RESPONDER – diagnosis of pathological complete response by vacuum-assisted biopsy after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast Cancer - a multicenter, confirmative, one-armed, intra-individually-controlled, open, diagnostic trial

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is a standard approach of the multidisciplinary treatment of breast cancer. Depending on the biological subtype a pathological complete response in the breast (bpCR) can be achieved in up to 60% of the patients. However, only limited accuracy can be reached when using imaging for prediction of bpCR prior to surgery. Due to this diagnostic uncertainty, surgery after NACT is considered to be obligatory for all patients in order to either completely remove residual disease or to diagnose a bpCR histologically. The purpose of this trial is to evaluate the accuracy of a vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB) to diagnose a bpCR after NACT prior to surgery. Methods: This study is a multicenter, confirmative, one-armed, intra-individually-controlled, open, diagnostic trial. The study will take place at 21 trial sites in Germany. Six hundred female patients with breast cancer after completed NACT showing at least a partial response to NACT treatment will be enrolled. A vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB) guided either by ultrasound or mammography will be performed followed by histopathological evaluation of the VAB specimen before standard, guideline-adherent breast surgery. The study is designed to prove that the false negative rate of the VAB is below 10%. Discussion: As a bpCR is becoming a more frequent result after NACT, the question arises whether breast surgery is therapeutically necessary in such cases. To study this subject further, it will be crucial to develop a reliable test to diagnose a bpCR without surgery. During the study we anticipate possible problems in patient recruitment as the VAB intervention does not provide participating patients with any personal benefit. Hence, a proficient informed consent discussion with the patient and a detailed explanation of the study aim will be crucial for patient recruitment. Another critical issue is the histopathological VAB evaluation of a non-tumorous specimen as this may have been taken either from the former tumor region (bpCR) or outside of the (former) tumor region (non-representative VAB, sampling error). Trial registration: The trial has been registered at clinicaltrials.gov with the identifier NCT02948764 on October 28, 2016 and at the German Clinical Trials Register ( DRKS00011761 ) on February 20, 2017. The date of enrolment of the first participant to the trial was on March 8, 2017

Pre-Stressor Interference Control and Intrusive Memories

Although intrusive imagery is a common response in the aftermath of a stressful or traumatic event, only a minority of trauma victims show persistent re-experiencing and related psychopathology. Individual differences in pre-trauma executive control possibly play a critical role. Therefore, this study investigated whether a relatively poor pre-stressor ability to resist proactive interference in working memory might increase risk for experiencing undesirable intrusive memories after being exposed to a stressful event. Non-clinical participants (N = 85) completed a modified version of a widely used test of interference control in working memory (CVLT; Kramer and Delis 1991) and subsequently watched an emotional film fragment. Following presentation of the fragment, intrusive memories were recorded in a 1-week diary and at a follow up session 7 days later. A relatively poor ability to resist proactive interference was related to a relatively high frequency of film-related intrusive memories. This relationship was independent of neuroticism and gender. These findings are consistent with the idea that a pre-morbid deficit in the ability to resist proactive interference reflects a vulnerability factor for experiencing intrusive memories after trauma exposure

Co-designing transformation research : lessons learned from research on deliberate practices for transformation

Co-production of new knowledge can enhance open and integrative research processes across the social and natural sciences and across research/science, practice and policy interrelationships. Thus, co-production is important in the conduct of research about and for transformations to sustainability. While co-design is an integral part of co-production, it often receives limited attention in the conduct of co-produced research. This paper reports on lessons learned from an early stage of the co-design process to develop research on deliberate practices for transformative change. Key lessons learned are the need to: (1) ensure co-design processes are themselves carefully designed; (2) encourage emergence of new ways of thinking about problem formulation through co-design; (3) carefully balance risks for the participants involved while also enhancing opportunities for intellectual risk taking; (4) facilitate personal transformations in co-design as a way to stimulate and encourage further creativity; and (5) for funders to carefully and constructively align criteria or incentives through which a project or future proposal will be judged to the goals of the co-design, including for instrumental outcomes and objectives for creativity and imagination. Given that co-design necessarily involves a reflective practice to iteratively guide emergence of new thinking about the practices of change, co-design can itself be considered an important deliberate practice for transforming the conduct of research and the contribution of that research to social transformations

ARTEFACTS: How do we want to deal with the future of our one and only planet?

