can concomitant diseases predict the compliance with cisplatin plus rt in patients with la scchn an exploratory endpoint analysis of the comply trial

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The Middle to Late Miocene “Carbonate Crash” in the Equatorial Indian Ocean

We integrate benthic foraminiferal stable isotopes, X‐ray fluorescence elemental ratios, and carbonate accumulation estimates in a continuous sedimentary archive recovered at International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1443 (Ninetyeast Ridge, Indian Ocean) to reconstruct changes in carbonate deposition and climate evolution over the interval 13.5 to 8.2 million years ago. Declining carbonate percentages together with a marked decrease in carbonate accumulation rates after ~13.2 Ma signal the onset of a prolonged episode of reduced carbonate deposition. This extended phase, which lasted until ~8.7 Ma, coincides with the middle to late Miocene carbonate crash, originally identified in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Interocean comparison reveals that intense carbonate impoverishment at Site U1443 (~11.5 to ~10 Ma) coincides with prolonged episodes of reduced carbonate deposition in all major tropical ocean basins. This implies that global changes in the intensity of chemical weathering and riverine input of calcium and carbonate ions into the ocean reservoir were instrumental in driving the carbonate crash. An increase in U1443 Log (Ba/Ti) together with a change in sediment color from red to green indicate a rise in organic export flux to the sea floor after ~11.2 Ma, which predates the global onset of the biogenic bloom. This early rise in export flux from biological production may have been linked to increased advection of nutrients and intensification of upper ocean mixing, associated with changes in the seasonality and intensity of the Indian Monsoon

Comparison of manual and artificial intelligence based quantification of myocardial strain by feature tracking - a cardiovascular MR study in health and disease

OBJECTIVES: The analysis of myocardial deformation using feature tracking in cardiovascular MR allows for the assessment of global and segmental strain values. The aim of this study was to compare strain values derived from artificial intelligence (AI)-based contours with manually derived strain values in healthy volunteers and patients with cardiac pathologies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cohort of 136 subjects (60 healthy volunteers and 76 patients; of those including 46 cases with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) of varying etiology and 30 cases with chronic myocardial infarction) was analyzed. Comparisons were based on quantitative strain analysis and on a geometric level by the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of the segmentations. Strain quantification was performed in 3 long-axis slices and short-axis (SAX) stack with epi- and endocardial contours in end-diastole. AI contours were checked for plausibility and potential errors in the tracking algorithm. RESULTS: AI-derived strain values overestimated radial strain (+ 1.8 ± 1.7% (mean difference ± standard deviation); p = 0.03) and underestimated circumferential (- 0.8 ± 0.8%; p = 0.02) and longitudinal strain (- 0.1 ± 0.8%; p = 0.54). Pairwise group comparisons revealed no significant differences for global strain. The DSC showed good agreement for healthy volunteers (85.3 ± 10.3% for SAX) and patients (80.8 ± 9.6% for SAX). In 27 cases (27/76; 35.5%), a tracking error was found, predominantly (24/27; 88.9%) in the LVH group and 22 of those (22/27; 81.5%) at the insertion of the papillary muscle in lateral segments. CONCLUSIONS: Strain analysis based on AI-segmented images shows good results in healthy volunteers and in most of the patient groups. Hypertrophied ventricles remain a challenge for contouring and feature tracking. CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: AI-based segmentations can help to streamline and standardize strain analysis by feature tracking. KEY POINTS: • Assessment of strain in cardiovascular magnetic resonance by feature tracking can generate global and segmental strain values. • Commercially available artificial intelligence algorithms provide segmentation for strain analysis comparable to manual segmentation. • Hypertrophied ventricles are challenging in regards of strain analysis by feature tracking

Fertility Ideals of Women and Men Across the Life Course

This paper explores the stability of women’s and men’s fertility preferences across the life course. The data come from the first six waves of the German Family Panel (pairfam), which span the period from 2008/2009 until 2013/2014. In our analysis, fertility preferences are measured using the following question: “Under ideal circumstances, how many children would you like to have?” The average number cited by both women and men is 2.2. With rising age, this number declines modestly. Relying on fixed-effects modelling, we find that neither partnership status nor economic circumstances have any causal effect on fertility preferences. However, as the number of children a respondent has increases, his or her ideal number of children is also likely to grow. Thus, fertility ideals appear to undergo changes over time, and are adjusted in line with the size of the respondent’s own family

