Modulation of 5-fluorouracil as adjuvant systemic chemotherapy in colorectal cancer: the IGCS-COL multicentre, randomised, phase III study

The aims of this multicentre, randomised phase III trial were to evaluate: ( 1) the role of levamisol (LEV); and ( 2) the role of folinic acid ( FA), added to 5-fluorouracil (5FU) in the adjuvant treatment of colorectal cancer. Patients with histologically proven, radically resected stage II or III colon or rectal cancer were eligible. The study had a 2 x 2 factorial design with four treatment arms: ( a) 5FU alone, (b) 5FU+LEV, ( c) 5FU+FA, ( d) 5FU+LEV+FA, and two planned comparisons, testing the role of LEV and of FA, respectively. From March 1991, to September 1998, 1327 patients were randomised. None of the two comparisons resulted in a significant disease-free (DFS) or overall (OAS) survival advantage. The hazard ratio (HR) of relapse was 0.89 (95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.73 - 1.09) for patients receiving FA and 0.99 ( 95% CI 0.80 - 1.21) for those receiving LEV; corresponding HRs of death were 1.02 ( 95% CI: 0.80 - 1.30) and 0.94 ( 95% CI 0.73 - 1.20). Nonhaematological toxicity ( all grade vomiting, diarrhoea, mucositis, congiuntivitis, skin, fever and fatigue) was significantly worse with FA, while all other toxicities were similar. In the present trial, there was no evidence that the addition of FA or LEV significantly prolongs DFS and OAS of radically resected colorectal cancer patients

From sport to science: the acoustics of a pool transformed into an auditorium

A dismissed public building has been donated to the University of Foggia, Italy, due to the demand of facilities that the different departments requested for their academic meetings and events. This building, realized almost a hundred of years ago, was pro vided with a swimming pool on the ground floor, to be 25 m long and 3 m deep. The architects in charge to apply the change of use have designed the realization of an auditorium in place of the pool. The project consists of the installation of the audience seats on a 10% sloped stalls area, having a rectangular plan layout. The short dimension headwall, that is 3 m high, has been designed to allocate a screen for image and video projection. Before any change, a campaign of acoustic measurements has been unde rtaken in order to assess the existing conditions of the room, having a volume size of 4000 m3. The results from the first survey highlight that the main acoustic parameters were abundantly out of the optimal range defined for an auditorium. ThisThis paperpaper dedealsals withwith thethe acousticacoustic designdesign ofof anan auditoriumauditorium determineddetermined byby somesome mitigationtion solutionssolutions appliedapplied toto lowerlower thethe reverberationreverberation andand increaseincrease thethe speechspeech intelligibilityintelligibility inin termsterms ofof SpeechSpeech TransmissionTransmission IndexIndex (STI).(STI). TheThe additionaddition ofof absorbingabsorbing surfacesurface areasareas inin anan almoalmostst totallytotally rever-rever-berantberant roomroom allowedallowed thethe usersusers toto effectivelyeffectively makemake useuse ofof thisthis facility.facility. AA secondsecond campaigncampaign ofof measure-measure-mentsments carriedcarried outout afterafter thethe realizationrealization ofof thethe acousticacoustic designdesign havehave beenbeen analyzedanalyzed andand comparedcompared withwith thethe predictionspredictions.

Physical characterization of incompatible blends of polymethylmethacrylate and polycaprolactone

Blends of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) were prepared and characterized. The analysis of the glass transition temperature indicates no compatibility of the two polymers, which segregated into two distinct phases. The fracture strength of the blends can be explained on the basis of a constitutive model of spheres of PCL embedded in a PMMA matrix. The trend of water sorption confirms the hypothesis of phase segregation of PCL in the glassy matrix of PMMA

Evoluzione tettono-sedimentaria del Complesso d’Accrezione Liguride in Appennino Meridionale

Aim of this paper is the structural and stratigraphic analyses of the Ligurian Accretionary Complex exposed in the Campania region (Italy) in order to unraveling the deformation pattern characterizing the transition from the final oceanic subduction stages to the early stages of deformation of the foreland continental margin. Our results outline a sequence of late Early Miocene (Burdigalian) shortening events, also involving buttressing of the accretionary wedge against the crustal ramp of the foreland continental margin. Emplacement of the overthickened accretionary complex onto the distal part of the continental margin was followed by horizontal extension and wedge thinning, aiding the development of wedge-top depocenters. Early Miocene NW-SE shortening recorded by Ligurian Accretionary Complex units is completely unrelated with later (Late Miocene to Pleistocene) NE-directed thrusting in the Apennines, which was coeval with back-arc extension in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Therefore, our results emphasize the occurrence of a major discontinuity in the Neogene geodynamic evolution of the southern Apennines, whose tectonic history may be clearly subdivided, from a kinematic point of view, into pre- and syn-Tyrrhenian back-arc extension stages