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Thermal modeling of the lithosphere is essential to understand the geodynamics, seismogenesis, and crustal evolution of any region. Surface heat flow, radiogenic heat production, and thermal conductivity variations with temperature are the primary parameters that influence thermal modeling. The Western Himalaya is devoid of all these parameters, which hindered accurate thermal modeling of the region. In the present study, we have measured the above thermophysical properties in the laboratory for the major rock formations of the Western Himalaya along three NW-SE profiles. The major rock formations include sandstone, limestone, dolomitic limestone, slate, phyllite, quartzite, schist, gneiss, and granitoid. Thermal conductivity and heat production of these rocks vary from 2.6 to 5.4 Wm-1K-1 and 1.7 to 2.6 µWm-3. The crustal structure along one of the profiles, i.e., Tanakpur-Pangla profile (150 km length), is made using available geological and geophysical (seismological and gravity) information, along with new data on rock thermal conductivity and its variation with temperature and radiogenic heat production to obtain 2D conductive thermal structure beneath the region by finite element method. The 2D temperature-depth distribution along this profile covering Siwalik, Lesser Himalaya, and Higher Himalaya formations reveals that the temperature at Moho varies from 450 °C to 750 °C. At a few locations, subsurface temperatures estimated from the 1D conductivity models are in good agreement with that of the 2D results within the uncertainty limits. The results of 2D thermal modeling provide significant progress in understanding of the first-order characteristics of the conductive thermal field in the Western Himalaya., The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)

Heat flow plays a vital role in estimating the lithospheric temperature distribution, which is an essential parameter in understanding the evolution and stabilization of the cratons. Heat flow is determined in the Mesoarchean Singhbhum Craton, one of the oldest cratons in the Indian shield, for the first time from seven locations. This enabled us to construct plausible 1-D crustal thermal models and to estimate mantle heat flow by considering a few crustal heat production/thermal conductivity models based on crustal structures from the geological/geophysical studies of the study region. In the present study, detailed radioelemental abundances (Th, U, K) and heat production are measured for the Paleoarchaean gneiss (OMTG) and Singhbhum Granites (SBG) of the craton. The result shows that both OMTG and SBG, which cover most of the craton, have, in general, low radioelemental abundances and heat production with an average of 1.3 ± 0.2 mWm-3. Heat flow ranges from 27-34 mWm-2, with an average of 30 ± 3 mWm-2, which is lowest than most of the cratons. Interestingly, the value is also half that observed in the Singhbhum Shear Zone (61 ± 2 mWm-2), situated in its north. The 1-D thermal models indicate that mantle heat flow and Moho temperature range from 14-16 mWm-2 and 330-370 °C, respectively. These fall within the range observed for the Archaean cratons despite their lowest surface heat flow. It is mainly due to the distinct crustal heat production scenarios and upper crustal thermal conductivity profiles, which provide clues to understanding the craton formation., The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)

Knowledge of the downward variation of thermal conductivity within Earth's interior is an essential parameter for accurately estimating the sub-surface temperature distribution. The variation is dominantly controlled by temperature and, to a very less extent, by pressure. The temperature dependence is distinct for various rocks and higher for upper crustal rocks than the lower crustal rocks, implying the utmost necessity of detailed study for upper crustal rocks. In thermal modeling, two temperature coefficients are commonly considered for the upper and lower crust. But the upper crust generally consists of a wide variety of rocks.In the present study, thermal conductivity variation with temperature has been studied in the laboratory by a steady-state method in the temperature range of 25-300 °C on different types of upper crustal rocks, e.g., granitoids and rhyolites. Results show that the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity for different varieties of granitoids, i.e., alkali feldspar granite to monzogranite and granodiorite to tonalite to quartz diorite, indicate two distinct ranges and rhyolites lie between these two varieties. The study also depicts that a single temperature coefficient for the upper crustal rocks needs to be modified, and appropriate values should be considered, depending upon the variations in rock formation of the upper crust. The observed wide variations in the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity for different varieties of upper crustal rocks will be useful for precise sub-surface thermal modeling. The study also investigated how the difference in temperature coefficient for the upper crust can produce a difference in thermal structure.&nbsp, The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023)

