Typical medullary breast carcinoma: clinical outcomes and treatment results

Typical medullary breast carcinoma (T-MBC) accounts for less than 1% of all malignant breast neoplasms, and immu­nohistochemically is characteristic of “triple-negative” breast carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics and treatment results for patients with T-MBC treated at a single institution, and discuss the controversial aspects of this very rare form of breast cancer. Analyses was performed in 120 patients with T-MBC who were treated between 1970 and 2005. These cases represent 1.1% of all (11 270) patients treated for breast cancer during this period. According to TNM classification, 26 patients (21.6%) were in stage I, 80 patients (66.7%) in stage II and 14 (11.7%) in stage III of clinically advanced breast cancer. Involved axillary lymph nodes occurred in just 10 (8.3%) of the patients, and in all cases metastases were observed in 1–3 lymph nodes. All the patients un­derwent primary surgery. Radical mastectomies were performed on 98 (81.6%) patients, while the other 22 (18.4%) underwent breast-conserving surgery (BCS). Radiotherapy was performed in 36 patients (22 after BCS and 14 after mastectomy). Patients with nodal involvement (10 patients) received adjuvant chemotherapy, and 8 patients with hormone receptor expression received hormonotherapy with tamoxifen. The 10-year DFS rate was 90%. Out of 120 patients with T-MBC, only 4 (3.3%) died from this cancer. We showed that none of the population, neither clinical nor microscopic, had a statistically significant influence on the 10-year disease-free survival rate. Our results are similar to others presented in literature

Typical medullary breast carcinoma: clinical outcomes and treatment results

Typical medullary breast carcinoma (T-MBC) accounts for less than 1% of all malignant breast neoplasms, and immu­nohistochemically is characteristic of “triple-negative” breast carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics and treatment results for patients with T-MBC treated at a single institution, and discuss the controversial aspects of this very rare form of breast cancer. Analyses was performed in 120 patients with T-MBC who were treated between 1970 and 2005. These cases represent 1.1% of all (11 270) patients treated for breast cancer during this period. According to TNM classification, 26 patients (21.6%) were in stage I, 80 patients (66.7%) in stage II and 14 (11.7%) in stage III of clinically advanced breast cancer. Involved axillary lymph nodes occurred in just 10 (8.3%) of the patients, and in all cases metastases were observed in 1–3 lymph nodes. All the patients un­derwent primary surgery. Radical mastectomies were performed on 98 (81.6%) patients, while the other 22 (18.4%) underwent breast-conserving surgery (BCS). Radiotherapy was performed in 36 patients (22 after BCS and 14 after mastectomy). Patients with nodal involvement (10 patients) received adjuvant chemotherapy, and 8 patients with hormone receptor expression received hormonotherapy with tamoxifen. The 10-year DFS rate was 90%. Out of 120 patients with T-MBC, only 4 (3.3%) died from this cancer. We showed that none of the population, neither clinical nor microscopic, had a statistically significant influence on the 10-year disease-free survival rate. Our results are similar to others presented in literature

The Development of Cortical Responses to the Integration of Audiovisual Speech in Infancy

In adults, the integration of audiovisual speech elicits specific higher (super-additive) or lower (sub-additive) cortical responses when compared to the responses to unisensory stimuli. Although there is evidence that the fronto-temporal network is active during perception of audiovisual speech in infancy, the development of fronto-temporal responses to audiovisual integration remains unknown. In the current study, 5-month-olds and 10-month-olds watched bimodal (audiovisual) and alternating unimodal (auditory + visual) syllables. In this context we use alternating unimodal to denote alternating auditory and visual syllables that are perceived as separate syllables by adults. Using fNIRS we measured responses over large cortical areas including the inferior frontal and superior temporal regions. We identified channels showing different responses to bimodal than alternating unimodal condition and used multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to decode patterns of cortical responses to bimodal (audiovisual) and alternating unimodal (auditory + visual) speech. Results showed that in both age groups integration elicits cortical responses consistent with both super- and sub-additive responses in the fronto-temporal cortex. The univariate analyses revealed that between 5 and 10 months spatial distribution of these responses becomes increasingly focal. MVPA correctly classified responses at 5 months, with key input from channels located in the inferior frontal and superior temporal channels of the right hemisphere. However, MVPA classification was not successful at 10 months, suggesting a potential cortical re-organisation of audiovisual speech perception at this age. These results show the complex and non-gradual development of the cortical responses to integration of congruent audiovisual speech in infancy

