In memoriam two distinguished participants of the Bregenz Symmetries in Science Symposia: Marcos Moshinsky and Yurii Fedorovich Smirnov

Some particular facets of the numerous works by Marcos Moshinsky and Yurii Fedorovich Smirnov are presented in these notes. The accent is put on some of the common interests of Yurii and Marcos in physics, theoretical chemistry, and mathematical physics. These notes also contain some more personal memories of Yurii Smirnov.Comment: Submitted for publication in Journal of Physics: Conference Serie

Phase I, open-label study of pasireotide in patients with <i>BRAF-</i>wild type and <i>NRAS</i>-wild type, unresectable and/or metastatic melanoma.

Somatostatin analogues exert antitumour activity via direct and indirect mechanisms. The present study was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of pasireotide in patients with &lt;i&gt;BRAF&lt;/i&gt; -wild type (WT) and &lt;i&gt;NRAS&lt;/i&gt; -WT metastatic melanoma. Patients with unresectable and/or metastatic melanoma or Merkel cell carcinoma were eligible. Pasireotide was administered at different doses for ≤8 weeks in dose-escalation phase, followed by long-acting pasireotide 80 mg or lower dose in case of toxicity in follow-up phase up to six additional months. Primary endpoint was safety in the first 8 weeks of dose-escalation phase. The study was terminated early due to slow recruitment. Of the 10 patients with metastatic melanoma enrolled, only four reached the high dose level: two patients reached 3600 µg in dose-escalation and follow-up phases and two patients reached 3600 µg in dose-escalation and long-acting pasireotide 80 mg in follow-up phases and were stable for &gt;5 months. Most common adverse events (AEs) during dose-escalation phase in ≥2 patients (20%) were: diarrhoea (50%), nausea (50%), fatigue (20%), hyperglycaemia (20%), hypophosphatemia (20%), chills (20%) and tumour pain (20%). Grade 3 or 4 study drug-related AEs were diarrhoea and nausea, reported in one patient. Partial response was documented in one patient and stable disease in another. Pasireotide was well tolerated, and safety results were similar to those previously reported in other indications. Further studies are needed to evaluate its antitumour activity alone and in combination with other drugs in melanoma

Maximizing the general success of cecal intubation during propofol sedation in a multi-endoscopist academic centre

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Achieving the target of 95% colonoscopy completion rate at centres conducting colorectal screening programs is an important issue. Large centres and teaching hospitals employing endoscopists with different levels of training and expertise risk achieving worse results. Deep sedation with propofol in routine colonoscopy could maximize the results of cecal intubation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The present study on the experience of a single centre focused on estimating the overall completion rate of colonoscopies performed under routine propofol sedation at a large teaching hospital with many operators involved, and on assessing the factors that influence the success rate of the procedure and how to improve this performance, analyzing the aspects relating to using of deep sedation. Twenty-one endoscopists, classified by their level of specialization in colonoscopic practice, performed 1381 colonoscopies under deep sedation. All actions needed for the anaesthesiologist to restore adequate oxygenation or hemodynamics, even for transient changes, were recorded.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The "crude" overall completion rate was 93.3%. This finding shows that with routine deep sedation, the colonoscopy completion rate nears, but still does not reach, the target performance for colonoscopic screening programs, at centers where colonoscopists of difference experience are employed in such programs.</p> <p>Factors interfering with cecal intubation were: inadequate colon cleansing, endoscopists' expertise in colonoscopic practice, patients' body weight under 60 kg or age over 71 years, and the need for active intervention by the anaesthesiologist. The most favourable situation - a patient less than 71 years old with a body weight over 60 kg, an adequate bowel preparation, a "highly experienced specialist" performing the test, and no need for active anaesthesiological intervention during the procedure - coincided with a 98.8% probability of the colonoscopy being completed.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>With routine deep sedation, the colonoscopy completion rate nears the target performance for colonoscopic screening programs, at centers where colonoscopists of difference experience are employed in such programs. Organizing the daily workload to prevent negative factors affecting the success rate from occurring in combination may enable up to 85% of incomplete procedures to be converted into successful colonoscopies.</p

