Secondary Prevention of Cancer in the Older Individual

The incidence and the mortality of cancer increase with age. This article explores the possibility of decreasing cancerrelated mortality in the aged with secondary prevention of cancer deaths that entails early diagnosis of cancer through the screening of asymptomatic older individuals. We establish that screening of asymptomatic individuals should be based on physiologic rather than chronologic age that may be estimated from a comprehensive geriatric assessment and possibly with the utilization of biologic markers of aging. It is reasonable to offer some form of screening for lung and colorectal cancer to individuals with a life expectancy of at least five years and screening for breast and prostate cancer to women and men respectively with a life expectancy of at least ten years. The ideal number of screening sessions and the ideal interval between screening sessions is unestablished. The aging of the population, the diversity of the older population, the development of new and more sensitive screening interventions, the discovery of new biologic markers of cancer and age represent the main challenges in studying the value of cancer screening in the aged. Probably the most reliable information may be obtained from rapid-learning databases in which information related to each person's physiologic age is included. Worldwide, the incidence and prevalence of cancer increase with age [1]. In the meantime the risk of cancer-related mortality increases with age at diagnosis [2-4]. As the world population is aging, cancer in the older person is an ever more common problem, and the reduction of cancer deaths in older individuals represents the most urgent goal of cancer control. In this article we explore secondary cancer prevention as representing a strategy to reduce the risk of mortality in the aged.This hypothesis is based on four considerations: i. Several studies showed that the practice of screening asymptomatic individuals for cancer becomes less common with the aging of the population [5]. ii. The average life expectancy of the Western population is rapidly increasing1. Consequently the benefits of early detection of cancer that emerges several years after diagnosis may be present even for those undergoing screening at an advanced age. iii. New forms of cancer treatment, including minimally invasive surgery [6], stereotactic radio surgery [7], and targeted systemic therapy [8], are associated with decreased risk of complications. They may be safely utilized in individuals with limited tolerance of stress who might be hurt by more aggressive treatments. It is now possible to personalize cancer screening according to individual life expectancy and tolerance of stress, as the estimate of a person's physiologic age is becoming more precise [1,9]. After reviewing the principles and the effectiveness of cancer screening and early detection, this article will explore the benefits and risks of secondary cancer prevention in older individuals. In particular we will review the current evidence and the limitations of previous clinical trials. At the end we will propose a conceptual framework to guide the screening of older individuals for cancer, and we will propose a research agenda

Expression of Interest: The Atmospheric Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE)

Submitted for the January 2014 Fermilab Physics Advisory Committee meetingSubmitted for the January 2014 Fermilab Physics Advisory Committee meetingSubmitted for the January 2014 Fermilab Physics Advisory Committee meetingSubmitted for the January 2014 Fermilab Physics Advisory Committee meetingNeutron tagging in Gadolinium-doped water may play a significant role in reducing backgrounds from atmospheric neutrinos in next generation proton-decay searches using megaton-scale Water Cherenkov detectors. Similar techniques might also be useful in the detection of supernova neutrinos. Accurate determination of neutron tagging efficiencies will require a detailed understanding of the number of neutrons produced by neutrino interactions in water as a function of momentum transferred. We propose the Atmospheric Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE), designed to measure the neutron yield of atmospheric neutrino interactions in gadolinium-doped water. An innovative aspect of the ANNIE design is the use of precision timing to localize interaction vertices in the small fiducial volume of the detector. We propose to achieve this by using early production of LAPPDs (Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors). This experiment will be a first application of these devices demonstrating their feasibility for Water Cherenkov neutrino detectors

Expression of Interest: The Atmospheric Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE)

Neutron tagging in Gadolinium-doped water may play a significant role in reducing backgrounds from atmospheric neutrinos in next generation proton-decay searches using megaton-scale Water Cherenkov detectors. Similar techniques might also be useful in the detection of supernova neutrinos. Accurate determination of neutron tagging efficiencies will require a detailed understanding of the number of neutrons produced by neutrino interactions in water as a function of momentum transferred. We propose the Atmospheric Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE), designed to measure the neutron yield of atmospheric neutrino interactions in gadolinium-doped water. An innovative aspect of the ANNIE design is the use of precision timing to localize interaction vertices in the small fiducial volume of the detector. We propose to achieve this by using early production of LAPPDs (Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors). This experiment will be a first application of these devices demonstrating their feasibility for Water Cherenkov neutrino detectors.Comment: Submitted for the January 2014 Fermilab Physics Advisory Committee meetin

Formation of S0s in extreme environments I: clues from kinematics and stellar populations

Despite numerous efforts, it is still unclear whether lenticular galaxies (S0s) evolve from spirals whose star formation was suppressed, or formed trough mergers or disk instabilities. In this paper we present a pilot study of 21 S0 galaxies in extreme environments (field and cluster), and compare their spatially-resolved kinematics and global stellar populations. Our aim is to identify whether there are different mechanisms that form S0s in different environments. Our results show that the kinematics of S0 galaxies in field and cluster are, indeed, different. Lenticulars in the cluster are more rotationally supported, suggesting that they are formed through processes that involve the rapid consumption or removal of gas (e.g. starvation, ram pressure stripping). In contrast, S0s in the field are more pressure supported, suggesting that minor mergers served mostly to shape their kinematic properties. These results are independent of total mass, luminosity, or disk-to-bulge ratio. On the other hand, the mass-weighted age, metallicity, and star formation time-scale of the galaxies correlate more with mass than with environment, in agreement with known relations from previous work such as the one between mass and metallicity. Overall, our results re-enforce the idea that there are multiple mechanisms that produce S0s, and that both mass and environment play key roles. A larger sample is highly desirable to confirm or refute the results and the interpretation of this pilot study

