Characterisation of gradient flows for a given functional.

Let be a vector field and be a co-vector field on a smooth manifold . Does there exist a smooth Riemannian metric on such that ? The main result of this note gives necessary and sufficient conditions for this to be true. As an application of this result we provide a gradient-flow characterisation for dissipative quantum systems.

Homogenisation of dynamical optimal transport on periodic graphs.

This paper deals with the large-scale behaviour of dynamical optimal transport on -periodic graphs with general lower semicontinuous and convex energy densities. Our main contribution is a homogenisation result that describes the effective behaviour of the discrete problems in terms of a continuous optimal transport problem. The effective energy density can be explicitly expressed in terms of a cell formula, which is a finite-dimensional convex programming problem that depends non-trivially on the local geometry of the discrete graph and the discrete energy density.

Combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors and tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.

Introduction: We have experienced several paradigm shifts and substantial changes in the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) over the last two decades. Combination therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) as a dual combination (ICI-ICI) or with VEGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (VEGF-TKI) has shown remarkable efficacy in mRCC patients and has become the standard of care in first-line therapy.

Areas Covered: In this review, we will discuss the background as well as the benefits of combining ICI with TKI compared to ICI-ICI combination therapy for mRCC treatment and will also briefly highlight biomarkers for patient selection on therapies to improve patient outcomes and limit toxicities.

Modeling of Chemical Reaction Systems with Detailed Balance Using Gradient Structures.

We consider various modeling levels for spatially homogeneous chemical reaction systems, namely the chemical master equation, the chemical Langevin dynamics, and the reaction-rate equation. Throughout we restrict our study to the case where the microscopic system satisfies the detailed-balance condition. The latter allows us to enrich the systems with a gradient structure, i.

Non-commutative Calculus, Optimal Transport and Functional Inequalities in Dissipative Quantum Systems.

We study dynamical optimal transport metrics between density matrices associated to symmetric Dirichlet forms on finite-dimensional -algebras. Our setting covers arbitrary skew-derivations and it provides a unified framework that simultaneously generalizes recently constructed transport metrics for Markov chains, Lindblad equations, and the Fermi Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroup. We develop a non-nommutative differential calculus that allows us to obtain non-commutative Ricci curvature bounds, logarithmic Sobolev inequalities, transport-entropy inequalities, and spectral gap estimates.

An evaluation of avelumab for the treatment of genitourinary tumors.

Introduction: The immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) programmed cell death protein and ligands 1 (PD1- and PD-L1) as well as cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 have demonstrated clinical efficacy in genitourinary cancer. While different ICI exist, focus of the current study work was to evaluate the PD-L1 antibody avelumab within this framework of ICI.

Areas Covered: The manuscript reviews the pharmacological characteristics and preclinical and clinical data of avelumab in the treatment for advanced or metastatic genitourinary cancers.

Immune checkpoint inhibition for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.

: The systemic therapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) is moving from tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors to immune checkpoint inhibitors and its combination with TKIs.: This review provides a general overview using immune checkpoint inhibition for the treatment of RCC. Clinical results from conducted and ongoing clinical trials are summarized and checkpoint inhibition is reviewed in the context to other available systemic therapies such as TKIs for mRCC based on the different International Metastastic RCC Database Consortium (IMCD) risk groups.

On the geometry of geodesics in discrete optimal transport.

We consider the space of probability measures on a discrete set , endowed with a dynamical optimal transport metric. Given two probability measures supported in a subset , it is natural to ask whether they can be connected by a constant speed geodesic with support in at all times. Our main result answers this question affirmatively, under a suitable geometric condition on introduced in this paper.

Molecular predictors of response to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition in urothelial cancer.

Introduction: The survival of patients with metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC) is poor. During the last 40 years, chemotherapy was the predominant treatment modality for mUC. The discovery of the immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), especially the inhibitors of the programmed cell death 1 and its ligand (PD-1/PD-L1), has revolutionized cancer immunotherapy.

Use of rbcL and trnL-F as a two-locus DNA barcode for identification of NW-European ferns: an ecological perspective.

Although consensus has now been reached on a general two-locus DNA barcode for land plants, the selected combination of markers (rbcL + matK) is not applicable for ferns at the moment. Yet especially for ferns, DNA barcoding is potentially of great value since fern gametophytes--while playing an essential role in fern colonization and reproduction--generally lack the morphological complexity for morphology-based identification and have therefore been underappreciated in ecological studies. We evaluated the potential of a combination of rbcL with a noncoding plastid marker, trnL-F, to obtain DNA-identifications for fern species.

Flanking regions of monomorphic microsatellite loci provide a new source of data for plant species-level phylogenetics.

Well-resolved phylogenetic trees are essential for us to understand evolutionary processes at the level of species. The degree of species-level resolution in the plant phylogenetic literature is poor, however, largely due to the dearth of sufficiently variable molecular markers. Unlike the common genic approach to marker development, we generated DNA sequences of monomorphic nuclear microsatellite flanking regions in a phylogenetic study of Annona species (Annonaceae).

A rapid diversification of rainforest trees (Guatteria; Annonaceae) following dispersal from Central into South America.

Several recent studies have suggested that a substantial portion of today's plant diversity in the Neotropics has resulted from the dispersal of taxa into that region rather than vicariance, but more data are needed to substantiate this claim. Guatteria (Annonaceae) is, with 265 species, the third largest genus of Neotropical trees after Inga (Fabaceae) and Ocotea (Lauraceae), and its widespread distribution and frequent occurrence makes the genus an excellent model taxon to study diversification patterns. This study reconstructed the phylogeny of Guatteria and inferred three major biogeographical events in the history of the genus: (1) a trans-oceanic Miocene migration from Central into South America before the closing of the Isthmus of Panama; (2) a major diversification of the lineage within South America; and (3) several migrations of South American lineages back into Central America via the closed Panamanian land bridge.