First Neutrino Observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The first neutrino observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are presented from preliminary analyses. Based on energy, direction and location, the data in the region of interest appear to be dominated by 8B solar neutrinos, detected by the charged current reaction on deuterium and elastic scattering from electrons, with very little background. Measurements of radioactive backgrounds indicate that the measurement of all active neutrino types via the neutral current reaction on deuterium will be possible with small systematic uncertainties. Quantitative results for the fluxes observed with these reactions will be provided when further calibrations have been completed.Comment: Latex, 7 pages, 10 figures, Invited paper at Neutrino 2000 Conference, Sudbury, Canada, June 16-21, 2000 to be published in the Proceeding

Salvage chemotherapy of biweekly irinotecan plus S-1 (biweekly IRIS) in previously treated patients with advanced gastric cancer

PURPOSE: This phase II trial first describes the combination chemotherapy of biweekly irinotecan plus S-1 (biweekly IRIS) for pretreated advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients. METHODS: Patients who had previously been treated with greater than or equal to one regimen were enrolled. They received S-1 35 mg/m(2) twice daily on days 1-14 and irinotecan 150 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 15, every 4 weeks. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). RESULTS: Among the 38 patients enrolled, 18 patients were treated as second line, and the remaining 20 patients were enrolled as third- or fourth line. A total of 208 cycles were administered with the median being four cycles (range 1-16). The median OS was 8.7 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 7.5-10.3], and the median progression-free survival was 6.3 months (95% CI 5.3-7.3). Low serum albumin (<3.5 mg/dL) was an independent adverse prognosticator for survival. Overall response rate was 17% (95% CI 4-30%). The major grade 3/4 toxicities were neutropenia (26%) and diarrhea (18%). CONCLUSIONS: Biweekly IRIS showed the moderate activity as salvage treatment in AGC. Considering high neutropenia and gastrointestinal toxicity, patient selection should be warranted; serum albumin may be a predictive factor for treatment decisionope

Early Treatment with Basal Insulin Glargine in People with Type 2 Diabetes: Lessons from ORIGIN and Other Cardiovascular Trials

Dysglycemia results from a deficit in first-phase insulin secretion compounded by increased insulin insensitivity, exposing beta cells to chronic hyperglycemia and excessive glycemic variability. Initiation of intensive insulin therapy at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to achieve normoglycemia has been shown to reverse glucotoxicity, resulting in recovery of residual beta-cell function. The United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) 10-year post-trial follow-up reported reductions in cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality in persons with T2DM who initially received intensive glucose control compared with standard therapy. In the cardiovascular outcome trial, outcome reduction with an initial glargine intervention (ORIGIN), a neutral effect on cardiovascular disease was observed in the population comprising prediabetes and T2DM. Worsening of glycemic control was prevented over the 6.7 year treatment period, with few serious hypoglycemic episodes and only moderate weight gain, with a lesser need for dual or triple oral treatment versus standard care. Several other studies have also highlighted the benefits of early insulin initiation as first-line or add-on therapy to metformin. The decision to introduce basal insulin to metformin must, however be individualized based on a risk-benefit analysis. The landmark ORIGIN trial provides many lessons relating to the concept and application of early insulin therapy for the prevention and safe and effective induction and maintenance of glycemic control in type 2 diabetes

Heterologous expression of cytotoxic sesquiterpenoids from the medicinal mushroom Lignosus rhinocerotis in yeast

Background: Genome mining facilitated by heterologous systems is an emerging approach to access the chemical diversity encoded in basidiomycete genomes. In this study, three sesquiterpene synthase genes, GME3634, GME3638, and GME9210, which were highly expressed in the sclerotium of the medicinal mushroom Lignosus rhinocerotis, were cloned and heterologously expressed in a yeast system. Results: Metabolite profile analysis of the yeast culture extracts by GC-MS showed the production of several sesquiterpene alcohols (C 15 H 26 O), including cadinols and germacrene D-4-ol as major products. Other detected sesquiterpenes include selina-6-en-4-ol, ß-elemene, ß-cubebene, and cedrene. Two purified major compounds namely (+)-torreyol and a-cadinol synthesised by GME3638 and GME3634 respectively, are stereoisomers and their chemical structures were confirmed by 1 H and 13 C NMR. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that GME3638 and GME3634 are a pair of orthologues, and are grouped together with terpene synthases that synthesise cadinenes and related sesquiterpenes. (+)-Torreyol and a-cadinol were tested against a panel of human cancer cell lines and the latter was found to exhibit selective potent cytotoxicity in breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF7) with IC 50 value of 3.5 ± 0.58 µg/ml while a-cadinol is less active (IC 50 = 18.0 ± 3.27 µg/ml). Conclusions: This demonstrates that yeast-based genome mining, guided by transcriptomics, is a promising approach for uncovering bioactive compounds from medicinal mushrooms

