Sylvia Townsend Warner and Peter Pears: Loss and Friendship

This article describes the friendship between Sylvia Townsend Warner, Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten in the 1970s. It draws on previously unpublished correspondence held at the Britten-Pears Archive and the Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland Archive. It describes the role that John Craske’s paintings played in establishing the connection between Warner and Pears, details some visits and covers Britten’s illness and death. The article also describes the concert in Warner’s honour planned by Pears and given in Aldeburgh in July 1977

The three-body recombination of a condensed Bose gas near a Feshbach resonance

In this paper, we study the three-body recombination rate of a homogeneous dilute Bose gas with a Feshbach resonance at zero temperature. The ground state and excitations of this system are obtained. The three-body recombination in the ground state is due to the break-up of an atom pair in the quantum depletion and the formation of a molecule by an atom from the broken pair and an atom from the condensate. The rate of this process is in good agreement with the experiment on $^{23}$Na in a wide range of magnetic fields.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Synthesis and characterization of a 2-periodic cadmium-based metal-organic framework: A study on reversible water adsorption

A previously-reported cadmium-based two-periodic metal-organic framework [Cd1.5(BTC)(H2O)4.5]n⋅nH2O (CP1) has been re-synthesized, where H3BTC ¼ 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid. CP1 was characterized with single crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) followed by various thermal analyses such as thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), hot stage microscopy (HSM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). CP1 is composed of 2-periodic layers, which are interdigitated. Heating can effectively remove the uncoordinated and coordinated water molecules resulting in an amorphous product CP1′. The original framework can be regenerated by readsorption of water from the atmosphere, indicating that the dehydration is reversibl

Switching off malignant mesothelioma : exploiting the hypoxic microenvironment

Malignant mesotheliomas are aggressive, asbestos-related cancers with poor patient prognosis, typically arising in the mesothelial surfaces of tissues in pleural and peritoneal cavity. The relative unspecific symptoms of mesotheliomas, misdiagnoses, and lack of precise targeted therapies call for a more critical assessment of this disease. In the present review, we categorize commonly identified genomic aberrations of mesotheliomas into their canonical pathways and discuss targeting these pathways in the context of tumor hypoxia, a hallmark of cancer known to render solid tumors more resistant to radiation and most chemo-therapy. We then explore the concept that the intrinsic hypoxic microenvironment of mesotheliomas can be Achilles’ heel for targeted, multimodal therapeutic intervention

Anti-CTLA-4 therapy for malignant mesothelioma

Immunotherapy is an emerging therapeutic strategy with a promising clinical outcome in some solid tumors, particularly metastatic melanoma. One approach to immunotherapy is immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as blockage of CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1. This special report aims to describe the state of clinical trials of tremelimumab in patients with unresectable malignant mesothelioma (MM) in particular with regard to the clinical efficacy, safety and tolerability. Criticism and perspective of this treatment are also discussed. Biological and clinical considerations rule out the use of tremelimumab as single agent for MM and, more generally, the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors for MM is still largely questionable and not supported by evidences

A Glimpse in the Future of Malignant Mesothelioma Treatment

Malignant mesothelioma (MMe) is a rare neoplasm with few therapeutic options available. The landscape of effective therapy for this disease remained unchanged in the last two decades. Recently, however, the introduction of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs) led to small, but nevertheless, promising improvements. However, many efforts are still needed to radically improve the prognosis of MMe. In this review, we analyze all those therapeutic strategies for MMe that are still in a preclinical or early clinical phase of development. In particular, we focus on novel antiangiogenic drugs and their possible combination with immunotherapy. Furthermore, we describe also more complex strategies such as microRNA-loaded vectors, oncolytic viruses, and engineered lymphocytes

Simple, affordable evaporative cooler to reduce food loss in developing countries

Cooling systems in developing countries have effects on health, hunger, food waste and the environment. Refrigerators are the best method for preserving food, but they are expensive, complex, energy-consuming, unsustainable for some countries. Therefore, there is an interest in simple, cheaper alternatives: evaporative coolers allow to raise the air humidity while reducing its temperature. The purpose of this work is to design and validate an evaporative cooling system that will allow storage of perishables, such as fruits and greens, extending their shelf-life. Our case study is focused on Senegal’s Tambacounda region. To crack the Senegalese market, an innovative business model has been thought, allowing the low-cost distribution of the cooler to the local population

Protein disulfide isomerase A1 regulates breast cancer cell immunorecognition in a manner dependent on redox state

Oxidoreductase protein disulphide isomerases (PDI) are involved in the regulation of a variety of biological processes including the modulation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, unfolded protein response (UPR), ER‑mitochondria communication and the balance between pro‑survival and pro‑death pathways. In the current study the role of the PDIA1 family member in breast carcinogenesis was investigated by measuring ROS generation, mitochondrial membrane disruption, ATP production and HLA‑G protein levels on the surface of the cellular membrane in the presence or absence of PDIA1. The results showed that this enzyme exerted pro‑apoptotic effects in estrogen receptor (ERα)‑positive breast cancer MCF‑7 and pro‑survival in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) MDA‑MB‑231 cells. ATP generation was upregulated in PDIA1‑silenced MCF‑7 cells and downregulated in PDIA1‑silenced MDA‑MB‑231 cells in a manner dependent on the cellular redox status. Furthermore, MCF‑7 and MDA‑MB‑231 cells in the presence of PDIA1 expressed higher surface levels of the non‑classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA‑G) under oxidative stress conditions. Evaluation of the METABRIC datasets showed that low PDIA1 and high HLA‑G mRNA expression levels correlated with longer survival in both ERα‑positive and ERα‑negative stage 2 breast cancer patients. In addition, analysis of the PDIA1 vs. the HLA‑G mRNA ratio in the subgroup of the living stage 2 breast cancer patients exhibiting low PDIA1 and high HLA‑G mRNA levels revealed that the longer the survival time of the ratio was high PDIA1 and low HLA‑G mRNA and occurred predominantly in ERα‑positive breast cancer patients whereas in the same subgroup of the ERα‑negative breast cancer mainly this ratio was low PDIA1 and high HLA‑G mRNA. Taken together these results provide evidence supporting the view that PDIA1 is linked to several hallmarks of breast cancer pathways including the process of antigen processing and presentation and tumor immunorecognition