Causation, Measurement Relevance and No-conspiracy in EPR

In this paper I assess the adequacy of no-conspiracy conditions employed in the usual derivations of the Bell inequality in the context of EPR correlations. First, I look at the EPR correlations from a purely phenomenological point of view and claim that common cause explanations of these cannot be ruled out. I argue that an appropriate common cause explanation requires that no-conspiracy conditions are re-interpreted as mere common cause-measurement independence conditions. In the right circumstances then, violations of measurement independence need not entail any kind of conspiracy (nor backwards in time causation). To the contrary, if measurement operations in the EPR context are taken to be causally relevant in a specific way to the experiment outcomes, their explicit causal role provides the grounds for a common cause explanation of the corresponding correlations.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur

Interacting classical and quantum ensembles

A consistent description of interactions between classical and quantum systems is relevant to quantum measurement theory, and to calculations in quantum chemistry and quantum gravity. A solution is offered here to this longstanding problem, based on a universally-applicable formalism for ensembles on configuration space. This approach overcomes difficulties arising in previous attempts, and in particular allows for backreaction on the classical ensemble, conservation of probability and energy, and the correct classical equations of motion in the limit of no interaction. Applications include automatic decoherence for quantum ensembles interacting with classical measurement apparatuses; a generalisation of coherent states to hybrid harmonic oscillators; and an equation for describing the interaction of quantum matter fields with classical gravity, that implies the radius of a Robertson-Walker universe with a quantum massive scalar field can be sharply defined only for particular `quantized' values.Comment: 31 pages, minor clarifications and one Ref. added, to appear in PR

SITC/iSBTc Cancer Immunotherapy Biomarkers Resource Document: Online resources and useful tools - a compass in the land of biomarker discovery

Recent positive clinical results in cancer immunotherapy point to the potential of immune-based strategies to provide effective treatment of a variety of cancers. In some patients, the responses to cancer immunotherapy are durable, dramatically extending survival. Extensive research efforts are being made to identify and validate biomarkers that can help identify subsets of cancer patients that will benefit most from these novel immunotherapies. In addition to the clear advantage of such predictive biomarkers, immune biomarkers are playing an important role in the development, clinical evaluation and monitoring of cancer immunotherapies. This Cancer Immunotherapy Resource Document, prepared by the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC, formerly the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer, iSBTc), provides key references and online resources relevant to the discovery, evaluation and clinical application of immune biomarkers. These key resources were identified by experts in the field who are actively pursuing research in biomarker identification and validation. This organized collection of the most useful references, online resources and tools serves as a compass to guide discovery of biomarkers essential to advancing novel cancer immunotherapies

Immuno-Oncology biomarkers 2010 and beyond: Perspectives from the iSBTc/SITC biomarker task force

The International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (iSBTc, recently renamed the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, SITC) hosted a one-day symposium at the National Institutes of Health on September 30, 2010 to address development and application of biomarkers in cancer immunotherapy. The symposium, titled Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers 2010 and Beyond: Perspectives from the iSBTc/SITC Biomarker Task Force, gathered approximately 230 investigators equally from academia, industry and governmental/regulatory agencies from around the globe for panel discussions and presentations on the following topics: 1) immunologic monitoring: standardization and validation of assays; 2) correlation of immunity to biologic activity, clinical response and potency assays; 3) novel methodologies for assessing the immune landscape: clinical utility of novel technologies; and 4) recommendations on incorporation of biomarkers into the clinical arena. The presentations are summarized in this report; additional program information and slides are available online at the iSBTc/SITC website

