Antibonding Ground state of Adatom Molecules in Bulk Dirac Semimetals

The ground state of the diatomic molecules in nature is inevitably bonding, and its first excited state is antibonding. We demonstrate theoretically that, for a pair of distant adatoms placed buried in three-dimensional-Dirac semimetals, this natural order of the states can be reversed and an antibonding ground state occurs at the lowest energy of the so-called bound states in the continuum. We propose an experimental protocol with the use of a scanning tunneling microscope tip to visualize the topographic map of the local density of states on the surface of the system to reveal the emerging physics

Comment on "Chern-Simons theory and atypical Hall conductivity in the Varma phase''

In a recent paper published in this Journal [Phys. Rev. B 97, 075135 (2018)], Menezes et al. analyze the topological behavior of a effective bosonic model defined on the Lieb lattice in presence of an electromagnetic field. In this context, the authors claim to have found an atypical quantum Hall effect for the quasiparticles. However, some inconsistencies related to the treatment of the propagator jeopardizes the main result in this system.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

The prognostic value of baseline and early variations of peripheral blood inflammatory ratios and their cellular components in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with nivolumab: The Δ-Meet-URO analysis

Background: Treatment choice for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) patients is still based on baseline clinical and laboratory factors. Methods: By a pre-specified analysis of the Meet-URO 15 multicentric retrospective study enrolling 571 pretreated mRCC patients receiving nivolumab, baseline and early dynamic variations (Δ) of neutrophil, lymphocyte, and platelet absolute cell counts (ACC) and their inflammatory ratios (IR) were evaluated alongside their association with the best disease response and overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). Multivariable analyses on OS and PFS between baseline and Δ ACC and IR values were investigated with receiving operating curves-based cut-offs. Results: The analysis included 422 mRCC patients. Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) increased over time due to consistent neutrophil increase (p < 0.001). Higher baseline platelets (p = 0.044) and lower lymphocytes (p = 0.018), increasing neutrophil Δ (p for time-group interaction <0.001), higher baseline IR values (NLR: p = 0.012, SII: p = 0.003, PLR: p = 0.003), increasing NLR and systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII) (i.e., NLR x platelets) Δ (p for interaction time-group = 0.0053 and 0.0435, respectively) were associated with disease progression. OS and PFS were significantly shorter in patients with baseline lower lymphocytes (p < 0.001 for both) and higher platelets (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001, respectively) alongside early neutrophils Δ (p = 0.046 and p = 0.033, respectively). Early neutrophils and NLR Δ were independent prognostic factors for both OS (p = 0.014 and p = 0.011, respectively) and PFS (p = 0.023 and p = 0.001, respectively), alongside baseline NLR (p < 0.001 for both) and other known prognostic variables. Conclusions: Early neutrophils and NLR Δ may represent new dynamic prognostic factors with clinical utility for on-treatment decisions

An International Comparison of Presentation, Outcomes and CORONET Predictive Score Performance in Patients with Cancer Presenting with COVID-19 across Different Pandemic Waves.

Patients with cancer have been shown to have increased risk of COVID-19 severity. We previously built and validated the COVID-19 Risk in Oncology Evaluation Tool (CORONET) to predict the likely severity of COVID-19 in patients with active cancer who present to hospital. We assessed the differences in presentation and outcomes of patients with cancer and COVID-19, depending on the wave of the pandemic. We examined differences in features at presentation and outcomes in patients worldwide, depending on the waves of the pandemic: wave 1 D614G (n = 1430), wave 2 Alpha (n = 475), and wave 4 Omicron variant (n = 63, UK and Spain only). The performance of CORONET was evaluated on 258, 48, and 54 patients for each wave, respectively. We found that mortality rates were reduced in subsequent waves. The majority of patients were vaccinated in wave 4, and 94% were treated with steroids if they required oxygen. The stages of cancer and the median ages of patients significantly differed, but features associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes remained predictive and did not differ between waves. The CORONET tool performed well in all waves, with scores in an area under the curve (AUC) of >0.72. We concluded that patients with cancer who present to hospital with COVID-19 have similar features of severity, which remain discriminatory despite differences in variants and vaccination status. Survival improved following the first wave of the pandemic, which may be associated with vaccination and the increased steroid use in those patients requiring oxygen. The CORONET model demonstrated good performance, independent of the SARS-CoV-2 variants

Analysis of combined radial velocities and activity of BD+20 1790: evidence supporting the existence of a planetary companion

Results. We conclude that the Bayesian analysis and the new activity study support the presence of a planetary companion to BD+20 1790. A new orbital solution is presented, after removing the two main contributions of stellar jitter, one that varies with the photometric period (2.8 days) and another that varies with the synodic period of the star-planet system (4.36 days). We present a new method to determine these jitter components, considering them as second and third signals in the system. A discussion on possible star-planet interaction is included, based on the Bayesian analysis of the activity indices, which indicates that they modulate with the synodic period. We propose two different sources for flare events in this system: one related to the geometry of the system and the relative movement of the star and planet, and a second one purely stochastic source that is related to the evolution of stellar surface active regions. Also, we observe for the first time the magnetic field of the star, from spectropolarimetric data.</p