Hepatitis C virus and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas: Meta-analysis of epidemiology data and therapy options.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a global health problem affecting a large fraction of the world\u2019s population: This virus is able to determine both hepatic and extrahepatic diseases. Mixed cryoglobulinemia, a B-cell \u201cbenign\u201d lymphoproliferative disorders, represents the most closely related as well as the most investigated HCV-related extrahepatic disorder. Since this virus is able to determine extrahepatic [non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma (NHL)] as well as hepatic malignancies (hepatocellular carcinoma), HCV has been included among human cancer viruses. The most common histological types of HCV-associated NHL are the marginal zone, the lymphoplasmacytic and diffuse large cell lymphomas. The role of the HCV in the pathogenesis of the B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders is confirmed also by the responsiveness of the NHL to antiviral therapy. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the recent literature and a meta analysis of the epidemiology data, to explain the role of HCV in the development of NHL\u2019s lymphoma. Furthermore, the possibility to treat these HCV-related NHL with the antiviral therapy or with other therapeutic options, like chemotherapy, is also discussed

Reflooding and repopulation of the Mediterranean Sea after the Messinian Salinity Crisis: Benthic foraminifera assemblages and stable isotopes of Spanish basins

Benthic foraminiferal, sedimentological, and stable isotope analyses performed on early Zanclean sediments from Alboran Basin ODP Site 976 and southern Spanish land-based sections in the Malaga, Nijar and Sorbas basins have enabled the reconstruction of Mediterranean environmental conditions immediately after the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The presence at the Miocene – Pliocene boundary of dark layers, often enriched in organic matter, suggests that the Zanclean reflooding has created water column stratification, and reduced bottom-water oxygen levels. Considering that such dark layers are recorded at both deep and marginal settings far away from the Gibraltar gateway/s, a Mediterranean-scale water-mass stratification must have occurred. This stratification could be the result of saline Atlantic waters sinking into a less saline Mediterranean Basin still under the influence of the Paratethys. Our early Zanclean benthic δ18O data show that the Mediterranean water budget was indeed less negative than at present, explaining the lower salinity of the basin. However, the Atlantic values of the benthic δ13C registered in the Alboran basin suggest that bottom-water renewal rates were quite high during the early Zanclean, preventing the reduction of δ13C at the seafloor as observed in the Messinian records. Zanclean benthic foraminiferal repopulation sequences show similarities with recovery from low-oxic episodes during sapropel deposition. These observations, paired with the gradual deepening of the basins, suggests that the Zanclean reflooding led to a progressive shift from stressed and unstable environments towards benthic associations typical of efficient circulation and bottom water ventilation

A set of canonical problems in sloshing. Part 0: Experimental setup and data processing

In a series of attempts to research and document relevant sloshing type phenomena, a series of experiments have been conducted. The aim of this paper is to describe the setup and data processing of such experiments. A sloshing tank is subjected to angular motion. As a result pressure registers are obtained at several locations, together with the motion data, torque and a collection of image and video information. The experimental rig and the data acquisition systems are described. Useful information for experimental sloshing research practitioners is provided. This information is related to the liquids used in the experiments, the dying techniques, tank building processes, synchronization of acquisition systems, etc. A new procedure for reconstructing experimental data, that takes into account experimental uncertainties, is presented. This procedure is based on a least squares spline approximation of the data. Based on a deterministic approach to the first sloshing wave impact event in a sloshing experiment, an uncertainty analysis procedure of the associated first pressure peak value is described

Freshening of the Mediterranean Salt Giant: controversies and certainties around the terminal (Upper Gypsum and Lago-Mare) phases of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

The late Miocene evolution of the Mediterranean Basin is characterized by major changes in connectivity, climate and tectonic activity resulting in unprecedented environmental and ecological disruptions. During the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, 5.97-5.33 Ma) this culminated in most scenarios first in the precipitation of gypsum around the Mediterranean margins (Stage 1, 5.97-5.60 Ma) and subsequently > 2 km of halite on the basin floor, which formed the so-called Mediterranean Salt Giant (Stage 2, 5.60-5.55 Ma). The final MSC Stage 3, however, was characterized by a "low-salinity crisis", when a second calcium-sulfate unit (Upper Gypsum; substage 3.1, 5.55-5.42 Ma) showing (bio)geochemical evidence of substantial brine dilution and brackish biota-bearing terrigenous sediments (substage 3.2 or Lago-Mare phase, 5.42-5.33 Ma) deposited in a Mediterranean that received relatively large amounts of riverine and Paratethys-derived low-salinity waters. The transition from hypersaline evaporitic (halite) to brackish facies implies a major change in the Mediterranean’s hydrological regime. However, even after nearly 50 years of research, causes and modalities are poorly understood and the original scientific debate between a largely isolated and (partly) desiccated Mediterranean or a fully connected and filled basin is still vibrant. Here we present a comprehensive overview that brings together (chrono)stratigraphic, sedimentological, paleontological, geochemical and seismic data from all over the Mediterranean. We summarize the paleoenvironmental, paleohydrological and paleoconnectivity scenarios that arose from this cross-disciplinary dataset and we discuss arguments in favour of and against each scenario

