1,891 research outputs found
High dose therapy versus oral maintenance: Result of HD-CWS 96 study for treatment of patients with metastasized soft tissue sarcoma (STS)
Long term outcome of high-risk neuroblastoma patients after immunotherapy with antibody ch14.18 or oral metronomic chemotherapy
Background: The treatment of high-risk neuroblastoma patients consists of multimodal induction therapy to achieve remission followed by consolidation therapy to prevent relapses. However, the type of consolidation therapy is still discussed controversial. We applied metronomic chemotherapy in the prospective NB90 trial and monoclonal anti-GD2-antibody (MAB) ch14.18 in the NB97 trial. Here, we present the long term outcome data of the patient cohort. Methods: A total of 334 stage 4 neuroblastoma patients one year or older were included. All patients successfully completed the induction therapy. In the NB90 trial, 99 patients received at least one cycle of the oral maintenance chemotherapy (NB90 MT, 12 alternating cycles of oral melphalan/etoposide and vincristine/cyclophosphamide). In the NB97 trial, 166 patients commenced the MAB ch14.18 consolidation therapy (six cycles over 12 months). Patients who received no maintenance therapy according to the NB90 protocol or by refusal in NB97 (n = 69) served as controls. Results: The median observation time was 11.11 years. The nine-year event-free survival rates were 41 Âą 4%, 31 Âą 5%, and 32 Âą 6% for MAB ch14.18, NB90 MT, and no consolidation, respectively (p = 0.098). In contrast to earlier reports, MAB ch14.18 treatment improved the long-term outcome compared to no additional therapy (p = 0.038). The overall survival was better in the MAB ch14.18-treated group (9-y-OS 46 Âą 4%) compared to NB90 MT (34 Âą 5%, p = 0.026) and to no consolidation (35 Âą 6%, p = 0.019). Multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed ch14.18 consolidation to improve outcome compared to no consolidation, however, no difference between NB90 MT and MAB ch14.18-treated patients was found. Conclusions: Follow-up analysis of the patient cohort indicated that immunotherapy with MAB ch14.18 may prevent late relapses. Finally, metronomic oral maintenance chemotherapy also appeared effective
A tandem approach for collocated measurements of microphysical and radiative cirrus properties
Microphysical and
radiation measurements were collected with the novel AIRcraft TOwed Sensor
Shuttle (AIRTOSS) â Learjet tandem platform. The platform is a combination
of an instrumented Learjet 35A research aircraft and an aerodynamic bird,
which is detached from and retracted back to the aircraft during flight via a
steel wire with a length of 4000âŻm. Both platforms are equipped with
radiative, cloud microphysical, trace gas, and meteorological instruments.
The purpose of the development of this tandem set-up is to study the
inhomogeneity of cirrus as well as other stratiform clouds. Sophisticated
numerical flow simulations were conducted in order to optimally integrate an
axially asymmetric Cloud Combination Probe (CCP) inside AIRTOSS. The tandem
platform was applied during measurements at altitudes up to
36âŻ000âŻft (10âŻ970âŻm) in the framework of the AIRTOSS â
Inhomogeneous Cirrus Experiment (AIRTOSS-ICE). Ten flights were performed
above the North Sea and Baltic Sea to probe frontal and in situ formed
cirrus, as well as anvil outflow cirrus. For one flight, cirrus microphysical
and radiative properties displayed significant inhomogeneities resolved by
both measurement platforms. The CCP data show that the maximum of the
observed particle number size distributions shifts with decreasing altitude
from 30 to 300âŻÂľm, which is typical for frontal, midlatitude
cirrus. Theoretical considerations imply that cloud particle aggregation
inside the studied cirrus is very unlikely. Consequently, diffusional growth
was identified to be the dominant microphysical growth process. Measurements
of solar downward and upward irradiances at 670âŻnm wavelength were conducted
above, below, and in the cirrus on both the Learjet and AIRTOSS. The observed
variability of the downward irradiance below the cirrus reflects the
horizontal heterogeneity of the observed thin cirrus. Vertically resolved
solar heating rates were derived by either using single-platform measurements
at different altitudes or by making use of the collocated irradiance
measurements at different altitudes of the tandem platform. Due to
unavoidable biases of the measurements between the individual flight legs,
the single-platform approach failed to provide a realistic solar heating rate
profile, while the uncertainties of the tandem approach are reduced. Here,
the solar heating rates range up to 6âŻKâdayâ1 at top of the
cirrus layer
Intergenerational family caregiving in welfare policy context
Definition
Intergenerational family caregiving refers to exchanges up and down family lines aimed at nurturing the needs of others. Caregiving is more than a task; it involves emotional and relationship work
Prospective Newborn Screening for SCID in Germany: A First Analysis by the Pediatric Immunology Working Group (API)
Background: T-cell receptor excision circle (TREC)-based newborn screening (NBS) for severe combined immunodeficiencies (SCID) was introduced in Germany in August 2019. / Methods: Children with abnormal TREC-NBS were referred to a newly established network of Combined Immunodeficiency (CID) Clinics and Centers. The Working Group for Pediatric Immunology (API) and German Society for Newborn Screening (DGNS) performed 6-monthly surveys to assess the TREC-NBS process after 2.5Â years. / Results: Among 1.9 million screened newborns, 88 patients with congenital T-cell lymphocytopenia were identified (25 SCID, 17 leaky SCID/Omenn syndrome (OS)/idiopathic T-cell lymphocytopenia, and 46 syndromic disorders). A genetic diagnosis was established in 88%. Twenty-six patients underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), 23/26 within 4Â months of life. Of these, 25/26 (96%) were alive at last follow-up. Two patients presented with in utero onset OS and died after birth. Five patients with syndromic disorders underwent thymus transplantation. Eight syndromic patients deceased, all from non-immunological complications. TREC-NBS missed one patient, who later presented clinically, and one tracking failure occurred after an inconclusive screening result. / Conclusion: The German TREC-NBS represents the largest European SCID screening at this point. The incidence of SCID/leaky SCID/OS in Germany is approximately 1:54,000, very similar to previous observations from North American and European regions and countries where TREC-NBS was implemented. The newly founded API-CID network facilitates tracking and treatment of identified patients. Short-term HSCT outcome was excellent, but NBS and transplant registries will remain essential to evaluate the long-term outcome and to compare results across the rising numbers of TREC-NBS programs across Europe
Transformation of a Policy Area: Development Policy is in a Systemic Crisis and Faces the Challenge of a More Complex System Environment
Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay
channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7
TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector,
and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No
significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper
limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the
standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at
95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE
Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least
three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data
sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns
collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector
at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model
backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are
presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard
model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new
particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets
Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation
Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks
produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in
2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of
the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or
electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant
Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a
simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of
fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses
below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal
mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass
difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses
of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results
significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of
fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
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