ABSTRACT
We use burst vibrothermography to characterize, i.e., to determine the dimensions and location of buried vertical cracks of rectangular shape. Surface breaking as well as buried cracks are investigated. We calculate the surface temperature distribution generated by a rectangular vertical crack when excited by an ultrasound burst of constant power. By fitting synthetic data with added white noise, we analyze the effect of the burst duration on the accuracy of the retrieved dimensions and depth of the crack. We take data on samples containing artificial calibrated vertical cracks. The results of the fittings performed on these experimental data show that it is possible to characterize rectangular vertical cracks from burst vibrothermography experiments.
ABSTRACT
Despite risk-adapted treatment, survival of children with relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) remains poor compared with that of patients with initial diagnosis of ALL. Leukemia-associated genetic alterations may provide novel prognostic factors to refine present relapse treatment strategies. Therefore, we investigated the clinical relevance of 13 recurrent genetic alterations in 204 children treated uniformly for relapsed B-cell precursor ALL according to the ALL-REZ BFM 2002 protocol. The most common alterations were deletions of CDKN2A/2B, IKZF1, PAX5, ETV6, fusion of ETV6-RUNX1 and deletions and/or mutations of TP53. Multivariate analysis identified IKZF1 deletion and TP53 alteration as independent predictors of inferior outcome (P=0.002 and P=0.001). Next, we investigated how both alterations can improve the established risk stratification in relapsed ALL. Intermediate-risk relapse patients with low minimal residual disease are currently considered to have a good prognosis. In this group, deletion of IKZF1 and alteration of TP53 identify patients with significantly inferior outcome (P<0.001). In high-risk relapse patients, deletion of IKZF1 is strongly predictive of a second relapse after stem cell transplantation (P<0.001). We conclude that IKZF1 and TP53 represent relevant prognostic factors that should be considered in future risk assessment of children with relapsed ALL to indicate treatment intensification or intervention.
Subject(s)
Biomarkers, Tumor/genetics , Bone Marrow Neoplasms/diagnosis , Gene Deletion , Mutation/genetics , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/diagnosis , Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/genetics , Bone Marrow Neoplasms/genetics , Bone Marrow Neoplasms/mortality , Child , DNA, Neoplasm/genetics , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Ikaros Transcription Factor/genetics , Male , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/genetics , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/mortality , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/mortality , Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma/pathology , Prognosis , Risk Factors , Survival Rate , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/geneticsABSTRACT
We report internal laser cooling in Yb(3+) -doped KPb(2)Cl(5) . From the quantum efficiency values measured in the heating and cooling regions by use of the photothermal deflection technique, we have obtained a room-temperature cooling efficiency of 0.2% in a sample doped with ~5x10(19)ions/cm(3) . Excitation spectra obtained under high irradiation fluences show an excess of fluorescence with regard to those obtained at low fluences, which agrees with the prediction of a model based on photon-ion-phonon interaction.