Aflibercept in the Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the US. In recent decades, an improved understanding of the role of the angiogenesis pathway in colorectal cancer has led to advancements in treatment. Bevacizumab has been shown to improve the progression-free survival and overall survival when combined with cytotoxic chemotherapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer, and at present is the only antiangiogenesis agent approved for the treatment of this cancer. Aflibercept is a novel angiogenesis-targeting agent, and has demonstrated efficacy in treating metastatic colorectal cancer in a recent randomized Phase III trial. Here we review the role of angiogenesis in the tumorigenesis of colorectal cancer, strategies for targeting angiogenesis, and the clinical development of aflibercept

A Model for the Pion Structure Function

The pion structure function is investigated in a simple model, where pion and constituent quark fields are coupled through the simplest pseudoscalar coupling. The imaginary part of the forward gamma* pi-> gamma* pi scattering amplitude is evaluated and related to the structure functions. It is shown that the introduction of non-perturbative effects, linked to the size of the pion and preserving gauge invariance, allows a connection with the quark distribution. It is predicted that higher-twist terms become negligible for Q2 larger than about 2 GeV2 and that quarks in the pion have a momentum fraction smaller than in the proton case.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX, elsart clas

Neuropsychological constraints to human data production on a global scale

Which are the factors underlying human information production on a global level? In order to gain an insight into this question we study a corpus of 252-633 Million publicly available data files on the Internet corresponding to an overall storage volume of 284-675 Terabytes. Analyzing the file size distribution for several distinct data types we find indications that the neuropsychological capacity of the human brain to process and record information may constitute the dominant limiting factor for the overall growth of globally stored information, with real-world economic constraints having only a negligible influence. This supposition draws support from the observation that the files size distributions follow a power law for data without a time component, like images, and a log-normal distribution for multimedia files, for which time is a defining qualia.Comment: to be published in: European Physical Journal

Long-Term Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer with Panitumumab

Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. More than 30% patients present with metastases at diagnoses and will require systemic chemotherapy. In recent years many anti-EGFR targets have been developed. Among them, panitumumab, a fully human IgG2 monoclonal antibody has shown important benefits in the treatment of this disease

Masses of ground and excited-state hadrons

We present the first Dyson-Schwinger equation calculation of the light hadron spectrum that simultaneously correlates the masses of meson and baryon ground- and excited-states within a single framework. At the core of our analysis is a symmetry-preserving treatment of a vector-vector contact interaction. In comparison with relevant quantities the root-mean-square-relative-error/degree-of freedom is 13%. Notable amongst our results is agreement between the computed baryon masses and the bare masses employed in modern dynamical coupled-channels models of pion-nucleon reactions. Our analysis provides insight into numerous aspects of baryon structure; e.g., relationships between the nucleon and Delta masses and those of the dressed-quark and diquark correlations they contain.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, 4 table

Measurement of qubits

We describe in detail the theory underpinning the measurement of density matrices of a pair of quantum two-level systems (qubits). Our particular emphasis is on qubits realized by the two polarization degrees of freedom of a pair of entangled photons generated in a down-conversion experiment; however, the discussion applies in general, regardless of the actual physical realization. Two techniques are discussed, namely, a tomographic reconstruction (in which the density matrix is linearly related to a set of measured quantities) and a maximum likelihood technique which requires numerical optimization (but has the advantage of producing density matrices that are always non-negative definite). In addition, a detailed error analysis is presented, allowing errors in quantities derived from the density matrix, such as the entropy or entanglement of formation, to be estimated. Examples based on down-conversion experiments are used to illustrate our results

Levels above the 19/2- isomer in Cu71: Persistence of the N=40 neutron shell gap

Two prompt γ rays of energies 2020 and 554 keV were observed in coincidence with delayed transitions depopulating the 19/2- isomer in the Z=29, N=42 Cu71 nucleus. The newly identified transitions are proposed to deexcite the 4776- and 5330-keV levels above the 19/2- isomer. Based on the comparison with the low-lying positive-parity states observed in the Z=42, N=50 Mo92 nucleus, spin and parity 23/2- are proposed for the 4776-keV level in Cu71. The high-energy, 2020-keV transition is interpreted as arising from the breaking of the N=40 neutron core. Shell-model calculations with a Ni56 core reproduce the (23/2-)→(19/2-) gap well, suggesting that the 23/2- state is dominated by πp3/2ν((fp)10(g9/2)4) configurations. The present result constitutes further evidence supporting the view that the N=40 subshell closure persists in Cu71, herewith challenging recent suggestions that the coupling of two or more proton or neutron quasiparticles induces a large polarization of the Ni68 core

Cellular Immune Responses and Viral Diversity in Individuals Treated during Acute and Early HIV-1 Infection

Immune responses induced during the early stages of chronic viral infections are thought to influence disease outcome. Using HIV as a model, we examined virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), T helper cells, and viral genetic diversity in relation to duration of infection and subsequent response to antiviral therapy. Individuals with acute HIV-1 infection treated before seroconversion had weaker CTL responses directed at fewer epitopes than persons who were treated after seroconversion. However, treatment-induced control of viremia was associated with the development of strong T helper cell responses in both groups. After 1 yr of antiviral treatment initiated in acute or early infection, all epitope-specific CTL responses persisted despite undetectable viral loads. The breadth and magnitude of CTL responses remained significantly less in treated acute infection than in treated chronic infection, but viral diversity was also significantly less with immediate therapy. We conclude that early treatment of acute HIV infection leads to a more narrowly directed CTL response, stronger T helper cell responses, and a less diverse virus population. Given the need for T helper cells to maintain effective CTL responses and the ability of virus diversification to accommodate immune escape, we hypothesize that early therapy of primary infection may be beneficial despite induction of less robust CTL responses. These data also provide rationale for therapeutic immunization aimed at broadening CTL responses in treated primary HIV infection

Multiple band structures in Ta169

Rotational structures in the Ta169 nucleus were studied via the Sn124(V51, 6n) reaction. These data were obtained as a side channel of an experiment focusing on Ta171, but the sensitivity provided by the Gammasphere spectrometer proved sufficient for a significant extension of the level scheme of this rare-earth nucleus. Over 170 new transitions and four new band structures were placed in Ta169, including the intruder πi13/2 structure. Linking transitions between all of the sequences were identified, and the relative excitation energies between the different configurations were determined for the first time. The rotational sequences were interpreted within the framework of the cranked shell model