Nitrogen is indispensable for aggrandizing productivity of crop but the losses associated due to swift transformation and release pattern are subjected to various losses leading to pitiful amount left for crop uptake, pollution and resource wastage. Present study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of coated urea and nitrogen rates on baby corn growth, yield and NUE. The experiment comprised varieties PHM-1 and HM-4, coated urea (NCU, ZCU, SCU and PU) and nitrogen levels @180, 150, 120 kg N/ha along with the control. The study revealed that PHM-1 obtained significantly higher plant height, no. of cobs and weight of dehusked cob that led to significant increase of 18.47 and 19.67 % higher husked and dehusked cob yields over HM-4 which attained 12.6% higher fodder yield over latter. The baby corn cob yield and fodder yield were significantly higher in coated urea over prilled urea. The husked and dehusked yield of baby corn was higher in neem-coated urea over prilled urea by 14.81 and 14.37% respectively. H o w e v e r , a reduction of 59.9% in total fodder yield was recorded in control when compared to 180 kg N ha. Also, NPK uptake was higher then PHM-1 and uptake by coated urea was higher then prilled urea along with high uptake for 180 kg N/ha, further the AE and higher PE of baby corn cob was found highest in variety PHM-1 although for fodder, the higher AE was recorded in HM-4, whereas ANR was higher in PHM-1.

The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic significantly impacted on oncology practice across the globe. There is uncertainty as to the contribution of patients' demographics and oncological features on severity and mortality from Covid-19 and little guidance as to the role of anti-cancer and anti-Covid-19 therapy in this population. In a multi-center study of 890 cancer patients with confirmed Covid-19 we demonstrated a worsening gradient of mortality from breast cancer to haematological malignancies and showed that male gender, older age, and number of co-morbidities identifies a subset of patients with significantly worse mortality rates from Covid-19. Provision of chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy did not worsen mortality. Exposure to antimalarials was associated with improved mortality rates independent of baseline prognostic factors. This study highlights the clinical utility of demographic factors for individualized risk-stratification of patients and support further research into emerging anti-Covid-19 therapeutics in SARS-Cov-2 infected cancer patients.

Preclinical studies have demonstrated synergy between poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway inhibitors in BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA1/2)-deficient and BRCA1/2-proficient tumors. We conducted an investigator-initiated phase I trial utilizing a prospective intrapatient dose-escalation design to assess two schedules of capivasertib (AKT inhibitor) with olaparib (PARP inhibitor) in 64 patients with advanced solid tumors. Dose expansions enrolled germline BRCA1/2-mutant tumors, or BRCA1/2-wildtype cancers harboring somatic DNA damage response (DDR) or PI3K/AKT pathway alterations. The combination was well-tolerated. Recommended phase 2 doses for the two schedules were: olaparib 300mg BID with either capivasertib 400mg BID 4-days-on, 3-days-off, or capivasertib 640mg BID 2-days-on, 5-days-off. Pharmacokinetics were dose-proportional. Pharmacodynamic studies confirmed pGSK3beta suppression, increased pERK and decreased BRCA1 expression. 25 (44.6%) of 56 evaluable patients achieved clinical benefit (RECIST CR/PR or stable disease =4 months), including patients with tumors harboring germline BRCA1/2-mutations and BRCA1/2-wildtype cancers with or without DDR and PI3K/AKT pathway alterations. Copyright ©2020, American Association for Cancer Research.

Nitin Chopra, Pradeep Doddamreddy, Hermanjeet Grewal, Pratap C KumarJackson Park Hospital, Chicago, IL, USAAbstract: With 200,000 annual deaths in the United States due to pulmonary embolism (PE), efficient and accurate diagnosis is mandatory. Since negative D-dimer values are only useful in ruling out PE, elevated values alone should not result in excessive testing. This study assessed the diagnostic and financial yield of the D-dimer in diagnosing PE. This retrospective review of 220 medical records of patients at a South Chicago Community Hospital explored the extent of the work-up following an elevated D-dimer for a suspected PE. Patients were randomly selected with no exclusion criteria. Five of the 118 (4.2%) patients with elevated D-dimer values were diagnosed with a PE. Tests ordered based on elevated D-dimer values were billed for more than $200,000. The current diagnostic approach has been medically and financially inefficient. Patients should not be worked-up for a PE based primarily on an elevated D-dimer value. Two prominent factors, independent of PE, that result in elevated D-dimer values and were pertinent to the studied population, are age and African-American origin. Implementing a scoring system, like the revised-Geneva scale, will establish a better index of suspicion to improve both the physician's diagnostic approach and the yield of the work-up.Keywords: pulmonary embolism, D-dimer, diagnosis, age, African-Americans, scoring

