A review on genetic alterations in CNS metastases related to breast cancer treatment. Is there a role for liquid biopsies in CSF?

Acquired mutations or altered gene expression patterns in brain metastases (BM) and/or leptomeningeal metastases (LM) of breast cancer may play a role in therapy-resistance and offer new molecular targets and treatment options. Despite expanding knowledge of genetic alterations in breast cancer and their metastases, clinical applications for patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases are currently limited. An emerging tool are DNA-techniques that may detect genetic alterations of the CNS metastases in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

Two-Dimensional Laser Melting of Lunar Regolith Simulant Using the MOONRISE Payload on a Mobile Manipulator.

Laser melting experiments were carried out with the MOONRISE payload, installed on the mobile manipulator, MIRA3D. The MOONRISE payload was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of additive processing of lunar regolith with the help of lasers on the Moon within a lunar surface mission in the next years. The development of hardware for the flight to the moon is well advanced and, if successful, would pave the way for the use of laser melting for production of components from regolith.

VOILA on the LUVMI-X Rover: Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for the Detection of Volatiles at the Lunar South Pole.

The project Lunar Volatiles Mobile Instrumentation-Extended (LUVMI-X) developed an initial system design as well as payload and mobility breadboards for a small, lightweight rover dedicated for in situ exploration of the lunar south pole. One of the proposed payloads is the Volatiles Identification by Laser Analysis instrument (VOILA), which uses laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to analyze the elemental composition of the lunar surface with an emphasis on sampling regolith and the detection of hydrogen for the inference of the presence of water. It is designed to analyze targets in front of the rover at variable focus between 300 mm and 500 mm.

Central Nervous System Progression in Primary Vitreoretinal Lymphoma with Bilateral and Unilateral Involvement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Primary vitreoretinal lymphoma (PVRL) is either unilateral or bilateral at initial presentation. Progression to a central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma is regularly observed and these patients seem to have an inferior survival. Knowledge of the predictive value of laterality for CNS progression may facilitate risk stratification and the development of more effective treatment strategies, and eventually, improve outcomes.

Local and systemic therapy in breast cancer patients with central nervous system metastases.

Purpose: As survival of patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases from breast cancer is poor and incidence rates are increasing, there is a growing need for better treatment strategies. In the current study, the efficacy of local and systemic therapies was analyzed in breast cancer patients with CNS metastases.

Methods: Medical records from breast cancer patients with brain and/or leptomeningeal metastases (LM) treated at a tertiary referral center and a teaching hospital between 2010 and 2020 were retrospectively studied.

Passively Q-switched microchip laser based picosecond light source in the visible-red to near-infrared band for semiconductor excitation.

We developed a visible-red to near-infrared wavelength tunable all-solid-state laser system utilizing an optical parametric generation process in a MgO doped PPLN crystal pumped at 532 nm by an amplified and frequency doubled picosecond passively Q-switched Nd:YVO microchip laser. A broad bandwidth, tuneable over 300 nm between 710 nm to 1015 nm, is accessible. Depending on the green pump light pulse energy, pulses with durations down to 69 ps as well as pulses with energies above 2 µJ were achieved with kHz repetition rates.

Discovery, Preclinical Characterization, and Early Clinical Activity of JDQ443, a Structurally Novel, Potent, and Selective Covalent Oral Inhibitor of KRASG12C.

Unlabelled: Covalent inhibitors of KRASG12C have shown antitumor activity against advanced/metastatic KRASG12C-mutated cancers, though resistance emerges and additional strategies are needed to improve outcomes. JDQ443 is a structurally unique covalent inhibitor of GDP-bound KRASG12C that forms novel interactions with the switch II pocket. JDQ443 potently inhibits KRASG12C-driven cellular signaling and demonstrates selective antiproliferative activity in KRASG12C-mutated cell lines, including those with G12C/H95 double mutations.

Wedged Nd:YVO crystal for wavelength tuning of monolithic passively Q-switched picosecond microchip lasers.

