Identification of subgroups of early breast cancer patients at high risk of nonadherence to adjuvant hormone therapy: results of an italian survey.

The aim of this study was the identification of subgroups of patients at higher risk of nonadherence to adjuvant hormone therapy for breast cancer. Using recursive partitioning and amalgamation (RECPAM) analysis, the highest risk was observed in the group of unmarried, employed women, or housewives. This result might be functional in designing tailored intervention studies aimed at improvement of adherence. Background: Adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy (HT) is suboptimal among breast cancer patients. A high rate of nonadherence might explain differences in survival between clinical trial and clinical practice. Tailored interventions aimed at improving adherence can only be implemented if subgroups of patients at higher risk of poor adherence are identified. Because no data are available for Italy, we undertook a large survey on adherence among women taking adjuvant HT for breast cancer. Patients and Methods: Patients were recruited from 10 cancer clinics in central Italy. All patients taking HT for at least 1 year were invited, during one of their follow-up visit, to fill a confidential questionnaire. The association of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of participants with adherence was assessed using logistic regression. The RECPAM method was used to evaluate interactions among variables and to identify subgroups of patients at different risk of nonadherence. Results: A total of 939 patients joined the study and 18.6% of them were classified as nonadherers. Among possible predictors, only age, working status, and switching from tamoxifen to an aromatase inhibitor were predictive of nonadherence in multivariate analysis. RECPAM analysis led to the identification of 4 classes of patients with a different likelihood of nonadherence to therapy, the lowest being observed in retired women with a low level of education, the highest in the group of unmarried, employed women, or housewives. Conclusion: The identification of these subgroups of “real life” patients with a high prevalence of nonadherers might be functional in designing intervention studies aimed at improving adherenc

Scanning tunneling microscopy of adsorbed molecules on metalic surfaces for nearly localized atomic states

We consider a Hubbard-Anderson model which describes localized orbitals in five different sites hybridized both among themselves and with a continuum of extended states. A square planar geometry with an atom at the center is used to represent TBrPP-Co molecules. When the renormalized effective hopping between sites is small compared with a Kondo energy scale determined by the sitecontinuum hybridization, the system can be described as a set of independent Kondo resonances, rather than molecular states. We study the crossover between both regimes and analyze the spectral density of conduction electrons as a function of position. The results are in qualitative agreement with measurements of the differential conductance in a system with TBrPP-Co molecules adsorbed on a Cu(111) surface.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Experimental and computational study of the effect of temperature on the electro-polymerization process of Thiophene

Temperature effect on the nucleation and growth mechanisms (NGM) of poly(thiophene) (PTh) was investigated through experimental and computational tools. The computational simulation method was based on a kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm. It reproduced key processes such as diffusion, oligomerization, and the precipitation of oligomers onto the electrode surface. Electrochemical synthesis conditions at temperatures between 263 and 303 K were optimized. The deconvolution of the i-t transients reflected two contributions: a progressive nucleation with three-dimensional growth controlled by diffusion and the other by charge transfer, PN3Ddif and PN3Dct, respectively. As temperature decreased, a diminution of the charge associated to each contribution was observed and the nucleation induction time increased. Experimental and computational evidence indicated that temperature does not change the nucleation and growth mechanism (NGM). This effect was ascribed to kinetic factors rather than to film conductivity. This work contrasts simulation and experimental evidence and demonstrates how computational simulations can help to understand the electrochemical process of conducting polymers formation.Fil: Camarada, María Belén. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chile. Universidad de Talca; ChileFil: Romero, M.. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: Gimenez, Maria Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Física Enrique Gaviola; ArgentinaFil: Schmickler, Wolfgang. Universitat Ulm; AlemaniaFil: del Valle, M. A.. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; Chil

The karst site of Las Palomas (Guadalteba County, Málaga, Spain): A preliminary study of its MiddleeLate Pleistocene archaeopaleontological record

Cleaning works in the cave of Las Palomas in Teba (Málaga, Spain), developed by the Guadalteba Consortium, have provided a number of lithic tools and knapping products that may be ascribed to the Mode III technotypological tradition as well as remains of a number of large mammal species typical of MiddleeLate Pleistocene times. Topographic measurements help to place this ancient cave within a karst landform. This discovery opens up new perspectives in the research on the Neanderthal groups that inhabited the valleys of Guadalteba and Turón rivers in the middle basin of the Guadalhorce River, and thus in the southern region of the Iberian Peninsula

A radio channel emulator for WCDMA, based on the hidden Markov model (HMM)

One of the main development and research subjects within the telecommunications area activity is the 3G mobile systems standardisation. The radio access is, of course, the main trouble in mobile systems, so it is important to investigate its implication. This paper describes a radio channel emulator for the UTRA-FDD made, based on the hidden Markov model (HMM). Since a statistical system behaviour is needed to train the HMM, off-line simulations have been made. The results between simulated and emulated statistics are presented. The use of emulation models implies a loss of accuracy with respect to simulation models, but is adequate to operate in real time. Certainly, the main advantage of using HMM in the emulator is the huge reduction in time, resources and effort with regard to a real simulation of the system. The emulator will allow in future works, for fast testing and comparison of several higher layer protocols and error control schemes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A generic radio channel emulator to evaluate higher layer protocols in a CDMA system

Currently, we are involved in the standardisation process to specify the next mobile system generation. A wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system is considered in most of the region versions. It would be very useful to count on a radio channel emulator which allows one to evaluate higher layers protocols within this context. This paper presents a radio channel emulator developed for a code division multiple access (CDMA) based system. Its versatility and low complexity have been exposed, and the validation process to check the model accuracy has also been shown for this system as an example.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Performance of a linear interference canceller for a ds/cdma synchronous system based on the ekf delay estimator

Since the conventional detector often fails to produce reliable decisions for a CDMA channel, several new multiuser detectors have previously proposed. In the present paper, the authors propose both a simple linear scheme for interference cancellation, which exhibits good performance, and a synchronism scheme based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) to achieve synchronization among the different users at the base station, for a direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS/CDMA) synchronous system. The influence of the synchronism scheme on the performance of the interference canceller is analyzed under Rayleigh multipath fading.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Biofilms in Endodontics—Current Status and Future Directions

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