A phase II, multicentre, UK study of vinorelbine in advanced breast cancer.

Thirty-four evaluable patients were treated with vinorelbine, a novel, semisynthetic vinca alkaloid, as first-line chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer. They received vinorelbine 25 mg m-2 i.v. given weekly for a maximum of 16 cycles. Two patients achieved a complete remission and 15 a partial remission, giving a response rate of 17/34 (50%; 95% CI of 34-66%); median response duration was 5.8 months. The median progression-free interval was 4.4 months and median survival 9.9 months. Treatment was generally well tolerated. Fatigue was the most common side-effect. The main reason for dose adjustments was myelosuppression; 68% of patients had WHO grade 3 or 4 neutropenia and there was one death attributed to neutropenic sepsis. Nausea/vomiting and neuropathy were mild and alopecia was uncommon. This study confirms vinorelbine as a highly active, well-tolerated agent in advanced breast cancer worthy of evaluation in combination chemotherapy regimens

AN EVALUATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE FOR TSUNAMI EVACUATION IN PADANG, WEST SUMATRA, INDONESIA

Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia is considered to have one of the highest tsunami risks in the world. Currently, the strategy to prepare for a tsunami in Padang is focused on developing early warning systems, planning evacuation routes, conducting evacuation drills, and educating the public about its tsunami risk. Although these are all necessary efforts, they are not sufficient. Padang is located so close to the Sunda Trench and has such flat terrain that a large portion of its populace will not be able to reach safe ground in the interval—less than 30 minutes—between the time the earthquake shaking stops and the tsunami arrives at the shore. It is estimated that over 100,000 inhabitants of Padang will be unable to evacuate in that time, even if they head for safe ground immediately following the earthquake. Given these circumstances, other means to prepare for the expected tsunami must be developed. With this motivation, GeoHazards International and Stanford University partnered with Indonesian organizations— Andalas University in Padang, the Laboratory for Earth Hazards (LIPI), and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP)—in an effort to evaluate the need for and feasibility of developing Padang’s tsunami evacuation infrastructure. This project team designed and conducted a course at Stanford University, undertook several field investigations in Padang, and participated in a reconnaissance trip following the September 30, 2009 earthquake. The team concluded that: 1) the tsunami-generating earthquake is still a threat, despite the recent M7.6 earthquake; 2) Padang’s tsunami evacuation capacity is currently inadequate, and evacuation structures need to be implemented as part of an effective evacuation plan; 3) it is likely that previous estimates of the number of people unable to evacuate in time are grossly low; and 4) a more engineering-based approach i

Ab initio calculation of the neutron-proton mass difference

The existence and stability of atoms rely on the fact that neutrons are more massive than protons. The measured mass difference is only 0.14\% of the average of the two masses. A slightly smaller or larger value would have led to a dramatically different universe. Here, we show that this difference results from the competition between electromagnetic and mass isospin breaking effects. We performed lattice quantum-chromodynamics and quantum-electrodynamics computations with four nondegenerate Wilson fermion flavors and computed the neutron-proton mass-splitting with an accuracy of $300$ kilo-electron volts, which is greater than $0$ by $5$ standard deviations. We also determine the splittings in the $\Sigma$, $\Xi$, $D$ and $\Xi_{cc}$ isospin multiplets, exceeding in some cases the precision of experimental measurements.Comment: 57 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables, revised versio