Longitudinal Study of Recurrent Metastatic Melanoma Cell Lines Underscores the Individuality of Cancer Biology.

Recurrent metastatic melanoma provides a unique opportunity to analyze disease evolution in metastatic cancer. Here, we followed up eight patients with an unusually prolonged history of metastatic melanoma, who developed a total of 26 recurrences over several years. Cell lines derived from each metastasis were analyzed by comparative genomic hybridization and global transcript analysis. We observed that conserved, patient-specific characteristics remain stable in recurrent metastatic melanoma even after years and several recurrences. Differences among individual patients exceeded within-patient lesion variability, both at the DNA copy number (P<0.001) and RNA gene expression level (P<0.001). Conserved patient-specific traits included expression of several cancer/testis antigens and the c-kit proto-oncogene throughout multiple recurrences. Interestingly, subsequent recurrences of different patients did not display consistent or convergent changes toward a more aggressive disease phenotype. Finally, sequential recurrences of the same patient did not descend progressively from each other, as irreversible mutations such as homozygous deletions were frequently not inherited from previous metastases. This study suggests that the late evolution of metastatic melanoma, which markedly turns an indolent disease into a lethal phase, is prone to preserve case-specific traits over multiple recurrences and occurs through a series of random events that do not follow a consistent stepwise process.Journal of Investigative Dermatology advance online publication, 2 January 2014; doi:10.1038/jid.2013.495

Joint Observation of the Galactic Center with MAGIC and CTA-LST-1

MAGIC is a system of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), designed to detect very-high-energy gamma rays, and is operating in stereoscopic mode since 2009 at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos in La Palma, Spain. In 2018, the prototype IACT of the Large-Sized Telescope (LST-1) for the Cherenkov Telescope Array, a next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory, was inaugurated at the same site, at a distance of approximately 100 meters from the MAGIC telescopes. Using joint observations between MAGIC and LST-1, we developed a dedicated analysis pipeline and established the threefold telescope system via software, achieving the highest sensitivity in the northern hemisphere. Based on this enhanced performance, MAGIC and LST-1 have been jointly and regularly observing the Galactic Center, a region of paramount importance and complexity for IACTs. In particular, the gamma-ray emission from the dynamical center of the Milky Way is under debate. Although previous measurements suggested that a supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* plays a primary role, its radiation mechanism remains unclear, mainly due to limited angular resolution and sensitivity. The enhanced sensitivity in our novel approach is thus expected to provide new insights into the question. We here present the current status of the data analysis for the Galactic Center joint MAGIC and LST-1 observations

When do combinatorial mechanisms apply in the production of inflected words?

Cholin J, Rapp B, Miozzo M. When do combinatorial mechanisms apply in the production of inflected words? Cognitive Neuropsychology. 2010;27(4):334-359

Multi-epoch monitoring of TXS 0506+056 with MAGIC and MWL partners

The measurement of an astrophysical flux of high-energy neutrinos by IceCube is an important step towards finding the long-sought sources of cosmic rays. Nevertheless, the long exposure neutrino sky map shows no significant indication of point sources so far. The real-time follow- up of neutrino events turned out to be the most successful approach in neutrino point-source searches. It brought, among others, the most compelling evidence for a neutrino point source: the flaring gamma-ray blazar TXS 0506+056 in coincidence with a single high-energy neutrino from IceCube (IceCube-170922A). The fast multiwavelength(MWL) follow-up of this alert was key for establishing this coincidence and constraining the subsequent theoretical modeling for this event. In the long run, accurate and contemporaneous MWL spectral measurements are essential ingredients in investigating the physical processes leading to particle acceleration and emission of radiation. A deeper understanding of those processes allows us to put constraints on the potential neutrino emission. Here we present the light curves and simultaneous spectral energy distributions from November 2017 till February 2021 of MAGIC and MWL monitoring of TXS 0506+056. The more than two-year-long rise and high state of the radio light curve of TXS 0506+056, which started near the time of the IceCube neutrino detection, seems to have ended, as indicated by a steep decrease in the first half of 2021. We also present the theoretical interpretation of our observations

Cross-calibration and combined analysis of the CTA-LST prototype and the MAGIC telescopes

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation gamma-ray observatory, which will consist of three kinds of telescopes of different sizes. Among those, the Large Size Telescope (LST) will be the most sensitive in the low energy range starting from 20 GeV. The prototype LST (LST-1) proposed for CTA was inaugurated in October 2018 in the northern hemisphere site, La Palma (Spain), and is currently in its commissioning phase. MAGIC is a system of two gamma-ray Cherenkov telescopes of the current generation, located approximately 100 m away from LST-1, that have been operating in stereoscopic mode since 2009. Since LST-1 and MAGIC can observe the same air shower events, we can compare the brightness of showers, estimated energies of gamma rays, and other parameters event by event, which can be used to cross-calibrate the telescopes. Ultimately, by performing combined analyses of the events triggering the three telescopes, we can reconstruct the shower geometry more accurately, leading to better energy and angular resolutions, and a better discrimination of the background showers initiated by cosmic rays. For that purpose, as part of the commissioning of LST-1, we performed joint observations of established gamma-ray sources with LST-1 and MAGIC. Also, we have developed Monte Carlo simulations for such joint observations and an analysis pipeline which finds event coincidence in the offline analysis based on their timestamps. In this work, we present the first detection of an astronomical source, the Crab Nebula, with combined observation of LST-1 and MAGIC. Moreover, we show results of the inter-telescope cross-calibration obtained using Crab Nebula data taken during joint observations with LST-1 and MAGIC