Context.
Megaparsec-scale radio sources in the form of halos and relics are often detected in dynamically disturbed galaxy clusters. Although they are associated with merger-induced turbulence and ...shocks, respectively, their formation is not fully understood.
Aims.
We aim to identify the mechanisms responsible for particle acceleration and magnetic field amplification in the halo and relics of the galaxy cluster ClG 0217+70.
Methods.
We observed ClG 0217+70 with LOFAR at 141 MHz and with VLA at 1.5 GHz, and we combined these observations with VLA 1.4 GHz archival data to study the morphological and spectral properties of the diffuse sources. We added
Chandra
archival data to examine the thermal and non-thermal properties of the halo.
Results.
Our LOFAR and VLA data confirm the presence of a giant radio halo in the cluster centre and multiple relics in the outskirts. The radio and X-ray emission from the halo are correlated, implying a tight relation between the thermal and non-thermal components. The diffuse radio structure in the south-east, with a projected size of 3.5 Mpc, is the most extended radio relic detected to date. The spectral index across the relic width steepens towards the cluster centre, suggesting electron ageing in the post-shock regions. The shock Mach numbers for the relics derived from the spectral index map range between 2.0 and 3.2. However, the integrated spectral indices lead to increasingly high Mach numbers for the relics farther from the cluster centre. This discrepancy could be because the relation between injection and integrated spectra does not hold for distant shocks, suggesting that the cooling time for the radio-emitting electrons is longer than the crossing time of the shocks. The variations in the surface brightness of the relics and the low Mach numbers imply that the radio-emitting electrons are re-accelerated from fossil plasma that could originate in active galactic nuclei.
Understanding how free gas modifies the mechanical behaviour of marine plastic sediments remains a challenging issue. Special triaxial tests were carried out on natural sediments recovered from the ...Gulf of Guinea. Special attention was devoted to the laboratory preparation procedure, involving saturation of natural marine sediment samples with carbonated water and generation of free gas following undrained unloading. Experimental data show that soil destructuration and damage generated by gas expansion and exsolution are at the origin of (a) the increase in the isotropic compressibility and decrease in the preconsolidation pressure, and (b) the decrease in the peak undrained strength and abrupt increase of the pore pressure during undrained shearing. The experimental data also show that flooding of gas bubbles and dissolution of free gas do not imply a complete strength recovery of natural sediments.
The estimation of risk of recurrence for patients with colon carcinoma must be improved. A robust immune score quantification is needed to introduce immune parameters into cancer classification. The ...aim of the study was to assess the prognostic value of total tumour-infiltrating T-cell counts and cytotoxic tumour-infiltrating T-cells counts with the consensus Immunoscore assay in patients with stage I–III colon cancer.
An international consortium of 14 centres in 13 countries, led by the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, assessed the Immunoscore assay in patients with TNM stage I–III colon cancer. Patients were randomly assigned to a training set, an internal validation set, or an external validation set. Paraffin sections of the colon tumour and invasive margin from each patient were processed by immunohistochemistry, and the densities of CD3+ and cytotoxic CD8+ T cells in the tumour and in the invasive margin were quantified by digital pathology. An Immunoscore for each patient was derived from the mean of four density percentiles. The primary endpoint was to evaluate the prognostic value of the Immunoscore for time to recurrence, defined as time from surgery to disease recurrence. Stratified multivariable Cox models were used to assess the associations between Immunoscore and outcomes, adjusting for potential confounders. Harrell's C-statistics was used to assess model performance.
Tissue samples from 3539 patients were processed, and samples from 2681 patients were included in the analyses after quality controls (700 patients in the training set, 636 patients in the internal validation set, and 1345 patients in the external validation set). The Immunoscore assay showed a high level of reproducibility between observers and centres (r=0·97 for colon tumour; r=0·97 for invasive margin; p<0·0001). In the training set, patients with a high Immunoscore had the lowest risk of recurrence at 5 years (14 8% patients with a high Immunoscore vs 65 (19%) patients with an intermediate Immunoscore vs 51 (32%) patients with a low Immunoscore; hazard ratio HR for high vs low Immunoscore 0·20, 95% CI 0·10–0·38; p<0·0001). The findings were confirmed in the two validation sets (n=1981). In the stratified Cox multivariable analysis, the Immunoscore association with time to recurrence was independent of patient age, sex, T stage, N stage, microsatellite instability, and existing prognostic factors (p<0·0001). Of 1434 patients with stage II cancer, the difference in risk of recurrence at 5 years was significant (HR for high vs low Immunoscore 0·33, 95% CI 0·21–0·52; p<0·0001), including in Cox multivariable analysis (p<0·0001). Immunoscore had the highest relative contribution to the risk of all clinical parameters, including the American Joint Committee on Cancer and Union for International Cancer Control TNM classification system.