Planck 2015 results: I. Overview of products and scientific results

The European Space Agency's Planck satellite, which is dedicated to studying the early Universe and its subsequent evolution, was launched on 14 May 2009. It scanned the microwave and submillimetre sky continuously between 12 August 2009 and 23 October 2013. In February 2015, ESA and the Planck Collaboration released the second set of cosmology products based ondata from the entire Planck mission, including both temperature and polarization, along with a set of scientific and technical papers and a web-based explanatory supplement. This paper gives an overview of the main characteristics of the data and the data products in the release, as well as the associated cosmological and astrophysical science results and papers. The data products include maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, diffuse foregrounds in temperature and polarization, catalogues of compact Galactic and extragalactic sources (including separate catalogues of Sunyaev-Zeldovich clusters and Galactic cold clumps), and extensive simulations of signals and noise used in assessing uncertainties and the performance of the analysis methods. The likelihood code used to assess cosmological models against the Planck data is described, along with a CMB lensing likelihood. Scientific results include cosmological parameters derived from CMB power spectra, gravitational lensing, and cluster counts, as well as constraints on inflation, non-Gaussianity, primordial magnetic fields, dark energy, and modified gravity, and new results on low-frequency Galactic foregrounds

Review of thermo-physical properties, wetting and heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids and their applicability in industrial quench heat treatment

The success of quenching process during industrial heat treatment mainly depends on the heat transfer characteristics of the quenching medium. In the case of quenching, the scope for redesigning the system or operational parameters for enhancing the heat transfer is very much limited and the emphasis should be on designing quench media with enhanced heat transfer characteristics. Recent studies on nanofluids have shown that these fluids offer improved wetting and heat transfer characteristics. Further water-based nanofluids are environment friendly as compared to mineral oil quench media. These potential advantages have led to the development of nanofluid-based quench media for heat treatment practices. In this article, thermo-physical properties, wetting and boiling heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids are reviewed and discussed. The unique thermal and heat transfer characteristics of nanofluids would be extremely useful for exploiting them as quench media for industrial heat treatment

Consensus on the pathological definition and classification of poorly cohesive gastric carcinoma

Background and aims Clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer (GC) are changing, especially in the West with a decreasing incidence of distal, intestinal-type tumours and the corresponding increasing proportion of tumours with Laurén diffuse or WHO poorly cohesive (PC) including signet ring cell (SRC) histology. To accurately assess the behaviour and the prognosis of these GC subtypes, the standardization of pathological definitions is needed. Methods A multidisciplinary expert team belonging to the European Chapter of International Gastric Cancer Association (IGCA) identified 11 topics on pathological classifications used for PC and SRC GC. The topics were debated during a dedicated Workshop held in Verona in March 2017. Then, through a Delphi method, consensus statements for each topic were elaborated. Results A consensus was reached on the need to classify gastric carcinoma according to the most recent edition of the WHO classification which is currently WHO 2010. Moreover, to standardize the definition of SRC carcinomas, the proposal that only WHO PC carcinomas with more than 90% poorly cohesive cells having signet ring cell morphology have to be classified as SRC carcinomas was made. All other PC non-SRC types have to be further subdivided into PC carcinomas with SRC component ( 10% SRCs) and PC carcinomas not otherwise specified (< 10% SRCs). Conclusion The reported statements clarify some debated topics on pathological classifications used for PC and SRC GC. As such, this consensus classification would allow the generation of evidence on biological and prognostic differences between these GC subtypes

Planck 2015 results I. Overview of products and scientific results

The European Space Agency's Planck satellite, which is dedicated to studying the early Universe and its subsequent evolution, was launched on 14 May 2009. It scanned the microwave and submillimetre sky continuously between 12 August 2009 and 23 October 2013. In February 2015, ESA and the Planck Collaboration released the second set of cosmology products based on data from the entire Planck mission, including both temperature and polarization, along with a set of scientific and technical papers and a web-based explanatory supplement. This paper gives an overview of the main characteristics of the data and the data products in the release, as well as the associated cosmological and astrophysical science results and papers. The data products include maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, diffuse foregrounds in temperature and polarization, catalogues of compact Galactic and extragalactic sources (including separate catalogues of Sunyaev-Zeldovich clusters and Galactic cold clumps), and extensive simulations of signals and noise used in assessing uncertainties and the performance of the analysis methods. The likelihood code used to assess cosmological models against the Planck data is described, along with a CMB lensing likelihood. Scientific results include cosmological parameters derived from CMB power spectra, gravitational lensing, and cluster counts, as well as constraints on inflation, non-Gaussianity, primordial magnetic fields, dark energy, and modified gravity, and new results on low-frequency Galactic foregrounds