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The TORIO-229 experiment aims for a direct model-independent determination of the transition energy of $$^\mathrm {229m}$$ 229 m Th produced in $$^\mathrm {233}$$ 233 U alpha decay. This knowledge will be of interest for the development of a scientific clock exploiting the thorium isomeric state, which would be able to significantly surpass the precision of the presently best clocks. As a detector for the isomeric transition, it is planned to use an array of fast transition-edge sensors (TESs) which demonstrated to be feasible in our previous work where the Ir/Au TES prototype demonstrated $$4.6\pm 1.7$$ 4.6 ± 1.7 µs rise time, $$5.8\pm 2.1$$ 5.8 ± 2.1 µs fall time and $$0.789\pm 0.023$$ 0.789 ± 0.023 eV energy resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of $$\sim$$ ∼ 10 with one-photon (2.824 eV) signal, satisfying the experimental requirements. Such a microcalorimeter will allow to register the transition in every possible channel in the energy range from 3 to 50 eV and with a lifetime of > 5 µs. To have a full characterization of a single TES for the final detector array design, its thermal conductance has to be measured. In this contribution, we report on a test measurement of thermal coupling of a TORIO-229 prototype-like iridium-gold TES.

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the leading cause of cancer- related death in women worldwide. The high prevalence of physical and psychosocial suffering among breast cancer patients and their families justifies the need for an early interdisciplinary approach by a palliative care team. The effectiveness of early palliative care for patients with advanced cancer has been demonstrated in many studies. Early referral to outpatient palliative care services improves symptom control, reduces suffering and improves quality of end-of-life care. Aim: Evaluation of referral patterns of metastatic breast cancer patients to the outpatient embedded palliative care team. Methods: We retrospectively retrieved data from electronic medical records of patients who were treated at a private community oncology practice in Brazil who died from metastatic breast cancer during the years of 2018 until 2021.We evaluated the patient’s follow-up time by the palliative care team (follow-up > 12 weeks or not) and the year of referral to the service (pre-2020 vs 2020 and later) associated to the service referral type: Late referral (more than 8 weeks of metastatic diagnosis) or early referral. Each group was followed-up by cancer physicians and after referral was also followed-up by a palliative care multidisciplinary team who regularly evaluated cancer patients during their treatments at outpatient setting. During COVID-19 pandemic, some patients were evaluated by telemedicine appointments. We performed univariate comparisons analysis by Fisher’s Exact Test. p < 0.1 was deemed as statistically significant. Results: Of the 211 patients whose data were assessed, 99 patients were referred to Palliative Care team before 2020 and 112 patients after 2020. 13.1% of patients pre-2020 received early palliative care versus 33.9% of patients in the post-2020 referral group, resulting in a 3.37-fold odds of an early palliative care integration after 2020 (OR 3.37, CI95: 1.61 – 7.45; p< 0.001). Overall, 30.4% of longer follow-up patients were an early referral versus 19.3% of the shorter follow-up, resulting in an 82% greater chance (OR 1.82, CI: 0.92-3.63; p< 0.1) of prolonged assistance with early referral. Conclusions: In this analysis, early palliative care integration for patients with metastatic breast cancer has increased after 2019 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to prolonged time of accompaniment by the multidisciplinary palliative care team. This suggests that even in the face of this challenging moment, a mature and consolidated service is offered by the palliative care team. Also, according to previous data in literature, prematurely integration show signs of correlation with better quality of life and death, supporting early palliative care for this group of patients. However, further work is needed to examine the effect of this care model in our cohort. Table: Palliative Care Assistance by time-referral Citation Format: Sarah A. GOMES, Danielle N. Silva, Thais Passarini, Julia A. Petrocchi, Marcela M. de Paula, Julia S. de sá, MatheusCosta e Silva, Tatiana A. Coelho, Rafaella L. de Aquino, Flávia S. Sorice, Patrícia Santos, Daniela Madureira, Erika Martins, Heloísa Cruz, Bruno L. Ferrari. Referral patterns of metastatic breast cancer patients to Palliative Care team at a Cancer Center in Brazil [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-07-11.

The X-IFU is the cryogenic spectrometer onboard the future ATHENA X-ray observatory. It is based on a large array of TES microcalorimeters, which works in combination with a Cryogenic AntiCoincidence detector (CryoAC). This is necessary to reduce the particle background level thus enabling part of the mission science goals. Here we present the first joint test of X-IFU TES array and CryoAC Demonstration Models, performed in a FDM setup. We show that it is possible to operate properly both detectors, and we provide a preliminary demonstration of the anti-coincidence capability of the system achieved by the simultaneous detection of cosmic muons., Accepted for publication in the Journal of Low Temperature Physics for LTD-19 special issue

Topological insulators in which the Fermi level is in the bulk gap and intersects only a topological surface state (the Dirac cone) are of special interest in the current research. In the last decades, a fine-tuning of the chemical composition of topological insulators has been carefully explored in order to control the Fermi level position with respect to the Dirac surface state. Taking the SnBi 2 Te 4 crystal as a case study, we provide a characterization of its electronic structure by means of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculations. We show that, going away from the Brillouin zone center, bulk band states energetically overlap with the Dirac cone at the Fermi level, thus providing an unwanted as well as hidden contribution to the transport properties of the material. In addition, the comparison between experimental results of the band structure with state-of-the-art simulations, implemented taking into account the number of defects, leads to useful insights on the existing limits in the description of this material., This research was supported in part by the Proget to STAR2(PIR01-00008) of the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research.We acknowledge EUROFEL-ROADMAP ESFRI of the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research. The density functional theory calculations were supported by the government research assignment for ISPMS SB RAS, Project No. FWRW-20220001. E.V.C. acknowledges support from Saint Petersburg State University (ProjectIDNo.94031444).

