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Purpose: We do not yet have validated biomarkers to predict response and outcome within hormone receptor-positive/HER2-positive (HR+/HER2+) breast cancer. The PAM50-based chemoendocrine score (CES) predicts chemo-endocrine sensitivity in hormone receptor-positive/HER2-negative (HR+/HER2+) breast cancer. Here, we evaluate the relationship of CES with response and survival in HR+/HER2+ breast cancer. Experimental Design: Intrinsic subtype and clinicopathologic data were obtained from seven studies in which patients were treated with HER2-targeted therapy either with endocrine therapy (ET) or with chemotherapy (CTX). CES was evaluated as a continuous variable and categorically from low to high scores [CES-C (chemo-sensitive), CES-U (uncertain), and CES-E (endocrine-sensitive)]. We first analyzed each dataset individually, and then all combined. Multivariable analyses were used to test CES association with pathologic complete response (pCR) and disease-free survival (DFS). Results: A total of 457 patients were included (112 with ET and 345 with CTX). In the combined cohort, CES-C, CES-U, and CES-E were identified in 60%, 23%, and 17% of the patients, respectively. High CES (i.e., CES-E) was associated with a lower probability of achieving pCR independently of clinical characteristics, therapy, intrinsic subtype, and study (adjusted OR = 0.42; P = 0.016). A total of 295 patients were analyzed for DFS with a median follow-up of 66 months. High CES was also associated with better DFS (adjusted HR, 0.174; P = 0.003) independently of pCR, clinical characteristics and intrinsic subtype. In patients with residual disease, the adjusted DFS HR of CES was 0.160 (P = 0.012). Conclusions: In HER2+/HR+ breast cancer, CES is useful for predicting chemo-endocrine sensitivity and provides additional prognostication beyond intrinsic subtype and clinicopathologic characteristics.

What we see aboveground depends on what occurs belowground. Plants health is strongly linked to the world of roots, a wonderful underground world where everything is dark but full of life. Rhizosphere is an open door to this world: it is a scientific and artistic exhibition made of a number of multimedia exhibits. Visitors can cross it and meet animals, giant molecules and microscopic organisms. They can observe, interact and deeply know them: a sensory and immersive experience that will allow everybody to live the delicate balances at the basis of soil fertility and of the food we produce and eat. The main task of Rhizosphere is to raise interest and awarness on these scientific aspects: - the soil where we walk and where plants grow harbors an incredibly huge number of invisible organisms, - plants produce a large amount of root exudates containing molecules very useful to microbial communities living in soil. In turn, these microrganisms provide several benefits to plants. This ecosystem (the totality of interaction between organisms and the mineral inorganic world, that is, between biotic and abiotic enviromnment) is fundamental for the fertility at the basis of life on earth: in summary what we see (and eat) on the surface is the result of what happens belowground. - scientific studies and innovative techniques are currently beeing developed to protect and preserve the soil ecosystem with the final aim to cultivate in a more efficient and sustainable way. Rhizosphere was launched at the Food & Science Festival in Mantova (May 17-19, 2019) under the umbrella of Fascination of Plants Day 2019 (http://www.plantday.it/).

Designing the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for exploration missions to the interplanetary space is a complex task beginning from the definition of the needs (e.g. diet, safety, radiation level,..) up to the selection of technology possibilities. In this context a major issue is the influence of crew number and mission duration to the ECLSS design. These are the main reasons why during mission studies the design of the ECLSS system mostly starts from scratch. Uncertainties about requirements, functions and technologies most suitable for the mission lead to a high number of iterations before a baseline design can be achieved. The aim of the SCALISS (Scaling of Life Support Systems) study was to understand and investigate in ECLSS functionality, technologies and scalabilities in order to produce a robust initial design starting point for future Phase-A studies with an automated tool. The developed Java-based ECLSS sizing tool is described in this paper together with the validation case study results. The possible evolutions and interactions with the ALiSSE tool are also described.

Plant cultivation in large-scale closed environments is challenging and several key technologies necessary for space-based plant production are not yet space-qualified or remain in early stages of development. The Horizon2020 EDEN ISS project aims at development and demonstration of higher plant cultivation technologies, suitable for near term deployment on the International Space Station (ISS) and from a long-term perspective, within Moon and Mars habitats. The EDEN ISS consortium, as part of the performed activities, has designed a plant cultivation system to have form, fit and function of an European Drawer Rack 2 (EDR II) payload, with a modularity that would allow its incremental installation in the ISS homonimous rack, occupying from one-quarter rack to the full system. The construction phase is started, and the developed system will be tested in a laboratory environment as well as at the highly-isolated German Antarctic Neumayer Station III, in a container-sized test facility to provide realistic mass flow relationships and interaction with a crewed environment. This paper describes the goals and system general design status of EDEN ISS ISPR plant growth facility.

The poor immunogenicity of the Neisseria meningitidis group B polysaccharide capsule, a homopolymer of α(2→8) sialic acid, has been attributed to immunologic tolerance induced by prenatal exposure to host polysialyated glycoproteins. Substitution of N-propionyl (N-Pr) for N-acetyl groups on the meningococcal B polysaccharide, and conjugation of the resulting polysaccharide to a protein carrier, have been reported to yield a conjugate vaccine that elicits protective Abs with minimal autoantibody activity. To characterize the protective epitopes on the derivatized polysaccharide, we isolated 30 anti-N-Pr meningococcal B polysaccharide mAbs. These Abs were heterogeneous with respect to complement-mediated bactericidal activity, fine antigenic specificity, and autoantibody activity as defined by binding to the neuroblastoma cell line, CHP-134, which expresses long-chain α(2→8)-linked polysialic acid. Eighteen of the Abs could activate complement-mediated bacteriolysis. Seven of these 18 Abs cross-reacted with N-acetyl meningococcal B polysaccharide by ELISA and had strong autoantibody activity. Thus, N-Pr meningococcal B polysaccharide conjugate vaccine has the potential to elicit autoantibodies. However, 7 of the 18 bactericidal mAbs had no detectable autoantibody activity. These Abs may be useful for the identification of molecular mimetics capable of eliciting protective Abs specific to the bacteria, without the risk of evoking autoimmune disease.

This work presents the design, fabrication and characterization of a Si-based microseparation module for liquid chromatography (LC), targeted for agrofood applications and in particular for wine quality monitoring. The microsystem chip is a Silicon/Pyrex structure realized by anodic bonding. The basic Si-chip modules are an open tubular microcolumn with inlet/outlet for fluidic connections, a platinum heater and a Pt three-electrode amperometric sensor. Analytical calculations and finite element analysis have been performed to optimize the microcolumn design. Microchannels and inlet/outlet have been fabricated by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) and tetra methyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) wet etching, respectively. The column has been functionalized with n-octyltriethoxysilane (C8-TEOS). Preliminary characterization tests of the microcolumn have been performed by evaluating the capability of the system to retain test solutions of acetic acid.