Flare-induced changes of the photospheric magnetic field in a δ\delta-spot deduced from ground-based observations

Aims: Changes of the magnetic field and the line-of-sight velocities in the photosphere are being reported for an M-class flare that originated at a $\delta$-spot belonging to active region NOAA 11865. Methods: High-resolution ground-based near-infrared spectropolarimetric observations were acquired simultaneously in two photospheric spectral lines, Fe I 10783 \AA\ and Si I 10786 \AA, with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter at the Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) in Tenerife on 2013 October 15. The observations covered several stages of the M-class flare. Inversions of the full-Stokes vector of both lines were carried out and the results were put into context using (extreme)-ultraviolet filtergrams from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Results: The active region showed high flaring activity during the whole observing period. After the M-class flare, the longitudinal magnetic field did not show significant changes along the polarity inversion line (PIL). However, an enhancement of the transverse magnetic field of approximately 550 G was found that bridges the PIL and connects umbrae of opposite polarities in the $\delta$-spot. At the same time, a newly formed system of loops appeared co-spatially in the corona as seen in 171 \AA\ filtergrams of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board SDO. However, we cannot exclude that the magnetic connection between the umbrae already existed in the upper atmosphere before the M-class flare and became visible only later when it was filled with hot plasma. The photospheric Doppler velocities show a persistent upflow pattern along the PIL without significant changes due to the flare. Conclusions: The increase of the transverse component of the magnetic field after the flare together with the newly formed loop system in the corona support recent predictions of flare models and flare observations.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and infants: NEonate and Children audiT of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe: A prospective European multicentre observational study

BACKGROUND: Little is known about current clinical practice concerning peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and small infants. Guidelines suggest transfusions based on haemoglobin thresholds ranging from 8.5 to 12 g dl-1, distinguishing between children from birth to day 7 (week 1), from day 8 to day 14 (week 2) or from day 15 (≥week 3) onwards. OBJECTIVE: To observe peri-operative red blood cell transfusion practice according to guidelines in relation to patient outcome. DESIGN: A multicentre observational study. SETTING: The NEonate-Children sTudy of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe (NECTARINE) trial recruited patients up to 60 weeks' postmenstrual age undergoing anaesthesia for surgical or diagnostic procedures from 165 centres in 31 European countries between March 2016 and January 2017. PATIENTS: The data included 5609 patients undergoing 6542 procedures. Inclusion criteria was a peri-operative red blood cell transfusion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoint was the haemoglobin level triggering a transfusion for neonates in week 1, week 2 and week 3. Secondary endpoints were transfusion volumes, 'delta haemoglobin' (preprocedure - transfusion-triggering) and 30-day and 90-day morbidity and mortality. RESULTS: Peri-operative red blood cell transfusions were recorded during 447 procedures (6.9%). The median haemoglobin levels triggering a transfusion were 9.6 [IQR 8.7 to 10.9] g dl-1 for neonates in week 1, 9.6 [7.7 to 10.4] g dl-1 in week 2 and 8.0 [7.3 to 9.0] g dl-1 in week 3. The median transfusion volume was 17.1 [11.1 to 26.4] ml kg-1 with a median delta haemoglobin of 1.8 [0.0 to 3.6] g dl-1. Thirty-day morbidity was 47.8% with an overall mortality of 11.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate lower transfusion-triggering haemoglobin thresholds in clinical practice than suggested by current guidelines. The high morbidity and mortality of this NECTARINE sub-cohort calls for investigative action and evidence-based guidelines addressing peri-operative red blood cell transfusions strategies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT02350348

Evaluation of the lung immune prognostic index in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients under nivolumab monotherapy

The lung immune prognostic index (LIPI) has been proposed as a new categorical blood-based biomarker to select advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients for anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) or programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) therapy. In this study, we investigate for the first time to the best of our knowledge the prognostic and predictive utility of the LIPI in a multicenter nivolumab monotherapy-based cohort. We retrospectively analyzed the influence of the baseline LIPI on overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), disease control rate (DCR), and overall response rate (ORR) among 153 patients of a cohort of 188 advanced NSCLC patients treated with nivolumab in the second line of therapy or beyond. Worse LIPI was significantly associated with shorter OS in univariate [hazard ratio (HR) =3.12, 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.12-4.60; P<0.0001] and multivariate (HR =3.67, 95% CI, 1.96-6.86; P<0.0001) analyses. Worse LIPI was associated with shorter PFS (HR =1.45, 95% CI, 1.05-2.03; P=0.03), but this correlation did not reach statistical significance in multivariate analysis (HR =1.49, 95% CI, 0.94-2.38; P=0.09). Worse LIPI was associated with lower DCR in univariate [odds ratio (OR) =0.41, 95% CI, 0.24-0.70; P=0.001] and multivariate (OR =0.44, 95% CI, 0.25-0.78; P=0.005) analyses. This study confirms the utility of the LIPI in prognostication and disease control prediction in advanced NSCLC patients treated with nivolumab in the second line of therapy or beyond

The European Solar Telescope

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project aimed at studying the magnetic connectivity of the solar atmosphere, from the deep photosphere to the upper chromosphere. Its design combines the knowledge and expertise gathered by the European solar physics community during the construction and operation of state-of-the-art solar telescopes operating in visible and near-infrared wavelengths: the Swedish 1m Solar Telescope, the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and GREGOR, the French Telescope Heliographique pour l'etude du Magnetisme et des Instabilites Solaires, and the Dutch Open Telescope. With its 4.2 m primary mirror and an open configuration, EST will become the most powerful European ground-based facility to study the Sun in the coming decades in the visible and near-infrared bands. EST uses the most innovative technological advances: the first adaptive secondary mirror ever used in a solar telescope, a complex multi-conjugate adaptive optics with deformable mirrors that form part of the optical design in a natural way, a polarimetrically compensated telescope design that eliminates the complex temporal variation and wavelength dependence of the telescope Mueller matrix, and an instrument suite containing several (etalon-based) tunable imaging spectropolarimeters and several integral field unit spectropolarimeters. This publication summarises some fundamental science questions that can be addressed with the telescope, together with a complete description of its major subsystems.ISSN:0004-6361ISSN:1432-074