FDG-PET Parameters as Prognostic Factor in Esophageal Cancer Patients: A Review

Background:18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) has been used extensively to explore whether FDG Uptake can be used to provide prognostic information for esophageal cancer patients. The aim of the present review is to evaluate the literature available to date concerning the potential prognostic value of FDG uptake in esophageal cancer patients, in terms of absolute pretreatment values and of decrease in FDG uptake during or after neoadjuvant therapy. Methods: A computer-aided search of the English language literature concerning esophageal cancer and standardized uptake values was performed. This search focused on clinical studies evaluating the prognostic value of FDG uptake as an absolute value or the decrease in FDG uptake and using overall mortality and/or disease-related mortality as an end point. Results: In total, 31 studies met the predefined criteria. Two main groups were identified based on the tested prognostic parameter: (1) FDG uptake and (2) decrease in FDG uptake. Most studies showed that pretreatment FDG uptake and postneoadjuvant treatment FDG uptake, as absolute values, are predictors for survival in univariate analysis. Moreover, early decrease in FDG uptake during neoadjuvant therapy is predictive for response and survival in most studies described. However, late decrease in FDG uptake after completion of neoadjuvant therapy was predictive for pathological response and survival in only 2 of 6 studies. Conclusions: Measuring decrease in FDG uptake early during neoadjuvant therapy is most appealing, moreover because the observed range of values expressed as relative decrease to discriminate responding from nonresponding patients is very small. At present inter-institutional comparison of results is difficult because several different normalization factors for FDG uptake are in use. Therefore, more research focusing on standardization of protocols and inter-institutional differences should be performed, before a PET-guided algorithm can be universally advocated

Futur dels teixits intel·ligents

Els teixits intel·ligents del futur es desenvolupen amb nous materials i amb tecnologies innovadores, però també amb clau d'eficiència ambiental. Es revisen tendències de la indústria tèxtil relacionades, entre d'altres, amb: Teixits funcionals i materials amb propietats singulars. e-Textil, wearables i gestió 4.0. Automatització, robòtica i impressió 3D. Ecologia industrial, impacte ambiental i valorització energètic

EVIDENCE FOR A SUPER-HARD POMERON STRUCTURE

Results are presented from a study of jet production in ppBAR interactions with square-root s = 630 GeV at the CERN SppS-ColliderBAR, which are tagged by a proton or antiproton which possesses more than 90% of the incident beam momentum. The hard scattering which occurs between a parton in a beam particle and another in the soft residual component (pomeron-dominated) of the tagged proton allows the pomeron's partonic structure to be investigated. The observed jet distributions are in good agreement with expectations for hard parton-parton scattering in QCD. The pomeron exhibits a hard structure like 1 - x. However, there is an additional significant (30%) delta-function-like component, in which the entire momentum of the pomeron seems to participate in the hard scattering

THE SMALL-ANGLE SPECTROMETER OF EXPERIMENT UA8 AT THE SPPS-COLLIDER

Experiment UA8 at the SppSBAR-collider studied the production of hadronic jets in ppBAR interactions which also contained final state protons or antiprotons with more than 90% of the full beam momentum of 315 GeV. Four Roman pot spectrometers were installed in interaction region LSS4 and interfaced to the data acquisition system of the UA2 calorimeter experiment, such that UA8 data could be logged on UA2 raw data tapes. In order to minimally perturb normal UA2 data acquisition and allow concurrent operation for the life of the experiment, an efficient high speed data-driven trigger processor was employed. The processor calculated the momentum of a track in a Roman pot spectrometer with 1.4% accuracy in 450 ns, thereby allowing a trigger decision to be made within 1.3 mus. We describe the integration of this processor into the high bandwidth readout of the UA8 wire chamber TDC system, and the on-line software package which monitored the hardware operation. The suppression of backgrounds from beam halo and multiple interactions in a bunch crossing is also discussed

Iron chelation therapy with deferasirox in patients with aplastic anemia: a subgroup analysis of 116 patients from the EPIC trial

The prospective 1-year Evaluation of Patients' Iron Chelation with Exjade (EPIC) study enrolled a large cohort of 116 patients with aplastic anemia; the present analyses evaluated the efficacy and safety of deferasirox in this patient population. After 1 year, median serum ferritin decreased significantly from 3254 ng/mL at baseline to 1854 ng/mL (P < .001). Decreases occurred in chelation-naive (3229-1520 ng/mL; P < .001, last-observation-carried-forward analysis), and previously chelated (3263-2585 ng/mL; P = .21, last-observation-carried-forward analysis) patients and were reflective of dose adjustments and ongoing iron intake. Baseline labile plasma iron levels were within normal range despite high serum ferritin levels. The most common drug-related adverse events were nausea (22%) and diarrhea (16%). Serum creatinine increases more than 33% above baseline and the upper limit of normal occurred in 29 patients (25%), but there were no progressive increases; concomitant use of cyclosporine had a significant impact on serum creatinine levels. The decrease in mean alanine aminotransferase levels at 1 year correlated significantly with reduction in serum ferritin (r = 0.40, P < .001). Mean absolute neutrophil and platelet counts remained stable during treatment, and there were no drug-related cytopenias. This prospective dataset confirms the efficacy and well characterizes the tolerability profile of deferasirox in a large population of patients with aplastic anemia. This study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00171821

Measurement of the polarization of the Xi(0) ((Xi(0))over-bar) hyperon beam by the NA48/1 experiment

A total of 368415 Xi(0) --> Lambda Xi(0) and 31 171 (Xi(0)) over bar --> (Lambda) over bar pi(0) were selected from data recorded in the NA48/1 experiment during 2002 data taking. From this sample, the polarization of Xi(0) and (Xi(0)) over bar hyperons was measured to be P(Xi 0) = -0.102 +/- 0.012(stat) +/- 0.008(syst) and P((Xi 0) over bar) = -0.01 +/- 0.04(stat) 0.008(syst). The dependence of P(Xi 0) on the Xi(0) transverse momentum with respect to the primary proton beam is also presented. With the same data sample. the ratio of (Xi(0)) over bar and Xi(0) fluxes in proton collisions at 400 GeV/c oil a beryllium target was measured. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Measurement of the polarization of the Xi0 (anti-Xi0) hyperon beam by the NA48/1 experiment

A total of 368415 Xi(0) --> Lambda Xi(0) and 31 171 (Xi(0)) over bar --> (Lambda) over bar pi(0) were selected from data recorded in the NA48/1 experiment during 2002 data taking. From this sample, the polarization of Xi(0) and (Xi(0)) over bar hyperons was measured to be P(Xi 0) = -0.102 +/- 0.012(stat) +/- 0.008(syst) and P((Xi 0) over bar) = -0.01 +/- 0.04(stat) 0.008(syst). The dependence of P(Xi 0) on the Xi(0) transverse momentum with respect to the primary proton beam is also presented. With the same data sample. the ratio of (Xi(0)) over bar and Xi(0) fluxes in proton collisions at 400 GeV/c oil a beryllium target was measure

Determination of the relative decay rate K-S ->pi e nu/K-L ->pi e nu

The decay rate of K-S -> pi ev relative to the rate of K-L -> pi rev has been measured by the NA48 Collaboration in a neutral kaon beam originating from 400 GeV proton-Be interactions at the CERN SPS. The result is 0.993 +/- 0.026(stat) +/- 0.022(syst), compatible with I in agreement with the Standard Model prediction at tree level. It implies B R (K-S -> pi ev) = (7.05 +/- 0.18(stat) +/- 0.16(syst)) X 10(-4). (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved