58 research outputs found
A case of synchronous bilateral breast cancer with different pathological responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy with different biological character
We report a case of synchronous locally advanced bilateral breast cancer with different pathological responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy with different biological character. The patient had presented bilateral breast cancer: the left breast cancer was hormone receptor negative, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) positive, and classified as T4bN1M0, stage IIIb, while the right was hormone receptor positive, HER2-negative, and classified as T4bN0M0, stage IIIb. We administered four cycles of anthracycline-based therapy followed by 12 weekly cycles of taxane with trastuzumab for neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We had achieved a significant left tumor reduction after each chemotherapy, but not right tumor. Bilateral modified radical mastectomies with axillary lymph-node dissection were performed. The therapeutic effect in the left was determined as a pathological complete response, in contrast to the right side. She has no recurrence for more than five years, though she had advanced cancer with oncologic emergency. This case could be an informative experience to understand the relation of tumor biology and response to systemic therapy
Dusty ERO Search behind Two Massive Clusters
We performed deep K'-band imaging observations of 2 massive clusters, MS
0451.6-0305 at z = 0.55 and MS 0440.5+0204 at z = 0.19, for searching
counterparts of the faint sub-mm sources behind these clusters, which would
provide one of the deepest extremely red object(ERO) samples. Comparing our
near-infrared images with optical images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope
and by the Subaru Telescope, we identified 13 EROs in these fields. The sky
distributions of EROs are consistent with the previous results, that there is a
sign of strong clustering among detected EROs. Also, the surface density with
corrected lensing amplification factors in both clusters are in good agreement
with that derived from previous surveys. We found 7 EROs and 3 additional very
red objects in a small area (\sim 0.6 arcmin^2) of the MS 0451.6-0305 field
around an extended SCUBA source. Many of their optical and near-infrared colors
are consistent with dusty star-forming galaxies at high redshifts(z \sim
1.0-4.0), and they may be constituting a cluster of dusty starburst galaxies
and/or lensed star-forming galaxies at high redshift. Their red J-K' colors and
faint optical magnitudes suggest they are relatively old massive stellar
systems with ages(>300 Mega years) suffering from dust obscuration. We also
found a surface-density enhancement of EROs around the SCUBA source in the MS
0440.5+0204 field.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, Latex(using pasj00.cls). To be published in
PASJ vol 55, No. 4(Aug 2003
Superwind-Driven Intense H_2 Emission in NGC 6240
We have performed a long-slit K band spectroscopic observation of the
luminous infrared galaxy NGC 6240. The peak position of the H_2 v=1-0 S(1)
emission in the slit is located ~0.3" - 0.4" north of the southern nucleus. It
is almost the midpoint between the southern nucleus and the peak position of
the ^12CO J=1-0 emission. Based on the line-ratio analyses, we suggest the
excitation mechanism of H_2 is pure thermal at most positions. In the southern
region we find the following three velocity components in the H_2 emission: the
blueshifted shell component (~-250 km s^-1 with respect to V_sys) which is
recognized as a distinct C-shape distortion in the velocity field around the
southern nucleus, the high-velocity blueshifted ``wing'' component (~-1000 km
s^-1 with respect to V_sys), and the component indicating possible line
splitting of ~500 km s^-1. The latter two components are extended to the south
from the southern nucleus. We show that the kinematic properties of these three
components can be reproduced by expanding motion of a shell-like structure
around the southern nucleus. The offset peak position of the H_2 emission can
be understood if we assume that the shell expanding to the north interacts with
the extragalactic molecular gas. At the interface between the shell and the
molecular gas concentration the cloud-crushing mechanism proposed by Cowie et
al. (1981) may work efficiently, and the intense H_2 emission is thus expected
there. All these findings lead us to propose a model that the most H_2 emission
is attributed to the shock excitation driven by the superwind activity of the
southern nucleus.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Structural basis for the fast phase change of Ge2Sb2Te5: Ring statistics analogy between the crystal and amorphous states
The three-dimensional atomic configuration of amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 and GeTe were derived by reverse Monte Carlo simulation with synchrotron-radiation x-ray diffraction data. The authors found that amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 can be regarded as "even-numbered ring structure," because the ring statistics is dominated by four- and six-fold rings analogous to the crystal phase. On the other hand, the formation of Ge–Ge homopolar bonds in amorphous GeTe constructs both odd- and even-numbered rings. They believe that the unusual ring statistics of amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 is the key for the fast crystallization speed of the material
Low- and Medium-Dispersion Spectropolarimetry of Nova V475 Sct (Nova Scuti 2003): Discovery of an Asymmetric High-Velocity Wind in a Moderately Fast Nova
We present low-resolution () and medium-resolution ()
spectropolarimetry of Nova V475 Sct with the HBS instrument, mounted on the
0.91-m telescope at the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, and with FOCAS,
mounted on the 8.2-m Subaru telescope. We estimated the interstellar
polarization toward the nova from the steady continuum polarization components
and H line emission components. After subtracting the interstellar
polarization component from the observations, we found that the H
emission seen on 2003 October 7 was clearly polarized. In the polarized flux
spectrum, the H emission had a distinct red wing extending to km s and a shoulder around km s, showing a
constant position angle of linear polarization \theta_{\rm *}\simeq
