Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel, nedaplatin, and fluorouracil for resectable esophageal cancer : A phase II study

Cisplatin plus 5‐fluorouracil is regarded as standard neoadjuvant chemotherapy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in Japan, but the prognosis remains poor. We have previously described how definitive chemoradiotherapy with docetaxel, nedaplatin, and 5‐fluorouracil (DNF) led to a very high response rate and promising survival times. We therefore undertook a phase II trial to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of neoadjuvant DNF. The study included patients with clinical stage Ib‐III ESCC. Chemotherapy consisted of i.v. docetaxel (30 mg/m2) and nedaplatin (50 mg/m2) on days 1 and 8, and a continuous infusion of 5‐fluorouracil (400 mg/m2/day) on days 1‐5 and 8‐12, every 3 weeks. After three courses of chemotherapy, esophagectomy was carried out. The primary end‐point was the completion rate of the protocol treatment. Twenty‐eight patients were enrolled (cStage Ib/II/III, 2/3/23) and all received at least two cycles of chemotherapy. Twenty‐five patients underwent surgery, all of whom achieved an R0 resection, leading to a completion rate of 89.3%. The overall response rate was 87.0%. A pathological complete response was confirmed in eight (32.0%) cases. Grade 3/4 adverse events included leukopenia (32.1%), neutropenia (39.3%), febrile neutropenia (10.7%), thrombocytopenia (10.7%), and diarrhea (14.3%), but were manageable. Treatment‐related deaths and major surgical complications did not occur. Estimated 2‐year progression‐free and overall survival rates were 70.4% and 77.2%, respectively. Thus, DNF therapy was well tolerated and deemed feasible, with a strong tumor response in a neoadjuvant setting for ESCC. This trial is registered with the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN ID: 000014305)

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Case Study of an Intense Wind Event Associated with a Mesoscale Convective System in West Sumatera during the HARIMAU2006 Campaign

In this study, the processes responsible for an intense wind event that occurred in west Sumatera on November 19, 2006, during the first campaign of the Hydrometeorological ARay for Isv-Monsoon AUtomonitoring (HARIMAU) were investigated. Strong winds of 17 m s^[-1] and a sudden temperature drop of 5 K were observed at an X-band Doppler radar site associated with the passage of a convective system, and some houses were severely damaged. The convective system developed under an environment of strong low-level easterly vertical shear associated with the easterly region of an equatorial Rossby wave. The northern part of the convective system possessed qualitatively similar structures to midlatitude bow echoes, including the convex shape of the convective line, a descending rear-inflow jet positioned at its apex, and mesoscale vortices on both sides of the rear-inflow jet. The low-level wind behind the convective system formed a channel of strong easterly wind as it passed through an area of relatively low topography in the mountain range. The enhanced easterly wind was thought to contribute to the formation of the bow echo-like structure in the northern part of the convective system. This easterly rear-inflow jet was further accelerated in the convective system and descended near the leading edge, forming divergent strong winds at the surface. The sounding data that were taken after the passage of the convective system indicated that dry air appeared in the lower troposphere associated with an enhancement of the southerly component of the wind. An analysis of objective reanalysis data suggests that the southerly was probably associated with westward-propagating mixed Rossby-gravity waves with a period of approximately 5 days. It is suggested that the dry air intruded into the convective system across the back edge of the precipitation area and caused enhanced evaporative cooling, which resulted in the effective downward transport of the enhanced easterly momentum

Complex behavior in asymmetric plasma divided by a magnetic filter

A bifurcation from the static state to the dynamic state in the asymmetric plasma divided by the magnetic filter (MF) is studied by an one-dimensional particle simulation. A low temperature and low density subplasma is in contact with a high temperature and high density main plasma at the MF. In the dynamic state, autonomous oscillation of the electrostatic potential in the subplasma is observed along with the transit of the shock wave structure [K. Ohi, H. Naitou, Y. Tauchi, and O. Fukumasa, Phys. Plasmas 8,23(2001)]. By changing the control parameter of B_0 very slowly, the existence of the hysteresis in the relation of △φ_s versus B_0 is verified. Here B_0 is the strength of the magnetic field at the center of the MF and △φ_s is twice the amplitude of the self-sustained potential oscillation in the subplasma.`Potential and Structure in Plasmas' edited by M.Y. Tanaka … [et al.] (The Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research, c2001