Recommendations for HER2 testing in the UK

Determining the HER2 status of breast carcinomas is a prerequisite for the use of the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin(R)), which has recently been licensed for the treatment of metastatic disease. This necessitates a test based on archival material. The preferred analyses are immunohistochemistry with fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) as a follow up test for ambiguous results. Guidelines have been developed for standardised, well controlled procedures for the provision of reliable results. A group of three reference laboratories has been established to provide advice, quality assurance, and materials, where needed

Synthetic Observations of Simulated Radio Galaxies I: Radio and X-ray Analysis

We present an extensive synthetic observational analysis of numerically- simulated radio galaxies designed to explore the effectiveness of conventional observational analyses at recovering physical source properties. These are the first numerical simulations with sufficient physical detail to allow such a study. The present paper focuses on extraction of magnetic field properties from nonthermal intensity information. Synchrotron and inverse-Compton intensities provided meaningful information about distributions and strengths of magnetic fields, although considerable care was called for. Correlations between radio and X-ray surface brightness correctly revealed useful dynamical relationships between particles and fields. Magnetic field strength estimates derived from the ratio of X-ray to radio intensity were mostly within about a factor of two of the RMS field strength along a given line of sight. When emissions along a given line of sight were dominated by regions close to the minimum energy/equipartition condition, the field strengths derived from the standard power-law-spectrum minimum energy calculation were also reasonably close to actual field strengths, except when spectral aging was evident. Otherwise, biases in the minimum- energy magnetic field estimation mirrored actual differences from equipartition. The ratio of the inverse-Compton magnetic field to the minimum-energy magnetic field provided a rough measure of the actual total energy in particles and fields in most instances, within an order of magnitude. This may provide a practical limit to the accuracy with which one may be able to establish the internal energy density or pressure of optically thin synchrotron sources.Comment: 43 pages, 14 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ, v601 n2 February 1, 200

Deep MOS Spectroscopy of NGC 1316 Globular Clusters

The giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1316 is the brightest galaxy in the Fornax cluster, and displays a number of morphological features that might be interpreted as an intermediate age merger remanent ($\sim$3 Gyr). Based on the idea that globular clusters systems (GCS) constitute genuine tracers of the formation and evolution of their host galaxies, we conducted a spectroscopic study of approximately 40 globular clusters (GCs) candidates associated with this interesting galaxy. We determined ages, metallicities, and $\alpha$-element abundances for each GC present in the sample, through the measurement of different Lick indices and their subsequent comparison with simple stellar populations models (SSPs).Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Correlated X-ray and Optical Variability in Mkn 509

We present results of a 3 year monitoring campaign of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Markarian 509, using X-ray data from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and optical data taken by the SMARTS consortium. Both light curves show significant variations, and are strongly correlated with the optical flux leading the X-ray flux by 15 days. The X-ray power spectrum shows a steep high-frequency slope of -2.0, breaking to a slope of -1.0 at at timescale of 34 days. The lag from optical to X-ray emission is most likely caused by variations in the accretion disk propagating inward.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Public Participation Organizations and Open Policy:A Constitutional Moment for British Democracy?

This article builds on work in Science and Technology Studies and cognate disciplines concerning the institutionalization of public engagement and participation practices. It describes and analyses ethnographic qualitative research into one “organization of participation,” the UK government–funded Sciencewise program. Sciencewise’s interactions with broader political developments are explored, including the emergence of “open policy” as a key policy object in the UK context. The article considers what the new imaginary of openness means for institutionalized forms of public participation in science policymaking, asking whether this is illustrative of a “constitutional moment” in relations between society and science policymaking

Highly conductive Sb-doped layers in strained Si

The ability to create stable, highly conductive ultrashallow doped regions is a key requirement for future silicon-based devices. It is shown that biaxial tensile strain reduces the sheet resistance of highly doped n-type layers created by Sb or As implantation. The improvement is stronger with Sb, leading to a reversal in the relative doping efficiency of these n-type impurities. For Sb, the primary effect is a strong enhancement of activation as a function of tensile strain. At low processing temperatures, 0.7% strain more than doubles Sb activation, while enabling the formation of stable, ~10-nm-deep junctions. This makes Sb an interesting alternative to As for ultrashallow junctions in strain-engineered complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor device

Advanced-stage cervix cancer: rapid tumour growth rather than late diagnosis

Either diagnostic delay or tumour biology are possible factors governing the degree of spread at diagnosis of cervical cancer. To try to identify the most important parameter contributing to advanced stage, the duration of symptoms were recorded from patients scheduled for radiotherapy (n = 141) or radical hysterectomy (n = 36). In 146 cases tumour proliferation rates were evaluated following in vivo labelling with the DNA precursor BrdUrd. For symptomatic patients there was no association between duration of symptoms and stage at presentation. There was a significant trend for patients with increasing tumour stage to have more rapidly proliferating tumours with higher mean labelling index (LI) measurements (P = 0.001) and a shorter mean potential doubling time (Tpot) (P = 0.023). Socio economic deprivation may be associated with shorter Tpot values. The conclusion from this data is that stage at diagnosis is more dependent on the biological behaviour of the tumour, as expressed by proliferation rates, than delay in presentation. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Is the biology of breast cancer changing? A study of hormone receptor status 1984-1986 and 1996-1997

Using archived tumours, those from 1984-1986 and 1996-1997 underwent immunohistochemistry for hormone receptors and grade analysis. A significant shift towards more ER-positive and low-grade disease was found; this appears to reflect screening practices, but could still influence survival

Beyond the Baroreflex: A New Measure of Autonomic Regulation Based on the Time-Frequency Assessment of Variability, Phase Coherence and Couplings

For decades the role of autonomic regulation and the baroreflex in the generation of the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) - modulation of heart rate by the frequency of breathing - has been under dispute. We hypothesized that by using autonomic blockers we can reveal which oscillations and their interactions are suppressed, elucidating their involvement in RSA as well as in cardiovascular regulation more generally. R-R intervals, end tidal CO2, finger arterial pressure, and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) were measured simultaneously in 7 subjects during saline, atropine and propranolol infusion. The measurements were repeated during spontaneous and fixed-frequency breathing, and apnea. The power spectra, phase coherence and couplings were calculated to characterise the variability and interactions within the cardiovascular system. Atropine reduced R-R interval variability (p \u3c 0.05) in all three breathing conditions, reduced MSNA power during apnea and removed much of the significant coherence and couplings. Propranolol had smaller effect on the power of oscillations and did not change the number of significant interactions. Most notably, atropine reduced R-R interval power in the 0.145–0.6 Hz interval during apnea, which supports the hypothesis that the RSA is modulated by a mechanism other than the baroreflex. Atropine also reduced or made negative the phase shift between the systolic and diastolic pressure, indicating the cessation of baroreflex-dependent blood pressure variability. This result suggests that coherent respiratory oscillations in the blood pressure can be used for the non-invasive assessment of autonomic regulation