The Middle to Late Miocene “Carbonate Crash” in the Equatorial Indian Ocean

金沢大学理工研究域地球社会基盤学系We integrate benthic foraminiferal stable isotopes, X-ray fluorescence elemental ratios, and carbonate accumulation estimates in a continuous sedimentary archive recovered at International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1443 (Ninetyeast Ridge, Indian Ocean) to reconstruct changes in carbonate deposition and climate evolution over the interval 13.5 to 8.2 million years ago. Declining carbonate percentages together with a marked decrease in carbonate accumulation rates after ~13.2 Ma signal the onset of a prolonged episode of reduced carbonate deposition. This extended phase, which lasted until ~8.7 Ma, coincides with the middle to late Miocene carbonate crash, originally identified in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Interocean comparison reveals that intense carbonate impoverishment at Site U1443 (~11.5 to ~10 Ma) coincides with prolonged episodes of reduced carbonate deposition in all major tropical ocean basins. This implies that global changes in the intensity of chemical weathering and riverine input of calcium and carbonate ions into the ocean reservoir were instrumental in driving the carbonate crash. An increase in U1443 Log (Ba/Ti) together with a change in sediment color from red to green indicate a rise in organic export flux to the sea floor after ~11.2 Ma, which predates the global onset of the biogenic bloom. This early rise in export flux from biological production may have been linked to increased advection of nutrients and intensification of upper ocean mixing, associated with changes in the seasonality and intensity of the Indian Monsoon. ©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.Embargo Period 6 month

Effects of conjugated linoleic acid on myogenic and inflammatory responses in a human primary muscle and tumor coculture model

The antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory properties of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) make it a potentially novel treatment in chronic inflammatory muscle wasting disease, particularly cancer cachexia. Human primary muscle cells were grown in coculture with MIA PaCa-2 pancreatic tumor cells and exposed to varying concentrations of c9,t11 and t10,c12 CLA. Expression of myogenic (Myf5, MyoD, myogenin, and myostatin) and inflammatory genes (CCL-2, COX-2, IL-8, and TNF-) were measured by real-time PCR. The t10,c12 CLA isomer, but not the c9,t11 isomer, significantly decreased MIA PaCa-2 proliferation by between 15% and 19%. There was a marked decrease in muscle MyoD and myogenin expression (78% and 62%, respectively), but no change in either Myf5 or myostatin, in myotubes grown in coculture with MIA PaCa-2 cells. CLA had limited influence on these responses. A similar pattern of myogenic gene expression changes was observed in myotubes treated with TNF- alone. Several-fold significant increases in CCL-2, COX-2, IL-8, and TNF- expression in myotubes were observed with MIA PaCa-2 coculture. The c9,t11 CLA isomer significantly decreased basal expression of TNF- in myotubes and could ameliorate its tumor-induced rise. The study provides insight into the anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative actions of CLA and its application as a therapeutic agent in inflammatory disease states.<br /

Deformation Aware Augmented Reality for Craniotomy using 3D/2D Non-rigid Registration of Cortical Vessels

International audienceIntra-operative brain shift is a well-known phenomenon that describes non-rigid deformation of brain tissues due to gravity and loss of cerebrospinal fluid among other phenomena. This has a negative influence on surgical outcome that is often based on pre-operative planning where the brain shift is not considered. We present a novel brain-shift aware Augmented Reality method to align pre-operative 3D data onto the deformed brain surface viewed through a surgical microscope. We formulate our non-rigid registration as a Shape-from-Template problem. A pre-operative 3D wire-like deformable model is registered onto a single 2D image of the cortical vessels, which is automatically segmented. This 3D/2D registration drives the underlying brain structures, such as tumors, and compensates for the brain shift in sub-cortical regions. We evaluated our approach on simulated and real data composed of 6 patients. It achieved good quantitative and qualitative results making it suitable for neurosurgical guidance

Radiotherapy in the treatment of Graves ophthalmopathy—to do it or not?

