Allergic Rhinitis and Quality of Life in Children

Allergic rhinitis is a respiratory disease caused by an inflammatory process related to IgE mediated reaction versus allergens to which the subject is sensitized. Allergic rhinitis is not an isolated disease because the nasal mucosa inflammation involves paranasal sinuses and lower airways, thus worsening the asthmatic symptoms. Recently, a new classification of allergic rhinitis based on the duration and severity of clinical symptoms has been proposed. This classification takes into consideration both the quality of life and the possible impact of the symptoms on school, work and free-time activities. Children's quality of life is severely compromised by frequent night awakenings, easy fatigue, defects of language and irritability, which can have a negative influence on learning abilities. Allergic rhinitis has a negative impact on the quality of life of the whole family because it can cause interference on social life, and financial costs

2-deoxy-2[F-18] fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography Deauville scale and core-needle biopsy to determine successful management after six doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine cycles in advanced-stage Hodgkin lymphoma.

Abstract Background The clinical impact of the positivity of the Deauville scale (DS) of positron emission tomography (PET) performed at the end of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine (ABVD) in patients with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), in terms of providing rationale to shift poor responders onto a more intensive regimen, remain to be validated by histopathology. Patients and methods This prospective trial involved patients with stage IIB/IV HL who after six ABVD cycles underwent PET (PET6) and core-needle cutting biopsy (CNCB) of 2-deoxy-2[F-18] fluoro- d -glucose (FDG)-avid lymph nodes. Patients received high-dose chemotherapy/autologous haematopoietic stem cell rescue (HDCT/AHSCR) if CNCB was positive for HL, alternatively, if CNCB or PET was negative, received observation or consolidation radiotherapy (cRT) on residual nodal masses, as initially planned. The end-point was 5-year progression-free survival (PFS). Results In all, 43 of the 169 (25%) evaluable patients were PET6 positive (DS 4, 32; DS 5, 11). Among them, histology showed malignancy (HL) in 100% of DS 5 scores and in 12.5% of DS 4 scores. Fifteen patients with positive biopsy received HDCT/AHSCR, whereas 28 patients with negative biopsy, as well as 126 patients with negative PET6, continued the original plan (cRT, 78 patients; observation, 76 patients). The 5-year PFS in the negative PET6 group, negative biopsy group and positive biopsy group was 95.4%, 100% and 52.5%, respectively. Conclusion DS positivity of end-of-ABVD PET in advanced HL carried a certain number of CNCB-proven non-malignant FDG-uptakes. The DS 4 scores which were found to have negative histology appeared to benefit from continuing the original non-intensive therapeutic plane as indicated by the successful outcome in more than 95% of them by obtaining similar 5-year PFS to the PET6-negative group. By contrast, the DS 5 score had consistently positive histology and was associated with unsuccessful conventional therapy, promptly requiring treatment intensification or innovative therapeutic approaches

Cigarette smoking habit does not reduce the benefit from first line trastuzumab-based treatment in advanced breast cancer patients

Many ErbB2-positive cancers may show intrinsic resistance, and the frequent development of acquired resistance to ErbB-targeted agents represents a substantial clinical problem. The constitutive NF-κB activation in some HER-2/neu positive breast cancer may represent a potential cause of resistance to trastuzumab therapy. Preclinical data revealed that 4-(N-Methyl-N- nitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), the tobacco-specific nitrosamine is able to enhance NF-κB DNA binding activity and theoretically to increase the resistance to trastuzumab. Two hundred and forty-eight women with pathologically confirmed, uni- or bidimensionally measurable, HER-2-positive metastatic breast cancer (MBC) treated with trastuzumab-based therapy as first line combination for metastatic disease were considered eligible. For all included patients data on smoking habit were detectable from medical records. We retrospectively analysed the smoking habits of 248 MBC patients and correlated these habits with activity and efficacy of trastuzumab-based therapy. No statistically significant difference in terms of response rate (RR), time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) was identified between smokers (former plus active smokers) and never smokers. Moreover, no statistically significant difference in terms of RR, TTP and OS was identified either comparing active smokers and former smokers. Moreover, we did not observed any significant statistical difference in terms of TTP and OS between smokers ≥10 cigarettes/day and ≤10 cigarettes/day. This study clearly showed lack of any correlation between cigarette smoking habit and both activity and efficacy of trastuzumab-based first line therapy in metastatic HER2/neu positive breast cancer patients. Copyright © 2011 Spandidos Publications Ltd. All rights reserved

The predictive and prognostic potential of plasma telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) RNA in rectal cancer patients

