Prognostic value of mutations in TP53 and RAS genes in breast cancer.

The identification of molecular indicators of higher risk for specific subgroups of cancer patients may allow to develop more aggressive therapeutic strategies aimed at cases with the highest likelihood of response. This would avoid unnecessary toxicity to patients and alleviate the burden of cancer care for healthcare systems. Activated oncogenes and mutated tumor suppressor genes are causal determinants of the appearance and progression of tumors in man. They therefore represent potential indicators of prognosis and/or response to therapy. However, even in cases of well-studied oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes such as TP53 and RAS, their attributed prognostic and predictive value is often based on studies of insufficient statistical power that often lead to conflicting conclusions. Findings in favor or against the use of TP53 and RAS as prognostic and predictive indicators in breast cancer are reviewed and discussed here.

The determination of earthquake size and source geometry in the Mediterranean Sea

The deployment of modern digital seismic networks is changing the seismological practice of estimating the earthquake size and source geometry. Here we discuss applications and limitations of the principal parameters used in quantifying earthquakes: magnitude, fault plane solutions and moment tensors. We present a method for the rapid determination of the moment tensor using digital waveforms from a regional network, suitable for application to regional earthquakes (up to 3000 km distance) and to significant global events. The algorithms are routinely applied to significant Mediterranean and global events using digital data recorded by MEDNET; we show results for the largest global earthquakes of 1990 and for 20 significant Mediterranean earthquakes of 1990-1992, including the large shocks in Romania (May 30, 1990), Iran (June 20, 1990), Caucasus (April 29, 1991), Turkey (March 13, 1992) and Egypt (October 12, 1992). The MEDNET results are consistent with focal mechanisms and CMTs derived from global data and local networks, proving that an advanced regional seismic network is capable of providing accurate, rapid control of regional and global seismicity