Immunohistochemical Expression of IMP3 in Cutaneous Basal Cell Carcinoma

Background. Insulin-like growth factor-II mRNA-binding protein 3 (IMP3) is an oncofetal protein upregulated in tumor cells during carcinogenesis. It has been linked to adverse clinical outcome in many malignancies. This study was aimed to evaluate an immunohistochemical expression status of IMP3 in cutaneous basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and to correlate it with the Ki-67 index values. Methods. Biopsy specimens from 32 cases of BCC were enrolled into this analysis. All samples were immunohistochemically stained for IMP3 (Clone 69.1) and Ki-67 antigen (Clone MIB-1). Results. IMP3 showed a weak expression in 11 (34.4%) cases, a moderate expression in 11 (34.4%) cases, a strong expression in 5 (15.6%) cases, and negative staining in 5 (15.6%) cases. Among seven BCCs exhibiting aggressive-growth features, all but one showed weak reactivity. In contrast, all five BCCs manifesting strong IMP3 positivity consisted of the indolent-growth histologic subtypes. BCCs with infiltrative histomorphology did not appear to have a tendency towards more striking production of IMP3. There was no significant relationship between the IMP3 expression status and the proliferation status (Ki-67 ≤ 50% vs. Ki-67 > 50%) of the tumor tissue (p > 0.05). Conclusions. The vast majority of cutaneous BCCs express IMP3, suggesting this oncoprotein is implicated in BCC carcinogenesis. However, more pronounced expression does not seem to be associated with aggressive-growth phenotype of BCC or higher proliferative activity of neoplastic cells

Multi layered shotcrete design for tunnel construction

Shotcrete linings have been applied successfully for a large number of tunnel constructions within the last couple of decades all around the world. While up to the 1980’s the structural design of the shotcrete linings mainly was based on experience gathered throughout the construction and some simplified analyses in the following years the application of the Finite Element Method lead to much more sophisticated design and more accurate estimation of deformations and stress state in the shotcrete lining. This was amongst others achieved by considering the time and construction sequence - dependent development of the deformations as well as by applying simplified time dependent material laws for shotcrete. The design verification as such is commonly done by using the methods as stated in Eurocode 2 for ULS and SLS. The design becomes even more complex for cases in which during a first construction stage one shotcrete layer is applied and stressed and only later additional, stress free layers are applied in order to carry additional loads caused by further construction stages. With such situations tunnel designers have to deal frequently in cases when cross sections between two main tunnels need to be installed or a second, parallel tunnel is driven while the first tunnel is already in place. Within this paper the special case of such multi – layer shotcrete linings is discussed and proposals for the calculation of the stress state in the lining and the design verification are made

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements