Malignant neuroectodermal tumor with melanocytic and rhabdomyoblastic differentiation

Malignant melanoma can metastasize widely and vary significantly in its histological appearance; it rarely presents as a deep-seated mass without an obvious primary site elsewhere. Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) is a high-grade sarcoma characterized by conventional and epithelioid subtypes. MPNST can demonstrate heterologous differentiation, usually in the form of osteosarcomatous, chondrosarcomatous, or rhabdomyosarcomatous differentiation. MPNST does not harbor true melanocytic differentiation, although epithelioid MPNST typically is diffusely S-100 protein positive and superficially can resemble malignant melanoma. An unusual intra-abdominal mass was recently encountered with features of both melanoma and conventional or epithelioid MPNST containing a fascicular spindle cell component, an epithelioid component with melanocytic differentiation, as well as a rhabdomyosarcomatous component. The terminology “malignant neuroectodermal tumor with melanocytic and rhabdomyoblastic differentiation” is proposed to describe this neoplasm, reflecting the unusual concomittant lines of differentiation as well as offering a possible rationale for nosologically challenging aspects of this neoplasm

Study of the Baryon-Antibaryon Low-Mass Enhancements in Charmless Three-body Baryonic B Decays

The angular distributions of the baryon-antibaryon low-mass enhancements seen in the charmless three-body baryonic B decays B+ -> p pbar K+, B0 -> p pbar Ks, and B0 -> p Lambdabar pi- are reported. A quark fragmentation interpretation is supported, while the gluonic resonance picture is disfavored. Searches for the Theta+ and Theta++ pentaquarks in the relevant decay modes and possible glueball states G with 2.2 GeV/c2 < M-ppbar < 2.4 GeV/c2 in the ppbar systems give null results. We set upper limits on the products of branching fractions, B(B0 -> Theta+ p)\times B(Theta+ -> p Ks) Theta++ pbar) \times B(Theta++ -> p K+) G K+) \times B(G -> p pbar) < 4.1 \times 10^{-7} at the 90% confidence level. The analysis is based on a 140 fb^{-1} data sample recorded on the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure files, update of hep-ex/0409010 for journal submisssio

Universality of Phases in QCD and QCD-like Theories

We argue that the whole or the part of the phase diagrams of QCD and QCD-like theories should be universal in the large-N_c limit through the orbifold equivalence. The whole phase diagrams, including the chiral phase transitions and the BEC-BCS crossover regions, are identical between SU(N_c) QCD at finite isospin chemical potential and SO(2N_c) and Sp(2N_c) gauge theories at finite baryon chemical potential. Outside the BEC-BCS crossover region in these theories, the phase diagrams are also identical to that of SU(N_c) QCD at finite baryon chemical potential. We give examples of the universality in some solvable cases: (i) QCD and QCD-like theories at asymptotically high density where the controlled weak-coupling calculations are possible, (ii) chiral random matrix theories of different universality classes, which are solvable large-N (large volume) matrix models of QCD. Our results strongly suggest that the chiral phase transition and the QCD critical point at finite baryon chemical potential can be studied using sign-free theories, such as QCD at finite isospin chemical potential, in lattice simulations.Comment: v1: 35 pages, 6 figures; v2: 37 pages, 6 figures, minor improvements, conclusion unchanged; v3: version published in JHE

The impact of solvent characteristics on performance and process stability of printed carbon resistive materials

Carbon conductive pastes deposited by screen printing are used in many commercial applications including sensors, PCB, batteries, and PV, and as such represent an important value-added coating. An experimental investigation was carried out into the role of the solvent on the drying characteristics, conductivity, and process consistency in screen printed carbon pastes. Four materials with solvent boiling points between 166 and 219°C were deposited at film thickness between 6 and 16 μm, and the sheet resistance and film thickness were measured after successive passes through an industrial dryer operating with an air temperature of 155°C. Sheet resistances of 14 Ω/sq. were obtained with the thicker films while thinner films produced a sheet resistance of 46 Ω/sq. Thinner films achieved a stable resistivity within a 2.5-min residence time, while the thicker films required a residence time in excess of 12.5 min to achieve a stable resistivity. As well as prolonging drying times, the higher boiling point increased the resistivity of the cured film. It is postulated that the lower resistance of the faster drying materials is a result of film stressing increasing inter particle contact. Process models indicate that multiple thin layers are a more efficient means of manufacture for the process parameters examined

