Canine presumed glial brain tumours treated with radiotherapy: Is there an inferior outcome in tumours contacting the subventricular zone?

Post-treatment outcome in canine glial tumours is described with a broad range of survival times between 2 and 28 months. After surgery or radiation therapy, the tumours may progress locally or spread within the central nervous system. It is unknown if tumour- or patient-specific factors influence prognosis. In humans, glioblastoma involving the subventricular zone has been found to recur distantly, with shortened time to progression and overall survival. We included 32 dogs irradiated for a presumptive primary glial brain tumour in this retrospective cohort study. Tumours were grouped relative to subventricular zone contact and overt ventricular invasion assessing pre-treatment magnetic resonance images. Median time to progression (TTP) for all cases was 534 days (95%CI, 310–758), with a significantly shorter TTP in dogs with lesions at the subventricular zone (median TTP, 260 vs. 687 days; p =.049). Tumours at the subventricular zone progressed more often (p =.001), and more likely as CNS-metastasis (52.9% vs. 13.3%, p =.028). Median overall survival (OS) was 489 days (95%CI, 147–831) and median tumour-specific survival 609 days (95%CI, 382–835). Involvement of the subventricular zone was significantly associated with a shorter tumour-specific survival (median, 306 vs. 719 days; p =.044). Glial tumours contacting the subventricular zone in dogs have a shorter tumour-specific survival and a higher rate of progression and CNS-metastasis. Despite local tumour control, metastasis must be considered and should prompt further treatment approaches

Congenitally absent right coronary artery in adult

Background: A 44-year-old male patient with atrial fibrillation and cardiac insufficiency (NYHA IV) presented for evaluation for heart transplantation. He was referred for cardiac CT for assessment of potential restrictive cardiomyopathy and evaluation of his right ventricle. Cardiac CT was performed utilizing a dual-source CT scanner. ECG-adapted tube current was used to reduce radiation exposure. No pericardial calcifications were noted. The right atrium and the inferior vena cava were dilated with 82 x 58 mm and 47 mm diameter, respectively. There was no evidence of coronary artery disease

Radiopyrolysis

Statement of responsibility on title-page reads: E.A. Mason, T.H. Timmins, D.T. Morgan, and W.N. Bley"Issued: October 1966.""MIT-334-70 Reactor Technology."Also issued by T.H. Timmins and supervised by E.A. Mason as an Sc. D. thesis , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, 1967Includes bibliographical references (pages A6.1-A6.7)MIT DSR Project no. 79819Work performed for the Savannah River Operations Office, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission under Contract no. AT(38-1)-33

In-pile loop irradiation studies of organic coolant materials : progress report, October 1, 1965 - December 31, 1965

"Issued: April 1, 1966.""AEC Research and Development Report"--Cover"MIT-334-48 ,Reactor Technology, Standard TID 4500."Includes bibliographical references (leaf 28)Progress report; October 1, 1965 - December 31, 1965M.I.T. project no. DSR 9819U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Savannah River Operations Office contract no. AT(38-1)-33

Friction factor and heat transfer correlation for irradiated organic coolants

"September 1965."Series statement handwritten on cover"MIT-334-23 Chemistry."Also written as an M.S. theses written by the first author and advised by the second author, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1966Includes bibliographical references (pages 163-165)M.I.T. DSR Project no. 9819Work performed for the Savannah River Operations Office, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission under contract no. AT(38-1)-33

The oncofetal RNA-binding protein IGF2BP1 is a druggable, post-transcriptional super-enhancer of E2F-driven gene expression in cancer

The IGF2 mRNA-binding protein 1 (IGF2BP1) is a non-catalytic post-transcriptional enhancer of tumor growth upregulated and associated with adverse prognosis in solid cancers. However, conserved effector pathway(s) and the feasibility of targeting IGF2BP1 in cancer remained elusive. We reveal that IGF2BP1 is a post-transcriptional enhancer of the E2F-driven hallmark in solid cancers. IGF2BP1 promotes G1/S cell cycle transition by stabilizing mRNAs encoding positive regulators of this checkpoint like E2F1. This IGF2BP1-driven shortening of the G1 cell cycle phase relies on 3′UTR-, miRNA- and m6A-dependent regulation and suggests enhancement of cell cycle progression by m6A-modifications across cancers. In addition to E2F transcription factors, IGF2BP1 also stabilizes E2F-driven transcripts directly indicating post-transcriptional 'super'-enhancer role of the protein in E2F-driven gene expression in cancer. The small molecule BTYNB disrupts this enhancer function by impairing IGF2BP1-RNA association. Consistently, BTYNB interferes with E2F-driven gene expression and tumor growth in experimental mouse tumor models

A fast ILP-based Heuristic for the robust design of Body Wireless Sensor Networks

We consider the problem of optimally designing a body wireless sensor network, while taking into account the uncertainty of data generation of biosensors. Since the related min-max robustness Integer Linear Programming (ILP) problem can be difficult to solve even for state-of-the-art commercial optimization solvers, we propose an original heuristic for its solution. The heuristic combines deterministic and probabilistic variable fixing strategies, guided by the information coming from strengthened linear relaxations of the ILP robust model, and includes a very large neighborhood search for reparation and improvement of generated solutions, formulated as an ILP problem solved exactly. Computational tests on realistic instances show that our heuristic finds solutions of much higher quality than a state-of-the-art solver and than an effective benchmark heuristic.Comment: This is the authors' final version of the paper published in G. Squillero and K. Sim (Eds.): EvoApplications 2017, Part I, LNCS 10199, pp. 1-17, 2017. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-55849-3\_16. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55849-3_1

Dose- and Volume-Limiting Late Toxicity of FLASH Radiotherapy in Cats with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Nasal Planum and in Mini Pigs

Purpose: The FLASH effect is characterized by normal tissue sparing without compromising tumor control. Although demonstrated in various preclinical models, safe translation of FLASH-radiotherapy stands to benefit from larger vertebrate animal models. Based on prior results, we designed a randomized phase III trial to investigate the FLASH effect in cat patients with spontaneous tumors. In parallel, the sparing capacity of FLASH-radiotherapy was studied on mini pigs by using large field irradiation. Experimental Design: Cats with T1-T2, N0 carcinomas of the nasal planum were randomly assigned to two arms of electron irradiation: arm 1 was the standard of care (SoC) and used 10 × 4.8 Gy (90% isodose); arm 2 used 1 × 30 Gy (90% isodose) FLASH. Mini pigs were irradiated using applicators of increasing size and a single surface dose of 31 Gy FLASH. Results: In cats, acute side effects were mild and similar in both arms. The trial was prematurely interrupted due to maxillary bone necrosis, which occurred 9 to 15 months after radiotherapy in 3 of 7 cats treated with FLASH-radiotherapy (43%), as compared with 0 of 9 cats treated with SoC. All cats were tumor-free at 1 year in both arms, with one cat progressing later in each arm. In pigs, no acute toxicity was recorded, but severe late skin necrosis occurred in a volume-dependent manner (7–9 months), which later resolved. Conclusions: The reported outcomes point to the caveats of translating single-high-dose FLASH-radiotherapy and emphasizes the need for caution and further investigations. See related commentary by Maity and Koumenis, p. 363

Organic moderator-coolant in-pile irradiation loop for the MIT nuclear reactor

Includes bibliographical references (leaf 34)Progress report; to July 1, 1961Work performed under contract with Atomics International to November, 1960, and under contract with the Atomic Energy Commission, Idaho Operations Office, after November, 1960Division of Sponsored Research Project no. 8710Atomics International contract no. N9-S-514Atomic Energy Commission contract no. AT(10-1)-106