Multicenter phase II trial of accelerated cisplatin and high-dose epirubicin followed by surgery or radiotherapy in patients with stage IIIa non-small-cell lung cancer with mediastinal lymph node involvement (N2-disease)

To assess the therapeutic activity of accelerated cisplatin and high-dose epirubicin with erythropoietin and G-CSF support as induction therapy for patients with stage IIIa-N2 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients with stage IIIa-N2 NSCLC were enrolled in a phase II trial. They received cisplatin 60 mg m−2 and epirubicin 135 mg m−2 every 2 weeks for three courses combined with erythropoietin and G-CSF. Depending on results of clinical response to induction therapy and restaging, patients were treated with surgery or radiotherapy. In total, 61 patients entered from March 2001 to April 2004. During 169 courses of induction chemotherapy, National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCI-C) grade III/IV leucocytopenia was reported in 35 courses (20.7%), NCI-C grade III/IV thrombocytopenia in 26 courses (15.4%) and NCI-C grade III/IV anaemia in six courses (3.6%). Main cause of cisplatin dose reduction was nephrotoxicity (12 courses). Most patients received three courses. There were no chemotherapy-related deaths. Three patients were not evaluable for clinical response. Twenty-eight patients had a partial response (48.3%, 95% CI: 36–61.1%), 24 stable disease and six progressive disease. After induction therapy, 30 patients underwent surgery; complete resection was achieved in 19 procedures (31.1%). Radical radiotherapy was delivered to 25 patients (41%). Six patients were considered unfit for further treatment. Median survival for all patients was 18 months. Response rate of accelerated cisplatin and high-dose epirubicin as induction chemotherapy for stage IIIa-N2 NSCLC patients is not different from more commonly used cisplatin-based regimen

Chemotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma: past results and recent developments

PubMedWo

The Marine Isotopic Stage 3 (MIS 3) in Valleys of the Undulated Pampa, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

A depositional unit called DU2 identified for the period MIS 3 (ca- 30,000-60,000 yr. B.P.) formed by only one sedimentary facies (F3) was found in the Luján and Salto-Arrecifes rivers basins. F3 is a fluvio?lacustrine unit that overlies in erosive unconformity over eolian sediments with ages of 56,400 ± 6,500 and 50,400 ± 10,200 years B.A. and is unconformably covered by another eolian vitroclastic sandy loess deposit, dated as 32,000 ±4,000 years (Infrared Stimulated Luminescence, IRSL) (Blasi, et al. 2010). It represents the recurrence of ephemeral fluvial streamlets and the development of temporary pools by subsequent damming of channels. It corresponds lithologically to sandy muddy gravel, gravelly muddy sand, gravelly mud, olive to pale olive feldspar and quartz sands, bearing extinct mollusks such as Heleobia ameghini and Diplodon lujanensis. Radiocarbon chronologies obtained on monospecific samples of Cyprideis salebrosa hartmanni and Heleobia ameghini yielded ages of 37,710 ± 840 years 14C B.P. and >40,000 years 14C B.P., respectively. Furthermore, the age obtained through the IRSL technique was of 44,000 ± 6,500 years. Based upon the analyzed bioproxies (malacological, phytoliths and diatomological content) F3 accumulated under variable climatic conditions, ranging from temperate to colder and from subhumid to drier. According to the exhaustive stratigraphic identification, it is proposed that in NE Buenos Aires Province, the so-called Undulated Pampa region, the sediments that were accumulated during MIS3 occur only in the central portion of the studied fluvial basins. This prompted two hypotheses related to the existence of a particular drainage pattern for the Late Pleistocene, different from the present one, and subsequent tectonic controls that allowed the identification of DU2 sediments only in some of the analyzed sections.Fil: Blasi, Adriana María. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Mineralogía y Petrología; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Castiñeira Latorre, Carola. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Mineralogía y Petrología; ArgentinaFil: Cusminsky, Gabriela Catalina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Carignano, Ana Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleozoología Invertebrados; Argentin