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

Impact of smoking status on the relative efficacy of the EGFR TKI/angiogenesis inhibitor combination therapy in advanced NSCLC-a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND The ETOP 10-16 BOOSTER trial failed to demonstrate a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit for adding bevacizumab to osimertinib in second line. An exploratory subgroup analysis, however, suggested a PFS benefit of the combination in patients with a smoking history and prompted us to do this study. METHODS A systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the differential effect of smoking status on the benefit of adding an angiogenesis inhibitor to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy was carried out. All relevant randomized controlled trials appearing in main oncology congresses or in PubMed as of 1 November 2021 were used according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses statement. Primarily PFS according to smoking status, and secondarily overall survival (OS) were of interest. Pooled and interaction hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated by fixed or random effects models, depending on the detected degree of heterogeneity. Bias was assessed using the revised Cochrane tool for randomized controlled trials (RoB 2). RESULTS Information by smoking was available for 1291 patients for PFS (seven studies) and 678 patients for OS (four studies). The risk of bias was low for all studies. Combination treatment significantly prolonged PFS for smokers [n = 502, HR = 0.55, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.44-0.69] but not for nonsmokers (n = 789, HR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.66-1.27; treatment-by-smoking interaction P = 0.02). Similarly, a significant OS benefit was found for smokers (n = 271, HR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.47-0.93) but not for nonsmokers (n = 407, HR = 1.07, 95% CI: 0.82-1.42; treatment-by-smoking interaction P = 0.03). CONCLUSION In advanced EGFR-non-small-cell lung cancer patients, the addition of an angiogenesis inhibitor to EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy provides a statistically significant PFS and OS benefit in smokers, but not in non-smokers. The biological basis for this observation should be pursued and could determine whether this might be due to a specific co-mutational pattern produced by tobacco exposure

Wanderungen und jahreszeitliches Verteilungsmuster der Rothirschpopulationen (Cervus elaphus L.) im Engadin, M\ufcnstertal und Schweizerischen Nationalpark

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The crystal structure of human pyrin b30.2 domain: implications for mutations associated with familial Mediterranean fever

The inherited autoinflammatory syndrome familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is characterized by recurrent episodes of fever, which are independent of any bacterial or viral infections. This disease is associated with point mutations in the mefv gene product pyrin. Although the precise molecular functions of pyrin are unknown, it seems to be involved in the maturation and secretion of interleukin-1beta. Approximately two thirds of all FMF-associated mutations cluster in the C-terminal B30.2 domain of pyrin. To investigate the molecular consequences of FMF-associated mutations, we determined the crystal structure of the pyrin B30.2 domain at 1.35-A resolution. The comparison with other B30.2/ligand complex structures revealed a shallow cavity, which seems to be involved in binding the pyrin ligand. The bottom of this cavity is covered mainly with hydrophobic amino acids, suggesting that pyrin recognizes its ligand by hydrophobic contacts and surface complementarities. FMF-associated mutations cluster around two sites on the B30.2 surface. Approximately two thirds, including those mutations with the most severe disease outcomes, are observed in the vicinity of the predicted peptide binding site, suggesting that they will have a direct impact on ligand binding. A second mutational hot spot was observed on the opposite side of the B30.2 domain in the neighbourhood of its artificial N-terminus. Although most FMF-associated mutations are solvent exposed, several will modify the main-chain conformation of loops. The experimental crystal structure of the pyrin B30.2 domain serves as a basis for an accurate modelling of these mutations

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

Afatinib in NSCLC With HER2 Mutations: Results of the Prospective, Open-Label Phase II NICHE Trial of European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP).

INTRODUCTION Mutations in erb-b2 receptor tyrosine kinase 2 (HER2) oncogene are observed in approximately 3% of lung adenocarcinomas or mixed tumors with adenocarcinoma component. Activity of various biologically distinct HER2 inhibitors, including the pan-HER inhibitor afatinib, has been reported in several retrospective trials or small series in advanced pretreated NSCLC with HER2 mutations. We report the first prospective evaluation of afatinib for the treatment of this molecularly defined entity. METHODS NICHE, a single-arm phase II trial using a two-stage Simon's design, explored the potential of afatinib to control disease in pretreated patients with advanced NSCLC harboring HER2 exon 20 mutations. A total of 13 patients entered the trial and were treated with afatinib 40 mg/day until tumor progression or lack of tolerability. RESULTS The first-stage stopping boundary was crossed when five of nine patients did not achieve disease control at 12 weeks. The accrual into the trial was stopped with total 13 patients enrolled, with 7 (53.8%) achieving disease control at 12 weeks. Except for 1 patient with early death, progression was documented for all patients, with median progression-free survival of 15.9 weeks (95% confidence interval: 6.0-35.4), and median overall survival of 56.0 weeks (95% confidence interval: 16.3- upper limit not estimable). The toxicity profile was in the expected range. CONCLUSIONS Afatinib did not show the expected potential for disease control in NSCLC. However, more than half of the patients in the full cohort achieved disease control at 12 weeks

A prognostic score for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) receiving second-line immunotherapy or chemotherapy in the ETOP 9–15 PROMISE-meso phase III trial

Introduction: Clinical and laboratory parameters associated with response for patients with advanced pre-treated malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) are lacking. We aimed to identify prognostic and predictive markers among patients with relapsed MPM who were randomised into the ETOP 9–15 PROMISE-meso phase III trial, evaluating pembrolizumab and chemotherapy. Methods: Baseline clinical and laboratory parameters were investigated for prognostic or predictive value on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in a retrospective analysis, based on the full cohort of 144 MPM patients. These consisted of immune-inflammatory indexes (neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio [NLR], systemic immune-inflammatory index [SII], lactate dehydrogenase [LDH]) along with other already known prognostic baseline characteristics and laboratory values. Cut-offs were chosen independently of outcome. Based on Cox multivariable analysis for PFS in the whole cohort, a risk factor model was built to illustrate the prognostic stratification of patients by the combination of the derived independent prognostic factors, taking into account the EORTC score, a validated prognostic score in MPM. All models were stratified by histology and adjusted by treatment. Results: In the stratified multivariable analysis in the whole cohort, high SII (hazard ratio (HR) 2.06; 95%CI 1.39–3.05) and low haemoglobin (HR 1.62; 95%CI 1.06–2.50) were associated with worse PFS. Based on these two prognostic factors, a mesothelioma risk score (MRS) was constructed with three PFS risk prognosis categories: favourable, intermediate and poor with 0, 1 and 2 risk factors, respectively (corresponding percent of cohort: 24%, 34% and 42% and median PFS: 5.8, 4.2 and 2.1 months). The derived MRS stratified the prognosis for PFS and OS, overall and within each of the EORTC groups. No significant predictors of treatment benefit were identified. Conclusions: The proposed MRS is prognostic of patient outcome and it fine-tunes the prognosis of patients with pre-treated MPM alone or when used with the already established EORTC score. © 202