Clinical case: giant solitary neurofibroma of the thigh

The solitary neurofibroma, a benign ectodermal tumor reaching the nerve sheaths, is very rare both in its frequency and its location. Its diagnosis is histo-immunological and its treatment, surgical, consists of a complete resection of the mass due to a degenerative risk tumor. The authors report the case of a 36-year-old patient, admitted for a large tumor of the anterior aspect of the right thigh. Ultrasound and CT revealed the presence of a soft tissue tumor measuring 28 x 15 cm. The resection was performed without damage to the adjacent noble elements. The tumor weighed 7 kg. The histology found a neurofibroma. Benign tumors of the nerve sheath are rare. The neurofibroma is a benign tumor, which can occur in two forms: solitary in young adults or multiple in the context of a Recklinghausen disease. The majority of cases of giant neurofibromatous tumors reported, were almost always isolated localization. TDM or echo-guided biopsy is the only way to confirm preoperative histological diagnosis. The treatment is surgical. However, the tumor infiltrates the fasciculi of the nerve along its course, which could make its resection difficult and dangerous. Thigh localization of the neurofibroma is rare. Complete excision with negative margins is the treatment of choice. In the case reported, one year after surgery, the patient was in good general condition with normal locomotor function

A combination of methods needed to assess the actual use of provisioning ecosystem services

Failure to recognize that potential provisioning ecosystem services are not necessarily collected and used by people may have important consequences for management of land and resources. Accounting for people's actual use of ecosystem services in decision making processes requires a robust methodological approach that goes beyond mapping the presence of ecosystem services. But no such universally accepted method exists, and there are several shortcomings of existing methods such as the application of land use/cover as a proxy for provisioning ecosystem service availability and surveys based on respondents' recall to assess people's collection of e.g. wild food. By combining four complementary methods and applying these to the shifting cultivation systems of Laos, we show how people’s actual use of ecosystem services from agricultural fields differs from ecosystem service availability. Our study is the first in Southeast Asia to combine plot monitoring, collection diaries, repeat interviews, and participant observation. By applying these multiple methods borrowed from anthropology and botany among other research domains, the study illustrates that no single method is sufficient on its own. It is of key importance for scientists to adopt methods that can account for both availability of various services and actual use of those services

Spin-1 Correlators at Large NC: Matching OPE and Resonance Theory up to O(alpha_s)

The relation between the quark-gluon description of QCD and the hadronic picture is studied up to order alpha_s. The analysis of the spin-1 correlators is developed within the large NC framework. Both representations are shown to be equivalent in the euclidean domain, where the Operator Product Expansion is valid. By considering different models for the hadronic spectrum at high energies, one is able to recover the alpha_s running in the correlators, to fix the rho(770) and a1(1260) couplings, and to produce a prediction for the values of the condensates. The Operator Product Expansion is improved by the large NC resonance theory, extending its range of validity. Dispersion relations are employed in order to study the minkowskian region and some convenient sum rules, specially sensitive to the resonance structure of QCD, are worked out. A first experimental estimate of these sum rules allows a cross-check of former determinations of the QCD parameters and helps to discern and to discard some of the considered hadronical models. Finally, the truncated resonance theory and the Minimal Hadronical Approximation arise as a natural approach to the full resonance theory, not as a model.Comment: 36 pages, 19 figures. Minor changes (added reference,...). Paper as finally appeared in pres

Effective Field Theory of Nuclear Forces

The application of the effective field theory (EFT) method to nuclear systems is reviewed. The roles of degrees of freedom, QCD symmetries, power counting, renormalization, and potentials are discussed. EFTs are constructed for various energy regimes of relevance in nuclear physics, and are used in systematic expansions to derive nuclear forces in terms of a number of parameters that embody information about QCD dynamics. Two-, three-, and many-nucleon systems, including external probes, are considered.Comment: 83 pages, 20 figures, commissioned for Prog. Part. Nucl. Phy

