoclonal proteins determination). Conclusion: Determination of monoclonal bands in blood and urine is mandatory to correctly characterize cases of cardiac amyloidosis and, in presence of monoclonal bands, to assess the existence of underlying haematological malignancies

Use of archival versus newly collected tumor samples for assessing PD-L1 expression and overall survival : an updated analysis of KEYNOTE-010 trial

Background: In KEYNOTE-010, pembrolizumab versus docetaxel improved overall survival (OS) in patients with programmed death-1 protein (PD)-L1-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A prespecified exploratory analysis compared outcomes in patients based on PD-L1 expression in archival versus newly collected tumor samples using recently updated survival data. Patients and methods: PD-L1 was assessed centrally by immunohistochemistry (22C3 antibody) in archival or newly collected tumor samples. Patients received pembrolizumab 2 or 10 mg/kg Q3W or docetaxel 75 mg/m2 Q3W for 24 months or until progression/intolerable toxicity/other reason. Response was assessed by RECIST v1.1 every 9 weeks, survival every 2 months. Primary end points were OS and progression-free survival (PFS) in tumor proportion score (TPS) 50% and 1%; pembrolizumab doses were pooled in this analysis. Results: At date cut-off of 24 March 2017, median follow-up was 31 months (range 23-41) representing 18 additional months of follow-up from the primary analysis. Pembrolizumab versus docetaxel continued to improve OS in patients with previously treated, PD-L1-expressing advanced NSCLC; hazard ratio (HR) was 0.66 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.57, 0.77]. Of 1033 patients analyzed, 455(44%) were enrolled based on archival samples and 578 (56%) on newly collected tumor samples. Approximately 40% of archival samples and 45% of newly collected tumor samples were PD-L1 TPS 50%. For TPS 50%, the OS HRs were 0.64 (95% CI: 0.45, 0.91) and 0.40 (95% CI: 0.28, 0.56) for archival and newly collected samples, respectively. In patients with TPS 1%, OS HRs were 0.74 (95% CI: 0.59, 0.93) and 0.59 (95% CI: 0.48, 0.73) for archival and newly collected samples, respectively. In TPS 50%, PFS HRs were similar across archival [0.63 (95% CI: 0.45, 0.89)] and newly collected samples [0.53 (95% CI: 0.38, 0.72)]. In patients with TPS 1%, PFS HRs were similar across archival [0.82 (95% CI: 0.66, 1.02)] and newly collected samples [0.83 (95% CI: 0.68, 1.02)]. Conclusion: Pembrolizumab continued to improve OS over docetaxel in intention to treat population and in subsets of patients with newly collected and archival samples

Quantum effective potential for U(1) fields on S^2_L X S^2_L

We compute the one-loop effective potential for noncommutative U(1) gauge fields on S^2_L X S^2_L. We show the existence of a novel phase transition in the model from the 4-dimensional space S^2_L X S^2_L to a matrix phase where the spheres collapse under the effect of quantum fluctuations. It is also shown that the transition to the matrix phase occurs at infinite value of the gauge coupling constant when the mass of the two normal components of the gauge field on S^2_L X S^2_L is sent to infinity.Comment: 13 pages. one figur

Impact Of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy In Breast Cancer Patients Treated With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

EPS 196 Aim/Introduction: To analyze how many of the patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) may benefit from SLNB, as well as the impact on patient management, especially in those with early axillary involvement. Materials and Methods: We included patients with breast carcinoma candidates to NCT discussed at the Tumor Committee of our hospital (April/2017-August/2019). All of them were subjected to clinical assessment, ultrasound and, if appropriate, histological analysis, axillary pre and post- NCT. Sentinel lymph node detection was performed after periareolar injection of [99mTc]Tc-nanocoloid (74 MBq) the day before surgery. In some cases, blue dye was injected and/or a pre-NPC metal clip was placed in the affected node. Results: Sixty-two patients were included. NCT achieved a complete breast response in 12 patients, partial in 46 and non-response in 4. Initially, 31 patients were classified as N0 and 31 as N+ (28 N1 and 3 N2), achieving a complete axillary response in 58% of N+ (18). SLNB was performed in 49 patients (79%; 100% in N0 and 58% in N+ from baseline). The gamma detection rate of the sentinel lymph node was 91.8% (93.5% in N0 and 88.9% in N+). 28 lymphadenectomies were undergone (45.2%; 22.5% in N0 and 67.7% in N+), 11 due to positive SLNB (5 N0 and 6 N1), 13 owing to lack of axillary response and 4 caused by the non-localization of the sentinel lymph node. SLNB was performed in 58% of N+ patients, of which 44.4% were negative, avoiding lymphadenectomy. Metal clip and/or blue dye techniques were used in 31 cases (50%). Conclusion: SLNB is viable in a high percentage of patients with previous NCT, with a high detection rate, even in patients with early affected axilla, avoiding lymphadenectomy to patients who achieve a complete response of the axillary lymph node

Matrix geometries and Matrix Models

We study a two parameter single trace 3-matrix model with SO(3) global symmetry. The model has two phases, a fuzzy sphere phase and a matrix phase. Configurations in the matrix phase are consistent with fluctuations around a background of commuting matrices whose eigenvalues are confined to the interior of a ball of radius R=2.0. We study the co-existence curve of the model and find evidence that it has two distinct portions one with a discontinuous internal energy yet critical fluctuations of the specific heat but only on the low temperature side of the transition and the other portion has a continuous internal energy with a discontinuous specific heat of finite jump. We study in detail the eigenvalue distributions of different observables.Comment: 20 page

Postcranial morphology of the middle Pleistocene humans from Sima de los Huesos, Spain

Current knowledge of the evolution of the postcranial skeleton in the genus Homo is hampered by a geographically and chronologically scattered fossil record. Here we present a complete characterization of the postcranium of the middle Pleistocene paleodeme from the Sima de los Huesos (SH) and its paleobiological implications. The SH hominins show the following: (i) wide bodies, a plesiomorphic char- acter in the genus Homo inherited from their early hominin ancestors; (ii) statures that can be found in modern human middle-latitude pop- ulations that first appeared 1.6–1.5 Mya; and (iii) large femoral heads in some individuals, a trait that first appeared during the middle Pleistocene in Africa and Europe. The intrapopulational size variation in SH shows that the level of dimorphism was similar to modern humans (MH), but the SH hominins were less encephalized than Ne- andertals. SH shares many postcranial anatomical features with Ne- andertals. Although most of these features appear to be either plesiomorphic retentions or are of uncertain phylogenetic polarity, a few represent Neandertal apomorphies. Nevertheless, the full suite of Neandertal-derived features is not yet present in the SH popula- tion. The postcranial evidence is consistent with the hypothesis based on the cranial morphology that the SH hominins are a sister group to the later Neandertals. Comparison of the SH postcranial skeleton to other hominins suggests that the evolution of the postcranium oc- curred in a mosaic mode, both at a general and at a detailed level