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The extragalactic background light at far-infrared wavelengths comes from optically faint, dusty, star-forming galaxies in the Universe with star formation rates of a few hundred solar masses per year. These faint, submillimetre galaxies are challenging to study individually because of the relatively poor spatial resolution of far-infrared telescopes. Instead, their average properties can be studied using statistics such as the angular power spectrum of the background intensity variations. A previous attempt at measuring this power spectrum resulted in the suggestion that the clustering amplitude is below the level computed with a simple ansatz based on a halo model. Here we report excess clustering over the linear prediction at arcminute angular scales in the power spectrum of brightness fluctuations at 250, 350 and 500 μm. From this excess, we find that submillimetre galaxies are located in dark matter haloes with a minimum mass, M(min), such that log(10)[M(min)/M(⊙)] = 11.5(+0.7)(-0.2) at 350 μm, where M(⊙) is the solar mass. This minimum dark matter halo mass corresponds to the most efficient mass scale for star formation in the Universe, and is lower than that predicted by semi-analytical models for galaxy formation.

Salivary gland radiation-related toxicity, dysfunction and xerostomia are significant complications in head and neck cancer patients. Salivary [alpha]-amylase is a good indicator for salivary gland function. To assess the salivary a-amylase changes in head and neck radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. Forty-four patients (mean age 63.16) were included in the study; 16 had oral/oropharyngeal, 14 laryngeal, 5 parotid and 9 other carcinomas. Whole saliva was collected and [alpha]-amylase was assessed before radiotherapy, at 2nd-4th weeks and at 5th-7th weeks. A-amylase was measured using the 2-Chloro-NPG3-Substrate-Photometric method. Xerostomia and oral mucositis were recorded. Twenty patients received chemoradiotherapy and seven radiotherapy alone. Mean total dose (27/44 patients) was 63.64Gy. Seven patients were not assessed due to administrative reasons, 1 was hospitalized, and 9 were lost of follow up. The reduction of a-amylase in most assessments (23/29) after 2-7 weeks of radiotherapy was considered related to salivary gland dysfunction and radiation toxicity. A-amylase may serve as a marker for the radiation-induced salivary gland toxicity. The study is ongoing.

Objective: Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) and capecitabine (CAP) have separately shown significant antitumor activity in a wide range of solid tumors. A phase I study was conducted in order to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) of their combination in patients with refractory solid tumors. Patients and Methods: Fifteen patients with histologically confirmed inoperable solid neoplasms were enrolled. The patients’ median age was 65 years, 10 were male, and 12 had a performance status score (WHO) of 0–1. PLD was administered on day 1 as a 1-hour intravenous infusion at escalated doses ranging from 35 to 40 mg/m 2 . CAP was administered on days 1–14 per os, at escalated doses ranging from 1,600 to 1,800 mg/m 2 , given as two daily divided doses. Treatment was repeated every 3 weeks. Results: At the dose of PLD 40 mg/m 2 and CAP 1,800 mg/m 2 , all 3 enrolled patients presented DLTs [2 patients grade 3 palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (PPE) and 1 patient grade 3 asthenia] and thus, the recommended MTD for future phase II studies is PLD 40 mg/m 2 and CAP 1,700 mg/m 2 . A total of 57 treatment cycles were administered. Grade 2/3 neutropenia complicated 9 (17%) cycles and 1 patient was hospitalized for febrile neutropenia. There was no septic death. The main nonhematologic toxicity was PPE grade 2 in 3 (19%) patients and grade 3 in 4 (27%). PPE was the reason of treatment interruption for 3 patients. Other toxicities were mild and easily manageable. Two patients (16%) with partial response suffering from gastric cancer and 5 patients with (42%) stable disease were observed among 12 evaluable patients. Conclusions: The results of this phase I study demonstrate that PLD and CAP can be combined at clinically effective and relevant doses. However, PPE is a common side effect and further investigation is warranted to define its precise role in the treatment of solid malignancies.

