Drilling their own graves:How the European oil and gas supermajors avoid sustainability tensions through mythmaking

This study explores how paradoxical tensions between economic growth and environmental protection are avoided through organizational mythmaking. By examining the European oil and gas supermajors’ ‘‘CEOspeak’’ about climate change, we show how mythmaking facilitates the disregarding, diverting, and/or displacing of sustainability tensions. In doing so, our findings further illustrate how certain defensive responses are employed: (1) regression, or retreating to the comforts of past familiarities, (2) fantasy, or escaping the harsh reality that fossil fuels and climate change are indeed irreconcilable, and (3) projecting, or shifting blame to external actors for failing to address climate change. By highlighting the discursive effects of enacting these responses, we illustrate how the European oil and gas supermajors self-determine their inability to substantively address the complexities of climate change. We thus argue that defensive responses are not merely a form of mismanagement as the paradox and corporate sustainability literature commonly suggests, but a strategic resource that poses serious ethical concerns given the imminent danger of issues such as climate change

A randomized open-label phase III trial evaluating the addition of denosumab to standard first-line treatment in advanced NSCLC : the European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP) and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) SPLENDOUR trial

Introduction Receptor activator of NF-kB ligand stimulates NF-kB–dependent cell signaling and acts as the primary signal for bone resorption. Retrospective analysis of a large trial comparing denosumab versus zoledronic acid in bone metastatic solid tumors suggested significant overall survival (OS) advantage for patients with lung cancer with denosumab (p = 0.01). The randomized open-label phase III SPLENDOUR trial was designed to evaluate whether the addition of denosumab to standard first-line platinum-based doublet chemotherapy improved OS in advanced NSCLC. Methods Patients with stage IV NSCLC were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either chemotherapy with or without denosumab (120 mg every 3–4 wks), stratified by the presence of bone metastases (at diagnosis), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, histology, and region. To detect an OS increase from 9 to 11.25 months (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.80), 847 OS events were required. The trial closed prematurely owing to decreasing accrual rate. Results A total of 514 patients were randomized, with 509 receiving one or more doses of the assigned treatment (chemotherapy: 252, chemotherapy-denosumab: 257). The median age was 66.1 years, 71% were men, and 59% were former smokers. Bone metastases were identified in 275 patients (53%). Median OS (95% confidence interval [CI]) was 8.7 (7.6–11.0) months in the control arm versus 8.2 (7.5–10.4) months in the chemotherapy-denosumab arm (HR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.78–1.19; one-sided p = 0.36). For patients with bone metastasis, HR was 1.02 (95% CI: 0.77–1.35), whereas for those without, HR was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.66–1.23). Adverse events grade 3 or greater were observed in 40.9%, 5.2%, 8.7% versus 45.5%, 10.9%, 10.5% of patients. Conditional power for OS benefit was less than or equal to 10%. Conclusions Denosumab was well-tolerated without unexpected safety concerns. There was no OS improvement for denosumab when added to chemotherapy in the intention-to-treat population and the subgroups with and without bone metastases. Our data do not provide evidence of a clinical benefit for denosumab in patients with NSCLC without bone metastases

Flexible self-aligned double-gate IGZO TFT

In this letter, flexible double-gate (DG) thin-film transistors (TFTs) based on InGaZnO4 and fabricated on free standing plastic foil, using self-alignment (SA) are presented. The usage of transparent indium-tin-oxide instead of opaque metals enables SA of source-, drain-, and top-gate contacts. Hence, all layers, which can cause parasitic capacitances, are structured by SA. Compared with bottom-gate reference TFTs fabricated on the same substrate, DG TFTs exhibit a by 68% increased transconductance and a subthreshold swing as low as 109 mV/dec decade (-37%). The clockwise hysteresis of the DG TFTs is as small as 5 mV. Because of SA, the source/drain to gate overlaps are as small as ≈ 1 μm leading to parasitic overlap capacitances of 5.5 fF μm-1. Therefore a transit frequency of 5.6 MHz is measured on 7.5 μm long transistors. In addition, the flexible devices stay fully operational when bent to a tensile radius of 6 mm

Progression-Free and Overall Survival for Concurrent Nivolumab With Standard Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy in Locally Advanced Stage IIIA-B NSCLC: Results From the European Thoracic Oncology Platform NICOLAS Phase II Trial (European Thoracic Oncology Platform 6-14)