The European Commission’s Science and Knowledge Service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), decided to try working hand-in-hand with leading European science centres and museums. Behind this decision was the idea that the JRC could better support EU Institutions in engaging with the European public. The fact that European Union policies are firmly based on scientific evidence is a strong message which the JRC is uniquely able to illustrate. Such a collaboration would not only provide a platform to explain the benefits of EU policies to our daily lives but also provide an opportunity for European citizens to engage by taking a more active part in the EU policy making process for the future. A PILOT PROGRAMME To test the idea, the JRC launched an experimental programme to work with science museums: a perfect partner for three compelling reasons. Firstly, they attract a large and growing number of visitors. Leading science museums in Europe have typically 500 000 visitors per year. Furthermore, they are based in large European cities and attract local visitors as well as tourists from across Europe and beyond. The second reason for working with museums is that they have mastered the art of how to communicate key elements of sophisticated arguments across to the public and making complex topics of public interest readily accessible. That is a high-value added skill and a crucial part of the valorisation of public-funded research, never to be underestimated. Finally museums are, at present, undergoing something of a renaissance. Museums today are vibrant environments offering new techniques and technologies to both inform and entertain, and attract visitors of all demographics.JRC.H.2-Knowledge Management Methodologies, Communities and Disseminatio

Broad support for climate action in the EU

This paper shows that support for climate action is high across survey participants from all EU countries in three dimensions: (1) Participants are willing to contribute personally to combating climate change, (2) they approve of pro-climate social norms, and (3) they demand government action. In addition, there is a significant perception gap where individuals underestimate others' willingness to contribute to climate action by over 10 percentage points, influencing their own willingness to act. Policymakers should recognize the broad support for climate action among European citizens and communicate this effectively to counteract the vocal minority opposed to it

Heteronormativität in der Zoologie

Ebeling S. Heteronormativität in der Zoologie. In: Hartmann J, Klesse C, Wagenknecht P, Fritzsche B, Hackmann K, eds. Heteronormativität. Empirische Studien zu Geschlecht, Sexualität und Macht. Studien interdisziplinäre Geschlechterforschung. Vol 10. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften; 2007: 79-93

Dynamic modeling of molten salt power towers

A detailed understanding of the transient behavior of a receiver using molten salt as heat transfer fluid is of great importance for an efficient and safe operation. To analyze the transient operation a dynamic model for the flow in the receiver is currently under development, which will be capable to analyze the one-phase flow during normal operation and the two-phase flow during filling and draining. The model can be coupled to raytracing simulation in order to use a realistic flux density distribution as input for the model. In the paper the modelling approach for the receiver model is described shortly and validation results are discussed. This includes a detailed discussion of the heat transfer during the filling procedure, where an interesting phenomenon was discovered. Finally, the results for a parameter variation of the filling procedure and the simulation results for the impact of certain cloud events on the operation of the receiver are presented

Transmission ratio distortion of mutations in the master regulator of centriole biogenesis PLK4

The evolutionary conserved Polo-like kinase 4 (PLK4) is essential for centriole duplication, spindle assembly, and de novo centriole formation. In man, homozygous mutations in PLK4 lead to primary microcephaly, altered PLK4 expression is associated with aneuploidy in human embryos. Here, we report on a consanguineous four-generation family with 8 affected individuals compound heterozygous for a novel missense variant, c.881 T > G, and a deletion of the PLK4 gene. The clinical phenotype of the adult patients is mild compared to individuals with previously described PLK4 mutations. One individual was homozygous for the variant c.881G and phenotypically unaffected. The deletion was inherited by 14 of 16 offspring and thus exhibits transmission ratio distortion (TRD). Moreover, based on the already published families with PLK4 mutations, it could be shown that due to the preferential transmission of the mutant alleles, the number of affected offspring is significantly increased. It is assumed that reduced expression of PLK4 decreases the intrinsically high error rate of the first cell divisions after fertilization, increases the number of viable embryos and thus leads to preferential transmission of the deleted/mutated alleles