Detection of spectral evolution in the bursts emitted during the 2008-2009 active episode of SGR J1550 - 5418

In early October 2008, the Soft Gamma Repeater SGRJ1550 - 5418 (1E 1547.0 - 5408, AXJ155052 - 5418, PSR J1550 - 5418) became active, emitting a series of bursts which triggered the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) after which a second especially intense activity period commenced in 2009 January and a third, less active period was detected in 2009 March-April. Here we analyze the GBM data all the bursts from the first and last active episodes. We performed temporal and spectral analysis for all events and found that their temporal characteristics are very similar to the ones of other SGR bursts, as well the ones reported for the bursts of the main episode (average burst durations \sim 170 ms). In addition, we used our sample of bursts to quantify the systematic uncertainties of the GBM location algorithm for soft gamma-ray transients to < 8 deg. Our spectral analysis indicates significant spectral evolution between the first and last set of events. Although the 2008 October events are best fit with a single blackbody function, for the 2009 bursts an Optically Thin Thermal Bremsstrahlung (OTTB) is clearly preferred. We attribute this evolution to changes in the magnetic field topology of the source, possibly due to effects following the very energetic main bursting episode.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 2 table

ERIS: revitalising an adaptive optics instrument for the VLT

ERIS is an instrument that will both extend and enhance the fundamental diffraction limited imaging and spectroscopy capability for the VLT. It will replace two instruments that are now being maintained beyond their operational lifetimes, combine their functionality on a single focus, provide a new wavefront sensing module that makes use of the facility Adaptive Optics System, and considerably improve their performance. The instrument will be competitive with respect to JWST in several regimes, and has outstanding potential for studies of the Galactic Center, exoplanets, and high redshift galaxies. ERIS had its final design review in 2017, and is expected to be on sky in 2020. This contribution describes the instrument concept, outlines its expected performance, and highlights where it will most excel.Comment: 12 pages, Proc SPIE 10702 "Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII

Asedios al archivo, la literatura, los territorios, las pedagogías y la creación

Lenguajes de la memoria y los Derechos Humanos III. Asedios al archivo, la literatura, los territorios, las pedagogías y la creación está integrado por un conjunto de trabajos cuyos ejes temáticos son auscultados desde el suelo presente, necesario, insistente, heteroglósico, en continua redefinición. El libro fue concebido en un momento atravesado por el influjo del abismo producido por el gobierno de la derecha en Argentina y en América Latina, en el interregno 2015-2019, y culminado durante la pandemia Covid 19, que azota al mundo con millones de muertos e infectados.Fil: Ares, María Cristina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Departamento de Letras; Argentina.Fil: Bracaccini Acevedo, María. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades; Argentina.Fil: Cella, Susana. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras; Argentina.Fil: Cornavaca, María Trinidad. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Lenguas; Argentina.Fil: Corral, María Manuela. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Lenguas; Argentina.Fil: Crenzel, Emilio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Sociales; Argentina.Fil: Da Silva Catela, Ludmila. Universidad Federal de Río de Janeiro; Brasil.Fil: Díaz, Marcelo. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto; Argentina.Fil: Ferraro, Paula Daniela. Universidad Federal Fluminense; Brasil.Fil: Ferrada Rau, Rocío Nili. Universidad de Chile; Chile.Fil: Garbero, Vanesa. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina.Fil: García, Díaz. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; México.Fil: Giraldi Dei Cas, Norah. Universidad de Lille; Francia.Fil: Gutiérrez, Carlos Arturo. Universidad Nacional de Colombia; Colombia.Fil: Kozameh, Alicia. Chapman University. Departamento de Inglés; Estados Unidos.Fil: Magrin, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Psicología; Argentina.Fil: Inchauspe, Leandro. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Escuela de Historia; Argentina.Fil: Martínez, Carlos Dámaso. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Escuela de Letras; Argentina.Fil: Mercado, Mónica. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Artes. Departamento Académico de Artes Visuales; Argentina.Fil: Merro, Agustina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Escuela de Letras; Argentina.Fil: Mohaded, Ana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Artes. Departamento Académico de Cine y Televisión; Argentina.Fil: Montes, Alicia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras; Argentina.Fil: Muñoz Leppe, Olga Elvira. Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación; Chile.Fil: Palma Solís, Jennifer Luz. Universidad de Chile; Chile.Fil: Pino, Mirian. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Escuela de Letras; Argentina.Fil: Rabanal Gatica, Damaso. Universidad Austral de Chile; Chile.Fil: Reati, Fernando. Georgia State University; Estados Unidos.Fil: Reyes, Manuela. Universidad Nacional de Villa María; Argentina.Fil: Rocchietti, Luciana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación; Argentina.Fil: Saint Bonet, María Virginia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Escuela de Letras; Argentina.Fil: Schwenke, Gonzalo. Universidad Austral de Chile; Chile.Fil: Semilla Durán, María Angélica. Universidad Central de Barcelona; España.Fil: Solis, Ana Carol. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Escuela de Historia; Argentina.Fil: Sosa San Martín, Gabriela. Universidad de la República. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Uruguay.Fil: Suppo, Carina Noemí. Universidad Nacional de Rosario; Argentina.Fil: Vásquez, Malva Marina. Universidad de Chile; Chile.Fil: Vassallo, Celeste. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades. Escuela de Letras; Argentina.Fil: Wild, Carolina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación; Argentina

