Studying Tuff Rings and Volcanic Hazards in a Tropical Setting: The Case of the Batoke Tuff Ring, Limbe, SW Region Cameroon

In subtropical volcanic environments, there are often few accessible outcrops. These are often highly weathered and of very poor quality. Soil development is rapid (1 cm/y) and small eruptions are unlikely to be preserved in the geological record. Reconstructing past eruptions and assessing hazards is a challenge. Here, we studied a poorly outcropping tuff ring (very poor, incomplete sections) with the best outcrop observed at a beach cliff (up to ca. 5 - 10 m high) at Batoke, to the south of Mt Cameroon volcano. Mt Cameroon has a few tuff rings, currently of unknown ages, near the SW coast of Cameroon. In the Batoke case, the sequence is dominated by gently dipping tuff beds varying in the proportion of lithics, juvenile clasts, and accretionary lapilli (acc-laps). Several beds are close-packed with acc-laps of up to 10 - 15 mm diameter. Part of the section is gullied by mud flow deposits. The rocks are highly weathered but differential weathering enhances relationships. Quantitative data can be extracted from a detailed study of outcrops’ external surfaces. The preserved section is close to where the deposits were initially thickest and where acc-laps were most abundant and largest. There is an empirical correlation between maximum acc-lap size in the thickest outcrop and eruption column height. This and the deposit features suggest that the Batoke eruption was pulsating but dominated by fallout, with a water and ice-rich eruption column reaching 10 - 15 km high. Recycling of water drops and ice-coated fine ash accumulated during eruption. At switch off, wholesale gravitational collapse of this material produced the mud flows, which gullied the previously-laid down deposits. Such ash fall and mud flows can represent a substantial hazard, e.g. they can gully down through towns and roads and cut evacuation routes. This study illustrates how, at subtropical tuff rings, it is possible to extract key data needed for hazard assessment from only 1 - 2 poor outcrops.

Effect of osteoporosis and intervertebral disc degeneration on endplate cartilage injury in rats

Objective:To investigate the effect of osteoporosis and intervertebral disc degeneration on the endplate cartilage injury in rats.Methods:A total of 48 female Sprague Dawley rats(3 months)were randomly divided into Groups A,B,C and D with 12 rats in each group.Osteoporosis and intervertebral disc degeneration composite model,simple degeneration model and simple osteoporosis model were prepared in Groups A,B and C respectively.After modeling,four rats of each group at 12th.18th and 24th week were sacrificed,Intervertebral height of cervical vertebra C6/C7 was measured.Micro-CT was used to image the endplate of cephalic and caudal cartilage at C6/C7 intervertebral disc.Abraded area rate of C6 caudal and C7 cephalic cartilage endplate was calculated,and then C6/C7 intervertebral disc was routinely embedded and sectioned.stained with safranin O to observe histological changes microscopically.Results:At 12,18 and24 weeks,intervertebral disc height of C6/C7 were(0.58±0.09)mm,(0.53±0.04)mm and(0.04±0.06)mm in Group A rats,(0.55±0.05)mm,(0.52±0.07)mm and(0.07±0.05)mm in Group B rats.At 24th week.intervertebral disc height of Group A rats was significantly lower than that of Group B rats(P<0.05);intervertebral disc height of Groups A and B rats at each time point were significantly lower than that of Groups C and D(P<0.05).There was no significantly statistical difference of intervertebral disc height between Groups C and D(P>0.05).At 12 and 18 weeks,the abraded rate of C6 caudal and C7 cephalic cartilage endplate in Group A rats were significantly higher than that in Groups B.C and D rats(P<0.05);the abraded rate in Group B was significantly higher than that in Groups C and D(P>0.05).Microscopic observation of CT showed that ventral defects in C6caudal or C7 cephalic cartilage endplate in Groups A and B appeared after 12 weeks of modeling;obvious cracks were found in front of the C6 and C7 vertebral body,and cartilage defect shown the trend of"repairing"at 18 and 24 weeks after modeling.Conclusions:Intervertebral disc degeneration and osteoporosis can cause damage to the cartilage endplate.Co-existence of these two factors can induce more serious damage to the endplate.which has possitive correlation with intervertebral disc degeneration.Osteoporosis plays a certain role in intervertebral disc degeneration process,and accelerates the degeneration of intervertebral disc in a specific time window.

