5-Fluorouracil degradation rate as a predictive biomarker of toxicity in breast cancer patients treated with capecitabine

Capecitabine is an oral prodrug of 5-fluorouracil with a relevant role in the treatment of breast cancer. Severe and unexpected toxicities related to capecitabine are not rare, and the identification of biomarkers is challenging. We evaluate the relationship between dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase, thymidylate synthase enhancer region and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphisms, 5-fluorouracil degradation rate and the onset of G3–4 toxicities in breast cancer patients. Genetic polymorphisms and the 5-fluorouracil degradation rate of breast cancer patients treated with capecitabine were retrospectively studied. Genetic markers and the 5-fluorouracil degradation rate were correlated with the reported toxicities. Thirty-seven patients with a median age of 58 years old treated with capecitabine for stages II–IV breast cancer were included in this study. Overall, 34 (91.9%) patients suffered from at least an episode of any grade toxicity while nine patients had G3–4 toxicity. Homozygous methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase 677TT was found to be significantly related to haematological toxicity (OR = 6.5 [95% IC 1.1–37.5], P = 0.04). Three patients had a degradation rate less than 0.86 ng/mL/106 cells/min and three patients greater than 2.1 ng/mL/106 cells/min. At a univariate logistic regression analysis, an altered value of 5-fluorouracil degradation rate (values < 0.86 or >2.10 ng/mL/106 cells/min) increased the risk of G3–4 adverse events (OR = 10.40 [95% IC: 1.48–7.99], P = 0.02). A multivariate logistic regression analysis, adjusted for age, comorbidity and CAPE-regimen, confirmed the role of 5-fluorouracil degradation rate as a predictor of G3–4 toxicity occurrence (OR = 10.9 [95% IC 1.2–96.2], P = 0.03). The pre-treatment evaluation of 5-fluorouracil degradation rate allows to identify breast cancer patients at high risk for severe 5-FU toxicity

Du Bois's Horizon: Documenting Movements of the Color Line

This article examines W. E. B. Du Bois' work with The Horizon, an early African American Magazine

Do local public finances influence the economic growth of cities ? The case of the 324 cities of the Tarn Department (France)

This paper aims at questioning the link between local finances and the economic dynamism of cities. This issue is based on the frequently stressed cases (by the media) of uncontrolled expenses of cities, increased level of local taxes and negative effects on local economics. This situation has been experimented in the cities of Briançon, Angoulême, and even in the little village of Eyne (Eastern Pyrenees) which had the biggest level of debt per inhabitant of the whole Europe in the beginning of the nineties. Therefore, as a starting point, the lack of neutral link between urban management and local attractive power of cities will be assumed. The relevance of the following assumptions will be considered : * assumption n°1 : the choice of the financial way to manage a city would positively influence economic dynamism, provided it would express the agreement with a “budgetary orthodoxy convention”.* assumption n°2 : conversely, local public management, insofar as it is based (notably) on debts and refers to what could be called “keynesian convention” would negatively influence the attractive power of cities.Thus, everything else equal, the more a city would be granted with important saving resources, the more it could afford to finance it own investments (or increased investments with a given rate of self-financing), the less financial expenses would lessen the functioning resources of the following year, etc … Moreover, a healthy financial management would improve the probability of a city to attract households and firms : if debts and local taxes can be restricted to a law level (in respect to the national average level, to the one of close competing cities …), then this law yearly increase of local taxes would not seem to shackle the dynamics of locations within a given city. The empirical part of this paper deals with the test of the relevance of the previous assumptions. Our sample is composed with all the 324 cities of the French Department of Tarn. The specific features of this sample are : the important number of statistical observations, the fact that all the cities of a local level, between metropolitan areas and Regions, are considered, the diversity of environments (rural, urban, agriculture, industry, dynamic or depressed industrial sectors), high of low proximity with an European metropolitan area (Toulouse), The attractive power of Tarn cities will be estimated by the increase (or decrease) of population. The assumptions will be tested thanks to ordinary least square regressions, and factor analysis. The database includes budgetary variables (budgets of cities, resources, expenses, savings, fiscal wealth, debts, investments, …), fiscal variables (local taxes, income tax, …) and also distances from each city to Toulouse, expressed in kilometres and in time. The conclusions will be detailed in terms of local planning, by comparing the impact of distance to fiscal “fixed” expenses.

“Riot” Heritage of the Civil Rights Era

From slave uprisings of the colonial period, to protests of the Civil Rights Era, to Black Lives Matter protests of present day, black American demonstrations of resistance permeate American life, with some attaining iconic status in history books and other media. However, a large number of protest events that impacted entire cities, especially those that contained violence, remain unacknowledged and uncommemorated in their urban fabrics. Unacknowledged sites of violent black protest are particularly prevalent for those of the Civil Rights Era, when protests proliferated in the United States throughout the late 50s and 60s. The narrative of the Civil Rights Era is traditionally one of civil disobedience in southern states, while the experience of the majority of black Americans during this time was much different and often involved events of violence that decimated entire neighborhoods. The research of this thesis revealed that the lack of recognition of violent protest outside the south during the Civil Rights Era is partially because of mislabelling and partially because of interpretive complications. While southern civil disobedience labelled as “protest” is highly commemorated on the sites where these events took place, events of the same that have been considered “riots” are virtually invisible from the memorial landscape of their cities. The work of this thesis revolves around identifying, cataloging, mapping, and evaluating the commemoration of sites of black American uprising outside of the South to redefine what “Civil Rights Era protest” means today. By revealing the commemorative gaps for significant sites of the era, this thesis also identifies sites that preservationists, designers, and historians can address to rectify this narrative inequality

