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Discrimination between earthquakes and explosions is an essential component of nuclear test monitoring. However, the discrimination methods currently employed by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) are sometimes less effective for regional events. For instance, five seismic events whose epicenters lie near the Sea of Galilee were reported by the CTBTO in July of 2018. Those were relatively strong regional events, observed by primary stations hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter. Notably, three out of those five events were not screened out by the CTBTO as natural events. In this work, a diffusion maps-based discrimination method is configured and applied for the July 2018 Sea of Galilee seismic events. New features are introduced to the method, in order to enhance automation and computational efficiency and facilitate its use in operational settings. In the first of which, waveform segments are selected by relying on calculated arrivals rather than observed arrivals, alleviating the need for detection by a human analyst. In a further extension of the method, the low-dimensional diffusion maps representation from the training set is extended to a test set by means of geometric harmonics, relieving the need for the re-calculation of the diffusion maps coordinates for the entire data set as each new event comes in. Utilizing a network of three stations, we show that this machine learning method classifies as earthquakes all the July 2018 Sea of Galilee seismic events with durational magnitude Md > 2.3. In the context of the CTBT, the method can be used as part of an Expert Technical Analysis in order to aid the State Party concerned to identify the source of specific events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, an advanced machine learning technique named diffusion maps is applied for array-based earthquake-explosion discrimination. We rely on prior work that utilizes the diffusion map-based discrimination approach for data collected from a single seismometer. The discrimination task is an essential component of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty verification regime and since many of the International Monitoring System (IMS) stations consist of arrays, the extension to array based processing is of interest. The proposed method includes a pre-processing step, which constructs time–frequency representations of the P-wave and S-wave seismograms followed by a non-linear dimensionality reduction step. Discrimination is performed in the low-dimensional space. The performance of the presented algorithm is demonstrated on a data set from Southern Israel, recorded at the IMS seismic array of Mt. Meron (MMAI). We show that the diffusion maps-based approach enables to enhance the discrimination capabilities of seismic arrays, even when processing low-magnitude events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:KW-2478 is a novel non-ansamycin Hsp90 inhibitor with modest single-agent activity in relapsed/refractory myeloma but which shows synergistic antimyeloma activity with bortezomib (BTZ) in preclinical studies. This study determined the safety, preliminary clinical activity, and pharmacokinetics of KW-2478, an Hsp90 inhibitor, in combination with BTZ in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (MM).Methods:Phase I dose escalation determined the recommended phase II dose (RP2D) of KW-2478 plus BTZ, which was then used during phase II.Results:The maximum tolerated dose was not reached during phase I and the RP2D was KW-2478 175 mg m−2 plus BTZ 1.3 mg m−2 on days 1, 4, 8, and 11 every 3 weeks. In the efficacy evaluable phase I/II population treated at the RP2D (n=79), the objective response rate was 39.2% (95% confidence interval: 28.4-50.9%), clinical benefit rate 51.9% (40.4-63.3%), median progression-free survival 6.7 (5.9-not reached (NR)) months, and median duration of response 5.5 (4.9-NR) months. In the phase I/II safety population (n=95), the most frequently observed treatment-related grade 3/4 adverse events were diarrhoea, fatigue, and neutropenia (each in 7.4% of patients), and nausea and thrombocytopenia (each in 5.3%).Conclusions:KW-2478 plus BTZ was well tolerated with no apparent overlapping toxicity in patients with relapsed/refractory MM. The antimyeloma activity of KW-2478 in combination with BTZ as scheduled in this trial appeared relatively modest; however, the good tolerability of the combination would support further exploration of alternate dosing schedules and combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic acoustic-based vehicle detection is a common task in security and surveillance systems. Usually, a recording device is placed in a designated area and a hardware/software system processes the sounds that are intercepted by this recording device to identify vehicles only as they pass by. An algorithm, which is suitable for online automatic detection of vehicles, which is based on their online acoustic recordings, is proposed. The scheme uses dimensionality reduction methodologies such as random projections instead of using traditional signal processing methods to extract features. It uncovers characteristic features of the recorded sounds without any assumptions about the structure of the signal. The set of features is classified by the application of PCA. The microphone is opened all the time and the algorithm filtered out many background noises such as wind, steps, speech, airplanes, etc. The introduced algorithm is generic and can be applied to various signal types for solving different detection and classification problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a new model of myeloma bone disease in which β2m NOD/SCID mice injected with KMS-12-BM cells develop medullary disease after tail vein administration. Micro-computed tomography analysis demonstrated significant bone loss in the tibiae and vertebrae of diseased animals compared to controls, with loss of cortical bone (P<0.01), as well as trabecular bone volume, thickness and number (P<0.05 for all). Bone marrow of diseased animals demonstrated an increase in osteoclasts (P<0.01) and reduction in osteoblasts (P<0.01) compared to control animals. Both bone loss and osteoclast increase correlated with the degree of disease involvement. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were lentivirally transduced to express human osteoprotegerin (hOPG). Systemic administration of OPG expressing MSC reduced osteoclast activation (P<0.01) and trabecular bone loss in the vertebrae (P<0.05) and tibiae of diseased animals, to levels comparable to non-diseased controls. Because of its predominantly medullary involvement and quantifiable parameters of bone disease, the KMS-12-BM xenogeneic model provides unique opportunities to test therapies targeted at the bone marrow microenvironment.Leukemia (2007) 21, 2181–2191; doi:10.1038/sj.leu.2404814; published online 26 July 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results of the analysis of the state-of-the-art time-of-flight measurement technique with the use of long scintillation counters with a small cross section (the length of the counter far exceeds its width in the plane of the hodoscope and thickness along the beam direction), which are used as basic elements of time-of-flight detectors for large physical installations and intended for identifying secondary particles generated during collisions of high-energy particles. The following issues are considered in this review. Various methods for identifying particles are compared, and it is pointed out that the time-of-flight method has certain advantages for secondary particles with momenta higher than ∼3–5 GeV/ c. Some elements incorporated in scintillation counters and affecting its time resolution are considered: optical fibers, optical contacts in the scintillator-fiber-photodetector system, and high-frequency cables. Their characteristics are presented. The characteristics of all elements of a counter (scintillator, photodetector (PD), and electronics) and the processes occurring in them are discussed. The presented experimental data show that, under the conditions of high counting rates and strong magnetic fields, the working capacity of counters holds at a time resolution of ∼100–200 ps. The results of measuring the operating characteristics of counters are analyzed. The dependences of the time resolution on such variables as the coordinate of the particle transit through a counter along its length, the counter length, the light-absorption length in the scintillator, the quality of treatment of the scintillator’s surface, and the energy deposited by a particle in the scintillator substance are considered. The main characteristics of individual time counters and average parameters of time-of-flight detectors in certain physical facilities are presented. Possible ways to improve the time resolution and reduce it to ∼50–100 ps are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The HADES spectrometer and a time-of-flight detector based on long-sized (50–250 cm) scintillation counters are described. The detector is designed for identification of electrons, pions, and protons with momenta of 0.1–1.5 GeV/ c at a flight distance of 220–250 cm. The operating conditions are analyzed, and the requirements to the detector and counter design are formulated. The design of the counters and their arrangement in the spectrometer are considered. The results of experimental studies of such characteristics of long counters as the light attenuation length in a scintillator and temporal and spatial resolutions, dependeing on the location of the point of the particle’s hit on the counter, are presented. Analysis of the data has shown that the main factor determining the spatial resolution of long counters is the quality of the polishing of the side faces of the scintillators, which determines the effective (averaged over the scintillator side surfaces) coefficient of total internal reflection R. It is shown that, for R>-0.99, it is quite possible to achieve temporal and spatial resolutions of 100 ns and 2–3 cm, respectively, for scintillators with a length of up to 250 cm and a cross section of 1–20 cm2. Foreign and Russian photomultipliers were used in the counters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We report the case of a 46-year-old male who developed dermatomyositis and a sarcoid-like reaction in association with testicular relapse of multiple myeloma. The myositis progressed despite chemotherapy directed at the underlying malignant disorder and immunosuppressive treatment. There was, however, a dramatic and sustained response to high-dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation which resulted in resolution of the myopathy and partial resolution of the sarcoid-like reaction. This case report highlights the potential of autologous stem cell transplantation as treatment for para-neoplastic disorders associated with haematological malignancies. Bone Marrow Transplantation (2001) 27, 1215–1217. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]