COVID-19 in children and adolescents in Europe: a multinational, multicentre cohort study

Background To date, few data on paediatric COVID-19 have been published, and most reports originate from China. This study aimed to capture key data on children and adolescents with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection across Europe to inform physicians and health-care service planning during the ongoing pandemic. Methods This multicentre cohort study involved 82 participating health-care institutions across 25 European countries, using a well established research network—the Paediatric Tuberculosis Network European Trials Group (ptbnet)—that mainly comprises paediatric infectious diseases specialists and paediatric pulmonologists. We included all individuals aged 18 years or younger with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, detected at any anatomical site by RT-PCR, between April 1 and April 24, 2020, during the initial peak of the European COVID-19 pandemic. We explored factors associated with need for intensive care unit (ICU) admission and initiation of drug treatment for COVID-19 using univariable analysis, and applied multivariable logistic regression with backwards stepwise analysis to further explore those factors significantly associated with ICU admission. Findings 582 individuals with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were included, with a median age of 5·0 years (IQR 0·5–12·0) and a sex ratio of 1·15 males per female. 145 (25%) had pre-existing medical conditions. 363 (62%) individuals were admitted to hospital. 48 (8%) individuals required ICU admission, 25 (4%) mechanical ventilation (median duration 7 days, IQR 2–11, range 1–34), 19 (3%) inotropic support, and one (<1%) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Significant risk factors for requiring ICU admission in multivariable analyses were being younger than 1 month (odds ratio 5·06, 95% CI 1·72–14·87; p=0·0035), male sex (2·12, 1·06–4·21; p=0·033), pre-existing medical conditions (3·27, 1·67–6·42; p=0·0015), and presence of lower respiratory tract infection signs or symptoms at presentation (10·46, 5·16–21·23; p<0·0001). The most frequently used drug with antiviral activity was hydroxychloroquine (40 [7%] patients), followed by remdesivir (17 [3%] patients), lopinavir–ritonavir (six [1%] patients), and oseltamivir (three [1%] patients). Immunomodulatory medication used included corticosteroids (22 [4%] patients), intravenous immunoglobulin (seven [1%] patients), tocilizumab (four [1%] patients), anakinra (three [1%] patients), and siltuximab (one [<1%] patient). Four children died (case-fatality rate 0·69%, 95% CI 0·20–1·82); at study end, the remaining 578 were alive and only 25 (4%) were still symptomatic or requiring respiratory support. Interpretation COVID-19 is generally a mild disease in children, including infants. However, a small proportion develop severe disease requiring ICU admission and prolonged ventilation, although fatal outcome is overall rare. The data also reflect the current uncertainties regarding specific treatment options, highlighting that additional data on antiviral and immunomodulatory drugs are urgently needed. Funding ptbnet is supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

Effectiveness and safety of opicapone in Parkinson’s disease patients with motor fluctuations: the OPTIPARK open-label study

