Immunological backbone of uveal melanoma: is there a rationale for immunotherapy?

No standard treatment has been established for metastatic uveal melanoma (mUM). Immunotherapy is commonly used for this disease even though UM has not been included in phase III clinical trials with checkpoint inhibitors. Unfortunately, only a minority of patients obtain a clinical benefit with immunotherapy. The immunological features of mUM were reviewed in order to understand if immunotherapy could still play a role for this disease

GeV Gamma-ray Flux Upper Limits from Clusters of Galaxies

The detection of diffuse radio emission associated with clusters of galaxies indicates populations of relativistic leptons infusing the intracluster medium. Those electrons and positrons are either injected into and accelerated directly in the intracluster medium, or produced as secondary pairs by cosmic-ray ions scattering on ambient protons. Radiation mechanisms involving the energetic leptons together with decay of neutral pions produced by hadronic interactions have the potential to produce abundant GeV photons. Here, we report on the search for GeV emission from clusters of galaxies using data collected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (Fermi) from August 2008 to February 2010. Thirty-three galaxy clusters have been selected according to their proximity and high mass, X-ray flux and temperature, and indications of non-thermal activity for this study. We report upper limits on the photon flux in the range 0.2-100 GeV towards a sample of observed clusters (typical values 1-5 x 10^-9 ph cm^-2 s^-1) considering both point-like and spatially resolved models for the high-energy emission, and discuss how these results constrain the characteristics of energetic leptons and hadrons, and magnetic fields in the intracluster medium. The volume-averaged relativistic-hadron-to-thermal energy density ratio is found to be < 5-10% in several clusters.Comment: 9 pages, 3 tables, 1 figure, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Research Groups in Transition: Social Dynamics, Risks and Opportunities?

Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy 201

Reflection on the collectivization of science through research groups

Twenty five years after the introduction of the concept of “collectivization of science” by Ziman, the importance of the research team continues to suffer of a narrow space, both in scientific literature and in the definition of academic policy. The debate ranges from a macro level, represented by changes in scientific and technological research to micro-analyses on the figure of the individual researcher. Nevertheless the scientific processes are affected by the increasingly multidisciplinary nature and the plurality of actors involved, as well as the social and cultural dynamics, often overlooked if not ignored. Our contribution aims to emphasize the importance of the research groups as the elementary unit of analysis in the definition of policies and for a better governance of universities

Self-made university rankings: Categorization tactics and communication activism in Italian universities

Higher education institutions increasingly live in environments in which they are subject to evaluation and rankings. We examine the way in which Italian (mostly public) universities adapted to the new landscape created by the official research assessments, which have produced rankings at national level, published in 2013 and 2016. We compare the media coverage of rankings after the first research assessment (covering 2004-10) and the second one (2011-4). By examining the same type of media data longitudinally, replicating regression analysis, and using robustness checks, we discover a remarkable degree of organizational adaptation. After the initial shock following the first research assessment (2004-10), in which universities were mostly passive, universities rapidly learnt how to deal with rankings. After the second exercise, they actively and professionally communicated with the media, building up self-made rankings data aimed at protecting and enhancing their image, using a range of categorization tactics

The methodological illumination of a blind spot: information and communication technology and international research team dynamics in a higher education research program

24 Halama

The methodological illumination of a blind spot: Information and communication technology and international research team dynamics in a higher education research program

This self-ethnography complements the other articles in this special issue by spotlighting a set of key challenges facing international research teams. The study is focused on the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT)-based collaboration and research team dynamics. Our diverse team, drawn from researchers in five countries and three projects, argues that an ironic casualty of the powerful, global phenomena we study, is a lack of insight into what happens to generic research team dynamics, when groups are 'stretched' in terms of geographical distance, generations, cultural beliefs, values and norms, as well as disciplinary/specialist traditions. Good intentions are not sufficient to cope with these challenges. This is because of the emerging complexity inherent in many types of international, interdisciplinary fields of study and the complexity of the career trajectories needed to make these studies a reality. Our study underlines that there are no beliefs, values, norms and practices linked to research team dynamics, that hold across the current territory, generations, disciplines, cultures, organizations and individuals leading and conducting comparative studies-and even less reflection on the implications of this fact. Compounding this lack of awareness is a less-than-perfect understanding of the way in which ICT-based collaboration bears on research team dynamics. We assert that a holistic, critical, long-term approach to emerging insights into the global division of academic labor, serves our field better than folk psychology or the methodological parochialism that sustains convention at the expense of creativity. Careful consideration of emergent processes, relationships and linkages that explain how short-term cooperation-within projects-begins to make sense-over careers-illuminates key focal points, which, in turn qualitatively illuminates the way forward concerning conceptualization and problematization of our practice; and novel methodological routes available for those interested in attaining better outcomes, over the long term. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in different types of melanoma

Immunotherapy can be used for cutaneous, mucosal, uveal and conjunctival melanoma. Nevertheless, we cannot expect the same benefit from checkpoint inhibitors for all the types of melanoma. The different biological features can explain the variable efficacy. The main results obtained with immune checkpoint inhibitors in the various types of melanoma were reviewed

Evaluating scientific research in Italy: The 2004-10 research evaluation exercise

The Italian Research Evaluation assessment for the period 2004-10 (VQR 2004-10) has analyzed almost 185,000 articles, books, patents, and other scientific outcomes submitted for evaluation by Italian universities and other public research bodies. This article describes the main features of this exercise, introducing its legal framework and the criteria used for evaluation. The innovative methodology that has been used for evaluation, based on a combination of peer review and bibliometric methods, is discussed and indicators for assessing the quality of participating research bodies are derived accordingly. The article also presents the main results obtained at the University level, trying to understand the existing relationship among research quality and University characteristics such as location, dimension, age, scientific specialization, and funding