White Discipline, Black Rebellion: A History of American Race Riots from Emancipation to the War on Drugs

This dissertation is a comparative analysis of American race riots, within and across historical eras, from Emancipation (1863) to the War on Drugs (1972). I argue that changes in the status of African-American citizenship produced different forms of race rioting. Examining riot events across eras reveals how ethical principles at the core of democracy are undermined in specific socio-historical contexts—especially equality of participation in collective self-governance. Congressional testimony, state-sponsored riot investigations, and archival data indicate that riots have been used historically to structure racial inequality in both political institutions and economic relations. While race riots have proven instrumental in maintaining white supremacy, Black rebellion has largely proven detrimental for African-American communities. Racial collective violence has enduring consequences, especially for economic inequality.Part I examines how whites systematically employed disciplinary riots to ‘redeem’ state governments for the Democratic Party for more than seven decades following the Civil War, with enduring structural consequences for African-American political participation and economic progress. The first two chapters analyze white riot violence from Reconstruction and Redemption (1863 - 1877). Chapters 3 through 5 examine white-initiated riot violence around the turn of the 20th century through World War I, a period of intensifying racism known as the Nadir of American race relations. Several riot events of this era border on racial cleansing: violence employed to rob, intimidate, and expel Black Americans from the community. Property was often transferred to white ownership when Black refugees did not return, hence white riot violence has implications for the present wealth gap separating blacks from whites in the U.S. Part II examines the rise of black militancy (1930 - 1972) and the corresponding shift in racial collective violence to Black rebellion. Chapter 6 examines the shift to Black-initiated collective violence, called reciprocal riot, between 1935 and 1943, during World War II. Chapter 7 shows how Black Americans used the rituals of violence to engage in compensatory rebellion against white supremacy, first in New York (1964) and then in Los Angeles (1965). Chapter 8 examines the racial explosion that occurred in 1967 and 1968—the peak years of Black rebellion—with an analysis of the two most destructive riot events of those years: Newark and Detroit. White Discipline, Black Rebellion concludes with a chapter that connects these findings with the Black Lives Matter movement and America’s racial reckoning that began to unfold in 2020. The urban riots of the 1960s and early 70s had significant consequences for Black communities, including the militarization of law enforcement. Race riots have been weaponized against African-American advancement at critical points in United States history. This dissertation traces how disciplinary violence proved instrumental in the maintenance of white supremacy, especially in the seven decades following the Civil War; conversely, rebellion impeded Black progress, both politically and economically, with consequences that endure across generations

Simple Text Mining for Sentiment Analysis of Political Figure Using Naive Bayes Classifier Method

Text mining can be applied to many fields. One of the application is using text mining in digital newspaper to do politic sentiment analysis. In this paper sentiment analysis is applied to get information from digital news articles about its positive or negative sentiment regarding particular politician. This paper suggests a simple model to analyze digital newspaper sentiment polarity using naive Bayes classifier method. The model uses a set of initial data to begin with which will be updated when new information appears. The model showed promising result when tested and can be implemented to some other sentiment analysis problems.Comment: 5 pages, published in the Proceedings of the 7th ICT

Capecitabine and Vinorelbine in Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer Previously Treated with Anthracycline and Taxane

We have evaluated the efficacy and safety of the combination of capecitabine and vinorelbine in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients previously treated with anthracycline-and taxane-containing regimens. Between April 2000 and September 2002, 44 female MBC patients received oral capecitabine (1,250 mg/m2 twice daily on days 114), and intravenous vinorelbine (25 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8) during each 3 week-chemotherapy cycle (median, 5 cycles/patient; total, 235 cycles). One patient achieved a complete response and 21 patients had partial responses, giving an overall response rate of 50% in the intention-to-treat analysis (95% CI, 35.0-65.0%). Median duration of response was 6.0 months (range 1.2-23.0 months). Patients were followed-up for a median of 16 months, with median progression-free survival being 5.3 months, and median overall survival being 17 months. Toxicities included grades III and IV neutropenia in 63 (26.8%) and 4 (1.7%) cycles, respectively, and grades II and III hand-foot syndrome in 12 (5.1%) and 4 (1.7%) cycles, respectively. Other nonhematologic toxicities were minimal and manageable. In conclusion, the combination of capecitabine and vinorelbine was effective and well tolerated in MBC patients even after treatment with anthracyclines and taxanes

Factors Affecting A Municipalitys Bond Rating: An Empirical Study

Creditworthiness, as reflected in bond ratings, is of great interest to municipalities since it directly affects the cost and ability to borrow money.  Municipalities experiencing a decline in their economic health will be especially concerned about how these developments will impact their future bond ratings.  It is well known that municipal analysts closely monitor a community’s economic health since this has an important impact on creditworthiness.  What is less well known however, are the economic variables that influence bond ratings.  The purpose of this paper is to identify these economic variables and estimate to what extent they influence the probability of a municipality’s default.  We do so by developing an econometric model of the rating process.  The model will allow municipal governments to gauge the impact of economic developments on their credit ratings

We are Americans, too: Interracial Relations in Detroit\u27s Postwar Auto Industry

This analysis looks at the interracial relations and conflicts within the postwar Detroit auto industry. In doing so, it examines the role the UAW, the government, the corporations, and the workers themselves played, and how race and/or gender contributed to interactive negotiations within the employment sector at the time