Background The efficacy and safety of opicapone, a once-daily catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitor, have been established in two large randomized, placebo-controlled, multinational pivotal trials. Still, clinical evidence from routine practice is needed to complement the data from the pivotal trials. Methods OPTIPARK (NCT02847442) was a prospective, open-label, single-arm trial conducted in Germany and the UK under clinical practice conditions. Patients with Parkinson’s disease and motor fluctuations were treated with opicapone 50 mg for 3 (Germany) or 6 (UK) months in addition to their current levodopa and other antiparkinsonian treatments. The primary endpoint was the Clinician’s Global Impression of Change (CGI-C) after 3 months. Secondary assessments included Patient Global Impressions of Change (PGI-C), the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-8), and the Non-Motor Symptoms Scale (NMSS). Safety assessments included evaluation of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and serious adverse events (SAEs). Results Of the 506 patients enrolled, 495 (97.8%) took at least one dose of opicapone. Of these, 393 (79.4%) patients completed 3 months of treatment. Overall, 71.3 and 76.9% of patients experienced any improvement on CGI-C and PGI-C after 3 months, respectively (full analysis set). At 6 months, for UK subgroup only (n = 95), 85.3% of patients were judged by investigators as improved since commencing treatment. UPDRS scores at 3 months showed statistically significant improvements in activities of daily living during OFF (mean ± SD change from baseline: − 3.0 ± 4.6, p < 0.0001) and motor scores during ON (− 4.6 ± 8.1, p < 0.0001). The mean ± SD improvements of − 3.4 ± 12.8 points for PDQ-8 and -6.8 ± 19.7 points for NMSS were statistically significant versus baseline (both p < 0.0001). Most of TEAEs (94.8% of events) were of mild or moderate intensity. TEAEs considered to be at least possibly related to opicapone were reported for 45.1% of patients, with dyskinesia (11.5%) and dry mouth (6.5%) being the most frequently reported. Serious TEAEs considered at least possibly related to opicapone were reported for 1.4% of patients. Conclusions Opicapone 50 mg was effective and generally well-tolerated in PD patients with motor fluctuations treated in clinical practice. Trial registration Registered in July 2016 at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02847442)

Refined histopathological predictors of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation status : a large-scale analysis of breast cancer characteristics from the BCAC, CIMBA, and ENIGMA consortia

Abstract Introduction The distribution of histopathological features of invasive breast tumors in BRCA1 or BRCA2 germline mutation carriers differs from that of individuals with no known mutation. Histopathological features thus have utility for mutation prediction, including statistical modeling to assess pathogenicity of BRCA1 or BRCA2 variants of uncertain clinical significance. We analyzed large pathology datasets accrued by the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA) and the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) to reassess histopathological predictors of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation status, and provide robust likelihood ratio (LR) estimates for statistical modeling. Methods Selection criteria for study/center inclusion were estrogen receptor (ER) status or grade data available for invasive breast cancer diagnosed younger than 70 years. The dataset included 4,477 BRCA1 mutation carriers, 2,565 BRCA2 mutation carriers, and 47,565 BCAC breast cancer cases. Country-stratified estimates of the likelihood of mutation status by histopathological markers were derived using a Mantel-Haenszel approach. Results ER-positive phenotype negatively predicted BRCA1 mutation status, irrespective of grade (LRs from 0.08 to 0.90). ER-negative grade 3 histopathology was more predictive of positive BRCA1 mutation status in women 50 years or older (LR = 4.13 (3.70 to 4.62)) versus younger than 50 years (LR = 3.16 (2.96 to 3.37)). For BRCA2, ER-positive grade 3 phenotype modestly predicted positive mutation status irrespective of age (LR = 1.7-fold), whereas ER-negative grade 3 features modestly predicted positive mutation status at 50 years or older (LR = 1.54 (1.27 to 1.88)). Triple-negative tumor status was highly predictive of BRCA1 mutation status for women younger than 50 years (LR = 3.73 (3.43 to 4.05)) and 50 years or older (LR = 4.41 (3.86 to 5.04)), and modestly predictive of positive BRCA2 mutation status in women 50 years or older (LR = 1.79 (1.42 to 2.24)). Conclusions These results refine likelihood-ratio estimates for predicting BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation status by using commonly measured histopathological features. Age at diagnosis is an important variable for most analyses, and grade is more informative than ER status for BRCA2 mutation carrier prediction. The estimates will improve BRCA1 and BRCA2 variant classification and inform patient mutation testing and clinical management