A population-based analysis of hematological malignancies from a French-West-Indies cancer registry's data (2009-2018).

BACKGROUND: A worldwide increased incidence of HM has been marked in recent decades. Therefore, to update epidemiological characteristics of HM in a French West Indies territory, we have performed analysis through Martinique's population-based cancer registry database. METHODS: We included cancer case data, from 2009-2018, coded in strict compliance with international standards set by International Agency for Research on Cancer. We calculated standardized incidence rates, cumulative rate (ages 0-74), and temporal trends for cases and deaths using the global population standard, by sex and five age group. Mortality rates were obtained from the French Epidemiology Center on Medical Causes of Death (CépiDc). RESULTS: One thousand forty seven new cases and 674 deaths from HM were recorded, of which 501 MM (47.8%), 377 LMNH (36%), 123 LAM (11.8%), and 46 LH (4.4%) were reported in both sexes. MM is one of the hematological malignancies with the highest incidence in Martinique among men. Temporal trends of incidence rates for all HM decreased overall in both sexes, except for MM in men. There is significant variability in mortality rates for both sexes. In addition, over the period, the temporal trends of mortality rates for all HMs has decreased overall. Gender-specific rates, between 2009 and 2018, showed that all lymphoid HM have a multimodal distribution curve that increased with age. CONCLUSIONS: Characteristics of HM in Martinique over the reporting periods differ from mainland France. Higher incidences have been observed, particularly for MM, and non-significant sub-mortality is observed compared to mainland France. Moreover, temporal distribution of mortality and incidence trends had decreased over the reporting periods except for MM. Our results showed similarities with African-Americans groups in United States and in particular an equivalence in the frequency distribution of diagnosed HM. However, SMR remains lower compared to US black ethnic groups. Our results contributed to expanding knowledge on the epidemiology of HM with Caribbean data.

Accurate generation of stochastic dynamics based on multi-model generative adversarial networks.

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have shown immense potential in fields such as text and image generation. Only very recently attempts to exploit GANs to statistical-mechanics models have been reported. Here we quantitatively test this approach by applying it to a prototypical stochastic process on a lattice. By suitably adding noise to the original data we succeed in bringing both the Generator and the Discriminator loss functions close to their ideal value. Importantly, the discreteness of the model is retained despite the noise. As typical for adversarial approaches, oscillations around the convergence limit persist also at large epochs. This undermines model selection and the quality of the generated trajectories. We demonstrate that a simple multi-model procedure where stochastic trajectories are advanced at each step upon randomly selecting a Generator leads to a remarkable increase in accuracy. This is illustrated by quantitative analysis of both the predicted equilibrium probability distribution and of the escape-time distribution. Based on the reported findings, we believe that GANs are a promising tool to tackle complex statistical dynamics by machine learning techniques.

Controlling the Shape of Small Clusters with and without Macroscopic Fields.

Despite major advances in the understanding of the formation and dynamics of nanoclusters in the past decades, theoretical bases for the control of their shape are still lacking. We investigate strategies for driving fluctuating few-particle clusters to an arbitrary target shape in minimum time with or without an external field. This question is recast into a first passage problem, solved numerically, and discussed within a high temperature expansion. Without field, large-enough low-energy target shapes exhibit an optimal temperature at which they are reached in minimum time. We then compute the optimal way to set an external field to minimize the time to reach the target, leading to a gain of time that grows when increasing cluster size or decreasing temperature. This gain can shift the optimal temperature or even create one. Our results could apply to clusters of atoms at equilibrium, and colloidal or nanoparticle clusters under thermo- or electrophoresis.

Stress-Induced Acceleration and Ordering in Solid-State Dewetting.

We report on the influence of elastic strain on solid-state dewetting. Using continuum modeling, we first study the consequences of elastic stress on the pinching of the film away from the triple line during dewetting. We find that elastic stress in the solid film decreases both the time and the distance at which the film pinches in such a way that the dewetting front is accelerated. In addition, the spatial organization of islands emerging from the dewetting process is affected by strain. As an example, we demonstrate that ordered arrays of quantum dots can be achieved from solid-state dewetting of a square island in the presence of elastic stress.