We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of the Type Icn supernova (SN) 2021ckj. Spectral modeling of SN 2021ckj reveals that its composition is dominated by oxygen, carbon and iron group elements, and the photospheric velocity at peak is ~10000 km/s. From the light curve (LC) modeling applied to SNe 2021ckj, 2019hgp, and 2021csp, we find that the ejecta and CSM properties of Type Icn SNe are diverse. SNe 2021ckj and 2021csp likely have two ejecta components (an aspherical high-energy component and a spherical standard-energy component) with a roughly spherical CSM, while SN 2019hgp can be explained by a spherical ejecta-CSM interaction alone. The ejecta of SNe 2021ckj and 2021csp have larger energy per ejecta mass than the ejecta of SN 2019hgp. The density distribution of the CSM is similar in these three SNe, and is comparable to those of Type Ibn SNe. This may imply that the mass-loss mechanism is common between Type Icn (and also Type Ibn) SNe. The CSM masses of SN 2021ckj and SN 2021csp are higher than that of SN 2019hgp, although all these values are within the diversity seen in Type Ibn SNe. The early spectrum of SN 2021ckj shows narrow emission lines from C II and C III, without a clear absorption component, in contrast with that observed in SN 2021csp. The similarity of the emission components of these lines implies that the emitting regions of SNe 2021ckj and 2021csp have similar ionization states, and thus suggests that they have similar properties of the ejecta and CSM, which is inferred also from the LC modeling. Taking into account the difference in the strength of the absorption features, this heterogeneity may be attributed to viewing angle effects in otherwise common aspherical ejecta., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Even in the context of increasing digitisation, the construction sector continues to be characterised by redundancy, multiplication and, at the same time, a lack of transparency and disaggregation of data and information, leading to ineffective management of the time, costs and quality of the project life cycle. This paper shows the results of the development of an ICT application, TRL 4-5, based on the integration of Building Information Modeling and blockchain technologies and designed to foster digitisation processes in the supply chain, in the direction of greater transparency of information flows, knowledge-based organisations and decision-making processes based on unambiguous ordered data. Starting from a broader industrial research collaboration, the project involves a university spin-off, companies operating as system integrators and leaders in the customisation of BIM solutions for the Italian construction market. The project, launched as part of a network of public and private stakeholders established in 2019 and developed between September 2020 and March 2021, is part of a territorial development strategy financed by European Structural Funds. As a result, the research output is a prototype of ICT tool, which implements the Common Data Environment, CDE, making the life cycle management unambiguous, certified and clear. In this regard, the results of the project are meant to respond to the supply chain's need to encourage the digitisation and automation of processes, as well as to encourage the acquisition of unambiguous data, according to a big data approach.

Precision oncology has a prominent role in nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (nsNSCLC) treatment progress; however, its access in a real-world scenario might be limited.To investigate the time spent in nsNSCLC molecular profile evaluation and its influence on clinical decisions.nsNSCLC patients who underwent molecular testing in a private referral Brazilian center between November 2015 and February 2020 were identified. The interval from nsNSCLC diagnosis to the characterization of the molecular profile was determined. Other outcomes, focusing on the biomarker tissue journey, were also assessed.In this cohort (Our data show a long median time from advanced nsNSCLC diagnosis and the availability of the biomarker testing in medical practice, which impacted the choice of a non-personalized therapy as the first-line.

PURPOSE A nationwide lockdown was enforced in Brazil starting in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic when cancer screening activities were reduced. In this study, we evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer (BC) diagnosis. METHODS We extracted data from the medical records of patients age older than 18 years who were diagnosed with BC and started treatment or follow-up in private oncology institutions in Brazil between 2018 and 2021. The primary objective was to compare the stage distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021) with a historical prepandemic control cohort (2018-2019). Early BC was defined as stage I-II and advanced disease as stage IV. RESULTS We collected data for 11,753 patients with an initial diagnosis of BC, with 6,493 patients in the pandemic (2020-2021) and 5,260 patients in the prepandemic period (2018-2019). We observed a lower prevalence of early-stage BC (63.6% v 68.4%) and a higher prevalence of advanced-stage BC (16.9 v 12.7%), after the onset of the pandemic (both P < .01). This pattern was similar for both estrogen receptor–positive/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–positive tumors: significantly decreased in the early stage from 69% to 67% and 68% to 58%, respectively, and a considerable increase in advanced-stage disease from 13% to 15% and 13% to 20%, respectively. For triple-negative BC, there was a significantly higher percentage of patients with advanced-stage disease during the pandemic (17% v 11%). Overall, age 50 years or older and postmenopausal status were associated with a greater risk of advanced stage at diagnosis during the pandemic period. CONCLUSION We observed a substantial increase in the number of cases of advanced-stage BC in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the farmers and practitioners for their willingness to participate in this study. Moreover, we are very grateful to F. Eono and E. Eveno from France, P. Borghetti, E. De Angelis and A. Caleffi from Italy and P. Pleguezuelos and R. Cuadrado from Spain for participating in the farm selection and/or sample taking procedures. We are also grateful to CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s). Background: Up to now, information on the levels of maternally-derived antibodies (MDA) against PCV-2 in suckling piglets born to sows vaccinated with different strategies is scarce in the literature. In the present observational study, the PCV-2-specific MDA titres from piglets from 109 farms (thirty 3-day-old and thirty 21-day-old piglets per farm) across four different European countries (France n = 30, Germany n = 27, Italy n = 22 and Spain n = 30) using different sow vaccination strategies (during gestation, as a gilt, as a piglet or never) were assessed. Results: In all four countries, mean log PCV-2 MDA titres were higher in 3-day-old piglets than in the 3-week-old ones, being significant in most of all the comparisons performed. Within each country, the highest PCV-2-specific MDA titres were observed in the 3-day-old piglets born to sows vaccinated during gestation. Indeed, in the four countries, more than 60% of this subpopulation (3-day-old piglets from sows vaccinated during pregnancy) had the highest log PCV-2 titres detectable with the ELISA technique used in this study. The lowest MDA titres were more variable. Whereas in France and Germany the lowest titres corresponded to 21-day-old piglets born from sows vaccinated as a piglet, in Italy, they corresponded to 21-day-old piglets derived from sows vaccinated as a gilt and in Spain to 21-day-old piglets born from non-vaccinated sows. In this study, PCV-2-specific MDA titres at 3 and 21 days of age were not affected by sow parity. Conclusions: Data obtained could be considered as a European global overview of PCV-2-specific MDA titres present in the pre-vaccinated piglet populations in different European countries, with titres tending to be higher in younger piglets, but with values variable among countries and sow vaccination strategies.