Improved Measurements of Partial Rate Asymmetry in B -> h h Decays

We report improved measurements of the partial rate asymmetry (Acp) in B -> h h decays with 140fb^-1 of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB e+e- collider. Here h stands for a charged or neutral pion or kaon and in total five decay modes are included: K-+ pi+-, K0s pi-+, K-+ pi0, pi-+ pi0 and K0s pi0. The flavor of the last decay mode is determined from the accompanying B meson. Using a data sample 4.7 times larger than that of our previous measurement, we find Acp(K-+ pi+-) -0.088+-0.035+-0.013, 2.4 sigma from zero. Results for other decay modes are also presented.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur

Meta-analysis of tumour burden in pre-operative axillary ultrasound positive and negative breast cancer patients

Management of the axilla in breast cancer is becoming increasingly conservative. Patients identified with a low axillary nodal burden (two or fewer involved nodes) at sentinel node biopsy (SNB) can avoid completion axillary node clearance (cANC). 'Fast track' to ANC in patients with involved nodes on pre-operative ultrasound may be over-treating a subgroup of these patients with low nodal burden, which would have precluded their need for ANC. This systematic review assesses the proportion of patients with involved nodes on pre-operative axillary ultrasound, which would fit low axillary burden criteria. Meta-analysis of studies comparing axillary burden of breast cancer patients identified as pre-operative ultrasound negative versus positive was performed. The primary outcome measure was the number of patients with two or fewer involved nodes (macrometastases only). Pooled odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), means and probabilities of identifying two or fewer involved nodes versus greater than two were calculated. Six studies reported the axillary burden in 4271 patients who were either directed straight to ANC or cANC after SNB. There was a significantly greater axillary burden in the ultrasound positive versus negative groups (OR 5.95, 95% CI 5.80-6.11) with mean nodal retrieval values of 2.9 [standard error (SE) 0.2] and 1.6 (SE 0.2) nodes, respectively. Cumulative probabilities identified 78.9% of ultrasound negative and 43.2% of ultrasound positive patients possessed low axillary burden. Pre-operative ultrasound positive patients have significantly higher axillary burden. However, nearly half do fit the criteria of low axillary burden and could be considered for omission of ANC

Search for CP violation in the decay B0->D*+-D-+

We report a search for CP-violating asymmetry in B0 -> D*+- D-+ decays. The analysis employs two methods of B0 reconstruction: full and partial. In the full reconstruction method all daughter particles of the B0 are required to be detected; the partial reconstruction technique requires a fully reconstructed D- and only a slow pion from the D*+ -> D0 pi_slow+ decay. From a fit to the distribution of the time interval corresponding to the distance between two B meson decay points we calculate the CP-violating parameters and find the significance of nonzero CP asymmetry to be 2.7 standard deviations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Cell Cycle Gene Networks Are Associated with Melanoma Prognosis

BACKGROUND: Our understanding of the molecular pathways that underlie melanoma remains incomplete. Although several published microarray studies of clinical melanomas have provided valuable information, we found only limited concordance between these studies. Therefore, we took an in vitro functional genomics approach to understand melanoma molecular pathways. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Affymetrix microarray data were generated from A375 melanoma cells treated in vitro with siRNAs against 45 transcription factors and signaling molecules. Analysis of this data using unsupervised hierarchical clustering and Bayesian gene networks identified proliferation-association RNA clusters, which were co-ordinately expressed across the A375 cells and also across melanomas from patients. The abundance in metastatic melanomas of these cellular proliferation clusters and their putative upstream regulators was significantly associated with patient prognosis. An 8-gene classifier derived from gene network hub genes correctly classified the prognosis of 23/26 metastatic melanoma patients in a cross-validation study. Unlike the RNA clusters associated with cellular proliferation described above, co-ordinately expressed RNA clusters associated with immune response were clearly identified across melanoma tumours from patients but not across the siRNA-treated A375 cells, in which immune responses are not active. Three uncharacterised genes, which the gene networks predicted to be upstream of apoptosis- or cellular proliferation-associated RNAs, were found to significantly alter apoptosis and cell number when over-expressed in vitro. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This analysis identified co-expression of RNAs that encode functionally-related proteins, in particular, proliferation-associated RNA clusters that are linked to melanoma patient prognosis. Our analysis suggests that A375 cells in vitro may be valid models in which to study the gene expression modules that underlie some melanoma biological processes (e.g., proliferation) but not others (e.g., immune response). The gene expression modules identified here, and the RNAs predicted by Bayesian network inference to be upstream of these modules, are potential prognostic biomarkers and drug targets