KIR-HLA interactions extend human CD8+ T cell lifespan in vivo.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence, in transgenic mice and in vitro, that inhibitory killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (iKIRs) can modulate T cell responses. Furthermore, we have previously shown that iKIRs are an important determinant of T cell-mediated control of chronic virus infection and that these results are consistent with an increase in CD8+ T cell lifespan due to iKIR-ligand interactions. Here we test this prediction and investigate whether iKIRs affect T cell lifespan in humans in vivo. METHODS: We used stable isotope labelling with deuterated water to quantify memory CD8+ T cell survival in healthy individuals and patients with chronic viral infections. RESULTS: We showed that an individual's iKIR-ligand genotype is a significant determinant of CD8+ T cell lifespan: in individuals with two iKIR-ligand gene pairs, memory CD8+ T cells survived on average for 125 days, in individuals with four iKIR-ligand gene pairs then memory CD8+ T cell lifespan was doubled to 250 days. Additionally, we showed that this survival advantage is independent of iKIR expression by the T cell of interest and further that iKIR-ligand genotype altered CD8+ and CD4+ T cell immune aging phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: Together these data reveal an unexpectedly large impact of iKIR genotype on T cell survival. FUNDING: Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, EU Horizon 2020, EU FP7, Leukemia and Lymphoma Research, National Institute of Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Research Fellowship, National Institute of Health, Jefferiss Trust

The Minimal Scale Invariant Extension of the Standard Model

We perform a systematic analysis of an extension of the Standard Model that includes a complex singlet scalar field and is scale invariant at the tree level. We call such a model the Minimal Scale Invariant extension of the Standard Model (MSISM). The tree-level scale invariance of the model is explicitly broken by quantum corrections, which can trigger electroweak symmetry breaking and potentially provide a mechanism for solving the gauge hierarchy problem. Even though the scale invariant Standard Model is not a realistic scenario, the addition of a complex singlet scalar field may result in a perturbative and phenomenologically viable theory. We present a complete classification of the flat directions which may occur in the classical scalar potential of the MSISM. After calculating the one-loop effective potential of the MSISM, we investigate a number of representative scenarios and determine their scalar boson mass spectra, as well as their perturbatively allowed parameter space compatible with electroweak precision data. We discuss the phenomenological implications of these scenarios, in particular, whether they realize explicit or spontaneous CP violation, neutrino masses or provide dark matter candidates. In particular, we find a new minimal scale-invariant model of maximal spontaneous CP violation which can stay perturbative up to Planck-mass energy scales, without introducing an unnaturally large hierarchy in the scalar-potential couplings.Comment: 71 pages, 34 eps figures, numerical error corrected, clarifying comments adde

Safety, tolerability, and effectiveness of the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) dapagliflozin in combination with standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced, inoperable pancreatic adenocarcinoma: A phase 1b observational study

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy. Thus, there is an urgent need for safe and effective novel therapies. PDAC\u27s excessive reliance on glucose metabolism for its metabolic needs provides a target for metabolic therapy. Preclinical PDAC models have demonstrated that targeting the sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) with dapagliflozin may be a novel strategy. Whether dapagliflozin is safe and efficacious in humans with PDAC is unclear. METHODS: We performed a phase 1b observational study (ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT04542291; registered 09/09/2020) to test the safety and tolerability of dapagliflozin (5 mg p.o./day × 2 weeks escalated to 10 mg p.o./day × 6 weeks) added to standard Gemcitabine and nab-Paclitaxel (GnP) chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced and/or metastatic PDAC. Markers of efficacy including Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST 1.1) response, CT-based volumetric body composition measurements, and plasma chemistries for measuring metabolism and tumor burden were also analyzed. RESULTS: Of 23 patients who were screened, 15 enrolled. One expired (due to complications from underlying disease), 2 dropped out (did not tolerate GnP chemotherapy) during the first 4 weeks, and 12 completed. There were no unexpected or serious adverse events with dapagliflozin. One patient was told to discontinue dapagliflozin after 6 weeks due to elevated ketones, although there were no clinical signs of ketoacidosis. Dapagliflozin compliance was 99.4%. Plasma glucagon increased significantly. Although abdominal muscle and fat volumes decreased; increased muscle-to-fat ratio correlated with better therapeutic response. After 8 weeks of treatment in the study, partial response (PR) to therapy was seen in 2 patients, stable disease (SD) in 9 patients, and progressive disease (PD) in 1 patient. After dapagliflozin discontinuation (and chemotherapy continuation), an additional 7 patients developed the progressive disease in the subsequent scans measured by increased lesion size as well as the development of new lesions. Quantitative imaging assessment was supported by plasma CA19-9 tumor marker measurements. CONCLUSIONS: Dapagliflozin is well-tolerated and was associated with high compliance in patients with advanced, inoperable PDAC. Overall favorable changes in tumor response and plasma biomarkers suggest it may have efficacy against PDAC, warranting further investigation