Introduction Sleep disturbance in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is highly prevalent. PD is the second most common progressive neurodegenerative disease, affecting about 1% of people over 60 years. Little it's said about the sleep disorders in this disease, which are very frequent and frequently underdiagnosed. In Mexico, there are not a lot of studies on PD and sleep disorders in their population. University Hospital Dr. José E. González having the only Parkinsons' clinic in the northeast of Mexico for the population without medical coverage, has recognized the importance of unreported sleep disorders in their broad patient population. Methods Patients of the outpatient clinic whom their medical query wasn’t about sleeping disorder were screened using the following clinical tools: the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the STOP-BANG Questionnaire, and the Epworth Scale. A full clinical history was also taken, focusing on sleep habits and risk factors that could contribute to sleep difficulties. Results A total of 65 patients (26 females, 39 males) that attended the outpatient Parkinson’s clinic were screened for sleep disorders. Fifty-nine patients (90.7%) were identified with at least 3 risk factors for obstructive sleep apnoea with the STOP-BANG questionnaire and were ordered polysomnography. Using the PSQI we identified 56 patients (86.1%) with low-quality sleep (defined as a score of 5 or higher). With the PHQ-9 we identified 41 patients (63%) with a high risk of depression, none of them were receiving treatment. And the Epworth Scale helped us identify 33 patients (50%) with a possible pathological excessive daytime sleepiness, none of them diagnosed. Conclusion PD is associated with multiple sleep disorders, which commonly impair quality of life. Routine inquiry about sleep problems from healthcare providers can increase its detection in a clinical setting outside of a sleep clinic and better management. Further research should focus on improving screening and diagnostic tools in the PD population. With this initiative, we present our experience and results incorporating routine screening for these disorders, future exploration toward this direction may hopefully shed light on developing effective, mechanisms-driven treatment options. Support (if any)

SOFC-GT hybrid systems can be a good solution for small-medium size applications of distributed generation thanks to their high efficiency and their high fuel flexibility. Fueling these systems with raw biogas coming from biomass gasification makes them also completely renewable, but it introduces a high variability of performance due to the syngas composition fluctuations. For this reason, this work pursues the aim of realizing a robust system optimization, necessary to obtain the best design and ensure high efficiency combined with low variability. To do this, a co-flow, planar, anode supported SOFC Simulink model was used. Moreover, a related surrogate model was created to decrease the computational time and increase exponentially the number of simulations. To calculate the robust optimum design, the Monte Carlo method was used, simulating the syngas composition distribution with 2000 points and to the operating envelope with 5000 input combinations. Mean value and standard deviation in system efficiency were used to select a Pareto front. The robust points turned out to be those with low electric load, small-medium pressure, and high temperature, while maximum efficiency points were characterized by higher pressure levels. The smaller standard deviation at lower pressure was shown to be linked to the bottoming cycle operation and in particular to the gas turbine off-design condition. This difference between the two design conditions (robust optimum and efficiency optimum) confirmed the importance of this optimization process and the influence of fuel composition on system performance.

The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine may confer cross-protection against viral diseases in adults. This study evaluated BCG vaccine cross-protection in adults with convalescent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).This was a multicenter, prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind phase III study (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04369794).University Community Health Center and Municipal Outpatient Center in South America.a total of 378 adult patients with convalescent COVID-19 were included.single intradermal BCG vaccine (n = 183) and placebo (n = 195).the primary outcome was clinical evolution. Other outcomes included adverse events and humoral immune responses for up to 6 months.A significantly higher proportion of BCG patients with anosmia and ageusia recovered at the 6-week follow-up visit than placebo (anosmia: 83.1% vs. 68.7% healed, p = 0.043, number needed to treat [NNT] = 6.9; ageusia: 81.2% vs. 63.4% healed, p = 0.032, NNT = 5.6). BCG also prevented the appearance of ageusia in the following weeks: seven in 113 (6.2%) BCG recipients versus 19 in 126 (15.1%) placebos, p = 0.036, NNT = 11.2. BCG did not induce any severe or systemic adverse effects. The most common and expected adverse effects were local vaccine lesions, erythema (n = 152; 86.4%), and papules (n = 111; 63.1%). Anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 humoral response measured by N protein immunoglobulin G titer and seroneutralization by interacting with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor suggest that the serum of BCG-injected patients may neutralize the virus at lower specificity; however, the results were not statistically significant.BCG vaccine is safe and offers cross-protection against COVID-19 with potential humoral response modulation.No severely ill patients were included.

Artificial intelligence (AI)‐based systems applied to histopathology whole‐slide images have the potential to improve patient care through mitigation of challenges posed by diagnostic variability, histopathology caseload, and shortage of pathologists. We sought to define the performance of an AI‐based automated prostate cancer detection system, Paige Prostate, when applied to independent real‐world data. The algorithm was employed to classify slides into two categories: benign (no further review needed) or suspicious (additional histologic and/or immunohistochemical analysis required). We assessed the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values (PPVs), and negative predictive values (NPVs) of a local pathologist, two central pathologists, and Paige Prostate in the diagnosis of 600 transrectal ultrasound‐guided prostate needle core biopsy regions (‘part‐specimens’) from 100 consecutive patients, and to ascertain the impact of Paige Prostate on diagnostic accuracy and efficiency. Paige Prostate displayed high sensitivity (0.99; CI 0.96–1.0), NPV (1.0; CI 0.98–1.0), and specificity (0.93; CI 0.90–0.96) at the part‐specimen level. At the patient level, Paige Prostate displayed optimal sensitivity (1.0; CI 0.93–1.0) and NPV (1.0; CI 0.91–1.0) at a specificity of 0.78 (CI 0.64–0.89). The 27 part‐specimens considered by Paige Prostate as suspicious, whose final diagnosis was benign, were found to comprise atrophy (n = 14), atrophy and apical prostate tissue (n = 1), apical/benign prostate tissue (n = 9), adenosis (n = 2), and post‐atrophic hyperplasia (n = 1). Paige Prostate resulted in the identification of four additional patients whose diagnoses were upgraded from benign/suspicious to malignant. Additionally, this AI‐based test provided an estimated 65.5% reduction of the diagnostic time for the material analyzed. Given its optimal sensitivity and NPV, Paige Prostate has the potential to be employed for the automated identification of patients whose histologic slides could forgo full histopathologic review. In addition to providing incremental improvements in diagnostic accuracy and efficiency, this AI‐based system identified patients whose prostate cancers were not initially diagnosed by three experienced histopathologists. © 2021 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