Shear dynamics of confined membranes.

We model the nonlinear response of a lubricated contact composed of a two-dimensional lipid membrane immersed in a simple fluid between two parallel flat and porous walls under shear. The nonlinear dynamics of the membrane gives rise to a rich dynamical behavior depending on the shear velocity. In quiescent conditions (i.e., absence of shear), the membrane freezes into a disordered labyrinthine wrinkle pattern. We determine the wavelength of this pattern as a function of the excess area of the membrane for a fairly general form of the confinement potential using a sine-profile ansatz for the wrinkles. In the presence of shear, we find four different regimes depending on the shear rate. Regime I. For small shear, the labyrinthine pattern is still frozen, but exhibits a small drift which is mainly along the shear direction. In this regime, the tangential forces on the walls due to the presence of the membrane increase linearly with the shear rate. Regime II. When the shear rate is increased above a critical value, the membrane rearranges, and wrinkles start to align along the shear direction. This regime is accompanied by a sharp drop of the tangential forces on the wall. The membrane usually reaches a steady-state configuration drifting with a small constant velocity at long times. However, we also rarely observe oscillatory dynamics in this regime. Regime III. For larger shear rates, the wrinkles align strongly along the shear direction, with a set of dislocation defects which assemble in pairs. The tangential forces are then controlled by the number of dislocations, and by the number of wrinkles between the two dislocations within each dislocation pairs. In this dislocation-dominated regime, the tangential forces in the transverse direction most often exceed those in the shear direction. Regime IV. For even larger shear, the membrane organizes into a perfect array of parallel stripes with no defects. The wavelength of the wrinkles is still identical to the wavelength in the absence of shear. In this final regime, the tangential forces due to the membrane vanish. These behaviors give rise to a non-linear rheological behavior of lubricated contacts containing membranes.

Cavity Formation in Confined Growing Crystals.

Growing crystals form a cavity when placed against a wall. The birth of the cavity is observed both by optical microscopy of sodium chlorate crystals (NaClO_{3}) growing in the vicinity of a glass surface, and in simulations with a thin film model. The cavity appears when growth cannot be maintained in the center of the contact region due to an insufficient supply of growth units through the liquid film between the crystal and the wall. We obtain a nonequilibrium morphology diagram characterizing the conditions under which a cavity appears. Cavity formation is a generic phenomenon at the origin of the formation of growth rims observed in many experiments, and is a source of complexity for the morphology of growing crystals in natural environments. Our results also provide restrictions for the conditions under which compact crystals can grow in confinement.

Hollow Rims from Water Drop Evaporation on Salt Substrates.

We report on the observation of thin salt shells that form at the periphery of evaporating pure water drops on salt. Shell shapes range from rings of inclined walls to hollow toroidal rims. We interpret this phenomenon as a consequence of a molecular coffee-stain effect by which the dissolved salt is advected toward the pinned contact line where an increased evaporation takes place. The subsequent salt supersaturation in the vicinity of the triple line drives the crystallization of the shell at the liquid-air interface. This interpretation is supported by a simple model for shell growth.

Pattern of care of prostate cancer patients across the Martinique: results of a population-based study in the Caribbean.

BACKGROUND: The French West-Indies rank first for both prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates. Analyzing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures among patients with prostate cancer, using data from a population-based cancer registry, is essential for cancer surveillance and research strategies. METHODS: This retrospective observational cohort study was based on data from the Martinique Cancer Registry. Records of 452 patients diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013 were retrieved from the registry. Data extracted were: socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, circumstances of diagnosis, PSA level at diagnosis, Gleason score and risk of disease progression. Stage at diagnosis and patterns of care among prostate cancer patients were analyzed. RESULTS: Mean age at diagnosis was 67 ± 8 years; 103 (28.5%) were symptomatic at diagnosis. Digital rectal exam was performed in 406 (93.8%). Clinical stage was available in 385 (85.2%); tumours were localized in 322/385 (83.6%). Overall, 17.9% were at low risk, 36.4% at intermediate and 31.9% at high risk; 13.8% were regional/metastatic cancers. Median PSA level at diagnosis was 8.16 ng/mL (range 1.4-5000 ng/mL). A total of 373 patients (82.5%) received at least one treatment, while 79 (17.5%) had active surveillance or watchful waiting. Among patients treated with more than one therapeutic strategy, the most frequent combination was external radiotherapy with androgen deprivation (n = 102, 22.6%). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides detailed data regarding the quality of diagnosis and management of patients with prostate cancer in Martinique. Providing data on prostate cancer is essential for the development of high-priority public health measures for the Caribbean.