A educação em saúde como foco preventivo em relação as IST’S: relato de experiência

As infecções sexualmente transmissíveis (IST’s) são causadas por vírus, bactérias ou outros microorganismos. São transmitidas, principalmente, por meio do contato sexual (oral, vaginal, anal) sem o uso de camisinha masculina ou feminina, com uma pessoa que esteja infectada. A transmissão de uma IST pode acontecer, ainda da mãe para a criança durante a gestação, o parto ou amamentação. Repassar informações de prevenção acerca das infecções sexualmente transmissíveis (IST’s) aos colaboradores de uma instituição hospitalar por meio de palestras. Sabe-se portanto, que as infecções tem cura se descobertas em fase inicial. Devemos nos prevenir da melhor forma possível e sempre ir ao médico para que sejam solicitados os exames complementares. A nossa saúde é um bem muito importante, onde devemos e podemos alertar sobre os benefícios do sexo seguro e os riscos do sexo desprotegido. &nbsp

Baryons as non-topological chiral solitons

The present review gives a survey of recent developments and applications of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with $N_f=2$ and $N_f=3$ quark flavors for the structure of baryons. The model is an effective chiral quark theory which incorporates the SU(N$_f$)$_L\otimes$SU(N$_f$)$_R\otimes$U(1)$_V$ approximate symmetry of Quantum chromodynamics. The approach describes the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking and dynamical quark mass generation. Mesons appear as quark-antiquark excitations and baryons arise as non-topological solitons with three valence quarks and a polarized Dirac sea. For the evaluation of the baryon properties the present review concentrates on the non-linear Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with quark and Goldstone degrees of freedom which is identical to the Chiral quark soliton model obtained from the instanton liquid model of the QCD vacuum. In this non-linear model, a wide variety of observables of baryons of the octet and decuplet is considered. These include, in particular, electromagnetic, axial, pseudoscalar and pion nucleon form factors and the related static properties like magnetic moments, radii and coupling constants of the nucleon as well as the mass splittings and electromagnetic form factors of hyperons. Predictions are given for the strange form factors, the scalar form factor and the tensor charge of the nucleon.Comment: 104 pages, 27 figures as uuencoded and compressed postscript files , hardcopy available upon request; Prog.Part.Nucl.Phys. 37 (1996) (in print

Strong interface-induced spin-orbit coupling in graphene on WS2

Interfacial interactions allow the electronic properties of graphene to be modified, as recently demonstrated by the appearance of satellite Dirac cones in the band structure of graphene on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrates. Ongoing research strives to explore interfacial interactions in a broader class of materials in order to engineer targeted electronic properties. Here we show that at an interface with a tungsten disulfide (WS2) substrate, the strength of the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in graphene is very strongly enhanced. The induced SOI leads to a pronounced low-temperature weak anti-localization (WAL) effect, from which we determine the spin-relaxation time. We find that spin-relaxation time in graphene is two-to-three orders of magnitude smaller on WS2 than on SiO2 or hBN, and that it is comparable to the intervalley scattering time. To interpret our findings we have performed first-principle electronic structure calculations, which both confirm that carriers in graphene-on-WS2 experience a strong SOI and allow us to extract a spin-dependent low-energy effective Hamiltonian. Our analysis further shows that the use of WS2 substrates opens a possible new route to access topological states of matter in graphene-based systems.Comment: Originally submitted version in compliance with editorial guidelines. Final version with expanded discussion of the relation between theory and experiments to be published in Nature Communication