This paper reports on the news about refractive index measurements and spectroscopic features of thin films, which can be applied as optical planar waveguides, focusing on their manufacturing processes, designs, and possible applications as optical amplifiers and sensors. Er3+-doped SiO2–Ta2O5 planar waveguides, with Si/Ta ratios of 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, and 50:50, were prepared by a soft sol–gel process. Multilayer films were deposited by the dip-coating technique onto 10 μm SiO2–Si (100) p-type silicon and Si (100) silicon easily and successfully. The mechanisms of the densification process, porosity, and hydroxy group or water molecule occurrence have been accompanied by m-line and vibrational spectroscopy analyses. The thickness and refractive index values were used to understand better the influence of temperature and annealing time on the densification of the bulk films and the reduction of the pore volume as the tantalum oxide concentration increases. The refractive index shows the density of the films, and by the atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique, the films showed low surface roughness, achieving relatively high light confinement within the waveguide structure, and negligible optical loss due to surface scattering. Nanoparticle crystallization of Ta2O5 with size distribution ranging from 2.0 to 15.0 nm embedded in SiO2 was observed with size depending on annealing time and tantalum concentration. Intense and broadband emission positioned at 1550 nm, which is attributed to the 4I13/2 → 4I15/2 transition of Er3+ ions, was observed for all planar waveguides under excitation at 271, 272, and 278 nm. Depending on the porosity degree, the adsorption of H2O molecules occurs, changing the refractive index and contributing to the deactivation of excited states of Er3+ ions, making them an optical platform for use as an optical sensor for different species. Besides, the densified waveguides containing 20 or 30 mol % Ta exhibit high potential for applications as broadband optical amplifiers for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), optical sensing, or augmented reality.

Purpose: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was declared a global public health emergency. Determinants of mortality in the general population are now clear, but specific data on patients with breast cancer (BC) remain limited, particularly in developing nations. Materials and methods: We conducted a longitudinal, multicenter cohort study in patients with BC and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The primary end point was the proportion of patients on treatment for severe SARS-CoV-2 infection (defined as need for hospitalization) or early death (within 30 days of diagnosis). Data were evaluated sequentially in the following way: i) univariate Fisher’s exact test; ii) multivariable logistic regression analysis; and iii) multivariable logistic regression. In items i and ii only those with P< 0.1 are considered significant and in stage iii only those with p< 0.05 were the final significant variables. We divided patients’ data into three major variable domains: a) signs and symptoms; b) comorbidities; and c) tumor and treatment characteristics; in item ii each variable domain was tested separately, finally, in item iii the significant variables of all domains were tested together and we called it the integrative step. Results: From April 2020 to June 2021, 413 patients with BC and COVID-19 were retrospectively registered, of which 288 (70%) had an identified molecular subtype and 273 (66%) had stage information. Most patients were on active systemic therapy or radiotherapy (73.2%), most of them in the curative setting (69.5%). The overall rate of severe SARS-CoV-2 was 19.7% (95% CI, 15.3-25.1). In the integrative multivariate analysis, factors associated with severe infection were metastatic setting, chronic pain, acute dyspnea, and cardiovascular comorbidities. Recursive partitioning modeling used acute dyspnea, metastatic setting, and cardiovascular comorbidities to predict non-progression to severe infection, yielding a negative predictive value of 84.9% (95% CI, 78.9%-88.3%). Conclusion: The rate of severe COVID-19 in patients with BC is influenced by prognostic factors that partially overlap with those reported in the general population. High-risk patients should be considered candidates to active preventive measures to reduce the risk of infection, close monitoring in the case of exposure or SARS-CoV-2 -related symptoms and prophylactic treatment once infected. Citation Format: Fanny Cascelli, Matheus Costa e Silva, Rodrigo Dienstmann, Bruno L. Ferrari, Carlos Gil Ferreira, Max S. Mano, Jorge Canedo, Diego Cunha, Daniel Luiz Gimenes, Aline Goncalves. Determinants of severe COVID-19 infection in Patients with Breast Cancer from a Community Oncology Practice in Brazil [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-03-36.

Introduction Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a serious clinical problem that can be caused by some cytotoxic agents used in breast cancer (BC) treatment, most commonly seen following taxane-based therapy[1,2]. Several strategies have been studied for CIPN prevention and treatment, but, still, there is no standard recommendation, options are limited and results unsatisfactory [1]. Cryotherapy is a technique that consists of reducing the blood flow in a certain area of the body by cold temperatures, in order to limit the cytotoxic reach. A few studies have been conducted to analyze the safety and efficacy of this strategy in CIPN prevention and treatment, and results are controversial [3,4,5]. More data is needed to clarify cryotherapy role in this clinical context. Methods This is a retrospective analysis of 40 BC patients treated at a single Brazilian institution between December 2019 and June 2022, aiming at efficacy and safety of cryotherapy in the prevention and treatment of CIPN. Cryotherapy was administered by the Hilotherm Clinic Chemo HT02 device (Hilotherm GmbH - Oberwil bei Zug, Switzerland [6]). The procedure consisted of patients using glove and sock-like devices on hands and feet throughout the chemotherapy infusion. The devices were pre-cooled to 10oC and then put on patients 30 minutes before starting, till one hour after the end of chemotherapy infusion. A questionnaire, as proposed by Leonard et al [7], was administered to patients every cycle to assess the development and severity of CIPN symptoms. Statistical analyses were performed by using a Cox regression model. Results Of the 40 patients analysed, 33 (83.5%) underwent a taxane-based regimen. The median number of cryotherapy sessions was three (ranging from 1 to 12), and, when excluded patients who underwent only one session of cryotherapy, the median was 4 (range 2 to 12). 75% of the 40 patients underwent cryotherapy in all chemotherapy sessions, or were still receiving chemo with cryotherapy by the time of our analysis. 80% of those who left treatment did so after the first session (HR 40.44 (CI95: 8.34 – 196.1; p< 0.0001). CIPN was stable or better than the baseline status for 26 (87%) of the 30 patients that underwent more than 1 session of cryotherapy; only 1 (25%) of the four patients who developed CIPN worse than the baseline status had grade 2 symptoms. Conclusion Cryotherapy is a safe and tolerable strategy that can be used during chemotherapy for breast cancer. Our data suggests that this is an efficient approach to prevent and treat CIPN, but the retrospective nature of the study and the small sample size must be considered when interpreting the results. Finally, strategies must be developed to further improve adherence and tolerability, and prospective randomized trials are needed to confirm the efficacy of cryotherapy in this context. 1. Loprinzi et al. Prevention and Management of Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Survivors of Adult Cancers: ASCO Guideline Update. J Clin Oncol 38:3325-3348. 2020 2. Rivera et al. Chemotherapy-Associated Peripheral Neuropathy in Patients With Early-Stage Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review. JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst, 2018, Vol. 110, No. 2 3. Rosenbaek et al. Effect of cryotherapy on dose of adjuvant paclitaxel in early-stage breast cancer. Supportive Care in Cancer (2020) 28:3763–3769 4. Ruddy et al. Randomized controlled trial of cryotherapy to prevent paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy (RU221511I); an ACCRU trial. The Breast Volume 48, December 2019 5. Shigematsu et al. Cryotherapy for the prevention of weekly paclitaxel-induced peripheral adverse events in breast cancer patients. Support Care Cancer. 2020 6. https://www.hilotherm.com/en/about-hilotherm/ accessed on July 15 2022 at 23:03 7. Leonard et al. Survey of oxaliplatin-associated neurotoxicity using an interview-based questionnaire in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. BMC Cancer 2005, 5:116 Citation Format: Rafael B. Costa, Angélica Nogueira-Rodrigues, Claynner Paccely Oliveira Bessa, Rafaela Cristina Adalberto Menezes, Fernanda Coelho de Miranda Jorge Oliveira, Matheus Costa e Silva, Flávia Rocha Paes, Bruno L. Ferrari. Safety and efficacy of cryotherapy in the prevention and treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy in breast cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-04-01.