This thesis focuses on the representation and consumption of 'Asian culture' within a context of Western popular culture and specifically, 'British mainstream' and 'British Asian' magazine visual discourses. Through a critical engagement with Edward Said's Orientalism (1978) which charted Western inferiorizing cultural representations of the East as located in historical and material contexts, I aim to explore issues of 'race' and Otherness amidst a background of historical and commodification processes. This has been attempted using multiple methodologies that in addition to engaging with secondary material, has involved a reflexive use of semiotics and discourse analysis to analyse magazine images and written text respectively. Further, I have attempted to go beyond the textual focus of both Orientalism (1978) and many media studies by also gathering contextual reader responses to magazine representations. These have taken the form of the subjective interpretations of 20 British youths (men and women of Asian and white English origin) that have been analysed in conjunction with biographical narratives that I also conducted with each of them. Through the use of this rich and varied empirical data coupled with a thorough review of secondary source material, I aim to add to and question work that has been conducted in the area of 'race' and culture that appears to have moved from a concentration on the 'essential black subject' to an emphasis on ethnic unities within an uncritical celebration of 'diaspora' and 'hybridity'. I also aim to make problematic work that has been conducted in the area of orientalism through drawing attention to the limitations associated with the concept of 'self-orientalism' and practices of 'self-representation' by minorities. Overall, through conducting work on Asian representations within the popular magazine media coupled with its interrelation with varied audiences, I hope to make some inroads into these under-researched areas.

After a successful eleven-year campaign at Kitt Peak, we moved the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) to Cerro Tololo in early 2009. Here we present some of the early data after a few months under southern skies. These maps begin to complete the first all-sky, kinematic survey of the diffuse H-alpha emission from the Milky Way. Much of this emission arises from the Warm Ionized Medium (WIM), a significant component of the ISM that extends a few kiloparsecs above the Galactic disk. While this first look at the data focuses on the H-alpha survey, WHAM is also capable of observing many other optical emission lines, revealing fascinating trends in the temperature and ionization state of the WIM. Our ongoing studies of the physical conditions of diffuse ionized gas will continue from the southern hemisphere following the H-alpha survey. In addition, future observations will cover the full velocity range of the Magellanic Stream, Bridge, and Clouds to trace the ionized gas associated with these neighboring systems., 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in "The Dynamic ISM: A celebration of the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey," ASP Conference Series

International audience; In this work we analize the controllability and observability properties of several interconnection configurations such as the chain topology and ring topology as well as combinations of these two topologies. A leader/follower control strategy is proposed to control the center of mass of the multiple agent system. It is shown that the trajectory tracking for a multiagent system converges to the constant input reference given only to the leader. Also, it is shown that choosing an appropiated gain, the agents achieve consensus for time varying input reference.

Objective To develop a one week widening access summer school for 16 year old pupils from, non-traditional backgrounds who are considering applying to medical school, and to identify its short term impact and key success factors.Design Action research with partnership schools tit deprived inner-city areas in five overlapping phases: schools liaison, recruitment of pupils and assessment of needs, programme design, programme delivery, and evaluation. The design phase incorporated findings from one-to-one interviews with every pupil, and workshops and focus groups for pupils, Parents, teachers, medical student assistants, NHS staff, and other stakeholders. An in-depth process evaluation of the summer School was undertaken from the perspective of multiple stakeholders using questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and observation.Participants 40 pupils aged 16 years from socioeconomically deprived and under-represented ethnic Minority groups.Results The summer school was popular with pupils, parents, teachers, and staff. It substantially raised pupils' confidence and motivation to apply to medical school. Critical success factors were identified as an atmosphere of "respect"; a focus on hands-on work in small groups; the input. of medical students as role models; and vision and leadership from senior staff. A particularly popular and effective aspect Of the course was a grand round held Oil the last clay, in which pupils gave group presentations of real cases.Conclusion An action research format allowed us to draw the different stakeholders into a collaborative endeavour characterised by enthusiasm, interpersonal support, and mutual respect. The input from pupils to the programme design ensured high engagement and low drop-out rates. Hands-on activities in small groups and social drama of preparing and giving a grand round presentation were particularly important.

Intraocular infection by Cysticercus cellulosae larva are often found as part of a generalized systemic infestation. Reports of orbital adnexal cysticercosis are uncommon, despite the high incidence of brain and ocular involvement. With isolated infestation of extraocular muscle being exceedingly rare, we at our institute report a rare case of isolated right inferior rectus muscle cysticercosis which presented with unilateral eccentric proptosis and restriction of upgaze Del J Ophthalmol 2012;23(1):53-54.