We present a monolithic integrated passively Q-switched sub-150 ps microchip laser at 1064 nm with a wedged Nd:YVO crystal operating up to a repetition rate of 1 MHz. The wedge enables to change the cavity length by a small amount to fine tune the spectral cavity mode position over the full gain bandwidth of Nd:YVO and hence to optimize the output power. This additional degree of freedom may be a suitable approach to increase the wafer scale mass production yield or also to simplify frequency tuning of CW single-frequency microchip lasers.

Low noise 400 W coherently combined single frequency laser beam for next generation gravitational wave detectors.

Design studies for the next generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors propose the use of low-noise single-frequency high power laser sources at 1064 nm. Fiber amplifiers are a promising design option because of their high output power and excellent optical beam properties. We performed filled-aperture coherent beam combining with independently amplified beams from two low-noise high-power single-frequency fiber amplifiers to further scale the available optical power.

Performance study of a high-power single-frequency fiber amplifier architecture for gravitational wave detectors.

The next generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors will use low-noise single-frequency laser sources at 1064 nm. Fiber amplifiers are a promising design option because of high efficiency, compact design, and superior optical beam properties compared to the current generation of laser sources for gravitational wave detectors. We developed a reliable 200 W single-frequency fiber amplifier architecture to meet the application requirements regarding relative power noise, relative pointing noise, frequency noise, linear polarization, and beam quality.

Multi-parametric assessment of biological stability of drinking water produced from groundwater: Reverse osmosis vs. conventional treatment.

Although water produced by reverse osmosis (RO) filtration has low bacterial growth potential (BGP), post-treatment of RO permeate, which is necessary prior to distribution and human consumption, needs to be examined because of the potential re-introduction of nutrients/contaminants. In this study, drinking water produced from anaerobic groundwater by RO and post-treatment (ion exchange, calcite contactors, and aeration) was compared with that produced by conventional treatment comprising (dry) sand filtration, pellet softening, rapid sand filtration, activated carbon filtration, and UV disinfection. The multi-parametric assessment of biological stability included bacterial quantification, nutrient concentration and composition as well as bacterial community composition and diversity.

360-Degree Distribution of Biofilm Quantity and Community in an Operational Unchlorinated Drinking Water Distribution Pipe.

In the present study, triplicate rings of 360° pipe surfaces of an operational drinking water distribution pipe were swabbed. Each ring was equally divided into 16 parts for swabbing. The collected swabs were grouped into 3 sections and compared with the biofilm samples sampled by sonication of specimens from the same pipe.

Single-frequency chirally coupled-core all-fiber amplifier with 100 W in a linearly polarized TEM mode.

Large mode area fibers have become indispensable in addressing the power requirements of laser sources in gravitational wave detectors. Besides high power capabilities, the system must provide an excellent beam quality and polarization. In this Letter, we present the characterization of a monolithic high-power fiber amplifier at 1064 nm, built using an ytterbium-doped chirally coupled-core fiber, which achieves an output power of 100 W in a linearly polarized $ {{\rm TEM}_{00}} $TEM mode in an all-fiber setup.

[Post-traumatic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo; an underdiagnosed cause of dizziness following trauma].

Dizziness is a frequently reported symptom following head trauma. Although often ascribed to concussion, post-traumatic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) must be included in the differential diagnosis. In this article, three patients who attended a neurology outpatient clinic with persistent dizziness following head trauma were ultimately diagnosed with post-traumatic BPPV.

Single-frequency fiber amplifier at 1.5 µm with 100 W in the linearly-polarized TEM mode for next-generation gravitational wave detectors.

Next-generation gravitational wave detectors require single-frequency and high power lasers at a wavelength of 1.5 µm addressing a set of demanding requirements such as linearly-polarized TEM radiation with low noise to run for long periods. In this context, fiber amplifiers in MOPA configuration are promising candidates to fulfill these requirements.

Influence of the third energy level on the gain dynamics of EDFAs: analytical model and experimental validation.

