Radiomics to predict response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in rectal cancer: influence of simultaneous feature selection and classifier optimization

According to the guidelines, patients with locally advanced colorectal cancer undergo neoadjuvant chemotherapy. However, response to therapy is reached only up to 30% of cases. Therefore, it would be important to predict response to therapy before treatment. In this study, we demonstrated that the simultaneous optimization of feature subset and classifier parameters on different imaging datasets (T2w, DWI and PET) could improve classification performance. On a dataset of 51 patients (21 responders, 30 non responders), we obtained an accuracy of 90%, 84% and 76% using three optimized SVM classifiers fed with selected features from PET, T2w and ADC images, respectively

Over-elongation of centrioles in cancer promotes centriole amplification and chromosome missegregation

G.M. and A.G. were funded by the FCT-Harvard Medical School Program Portugal grant (HMSP-CT/SAU-ICT/0075/2009) and individual FCT post-doctoral fellowships (SFRH/BPD/98439/2013 and SFRH/BPD/82420/2011, respectively). The M.B-D. laboratory is supported by IGC, an EMBO installation grant, ERC grant ERC-2010-StG-261344, FCT grants (FCT Investigator to M.B-D., POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016390 and PTDC/BIM-ONC/6858/2014) and a FCT-Harvard Medical School Program Portugal grant (HMSP-CT/SAU-ICT/0075/2009)

Hot atmospheres of galaxies, groups, and clusters of galaxies

Most of the ordinary matter in the local Universe has not been converted into stars but resides in a largely unexplored diffuse, hot, X-ray emitting plasma. It pervades the gravitational potentials of massive galaxies, groups and clusters of galaxies, as well as the filaments of the cosmic web. The physics of this hot medium, such as its dynamics, thermodynamics and chemical composition can be studied using X-ray spectroscopy in great detail. Here, we present an overview of the basic properties and discuss the self similarity of the hot "atmospheres" permeating the gravitational halos from the scale of galaxies, through groups, to massive clusters. Hot atmospheres are stabilised by the activity of supermassive black holes and, in many ways, they are of key importance for the evolution of their host galaxies. The hot plasma has been significantly enriched in heavy elements by supernovae during the period of maximum star formation activity, probably more than 10 billion years ago. High resolution X-ray spectroscopy just started to be able to probe the dynamics of atmospheric gas and future space observatories will determine the properties of the currently unseen hot diffuse medium throughout the cosmic web.Comment: Accepted for publication in the book "Reviews in Frontiers of Modern Astrophysics: From Space Debris to Cosmology" (eds Kabath, Jones and Skarka; publisher Springer Nature) funded by the European Union Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership grant "Per Aspera Ad Astra Simul" 2017-1-CZ01-KA203-03556

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

NanoElectronics roadmap for Europe: From nanodevices and innovative materials to system integration

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd The NEREID project (“NanoElectronics Roadmap for Europe: Identification and Dissemination”) is dedicated to mapping the future of European Nanoelectronics. NEREID's objective is to develop a medium and long term roadmap for the European nanoelectronics industry, starting from the needs of applications to address societal challenges and leveraging the strengths of the European eco-system. The roadmap will also identify promising novel nanoelectronic technologies, based on the advanced concepts developed by Research Centres and Universities, as well as identification of potential bottlenecks along the innovation (value) chain. Industry applications include Energy, Automotive, Medical/Life Science, Security, loT, Mobile Convergence and Digital Manufacturing. The NEREID roadmap covers Advanced Logic and Connectivity, Functional Diversification (Smart Sensors, Smart Energy and Energy for Autonomous Systems), Beyond-CMOS, Heterogeneous Integration and System Design as well as Equipment, Materials and Manufacturing Science. This article gives an overview of the roadmap's structure and content.status: publishe