Evaluate tryptophan and thymine (TT) impact on carcinogenesis and intravesical BCG bladder cancer treatment.After identification of TT in vitro inhibitory effect in multiple cancer cell cultures, bladder cancer animal model was induced by MNU intravesical instillations and randomized into four groups: Control (Urothelial cancer was identified in 100%, 85.7%, 44.5%, and 37.5% of Control, TT, BCG, and BCG + TT groups, respectively. Cell proliferation marked by nuclear Ki-67 was higher in the Control compared to animals in the other groups (TT inhibit urothelial carcinogenesis and potentiate the intravesical BCG in the treatment of bladder cancer by reducing cell proliferation and activating TLRs.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The Brazilian Neonatal Resuscitation Program releases guidelines based on local interpretation of international consensus on science and treatment recommendations. We aimed to analyze whether guidelines for preterm newborns were applied to practice in the 20 Brazilian Network on Neonatal Research centers of this middle-income country. METHODS Prospectively collected data from 2014 to 2020 were analyzed for 8514 infants born at 230/7 to 316/7 weeks’ gestation. The frequency of procedures was evaluated by gestational age (GA) category, including use of a thermal care bundle, positive pressure ventilation (PPV), PPV with a T-piece resuscitator, maximum fraction of inspired oxygen (Fio2) concentration during PPV, tracheal intubation, chest compressions and medications, and use of continuous positive airway pressure in the delivery room. Logistic regression, adjusted by center and year, was used to estimate the probability of receiving recommended treatment. RESULTS For 3644 infants 23 to 27 weeks’ GA and 4870 infants 28 to 31 weeks’ GA, respectively, the probability of receiving care consistent with guidelines per year increased, including thermal care (odds ratio [OR], 1.52 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.44–1.61] and 1.45 [1.38–1.52]) and PPV with a T-piece (OR, 1.45 [95% CI 1.37–1.55] and 1.41 [1.32–1.51]). The probability of receiving PPV with Fio2 1.00 decreased equally in both GA groups (OR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.86–0.93). CONCLUSIONS Between 2014 and 2020, the resuscitation guidelines for newborns

Nitazoxanide (NTZ) has shown a promising antitumoral effect, the current study compared the anti-neoplastic effects of intravesical NTZ and BCG plus NTZ in NMIBC animal model. 30 rats, Fisher 344 were instilled with 4 intravesical doses of 1.5 mg/kg of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) every 15 days for BC induction. The animals were divided into 3 groups (Group BCG 106 UFC – 1 mg of BCG; Group NTZ – 300 mg/kg of NTZ; Group NTZ + BCG – simultaneous treatment of BCG and NTZ) and received weekly intravesical treatment for 6 consecutive weeks. Animals were submitted to ultrasound imaging and euthanasia, their bladders were collected and histopathological, immunohistochemical tests (ki67 e c-Myc) and Western Blotting (PI3K, mTOR, and p-4E-BP) were performed. Histopathological tests showed 66.67%, 62.5% and 37.5% incidence of BC in animals treated with BCG, NTZ, and NTZ + BCG, respectively. Nuclear positivity for ki-67 in BC animals were 12.4% (IC 10.1–14.6%), 13.2% (IC 10.5–15.9%) and 8.8% (IC 6.0–11.6%) in BCG, NTZ and NTZ + BCG group, respectively (p = 0.063). Between animals with carcinoma, c-Myc strong positive was 40.10% in NTZ, 32.2% in BCG and 19.90% in the NTZ + BCG group (p

Aim: To evaluate the antimicrobial, toxicity and cleaning effectiveness of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and maleic acid (MA) alone and combined with cetrimide (CTR). Methodology: Cytotoxic and genotoxic effects were assessed on Chinese hamster cells V79 using the MTT, clonogenic and micronucleus assays, respectively. The bacterial inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations (MIC and MBC, respectively) were determined on a strain of Enterococcus faecalis. Antimicrobial tests were performed on a biofilm model after treatment with the chelating agents by using a biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC) and confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) assays. Quantification of cell biomass and percentage of live and dead cells in the biomass were assessed for each group. The percentage reduction of accumulated hard-tissue debris (AHTD) after root canal preparation and final irrigation protocols was evaluated by micro-CT. Statistical tests of one-way analysis of variance (anova), Bonferroni test, Kruskal–Wallis test, Dunn’s multiple comparison test and Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank tests were used. Results: Cetrimide alone as well as in combination with EDTA and MA at dilutions of 1/10 and 1/100 was significantly more toxic as compared to untreated controls (P

