CT-based tumour response criteria compared after combined treatment for liver metastases of colorectal cancer

open6noPurpose: The aim of this analysis is to compare different tumour response criteria (TRC) after chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab in liver metastases from colorectal cancer (mCRC) to ascertain the best early prognostic indicator of response. Methods and Materials: 103 target liver metastases from 65 mCRC patients treated with chemoterapy plus bevacizumab were examined at the Istituto Oncologico Veneto IOV-IRCSS (March 2008-January 2013). All patients had baseline CT and at least one follow-up scan. Tumour response was retrospectively analyzed by two radiologists using RECIST1.1, modified Choi, and Chun morphologic criteria. Tumour response, classified as good (complete or partial response) or poor (stable or progressive disease), was compared with progression-free survival (PFS) at first follow-up (t1) and time of best response. Interobserver agreement and concordance between TRC were measured. Results: At t1, 32.31% showed a good response according to RECIST1.1 (median PFS 11.1), 84.62% according to Choi (median PFS 10.8). These percentages rose to 49.23% (median PFS 12.1) and 87.69% (median PFS 10.8), respectively, at the time of best response. According to Chun, 67.69% showed a good response at the time of best response (median PFS 10.8). The Choi criteria detected a higher proportion of good responders at t1, showing a better correlation with PFS; all methods correlated with PFS at the time of best response. Conclusion: The Choi criteria proved more consistent in the early detection of response in mCRC treated with chemotherapy plus bevacizumab, underscoring the importance of using these criteria in the early assessment of response to combined treatment.openopenVarotto, A.; Di Grazia, L.; Aliberti, C.; Bergamo, F.; Nardin, M.; Pomerri, F.Varotto, A.; Di Grazia, L.; Aliberti, C.; Bergamo, F.; Nardin, M.; Pomerri, Fabi

Waste-to-energy application in an industrial district

Industrial districts present some features that can be recognized and exploited in the plant engineering through the proposal of solutions which are not simple applications of models created for individual companies. This work illustrates a waste-to-energy plant to be used for the industrial waste of the district of Friuli Venezia Giulia. The project from the union between university and local entrepreneurs. It is described how the expense for woodworking-waste disposal can turn from a charge into an advantage for the firms of the district thanks to the incineration of this waste in a plant unique for the typology of waste treated. Each plant section is described in detail, underlining innovative approaches and solutions

Metformin: a modulator of bevacizumab activity in cancer? A case report.

Recurrent type I endometrial cancer ((EC)) has poor prognosis and demands novel therapeutic approaches. Bevacizumab, a VEGF-A neutralizing monoclonal antibody, has shown clinical activity in this setting. To our knowledge, however, although some diabetic cancer patients treated with bevacizumab may also take metformin, whether metformin modulates response to anti-VEGF therapy has not yet been investigated. Here, we report the case of a patient with advanced (EC) treated, among other drugs, with bevacizumab in combination with metformin. The patient affected by relapsed (EC) G3 type 1, presented in march 2010 with liver, lungs and mediastinic metastases. After six cycles of paclitaxel and cisplatin she underwent partial response. Later on, she had disease progression notwithstanding administration of multiple lines of chemotherapy. In march 2013, due to brain metastases with coma, she began steroid therapy with development of secondary diabetes. At this time, administration of Bevacizumab plus Metformin improved her performance status. CT scans performed in this time window showed reduced radiologic density of the lung and mediastinic lesions and of liver disease, suggestive of increased tumor necrosis. Strong F-18-FDG uptake by PET imaging along with high levels of monocarboxylate transporter 4 and lack of liver kinase B1 expression in liver metastasis, highlighted metabolic features previously associated with response to anti-VEGF therapy and phenformin in preclinical models. However, clinical benefit was transitory and was followed by rapid and fatal disease progression. These findingsalbeit limited to a single casesuggest that tumors lacking LKB1 expression and/or endowed with an highly glycolytic phenotype might develop large necrotic areas following combined treatment with metformin plus bevacizumab. As metformin is widely used among diabetes patients as well as in ongoing clinical trials in cancer patients, these results deserve further clinical investigation

RoboCup Rescue Simulation Machine Learning Workshop

The Rescue Simulation League is the challenge to learn an optimal response for a team of robots that have to mitigate the effects of a disaster. To operate optimal as teams, several aspects have to be solved at once, such as team formation, task allocation and route planning. This is a hard problem, which could be quite overwhelming for newcomer teams. The proposal is to create a workshop, which demonstrates how each of the aspects could be solved with standard machine learning algorithms, as available in MathWorks' Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox™