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage of the biliary system:Techniques,indications and future perspectives

Over the last decade, endoscopic ultrasound-guided biliary drainage(EUS-BD)has evolved into a widely accepted alternative to the percutaneous approach in cases of biliary obstruction with failed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography(ERCP). The available evidence suggests that, in experienced hands, EUS-BD might even replace ERCP as the first-line procedure in specific situations such as malignant distal bile duct obstruction. The aim of this review is to summarize the available data on EUS-BD and propose an evidence-based algorithm clarifies the role of the different EUS-BD techniques in the management of benign and malignant biliary obstructive disease.

FINDING PROJECTIONS ONTO THE INTERSECTION OF CONVEX SETS IN HILBERT SPACES. II.

We present a parallel iterative algorithm to find the shortest distance projection of a given point onto the intersection of a finite number of closed convex sets in a real Hilbert space ; the number of sets used at each iteration stept corresponding to the number of available processors, may be smaller than the total number of sets. The relaxation coefficient at each iteration step is determined by a geometrical condition in an associated Hilbert space, while for the weights mild conditions are given to assure norm convergence of the resulting sequence. These mild conditions leave enough flexibility to determine the weights more specifically in order to improve the speed of convergence.

Unresectable stage Ⅲ non-small-cell lung cancer: Have we made any progress?

Lung cancer is responsible for the most cancer deaths worldwide with an incidence that is still rising. One third of patients have unresectable stage ⅢA or stage ⅢB disease. The standard of care for locally advanceddisease in patients with good performance status consists of combined modality therapy in particular concurrent chemoradiotherapy. But despite a lot of efforts done in the past, local control and survival of patients with unresectable stage Ⅲ non-small-cell lung cancer(NSCLC) remains poor. Improving outcomes for patients with unresectable stage Ⅲ NSCLC has therefore been an area of ongoing research. Research has focused on improving systemic therapy, improving radiation therapy or adding a maintenance therapy to consolidate the initial therapy. Also implementation of newer targeted therapies and immunotherapy has been investigated as well as the option of prophylactic cranial irradiation. This article reviews the latest literature on improving local control and preventing distant metastases. It seems that we have reached a plateau with conventional chemotherapy. Radiotherapy dose escalation did not improve outcome although increasing radiation dose-intensity with new radiotherapy techniques and the use of newer agents, e.g., immunotherapy might be promising. In the future well-designed clinical trials are necessary to prove those promising results.

Real-life multi-center retrospective analysis on nivolumab in difficult-to-treat patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death worldwide.The landscape of the systemic treatment for advanced HCC is changing quickly,and recently,the standard of care became either atezolizumab plus bevacizumab or tremelimumab plus durvalumab in the single tremelimumab regular interval durvalumab regimen.Nivolumab monotherapy has proven to be effective sometimes for advanced HCC and could be a valuable treatment option for patients outside current treatment indications and reimbursement criteria for the standard of care.This is a particular population of interest.AIM To evaluate the real-world effectiveness of nivolumab monotherapy in patients with advanced HCC who are not eligible for other treatment.METHODS We conducted a retrospective,multicentric study including 29 patients with advanced HCC from 3 Belgian tertiary hospitals.All patients had had prior chemotherapy or were intolerant or ineligible for treatments.All study subjects received nivolumab 3 mg/kg in monotherapy,administered once every two weeks intravenously.Treatment continued until disease progression,severe adverse events or death.Data were retrieved from patients'medical records.The outcome parameters such as radiological response according to response evaluation criteria in solid tumors(RECIST)criteria,the biological response through the evolution of the alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)level,and clinical response considering both the Child–Pugh(CP)score and the World Health Organization(WHO)performance status(PS)were reported.A safety profile was also reported.Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS Statistics 27 statistical software package.RESULTS The radiological overall response rate(defined as complete or partial response according to the immune RECIST and modified RECIST criteria)to nivolumab monotherapy was 24.1%.The biological overall response rate(defined as a decrease of≥25%in AFP blood level)was 20.7%.Radiological and biological responses were significantly associated both with each other(P<0.001)and with overall survival(P<0.005 for radiological response and P<0.001 for biological response).Overall survival was 14.5 mo(+/-2.1),and progression-free survival was 10.9 mo(+/-2.3).After 4 mo of treatment,78.3%of patients remained clinically stable or even showed improvement in WHO PS.Grade 3 adverse events occurred in 17.2%of patients,none had grade 4 adverse events,and no patients ceased nivolumab due to adverse events.CONCLUSION Nivolumab monotherapy is a good treatment choice in frail patients with HCC who are ineligible for the standard of care or other validated systemic treatments.