Spontaneous immune responses against glioma-associated antigens in a long term survivor with malignant glioma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In patients with high grade glioma, little is known regarding existence of naturally occurring adaptive T cell reactivity against glioma-associated antigens (GAAs). In this report, we characterized GAA-specific CD8⁺T cells and innate immune cells in a patient who has survived with anaplastic astrocytoma (AA) for over 12 years without recurrence.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from the long term survivor with AA were evaluated for the frequency, cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity and differentiation status of CD8⁺cells recognizing GAA-derived epitopes as well as relative numbers of other immune cell subsets. This patient's AA tissue was evaluated for expression of two GAAs EphA2 and interleukin-13 receptor α2 subunit (IL-13Rα2) by immunohistochemistry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The patient's tumor expressed both EphA2 and IL-13Rα2, and <it>in vitro </it>stimulated PBMC demonstrated superior EphA2_883–891and IL-13Rα2_345–353-specific CTL reactivity compared to PBMC samples from two other patients with progressing malignant glioma. Unstimulated EphA2_883–891-reactive CD8⁺T cells contained high numbers of CD45RA^-/CCR7^-late effector and CD45RA^-/CCR7⁺central memory cells. Among other leukocyte subsets, elevated numbers of NK-T cells were found.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To our knowledge, the current study is one of the first demonstrating the presence of antigen-experienced, GAA-reactive CD8⁺T cells in a patient who has survived with AA for over 12 years without recurrence. Further studies are warranted to determine whether the status of GAA-reactive CD8⁺T cells dictates survival of patients and/or response to therapeutic vaccines.</p

Minimal size of a barchan dune

Barchans are dunes of high mobility which have a crescent shape and propagate under conditions of unidirectional wind. However, sand dunes only appear above a critical size, which scales with the saturation distance of the sand flux [P. Hersen, S. Douady, and B. Andreotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf{89,}} 264301 (2002); B. Andreotti, P. Claudin, and S. Douady, Eur. Phys. J. B {\bf{28,}} 321 (2002); G. Sauermann, K. Kroy, and H. J. Herrmann, Phys. Rev. E {\bf{64,}} 31305 (2001)]. It has been suggested by P. Hersen, S. Douady, and B. Andreotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf{89,}} 264301 (2002) that this flux fetch distance is itself constant. Indeed, this could not explain the proto size of barchan dunes, which often occur in coastal areas of high litoral drift, and the scale of dunes on Mars. In the present work, we show from three dimensional calculations of sand transport that the size and the shape of the minimal barchan dune depend on the wind friction speed and the sand flux on the area between dunes in a field. Our results explain the common appearance of barchans a few tens of centimeter high which are observed along coasts. Furthermore, we find that the rate at which grains enter saltation on Mars is one order of magnitude higher than on Earth, and is relevant to correctly obtain the minimal dune size on Mars.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure

SITC 2018 workshop report: Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers: State of the Art.

Identification of biomarkers in cancer immunotherapy that predict therapeutic response and/or limit adverse events are a critical need in the field. To address recent progress and hurdles around cancer biomarker development and utilization, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) convened a workshop, Immuno-Oncology Biomarkers: State of the Art, on May 16-17, 2018. Topics discussed included challenges in handling biospecimens, identification and validation of new biomarkers, data sharing, and collaborating across disciplines to advance biomarker development. Panel discussions followed session presentations to help foster participant conversation and discuss future projects and collaborations. The results of the Workshop include the development of new initiatives for the SITC Biomarkers Committee

Gravitational Energy Loss and Binary Pulsars in the Scalar Ether-Theory of Gravitation

Motivation is given for trying a theory of gravity with a preferred reference frame (``ether'' for short). One such theory is summarized, that is a scalar bimetric theory. Dynamics is governed by an extension of Newton's second law. In the static case, geodesic motion is recovered together with Newton's attraction field. In the static spherical case, Schwarzschild's metric is got. An asymptotic scheme of post-Minkowskian (PM) approximation is built by associating a conceptual family of systems with the given weakly-gravitating system. It is more general than the post-Newtonian scheme in that the velocity may be comparable with $c$. This allows to justify why the 0PM approximation of the energy rate may be equated to the rate of the Newtonian energy, as is usually done. At the 0PM approximation of this theory, an isolated system loses energy by quadrupole radiation, without any monopole or dipole term. It seems plausible that the observations on binary pulsars (the pulse data) could be nicely fitted with a timing model based on this theory.Comment: Text of a talk given at the 4th Conf. on Physics Beyond the Standard Model, Tegernsee, June 2003, submitted to the Proceedings (H. V. Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, ed.