Air Pollution and Radiation Monitoring in Collective Protection Facilities.

It has become increasingly important to monitor environment contamination by such chemicals as chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and industrial toxic chemicals (TICs), as well as radiation hazards around and inside collective protection facilities. This is especially important given the increased risk of terrorist or military attacks. The Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry (MICR) has constructed and developed the ALERT device for the effective monitoring of these threats. This device uses sensors that detect chemical and radiological contaminations in the air. The CWA detector is an ion mobility spectrometer, TICs are detected by electrochemical sensors, and radiation hazards are detected via Geiger-Muller tubes. The system was designed to protect the crew from contamination. When chemical or radioactive contamination is detected at the air inlet for the shelter, air filtration through a carbon filter is activated. At this time, the air test procedure at the filter outlet is started to test the condition of the filter on an ongoing basis. After detecting contamination at the filter outlet, the system turns off the air pumping and the service can start the procedure of replacing the damaged carbon filter. This paper presents the results of laboratory testing of the ALERT gas alarm detector, which showed high measurements for important parameters, including sensitivity, repeatability, accuracy, and speed.

Deciphering bone marrow engraftment after allogeneic stem cell transplantation in humans using single cell analyses.

BACKGROUND: Donor cell engraftment is a pre-requisite of successful allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Based on peripheral blood analyses it is characterized by early myeloid recovery and T- and B-cells lymphopenia. However, cellular networks associated with bone marrow engraftment of allogeneic human cells have been poorly described. METHODS: Mass cytometry and CITEseq analyses were performed on bone marrow cells, three months post-transplant in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia. RESULTS: Mass cytometry in 26 patients and 20 healthy controls disclosed profound alterations in myeloid and B-cell progenitors, with a shift towards terminal myeloid differentiation and decreased B-cell progenitors. Unsupervised analysis separated recipients into 2 groups, one of them being driven by previous GVHD (R2 patients). We then used single-cell CITEseq to decipher engraftment, which resolved 36 clusters, encompassing all bone marrow cellular components. Hematopoiesis in transplant recipients was sustained by committed myeloid and erythroid progenitors in a setting of monocytes-, NK cells- and T-cells mediated inflammation. Gene expression disclosed major pathways in transplant recipients, namely, TNFα signaling via NFκ-B, and interferon-γ response. The hallmark of allograft rejection was consistently found in clusters from transplant recipients, especially in R2 recipients. CONCLUSION: Bone marrow cell engraftment of allogeneic donor cells is characterized by a state of emergency hematopoiesis in the setting of allogeneic response driving inflammation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable. FUNDING: This study has been supported by the French National Cancer Institute (Institut National du Cancer): PLBIO19-239 and by an unrestricted research grant by Alexion Pharmaceutical.

Factors associated with success of image-guided tumour biopsies: Results from a prospective molecular triage study (MOSCATO-01).

INTRODUCTION: MOSCATO-01 is a molecular triage trial based on on-purpose tumour biopsies to perform molecular portraits. We aimed at identifying factors associated with high tumour cellularity. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Tumour cellularity (percentage of tumour cells in samples defined at pathology) was evaluated according to patient characteristics, target lesion characteristics, operators' experience and biopsy approach. RESULTS: Among 460 patients enrolled between November, 2011 and March, 2014, 334 patients (73%) had an image-guided needle biopsy of the primary tumour (N = 38) or a metastatic lesion (N = 296). Biopsies were performed on liver (N = 127), lung (N = 72), lymph nodes (N = 71), bone (N = 11), or another tumour site (N = 53). Eighteen patients (5%) experienced a complication: pneumothorax in 10 patients treated medically, and haemorrhage in 8, requiring embolisation in 3 cases. Median tumour cellularity was 50% (interquartile range, 30-70%). The molecular analysis was successful in 291/334 cases (87%). On-going chemotherapy, tumour origin (primary versus metastatic), lesion size, tumour growth rate, presence of necrosis on imaging, standardised uptake value, and needle size were not statistically associated with cellularity. Compared to liver or lung biopsies, cellularity was significantly lower in bone and higher in other sites (P < 0.0001). Cellularity significantly increased with the number of collected samples (P < 0.0001) and was higher in contrast-enhanced ultrasound-guided biopsies (P < 0.02). In paired samples, cellularity in central samples was lower than in peripheral samples in 85, equal in 68 and higher in 89 of the cases. CONCLUSION: Image-guided biopsy is feasible and safe in cancer patients for molecular screening. Imaging modality, multiple sampling of the lesion, and the organ chosen for biopsy were associated with higher tumour cellularity.

Mineralogy and uranium leaching of ores from Triassic Peribaltic sandstones.