Adhesion dynamics of confined membranes.

We report on the modeling of the dynamics of confined lipid membranes. We derive a thin film model in the lubrication limit which describes an inextensible liquid membrane with bending rigidity confined between two adhesive walls. The resulting equations share similarities with the Swift-Hohenberg model. However, inextensibility is enforced by a time-dependent nonlocal tension. Depending on the excess membrane area available in the system, three different dynamical regimes, denoted as A, B and C, are found from the numerical solution of the model. In regime A, membranes with small excess area form flat adhesion domains and freeze. Such freezing is interpreted by means of an effective model for curvature-driven domain wall motion. The nonlocal membrane tension tends to a negative value corresponding to the linear stability threshold of flat domain walls in the Swift-Hohenberg equation. In regime B, membranes with intermediate excess areas exhibit endless coarsening with coexistence of flat adhesion domains and wrinkle domains. The tension tends to the nonlinear stability threshold of flat domain walls in the Swift-Hohenberg equation. The fraction of the system covered by the wrinkle phase increases linearly with the excess area in regime B. In regime C, membranes with large excess area are completely covered by a frozen labyrinthine pattern of wrinkles. As the excess area is increased, the tension increases and the wavelength of the wrinkles decreases. For large membrane area, there is a crossover to a regime where the extrema of the wrinkles are in contact with the walls. In all regimes after an initial transient, robust localised structures form, leading to an exact conservation of the number of adhesion domains.

Nanoroughness Strongly Impacts Lipid Mobility in Supported Membranes.

In vivo lipid membranes interact with rough supramolecular structures such as protein clusters and fibrils. How these features whose size ranges from a few nanometers to a few tens of nanometers impact lipid and protein mobility is still being investigated. Here, we study supported phospholipid bilayers, a unique biomimetic model, deposited on etched surfaces bearing nanometric corrugations. The surface roughness and mean curvature are carefully characterized by AFM imaging using ultrasharp tips. Neutron specular reflectivity supplements this surface characterization and indicates that the bilayers follow the large-scale corrugations of the substrate. We measure the lateral mobility of lipids in both the fluid and gel phases by fluorescence recovery after patterned photobleaching. Although the mobility is independent of the roughness in the gel phase, it exhibits a 5-fold decrease in the fluid phase when the roughness increases from 0.2 to 10 nm. These results are interpreted with a two-phase model allowing for a strong decrease in the lipid mobility in highly curved or defect-induced gel-like nanoscale regions. This suggests a strong link between membrane curvature and fluidity, which is a key property for various cell functions such as signaling and adhesion.

Thixotropy and shear thinning of lubricated contacts with confined membranes.

We have modeled the nonlinear dynamics and the rheological behavior of a system under shear containing a membrane confined between two attractive walls. The presence of the membrane induces additional tangential forces on the walls that always increase the global friction. At low shear rates, the membrane exhibits chaotic dynamics with slow coarsening leading to thixotropy, i.e. to a slow decrease of the membrane-induced tangential forces on the walls. At intermediate shear rates, the membrane profile presents stationary periodic patterns. At higher shear rates, membrane dynamics are governed by a nonlinear evolution equation which is similar to the Kuramoto-Sivashinski equation, but with a sixth-order stabilizing term. The membrane experiences chaotic dynamics without coarsening. As a consequence of the nonlinear dynamics of the membrane at intermediate and large shear rates, the system exhibits shear thinning.

Giant slip at liquid-liquid interfaces using hydrophobic ball bearings.