We report an analytical model and experimental validation of the temporal dynamics of 3-level system fiber amplifiers. The model predictions show a good agreement with the measured pump power to output power and the pump power to output phase transfer functions in an EDFA pumped at 976 nm, as well as with the typical literature values for the spontaneous lifetime of the involved energy levels. The measurements show a linear relation between the effective lifetime of the meta-stable level and the output power, and a filtering of the temperature-induced phase-shift due to the quantum defect at a sufficiently high frequency modulation.

1 kHz 3.3 μm Nd:YAG KTiOAsO₄ optical parametric oscillator system for laser ultrasound excitation of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics.

We present a new laser prototype for laser ultrasonics excitation. The fundamental wavelength of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser with a repetition rate of 1 kHz is converted to 3.3 μm with a KTiOAsO4 optical parametric oscillator.

Effect of Pile-Driving Sounds on the Survival of Larval Fish.

Concern exists about the potential effects of pile-driving sounds on fish, but evidence is limited, especially for fish larvae. A device was developed to expose larvae to accurately reproduced pile-driving sounds. Controlled exposure experiments were carried out to examine the lethal effects in common sole larvae.

TEM00 mode content measurements on a passive leakage channel fiber.

Mode content measurements with a scanning ring cavity were performed in order to determine the TEM00 mode content of the output beam profile of a resonantly enhanced leakage channel fiber. The measurements were performed at 1.0 and 1.

[A score for rating instability in spinal metastases and the usefulness of conservative measures for instability].

Spinal instability in patients with spinal metastatic disease plays a role in the selection of surgical intervention. The classic 'three-column model' used in traumatology to assess the stability of the spinal column is not always applicable to spinal metastatic disease. The recently introduced Spinal Instability Neoplastic Score (SINS) is the first instrument that can be used to classify instability in spinal metastatic disease.

Heat generation in Nd:YAG at different doping levels.

Nd:YAG lasers with output power levels of tens of watts, a nearly diffraction-limited beam quality, and a linearly polarized continuous wave output are commonly pumped by laser diodes at a wavelength around 808 nm, where the pump light spectrum is matched well to the absorption maximum of Nd:YAG. As a consequence, low Nd(3+)-doping concentrations of the laser crystals are required in order to minimize thermally induced stress. The use of higher Neodymium concentrations requires pump wavelengths beside the 808 nm absorption maximum and will furthermore result in changed thermo-optical behavior of the material.

Beam quality degradation of a single-frequency Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier with low mode instability threshold power.

A current limit in power scaling of Yb-doped fiber amplifiers is the sudden onset of mode instabilities. We investigated this effect on a single-frequency Yb-doped photonic crystal fiber amplifier with a low mode instability threshold power. By measuring the overlap of the fiber output beam with the fundamental mode of an external cavity to be about 95%, we could exclude significant modal power transfer below a sharp power threshold.

Frequency resolved analysis of thermally induced refractive index changes in fiber amplifiers.

Temperature induced refractive index changes are an important aspect in today's fiber amplifiers with high average power. For many processes, their time dependence is critical. Here, we analyze the impact of radial heat diffusion on the optical phase.

High power single frequency solid state master oscillator power amplifier for gravitational wave detection.

High power single frequency, single mode, linearly polarized laser output at the 1 μm regime is in demand for the interferometric gravitational wave detectors (GWDs). A robust single frequency solid state master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) is a promising candidate for such applications. We present a single frequency solid state multistage MOPA system delivering 177 W of linearly polarized output power at 1 μm with 83.

Gain dynamics and refractive index changes in fiber amplifiers: a frequency domain approach.

Gain dynamics and refractive index changes in fiber amplifiers are important in many areas. For example, the knowledge of the frequency responses for seed and pump power modulation are required to actively stabilize low noise fiber amplifiers. Slow and fast light via coherent population oscillations rely on the change of group index to delay or advance pulses, and refractive index changes in fiber amplifiers are a possible explanation for mode fluctuations in high power fiber amplifiers.