Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors for Elderly Patients with Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in both men and women and approximately 219,440 new cases of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were estimated to occur in the USA in 2009, which caused 159,390 NSCLC-related deaths. More than 50% of cases of advanced NSCLC are diagnosed in patients older than age 65, and recent Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEERs) data suggest that the median age at diagnosis is 70 years. Until recently, the disease has been undertreated in this patient population, with a perception among many clinicians that elderly patients do not tolerate chemotherapy or radiotherapy. So, single agent chemotherapy is the recommended approach by the ASCO and International Expert Panels in unselected patients. The introduction of novel targeted therapies, such as Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) which improved survival versus placebo in patients who had previously failed on chemotherapy, gives clinicians new, effective, and better tolerated options to consider when treating NSCLC in elderly patients. This paper describes the advances of EGFR TKIs for elderly patients with advanced NSCLC

Calibration of a real-time tsunami detection algorithm for sites with no instrumental tsunami records: application to coastal tide-gauge stations in eastern Sicily, Italy

Abstract. Coastal tide gauges play a very important role in a tsunami warning system, since sea-level data are needed for a correct evaluation of the tsunami threat, and the tsunami arrival has to be recognized as early as possible. Real-time tsunami detection algorithms serve this purpose. For an efficient detection, they have to be calibrated and adapted to the specific local characteristics of the site where they are installed, which is easily done when the station has recorded a sufficiently large number of tsunamis. In this case the recorded database can be used to select the best set of parameters enhancing the discrimination power of the algorithm and minimizing the detection time. This chance is however rare, since most of the coastal tide-gauge stations, either historical or of new installation, have recorded only a few tsunamis in their lifetimes, if any. In this case calibration must be carried out by using synthetic tsunami signals, which poses the problem of how to generate them and how to use them. This paper investigates this issue and proposes a calibration approach by using as an example a specific case, which is the calibration of a real-time detection algorithm called TEDA (Tsunami Early Detection Algorithm) for two stations (namely Tremestieri and Catania) in eastern Sicily, Italy, which were recently installed in the frame of the Italian project TSUNET, aiming at improving the tsunami monitoring capacity in a region that is one of the most hazardous tsunami areas of Italy and of the Mediterranean

Tsunami generation in Stromboli island and impact on the south-east Tyrrhenian coasts

Stromboli is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aeolian island arc in south Tyrrhenian sea, Italy. In the last 100 years the most relevant volcanic eruptions have beenaccompanied by local tsunamis, that have caused damage and casualties. In some cases the direct mechanism of local tsunami generation is clear, i.e. pyroclastic flows entering the sea. In some others it is uncertain and some speculation concerning the collapse of the eruptive column on the sea surface or the failure of some underwater mass can be made. But the ordinary activity is unlikely to generate large regional tsunamis. These can be produced by the lateral collapse of the volcanic cone that geomorphological and volcanological&nbsp; investigations have proven to have occurred repeatedly in the recent history of the volcano, with return period in the order of some thousands of years. The last episode is dated to less than 5 ka BP, and left the Sciara del Fuoco scar on the north-west flank of Stromboli.</p> <p style='line-height: 20px;'>Based on previous studies, the possible collapse of the nortwestern sector of Stromboli and the consequent generation and propagation of a tsunami are explored. The impact on Stromboli and on the other islands of the Aeolian archipelago is estimated, as well as the impact on the coast of Sicily and the Tyrrhenian coasts of Calabria. The simulation is carried out by means of a double model: a Lagrangian block model to compute the motion of the collapsing mass, and a finite-element hydrodynamic model to compute the evolution of the tsunami. Two distinct tsunami simulations are carried out, one on a very fine grid around the source region to evaluate the tsunami near Stromboli, and one utilising a coarser grid covering the whole south-east Tyrrhenian sea to compute the tsunami propagation toward Sicily and Calabria. It is found that a huge-volume collapse of the north-western flank of the Stromboli cone is capable of producing a regional tsunami which is catastrophic at the source and devastating on long stretches of Tyrrhenian coasts, but particularly in the neighbouring islands of Panarea and Salina, and along the Calabria coasts around Capo Vaticano

