390 research outputs found
Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis after Pemetrexed and Cisplatin for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in a Patient with Sharp Syndrome
Background: Pemetrexed is an antifolate drug approved for maintenance and second-line therapy, and, in combination with cisplatin, for first-line treatment of advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer. The side-effect profile includes fatigue, hematological and gastrointestinal toxicity, an increase in hepatic enzymes, sensory neuropathy, and pulmonary and cutaneous toxicity in various degrees. Case Report: We present the case of a 58-year-old woman with history of Sharp's syndrome and adenocarcinoma of the lung, who developed toxic epidermal necrolysis after the first cycle of pemetrexed, including erythema, bullae, extensive skin denudation, subsequent systemic inflammation and severe deterioration in general condition. The generalized skin lesions occurred primarily in the previous radiation field and responded to immunosuppressive treatment with prednisone. Conclusion: Although skin toxicity is a well-known side effect of pemetrexed, severe skin reactions after pemetrexed administration are rare. Caution should be applied in cases in which pemetrexed is given subsequent to radiation therapy, especially in patients with pre-existing skin diseases
Independent Eigenstates of Angular Momentum in a Quantum N-body System
The global rotational degrees of freedom in the Schr\"{o}dinger equation for
an -body system are completely separated from the internal ones. After
removing the motion of center of mass, we find a complete set of
independent base functions with the angular momentum . These are
homogeneous polynomials in the components of the coordinate vectors and the
solutions of the Laplace equation, where the Euler angles do not appear
explicitly. Any function with given angular momentum and given parity in the
system can be expanded with respect to the base functions, where the
coefficients are the functions of the internal variables. With the right choice
of the base functions and the internal variables, we explicitly establish the
equations for those functions. Only (3N-6) internal variables are involved both
in the functions and in the equations. The permutation symmetry of the wave
functions for identical particles is discussed.Comment: 24 pages, no figure, one Table, RevTex, Will be published in Phys.
Rev. A 64, 0421xx (Oct. 2001
Safety of percutaneous aortic valve insertion. A systematic review
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The technique of percutaneous aortic valve implantation (PAVI) for the treatment of severe aortic stenosis (AS) has been introduced in 2002. Since then, many thousands such devices have worldwide been implanted in patients at high risk for conventional surgery. The procedure related mortality associated with PAVI as reported in published case series is substantial, although the intervention has never been formally compared with standard surgery. The objective of this study was to assess the safety of PAVI, and to compare it with published data reporting the risk associated with conventional aortic valve replacement in high-risk subjects.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Studies published in peer reviewed journals and presented at international meetings were searched in major medical databases. Further data were obtained from dedicated websites and through contacts with manufacturers. The following data were extracted: patient characteristics, success rate of valve insertion, operative risk status, early and late all-cause mortality.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The first PAVI has been performed in 2002. Because of procedural complexity, the original transvenous approach from 2004 on has been replaced by the transarterial and transapical routes. Data originating from nearly 2700 non-transvenous PAVIs were identified. In order to reduce the impact of technical refinements and the procedural learning curve, procedure related safety data from series starting recruitment in April 2007 or later (n = 1975) were focused on. One-month mortality rates range from 6.4 to 7.4% in transfemoral (TF) and 11.6 to 18.6% in transapical (TA) series. Observational data from surgical series in patients with a comparable predicted operative risk, indicate mortality rates that are similar to those in TF PAVI but substantially lower than in TA PAVI. From all identified PAVI series, 6-month mortality rates, reflecting both procedural risk and mortality related to underlying co-morbidities, range from 10.0-25.0% in TF and 26.1-42.8% in TA series. It is not known what the survival of these patients would have been, had they been treated medically or by conventional surgery.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Safety issues and short-term survival represent a major drawback for the implementation of PAVI, especially for the TA approach. Results from an ongoing randomised controlled trial (RCT) should be awaited before further using this technique in routine clinical practice. In the meantime, both for safety concerns and for ethical reasons, patients should only be subjected to PAVI within the boundaries of such an RCT.</p
The risk-to-benefit ratio of transcatheter aortic valve implantation in specific patient cohorts: a single-centre experience
NLP based model for individual plant dispatch in long term hydrothermal planning
This paper presents a method to the hydrothermal dispatch using optimization techniques based on non linear programming techniques. To do so, the expected cost-to-go functions from a long term operation plannning strategic decision model are used. This decision model is based on stochastic dual dynamic programming and energy equivalent reservoirs. The proposed method considers a set of historical water inflow scenarios to the hydroelectric reservoirs. Those scenarios are used to simulate the long term operation planning to a given horizon. The results obtained from this disaggregation model (MIUH) are compared with those from the model officially adopted in the Brazilian power system, SUISHI-O. The latter is based on operation heuristics aiming at operating the reservoir maintaining the water storag e in similar levels, that is, trying to operate them in parallel.Este trabalho apresenta um modelo de despacho hidrotérmico à usinas individualizadas, utilizando métodos de otimização baseados em programação não linear. Para tanto, considera-se funções de custo futuro geradas por um modelo de decisão estratégica baseado em programação dinâmica e sistemas equivalentes de energia. O modelo proposto considera diversos cenários históricos de afluências hidrológicas às usinas hidrelétricas, os quais são simulados para um horizonte de planejamento da operação de médio/longo prazo. Os resultados obtidos através do modelo proposto, denominado Modelo Individualizado de Usinas Hidráulicas (MIUH), são comparados com os resultados obtidos a partir da utilização do modelo SUISHI-O adotado pelo Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico Brasileiro (ONS)
Surface and intracardiac ECG for discriminating conduction disorders after CoreValve implantation
Surgery for Valvular Heart Disease: A Population-Based Study in a Brazilian Urban Center
BACKGROUND: In middle income countries, the burden of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains high, but the prevalence of other heart valve diseases may rise as the population life expectancy increases. Here, we compared population-based data on surgical procedures to assess the relative importance of causes of heart valve disease in Salvador, Brazil. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Medical charts of patients who underwent surgery for valvular heart disease from January 2002-December 2005 were reviewed. Incidence of surgery for valvular heart disease was calculated. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with in-hospital death following surgery. The most common etiologies for valvular dysfunction in 491 valvular heart surgery patients were RHD (60.3%), degenerative valve disease (15.3%), and endocarditis (4.5%). Mean annual incidence for surgeries due to any valvular heart diseases, RHD, and degenerative valvular disease were 5.02, 3.03, and 0.77 per 100,000 population, respectively. Incidence of surgery due to RHD was highest in young adults; procedures were predominantly paid by the public health sector. In contrast, the incidence of surgery due to degenerative valvular disease was highest among those older than 60 years of age; procedures were mostly paid by the private sector. The overall in-hospital case-fatality ratio was 11.9%. Independent factors associated with death included increase in age (odds ratio: 1.04 per year of age; 95% confidence interval: 1.02-1.06), endocarditis (6.35; 1.92-21.04), multiple valve operative procedures (4.35; 2.12-8.95), and prior heart valve surgery (2.49; 1.05-5.87). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: RHD remains the main cause for valvular heart surgery in Salvador, which primarily affects young adults without private health insurance. In contrast, surgery due to degenerative valvular disease primarily impacts the elderly with private health insurance. Strategies to reduce the burden of valvular heart disease will need to address the disparate factors that contribute to RHD as well as degenerative valve disease
Data standards for transcatheter aortic valve implantation: the European Unified Registries for Heart Care Evaluation and Randomised Trials (EuroHeart)
Funding: European Society of Cardiology.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin
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