Advanced engineering design as practiced today from the view point of the CERN Industrial Liaison Officer

After an introduction about CERN, a brief description of the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) it is reviewed. Pros and cons of a few advanced engineering design cases are taken in consideration together with the involvement of the European Industry. The conclusion is that the LHC project has been an important driving force for Innovation in European Industry.Comment: Invited paper to symposium on Case studies in Advanced Engineering Design. Tu Delft Nov.18-19,201

Superconductivity in the doped bilayer Hubbard model

We study by the Gutzwiller approximation the melting of the valence bond crystal phase of a bilayer Hubbard model at sufficiently large inter-layer hopping. We find that a superconducting domain, with order parameter $d_{z^2-r^2}$, $z$ being the inter-layer direction and $r$ the intra-layer one, is stabilized variationally close to the half-filled non-magnetic Mott insulator. Superconductivity exists at half-filling just at the border of the Mott transition and extends away from half-filling into a whole region till a critical doping, beyond which it gives way to a normal metal phase. This result suggests that superconductivity should be unavoidably met by liquefying a valence bond crystal, at least when each layer is an infinite coordination lattice and the Gutzwiller approximation becomes exact. Remarkably, this same behavior is well established in the other extreme of two-leg Hubbard ladders, showing it might be of quite general validity.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Glucose intolerance and hepatocellular carcinoma: recent findings for old diseases

In the last years, an increasing number of evidences on the influence of metabolic syndrome on the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been developed. Type 2 mellitus diabetes (T2MD) has been found to increase the occurrence of primary liver tumors and to define a more aggressive carcinogenetic process. Furthermore, several preclinical and observational studies and a recent meta-analysis have shown that anti-diabetic drugs can modify the risk of HCC development in patients with T2DM. However, despite these evidences, underlying molecular mechanisms linking both pathological conditions have to be completely cleared yet. The study published by Gao et al. has found a possible molecular link between the two conditions, describing the predisposition to T2DM and HCC given by the haploinsufficiency of nuclear receptor coactivator 5 (NCOA5) in murine models. The authors have generated Ncoa5+/– (haploinsufficient) male mice and shown that 94% of male mutant mice developed HCC within 18 months of age, this in contrast with Ncoa5+/+ and Ncoa5+/– female mice. These results suggest that NCOA5 haploinsufficiency is linked to HCC development in male mice. Moreover, mutant male mice showed significantly elevated levels of fasting blood glucose and markedly decreased glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity compared to Ncoa5+/+ littermates. This well-constructed work sheds light on the molecular link between T2DM and HCC and opens the way to further biological and clinical studies in the field of liver tumor prevention and treatment

HBsAg clearance by Peg-interferon addition to a long-term nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy.

The ideal endpoint of hepatitis B virus (HBV) antiviral therapy is HBsAg loss, a difficult goal to obtain, especially in HBeAg negative patients. Herein, we report the results obtained by the addition of peg-interferon α-2a to a long-lasting nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy in a HBeAg negative, genotype D patient with steadily HBV-DNA negative/HBsAg positive values. In 2002, our Caucasian 44-year-old male patient received lamivudine and, 4 years later, added adefovir because of a virological breakthrough. In 2011, considering his young age, liver stiffness (4.3 kPa) and HBsAg levels (3533 IU/mL), we added Peg-interferon α-2a for six months (3 in combination with nucleos(t)ide analogues followed by 3 mo of Peg-interferon α-2a monotherapy). A decrease of HBsAg levels was observed after 1 mo (1.21 log) of Peg-interferon and 3 mo (1.88 log) after the discontinuation of all drugs. Later, a complete clearance of HBsAg was obtained with steadily undetectable HBV-DNA serum levels (< 9 IU/mL). HBsAg clearance by the addition of a short course of Peg-interferon α-2a represents an important result with clinical and pharmaco-economic implications, considering that nucleos(t)ide analogues therapy in HBeAg negative chronic hepatitis B patients is considered a long-lasting/life-long treatment

Minimally invasive prosthetic procedures in the rehabilitation of a bulimic patient affected by dental erosion

The population affected by dental erosion due to bulimia is generally very young. This population group has a high aesthetic requirement; the dentition in these patients is severely damaged, especially in the anterior maxillary quadrant. In terms of treatment, it is still controversial whether an adhesive rehabilitation is preferable to a longer-lasting but more aggressive conventional treatment, such as full-crown coverage of the majority of teeth. This case report describes the prosthetic rehabilitation of a young female patient previously affected by bulimia nervosa and presenting erosion of the maxillary teeth. The prosthetic rehabilitation was performed through indirect adhesive restorations of the anterior teeth and direct restorations of the posterior teeth. A clinical follow-up after 4 years showed that the occlusion remained satisfactorily restored. Posterior direct composite resin restorations and anterior indirect adhesive composite restorations proved to be an effective time and money-saving procedure to rehabilitate patients affected by dental erosion. Adhesive rehabilitation provides a functional and good aesthetic result while preserving tooth structure

Transarterial chemoembolization: Evidences from the literature and applications in hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is the current standard of care for patients with large or multinodular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), preserved liver function, absence of cancer-related symptoms and no evidence of vascular invasion or extrahepatic spread (i. e., those classified as intermediate stage according to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer staging system). The rationale for TACE is that the intra-arterial injection of a chemotherapeutic drug such as doxorubicin or cisplatin followed by embolization of the blood vessel will result in a strong cytotoxic effect enhanced by ischemia. However, TACE is a very heterogeneous operative technique and varies in terms of chemotherapeutic agents, treatment devices and schedule. In order to overcome the major drawbacks of conventional TACE (cTACE), non-resorbable drug-eluting beads (DEBs) loaded with cytotoxic drugs have been developed. DEBs are able to slowly release the drug upon injection and increase the intensity and duration of ischemia while enhancing the drug delivery to the tumor. Unfortunately, despite the theoretical advantages of this new device and the promising results of the pivotal studies, definitive data in favor of its superiority over cTACE are still lacking. The recommendation for TACE as the standard- of- care for intermediate-stage HCC is based on the demonstration of improved survival compared with best supportive care or suboptimal therapies in a meta- analysis of six randomized controlled trials, but other therapeutic options (namely, surgery and radioembolization) proved competitive in selected subsets of intermediate HCC patients. Other potential fields of application of TACE in hepato-oncology are the pre-transplant setting (as downstaging/bridging treatment) and the early stage (in patients unsuitable to curative therapy). The potential of TACE in selected advanced patients with segmental portal vein thrombosis and preserved liver function deserves further reports