Liquid-gas-liquid interfaces stabilized by hydrophobic beads behave as ball bearings under shear and exhibit a giant slip. Using a scaling analysis and molecular dynamics simulations we predict that, when the contact angle θ between the beads and the liquid is large, the slip length diverges as Rρ(-1)(π-θ)(-3) where R is the bead radius, and ρ is the bead density.

Domain convexification: A simple model for invasion processes.

We propose an invasion model where domains grow up to their convex hulls and merge when they overlap. This model can be seen as a continuum and isotropic counterpart of bootstrap percolation models. From numerical investigations of the model starting with randomly deposited overlapping disks on a plane, we find an invasion transition that occurs via macroscopic avalanches. The disk concentration threshold and the width of the transition are found to decrease as the system size is increased. Our results are consistent with a vanishing threshold in the limit of infinitely large system sizes. However, this limit could not be investigated by simulations. For finite initial concentrations of disks, the cluster size distribution presents a power-law tail characterized by an exponent that varies approximately linearly with the initial concentration of disks. These results at finite initial concentration open novel directions for the understanding of the transition in systems of finite size. Furthermore, we find that the domain area distribution has oscillations with discontinuities. In addition, the deviation from circularity of large domains is constant. Finally, we compare our results to experimental observations on de-adhesion of graphene induced by the intercalation of nanoparticles.

Increased Binding of von Willebrand Factor to Sub-Endothelial Collagen May Facilitate Thrombotic Events Complicating Bothrops lanceolatus Envenomation in Humans.

Consumption coagulopathy and hemorrhagic syndrome exacerbated by blood anticoagulability remain the most important causes of lethality associated with Bothrops snake envenomation. Bothrops venom also engages platelet aggregation on the injured endothelium via von Willebrand factor (vWF) interactions. Besides platelet aggregation, some Bothrops venom toxins may induce qualitative thrombopathy, which has been in part related to the inhibition of vWF activation. We tested whether B. lanceolatus venom impaired vWF to collagen(s) binding (vWF:CB) activity. Experiments were performed with B. lanceolatus crude venom, in the presence or absence of Bothrofav, a monospecific B. lanceolatus antivenom. Venom of B. lanceolatus fully inhibited vWF to collagen type I and III binding, suggesting venom interactions with the vWF A3 domain. In contrast, B. lanceolatus venom increased vWF to collagen type VI binding, suggesting the enhancement of vWF binding to collagen at the vWF A1 domain. Hence, B. lanceolatus venom exhibited contrasting in vitro effects in terms of the adhesive properties of vWF to collagen. On the other hand, the antivenom Bothrofav reversed the inhibitory effects of B. lanceolatus venom on vWF collagen binding activity. In light of the respective distribution of collagen type III and collagen type VI in perivascular connective tissue and the sub-endothelium, a putative association between an increase in vWF:CB activity for collagen type VI and the onset of thrombotic events in human B. lanceolatus envenomation might be considered.

Nonequilibrium cluster diffusion during growth and evaporation in two dimensions.

The diffusion of growing or evaporating two-dimensional clusters is investigated. At equilibrium, it is well known that the mean square displacement (MSD) of the cluster center of mass is linear in time. In nonequilibrium conditions, we find that the MSD exhibits a nonlinear time dependence, leading to three regimes: (i) during curvature-driven evaporation, the MSD shows a square-root singularity close to the collapse time; (ii) in slow growth or evaporation, the dynamics is in the Edwards-Wilkinson universality class, and the MSD shows a logarithmic behavior; (iii) far from equilibrium, the dynamics belongs to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class and the MSD shows a power-law behavior with a characteristic exponent 1/3. These results agree with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, and can be generalized to other universality classes.

Nonlinear wavelength selection in surface faceting under electromigration.

We report on the control of the faceting of crystal surfaces by means of surface electromigration. When electromigration reinforces the faceting instability, we find perpetual coarsening with a wavelength increasing as t(1/2). For strongly stabilizing electromigration, the surface is stable. For weakly stabilizing electromigration, a cellular pattern is obtained, with a nonlinearly selected wavelength. The selection mechanism is not caused by an instability of steady states, as suggested by previous works in the literature. Instead, the dynamics is found to exhibit coarsening before reaching a continuous family of stable nonequilibrium steady states.

