ESHO benchmarks for computational modeling and optimization in hyperthermia therapy

Background: The success of cancer hyperthermia (HT) treatments is strongly dependent on the temperatures achieved in the tumor and healthy tissues as it correlates with treatment efficacy and safety, respectively. Hyperthermia treatment planning (HTP) simulations have become pivotal for treatment optimization due to the possibility for pretreatment planning, optimization and decision making, as well as real-time treatment guidance. Materials and methods: The same computational methods deployed in HTP are also used for in silico studies. These are of great relevance for the development of new HT devices and treatment approaches. To aid this work, 3 D patient models have been recently developed and made available for the HT community. Unfortunately, there is no consensus regarding tissue properties, simulation settings, and benchmark applicators, which significantly influence the clinical relevance of computational outcomes. Results and discussion: Herein, we propose a comprehensive set of applicator benchmarks, efficacy and safety optimization algorithms, simulation settings and clinical parameters, to establish benchmarks for method comparison and code verification, to provide guidance, and in view of the 2021 ESHO Grand Challenge (Details on the ESHO grand challenge on HTP will be provided at https://www.esho.info/). Conclusion: We aim to establish guidelines to promote standardization within the hyperthermia community such that novel approaches can quickly prove their benefit as quickly as possible in clinically relevant simulation scenarios. This paper is primarily focused on radiofrequency and microwave hyperthermia but, since 3 D simulation studies on heating with ultrasound are now a reality, guidance as well as a benchmark for ultrasound-based hyperthermia are also included

The Spectacle of Crime, Digitized

International audienceOne of the most significant features of the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigationis its central preoccupation – forensic evidence – and the profession practised by its major characters – forensic science. Scientific inscriptions consistently allow the crime scene investigators (CSIs) to determine 'evidence' and 'truths' that otherwise elude them. At the same time, the dazzling digital effects used to punctuate key moments in each episode inevitably reference scientific technologies and the knowledge about reality that these promise. The success of the CSIs in every episode is premised upon knowledge guaranteed by scientific inscriptions and is itself an inscription of ways of seeing human bodies and the social body, represented by police scientists working to ensure public safety – a healthy social body. And it is also about how bodies, individual and social, are constituted as information, made knowable and validated by scientific instruments and procedures used to produce evidence

Optical control of L-Type Ca2+ channels using a diltiazem photoswitch

L-type Ca2+ channels (LTCCs) play a crucial role in excitation-contraction coupling and release of hormones from secretory cells. They are targets of antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs such as diltiazem. Here, we present a photoswitchable diltiazem, FHU-779, which can be used to reversibly block endogenous LTCCs by light. FHU-779 is as potent as diltiazem and can be used to place pancreatic β-cell function and cardiac activity under optical control

Spatially selective nucleation of metal clusters on the tobacco mosaic virus

Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is a very stable nanotube complex of a helical RNA and 2130 coat proteins. The special shape makes it an interesting nano-object, especially as a template for chemical reactions. Here we use TMV as a chemically functionalized template for binding metal ions. Different chemical groups of the coat protein can be used as ligands or to electrostatically bind metal ions. Following this activation step, chemical reduction and electroless plating produces metal clusters of several nanometers in diameter. The clusters are attached to the virion without destroying its structure. Gold clusters generated from an ascorbic acid bath bind to the exterior surface as well as to the central channel of the hollow tube. Very high selectivity is reached by tuning Pd-II and Pt-II activations with phosphate: When TMV is first activated with Pd-II, and thereafter metallized with a nickel-phosphinate bath, 3 nm nickel clusters grow in the central channel; when TMV from phosphate-buffered suspensions is employed, larger nickel clusters grow on the exterior surface. Phosphate buffers have to be avoided when 3 nm nickel and cobalt wires of several 100 nm in length are synthesized from borane-based baths inside the TMV channel. The results are discussed with respect to the inorganic complex chemistry of precursor molecules and the distribution of binding sites in TMV

Restoring Light Sensitivity in Blind Retinae Using a Photochromic AMPA Receptor Agonist

Retinal degenerative diseases can have many possible causes and are currently difficult to treat. As an alternative to therapies that require genetic manipulation or the implantation of electronic devices, photopharmacology has emerged as a viable approach to restore visual responses. Here, we present a new photopharmacological strategy that relies on a photoswitchable excitatory amino acid, ATA. This freely diffusible molecule selectively activates AMPA receptors in a light-dependent fashion. It primarily acts on amacrine and retinal ganglion cells, although a minor effect on bipolar cells has been observed. As such, it complements previous pharmacological approaches based on photochromic channel blockers and increases the potential of photopharmacology in vision restoration

Who are American evangelical Protestants and why do they matter for US

White evangelical Protestants are the most skeptical major religious group in the United States regarding climate change. While their position of political influence in the Republican coalition is widely recognised, the full range of effects of this position on evangelicals’ climate opinions is not. To move research on evangelicals from the margins of climate change opinion research, we review and integrate the interdisciplinary literature on US evangelicals, climate change, and politics. In assessing this literature, we identify three areas in need of further research. First, there is a critical need for more research on the climate attitudes of evangelicals of color, who comprise a growing share of the evangelical tradition in the US. Second, highlighting the Christian Right’s active engagement in the climate debate, we identify a need for more experimental work examining how cues from religious elites may shape evangelicals’ opinions. Finally, we suggest that to better harness insights across disciplines, researchers must become more explicitly aware of how different disciplines conceptualize temporality. Attending to temporal scale suggests that a new approach is needed to test how dominion beliefs, which are widely thought to be an important theological driver of climate skepticism, operate. We also suggest that two factors that appear to play a weak or limited role in driving climate skepticism over the short term (anti‐science attitudes and evangelical religiosity) may in fact play a significant role in driving skepticism over the medium term.This article is categorized under:Perceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Perceptions of Climate ChangeTrans‐Disciplinary Perspectives > Humanities and the Creative ArtsDifferences between white evangelicals and evangelicals of color over the past decade highlight the need for more research on how race shapes US evangelicals’ climate attitudes. Our interdisciplinary review also suggests that researchers have underestimated how evangelical religiosity shapes climate attitudes by focusing on the short term.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/166381/1/wcc693_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/166381/2/wcc693-sup-0001-AppendixS1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/166381/3/wcc693.pd