INTRODUCTION: The obesity/overweight is closely related to poorer breast cancer prognosis, as well as higher mortality rates. In postmenopausal women, the main source of estrogen is in the adipose tissue. Due to that, overweight/obesity leads to an increase in breast cancer development and disease progression. This is a consequence of not only to high estrogen levels, but also to an increase in circulating factors that influence in inflammatory pathway activations and insulin resistance increase. OBJECTIVES: This study aims at analyzing weight and body composition variation in breast cancer women under nutritional monitoring during adjuvant chemotherapy (CT). METHOD/DESIGN: This is an observational, prospective study with estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone receptor (PR) positives, HER2 negative breast cancer women, who underwent adjuvant CT, from 07/17/2018 to 06/19/2019. Nutritionists followed up these patients during all of CT cycles, and data on body composition were collected through bioelectric impedance in the first and last days of chemotherapy. In between cycles, body weight assessments, nutritional guidelines orientations adherence were checked against the information, which had been offered. RESULTS: 51 women were selected and 4 excluded according to study criteria (3 patients turned HER2 positive by FISH and 1 patient had metastatic cancer confirmation). By the data analysis, 36 patients completed chemotherapy. The CT regimens used were doxorrubicin, cyclophosphamide and paclitaxel (ACT) (59%), AC plus docetaxel (4%), cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and Fluorouracil (CMF) (10%), AC (6%) and docetaxel and cyclophosphamide (TC) (21%). The mean age was 51 years, with 12 women aged ≥ 60 years. At the beginning the mean Body Mass Index (BMI) was 27.94 kg / m2. 37% of them were classified as eutrophic, 33% were overweight and 30% obese, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Weight gain was observed in 64% of patients, with a significant increase in lean mass (kg) as well as body water (in 75% of patients). There was a reduction in fat percentage due to the reduction of fat mass in kilos (52.8% of patients) and the increase of lean mass (kg). The mean BMI at the end of treatment was 27.08 kg / m2, with a decrease in obesity and eutrophic index (reduction of 5.8% and 32.9%, respectively) and an increase in overweight by 41.7%. If considered the weight variation per CT protocol, the women submitted to the ACT scheme had a higher prevalence of weight gain, distributed in lean mass (80%), body water (75%) and fat mass reduction in 55% of these patients. On the other hand, there was a reduction in the mean of BMI value between the first evaluation (26.7 kg / m2) and the last one (22.4 kg / m2), as well as a lower fat mass in 62.5% of women who were submitted to TC protocol. In addition, in CMF and AC protocol, only one patient in each regimen finished the treatment until the deadline. In this case, the results were immature and not been reported in this abstract. CONCLUSIONS: There was an improvement in body composition, considering lean and fat mass in the study population, probably due to the nutritional monitoring during all cycles of chemotherapy. Nutritional therapy certainly influenced adherence to better eating habits. Full data of the 51 patients will be presented during the meeting. It should reinforce the need of developing prospective controlled studies, targeting nutritional intervention in breast cancer treatment. Citation Format: Flavia Rocha Paes, Anna Nogueira Verano, Julia SM de Sá, Rafaela M Peixoto, Juliana CO Pena, Maria Clara A Zocrato, Patricia C Christo, Fernanda CMJ Oliveira, Bruno L Ferrari. Weight and body composition’s analysis in chemotherapy-treated women with breast cancer under nutritional follow up in a private oncology service in Brazil [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2019 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2019 Dec 10-14; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-18-07.

The current projects of future X-rays space telescopes foresee high resolving power transition edge sensor (TES) micro-calorimeters arrays as focal plane instrument. In order to full exploit their sensitivity in the space environment, they need an anticoincidence detector to reject the background due to cosmic charged particles. High-energy protons (> 150 MeV) and other charged particle may release in the X-ray calorimeter, the same energy of the X-rays sources under observation. We report the description of the last prototype based on TES calorimeter where a 1-cm2 silicon chip is used as both substrate and absorber. The readout is made of 96 iridium/gold TESs uniformly distributed on its surface and parallel wired. In this paper, we will describe the design, with the preliminary phonon dynamics simulation, the fabrication, of first demonstration model for the ATHENA space telescope project.

The ATHENA observatory is the second large class ESA mission to be launched on 2031 at L2 orbit. One of the two onboard instruments is X-IFU, a TES-based kilo-pixel array able to perform simultaneous high-grade energy spectroscopy (FWHM 2.5 eV@7 keV) and imaging over the 5' field of view. The X-IFU sensitivity is degraded by primary particle background of both solar and galactic cosmic ray (GCR) origins, and by secondary electrons produced by primaries, interacting with the materials surrounding the detector: These particles cannot be distinguished by the scientific photons, thus degrading the instrument performance. Results from studies regarding the GCR component performed by Geant4 simulations address the necessity to use background reduction techniques to enable the study of several key science topics. This is feasible by combining an active Cryogenic AntiCoincidence detector (CryoAC) and a passive electron shielding to reach the required residual particle background of 0.005 cts/cm2/s/keV inside the 2-10 keV scientific energy band. The CryoAC is a four-pixel detector made of Si-suspended absorbers sensed by a network of IrAu TESes and placed at a distance < 1 mm below the TES array. Here we will provide an overview of the CryoAC program, starting with some details on the background assessment having impacts on the CryoAC design; then, we continue with its design concept including electronics and the Demonstration Model results, to conclude with programmatic aspects.

The Ferrari-Spohn diffusion process arises as limit process for the 2D Ising model as well as random walks with area penalty. Motivated by the 3D Ising model, we consider $M$ such diffusions conditioned not to intersect. We show that the top process converges to the Airy$_2$ process as $M\to\infty$. We then explain the relation with the 3D Ising model and present some conjectures about it., Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX

We study the decay of the covariance of the Airy$_1$ process, $\mathcal{A}_1$, a stationary stochastic process on $\mathbb{R}$ that arises as a universal scaling limit in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. We show that the decay is super-exponential and determine the leading order term in the exponent by showing that $\textrm{Cov}(\mathcal{A}_1(0),\mathcal{A}_1(u))= e^{-(\frac{4}{3}+o(1))u^3}$ as $u\to\infty$. The proof employs a combination of probabilistic techniques and integrable probability estimates. The upper bound uses the connection of $\mathcal{A}_1$ to planar exponential last passage percolation and several new results on the geometry of point-to-line geodesics in the latter model which are of independent interest; while the lower bound is primarily analytic, using the Fredholm determinant expressions for the two point function of the Airy$_1$ process together with the FKG inequality., Comment: 51 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX

OBJECTIVE This study explored the impact of time-restricted eating (TRE) versus standard dietary advice (SDA) on bone health. METHODS Adults with ≥1 component of metabolic syndrome were randomized to TRE (ad libitum eating within 12 hours) or SDA (food pyramid brochure). Bone turnover markers and bone mineral content/density by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry were assessed at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Statistical analyses were performed in the total population and by weight loss response. RESULTS In the total population (n = 42, 76% women, median age 47 years [IQR: 31-52]), there were no between-group differences (TRE vs. SDA) in any bone parameter. Among weight loss responders (≥0.6 kg weight loss), the bone resorption marker β-carboxyterminal telopeptide of type I collagen tended to decrease after TRE but increase after SDA (between-group differences p = 0.041), whereas changes in the bone formation marker procollagen type I N-propeptide did not differ between groups. Total body bone mineral content decreased after SDA (p = 0.028) but remained unchanged after TRE (p = 0.31) in weight loss responders (between-group differences p = 0.028). Among nonresponders (

Aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are both associated with reduced quantity and quality of the deepest stage of sleep, called slow-wave-sleep (SWS). Slow-wave-sleep deficits have been shown to worsen AD symptoms and prevent healthy aging. However, the mechanism remains poorly understood due to the lack of animal models in which SWS can be specifically manipulated. Notably, a mouse model of SWS enhancement has been recently developed in adult mice. As a prelude to studies assessing the impact of SWS enhancement on aging and neurodegeneration, we first asked whether SWS can be enhanced in animal models of aging and AD. The chemogenetic receptor hM3Dq was conditionally expressed in GABAergic neurons of the parafacial zone of aged mice and AD (APP/PS1) mouse model. Sleep–wake phenotypes were analyzed in baseline condition and following clozapine-N-oxide (CNO) and vehicle injections. Both aged and AD mice display deficits in sleep quality, characterized by decreased slow wave activity. Both aged and AD mice show SWS enhancement following CNO injection, characterized by a shorter SWS latency, increased SWS amount and consolidation, and enhanced slow wave activity, compared with vehicle injection. Importantly, the SWS enhancement phenotypes in aged and APP/PS1 model mice are comparable to those seen in adult and littermate wild-type mice, respectively. These mouse models will allow investigation of the role of SWS in aging and AD, using, for the first time, gain-of SWS experiments.

Evaluate tryptophan and thymine (TT) impact on carcinogenesis and intravesical BCG bladder cancer treatment. After identification of TT in vitro inhibitory effect in multiple cancer cell cultures, ...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) is a key urothelial trigger for innate immune response and its gene polymorphism and expression are inversely associated to bladder cancer (B...

The different stages of the life cycle of parasites are important components of ecosystems. Changes in environmental conditions may affect free-living stages, host–parasite interactions and ecosystem functioning. The larvae of Chordodes nobilii, which belongs to the parasitic phylum Nematomorpha, are susceptible to extreme temperatures and different pollutants, but the effects of pH and moderate temperature variations have not been evaluated yet. Our objective was to assess the effect of temperature, pH and their interaction on the infectivity of C. nobilii larvae to Aedes aegypti larvae over time. Larvae were treated with factorial combinations of temperature (18, 23 and 28°C), pH (7, 8 and 9) and time periods (24 and 48 h). Results show a highly significant interaction among all variables. The highest infectivity was recorded at 18°C and pH 7 at 24 and 48 h, and the lowest one at 28°C and pH 8 at 24 and 48 h. Infectivity differed significantly among the three temperatures only at pH 8 and 48 h, decreasing with increasing temperature. Our study is the first report of the effect of pH on a Nematomorpha species and suggests that the infectivity of C. nobilii larvae may be affected negatively by an increase in temperature and its interaction with pH and time. Since parasites must be considered for a better understanding of the effects of stressors on freshwater ecosystems, our results may help in the design and analysis of studies of anthropogenic impact.

PurposeTo develop a reliable tool that predicts which patients are most likely to be COVID-19 positive and which ones have an increased risk of hospitalization.MethodsFrom February 2020 to April 2021, trained nurses recorded age, gender, and symptoms in an outpatient COVID-19 testing center. All positive patients were followed up by phone for 14 days or until symptom-free. We calculated the symptoms odds ratio for positive results and hospitalization and proposed a “random forest” machine-learning model to predict positive testing.ResultsA total of 8,998 patients over 16 years old underwent COVID-19 RT-PCR, with 1,914 (21.3%) positives. Fifty patients needed hospitalization (2.6% of positives), and three died (0.15%). Most common symptoms were: cough, headache, sore throat, coryza, fever, myalgia (57%, 51%, 44%, 36%, 35%, 27%, respectively). Cough, fever, and myalgia predicted positive COVID-19 test, while others behaved as protective factors. The best predictors of positivity were fever plus anosmia/ageusia (OR=6.31), and cough plus anosmia/ageusia (OR=5.82), both pConclusionPresent study and algorithm may help identify patients at higher risk of having SARS-COV-2 (online calculator http://wdchealth.covid-map.com/shiny/calculator/), and also disease severity and hospitalization based on symptoms presence, pattern, and duration, which can help physicians and health care providers.

IntroductionHeath care workers with direct (HCW-D) or indirect (HCW-A) patient contact represent 4.2% to 17.8% of COVID-19 cases. We evaluate the temporal COVID-19 infection behavior among HCW-D, HCW-A, and non-HCW.MethodsFrom February 2020 to April 2021, trained nurses recorded age, gender, occupation, and symptoms in a COVID-19 testing outpatient health center. We allocated data into weekly time fractals and calculated the proportion of COVID-19 positive among HCW vs. non-HCW and incorporated an ARFIMA model (traditionally used in weather forecast) to predict future cases of COVID-19.ResultsAmong 8,998 COVID-19 RT-PCR tests, 3,462 (42%) patients were HCW-D, and 933 (11%) were HCW-A. Overall, 1,914 (21.3%) returned positive, representing 27%, 25% and 19% of HCW-D, HCW-A and non-HCW, respectively. HCW-D or HCW-A were significantly more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than non-HCW (OR=1.5, pConclusionHCW have a sustained 50% higher risk of COVID-19 positivity in the pandemic. Time-series analysis showed a long-memory infection pattern with virus spread mainly among HCWs before the general population. The toolhttp://wdchealth.covid-map.com/shiny/covid-map/will be updated according to population previous infection and vaccination impact.

Chemogenetics is a powerful tool to study the role of specific neuronal populations in physiology and diseases. Of particular interest, in mice, acute and specific activation of parafacial zone (PZ) GABAergic neurons expressing the Designer Receptors Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADD) hM3Dq (PZThe present study is designed to validate the use of alternative DREADDs ligands-deschloroclozapine (DCZ) and compound 21 (C21)-and a new administration route, the voluntary oral administration.We show that IP injections of DCZ and C21 dose-dependently enhance SWS in PZTherefore, DCZ and C21 are powerful alternatives to the use of CNO. Moreover, the voluntary oral administration is suitable for repeated dosing of DREADDs ligands.