Background: The medium-term and long-term impact of COVID-19 in patients with cancer is not yet known. In this study, we aimed to describe the prevalence of COVID-19 sequelae and their impact on the survival of patients with cancer. We also aimed to describe patterns of resumption and modifications of systemic anti-cancer therapy following recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: OnCovid is an active European registry study enrolling consecutive patients aged 18 years or older with a history of solid or haematological malignancy and who had a diagnosis of RT-PCR confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. For this retrospective study, patients were enrolled from 35 institutions across Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. Patients who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection between Feb 27, 2020, and Feb 14, 2021, and entered into the registry at the point of data lock (March 1, 2021), were eligible for analysis. The present analysis was focused on COVID-19 survivors who underwent clinical reassessment at each participating institution. We documented prevalence of COVID-19 sequelae and described factors associated with their development and their association with post-COVID-19 survival, which was defined as the interval from post-COVID-19 reassessment to the patients’ death or last follow-up. We also evaluated resumption of systemic anti-cancer therapy in patients treated within 4 weeks of COVID-19 diagnosis. The OnCovid study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04393974. Findings: 2795 patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection between Feb 27, 2020, and Feb 14, 2021, were entered into the study by the time of the data lock on March 1, 2021. After the exclusion of ineligible patients, the final study population consisted of 2634 patients. 1557 COVID-19 survivors underwent a formal clinical reassessment after a median of 22·1 months (IQR 8·4–57·8) from cancer diagnosis and 44 days (28–329) from COVID-19 diagnosis. 234 (15·0%) patients reported COVID-19 sequelae, including respiratory symptoms (116 [49·6%]) and residual fatigue (96 [41·0%]). Sequelae were more common in men (vs women; p=0·041), patients aged 65 years or older (vs other age groups; p=0·048), patients with two or more comorbidities (vs one or none; p=0·0006), and patients with a history of smoking (vs no smoking history; p=0·0004). Sequelae were associated with hospitalisation for COVID-19 (p

COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Cáncer de mama COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Càncer de mama COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Breast cancer Background: Cancer patients are at higher risk of COVID-19 complications and mortality than the rest of the population. Breast cancer patients seem to have better prognosis when infected by SARS-CoV-2 than other cancer patients. Methods: We report a subanalysis of the OnCovid study providing more detailed information in the breast cancer population. Results: We included 495 breast cancer patients with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mean age was 62.6 years; 31.5% presented more than one comorbidity. The most frequent breast cancer subtype was luminal-like (n = 245, 49.5%) and 177 (35.8%) had metastatic disease. A total of 332 (67.1%) patients were receiving active treatment, with radical intent in 232 (47.6%) of them. Hospitalization rate was 58.2% and all-cause mortality rate was 20.3%. One hundred twenty-nine (26.1%) patients developed one COVID-19 complication, being acute respiratory failure the most common (n = 74, 15.0%). In the multivariable analysis, age older than 70 years, presence of COVID-19 complications, and metastatic disease were factors correlated with worse outcomes, while ongoing anticancer therapy at time of COVID-19 diagnosis appeared to be a protective factor. No particular oncological treatment was related to higher risk of complications. In the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection, 73 (18.3%) patients had some kind of modification on their oncologic treatment. At the first oncological reassessment (median time: 46.9 days ± 36.7), 255 (51.6%) patients reported to be fully recovered from the infection. There were 39 patients (7.9%) with long-term SARS-CoV-2-related complications. Conclusion: In the context of COVID-19, our data confirm that breast cancer patients appear to have lower complications and mortality rate than expected in other cancer populations. Most breast cancer patients can be safely treated for their neoplasm during SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Oncological treatment has no impact on the risk of SARS-CoV-2 complications, and, especially in the curative setting, the treatment should be modified as little as possible. D.J. Pinato is supported by grant funding from the Wellcome Trust Strategic Fund (PS3416) and acknowledges grant support from the Cancer Treatment and Research Trust (CTRT), infrastructural and grant support by the Cancer Research UK Imperial Centre and the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre. A. Gennari is supported by the AIRC IG Grant, No. 14230, Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro Foundation, Milan, Italy and acknowledge also support from the UPO Aging Project.