To the objective of this study is to evaluate the role and toxicity of radiotherapy in the treatment of Graves ophthalmopathy. In the years 2000–2003, 121 patients with malignant exophthalmos were treated with radiotherapy of the retrobulbar area to the total dose of 20 Gy in ten fractions with a 6 MeV photon beam. The treatment was performed by the team of the Clinic of Oncology of the Jagiellonian University Medical College in Cracow. The radiotherapy was preceded by intravenous steroid therapy: methylprednisolone acetate administered at the dose of 2 g/week for four consecutive weeks. The highest efficacy, expressed as improvement of all ocular symptoms, was observed for the combined treatment. Female and non-diabetic patients responded positively to the combined treatment. Radiotherapy combined with steroid therapy in the treatment of Graves ophthalmopathy seems to be an effective treatment for strictly defined indications. In the treatment of Graves–Basedow disease, radiotherapy is a well-tolerated treatment modality. Diabetes is a factor that worsens prognosis in Graves ophthalmopathy and female sex is a favourable factor for this condition

DNA hypermethylation markers of poor outcome in laryngeal cancer

This study examined molecular (DNA hypermethylation), clinical, histopathological, demographical, smoking, and alcohol variables to assess diagnosis (early versus late stage) and prognosis (survival) outcomes in a retrospective primary laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) cohort. The study cohort of 79 primary LSCC was drawn from a multi-ethnic (37% African American), primary care patient population, diagnosed by surgical biopsies in the Henry Ford Health System from 1991 to 2004 and followed from 5 to 18 years (through 2009). Of the 41 variables, univariate risk factors of p < 0.10 were tested in multivariate models (logistic regression (diagnosis) and Cox (survival) models (p < 0.05)). Aberrant methylation of estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1; p = 0.01), race as African American (p = 0.04), and tumor necrosis (extensive; p = 0.02) were independent predictors of late stage LSCC. Independent predictors of poor survival included presence of vascular invasion (p = 0.0009), late stage disease (p = 0.03), and methylation of the hypermethylated in cancer 1 (HIC1) gene (p = 0.0002). Aberrant methylation of ESR1 and HIC1 signified independent markers of poorer outcome. In this multi-ethnic, primary LSCC cohort, race remained a predictor of late stage disease supporting disparate diagnosis outcomes for African American patients with LSCC

Foraminiferal assemblages as palaeoenvironmental bioindicators in Late Jurassic epicontinental platforms: relation with trophic conditions

Foraminiferal assemblages from the neritic environment reveal the palaeoecological impact of nutrient types in relation to shore distance and sedimentary setting. Comparatively proximal siliciclastic settings from the Boreal Domain (Brora section, Eastern Scotland) were dominated by inner−shelf primary production in the water column or in sea bottom, while in relatively seawards mixed carbonate−siliciclastic settings from the Western Tethys (Prebetic, Southern Spain), nutrients mainly derived from the inner−shelf source. In both settings, benthic foraminiferal assemblages increased in diversity and proportion of epifauna from eutrophic to oligotrophic conditions. The proximal setting example (Brora Brick Clay Mb.) corresponds to Callovian offshore shelf deposits with a high primary productivity, bottom accumulation of organic matter, and a reduced sedimentation rate for siliciclastics. Eutrophic conditions favoured some infaunal foraminifera. Lately, inner shelf to shoreface transition areas (Fascally Siltstone Mb.), show higher sedimentation rates and turbidity, reducing euphotic−zone range depths and primary production, and then deposits with a lower organic matter content (high−mesotrophic conditions). This determined less agglutinated infaunal foraminifera content and increasing calcitic and aragonitic epifauna, and calcitic opportunists (i.e., Lenticulina). The comparatively distal setting of the Oxfordian example (Prebetic) corresponds to: (i) outer−shelf areas with lower nutrient input (relative oligotrophy) and organic matter accumulation on comparatively firmer substrates (lumpy lithofacies group) showing dominance of calcitic epifaunal foraminifera, and (ii) mid−shelf areas with a higher sedimentation rate and nutrient influx (low−mesotrophic conditions) favouring potentially deep infaunal foraminifers in comparatively unconsolidated and nutrient−rich substrates controlled by instable redox boundary (marl−limestone rhythmite lithofacies).This research was carried out with the financial support of projects CGL2005−06636−C0201 and CGL2005−01316/BTE, and University of Oslo, Norway−Statoil cooperation. M.R. holds a Juan de la Cierva grant from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Spain