Background: Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) followed by surgery is the standard care for locally advanced rectal cancer, but tumour response to CRT and disease outcome are variable. The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of plasma telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) levels in predicting tumour response and clinical outcome. Methods: 176 rectal cancer patients were included. Plasma samples were collected at baseline (before CRT\ubcT0), 2 weeks after CRT was initiated (T1), post-CRT and before surgery (T2), and 4\u20138 months after surgery (T3) time points. Plasma TERT mRNA levels and total cell-free RNA were determined using real-time PCR. Results: Plasma levels of TERT were significantly lower at T2 (Po0.0001) in responders than in non-responders. Post-CRT TERT levels and the differences between pre- and post-CRT TERT levels independently predicted tumour response, and the prediction model had an area under curve of 0.80 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.73\u20130.87). Multiple analysis demonstrated that patients with detectable TERT levels at T2 and T3 time points had a risk of disease progression 2.13 (95% CI 1.10\u20134.11)-fold and 4.55 (95% CI 1.48\u201313.95)-fold higher, respectively, than those with undetectable plasma TERT levels. Conclusions: Plasma TERT levels are independent markers of tumour response and are prognostic of disease progression in rectal cancer patients who undergo neoadjuvant therapy

Search for the exotic Θ+\Theta^+ resonance in the NOMAD experiment

A search for exotic Theta baryon via Theta -> proton +Ks decay mode in the NOMAD muon neutrino DIS data is reported. The special background generation procedure was developed. The proton identification criteria are tuned to maximize the sensitivity to the Theta signal as a function of xF which allows to study the Theta production mechanism. We do not observe any evidence for the Theta state in the NOMAD data. We provide an upper limit on Theta production rate at 90% CL as 2.13 per 1000 of neutrino interactions.Comment: Accepted to European Physics Journal

Final NOMAD results on nu_mu->nu_tau and nu_e->nu_tau oscillations including a new search for nu_tau appearance using hadronic tau decays

Results from the nu_tau appearance search in a neutrino beam using the full NOMAD data sample are reported. A new analysis unifies all the hadronic tau decays, significantly improving the overall sensitivity of the experiment to oscillations. The "blind analysis" of all topologies yields no evidence for an oscillation signal. In the two-family oscillation scenario, this sets a 90% C.L. allowed region in the sin^2(2theta)-Delta m^2 plane which includes sin^2(2theta)<3.3 x 10^{-4} at large Delta m^2 and Delta m^2 < 0.7 eV^2/c^4 at sin^2(2theta)=1. The corresponding contour in the nu_e->nu_tau oscillation hypothesis results in sin^2(2theta)<1.5 x 10^{-2} at large Delta m^2 and Delta m^2 < 5.9 eV^2/c^4 at sin^2(2theta)=1. We also derive limits on effective couplings of the tau lepton to nu_mu or nu_e.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures, Latex, to appear on Nucl. Phys.

Inclusive production of ρ0(770),f0(980)\rho^{0}(770), f_0(980) and f2(1270)f_2(1270) mesons in νμ\nu_{\mu} charged current interactions

The inclusive production of the meson resonances $\rho^{0}(770)$, $f_0(980)$ and $f_2(1270)$ in neutrino-nucleus charged current interactions has been studied with the NOMAD detector exposed to the wide band neutrino beam generated by 450 GeV protons at the CERN SPS. For the first time the $f_{0}(980)$ meson is observed in neutrino interactions. The statistical significance of its observation is 6 standard deviations. The presence of $f_{2}(1270)$ in neutrino interactions is reliably established. The average multiplicity of these three resonances is measured as a function of several kinematic variables. The experimental results are compared to the multiplicities obtained from a simulation based on the Lund model. In addition, the average multiplicity of $\rho^{0}(770)$ in antineutrino - nucleus interactions is measured.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, 8 tables. To appear in Nucl. Phys.

Search for nu(mu)-->nu(e) Oscillations in the NOMAD Experiment

We present the results of a search for nu(mu)-->nu(e) oscillations in the NOMAD experiment at CERN. The experiment looked for the appearance of nu(e) in a predominantly nu(mu) wide-band neutrino beam at the CERN SPS. No evidence for oscillations was found. The 90% confidence limits obtained are delta m^2 < 0.4 eV^2 for maximal mixing and sin^2(2theta) < 1.4x10^{-3} for large delta m^2. This result excludes the LSND allowed region of oscillation parameters with delta m^2 > 10 eV^2.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Phys. Lett.

A Precise Measurement of the Muon Neutrino-Nucleon Inclusive Charged Current Cross-Section off an Isoscalar Target in the Energy Range 2.5 < E_\nu < 40 GeV by NOMAD

We present a measurement of the muon neutrino-nucleon inclusive charged current cross-section, off an isoscalar target, in the neutrino energy range $2.5 \leq E_\nu \leq 40$ GeV. The significance of this measurement is its precision, $\pm 4$% in $2.5 \leq E_\nu \leq 10$ GeV, and $\pm 2.6$% in $10 \leq E_\nu \leq 40$ GeV regions, where significant uncertainties in previous experiments still exist, and its importance to the current and proposed long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys.Lett.

A Study of Strange Particles Produced in Neutrino Neutral Current Interactions in the NOMAD Experiment

Results of a detailed study of strange particle production in neutrino neutral current interactions are presented using the data from the NOMAD experiment. Integral yields of neutral strange particles (K0s, Lambda, Lambda-bar) have been measured. Decays of resonances and heavy hyperons with an identified K0s or Lambda in the final state have been analyzed. Clear signals corresponding to K* and Sigma(1385) have been observed. First results on the measurements of the Lambda polarization in neutral current interactions have been obtained.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics B as a rapid communicatio