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High-energy astroparticle physics with CALET
The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) will be installed on the Exposure
Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EF) on the International Space
Station (ISS) in 2014 where it will measure the cosmic-ray fluxes for five
years. Its main scientific goals are to search for dark matter, investigate the
mechanism of cosmic-ray acceleration and propagation in the Galaxy and discover
possible astrophysical sources of high-energy electrons nearby the Earth. The
instrument, under construction, consists of two layers of segmented plastic
scintillators for the cosmic-ray charge identification (CHD), a 3 X-thick
tungsten-scintillating fiber imaging calorimeter (IMC) and a 27 X-thick
lead-tungstate calorimeter (TASC). The CHD can provide single-element
separation in the interval of atomic number Z from 1 to 40, while IMC and TASC
can measure the energy of cosmic-ray particles with excellent resolution in the
range from few GeV up to several hundreds of TeV. Moreover, IMC and TASC
provide the longitudinal and lateral development of the shower, a key issue for
good electron/hadron discrimination. In this paper, we will review the status
of the mission, the instrument configuration and its expected performance, and
the CALET capability to measure the different components of the cosmic
radiation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to the proceedings for the 23rd
European Cosmic Ray Symposium 3-7 July 2012, Moscow, Russi
Cosmic rays: direct measurements
This paper is based on the rapporteur talk given at the 34
International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC), on August 6, 2015. The
purpose of the talk and paper is to provide a summary of the most recent
results from balloon-borne and space-based experiments presented at the
conference, and give an overview of the future missions and developments
foreseen in this field.Comment: Write-up of the rapporteur talk given at the 34th International
Cosmic Ray Conference, 30 July-6 August, 2015, The Hague, The Netherlands. 24
pages , 11 figure
Observation of charm mixing at CDF
We report on the observation of -- oscillations by measuring
the time-dependent ratio of yields for the rare decay to the favored decay at the Collider
Detector at Fermilab (CDF). Using 9.6 fb of integrated luminosity of
= 1.96 TeV collisions recorded in the full CDF Run II,
the signals of and
decays are reconstructed in -tagged events,
with proper decay times between 0.75 and 10 mean lifetimes. We measure
the mixing parameters , , and . Our results
are consistent with standard model expectations and similar results from
proton-proton collisions and exclude the no-mixing hypothesis with a
significance equivalent to 6.1 standard deviations.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. Contribution to the proceedings for the
14th International Conference on B-Physics at Hadron Machines, April 8-12,
2013, Bologna, Ital
Rapid recovery of postnivolumab vemurafenib-induced Drug Rash with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS) syndrome after tocilizumab and infliximab administration
Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors such as
nivolumab and targeted BRAF inhibitors have dramatically
altered the treatment outcomes of metastatic melanoma
over the past few years. Skin toxicity is the most common
adverse event (AE) related to the commonly used BRAF
inhibitor vemurafenib, affecting more than 90% of patients.
Vemurafenib-related severe AEs with early onset are
reported in patients who were previously treated with
anti-programmed cell death-1 (anti PD-1) antibodies. A
prolonged administration of systemic steroids is the firstline treatment of severe or life-threatening AEs. We report
the case of a woman suffering from vemurafenib-related
severe, rapidly worsening Drug Rash with Eosinophilia and
Systemic Symptoms (DRESS) syndrome, resolved in a few
hours after single-dose administration of a combination of
TNF-α antagonist infliximab with interleukin (IL)-6 receptor
antagonist tocilizumab.
Case presentation A 41-year-old woman treated with
single-agent nivolumab presented with a melanoma
progression. Biopsy samples were revised, revealing
a BRAF V600E mutation. The patient was started on
vemurafenib and cobimetinib treatment only 10 days
after the last administration of nivolumab. On the third
day of anti-BRAF therapy, profound lymphopenia was
detected, and maculopapular eruption appeared afterward.
Subsequently, the clinical conditions deteriorated further,
and the woman was admitted on an emergency basis with
high fever, respiratory and cardiocirculatory failure, diffuse
rash, generalized edema, and lymphadenopathy. Diagnosis
of DRESS syndrome with overexpressed capillary leakage
was made. A single dose of tocilizumab was administered
with an improvement of cardiocirculatory and renal
function in a few hours. Because of worsening of liver
function, skin lesions and mucositis, a single dose of
infliximab was prescribed, and dramatic improvement was
noted over the next 24 hours. Dabrafenib and trametinib
were initiated, and coinciding with washout of infliximab
from the patient’s blood, the drug toxicity recurred.
Conclusion Anti-IL-6 and anti-TNF-α target treatment
of very severe AEs may afford an immediate resolution
of potentially life-threatening symptoms and reduce the
duration and the costs of hospitalization. Maintenance of
therapeutic infliximab blood concentrations permits an
early switch to dabrafenib after vemurafenib-related AEs
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