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Inflamació; Mediadors d'inflamació Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Inflamación; Mediadores de la inflamación Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Inflammation; Inflammation mediators Background Patients with cancer are particularly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The systemic inflammatory response is a pathogenic mechanism shared by cancer progression and COVID-19. We investigated systemic inflammation as a driver of severity and mortality from COVID-19, evaluating the prognostic role of commonly used inflammatory indices in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients with cancer accrued to the OnCovid study. Methods In a multicenter cohort of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients with cancer in Europe, we evaluated dynamic changes in neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio (NLR); platelet:lymphocyte ratio (PLR); Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), renamed the OnCovid Inflammatory Score (OIS); modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS); and Prognostic Index (PI) in relation to oncological and COVID-19 infection features, testing their prognostic potential in independent training (n=529) and validation (n=542) sets. Results We evaluated 1071 eligible patients, of which 625 (58.3%) were men, and 420 were patients with malignancy in advanced stage (39.2%), most commonly genitourinary (n=216, 20.2%). 844 (78.8%) had ≥1 comorbidity and 754 (70.4%) had ≥1 COVID-19 complication. NLR, OIS, and mGPS worsened at COVID-19 diagnosis compared with pre-COVID-19 measurement (p

We describe the outcomes in cancer patients during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 in Europe from the retrospective, multi-center observational OnCovid study. We identified 204 cancer patients from eight centers in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain aged &gt, 18 (mean = 69) and diagnosed with COVID-19 between February 26th and April 1st, 2020. A total of 127 (62%) were male, 184 (91%) had a diagnosis of solid malignancy, and 103 (51%) had non-metastatic disease. A total of 161 (79%) had &gt, 1 co-morbidity. A total of 141 (69%) patients had &gt, 1 COVID-19 complication. A total of 36 (19%) were escalated to high-dependency or intensive care. A total of 59 (29%) died, 53 (26%) were discharged, and 92 (45%) were in-hospital survivors. Mortality was higher in patients aged &gt, 65 (36% versus 16%), in those with &gt, 2 co-morbidities (40% versus 18%) and developing &gt, 1 complication from COVID-19 (38% versus 4%, p = 0.004). Multi-variable analyses confirmed age &gt, 65 and &gt, 2 co-morbidities to predict for patient mortality independent of tumor stage, active malignancy, or anticancer therapy. During the early outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Europe co-morbid burden and advancing age predicted for adverse disease course in cancer patients. The ongoing OnCovid study will allow us to compare risks and outcomes in cancer patients between the initial and later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Higher risk of death from COVID-19 among patients with cancer was correlated with male sex, greater age, presence of multiple comorbidities, advanced-stage disease, and active disease; there was no association between risk and anticancer treatment., The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic significantly affected oncology practice across the globe. There is uncertainty as to the contribution of patients' demographics and oncologic features to severity and mortality from COVID-19 and little guidance as to the role of anticancer and anti–COVID-19 therapy in this population. In a multicenter study of 890 patients with cancer with confirmed COVID-19, we demonstrated a worsening gradient of mortality from breast cancer to hematologic malignancies and showed that male gender, older age, and number of comorbidities identify a subset of patients with significantly worse mortality rates from COVID-19. Provision of chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy did not worsen mortality. Exposure to antimalarials was associated with improved mortality rates independent of baseline prognostic factors. This study highlights the clinical utility of demographic factors for individualized risk stratification of patients and supports further research into emerging anti–COVID-19 therapeutics in SARS-CoV-2–infected patients with cancer. Significance: In this observational study of 890 patients with cancer diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2, mortality was 33.6% and predicted by male gender, age ≥65, and comorbidity burden. Delivery of cancer therapy was not detrimental to severity or mortality from COVID-19. These patients should be the focus of shielding efforts during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1426

This study introduces a control algorithm that, exploiting a completely decentralized estimation strategy for the algebraic connectivity of the graph, ensures the connectivity maintenance property for multi robot systems, in the presence of a generic (bounded) additional control term. This result is obtained by driving the robots along the negative gradient of an appropriately defined function of the algebraic connectivity. The proposed strategy is then enhanced with the introduction of the concept of critical robots, that is robots for which the loss of a single communication link might cause the disconnection of the communication graph. Limiting the control action to critical robots will be shown to reduce the control effort that is introduced by the proposed connectivity maintenance control law and to mitigate its effect on the additional (desired) control term.

In this work, the decentralized control law proposed in [Sabattini et al., 2011b] for multi-robot connectivity maintenance is enhanced by means of a selective action. The idea is to identify critical agents, i.e. agents for which a disconnection might cause the split of the communication graph, and limit the control action to those agents. The objective is twofold: to reduce the control effort introduced by the connectivity maintenance control action as well as to avoid unnecessary action of the connectivity maintenance controller, thus reducing its effect on the overall performances of the system. A theoretical analysis of the proposed control law is discussed. Simulations along with experimental results are given to corroborate the theoretical results.