ABSTRACT We present the Spitzer Extragalactic Representative Volume Survey (SERVS), an 18 deg2 medium-deep survey at 3.6 and 4.5 μm with the postcryogenic Spitzer Space Telescope to ≈2 μJy (AB = 23.1) depth of five highly observed astronomical fields (ELAIS-N1, ELAIS-S1, Lockman Hole, Chandra Deep Field South, and XMM-LSS). SERVS is designed to enable the study of galaxy evolution as a function of environment from z ∼ 5 to the present day and is the first extragalactic survey that is both large enough and deep enough to put rare objects such as luminous quasars and galaxy clusters at z ≳ 1 into their cosmological context. SERVS is designed to overlap with several key surveys at optical, near- through far-infrared, submillimeter, and radio wavelengths to provide an unprecedented view of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies. In this article, we discuss the SERVS survey design, the data processing flow from image reduction and mosaicking to catalogs, and coverage of ancillary data from other surveys in the SERVS fields. We also highlight a variety of early science results from the survey.

The extragalactic background light at far-infrared wavelengths comes from optically faint, dusty, star-forming galaxies in the Universe with star formation rates of a few hundred solar masses per year. These faint, submillimetre galaxies are challenging to study individually because of the relatively poor spatial resolution of far-infrared telescopes. Instead, their average properties can be studied using statistics such as the angular power spectrum of the background intensity variations. A previous attempt at measuring this power spectrum resulted in the suggestion that the clustering amplitude is below the level computed with a simple ansatz based on a halo model. Here we report excess clustering over the linear prediction at arcminute angular scales in the power spectrum of brightness fluctuations at 250, 350 and 500 µm. From this excess, we find that submillimetre galaxies are located in dark matter haloes with a minimum mass, M^sub min^, such that ... at 350 µm, where ... is the solar mass. This minimum dark matter halo mass corresponds to the most efficient mass scale for star formation in the Universe, and is lower than that predicted by semi-analytical models for galaxy formation. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Galaxies in the background The optically faint 'submillimetre' star-forming galaxies that produce the extragalactic background light at far-infrared wavelengths are challenging to study individually, but their average properties can be determined using statistics such as the angular power spectrum of the background intensity variations. Using this technique, Amblard et al . have observed excess clustering over the linear prediction at arcminute angular scales in the power spectrum of brightness fluctuations at 250, 350 and 500 micrometres. This suggests that submillimetre galaxies are located in dark matter haloes with masses greater than 300 billion times that of the Sun, a direct measurement that will add useful detail to improve theoretical models of galaxy formation and evolution. The extragalactic background light at far-infrared wavelengths comes from optically faint, dusty, star-forming galaxies with star formation rates at the level of a few hundred solar masses per year. These faint submillimetre galaxies are challenging to study individually, but their average properties can be studied using statistics such as the angular power spectrum of the background intensity variations. This study reports excess clustering over the linear prediction at arcminute angular scales in the power spectrum of brightness fluctuations at 250, 350 and 500 micrometres. It is found that submillimetre galaxies are located in dark matter haloes with a minimum mass of log 10 [ M min /solar mass]=11.5 +0.7 -0.2 at 350° micrometres. The extragalactic background light at far-infrared wavelengths 1 , 2 , 3 comes from optically faint, dusty, star-forming galaxies in the Universe with star formation rates of a few hundred solar masses per year 4 . These faint, submillimetre galaxies are challenging to study individually because of the relatively poor spatial resolution of far-infrared telescopes 5 , 6 . Instead, their average properties can be studied using statistics such as the angular power spectrum of the background intensity variations 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 . A previous attempt 11 at measuring this power spectrum resulted in the suggestion that the clustering amplitude is below the level computed with a simple ansatz based on a halo model 12 . Here we report excess clustering over the linear prediction at arcminute angular scales in the power spectrum of brightness fluctuations at 250, 350 and 500 μm. From this excess, we find that submillimetre galaxies are located in dark matter haloes with a minimum mass, M min , such that log 10 [ M min / M ⊙ ] = at 350 μm, where M ⊙ is the solar mass. This minimum dark matter halo mass corresponds to the most efficient mass scale for star formation in the Universe 13 , and is lower than that predicted by semi-analytical models for galaxy formation 14 .