The recovery of uranium and other valuable metals from Polish Peribaltic sandstones were examined. The solid-liquid extraction is the first stage of the technology of uranium production and it is crucial for the next stages of processing. In the laboratory experiments uranium was leached with efficiencies 71-100 % by acidic lixiviants. Satisfactory results were obtained for the alkaline leaching process. Almost 100 % of uranium was leached with alkaline carbonate solution. In post leaching solutions only uranium and small amounts of vanadium were present.

Cabazitaxel Remains Active in Patients Progressing After Docetaxel Followed by Novel Androgen Receptor Pathway Targeted Therapies.

BACKGROUND: Cabazitaxel, abiraterone acetate (AA), and enzalutamide have been approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) following docetaxel chemotherapy. Whether taxanes and next-generation androgen receptor (AR) axis inhibitors are cross-resistant or not is a subject of debate. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the antitumour activity of cabazitaxel in mCRPC pretreated with abiraterone or enzalutamide. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The antitumour activity of cabazitaxel was assessed in patients with mCRPC and progressive disease after treatment with docetaxel and AA. In parallel, cabazitaxel antitumour activity was studied in enzalutamide-resistant models. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Changes in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and progression-free survival were used to determine the activity of cabazitaxel treatment. Cell proliferation, immunofluorescence, and AR transactivation assay were used in enzalutamide-resistant models. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS: A total of 79 patients who had progressive mCRPC after docetaxel (median: 8 cycles; range: 4-12 mo), and AA (median: 4.8 mo; range:1-55 mo) received cabazitaxel 25mg/m(2) every 3 weeks (median: 6 cycles; range:1-15 cycles). A PSA decline ≥30% was achieved in 48 patients (62%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 51-73), and a decline ≥50% was achieved in 28 patients (35%; 95% CI, 25-47). The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 4.4 and 10.9 mo, respectively. In vitro, cabazitaxel decreased cell viability in both enzalutamide-sensitive and enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer cells within the same range of concentrations. PC3, an AR-negative cell line, exhibited similar sensitivity to cabazitaxel. CONCLUSIONS: Cabazitaxel and AR-pathway inhibitors are not cross-resistant. Preclinical data suggest that cabazitaxel activity does not act mainly through AR axis inhibition. PATIENT SUMMARY: The antitumour activity of cabazitaxel, a chemotherapy agent, was studied in prostate cancer resistant to conventional hormonal therapy and to more recent endocrine therapies (abiraterone or enzalutamide). Cabazitaxel retained anticancer activity in more than half of the cases.

[Pericarditis as a consequence and first symptom of microcellular lung carcinoma--case report]. / Zapalenie osierdzia jako powiklanie i pierwszy objaw raka drobnokomórkowego oskrzeli.

A case of a patient suffering from Streptococcal suppurative pericarditis with cardiac tamponade and acute renal failure as a first symptom of disseminated lung cancer is presented. The examination of pericardial fluid only confirmed Streptococcal infection as a cause of exudative pericarditis. The neoplasmatic cells were not found in the examined fluid. Next, chest CT and bronchoscopy were performed due to the lack of clinical improvement, recurrence of severe pericardial effusion and enlargement of the upper mediastinum found on chest radiogram. CT and bronchoscopy allowed to establish the final diagnosis - disseminated lung cancer.

A multicenter blinded study evaluating EGFR and KRAS mutation testing methods in the clinical non-small cell lung cancer setting--IFCT/ERMETIC2 Project Part 1: Comparison of testing methods in 20 French molecular genetic National Cancer Institute platforms.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors have limited use as first-line treatment for mutated EGFR metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. The French National Cancer Institute has installed molecular genetics platforms implementing EGFR and KRAS testing. However, there is considerable uncertainty as to which detection methods should be applied for routine diagnosis. This study aimed to compare the EGFR and KRAS genotyping methods developed by the IFCT/ERMETIC2 network platforms in two blind panels: 25 samples of serial dilutions of cell line DNA (20 centers) and 74 FFPE lung tumor samples (10 centers). The best threshold of mutation detection on cell lines was obtained using allele-specific amplification-based technologies. Nonamplifiable tissue samples were significantly less common when using alternative testing versus direct sequencing [15%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 14%-16% versus 40%; 95% CI, 39%-42%; P < 0.001]. Mutated cases increased from 42% (95% CI, 31%-54%) to 53% (95% CI, 41%-64%), with three supplementary EGFR mutations (p.G179A at exon 18 and p.L858R and p.L861Q at exon 21) and five supplementary KRAS mutations, when using alternative testing instead of direct sequencing. False-positive results were observed when using a PCR-based sizing assay, high-resolution melting, or pyrosequencing. Concordance analysis returned good kappa test scores for EGFR exon 19 and KRAS analysis when comparing sequencing with alternative methods and revealed no difference between alternative techniques themselves.