Colloquium: Mechanical formalisms for tissue dynamics

The understanding of morphogenesis in living organisms has been renewed by tremendous progressin experimental techniques that provide access to cell-scale, quantitative information both on theshapes of cells within tissues and on the genes being expressed. This information suggests that ourunderstanding of the respective contributions of gene expression and mechanics, and of their crucialentanglement, will soon leap forward. Biomechanics increasingly benefits from models, which assistthe design and interpretation of experiments, point out the main ingredients and assumptions, andultimately lead to predictions. The newly accessible local information thus calls for a reflectionon how to select suitable classes of mechanical models. We review both mechanical ingredientssuggested by the current knowledge of tissue behaviour, and modelling methods that can helpgenerate a rheological diagram or a constitutive equation. We distinguish cell scale ("intra-cell")and tissue scale ("inter-cell") contributions. We recall the mathematical framework developpedfor continuum materials and explain how to transform a constitutive equation into a set of partialdifferential equations amenable to numerical resolution. We show that when plastic behaviour isrelevant, the dissipation function formalism appears appropriate to generate constitutive equations;its variational nature facilitates numerical implementation, and we discuss adaptations needed in thecase of large deformations. The present article gathers theoretical methods that can readily enhancethe significance of the data to be extracted from recent or future high throughput biomechanicalexperiments.Comment: 33 pages, 20 figures. This version (26 Sept. 2015) contains a few corrections to the published version, all in Appendix D.2 devoted to large deformation

A História da Alimentação: balizas historiográficas

Os M. pretenderam traçar um quadro da História da Alimentação, não como um novo ramo epistemológico da disciplina, mas como um campo em desenvolvimento de práticas e atividades especializadas, incluindo pesquisa, formação, publicações, associações, encontros acadêmicos, etc. Um breve relato das condições em que tal campo se assentou faz-se preceder de um panorama dos estudos de alimentação e temas correia tos, em geral, segundo cinco abardagens Ia biológica, a econômica, a social, a cultural e a filosófica!, assim como da identificação das contribuições mais relevantes da Antropologia, Arqueologia, Sociologia e Geografia. A fim de comentar a multiforme e volumosa bibliografia histórica, foi ela organizada segundo critérios morfológicos. A seguir, alguns tópicos importantes mereceram tratamento à parte: a fome, o alimento e o domínio religioso, as descobertas européias e a difusão mundial de alimentos, gosto e gastronomia. O artigo se encerra com um rápido balanço crítico da historiografia brasileira sobre o tema

DNA-Based Fixed Gain Amplifiers and Linear Classifier Circuits

DNA catalysts have been developed as methods of amplifying single-stranded nucleic acid signals. The maximum turnover (gain) of these systems, however, often varies based on strand and complex purities, and has so far not been well-controlled. Here we introduce methods for controlling the asymptotic turnover of strand displacement-based DNA catalysts and show how these could be used to construct linear classifier systems

PREDICTORS OF SURVIVAL IN PATIENTS WITH RECURRENT OVARIAN CANCER UNDERGOING SECONDARY CYTOREDUCTIVE SURGERY BASED ON AN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE ANALYSIS

PREDICTORS OF SURVIVAL IN PATIENTS WITH RECURRENT OVARIAN CANCER UNDERGOING SECONDARY CYTOREDUCTIVE SURGERY BASED ON AN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIVE ANALYSIS R.-Y. Zang1, P. Harter2, D.S. Chi3, J. Sehouli4, R. Jiang1, C.G. Tropé5, A. Ayhan6, G. Cormio7, Y. Xing8, K. Wollschlaeger9, E.I. Braicu4, C.A. Rabbitt3, H. Oksefjell5, W.-J. Tian1, C. Fotopoulou4, J. Pfisterer10, A. du Bois2, J.S. Berek11 1Ovarian Cancer Program, Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Fudan University Cancer Hospital, Shanghai, China, 2Department of Gynecology & Gynecologic Oncology, HSK, Dr. Horst Schmidt Klinik, Wiesbaden, Germany, 3Gynecology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA, 4Department of Gynecology, Charité Medical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 5Division of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, 6Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey, 7Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy, 8Department of Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA, 9Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, 10Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Hospital Solingen, Solingen, Germany, 11Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford Cancer Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA Background: This study aims to identify prognostic factors and to develop a risk model predicting survival in patients undergoing secondary cytoreductive surgery (SCR) for recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer. Methods: Individual data of 1,100 patients with recurrent ovarian cancer of a progression-free interval at least 6 months who underwent SCR were pooled analyzed. A simplified scoring system for each independent prognostic factor was developed according to its coefficient. Internal validation was performed to assess the discrimination of the model. Results: Complete SCR was strongly associated with the improvement of survival, with a median survival of 57.7 months, when compared to 27.0 months in those with residual disease of 0.1-1cm and 15.6 months in those with residual disease of >1cm, respectively (P< 0.0001). Progression-free interval (< 23.1 months vs. >=23.1 months, hazard ratio (HR),1.72; score: 2), ascites at recurrence (present vs. absent, HR, 1.27; score: 1), extent of recurrence (multiple vs. localized disease, HR, 1.38; score: 1) as well as residual disease after SCR (R1 vs. R0, HR, 1.90, score: 2; R2 vs. R0, HR,3.0, score: 4) entered into the risk model. Conclusion: This prognostic model may provide evidence to predict survival benefit from secondary cytoreduction in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer

Final results from GCIG/ENGOT/AGO-OVAR 12, a randomised placebo-controlled phase III trial of nintedanib combined with chemotherapy for newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer

Contains fulltext : 218867.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access)AGO-OVAR 12 investigated the effect of adding the oral triple angiokinase inhibitor nintedanib to standard front-line chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer. At the primary analysis, nintedanib demonstrated significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS; primary endpoint) compared with placebo. We report final results, including overall survival (OS). Patients with primary debulked International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IIB-IV newly diagnosed ovarian cancer were randomised 2:1 to receive carboplatin (area under the curve 5 or 6) plus paclitaxel (175 mg/m(2) ) on day 1 every 3 weeks for six cycles combined with either nintedanib 200 mg or placebo twice daily on days 2-21 every 3 weeks for up to 120 weeks. Between December 2009 and July 2011, 1,366 patients were randomised (911 to nintedanib, 455 to placebo). Disease was considered as high risk (FIGO stage III with >1 cm residuum, or any stage IV) in 39%. At the final analysis, 605 patients (44%) had died. There was no difference in OS (hazard ratio 0.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.83-1.17, p = 0.86; median 62.0 months with nintedanib vs. 62.8 months with placebo). Subgroup analyses according to stratification factors, clinical characteristics and risk status showed no OS difference between treatments. The previously reported PFS improvement seen with nintedanib did not translate into an OS benefit in the nonhigh-risk subgroup. Updated PFS results were consistent with the primary analysis (hazard ratio 0.86, 95% CI 0.75-0.98; p = 0.029) favouring nintedanib. The safety profile was consistent with previous reports