The Immunoscore provides a reliable estimate of the risk of recurrence in patients with colon cancer. These results support the implementation of the consensus Immunoscore as a new component of a TNM-Immune classification of cancer.
French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, the LabEx Immuno-oncology, the Transcan ERAnet Immunoscore European project, Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer, CARPEM, AP-HP, Institut National du Cancer, Italian Association for Cancer Research, national grants and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer.
Bevacizumab is approved in combination with chemotherapy for the treatment of ovarian cancer, either in first-line therapy or for patients with recurrent disease not previously treated with the same ...drug. We aimed to test the value of continuing bevacizumab beyond progression after first-line treatment with the same drug.
In our open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial done at 82 sites in four countries, we enrolled women (aged ≥18 years) who had previously received first-line platinum-based therapy including bevacizumab, and had recurrent (≥6 months since last platinum dose), International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics stage IIIB–IV ovarian cancer with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0–2. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive a carboplatin-based doublet intravenously (carboplatin area under the concentration curve AUC 5 on day 1 plus paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 on day 1, every 21 days; carboplatin AUC 4 on day 1 plus gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8, every 21 days; or carboplatin AUC 5 on day 1 plus pegylated liposomal doxorubicin 30 mg/m2 on day 1, every 28 days), or a carboplatin-based doublet plus bevacizumab (10 mg/kg intravenous every 14 days combined with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin–carboplatin, or 15 mg/kg every 21 days combined with gemcitabine–carboplatin or paclitaxel–carboplatin). Evaluable disease according to RECIST 1.1 guidelines was required before randomisation. Randomisation was done through the trial website with a minimisation procedure, stratified by centre, time of recurrence, performance status, and type of second-line chemotherapy. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed progression-free survival, analysed on an intention-to-treat basis. Safety was assessed in all participants who received at least one dose. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01802749 and EudraCT 2012-004362-17.
Between Dec 6, 2013, and Nov 11, 2016, 406 patients were recruited (203 50% assigned to the bevacizumab group and 203 50% to the standard chemotherapy group). 130 patients (64%) in the bevacizumab group and 131 (65%) in the standard chemotherapy group had progressed after receiving a last dose of platinum more than 12 months before, and 146 patients (72%) in the bevacizumab group and 147 (72%) in the standard chemotherapy group had progressed after completion of first-line bevacizumab maintenance. 161 participants (79%) progressed in the standard chemotherapy group, as did 143 (70%) in the bevacizumab group. Median progression-free survival was 8·8 months (95% CI 8·4–9·3) in the standard chemotherapy group and 11·8 months (10·8–12·9) in the bevacizumab group (hazard ratio 0·51, 95% CI 0·41–0·65; log-rank p<0·0001). Most common grade 3–4 adverse events were hypertension (20 10% in the standard chemotherapy group vs 58 (29%) in the bevacizumab group), neutrophil count decrease (81 41% vs 80 40%), and platelet count decrease (43 22% vs 61 30%). 68 patients (33%) died in the standard chemotherapy group and 79 (39%) died in the bevacizumab group; two deaths (1%) in the standard chemotherapy group and one death (<1%) in the bevacizumab group were deemed to be treatment-related.
Continuing bevacizumab beyond progression combined with chemotherapy in patients with platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer improves progression-free survival compared with standard chemotherapy alone and might be considered in clinical practice.
Hoffmann–La Roche and Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro.
•We prepared Sr-, Zn- and Cd-exchanged zeolitic materials as water vapor adsorbents.•Water vapor adsorption isotherms at different temperatures were collected.•Water vapor adsorption isotherms were ...modeled by means of the Dubinin equation.•The isosteric heat of water vapor adsorption was successfully estimated.•The specific heat storage density of the adsorbents was successfully calculated.
