Attempts at experimental transmission and electron microscopic observations in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

SCOPUS: ar.j

Cancer and fertility preservation: International recommendations from an expert meeting

In the last years, thanks to the improvement in the prognosis of cancer patients, a growing attention has been given to the fertility issues. International guidelines on fertility preservation in cancer patients recommend that physicians discuss, as early as possible, with all patients of reproductive age their risk of infertility from the disease and/or treatment and their interest in having children after cancer, and help with informed fertility preservation decisions. As recommended by the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the European Society for Medical Oncology, sperm cryopreservation and embryo/oocyte cryopreservation are standard strategies for fertility preservations in male and female patients, respectively; other strategies (e.g. pharmacological protection of the gonads and gonadal tissue cryopreservation) are considered experimental techniques. However, since then, new data have become available, and several issues in this field are still controversial and should be addressed by both patients and their treating physicians. In April 2015, physicians with expertise in the field of fertility preservation in cancer patients from several European countries were invited in Genova (Italy) to participate in a workshop on the topic of "cancer and fertility preservation". A total of ten controversial issues were discussed at the conference. Experts were asked to present an up-to-date review of the literature published on these topics and the presentation of own unpublished data was encouraged. On the basis of the data presented, as well as the expertise of the invited speakers, a total of ten recommendations were discussed and prepared with the aim to help physicians in counseling their young patients interested in fertility preservation. Although there is a great interest in this field, due to the lack of large prospective cohort studies and randomized trials on these topics, the level of evidence is not higher than 3 for most of the recommendations highlighting the need of further research efforts in many areas of this field. The participation to the ongoing registries and prospective studies is crucial to acquire more robust information in order to provide evidence-based recommendations.

Ovarian suppression using luteinizing hormonereleasing hormone agonists during chemotherapy to preserve ovarian function and fertility of breast cancer patients: A meta-analysis of randomized studies

Background: The role of temporary ovarian suppression with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists (LHRHa) in the prevention of chemotherapy-induced premature ovarian failure (POF) is still controversial. Our meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) investigates whether the use of LHRHa during chemotherapy in premenopausal breast cancer patients reduces treatment-related POF rate, increases pregnancy rate, and impacts disease-free survival (DFS). Methods: A literature search using PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, and the proceedings of major conferences, was conducted up to 30 April 2015. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for POF (i.e. POF by study definition, and POF defined as amenorrhea 1 year after chemotherapy completion) and for patients with pregnancy, as well hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CI for DFS, were calculated for each trial. Pooled analysis was carried out using the fixed- and random-effects models. Results: A total of 12 RCTs were eligible including 1231 breast cancer patients. The use of LHRHa was associated with a significant reduced risk of POF (OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.23-0.57; P < 0.001), yet with significant heterogeneity (I2 = 47.1%, Pheterogeneity = 0.026). In eight studies reporting amenorrhea rates 1 year after chemotherapy completion, the addition of LHRHa reduced the risk of POF (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.41-0.73, P < 0.001) without heterogeneity (I2 = 0.0%, Pheterogeneity = 0.936). In five studies reporting pregnancies, more patients treated with LHRHa achieved pregnancy (33 versus 19 women; OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.02-3.28, P = 0.041; I2 = 0.0%, Pheterogeneity = 0.629). In three studies reporting DFS, no difference was observed (HR 1.00, 95% CI 0.49-2.04, P = 0.939; I2 = 68.0%, Pheterogeneity = 0.044). Conclusion: Temporary ovarian suppression with LHRHa in young breast cancer patients is associated with a reduced risk of chemotherapy-induced POF and seems to increase the pregnancy rate, without an apparent negative consequence on prognosis.

Potential Therapeutic Targets in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Triple negative breast cancers (TNBC) are often described as biologically aggressive tumors, with poorer survival compared to other breast cancer subtypes. The fact that TNBC lacks an obvious target like estrogen receptor and HER2 represents a major challenge in the management of these patients. Genomic analyses have revealed that TNBC comprises a diverse group of cancers, which have distinct molecular profiles and different prognosis. These studies also highlighted molecular aberrations that could serve as potential treatment targets. On the other hand, a high percentage of TNBCs express some important surface receptors that have been already exploited in the development of promising targeted therapies, which are currently tested in clinical trials. In this review, we will provide an overview on the molecular diversity of TNBC with special emphasis on the evolving role of some potential biomarkers that may be utilized in the near future.

Special Issues in the Young and Pregnant Patient with Breast Cancer

This chapter presents a series of multiple choice questions and answers on the special issues in the young and pregnant patient with breast cancer. It also presents a series of case studies with questions and answers on the special issues in the young and pregnant patient with breast cancer. The chapter examines whether the genomic testing by Oncotype DX or MammaPrint be helpful in managing the patient. It also examines the factors that are the most important in determining the risk of chemotherapyinduced amenorrhea (CIA) in the patient, and a role for sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in patients diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy. The chapter discusses counselling of a patient who became accidentally pregnant on maintenance therapy with trastuzumab or tamoxifen. In addition, It examines the options that could be offered to preserve fertility.

Giant cell arteritis

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) or Horton's disease is a systemic granulomatous vasculitis of medium–and large–sized arteries. This is an antigen–driven disease with local T–cell and macrophage activation in the vessel wall and with an important role of proinflammatory cytokines. GCA is also called “temporal arteritis” because it involves often the superficial temporal arteries. The condition affects especially the extracranial branches of the carotid artery, but recently, GCA has been recognised to also affect limb arteries and the aorta with high prevalence.

