Retrospective study on efficacy and safety of nanoparticle paclitaxel and concurrent radiotherapy in patients with advanced head and neck cancer

Background: Advanced (Stage III and IV) Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN) produce severe functional impairment, considerable morbidity, and significant mortality. Over the past 2 decades, organ-sparing efforts using either induction chemotherapy or concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT) have become popular and have demonstrated equivalent or superior survival rates compared with surgery and/or RT alone, with a survival rate of approximately 40% at 5 years. Although the addition of chemotherapy to RT enhances toxicity, randomized trials and meta analyses have documented improved survival clearly compared with the results from RT alone. Initially, most combinations included once-daily RT combined with cisplatin either alone or with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). There was number of toxicities of high grades associated with these drugs, and also difficulty in their administration. We have retrospectively studied nanoparticle paclitaxel with RT on concurrent setting as an alternative.Methods: We have retrospectively studied  data of patients of advanced SCCHN treated with nanoparticle paclitaxel along with RT. Nanoparticle paclitaxel was administered at a dose of 80 mg/m2 over one hour infusion once weekly along with RT, 60 Gray (Gy) in 30 fractions, five days per week, over 6 weeks.Results: Total numbers of patient in this study were 28 with median age of 49 years. 78.57% of patient had stage IV disease and 21.43% stage III. Overall response rate was 68% with complete response (CR) in 29% and partial response (PR) in 39%.Conclusions: The use of nanoparticle paclitaxel along with RT is safe, feasible, efficacious and cost effective. Intensive randomized studies with large sample size are required in this direction.

Can pigeonpea hybrids negotiate stresses better than inbred cultivars?

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.] is an important rainfed pulse crop of tropics and sub-tropics, and during its long growth cycle of 6–9 months it encounters a number of biotic and abiotic stresses. The recently developed CMS-based pigeonpea hybrids have demonstrated large gains in yield and stability over the traditional inbred cultivars. In this review, the authors argue that the heterosis expressed in traits like seed germination, radicle growth, root biomass production and moisture retention during water stress confers advantages to hybrid plants in negotiating a few abiotic and biotic stresses in much better way than pure line cultivars

Gadanki radar observations of daytime E region echoes and structures extending down to 87 km

Observations of daytime E region echoes extending to altitudes as low as 87 km made using the Gadanki MST radar are presented. The echoing regions display descending layer resembling the characteristics of tidal winds and show structures with periods 2–4 min having both positive and negative slopes. At the center of the layer where strongest SNR is observed, the velocity is maximum and spectral width is minimum. At altitudes slightly above and below, where SNR is relatively low, velocity is low but spectral width is maximum. Daytime observations of echoes extending to such a low altitude and associated structures akin to nighttime quasi-periodic echoes throughout the observational period are the most significant results, not reported earlier from Gadanki and other locations. Other notable results are large SNR (as high as 15 dB) and spectral width (as high as 70 m/s) at the bottommost altitudes, where collisional damping of the plasma waves is significan