During the last decades there has been a rise of awareness regarding the necessity to increase energy systems efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. These goals could be partially achieved through a greater use of gas turbine - solid oxide fuel cell hybrid systems to generate both electric power and heat. However, this kind of systems are known to be delicate, especially due to the fragility of the cell, which could be permanently damaged if its temperature and pressure levels exceed their operative limits. This could be caused by degradation of a component in the system (e.g. the turbomachinery), but also by some sensor fault which leads to a wrong control action. To be considered commercially competitive, these systems must guarantee high reliability and their maintenance costs must be minimized. Thus, it is necessary to integrate these plants with an automated diagnosis system capable to detect degradation levels of the many components (e.g. turbomachinery and fuel cell stack) in order to plan properly the maintenance operations, and also to recognize a sensor fault. This task can be very challenging due to the high complexity of the system and the interactions between its components. Another difficulty is related to the lack of sensors, which is common on commercial power plants, and makes harder the identification of faults in the system. This paper aims to develop and test Bayesian belief network based diagnosis methods, which can be used to predict the most likely degradation levels of turbine, compressor and fuel cell in a hybrid system on the basis of different sensors measurements. The capability of the diagnosis systems to understand if an abnormal measurement is caused by a component degradation or by a sensor fault is also investigated. The data used both to train and to test the networks is generated from a deterministic model and later modified to consider noise or bias in the sensors. The application of Bayesian belief networks to fuel cell - gas turbine hybrid systems is novel, thus the results obtained from this analysis could be a significant starting point to understand their potential. The diagnosis systems developed for this work provide essential information regarding levels of degradation and presence of faults in gas turbine, fuel cell and sensors in a fuel cell – gas turbine hybrid system. The Bayesian belief networks proved to have a good level of accuracy for all the scenarios considered, regarding both steady state and transient operations. This analysis also suggests that in the future a Bayesian belief network could be integrated with the control system to achieve safer and more efficient operations of these plants.

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-29T08:29:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-01-01 Background: The effects of antenatal corticosteroids (ANSs) on twins are not well established. Objective: To determine the impact of ANS use according to the number of fetuses. Methods: Retrospective cohort study of newborns between 23 and 33 weeks of gestational age, birth weight from 400 to 1499 g, without malformations, delivered at 20 public university hospitals from 2010 to 2014. Exposed group: Received ANS (any time, any dose) and no exposed group: no received ANS. Analysis of birth conditions and clinical outcomes. Association of variables, relative risks, and 95% confidence intervals estimated from the adjustment of log-binomial regression models. Results: About 7165 premature infants were analyzed: 5167 singleton, 937 twins, and 104 triplets. Characteristics of gestations with one, two, or three fetuses not receiving ANS were similar. Reduced hemodynamic instability in single and twins gestations in the first 72 h were observed (Adj R 2 Twins = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.69–0.86) (Adj R 2 Singles = 0.79; 95% CI = 0.62–0.99). Reduced peri-intraventricular hemorrhage (Adj R 2 Twins = 0.54; 95% CI = 0.36–0.78) (Adj R 2 singles = 0.54; 95% CI = 0.36–0.78); and early sepsis reduction on single and triplex gestations (Adj R 2 triplex = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.27–0.94) (Adj single R 2 = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.27–0.94) were observed. Conclusions: This study demonstrates ANS produces an important protective factor for severe intraventricular hemorrhage and hemodynamic instability in single and multiple pregnancies. ANS had a protective effect on death and birth conditions improvement just in single gestations. Regarding respiratory aspects was not observed the protective effect in the single or multiple gestations. Department of Pediatrics Ribeirão Preto Medical School University of São Paulo Department of Pediatrics Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Fernandes Figueira Institute Department of Pediatrics Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre Clinic Hospital Department of Pediatrics Universitary Hospital Pedro Rio de Janeiro State University Department of Pediatrics Federal University of Minas Gerais Department of Pediatrics Federal University of Uberlandia Department of Pediatrics Faculty of Medical Sciences of Minas Gerais Department of Pediatrics Sumare State Hospital State University of Campinas Pirajussara State Hospital Department of Pediatrics Federal University of São Paulo State Hospital Diadema Neonatal Unit São Paulo Federal University Department of Pediatrics Londrina State University Health Sciences Center Department of Pediatrics Federal University of Parana Department of Pediatrics Professor Fernando Figueira Institute of Integral Medicine Department of Pediatrics University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhão Department of Pediatrics Botucatu Medical School- São Paulo State University Julio de Mesquita Neto Department of Pediatrics Federal University of São Paulo Department of Pediatrics Children’s Institute São Paulo Medical School University of São Paulo Department of Pediatrics University Hospital São Paulo Medical School University of São Paulo Department of Pediatrics Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul Department of Pediatrics Campinas State University Department of Pediatrics Botucatu Medical School- São Paulo State University Julio de Mesquita Neto

Objective: To describe a new animal model of autochthonous urothelial cancer (UC) accessible by transurethral catheter in males, from induction to treatment. Seven-week-old male Fischer 344 rats were used. The first 10 animals were used to overcome and standardize the technical challenges of safe transurethral catheterization of male rats. The remaining 14 animals underwent intravesical N-Methyl-Nitrosourea (MNU) instillation for UC induction, of which six were randomized to undergo intravesical BCG treatment. The stretched male rat urethra travels 35 mm in a tortuous “S” shaped trajectory with a 180° angle behind the pubic bone, safely traversed by a 20G 36” 0.8 mm epidural catheter in a stretched, straightened urethra inserted after anterior dilation of the penile urethra with a 24G IV catheter. Histopathologic analysis of the urinary bladder demonstrated Stage pT1, pTa, and pTis lesions in the 8 controls, all with increased cell proliferation by Ki-67 expression and no pT1 or pTis in the animals 6 treated with BCG. This pioneering study describes an autochthonous, effective, and accessible transurethral animal model of immune-competent UC in males, and may help with understanding of the biology, immunology, and treatment of UC, which predominates in males.

Tumors escape from the immune system by decreasing CD8+ and increasing CD4+ T cells’ activity, druggable targets. Thermal ablation might activate tumor-specific T cells by raising the presentation of tumor-specific antigens and hindering tumor negative immune regulation. Our aim was to assess T cell infiltrate pre- and post-cryoablation in a prospective observational study. A total of 240 sextant prostate biopsies cores (12 cores/patient) were collected from 10 unilateral prostate cancer patients (T1c, PSA density