Introduction: The NICOLAS study is the first completed single-arm phase II trial in stage III NSCLC evaluating hierarchically first the safety and then the efficacy of adding nivolumab concurrently to standard definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The safety end point was reported earlier; here, we present the efficacy results. Methods: Stage IIIA-B unresectable treatment-naive patients with NSCLC received three cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy and concurrent radiotherapy (66 Gy, 33 fractions), along with nivolumab (360 mg, 3-weekly). Nivolumab was continued as monotherapy consolidation for a maximum of 1 year (480 mg, 4-weekly). The primary end point was 1-year progression-free survival (PFS), with a target improvement compared with historical data of at least 15%, from 45% to 60%. To test this efficacy hypothesis, a sample size of 74 assessable patients provided a power of 83% with a one-sided alpha of 5%. Results: A total of 79 patients were enrolled with a median follow-up of 21.0 months (interquartile range: 15.8–25.8 mo) for the primary PFS analysis. A total of 35.4% of the patients had stage IIIA, and 63.3% had stage IIIB disease. The 1-year PFS was 53.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 42.0%–64.0%) and the median PFS was 12.7 months (95% CI: 10.1–22.8 mo). Because 37 PFS events occurred in the first year posttreatment among the first 74 assessable patients, a 1-year PFS rate of at least 45% could not be rejected (p = 0.23). At an extended follow-up (median 32.6 mo), 37 deaths have been recorded, with a median overall survival (OS) of 38.8 months (95% CI: 26.8 mo–not estimable) and a 2-year OS rate of 63.7% (95% CI: 51.9%–73.4%). The OS of patients with stage IIIA disease was found to be significantly higher than patients with stage IIIB disease, with a 2-year OS of 81% and 56%, respectively (p = 0.037). Conclusions: PFS and OS are arithmetically higher in studies involving the same population. However, on the basis of the formal hierarchical efficacy analysis, we could not reject that the 1-year PFS rate is at least 45%. © 202

Progression-Free and Overall Survival for Concurrent Nivolumab With Standard Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy in Locally Advanced Stage IIIA-B NSCLC: Results From the European Thoracic Oncology Platform NICOLAS Phase II Trial (European Thoracic Oncology Platform 6-14).

The NICOLAS study is the first completed single-arm phase II trial in stage III NSCLC evaluating hierarchically first the safety and then the efficacy of adding nivolumab concurrently to standard definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The safety end point was reported earlier; here, we present the efficacy results. Stage IIIA-B unresectable treatment-naive patients with NSCLC received three cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy and concurrent radiotherapy (66 Gy, 33 fractions), along with nivolumab (360 mg, 3-weekly). Nivolumab was continued as monotherapy consolidation for a maximum of 1 year (480 mg, 4-weekly). The primary end point was 1-year progression-free survival (PFS), with a target improvement compared with historical data of at least 15%, from 45% to 60%. To test this efficacy hypothesis, a sample size of 74 assessable patients provided a power of 83% with a one-sided alpha of 5%. A total of 79 patients were enrolled with a median follow-up of 21.0 months (interquartile range: 15.8-25.8 mo) for the primary PFS analysis. A total of 35.4% of the patients had stage IIIA, and 63.3% had stage IIIB disease. The 1-year PFS was 53.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 42.0%-64.0%) and the median PFS was 12.7 months (95% CI: 10.1-22.8 mo). Because 37 PFS events occurred in the first year posttreatment among the first 74 assessable patients, a 1-year PFS rate of at least 45% could not be rejected (p = 0.23). At an extended follow-up (median 32.6 mo), 37 deaths have been recorded, with a median overall survival (OS) of 38.8 months (95% CI: 26.8 mo-not estimable) and a 2-year OS rate of 63.7% (95% CI: 51.9%-73.4%). The OS of patients with stage IIIA disease was found to be significantly higher than patients with stage IIIB disease, with a 2-year OS of 81% and 56%, respectively (p = 0.037). PFS and OS are arithmetically higher in studies involving the same population. However, on the basis of the formal hierarchical efficacy analysis, we could not reject that the 1-year PFS rate is at least 45%