New and emerging therapeutic options for malignant pleural mesothelioma: review of early clinical trials.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare tumor that is challenging to control. Despite some benefit from using the multimodality-approach (surgery, combination chemotherapy and radiation), survival remains poor. However, current research produced a list of potential therapies. Here, we summarize significant new preclinical and early clinical developments in treatment of MPM, which include mesothelin specific antibody and toxin therapies, interleukin-4 (IL-4) receptor toxins, dendritic cell vaccines, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and gene-based therapies. In addition, several local modalities such as photodynamic therapy, postoperative lavage using betadine, and cryotherapy for local recurrence, have also shown to be effective for local control of disease

Mashing up Visual Languages and Web Mash-ups

Research on web mashups and visual languages share an interest in human-centered computing. Both research communities are concerned with supporting programming by everyday, technically inexpert users. Visual programming environments have been a focus for both communities, and we believe that there is much to be gained by further discussion between these research communities. In this paper we explore some connections between web mashups and visual languages, and try to identify what each might be able to learn from the other. Our goal is to establish a framework for a dialog between the communities, and to promote the exchange of ideas and our respective understandings of humancentered computing.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Chirality and the angular momentum of light

Chirality is exhibited by objects that cannot be rotated into their mirror images. It is far from obvious that this has anything to do with the angular momentum of light, which owes its existence to rotational symmetries. There is nevertheless a subtle connection between chirality and the angular momentum of light. We demonstrate this connection and, in particular, its significance in the context of chiral light–matter interactions

Matter-wave grating distinguishing conservative and dissipative interactions

We propose an optical grating for matter waves that separates molecules depending on whether their interaction with the light is conservative or dissipative. Potential applications include fundamental tests of quantum mechanics, measurement of molecular properties and the ability to selectively prepare matter waves with different internal temperatures

Geochemical characterization of the mineralized transition between the Goldenville and Halifax formations and the interaction with adjacent granitoid intrusions of the Liscomb Complex, Nova Scotia

The mineralized transition between the Goldenville and Halifax formations of the Meguma Group was intruded by granodiorite and monzogranite of the Liscomb Complex near Eastville, Nova Scotia. Mineral and whole-rock chemical studies of samples from drillholes and surface exposures allow documentation of the chemical nature and a preliminary assessment of the magnitude of interaction between the granitoid bodies and their metasedimentary host rocks. Mg/(Mg+Fe) broadly increased, whereas Mn decreased in biotite and chlorite with increasing grades of metamorphism toward the contact with the Liscomb Complex in the eastern section of the map area. Fe and Mn, two transition elements with similar chemical behaviour, were mobilized and incorporated into Fe-rich contact metamorphic minerals such as almandine garnet and staurolite. Garnet in the granodiorite shows reversals in zoning, with Mg and Fe decreasing sharply and Mn increasing at the rim. Reversely zoned garnet crystallized with falling temperature and likely represents a highly modified xenocrystic type. Standard discriminant diagrams confirm that the Meguma metasedimentary rocks were deposited on a continental margin and that the granitoid intrusions formed as crustal melts during continental collision. Assimilation of Meguma country rock by the Liscomb granitoid intrusions is indicated by the detection of a characteristic trace element signature imparted by the transition between the Goldenville and Halifax formations near Eastville. Although not certain proof, the strong contrast between Pb/Zn ratios in the Meguma metasedimentary rocks and the Liscomb granodiorite (-0.45) and the rest of the South Mountain Batholith (1.19-2.26) suggests a variant petrogenetic process for the two granitoid bodies. RÉSUMÉ La transition minéralisée entre les Formations de Goldenville et d'Halifax du groupe de Meguma a étéi pénétrée par de la granodiorite et du monzogranite du complexe de Liscomb, près d'Eastville, Nouvelle-Écosse. Des études chimiques des roches et des minéraux des échantillons provenant de trous de forage et d'affleurements de surface permettent une documentation de la nature chimique du sous-sol et une évaluation préliminaire de l'ampleur de l'interaction entre les masses granitiqucs et leurs roches hôtes métasédimentaires. La quantité de Mg(Mg+Fe) a généralement augmenté tandis que le Mn a diminué dans la biotite et la chlorite avec les niveaux accrus de métamorphisme apparus vers la zone de contact avec le complexe de Liscomb, dans la partie orientate du secteur cartographique. Le Fe et le Mn, deux éléments de transition ayant un comportement chimique semblable, ont été mobilisés et incorpores dans des minéraux métamorphiques de contact riches en Fe comme les grenats d'almandine et la staurolite. Les grenats a l'intericur de la granodiorite affichent des inversions de zonation avec une diminution soudaine du Mg et du Fe et une augmentation du Mn le long de la frange du secteur. Les grenats de zonation inverse se sont cristallisés lorsque la température a chuté; ils représentent vraisemblablement un type xénocristique fortement modifié Des schémas discriminants standard confirment que les roches métasédimentaires de Meguma se sont déposées sur une marge continentale et que les intrusions granitiqucs se sont formées au moment de la fusion de la croûte lors de la collision des continents. La détection d'une signature d'éléments traces caractéristiques due à la transition entre les formations de Goldenville et d'Halifax, près d'Eastville, révèle l'assimilation de roches encaissantes de Meguma par les intrusions granitiques de Liscomb. Même si cela ne constitue pas une preuve certaine, le contraste marqué entre les rapports de Pb/Zn dans les roches métasédimentaires de Meguma et la granodiorite de Liscomb (— 0,45) ainsi que le reste du batholithe de South Mountain (1,19-2,26), permet de supposer que les deux masses granitiques ont été soumises à un processus pétrogénltique différent. [Traduit par la rédaction