The STAR Silicon Strip Detector (SSD)

The STAR Silicon Strip Detector (SSD) completes the three layers of the Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) to make an inner tracking system located inside the Time Projection Chamber (TPC). This additional fourth layer provides two dimensional hit position and energy loss measurements for charged particles, improving the extrapolation of TPC tracks through SVT hits. To match the high multiplicity of central Au+Au collisions at RHIC the double sided silicon strip technology was chosen which makes the SSD a half million channels detector. Dedicated electronics have been designed for both readout and control. Also a novel technique of bonding, the Tape Automated Bonding (TAB), was used to fullfill the large number of bounds to be done. All aspects of the SSD are shortly described here and test performances of produced detection modules as well as simulated results on hit reconstruction are given.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Two-kaon correlations in central Pb + Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c

Two-particle interferometry of positive kaons is studied in Pb + Pb collisions at mean transverse momenta $\approx 0.25$ and 0.91 GeV/c. A three-dimensional analysis was applied to the lower $p_T$ data, while a two-dimensional analysis was used for the higher $p_T$ data. We find that the source size parameters are consistent with the $m_T$ scaling curve observed in pion correlation measurements in the same collisions, and that the duration time of kaon emission is consistent with zero within the experimental sensitivity.Comment: 4 pages incl. 1 table and 3 fig's; RevTeX; accepted for publication in PR

Two-Proton Correlations near Midrapidity in p+Pb and S+Pb Collisions at the CERN SPS

Correlations of two protons emitted near midrapidity in p+Pb collisions at 450 GeV/c and S+Pb collisions at 200A GeV/c are presented, as measured by the NA44 Experiment. The correlation effect, which arises as a result of final state interactions and Fermi-Dirac statistics, is related to the space-time characteristics of proton emission. The measured source sizes are smaller than the size of the target lead nucleus but larger than the sizes of the projectiles. A dependence on the collision centrality is observed; the source size increases with decreasing impact parameter. Proton source sizes near midrapidity appear to be smaller than those of pions in the same interactions. Quantitative agreement with the results of RQMD (v1.08) simulations is found for p+Pb collisions. For S+Pb collisions the measured correlation effect is somewhat weaker than that predicted by the model simulations, implying either a larger source size or larger contribution of protons from long-lived particle decays.Comment: 10 pages (LaTeX) text, 4 (EPS) figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Strange Meson Enhancement in PbPb Collisions

The NA44 Collaboration has measured yields and differential distributions of K+, K-, pi+, pi- in transverse kinetic energy and rapidity, around the center-of-mass rapidity in 158 A GeV/c Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. A considerable enhancement of K+ production per pi is observed, as compared to p+p collisions at this energy. To illustrate the importance of secondary hadron rescattering as an enhancement mechanism, we compare strangeness production at the SPS and AGS with predictions of the transport model RQMD.Comment: 11 pages, including 4 figures, LATE

Phase-space dependence of particle-ratio fluctuations in Pb+Pb collisions from 20A to 158A GeV beam energy

A novel approach, the identity method, was used for particle identification and the study of fluctuations of particle yield ratios in Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). This procedure allows to unfold the moments of the unknown multiplicity distributions of protons (p), kaons (K), pions ($\pi$) and electrons (e). Using these moments the excitation function of the fluctuation measure $\nu_{\text{\text{dyn}}}$[A,B] was measured, with A and B denoting different particle types. The obtained energy dependence of $\nu_{\text{dyn}}$ agrees with previously published NA49 results on the related measure $\sigma_{\text{dyn}}$. Moreover, $\nu_{\text{dyn}}$ was found to depend on the phase space coverage for [K,p] and [K,$\pi$] pairs. This feature most likely explains the reported differences between measurements of NA49 and those of STAR in central Au+Au collisions