Tsunami hazard for the city of Catania, eastern Sicily, Italy, assessed by means of Worst-case Credible Tsunami Scenario Analysis (WCTSA)

Eastern Sicily is one of the coastal areas most exposed to earthquakes and tsunamis in Italy. The city of Catania that developed between the eastern base of Etna volcano and the Ionian Sea is, together with the neighbour coastal belt, under the strong menace of tsunamis. This paper addresses the estimation of the tsunami hazard for the city of Catania by using the technique of the Worst-case Credible Tsunami Scenario Analysis (WCTSA) and is focused on a target area including the Catania harbour and the beach called La Plaia where many human activities develop and many important structures are present. The aim of the work is to provide a detailed tsunami hazard analysis, firstly by building scenarios that are proposed on the basis of tectonic considerations and of the largest historical events that hit the city in the past, and then by combining all the information deriving from single scenarios into a unique aggregated scenario that can be viewed as the &lt;i&gt;worst virtual scenario&lt;/i&gt;. Scenarios have been calculated by means of numerical simulations on computational grids of different resolutions, passing from 3 km on a regional scale to 40 m in the target area. La Plaia beach results to be the area most exposed to tsunami inundation, with inland penetration up to hundreds of meters. The harbour turns out to be more exposed to tsunami waves with low frequencies: in particular, it is found that the major contribution to the hazard in the harbour is due to a tsunami from a remote source, which propagates with much longer periods than tsunamis from local sources. This work has been performed in the framework of the EU-funded project SCHEMA

Tsunami hazard for the city of Catania, eastern Sicily, Italy, assessed by means of Worst-case Credible Tsunami Scenario Analysis (WCTSA)

Abstract. Eastern Sicily is one of the coastal areas most exposed to earthquakes and tsunamis in Italy. The city of Catania that developed between the eastern base of Etna volcano and the Ionian Sea is, together with the neighbour coastal belt, under the strong menace of tsunamis. This paper addresses the estimation of the tsunami hazard for the city of Catania by using the technique of the Worst-case Credible Tsunami Scenario Analysis (WCTSA) and is focused on a target area including the Catania harbour and the beach called La Plaia where many human activities develop and many important structures are present. The aim of the work is to provide a detailed tsunami hazard analysis, firstly by building scenarios that are proposed on the basis of tectonic considerations and of the largest historical events that hit the city in the past, and then by combining all the information deriving from single scenarios into a unique aggregated scenario that can be viewed as the worst virtual scenario. Scenarios have been calculated by means of numerical simulations on computational grids of different resolutions, passing from 3 km on a regional scale to 40 m in the target area. La Plaia beach results to be the area most exposed to tsunami inundation, with inland penetration up to hundreds of meters. The harbour turns out to be more exposed to tsunami waves with low frequencies: in particular, it is found that the major contribution to the hazard in the harbour is due to a tsunami from a remote source, which propagates with much longer periods than tsunamis from local sources. This work has been performed in the framework of the EU-funded project SCHEMA

Slaughter performance and meat quality of Milanino chickens reared according to a specific free-range program

ABSTRACT The study aimed to characterize meat quality traits of Milanino chickens reared according to a specific free-range farming program. A total of 120 birds was reared straight-run in outdoor pens (8 m2/bird) from 35 d of life and fed ad libitum a low (16%) protein diet. At 180 d of age, 20 birds (10 birds/sex) were slaughtered, and carcass weight data were recorded. After processing, carcasses were refrigerated at 4°C for 24 hours. Then, the right breast and thigh with skin were collected and color parameters, pH, water-holding capacity (WHC), and chemical composition were determined. The left breast and thigh were stored at −20°C until cooking loss and tenderness evaluation. Milanino was confirmed to be a heavy breed with a sexual dimorphism in relation to adult body weight. A high general carcass yield was recorded. Milanino meat was characterized by high protein and low fat contents compared with the standard broiler meat. Differences in meat composition were recorded according to the sex: females presented higher values of dry matter (breast and thigh), protein (breast), and fat (breast and thigh) contents. The meat with skin presented an intense luminosity, and this trait was higher in the females. The muscle color was characterized by high redness and yellowness indices with differences according to the sex: Higher yellowness index was observed in female carcasses, while higher redness index was detected in male breast samples. The pH muscle values were similar to those reported in other autochthonous breeds. WHC values did not show variation between sexes. In contrast, cooking loss values recorded in thigh samples were lower in males compared to females. The degree of tenderness of Milanino meat was not affected by the sex. However, the potential loss of water and the toughness in Milanino meat were low compared to other local chicken breed meat. The present results support the breeding of Milanino chickens for meat production according to its specific straight-run free-range system

