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The experimental fusion reactor ITER will feature two (or three) heating neutral beam injectors (NBI) capable of delivering 33(or 50) MW of power into the plasma. A NBI consists of a plasma source for production of negative ions (extracted negative ion current up to 329 A/m 2 in H and 285 A/m 2 in D) then accelerated up to 1 MeV for one hour. The negative ion beam is neutralized, and the residual ions are electrostatically removed before injection. The beamline was designed for a beam divergence between 3 and 7 mrad. The ion source in ITER NBIs relies on RF-driven, Inductively-Coupled Plasmas (ICP), based on the prototypes developed at IPP Garching; RF-driven negative-ion beam sources have never been employed in fusion devices up to now. The recent results of SPIDER, the full size ITER NBI ion source operating at NBTF in Consorzio RFX, Padova, measure a beamlet divergence minimum of 12mrad and highlighted beam spatial non-uniformity. SPIDER results confirmed the experimental divergence found in smaller prototype sources, which is larger compared to filament-arc ion sources. Although prototype experiments have shown that the extracted current requirement can be achieved with minor design improvements, the beamlet divergence is expected to marginally achieve the design value of 7 mrad, which in multi-grid long accelerators results in unexpected heat loads over the accelerator grids. A contributor to the beam divergence is the energy/temperature of the extracted negative ions, so it is believed that plasma differences between the two source types play a role. Research is focused on the plasma parameters in the ion source. One RF driver, identical to the ones used in SPIDER, installed in a relatively small-scale experimental set-up, inherently more flexible than large devices, is starting operations devoted to the investigation of the properties of RF-generated plasmas, so as to contribute to the assessment of negative ion precursors, and of their relationship with the plasma parameters, particularly when enhancing plasma confinement. The scientific questions, that have arisen from the preliminary results of SPIDER, guided the design of the test stand, which are described in this contribution, together with the diagnostic systems and related simulation tools. The test stand, which shares with the larger experiment all the geometrical features and constraints, will allow technological developments and optimized engineering solutions related to the ICP design for the ITER NBIs.

The purpose of this study was to document the frequency and distribution of karyotypic changes present at diagnosis in 103 non-MALT marginal zone cell lymphoma (MZL) patients. This cytogenetic analysis of a large cohort extends previous observations and allows the identification of new cytogenetic features. Abnormalities identified in more than 15% of patients included +3/+3q (37%), 7q deletions (31%), +18/+18q (28%), 6q deletions (19%), +12/+12q (15%) and 8p deletions (15%). Trisomy 3/3q, 7q deletions, +18 and +12 were seen in different combinations in more than 30% of patients in comparison to 2% in lymphocytic lymphomas/chronic lymphocytic leukemias, 1% in mantle cell lymphomas and 7% in follicular lymphomas. The marked propensity of these abnormalities to be recurrently associated with the same tumoral clone of individual karyotypes allowed the delineation of a cytogenetic profile that may help to distinguish non-MALT MZL among other mature B-cell neoplasms. If +3/3q, +12/+12q, and 6q, 7q and 8p deletions were significantly associated with clinical prognostic factors previously reported to influence survival and time to progression, patients displaying these abnormalities did not experience a significantly shorter time to progression.

In most cases of lymphomas with blood dissemination, the careful cytological analysis of peripheral blood smears provides a rapid orientation to diagnosis, even if the final subtyping is achieved by histology and eventually other techniques. Here, we evaluated if the analysis of blood smears may suggest the blood dissemination of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) and if CD10 expression on neoplastic T cells, as recently reported on AITL, may contribute to the diagnosis. In all, 11 lymph nodes and six peripheral blood samples from 12 patients with AITL were studied using four-colour flow cytometry associated to histological, cytological and molecular data. According to previous results, a fraction of T cells expressed CD10 in 10/11 lymph nodes. Interestingly, all blood smears showed atypical lymphoid cells and a fraction of T cells expressed CD10 with a mean percentage of 18.75% (range 5.00-47.00%), regardless of lymphocytosis level and of rate of CD10 T cells in corresponding lymph node. In contrast, in all control samples (100), none CD10-positive T cell was identified. This is to our knowledge the first description of circulating CD10 neoplastic T cells in AITL. Therefore, they ought to be explored in further studies when aggressive lymphoma, in particular with lymphopenia and circulating atypical cells, is suspected.