155\arcdeg\pm 15\arcdeg. This suggests that the nova had an asymmetric outflow
with a velocity of km s or more, which is six
times higher than the expansion velocity of the ionized shell at the same
epoch. Such a high-velocity component has not previously been reported for a
nova in the `moderately fast' speed class. Our observations suggest the
occurrence of violent mass-loss activity in the nova binary system even during
the common-envelope phase. The position angle of the polarization in the
H wing is in good agreement with that of the continuum polarization
found on 2003 September 26 (--0.6 %), which disappeared
within the following 2 d. The uniformity of the PA between the continuum
polarization and the wing polarization on October 7 suggests that the axis of
the circumstellar asymmetry remained nearly constant during the period of our
observations.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A
Decomposition of the Superwind in M82
We present new optical images (, , and H) of the archetypical
starburst/superwind galaxy M82 obtained with the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope to
reveal new detailed structures of the superwind-driven nebula and the
high-latitude dark lanes. The emission-line nebula is decomposed into (1) a
ridge-dominated component comprising numerous filament/loop sub-structures
whose overall morphology appears as a pair of narrow cylinders, and (2) a
diffuse component extended over much wider opening angle from the nucleus. We
suggest that these two components have different origins. The ridge-dominated
component appears as a pair of cylinders rather than a pair of cones. Since
this morphological property is similar to that of hot plasma probed by soft
X-ray, this component seems to surround the hot plasma. On the other hand, the
diffuse component may arise from dust grains which scatter stellar light from
the galaxy. Since inner region of this component is seen over the prominent ^^
^^ X"-shaped dark lanes streaming out from the nuclear region and they can be
reproduced as a conical distribution of dust grains, there seems to be a dusty
cold outflow as well as the hot one probed by soft X-ray and shock-excited
optical emission lines. If this is the case, the presence of such high-latitude
dust grains implies that neutral gaseous matter is also blown out during the
course of the superwind activity.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in PAS
A Shock-Induced Pair of Superbubbles in the High-Redshift Powerful Radio Galaxy MRC 0406-244
We present new optical spectroscopy of the high-redshift powerful radio
galaxy MRC 0406244 at redshift of 2.429. We find that the two extensions
toward NW and SE probed in the rest-frame ultraviolet image are heated mainly
by the nonthermal continuum of the active galactic nucleus. However, each
extension shows a shell-like morphology, suggesting that they are a pair of
superbubbles induced by the superwind activity rather than by the interaction
between the radio jet and the ambient gas clouds. If this is the case, the
intense starburst responsible for the formation of superbubbles could occur
yr ago. On the other hand, the age of the radio jets may
be of the order of yr, being much shorter than the starburst age.
Therefore, the two events, i.e., the starburst and the radio-jet activities,
are independent phenomena. However, their directions of the expanding motions
could be governed by the rotational motion of the gaseous component in the host
galaxy. This idea appears to explain the alignment effect of MRC 0406244.Comment: 4 pages (emulateapj.sty), Fig. 1 (jpeg) + Fig.2 (eps). Accepted for
publications in ApJ (Letters
Post-progression survival and progression-free survival in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated by sorafenib
Aim: Although sorafenib is a standard drug for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), little is known about a patient\u27s clinical course after treatment. We investigated the effect of post-progression survival (PPS) and progression-free survival (PFS) on overall survival (OS) in patients whose advanced HCC was treated by sorafenib. Methods: We searched in the PubMed database for reports with survival data of patients with HCC treated with sorafenib monotherapy, and selected reports with 20 or more patients each that provided data for both OS and PFS or time to progression (TTP). Median PPS (mPPS) was defined as the period obtained by subtracting median PFS or TTP (mPFS/TTP) from median OS (mOS). We identified 56 reports with 5803 patients. We investigated the correlation of mOS and either mPPS or mPFS/TTP using weighted linear regression. Results: Median PPS correlated with mOS (r=0.834) very strongly, whereas mPFS/TTP did not correlate with mOS as highly as PPS did (r=0.546). When we stratified survival data by Child-Pugh classification, a significantly greater average percentage of mPPS to mOS was seen in Child-Pugh class A (54.4±17.6%) than in Child-Pugh class B (32.0±11.6%) (P=0.015). Conclusion: PPS highly correlated with OS, and its importance should be more emphasized for advanced HCC patients treated after sorafenib therapy, whereas we need to take more care in interpreting the results of PFS to evaluate treatment efficacy in clinical trials of advanced HCC. © 2015 The Japan Society of Hepatology.Embargo Period 12 month
Current Performance and On-Going Improvements of the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope
An overview of the current status of the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope constructed
and operated at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, by the National Astronomical Observatory of
Japan is presented. The basic design concept and the verified performance of
the telescope system are described. Also given are the status of the instrument
package offered to the astronomical community, the status of operation, and
some of the future plans. The status of the telescope reported in a number of
SPIE papers as of the summer of 2002 are incorporated with some updates
included as of 2004 February. However, readers are encouraged to check the most
updated status of the telescope through the home page,
http://subarutelescope.org/index.html, and/or the direct contact with the
observatory staff.Comment: 18 pages (17 pages in published version), 29 figures (GIF format),
This is the version before the galley proo
- …