The Trigger System of the H.E.S.S. Telescope Array

H.E.S.S. -- The High Energy Stereoscopic System-- is a new system of large atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes for GeV/TeV Gamma-ray astronomy. This paper describes the trigger system of H.E.S.S. with emphasis on the multi-telescope array level trigger. The system trigger requires the simultaneous detection of air-showers by several telescopes at the hardware level. This requirement allows a suppression of background events which in turn leads to a lower system energy threshold for the detection of Gamma-rays. The implementation of the H.E.S.S. trigger system is presented along with data taken to characterise its performance.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Fixed-Parameter Tractable Distances to Sparse Graph Classes

We show that for various classes $\mathcal{C}$ of sparse graphs, and several measures of distance to such classes (such as edit distance and elimination distance), the problem of determining the distance of a given graph $\small{G}$ to $\mathcal{C}$ is fixed-parameter tractable. The results are based on two general techniques. The first of these, building on recent work of Grohe et al. establishes that any class of graphs that is slicewise nowhere dense and slicewise first-order definable is FPT. The second shows that determining the elimination distance of a graph $\small{G}$ to a minor-closed class $\mathcal{C}$ is FPT. We demonstrate that several prior results (of Golovach, Moser and Thilikos and Mathieson) on the fixed-parameter tractability of distance measures are special cases of our first method

Recognizing multimodal entailment

How information is created, shared and consumed has changed rapidly in recent decades, in part thanks to new social platforms and technologies on the web. With ever-larger amounts of unstructured and limited labels, organizing and reconciling information from different sources and modalities is a central challenge in machine learning. This cutting-edge tutorial aims to introduce the multimodal entailment task, which can be useful for detecting semantic alignments when a single modality alone does not suffice for a whole content understanding. Starting with a brief overview of natural language processing, computer vision, structured data and neural graph learning, we lay the foundations for the multimodal sections to follow. We then discuss recent multimodal learning literature covering visual, audio and language streams, and explore case studies focusing on tasks which require fine-grained understanding of visual and linguistic semantics question answering, veracity and hatred classification. Finally, we introduce a new dataset for recognizing multimodal entailment, exploring it in a hands-on collaborative section. Overall, this tutorial gives an overview of multimodal learning, introduces a multimodal entailment dataset, and encourages future research in the topic

Mediterranean biodiversity gradient initiated by basin restriction

Physical connectivity between marine basins facilitates population exchange and hence controls biodiversity. The Mediterranean Sea is a semi-restricted basin with only a small two-way connection to the global ocean, and it is a region heavily impacted by climate change and biological invasions today. The massive migration of non-indigenous species into the basin through the Suez Canal, driven and enabled by climate warming, is drastically changing Mediterranean biodiversity. Understanding therefore the origin and cause(s) of pre-existing biodiversity patterns is crucial for predicting future impacts of climate change. Mediterranean biodiversity exhibits a west-to-east decreasing gradient in terms of species richness, but the processes that resulted in this gradient have only been hypothesized. By examining the fossil record, we provide evidence that this gradient developed 5.33 million years ago at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis, and it was therefore caused by the re-population of the basin by marine species with a dominating western source at the Mediterranean¿Atlantic gateway

A search for TeV gamma-ray emission from SNRs, pulsars and unidentified GeV sources in the Galactic plane in the longitude range between -2 deg and 85 deg

Using the HEGRA system of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, one quarter of the Galactic plane (-2 deg < l < 85 deg) was surveyed for TeV gamma-ray emission from point sources and moderately extended sources (diameter <= 0.8 deg). The region covered includes 86 known pulsars (PSR), 63 known supernova remnants (SNR) and nine GeV sources, representing a significant fraction of the known populations. No evidence for emission of TeV gamma radiation was detected, and upper limits range from 0.15 Crab units up to several Crab units, depending on the observation time and zenith angles covered. The ensemble sums over selected SNR and pulsar subsamples and over the GeV-sources yield no indication for emission from these potential sources. The upper limit for the SNR population is at the level of 6.7% of the Crab flux and for the pulsar ensemble at the level of 3.6% of the Crab flux.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&

IGHV gene mutational status and 17p deletion are independent molecular predictors in a comprehensive clinical-biological prognostic model for overall survival prediction in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Prognostic index for survival estimation by clinical-demographic variables were previously proposed in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients. Our objective was to test in a large retrospective cohort of CLL patients the prognostic power of biological and clinical-demographic variable in a comprehensive multivariate model. A new prognostic index was proposed