Report of the Terrestrial Bodies Science Working Group. Volume 9: Complementary research and development

Topics discussed include the need for: the conception and development of a wide spectrum of experiments, instruments, and vehicles in order to derive the proper return from an exploration program; the effective use of alternative methods of data acquisition involving ground-based, airborne and near Earth orbital techniques to supplement spacraft mission; and continued reduction and analysis of existing data including laboratory and theoretical studies in order to benefit fully from experiments and to build on the past programs toward a logical and efficient exploration of the solar system

Lunar maria and related deposits: Preliminary Galileo imaging results

During the Earth-Moon flyby the Galileo Solid State Imaging system obtained new information on lunar media. Imaging data in spectral bands from 0.4 to 1.0 micron wavelength provide color data for deposits on the western limb. General objectives were to determine the composition and stratigraphy of mare and related deposits for areas not previously seen well in color, and to compare the results with well-studied nearside maria. Initial results from images reduced with preliminary calibrations show that Galileo spectral reflectance data are consistent with previous earthbased observations

Report of the Terrestrial Bodies Science Working Group. Volume 7: The Galilean satellites

The formational and evolutionary history of natural satellites, their mineralogical composition and other phenomena of scientific interest are discussed. Key scientific questions about IO, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa are posed and the measurements and instruments required for a Galilean satellite lander in the 1980's are described

Crustal heterogeneity of the moon viewed from the Galileo SSI camera: Lunar sample calibrations and compositional implications

Summaries are given of the spectral calibration, compositional parameters, nearside color, and limb and farside color of the Moon. The farside of the Moon, a large area of lunar crust, is dominated by heavily cratered terrain and basin deposits that represent the products of the first half billion years of crustal evolution. Continuing analysis of the returned lunar samples suggest a magma ocean and/or serial magmatism model for evolution of the primordial lunar crust. However, testing either hypothesis requires compositional information about the crustal stratigraphy and lateral heterogeneity. Resolution of this important planetary science issue is dependent on additional data. New Galileo multispectral images indicate previously unknown local and regional compositional diversity of the farside crust. Future analysis will focus on individual features and a more detailed assessment of crustal stratigraphy and heterogeneity

Can the plasma PD-1 levels predict the presence and efficiency of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in patients with metastatic melanoma?

Background: The immune response in melanoma patients is locally affected by presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), generally divided into brisk, nonbrisk, and absent. Several studies have shown that a greater presence of TILs, especially brisk, in primary melanoma is associated with a better prognosis and higher survival rate. Patients and Methods: We investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) the correlation between PD-1 levels in plasma and the presence/absence of TILs in 28 patients with metastatic melanoma. Results: Low plasma PD-1 levels were correlated with brisk TILs in primary melanoma, whereas intermediate values correlated with the nonbrisk TILs, and high PD-1 levels with absent TILs. Although the low number of samples did not allow us to obtain a statistically significant correlation between the plasma PD-1 levels and the patients' overall survival depending on the absence/presence of TILs, the median survival of patients having brisk type TILs was 5 months higher than that of patients with absent and nonbrisk TILs. Conclusions: This work highlights the ability of measuring the plasma PD-1 levels in order to predict the prognosis of patients with untreated metastatic melanoma without a BRAF mutation at the time of diagnosis

Phase I dose-escalation study of the mTOR inhibitor sirolimus and the HDAC inhibitor vorinostat in patients with advanced malignancy.

Preclinical models suggest that histone deacetylase (HDAC) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors have synergistic anticancer activity. We designed a phase I study to determine the safety, maximum tolerated dose (MTD), recommended phase II dose (RP2D), and dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) of combined mTOR inhibitor sirolimus (1 mg-5 mg PO daily) and HDAC inhibitor vorinostat (100 mg-400 mg PO daily) in patients with advanced cancer. Seventy patients were enrolled and 46 (66%) were evaluable for DLT assessment since they completed cycle 1 without dose modification unless they had DLT. DLTs comprised grade 4 thrombocytopenia (n = 6) and grade 3 mucositis (n = 1). Sirolimus 4 mg and vorinostat 300 mg was declared RP2D because MTD with sirolimus 5 mg caused significant thrombocytopenia. The grade 3 and 4 drug-related toxic effects (including DLTs) were thrombocytopenia (31%), neutropenia (8%), anemia (7%), fatigue (3%), mucositis (1%), diarrhea (1%), and hyperglycemia (1%). Of the 70 patients, 35 (50%) required dose interruption or modification and 61 were evaluable for response. Partial responses were observed in refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (-78%) and perivascular epithelioid tumor (-54%), and stable disease in hepatocellular carcinoma and fibromyxoid sarcoma. In conclusion, the combination of sirolimus and vorinostat was feasible, with thrombocytopenia as the main DLT. Preliminary anticancer activity was observed in patients with refractory Hodgkin lymphoma, perivascular epithelioid tumor, and hepatocellular carcinoma

White Dwarf Rotation as a Function of Mass and a Dichotomy of Mode Linewidths: Kepler Observations of 27 Pulsating DA White Dwarfs Through K2 Campaign 8

We present photometry and spectroscopy for 27 pulsating hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs (DAVs, a.k.a. ZZ Ceti stars) observed by the Kepler space telescope up to K2 Campaign 8, an extensive compilation of observations with unprecedented duration (>75 days) and duty cycle (>90%). The space-based photometry reveals pulsation properties previously inaccessible to ground-based observations. We observe a sharp dichotomy in oscillation mode linewidths at roughly 800 s, such that white dwarf pulsations with periods exceeding 800 s have substantially broader mode linewidths, more reminiscent of a damped harmonic oscillator than a heat-driven pulsator. Extended Kepler coverage also permits extensive mode identification: We identify the spherical degree of 61 out of 154 unique radial orders, providing direct constraints of the rotation period for 20 of these 27 DAVs, more than doubling the number of white dwarfs with rotation periods determined via asteroseismology. We also obtain spectroscopy from 4m-class telescopes for all DAVs with Kepler photometry. Using these homogeneously analyzed spectra we estimate the overall mass of all 27 DAVs, which allows us to measure white dwarf rotation as a function of mass, constraining the endpoints of angular momentum in low- and intermediate-mass stars. We find that 0.51-to-0.73-solar-mass white dwarfs, which evolved from 1.7-to-3.0-solar-mass ZAMS progenitors, have a mean rotation period of 35 hr with a standard deviation of 28 hr, with notable exceptions for higher-mass white dwarfs. Finally, we announce an online repository for our Kepler data and follow-up spectroscopy, which we collect at http://www.k2wd.org.Comment: 33 pages, 31 figures, 5 tables; accepted for publication in ApJS. All raw and reduced data are collected at http://www.k2wd.or