Pressure-mediated doping in graphene.

Exfoliated graphene and few layer graphene samples supported on SiO(2) have been studied by Raman spectroscopy at high pressure. For samples immersed on a alcohol mixture, an electron transfer of ∂n/∂P ∼ 8 × 10(12) cm(-2) GPa(-1) is observed for monolayer and bilayer graphene, leading to giant doping values of n ∼ 6 × 10(13) cm(-2) at the maximum pressure of 7 GPa. Three independent and consistent proofs of the doping process are obtained from (i) the evolution of the Raman G-band to 2D-band intensity ratio, (ii) the pressure coefficient of the G-band frequency, and (iii) the 2D band components splitting in the case of the bilayer sample. The charge transfer phenomena is absent for trilayer samples and for samples immersed in argon or nitrogen. We also show that a phase transition from a 2D biaxial strain response, resulting from the substrate drag upon volume reduction, to a 3D hydrostatic compression takes place when going from the bilayer to the trilayer sample. By model calculations we relate this transition to the unbinding of the graphene-SiO(2) system when increasing the number of graphene layers and as function of the surface roughness parameters. We propose that the formation of silanol groups on the SiO(2) substrate allows for a capacitance-induced substrate-mediated charge transfer.

Equilibrium return times of small fluctuating clusters and vacancies.

The expected return time of a fluctuating two-dimensional cluster or vacancy to a given configuration is studied in thermodynamic equilibrium. We define a family of bond-breaking models that preserve the number of particles. This family includes edge diffusion and surface diffusion inside vacancies in the limit of fast particle diffusion and slow attachment-detachment kinetics. Within the frame of these bond-breaking models, the expected return time is found to depend on the energies of the configurations and on the energies of the excited states formed by removing a single particle from the cluster. High- and low-temperature regimes are studied. We clarify the conditions under which the return time is a nonmonotonous function of temperature: a minimum is found when the energy obtained by the average over the excited states of the configuration weighted by their attachment probabilities is lower than the energy averaged over all states. In addition, we show that the optimal temperature at which the return time is minimum is shifted to a higher temperature as compared to the temperature at which the equilibrium probability is maximum. This shift is influenced by the average curvature of the cluster edge, and is therefore larger for vacancies.

Crystal growth in confinement.

The growth of crystals confined in porous or cellular materials is ubiquitous in Nature and forms the basis of many industrial processes. Confinement affects the formation of biominerals in living organisms, of minerals in the Earth's crust and of salt crystals damaging porous limestone monuments, and is also used to control the growth of artificial crystals. However, the mechanisms by which confinement alters crystal shapes and growth rates are still not elucidated. Based on novel in situ optical observations of (001) surfaces of NaClO3 and CaCO3 crystals at nanometric distances from a glass substrate, we demonstrate that new molecular layers can nucleate homogeneously and propagate without interruption even when in contact with other solids, raising the macroscopic crystal above them. Confined growth is governed by the peculiar dynamics of these molecular layers controlled by the two-dimensional transport of mass through the liquid film from the edges to the center of the contact, with distinctive features such as skewed dislocation spirals, kinetic localization of nucleation in the vicinity of the contact edge, and directed instabilities. Confined growth morphologies can be predicted from the values of three main dimensionless parameters.

Interface collisions with diffusive mass transport.

We report on a linear Langevin model that describes the evolution of the roughness of two interfaces that move towards each other and are coupled by a diffusion field. This model aims at describing the closing of the gap between two 2D material domains during growth, and the subsequent formation of a rough grain boundary. We assume that deposition occurs in the gap between the two domains and that the growth units diffuse and may attach to the edges of the domains. These units can also detach from edges, diffuse, and reattach elsewhere. For slow growth, the edge roughness increases monotonously and then saturates at some equilibrium value. For fast growth, the roughness exhibits a maximum just before the collision between the two interfaces, which is followed by a minimum. The peak of the roughness can be dominated by statistical fluctuations or by edge instabilities. A phase diagram with three regimes is obtained: Slow growth without peak, peak dominated by statistical fluctuations, and peak dominated by instabilities. These results reproduce the main features observed in kinetic Monte Carlo simulations.