Penyuluhan Bahaya Penyalahgunaan Napza Bagi Pelajar dan Remaja

Penyalahgunaan NAPZA (Narkotika, Psikotropika, dan Zat-zat Adiktif) merupakan suatu pola perilaku yang bersifat patologik, dan biasanya dilakukan oleh individu yang mempunyai kepribadian rentan atau mempunyai resiko tinggi, dan jika dilakukan dalam jangka waktu tertentu akan menimbulkan gangguan bio-psiko-sosial-spiritual. NAPZA bersifat psikotropika dan psikoaktif yang mempunyai pengaruh terhadap sistem syaraf dan biasanya digunakan sebagai analgetika (pengurang rasa sakit) dan memberikan pengaruh pada aktifitas mental dan perilaku serta digunakan sebagai terapi gangguan psikiatrik pada dunia kedokteran. Secara farmakologik, yang termasuk NAPZA antara lain ganja, morfin, sabu, ekstasi, marijuana, putau, kokain, pil koplo, dan sebagainya. Obat-obatan ini termasuk dalam daftar obat G yang artinya dalam penggunaannya harus disertai dengan kontrol dosis yang sangat ketat oleh dokter. Pelajar (siswi) adalah istilah bagi peserta didik pada jenjang pendidikan menengah pertama dan menengah atas. Siswa adalah komponen dalam sistem pendidikan, yang selanjutnya menjalani proses pendidikan, sehingga menjadi manusia yang berkualitas sesuai dengan tujuan pendidikan nasional. Penyuluhan ini menempatkan pelajar sebagai suatu komponen ditinjau dari pendekatan sosial, dan psikologis

Empowering the Tracking Performance of LEO PNT by Means of Meta-Signals

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSSs) are by far the most widespread technology for Position Navigation and Timing (PNT). They have been traditionally deployed exploiting Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) or Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite constellations. To meet future demands and overcome MEO and GEO limitations, GNSSs based on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations have been investigated as a radical system change. Although characterized by a higher Doppler effect, a PNT service supplied by means of LEO satellites can provide received signals that are about 30 dB stronger. Moreover, existing LEO constellations and the forthcoming mega-constellations, which are designed for broadband internet coverage, can be exploited to provide a piggybacked PNT service. With this cost-effective solution, a secondary PNT service might be subject to an economical use of resources, which may result in substantial bandwidth limitations. At the same time, the introduction of meta-signals in the GNSS literature has brought a new receiver signal processing strategy, particularly effective in terms of available bandwidth exploitation. It allows to increase the positioning accuracy exploiting a wideband processing approach, which might be challenging under severe Doppler conditions. A narrowband implementation of the meta-signal concept, namely Virtual Wideband (VWB) can tolerate harsh Doppler conditions while also reducing the processed bandwidth. It is thus more effective when addressing a secondary PNT service, where a limited frequency occupation might be an essential requirement. The aim of this work is to show the applicability of a VWB receiver architecture on signals provided by a piggybacked PNT service, hosted on a broadband LEO constellation. We demonstrate the capability of this implementation to bear high Doppler conditions while empowering the potential of LEO PNT

Soliton Instabilities and Vortex Streets Formation in a Polariton Quantum Fluid

Exciton-polaritons have been shown to be an optimal system in order to investigate the properties of bosonic quantum fluids. We report here on the observation of dark solitons in the wake of engineered circular obstacles and their decay into streets of quantized vortices. Our experiments provide a time-resolved access to the polariton phase and density, which allows for a quantitative study of instabilities of freely evolving polaritons. The decay of solitons is quantified and identified as an effect of disorder-induced transverse perturbations in the dissipative polariton gas

A Human-Derived Monoclonal Antibody Targeting Extracellular Connexin Domain Selectively Modulates Hemichannel Function

Connexin hemichannels, which are plasma membrane hexameric channels (connexons) composed of connexin protein protomers, have been implicated in a host of physiological processes and pathological conditions. A number of single point pathological mutations impart a "leaky" character to the affected hemichannels, i.e., make them more active or hyperactive, suggesting that normal physiological condition could be recovered using selective hemichannel inhibitors. Recently, a human-derived monoclonal antibody named abEC1.1 has been shown to inhibit both wild type and hyperactive hemichannels composed of human (h) connexin 26 (hCx26) subunits. The aims of this work were (1) to characterize further the ability of abEC1.1 to selectively modulate connexin hemichannel function and (2) to assess its in vitro stability in view of future translational applications. In silico analysis of abEC1.1 interaction with the hCx26 hemichannel identified critically important extracellular domain amino acids that are conserved in connexin 30 (hCx30) and connexin 32 (hCx32). Patch clamp experiments performed in HeLa DH cells confirmed the inhibition efficiency of abEC1.1 was comparable for hCx26, hCx30 and hCx32 hemichannels. Of note, even a single amino acid difference in the putative binding region reduced drastically the inhibitory effects of the antibody on all the other tested hemichannels, namely hCx30.2/31.3, hCx30.3, hCx31, hCx31.1, hCx37, hCx43 and hCx45. Plasma membrane channels composed of pannexin 1 were not affected by abEC1.1. Finally, size exclusion chromatography assays showed the antibody does not aggregate appreciably in vitro. Altogether, these results indicate abEC1.1 is a promising tool for further translational studies

Dynamics of long-range order in an exciton-polariton condensate

We report on time resolved measurements of the first order spatial coherence in an exciton polariton Bose-Einstein condensate. Long range spatial coherence is found to set in right at the onset of stimulated scattering, on a picosecond time scale. The coherence reaches its maximum value after the population and decays slower, staying up to a few hundreds of picoseconds. This behavior can be qualitatively reproduced, using a stochastic classical field model describing interaction between the polariton condensate and the exciton reservoir within a disordered potential.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure