Clinical impact of delaying initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with early triple negative breast cancer.

Purpose: The optimal time to initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy (TTAC) for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients is unclear. This study evaluates the association between TTAC and survival in TNBC patients.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study using data from a cohort of TNBC patients diagnosed between January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2018, registered in the Tumor Centre Regensburg was conducted.

Automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) for intraoperative margin control on surgical specimens in breast conserving surgery.

Purpose: As breast-conserving surgery (BCS) has become the standard for treatment of early breast cancer, the need for new technologies to improve intraoperative margin assessment has become clear. Close or positive margins during BCS lead to additional surgeries, treatment delay, additional stress for patients and increasing healthcare cost. Automated three-dimensional breast ultrasound (ABUS) systems are meant to overcome the shortcomings of hand-held ultrasound (HHUS).

Feasibility of ABUS as an Alternative to Handheld Ultrasound for Response Control in Neoadjuvant Breast Cancer Treatment.

Introduction: The Invenia Automated Breast Ultrasound Screening (ABUS) is indicated as an adjunct to mammography for breast cancer screening in asymptomatic women with high-density breast tissue. ABUS provides time-efficient evaluation of the 3-dimensional recordings within 3 to 6 minutes. The role and advantages of ABUS in everyday clinical practice, especially in routine examination during neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT), is not clear.

Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer patients with axillary lymph node micrometastases.

Background: The axillary lymph node status is one of the most important prognostic factors in patients with early breast cancer. However, the impact of axillary lymph node micrometastases on survival remains unclear. There are no consistent recommendations for adjuvant chemotherapy (CHT).

Assessing the influence of structural disorder on the plant epidermal cells' optical properties: a numerical analysis.

Many plant surfaces, such as rose petals, display lens-like epidermal cells that are known to assist the collection and focusing of the sunlight. Those cells form an array with a high degree of structural irregularities including disorder in the height and orientation of the cells, and in their arrangement. In this study, we numerically analyze the influence of structural disorder on the optical properties of a 3D modeled epidermal cell array using ray tracing simulations.

Assessment of crystal quality and unit cell orientation in epitaxial Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ layers using polarized Raman scattering.

We use polarization-resolved Raman spectroscopy to assess the crystal quality of epitaxial kesterite layers. It is demonstrated for the example of epitaxial Cu₂ZnSnSe₄ layers on GaAs(001) that "standing" and "lying" kesterite unit cell orientations (c'-axis parallel / perpendicular to the growth direction) can be distinguished by the application of Raman tensor analysis. From the appearance of characteristic intensity oscillations when the sample is rotated one can distinguish polycrystalline and epitaxial layers.

Dependencies of micro-pillar cavity quality factors calculated with finite element methods.

We present simulation results for optical modes in micro-pillar cavities that were computed with the finite element method and that show good agreement with experimental data. By means of this viable tool various influences on the quality factor of the fundamental mode were calculated: Firstly, the light confinement depends strongly on the absorption of the semiconductor cavity material. Here we were able to determine absolute maximum quality factors achievable in a GaAs/AlAs Bragg micro-pillar cavity.

Localized and delocalized modes in coupled optical micropillar cavities.

Optical micropillar Bragg cavities of different diameters and coupled by a small bridge have been realized experimentally by means of a focused ion beam system. The resonator modes in these coupled microcavities are either localized in one pillar or delocalized over the whole photonic structure, a fact that could be exploited to control the coupling between two spatially separated quantum dots, i.e.

High-intensity pulse propagation in semiconductors: on-resonant self-induced transmission and effects in the continuum.

We perform high-intensity pulse propagation experiments in semiconductors. On a free exciton resonance, we demonstrate coherent Self-Induced Transmission. Tuning the laser towards higher energy, thus exciting continuum states, the degree of transmission is reduced.