Tests of a silica aerogel cerenkov detector to be used in the european hybrid spectrometer

An 18 module Ceienkov detector with a total sensitive area of 2.3 m2 having silica aerogel as radiator is being tested in a particle beam at CERN PS. The modules having a sensitive area of 23 X 55 cm2 give typically a Cerenkov signal for (3= 1 particles of 12 photoelectrons for silica aerogel of refractive index 1.03 and a thickness of 15 cm. © 1981 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Reconstrução da papila interdentária com ácido hialurónico

Introdução: Os procedimentos de reconstrução da papila interdentária revestem-se de uma tal complexidade técnica que representam um verdadeiro desafio na área da Periodontia. O ácido hialurónico é uma substância que vem sendo cada vez mais estudada, tanto no tratamento de diversas patologias, como em situações de melhoria estética. Muito recentemente, a reconstrução mediante a injeção de ácido hialurónico na papila interdentária vem sendo desenvolvida como uma promissora alternativa às técnicas cirúrgicas de reconstrução da papila interdentária. Objectivo: O objetivo deste trabalho de revisão bibliográfica foi avaliar o potencial da utilização do ácido hialurónico na reconstrução da papila interdentária. Materiais e Métodos: Foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica, entre outubro de 2013 e junho de 2014, nas bases de dados MEDLINE, B-on, Scopus e Google Académico. Dessa pesquisa resultaram 48 artigos. Foram ainda consultados dois casos clínicos gentilmente cedidos pela empresa CPMPHARMA. Resultados: Os resultados dos escassos estudos disponíveis até à data permitem afirmar que a utilização de ácido hialurónico na reconstrução da papila interdentária constitui uma importante alternativa com vantagens significativas. Conclusões: São necessários mais estudos para confirmar os resultados encontrados.

Comparative iss accelerometric analyses

Two accelerometric records coming from the SAMSes es08 sensor in the Columbus module, the so-called Runs 14 and 33 in terms of the IVIDIL experiment, has been studied here using standard digital signal analysis techniques. The principal difference between both records is the vibrational state of IVIDIL, that is to say, during Run 14 the shacking motor of the experiment is active while that in Run 33 this motor is stopped. Identical procedures have been applied to a third record coming from the SAMSII 121f03 sensor located in the Destiny module during an IVIDIL quiescent period. All records have been downloaded from the corresponding public binary accelerometric files from the NASA Principal Investigator Microgravity Services, PIMS website and, in order to be properly compared, have the same number of data. Results detect clear differences in the accelerometric behavior, with or without shaking, despite the care of the designers to ensure the achievement of the ISS pg-vibrational requirements all along the experiments. Copyright © (2012) by the International Astronautical Federation.

Shear, shear stress and shearing

New simpler formulae are derived for the shear of a pair of material elements within the context of infinitesimal strain and finite strain. Also, new formulae are derived for shear stress based on the (symmetric) Cauchy stress and for the rate of shear of a pair of material elements within the rate of strain theory. These formulae are exploited to obtain results and to derive new simpler proofs of familiar classical results. In particular, a very simple short derivation is presented of the classical result of Coulomb and Hopkins on the maximum orthogonal shear stress. © 1992.

Intensive care medicines and therapeutics

SCOPUS: no.j

Is the L a meson?

The Kππ enhancement at 1780 MeV (the "L meson") is copiously produced in our K+p experiment at 12 GeV/c. We show that this "meson" can be explained as a threshold enhancement in the KN(1420)π system. We see no evidence for this enhancement in channels other than KN(1420)π. © 1969 The American Physical Society.

Extended formulations, nonnegative factorizations, and randomized communication protocols

An extended formulation of a polyhedron P is a linear description of a polyhedron Q together with a linear map π such that π(Q)=P. These objects are of fundamental importance in polyhedral combinatorics and optimization theory, and the subject of a number of studies. Yannakakis’ factorization theorem (Yannakakis in J Comput Syst Sci 43(3):441–466, 1991) provides a surprising connection between extended formulations and communication complexity, showing that the smallest size of an extended formulation of $$P$$P equals the nonnegative rank of its slack matrix S. Moreover, Yannakakis also shows that the nonnegative rank of S is at most 2^c, where c is the complexity of any deterministic protocol computing S. In this paper, we show that the latter result can be strengthened when we allow protocols to be randomized. In particular, we prove that the base-2 logarithm of the nonnegative rank of any nonnegative matrix equals the minimum complexity of a randomized communication protocol computing the matrix in expectation. Using Yannakakis’ factorization theorem, this implies that the base-2 logarithm of the smallest size of an extended formulation of a polytope P equals the minimum complexity of a randomized communication protocol computing the slack matrix of P in expectation. We show that allowing randomization in the protocol can be crucial for obtaining small extended formulations. Specifically, we prove that for the spanning tree and perfect matching polytopes, small variance in the protocol forces large size in the extended formulation.

Do breech presentations in twins and singletons run different risks?

SCOPUS: no.j

Paraneoplastic syndromes

Abstract: There are two types of clinical and biochemical syndromes not directly associated with the invasiveness and metastatic ability of the tumour; the first type is represented by the hormonal paraneoplastic syndromes. The second type consists of certain neurological diseases or abnormalities observed in patients with malignant tumours not directly affecting the nervous system. While the hormonal type is well established and rests on solid ground, the neurological type is less well defined and more controversial. © 1981 Pergamon Press Ltd.