Update on the ICUD-SIU consultation on multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging in localised prostate cancer

Introduction: Prostate cancer (PCa) imaging is a rapidly evolving field. Dramatic improvements in prostate MRI during the last decade will probably change the accuracy of diagnosis. This chapter reviews recent current evidence about MRI diagnostic performance and impact on PCa management. Materials and methods: The International Consultation on Urological Diseases nominated a committee to review the literature on prostate MRI. A search of the PubMed database was conducted to identify articles focussed on MP-MRI detection and staging protocols, reporting and scoring systems, the role of MP-MRI in diagnosing PCa prior to biopsy, in active surveillance, in focal therapy and in detecting local recurrence after treatment. Results: Differences in opinion were reported in the use of the strength of magnets [1.5 Tesla (T) vs. 3T] and coils. More agreement was found regarding the choice of pulse sequences; diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI), dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE MRI), and/or MR spectroscopy imaging (MRSI) are recommended in addition to conventional T2-weighted anatomical sequences. In 2015, the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS version 2) was described to standardize image acquisition and interpretation. MP-MRI improves detection of clinically significant PCa (csPCa) in the repeat biopsy setting or before the confirmatory biopsy in patients considering active surveillance. It is useful to guide focal treatment and to detect local recurrences after treatment. Its role in biopsy-naive patients or during the course of active surveillance remains debated. Conclusion: MP-MRI is increasingly used to improve detection of csPCa and for the selection of a suitable therapeutic approach

Love kills: Simulations in Penna Ageing Model

The standard Penna ageing model with sexual reproduction is enlarged by adding additional bit-strings for love: Marriage happens only if the male love strings are sufficiently different from the female ones. We simulate at what level of required difference the population dies out.Comment: 14 pages, including numerous figure

Identification of a class of non-conventional ER-stress-response-derived immunogenic peptides

Efforts to overcome resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapy have focused on vaccination strategies using neoepitopes, although they cannot be applied on a large scale due to the “private” nature of cancer mutations. Here, we show that infection of tumor cells with Salmonella induces the opening of membrane hemichannels and the extracellular release of proteasome-generated peptides by the exacerbation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Peptides released by cancer cells foster an antitumor response in vivo, both in mice bearing B16F10 melanomas and in dogs suffering from osteosarcoma. Mass spectrometry analysis on the supernatant of human melanoma cells revealed 12 peptides capable of priming healthy-donor CD8+ T cells that recognize and kill human melanoma cells in vitro and when xenotransplanted in vivo. Hence, we identified a class of shared tumor antigens that are generated in ER-stressed cells, such as tumor cells, that do not induce tolerance and are not presented by healthy cells

Optimal network topologies for local search with congestion

The problem of searchability in decentralized complex networks is of great importance in computer science, economy and sociology. We present a formalism that is able to cope simultaneously with the problem of search and the congestion effects that arise when parallel searches are performed, and obtain expressions for the average search cost--written in terms of the search algorithm and the topological properties of the network--both in presence and abscence of congestion. This formalism is used to obtain optimal network structures for a system using a local search algorithm. It is found that only two classes of networks can be optimal: star-like configurations, when the number of parallel searches is small, and homogeneous-isotropic configurations, when the number of parallel searches is large.Comment: 4 pages. Final version accepted in PR

Identification of a class of non-conventional ER-stress-response-derived immunogenic peptides

Efforts to overcome resistance to immune checkpoint blockade therapy have focused on vaccination strategies using neoepitopes, although they cannot be applied on a large scale due to the “private” nature of cancer mutations. Here, we show that infection of tumor cells with Salmonella induces the opening of membrane hemichannels and the extracellular release of proteasome-generated peptides by the exacerbation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Peptides released by cancer cells foster an antitumor response in vivo, both in mice bearing B16F10 melanomas and in dogs suffering from osteosarcoma. Mass spectrometry analysis on the supernatant of human melanoma cells revealed 12 peptides capable of priming healthy-donor CD8+ T cells that recognize and kill human melanoma cells in vitro and when xenotransplanted in vivo. Hence, we identified a class of shared tumor antigens that are generated in ER-stressed cells, such as tumor cells, that do not induce tolerance and are not presented by healthy cells

From the superfluid to the Mott regime and back: triggering a non-trivial dynamics in an array of coupled condensates

We consider a system formed by an array of Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in a harmonic potential with a superimposed periodic optical potential. Starting from the boson field Hamiltonian, appropriate to describe dilute gas of bosonic atoms, we reformulate the system dynamics within the Bose-Hubbard model picture. Then we analyse the effective dynamics of the system when the optical potential depth is suddenly varied according to a procedure applied in many of the recent experiments on superfluid-Mott transition in Bose-Einstein condensates. Initially the condensates' array generated in a weak optical potential is assumed to be in the superfluid ground-state which is well described in terms of coherent states. At a given time, the optical potential depth is suddenly increased and, after a waiting time, it is quickly decreased so that the initial depth is restored. We compute the system-state evolution and show that the potential jump brings on an excitation of the system, incorporated in the final condensate wave functions, whose effects are analysed in terms of two-site correlation functions and of on-site population oscillations. Also we show how a too long waiting time can destroy completely the coherence of the final state making it unobservable.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, to appear on Journal of Physics B (Special Issue: Levico BEC workshop). Publication status update

Evidence for the super Tonks-Girardeau gas

We provide evidence in support of a recent proposal by Astrakharchik at al. for the existence of a super Tonks-Girardeau gas-like state in the attractive interaction regime of quasi-one-dimensional Bose gases. We show that the super Tonks-Giradeau gas-like state corresponds to a highly-excited Bethe state in the integrable interacting Bose gas for which the bosons acquire hard-core behaviour. The gas-like state properties vary smoothly throughout a wide range from strong repulsion to strong attraction. There is an additional stable gas-like phase in this regime in which the bosons form two-body bound states behaving like hard-core bosons.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables, additional text on the stability of the super T-G gas-like stat

Teores de fibra em detergente neutro, fibra em detergente ácido e lignina de seis híbridos de sorgo em duas épocas de plantio e três cortes.

Foram avaliados quatro genótipos experimentais e dois cultivares comerciais de "Sorghum bicolor" com "Sorghum sudanense" quanto às frações fibrosas fibra em detergente neutro (FDN), fibra em detergente ácido (FDA) e lignina. Os híbridos foram submetidos a três cortes sucessivos, realizados em duas diferentes épocas de plantio. Foi empregado um delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso e a comparação de médias foi efetuada pelo teste de SNK a 5% de probabilidade. Não houve variações significativas de FDN (p< 0,05) entre os híbridos, com as médias situando-se entre 54,68 e 55,74 %. Também não houve variações significativas (p<0,05) entre os híbridos em nenhum dos cortes e épocas avaliadas. Os valores de FDA médios dos híbridos variaram de 24,99 a 25,51 % e não observaram-se diferenças significativas (p<0,05) entre eles. Na segunda época de plantio foi observada semelhança significativa entre os híbridos no primeiro e terceiro cortes. Os teores médios de lignina obtidos nos diferentes híbridos não apresentaram diferenças significativas (p<0,05). Na primeira epoca, não foram observadas diferenças (p<0,05) entre os híbridos. Na segunda época de plantio, os híbridos apresentaram comportamento semelhante à primeira época, quanto à semelhança entre os híbridos nos cortes sucessivos. A média dos valores apresentados na segunda época foi de 6,32 % , superior estatisticamente (p<0,05) ao valor de 5,39 % observado na primeira época