This paper reports the characterization of Sr-, Zn- and Cd-exchanged zeolitic materials as water vapor adsorbents, in order to evaluate the influence of the extraframework species on their adsorption properties. Both synthetic and natural substrates are taken into account. Water vapor adsorption isotherms on each ion-exchanged sample have been obtained at 298, 318, 338, and 358K and have then been modeled using the Dubinin-Astakhov equation. Focusing on the possible implementation of such adsorbents in thermodynamic cycles, an estimation of their specific heat storage densities has been expressed. Results revealed that adsorbents of natural origin are not suitable for a valid employment in thermodynamic cycles, while FAU-type zeolite X samples exchanged with Sr2+ or divalent transition metal ions (i.e., Zn2+ or Cd2+) show a significant potential as heat storage media. The same trend of the specific heat storage density with the cationic content of the adsorbent can be identified for both series of synthetic and naturally originating materials (i.e., Zn>Sr>Cd>Na), confirming how ion exchange allows effective tuning of zeolitic substrates when employed in thermodynamic cycles based on the reversible adsorption of water vapor.
Multilayer Laue lenses are volume diffractive optical elements for hard X-rays with the potential to focus beams to sizes as small as 1 nm. This ability is limited by the precision of the ...manufacturing process, whereby systematic errors that arise during fabrication contribute to wavefront aberrations even after calibration of the deposition process based on wavefront metrology. Such aberrations can be compensated by using a phase plate. However, current high numerical aperture lenses for nanometer resolution exhibit errors that exceed those that can be corrected by a single phase plate. To address this, we accumulate a large wavefront correction by propagation through a linear array of 3D-printed phase correcting elements. With such a compound refractive corrector, we report on a point spread function with a full-width at half maximum area of 2.9 × 2.8 nm 2 at a photon energy of 17.5 keV.
Nova Cen 2013 (V1369 Cen) is the fourth bright nova observed panchromatically through high-resolution UV+optical multiepoch spectroscopy. It is also the nova with the richest set of spectra (in terms ...of both data quality and number of epochs) thanks to its exceptional brightness. Here, we use the late nebular spectra taken between day ∼250 and day ∼837 after outburst to derive the physical, geometrical, and kinematical properties of the nova. We compare the results with those determined for the other panchromatic studies in this series: T Pyx, V339 Del (nova Del 2013), and V959 Mon (nova Mon 2012). From this we conclude that in all these novae the ejecta geometry and phenomenology can be consistently explained by clumpy gas expelled during a single, brief ejection episode and in ballistic expansion, and not by a wind. For V1369 Cen the ejecta mass (∼1 × 10−4 M ) and filling factor (0.1 ≤ f ≤ 0.2) are consistent with those of classical novae but larger (by at least an order of magnitude) than those of T Pyx and the recurrent novae. V1369 Cen has an anomalously high (relative to solar) N/C ratio that is beyond the range currently predicted for a CO nova, and the Ne emission line strengths are dissimilar to those of typical ONe or CO white dwarfs.
Objective
To report two cases of cranial multineuritis after severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by coronavirus-2.
Methods
Patients’ data were obtained from medical records of the clinical chart ...of dell’Angelo Hospital, Venice, Italy.
Results
The first patient is a 42-year-old male patient who developed, 10 days after the resolution of coronavirus-2 pneumonia and intensive care unit hospitalization with hyperactive delirium, a cranial multineuritis with asymmetric distribution (bilateral hypoglossus involvement and right Claude Bernard Horner syndrome). No albumin-cytologic dissociation was found in cerebrospinal fluid; severe bilateral denervation was detected in hypoglossus nerve, with normal EMG of other cranial muscles, blink reflex, and cerebral magnetic resonance with gadolinium. He presented a striking improvement after intravenous human immunoglobulin therapy.
The second case is a 67-year-old male patient who developed a cranial neuritis (left hypoglossus paresis), with dyslalia and deglutition difficulties. He had cerebrospinal fluid abnormalities (albumin-cytologic dissociation), no involvement of ninth and 10
th
cranial nerves, diffuse hyporeflexia, and brachial diparesis.
Discussion
Cranial neuritis is a possible neurological manifestation of coronavirus-2 pneumonia. Etiology is not clear: it is possible a direct injury of the nervous structures by the virus through olfactory nasopharyngeal terminations. However, the presence of albumin-cytological dissociation in one patient, the sparing of the sense of smell, and the response to human immunoglobulin therapy suggests an immune-mediated genesis of the disorder.
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