After analyzing treatment patterns in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) (objective 1), we investigated the relative effectiveness of ibrutinib versus other commonly used treatments (objective 2) in patients with treatment-naïve and relapsed/refractory CLL, comparing patient-level data from two randomized registration trials with two real-world databases. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model, adjusted for differences in baseline characteristics. Rituximab-containing regimens were often prescribed in clinical practice. The most frequently prescribed regimens were fludarabine + cyclophosphamide + rituximab (FCR, 29.3%), bendamustine + rituximab (BR, 17.7%), and other rituximab-containing regimens (22.0%) in the treatment-naïve setting (n = 604), other non-FCR/BR rituximab-containing regimens (38.7%) and non-rituximab–containing regimens (28.5%) in the relapsed/refractory setting (n = 945). Adjusted HRs (95% CI) for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), respectively, with ibrutinib versus real-world regimens were 0.23 (0.14–0.37; p < 0.0001) and 0.40 (0.22–0.76; p = 0.0048) in the treatment-naïve setting, and 0.21 (0.16–0.27; p < 0.0001) and 0.29 (0.21–0.41; p < 0.0001) in the relapsed/refractory setting. When comparing real-world use of ibrutinib (n = 53) versus other real-world regimens in relapsed/refractory CLL (objective 3), adjusted HRs (95% CI) were 0.37 (0.22–0.63; p = 0.0003) for PFS and 0.53 (0.27–1.03; p < 0.0624) for OS. This adjusted analysis, based on nonrandomized patient data, suggests ibrutinib to be more effective than other commonly used regimens for CLL.

Leukemia (2002) 16, 2326-2329. doi:10.1038/sj.leu.2402691

In most cases of lymphomas with blood dissemination, the careful cytological analysis of peripheral blood smears provides a rapid orientation to diagnosis, even if the final subtyping is achieved by histology and eventually other techniques. Here, we evaluated if the analysis of blood smears may suggest the blood dissemination of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) and if CD10 expression on neoplastic T cells, as recently reported on AITL, may contribute to the diagnosis. In all, 11 lymph nodes and six peripheral blood samples from 12 patients with AITL were studied using four-colour flow cytometry associated to histological, cytological and molecular data. According to previous results, a fraction of T cells expressed CD10 in 10/11 lymph nodes. Interestingly, all blood smears showed atypical lymphoid cells and a fraction of T cells expressed CD10 with a mean percentage of 18.75% (range 5.00–47.00%), regardless of lymphocytosis level and of rate of CD10 T cells in corresponding lymph node. In contrast, in all control samples (100), none CD10-positive T cell was identified. This is to our knowledge the first description of circulating CD10 neoplastic T cells in AITL. Therefore, they ought to be explored in further studies when aggressive lymphoma, in particular with lymphopenia and circulating atypical cells, is suspected.

Consorzio RFX and INFN-LNL have designed, built and operated the compact radiofrequency negative ion source NIO1 (Negative Ion Optimization phase 1) with the aim of studying the production and acceleration of H- ions. In particular, NIO1 was designed to keep plasma generation and beam extraction continuously active for several hours. Since 2020 the production of negative ions at the plasma grid (the first grid of the acceleration system) has been enhanced by a Cs layer, deposited though active Cs evaporation in the source volume. For the negative ion sources applied to fusion neutral beam injectors, it is essential to keep the beam current and the fraction of co-extracted electrons stable for at least 1 h, against the consequences of Cs sputtering and redistribution operated by the plasma. The paper presents the latest results of the NIO1 source, in terms of caesiation process and beam performances during continuous (6{\\div}7 h) plasma pulses. Due to the small dimensions of the NIO1 source (20 x (diam.)10 cm), the Cs density in the volume is high (10^15 \\div 10^16 m^-3) and dominated by plasma-wall interaction. The maximum beam current density and minimum fraction of co-extracted electrons were respectively about 30 A/m^2 and 2. Similarly to what done in other negative ion sources, the plasma grid temperature in NIO1 was raised for the first time, up to 80 {\\deg}C, although this led to a minimal improvement of the beam current and to an increase of the co-extracted electron current.