On the Snow Line in Dusty Protoplanetary Disks

The snow line, in Hayashi's (1981) model, is where the temperature of a black body that absorbed direct sunlight and re-radiated as much as it absorbed, would be 170~K. It is usually assumed that the cores of the giant planets, e.g., Jupiter, form beyond the snow line. Since Hayashi, there have been a series of more detailed models of the absorption by dust of the stellar radiation, and of accretional heating, which alter the location of the snow line. We have attempted a "self-consistent" model of a T Tauri disk in the sense that we used dust properties and calculated surface temperatures that matched observed disks. We then calculated the midplane temperature for those disks, with no accretional heating or with small (<10^-8) accretion rates. Our models bring the snow line in to the neighbourhood of 1 AU; not far enough to explain the close planetary companions to other stars, but much closer than in recent starting lines for orbit migration scenarios.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, to appear in ApJ,528,200

Warm dust in the terrestrial planet zone of a sun-like Pleiad: collisions between planetary embryos?

Only a few solar-type main sequence stars are known to be orbited by warm dust particles; the most extreme is the G0 field star BD+20 307 that emits ~4% of its energy at mid-infrared wavelengths. We report the identification of a similarly dusty star HD 23514, an F6-type member of the Pleiades cluster. A strong mid-IR silicate emission feature indicates the presence of small warm dust particles, but with the primary flux density peak at the non-standard wavelength of ~9 micron. The existence of so much dust within an AU or so of these stars is not easily accounted for given the very brief lifetime in orbit of small particles. The apparent absence of very hot (>~1000 K) dust at both stars suggests the possible presence of a planet closer to the stars than the dust. The observed frequency of the BD+20 307/HD 23514 phenomenon indicates that the mass equivalent of Earth's Moon must be converted, via collisions of massive bodies, to tiny dust particles that find their way to the terrestrial planet zone during the first few hundred million years of the life of many (most?) sun-like stars. Identification of these two dusty systems among youthful nearby solar-type stars suggests that terrestrial planet formation is common.Comment: ApJ in press, 19 pages including 3 figures and 2 tables, minor changes to the tables and figure