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Briggs Harding posted an update 6 months, 3 weeks ago
A phase II intensive neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy (nCRT) protocol for esophageal cancer (EC) was previously tested at our Center with promising results. We here present an observational study to evaluate the efficacy of the protocol also in “real life” patients.
We retrospectively reviewed 122 ECs (45.1% squamous cell (SCC) and 54.9% adenocarcinoma (ADC)) treated with induction docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (TCF), followed by concomitant TCF and radiotherapy (50-50.4 Gy/25-28 fractions), between 2008 and 2017. Primary endpoints were overall survival (OS), event-free survival (EFS) and pathological complete response (pCR).
With a median follow-up of 62.1 months (95% CI 50-67.6 months), 5-year OS and EFS rates were 54.8% (95% CI 44.7-63.9) and 42.7% (95% CI 33.1-51.9), respectively. A pCR was observed in 71.1% of SCC and 37.1% of ADC patients (
= 0.001). At multivariate analysis, ypN+ was a significant prognostic factor for OS (Hazard Ratios (HR) 4.39 ;
< 0.0001), while pCR was a strong predictor of EFS (HR 0.38 ;
< 0.0001).
The nCRT protocol achieved considerable long-term survival and pCR rates also in “real life” patients. Further research is necessary to evaluate this protocol in a watch-and-wait approach.
The nCRT protocol achieved considerable long-term survival and pCR rates also in “real life” patients. Further research is necessary to evaluate this protocol in a watch-and-wait approach.A novel graphene H-waveguide is proposed for active terahertz components. A graphene film illuminated by strong pumping light shorts the parallel conductor plates. The terahertz modes propagating along this film are amplified at certain conditions. A rigorous electromagnetic (EM) quasi-linear method of analytical calculations of TEy and TMy eigenmodes is used in this paper to select these conditions. Among them is the use of bound TEy modes interacting with graphene plasmons at frequencies of negative graphene resistance, minimizing conductor loss associated with parallel plates, and excluding the current-crowding effect from the waveguide design. The limitations of the used theory are considered, and the applications of this waveguide are proposed.Double heterozygosity (DH) in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and double mutation (DM) in BRCA1 or BRCA2 are extremely rare events in the general population, and few cases have been reported worldwide so far. Here, we describe five probands, all women, with breast and/or ovarian cancer and their families. Particularly, we identified two probands with DH in the BRCA1/2 genes with a frequency of 0.3% and three probands with DM in the BRCA2 gene with a frequency of 0.5%. The DH BRCA1 c.547+2T>A (IVS8+2T>A)/BRCA2 c.2830A>T (p.Lys944Ter) and BRCA1 c.3752_3755GTCT (p.Ser1253fs)/BRCA2 c.425+2T>C (IVS4+2T>C) have not been described together so far. The DM in BRCA2, c.631G>A (p.Val211Ile) and c.7008-2A>T (IVS13-2A>T), found in three unrelated probands, was previously reported in further unrelated patients. Due to its peculiarity, it is likely that both pathogenic variants descend from a common ancestor and, therefore, are founder mutations. Interestingly, analyzing the tumor types occurring in DH and DM families, we observed ovarian cancer only in DH families, probably due to the presence in DH patients of BRCA1 pathogenic variants, which predispose one more to ovarian cancer onset. Furthermore, male breast cancer and pancreatic cancer ensued in families with DM but not with DH. These data confirm that BRCA2 pathogenic variants have greater penetrance to develop breast cancer in men and are associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is an essential enzyme for the viral replication process, catalyzing the viral RNA synthesis using a metal ion-dependent mechanism. In recent years, RdRp has emerged as an optimal target for the development of antiviral drugs, as demonstrated by recent approvals of sofosbuvir and remdesivir against Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), respectively. In this work, we overview the main sequence and structural features of the RdRp of emerging RNA viruses such as Coronaviruses, Flaviviruses, and HCV, as well as inhibition strategies implemented so far. While analyzing the structural information available on the RdRp of emerging RNA viruses, we provide examples of success stories such as for HCV and SARS-CoV-2. In contrast, Flaviviruses’ story has raised attention about how the lack of structural details on catalytically-competent or ligand-bound RdRp strongly hampers the application of structure-based drug design, either in repurposing and conventional approaches.The pulsed high power microwave (HPM) technology has been developed worldwide for over 20 years. The sources of HPM pulses are a weapon of mass destruction. They pose danger especially to computer and telecommunications equipment and systems, both the military and civilian ones. This paper presents a survey of literature on electromagnetic wave radiation absorbing and shielding materials to be used in construction. Relevant protective measures should include the shielding of buildings or their parts and the absorption of radiation by building envelopes and their elements. The main focus is on the possibilities of improving the shielding and absorptive properties of common construction materials, such as concrete, mortars and synthetic resins. The survey covers the following groups of materials carbon-based admixtures, nickel powder, iron powders, ferrites, magnetite and polymers. The final part of the survey is devoted to hybrid foam microwave absorbers in which the shape of the material’s inner structure and that of its surface play a special role.This manuscript presents an approach to the challenge of biometric identification based on the acceleration patterns generated by a user while walking. The proposed approach uses the data captured by a smartphone’s accelerometer and gyroscope sensors while the users perform the gait activity and optimizes the design of a recurrent neural network (RNN) to optimally learn the features that better characterize each individual. The database is composed of 15 users, and the acceleration data provided has a tri-axial format in the X-Y-Z axes. Data are pre-processed to estimate the vertical acceleration (in the direction of the gravity force). ARV-110 supplier A deep recurrent neural network model consisting of LSTM cells divided into several layers and dense output layers is used for user recognition. The precision results obtained by the final architecture are above 97% in most executions. The proposed deep neural network-based architecture is tested in different scenarios to check its efficiency and robustness.
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