Second line therapy in malignant pleural mesothelioma: a systematic review

After the implementation of standard first line chemotherapy with platinum and antifolates in pleural mesothelioma, patients are confronted with a need for second line treatment at relapse or progression. We conducted a systematic review of the literature for the activity, effectiveness and toxicity of second line treatment. The results are presented according to the class of drugs: chemotherapy and targeted or biological agent. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.Pulmonolog

Exploring chemical versatility within the tautomerase superfamily:Catalytic promiscuity and the emergence of new enzymes

De evolutietheorie wordt doorgaans beschreven op het niveau van organismen en populaties in het geheel. Echter, evolutie vindt op een veel fundamenteler niveau plaats in cellen, de bouwstenen van ieder organisme. Bert-Jan Baas heeft onderzocht hoe evolutie werkt voor enzymen, één van de bouwstenen van levende cellen. Baas heeft onderzocht hoe een familie van cis-3-chlooracrylzuur dehalogenases, die een door de mens gemaakte stof afbreken, mogelijk is geëvolueerd binnen de context van de tautomerase superfamilie. Verbazingwekkend genoeg heeft hij ontdekt dat verschillende tautomerases binnen deze familie lage dehalogenase activiteit bezitten, terwijl cis-3-chlooracrylzuur dehalogenases lage tautomerase activiteit bezitten. Deze overeenkomstige activiteiten suggereren dat de dehalogenases via divergente evolutie zijn geëvolueerd uit tautomerases en dat katalytische promiscuïteit hierin waarschijnlijk een rol heeft gespeeld. Promiscue activiteiten van een laag niveau in bestaande enzymen kunnen mogelijk als startpunt dienen voor de evolutie van nieuwe enzymen, waarbij deze activiteiten sterk worden verhoogd. Verder is de chemische diversiteit van bestaande en nog niet eerder bestudeerde leden van de tautomerase superfamilie onderzocht. Dit heeft geleid tot de ontdekking van een zeldzaam cofactor-onafhankelijk enzym dat een reactie tussen zuurstof en een organisch substraat katalyseert, iets dat nog niet bekend was voor een enzym uit deze superfamilie. Dit illustreert het enorme chemische potentieel van de tautomerase superfamilie en doet ons afvragen welke activiteiten er nog in het verschiet liggen om ontdekt te worden

Interaction between nickel and cobalt toxicity in Enchytraeus crypticus is due to competitive uptake

Uptake and toxicity of Ni-Co mixtures in Enchytraeus crypticus were determined after 4 d, 7 d, 10 d, and 14 d exposure. Generally, body concentrations of Ni and Co increased with increasing exposure concentrations. Ni body concentration was significantly reduced in the presence of Co, whereas Ni only marginally affected Co uptake. When expressed as free ion activities, individual toxicity of Ni and Co increased with time, with median lethal concentrations (LC50) decreasing from 78.3 μM and 511 μM at 4 d to 40.4 μM and 393 μM at 14 d, respectively. When expressed as body concentrations, LC50BodyNi remained constant with time whereas LC50BodyCo increased during the first 7 d but remained stable afterwards. As identified by the MIXTOX model, interactions between Ni and Co were mainly antagonistic when based on free ion activities, however, no interaction was observed when based on body concentrations. A process-based model, incorporating exposure time to analyze the mechanisms underlying the dynamic mixture toxicity confirmed the differences in toxicokinetics of the 2 metals. The author's findings suggest that body concentrations, which incorporate bioaccumulation processes, are time-independent and can act as a more constant indicator of metal toxicity. The observed antagonism was mainly caused by competition between Co and Ni for binding sites and subsequent inhibition of Ni uptake. This competitive interaction occurred at the uptake level (toxicokinetics), but not at the target level (toxicodynamics)

The Lexicon of Emoji?:Conventionality Modulates Processing of Emoji

Emoji have been ubiquitous in communication for over a decade, yet how they derive meaning remains underexplored. Here, we examine an aspect fundamental to linguistic meaning-making: the degree to which emoji have conventional lexicalized meanings and whether that conventionalization affects processing in real-time. Experiment 1 establishes a range of meaning agreement levels across emoji within a population; Experiment 2 measures accuracy and response times to word-emoji pairings in a match/mismatch task. In this experiment, we found that accuracy and response time both correlated significantly with the level of population-wide meaning agreement from Experiment 1, suggesting that lexical access of single emoji may be comparable to that of words, even out of context. This is consistent with theories of a multimodal lexicon that stores links between meaning, structure, and modality in long-term memory. Altogether, these findings suggest that emoji can allow a range of entrenched, lexicalized representations

A 2:1 cocrystal of 6,13-dihydropentacene and pentacene

6,13-Dihydropentacene and pentacene cocrystallize in a ratio of 2:1, i.e. C22H16·0.5C22H14, during vapour transport of commercial pentacene in a gas flow. The crystal structure is monoclinic, space group P21/n, and contains one dihydropentacene molecule and half a pentacene molecule in the asymmetric unit.

The effects of rhetorical patterns or schemata on reading comprehension in expository text of Persian

AbstractThis study attempts to explore the schemata or rhetorical patterns on reading comprehension of 300 state run university students of psychology and educational fields. The subjects involved were selected through stratified random sampling. This group includes two ways factorial design through random assignment. The variables of this article were investigated in three groups (100 subjects in each group). Each group was asked to recall the text and finish a multiple-choice test. The central instrument included three versions of passage with identical content but different schemata: descriptive (listing) pattern, explaining pattern and analysis pattern. Analysis of recall test indicated that subjects displayed better recall of the text with highly structured schema than the one with loosely controlled schema. The outcomes suggested that rhetorical patterns have a significant effect on written communication

Brain Activity During Paired and Individual Mindfulness Meditation: A Controlled EEG Study

Objective: In this study, we evaluated brain electroencephalographic (EEG) activity in healthy participants during the performance of paired and individual mindfulness meditation (MM). We hypothesized that EEG activity is differentially affected by meditation in pairs compared to individual meditation. Methods: A total of 20 healthy female university students (mean age 19.54 years, SD =1.53) with no prior experience in MM participated in this study. All participants had to perform a 5-minute MM task together and individually while the other participant was in rest or performing a concentration task (control condition). To exclude social interaction as main factor, participants were separated from their research partner by an opaque screen while instructions were given through headphones. Brain electroencephalographic (EEG) activity from each individual student was measured during all conditions. Results: The main findings indicate that left-frontal alpha and theta spectral EEG power was significantly higher during the paired MM condition compared to individual MM and control condition. Conclusions: This controlled MM study demonstrates differences in brain activity between practicing mindfulness in pairs compared to practicing it individually. We conclude that the increased alpha and theta EEG power during paired MM may be associated with social facilitation or the activation of theory of mind. The results invite further reflection on interpersonal communication and mindfulness