Calibration of a real-time tsunami detection algorithm for sites with no instrumental tsunami records: application to coastal tide-gauge stations in eastern Sicily, Italy

Coastal tide gauges play a very important role in a tsunami warning system, since sea-level data are needed for a correct evaluation of the tsunami threat, and the tsunami arrival has to be recognized as early as possible. Real-time tsunami detection algorithms serve this purpose. For an efficient detection, they have to be calibrated and adapted to the specific local characteristics of the site where they are installed, which is easily done when the station has recorded a sufficiently large number of tsunamis. In this case the recorded database can be used to select the best set of parameters enhancing the discrimination power of the algorithm and minimizing the detection time. This chance is however rare, since most of the coastal tide-gauge stations, either historical or of new installation, have recorded only a few tsunamis in their lifetimes, if any. In this case calibration must be carried out by using synthetic tsunami signals, which poses the problem of how to generate them and how to use them. This paper investigates this issue and proposes a calibration approach by using as an example a specific case, which is the calibration of a real-time detection algorithm called TEDA (Tsunami Early Detection Algorithm) for two stations (namely Tremestieri and Catania) in eastern Sicily, Italy, which were recently installed in the frame of the Italian project TSUNET, aiming at improving the tsunami monitoring capacity in a region that is one of the most hazardous tsunami areas of Italy and of the Mediterranean

bird density stress markers and growth performance in the italian chicken breed milanino

Summary The Milanino is an Italian chicken breed included in a conservation project run by the University of Milan. It is characterized by good fertility, heavy body weights, high adaptation ability to adverse climate conditions, and disease resistance. Because of these characteristics, the Milanino could represent an important genetic resource for alternative production systems. This research was aimed at studying the effect of bird density on growth and slaughter performance, as well as stress response in Milanino chickens kept in outdoor pens. One hundred and sixty Milanino chickens were randomly assigned to 2 experimental groups kept at different densities (2 m2/bird and 8 m2/bird) and were slaughtered at 185 days of age. Growth and slaughter performance and stress condition were recorded. The interaction bird density * sex * age significantly affected body weight and an opposite trend was found between females and males: heavier females were found in the high-density group, while heavier males were found in the low-density group. Bird density did not affect carcass weight data. The stress marker (H/L ratio) was significantly higher in birds kept at the higher density (2 m2/bird). In conclusion, the Milanino provided satisfactory growth performance with different rearing density but the lower density, 8 m2/bird, should be preferred to minimize welfare problems for male birds

Effect of n-methylacetamide concentration and thawing rate on chicken sperm quality after cryopreservation

In seeking alternative cryoprotectants to glycerol for a reference chicken semen freezing procedure, the aim of the present study was to compare the effect of two concentrations of N-Methylacetamide (MA) and two thawing rates on the quality of frozen-thawed semen. Semen samples were diluted in Lake pre-freezing extender, including 0.1 M trehalose in presence of 6% or 9% MA, loaded into straws, frozen in nitrogen vapors, and stored in liquid nitrogen. The following thawing treatments were used: 5 \ub0C for 100 s and 38 \ub0C for 30 s. Sperm quality (cell membrane integrity, motility and kinetic parameters) was assessed before and after cryopreservation. The decrease of MA concentration from 9 to 6% improved sperm quality after freezing/thawing and this effect was dependent on thawing temperature. Decreasing the MA concentration from 9 to 6% improved the proportion of undamaged membrane, motile, and progressive motile sperm recovered after thawing at 5 \ub0C for 100 s; in contrast, no effect of the MA concentration was observed thawing at 38 \ub0C for 30 s. Therefore, the treatment with 6% MA and thawing at 5 \ub0C for 100 s has given the best cryoprotective action. These results contribute to improve the efficacy of the current chicken semen cryopreservation procedures