Exposing hidden diversity by concordant genealogies and morphology—a study of the Lactifluus volemus(Russulales)species complex in Sikkim Himalaya(India)

Although Sikkim belongs to one of the Global Biodiversity Hotspots,little is known about its ectomycorrhizal fungi,and even less about the main genera of Russulales,i.e.Lactarius,Lactifluus,Multifurca and Russula.Combining a multilocus genealogical and morphological study,we aimed to document the diversity within Lactifluus volemus sensu lato of Sikkim Himalaya.We compared nuclear ITS and LSU rDNA,nuclear rpb1 and rpb2 protein-coding,and mitochondrial atp6 protein-coding genealogies to determine species boundaries.Interspecific relationships were inferred from the combined dataset.Bayesian and maximum likelihood single-locus genealogies are concordant and support recognition of six species.Three of these could be identified by unique morphological characteristics and are described as new species:L.dissitus,L.leptomerus and L.versiformis.

The contribution of the European Society for Soil Conservation (ESSC) to scientific knowledge, education and sustainability

Soil is an integral component of the global environmental system which supports the quality and diversity of terrestrial life on Earth.Therefore,it is vital to consider the processes and impacts of soil degradation on society,especially on the provision of environmental goods and services,including food security and climate change mitigation and adaptation.Scientific societies devoted to soil science play significant roles in reducing soil degradation and promoting soil conservation by advancing scientificknowledge,education and environmental sustainability.The ESSC was founded on 4 November 1988,with the aims to:1.Support research on soil degradation,soil protection and soil and water conservation.2.Provide a network for the exchange of knowledge about soil degradation processes and soil conservation research and practises.3.Produce publications on major issues relating to soil degradation and soil and water conservation.4.Advise regulators and policy-makers on soil issues,especially soil degradation,protection and conservation.The societal challenges that can be addressed through better soil protection,advancing knowledge and scientific approaches to soil protection and sustainable management,mean the ESSC embraces the on-going development,application,review and constructive criticism of highly innovative scientific soil conservation methods,In this context,the ESSC analyses and publicizes the roles and functions of soil in natural and human-modified systems and the functional optimization of soils to ensure sustainable environmental protection.'The thin layer of soil that forms a patchy covering over the continents controls our awn existence and that of every other animal of the land' (Rachel Carson (1962) in'Silent Spring).

REVIEW OF PARTICLE PHYSICS

The Review summarizes much of particle physics and cosmology. Using data from previous editions, plus 3,283 new measurements from 899 papers, we list, evaluate, and average measured properties of gauge bosons and the recently discovered Higgs boson, leptons, quarks, mesons, and baryons. We summarize searches for hypothetical particles such as heavy neutrinos, supersymmetric and technicolor particles, axions, dark photons, etc. All the particle properties and search limits are listed in Summary Tables. We also give numerous tables, figures, formulae, and reviews of topics such as Supersymmetry, Extra Dimensions, Particle Detectors, Probability, and Statistics. Among the 112 reviews are many that are new or heavily revised including those on： Dark Energy, Higgs Boson Physics, Electroweak Model, Neutrino Cross Section Measurements, Monte Carlo Neutrino Generators, Top Quark, Dark Matter, Dynamical Electroweak Symmetry Breaking, Accelerator Physics of Colliders, High-Energy Collider Parameters, Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, Astrophysical Constants and Cosmological Parameters. A booklet is available containing the Summary Tables and abbreviated versions of some of the other sections of this full Review. All tables, listings, and reviews （and errata） are also available on the Particle Data Group website： http ：//pdg. lbl. gov.

ACCELERATOR PHYSICS OF COLLIDERS

Revised August 2013 by M.J. Syphers （MSU） and F. Zimmermann （CERN）.29.1. Luminosity This article provides background for the High-Energy Collider Parameter Tables that follow. The number of events, Nexp, is the product of the cross section of interest,

STATUS OF HIGGS BOSON PHYSICS

Written November 2013 by M. Carena （Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the University of Chicago）, C. Grojean （ICREA at IFAE, Universitat Autbnoma de Barcelona）, M, Kado （Laboratoire de l＇Accelerateur Lineaire, LAL and CERN）, and V. Sharma （University of California San Diego）.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2014 EDITION OF THE REVIEW OF PARTICLE PHYSICS

899 new papers with 3283 new measurements Over 330 papers from LHC experiments （ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb）.

ATOMIC AND NUCLEAR PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS

Table 6.1 Abridged from pdg. ibl.gov/AtomicNuclearProperties by D. E. Groom （2007）. See web pages for more detail about entries in this table including chemical formulae, and for several hundred other entries. Quantities in parentheses are for gases at 20℃ and 1 atm, and square brackets indicate evaluation at 0℃ and 1 atm. Boiling points are at 1 atm.

PERIODIC TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS

Table 4.1.Reviced 2011 by D.E.Groom（LBNL）,and E.Bergren.

INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS(SI)

See ＂The International System of Units （SI）,＂ NIST Special Publication 330, B.N. Taylor, ed. （USGPO, Washington, DC, 1991）; and ＂Guide for the Use of the International System of Units （SI）,＂ NIST Special Publication 811, 1995 edition, B.N. Taylor （USGPO, Washington, DC, 1995）.

EXPERIMENTAL TESTS OF GRAVITATIONAL THEORY

Revised September 2013 by T. Damour （IHES, Bures-sur-Yvette, France）. Einstein＇s General Relativity, the current ＂standard＂ theory of gravitation, describes gravity as a universal deformation of the Minkowski metric：

HEAVY-QUARK AND SOFT-COLLINEAR EFFECTIVE THEORY

Updated September 2013 by C,W. Bauer （LBNL） and M. Neubert （U. Mainz）.17.1. Effective Field Theories Quantum field theories represent the most precise computational tool for describing physics at the highest energies. One of their characteristic features is that they almost inevitably involve multiple length scales. When trying to determine the value of an observable,

PASSAGE OF PARTICLES THROUGH MATTER

Revised September 2013 by H. Bichsel （University of Washington）, D.E. Groom （LBNL）, and S.R. Klein （LBNL）.

CS_2作业工人接触水平的时间加权平均浓度

目的 进行二硫化碳作业工人接触水平的时间加权平均浓度的研究 ,探讨它们的代表性 ,为进一步制订卫生标准提供依据。方法 采用国际通用的方法和仪器 ,分别用固定点采样法测定了车间空气中的二硫化碳浓度 ,个体采样法测定了作业工人 8h的实际暴露水平及其 8h工作地点分布的调查 ,计算出两者各自的TWA ,并进行了比较。结果 粘胶作业工人工作的流动性较大 ,仅有75 %的工作时间停留在车间内 ,分别有 16 .3 %和 8.3%的工作时间分布在车间内休息室和车间外面的环境。结论 固定点采样法和工人个体采样技术所获得的TWA值分别为 14.87mg/m3 和 2 2 .14mg/m3。MAC并不能反映流动性较大的工种工人的实际接触水平。

ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE OF THE ELEMENTS

Table 5.1. Reviewed 2011 by J.E. Sansonetti （NIST）. The electronic configurations and the ionization energies are from the NIST database, ＂Ground Levels and Ionization Energies for the Neutral Atoms,＂ W.C. Martin, A. Musgrove, S. Kotochigova, and J.E. Sansonetti, http：//www.nist .gov/pml/data/ion_energy. cfm. The electron configuration for, say, iron indicates an argon electronic core （see argon） plus six 3d electrons and two 4s electrons.