Recursion relations for Clebsch-Gordan coefficients of Uq_{q}(su2_{2}) and Uq_{q}(su1,1_{1,1})

International audienceWe report in this article three- and four-term recursion relations for Clebsch-Gordan coefficients of the quantum algebras U_q(su_2) and U_q(su_{1,1}). These relations were obtained by exploiting the complementarity of three quantum algebras in a q-deformation of sp(8, \gr)

Evaluation of spleen stiffness in healthy volunteers using point shear wave elastography

Introduction and Objectives: This study aims to measure the values of spleen stiffness (SS) in healthy subjects, the inter-operator agreement in SS measurement, and to detect statistically significant correlations between SS and age, sex, weight, BMI, portal vein dynamics and splenic dimensions. Materials and methods: The study included 100 healthy volunteers who had no substantial alcohol intake (<30 g/daily for man, <20 g/daily women), were negative on hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV blood serology, and had any history of lymphoproliferative disorders. Abdominal ultrasound, liver and spleen elastography were performed on each patient to search for focal splenic lesions, bile tract or portal vein dilatation, moderate/severe liver steatosis, and to measure liver and spleen stiffness. Results: The mean value was 18.14 (+/- 3.08) kPa. In the group of men (n= 49), the mean was 17.73 (+/- 2.91) kPa, whereas in the group of women (n= 51) it was 16.72 (+/- 3.32) kPa. Statistical analyses showed no correlation between spleen stiffness and sex, age, weight, and BMI. Regarding their splenoportal axis, statistically significant differences in SS were found in the means of the two subgroups of subjects stratified by their portal flow velocity (p= 0.003) and spleen area (p < 0.001). Spearman's rank showed a weak association between SS and portal flow velocty (r= 0.271) and splenic area (r = -0.237). ICC showed excellent (0.96) inter-operator agreement and Bland-Altman plot demonstrated no systematic over/under-estimation of spleen stiffness values. Conclusions: Our results may serve as a reference point in the evaluation of SS especially in patients affected by advanced liver disease

A novel kindred with familial gastrointestinal stromal tumors caused by a rare kit germline mutation (N655k): Clinico-pathological presentation and tki sensitivity

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), the most common mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, are characterized by activating mutations in KIT or PDGFRA genes. The vast majority of GISTs are sporadic, but rare hereditary forms have been reported, often featuring multifocality and younger age of onset. We here report the identification of a novel kindred affected by familial GIST caused by a KIT germline mutation in exon 13 (N655K). No family affected by hereditary GIST due to this KIT variant has been reported in literature so far. We were able to track the mutation in three members of the family (proband, mother, and second-degree cousin), all affected by multiple GISTs. Due to its rarity, the N655K variant is poorly characterized. We conducted in vitro drug sensitivity assays that indicated that most tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) currently included in the therapeutic armamentarium for GISTs have a limited inhibitory activity toward this mutation. However, when compared to a classical imatinib-resistant KIT mutation (T670I), N655K was slightly more sensitive to imatinib, and encouraging responses were observed with last-generation TKIs

Alanine aminotransferase and spleno-portal dynamics affect spleen stiffness measured by point shear-wave elastography in patients with chronic hepatitis C in the absence of significant liver fibrosis

Background: Spleen stiffness (SS) has gained a lot of interest in the context of liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension stratification. However, there is a paucity of data on confounding factors that may alter SS values. Methods: Between January 2018 and October 2019, we enrolled 120 healthy subjects and 117 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who did not have significant liver fibrosis (i.e., F0–1). Abdominal ultrasound evaluation was performed on each individual to measure portal vein diameter, portal flow velocity, spleen bipolar diameter, and splenic area. We also performed liver and spleen elastography. Results: HCV patients had higher SS (p 32 IU/L. Besides, the relationship between SS and ALT was described by cubic polynomial regression according to the following equation: 11.735 + 0.404 (ALT)1 − 0.002 (ALT)2 + 4.26 × 10–6 (ALT)3. Conclusions: Our results bring new light to the role of inflammation as a confounding factor for SS measurement. Therefore, particular attention should be paid to serum transaminase for a correct evaluation of spleen elastography