INSPIRE: INvestigating stellar population in RElics: II. First data release (DR1)

[Context] The INvestigating Stellar Population In RElics (INSPIRE) is an ongoing project targeting 52 ultra-compact massive galaxies at 0.1 2) through a short and intense star formation burst, and then have evolved passively and undisturbed until the present day. Relics provide a unique opportunity to study the mechanisms of star formation at high-z. [Aims] INSPIRE is designed to spectroscopically confirm and fully characterise a large sample of relics, computing their number density in the redshift window 0.1 < z < 0.5 for the first time, thus providing a benchmark for cosmological galaxy formation simulations. In this paper, we present the INSPIRE Data Release (DR1), comprising 19 systems with observations completed in 2020. [Methods] We use the methods already presented in the INSPIRE Pilot, but revisiting the 1D spectral extraction. For the 19 systems studied here, we obtain an estimate of the stellar velocity dispersion, fitting the two XSH arms (UVB and VIS) separately at their original spectral resolution to two spectra extracted in different ways. We estimate [Mg/Fe] abundances via line-index strength and mass-weighted integrated stellar ages and metallicities with full spectral fitting on the combined (UVB+VIS) spectrum. [Results] For each system, different estimates of the velocity dispersion always agree within the errors. Spectroscopic ages are very old for 13/19 galaxies, in agreement with the photometric ones, and metallicities are almost always (18/19) super-solar, confirming the mass-metallicity relation. The [Mg/Fe] ratio is also larger than solar for the great majority of the galaxies, as expected. We find that ten objects formed more than 75% of their stellar mass (M∗) within 3 Gyr from the big bang and classify them as relics. Among these, we identify four galaxies that had already fully assembled their M∗ by that time and are therefore 'extreme relics' of the ancient Universe. Interestingly, relics, overall, have a larger [Mg/Fe] and a more metal-rich stellar population. They also have larger integrated velocity dispersion values compared to non-relics (both ultra-compact and normal-size) of similar stellar mass. [Conclusions ]The INSPIRE DR1 catalogue of ten known relics is the largest publicly available collection, augmenting the total number of confirmed relics by a factor of 3.3, and also enlarging the redshift window. The resulting lower limit for the number density of relics at 0.17 < z < 0.39 is ρ ∼ 9.1 × 10-8 Mpc-3.CS is supported by an ‘Hintze Fellow’ at the Oxford Centre for Astrophysical Surveys, which is funded through generous support from the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation. CS, CT, FLB, AG, and SZ acknowledge funding from the INAF PRIN-INAF 2020 program 1.05.01.85.11. AFM has received financial support through the Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowship Programme from ‘La Caixa’ Banking Foundation (LCF/BQ/LI18/11630007). GD acknowledges support from CONICYT project Basal AFB-170002. DS is a member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne

INSPIRE: INvestigating Stellar Population in RElics: I. Survey presentation and pilot study

[Context] Massive elliptical galaxies are thought to form through a two-phase process. At early times (z > 2), an intense and fast starburst forms blue and disk-dominated galaxies. After quenching, the remaining structures become red, compact, and massive (i.e. red nuggets). Then, a time-extended second phase, which is dominated by mergers, causes structural evolution and size growth. Given the stochastic nature of mergers, a small fraction of red nuggets survive, without any interaction, massive and compact until today: these are relic galaxies. Since this fraction depends on the processes dominating the size growth, counting relics at low-z is a valuable way of disentangling between different galaxy evolution models. [Aims] In this paper, we introduce the INvestigating Stellar Population In RElics (INSPIRE) Project, which aims to spectroscopically confirm and fully characterise a large number of relics at 0:1z0:5. We focus here on the first results based on a pilot study targeting three systems, representative of the whole sample. [Methods] For these three candidates, we extracted 1D optical spectra over an aperture of r = 0:4000, which comprises 30% of the galaxies’ light, and we obtained the line-of-sight integrated stellar velocity and velocity dispersion. We also inferred the stellar [/Fe] abundance from line-index measurements and mass-weighted age and metallicity from full-spectral fitting with single stellar population models. [Results] Two galaxies have large integrated stellar velocity dispersion values (250 km s), confirming their massive nature. They are populated by stars with super-solar metallicity and [/Fe]. Both objects have formed 80% of their stellar mass within a short (0:5:0 Gyr) initial star formation episode occurred only 1 Gyr after the Big Bang. The third galaxy has a more extendedstar formation history and a lower velocity dispersion. Thus we confirm two out of three candidates as relics. [Conclusions] This paper is the first step towards assembling the final INSPIRE catalogue that will set stringent lower limits on the number density of relics at z0:5, thus constituting a benchmark for cosmological simulations, and their predictions on number densities, sizes, masses, and dynamical characteristics of these objects.CS is supported by a Hintze Fellowship at the Oxford Centre for Astrophysical Surveys, which is funded through generous support from the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation. C.S. is also very grateful to Ortwin Gerhard and his ?Dynamics Group? at the Max-Planck-Institut f?r Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE, Garching by Munich) for interesting and constructive discussions. C.T., A.G., L.H. and S.Z. acknowledge funding from the INAF PRIN-SKA 2017 programme 1.05.01.88.04. G.D. acknowledges support from CONICYT project Basal AFB-170002. AFM has received financial support through the Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowship Programme from La Caixa Banking Foundation (LCF/BQ/LI18/11630007). N.R.N. acknowledges financial support from the One hundred top talent programme of Sun Yat-sen University, Grant N. 71000-18841229. D.S. is a member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne