Weekly schedule of vinorelbine in pretreated breast cancer patients

Purpose: In this phase II study, we explored tolerability and activity of vinorelbine administered according to a dose-dense weekly schedule with hematopoietic growth factor support in pretreated, advanced breast cancer patients. Patients and methods: From January 1994 to March 1996, 40 patients with metastatic breast cancer, pretreated with at least one prior anthracycline-containing regimen, were entered into the study. Patient characteristics: median age 53 years (range 32-70); ECOG performance status 0-1: 34 patients, 2: 6 patients; dominant visceral metastatic disease: 15 patients, dominant non-visceral: 25; anthracycline-refractory/resistant: 2 patients, sensitive: 38 patients. Six patients were treated as first-line therapy for metastatic disease and 34 in second- or subsequent lines. All patients received vinorelbine at the dose of 25 mg/m2/week as a short intravenous infusion, together with routine antiemetic medication. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (Lenograstim) at the dose of 150 microg/m2 subcutaneously on day 3 was included in the treatment schedule. Results: The median number of treatment weeks was 23 (range: 4-24), with a delivered dose-intensity (DDI) of 23.8 mg/m2/week (range: 18.7-25, 95.2% of projected dose-intensity). Toxicity was mild, with non-complicated neutropenia being the main toxicity observed (grade 3-4 in 25% of the patients but only 2% of treatment weeks). Overall response rate was 52.5%, with complete responses in 12.5% of patients. Median duration of the response and median time to progression were 10 and 9 months, respectively. Median overall survival was 19 months. Conclusion: Dose-dense weekly vinorelbine is safe and effective with minimal toxicity in pretreated advanced breast cancer patients

Statin Therapy in Metabolic Syndrome and Hypertension Post-JUPITER: What is the Value of CRP?

Much evidence supports a pivotal role for inflammation in atherosclerosis. C-reactive protein (CRP), the prototypic marker of inflammation in humans, is a cardiovascular risk marker and may also promote atherogenesis. CRP levels are increased in metabolic syndrome and hypertension and confer increased risk of cardiovascular events in patients in these subgroups. Statins have been shown to lower low-density lipoproteins and CRP independently, and reduce cardiovascular events in subjects with and without metabolic syndrome and hypertension. In this review, we focus on the results from the primary prevention statin trial, Justification for the Use of statins in Primary prevention: an Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin (JUPITER), which showed reductions in LDL, CRP, and cardiovascular events. Post-JUPITER, the new guidelines will now need to consider recommending high-sensitivity CRP testing to intermediate-risk metabolic syndrome patients and those with hypertension and intermediate risk so that we can better identify candidates at greater risk and reduce cardiovascular burden in these subjects with statin therapy

An RTSP proxy for implementing the IPTV media function using a streaming server

Multimedia content delivery in IMS, including IPTV, is handled by a separate unit, the Media Function (MF), made up of media control and media delivery units, which in the case of IPTV are the Media Control Function (MCF) and Media Delivery Function (MDF), respectively. According to the different specifications of an IMS based IPTV architecture, the User Equipment (UE) is expected to use the RTSP protocol as a media control protocol to interact with the MCF, and obtains delivery of media from the MDF using the RTP protocol. This also means that the streaming session needs to be initiated from the media controller on behalf of the user but the delivery of media is sent to the UE from the media deliverer (media server). Due both to the lack of free and open source Media Servers and the availability of free and open source Streaming Servers, the ideal choice for the delivery of multimedia services, including IPTV, by the research community is Streaming Servers. Nevertheless, because of denial of service attacks and other issues, most streaming servers do not allow a different location for the session setup request and the delivery of media in the streaming session. In other words, most streaming servers are not designed to be controlled by some other entity other than the RTSP client that consumes the media. This makes it difficult to have a separate media control unit for IPTV service in IMS if one wanted to use a streaming server as an MDF unit. So, while waiting for streaming servers to work in this manner, it is better to find a work around in order to use streaming servers to develop and test IPTV services in IMS environments. For this purpose we propose another component (an RTSP proxy and relay unit) as part of the IPTV MF and to mediate between the MCF and MDF. This unit correctly relays media control commands from the MCF to the MDF and RTP packets from the MDF to the UE. It also helps in the implementation of other streaming functionalities that are required for IPTV service delivery, but which are not implemented in the current open source streaming servers. Additional services can also be easily implemented with the help of this unit. This will facilitate the development of an IPTV service using readily available open source streaming servers and help researchers to evaluate their proposals on new services they would like to develop. In this paper we show how this RTSP proxy unit can be integrated into the Media Function of the IPTV architecture to ease the media delivery process of an IMS based IPTV service

Producing and sharing ICT-based knowledge through English and African languages at a South African university

No Abstract

Delivering a personalised video service using IPTV

Video oriented services are taking the lead in terms of revenue in the current Internet environment. In order to tap this revenue, Telcos are resorting to serious measures such as moving to Next Generation Network (NGN) where they can provide QoS for services that demand this feature, such as, IPTV. IPTV is more than just what its name implies and includes various types of additional services to make the TV a better entertainment and communication environment. Various innovative IPTV services have been proposed and developed by researchers and practitioners, including personalized advertisement, personalized EPG (Electronic Program Guide), and personalized VoD (Video on Demand). In this paper we introduce a new IPTV service called, the personalized dynamic video delivery service, which sends new video alerts (like breaking news alert) to subscribed users and notifies them when the video is available. If desired, users can watch the video automatically by switching from what they are currently watching without requiring explicitly a new video setup. Users can configure their profile and also set a policy on the way they wish to be notified and the types of video they wish to be alerted to. The paper describes the issues surrounding the delivery of this service and presents the architecture and the various open source technologies that are used to develop the service

Induction of tumor necrosis factor-\u3b1 in vivo by a skin irritant, tributyltin, through activation of transcription factors: Its pharmacological modulation by anti-inflammatory drugs

Skin irritant reactions are under the control of a network of cytokines and lipid mediators. This study characterized the production of tumor necrosis factor-\u3b1 (TNF) induced by a skin irritant treatment, tributyltin (TBT), in mice through transcription factor activation and its pharmacologic modulation by anti-inflammatory agents. The ears of BALB/c mice were painted with different amounts of TBT (67-536 nmol in acetone) or with acetone alone. At different times thereafter, TNF production was analyzed both at the mRNA and protein level, by semiquantitative RT-PCR and L929 cytotoxicity assay, respectively. TBT induced rapid (1 h) TNF gene expression and protein synthesis. Maximal TNF production was observed 2 h after treatment. The production of TNF was paralleled by accumulation of skin water; this was partially prevented by intraperitoneal injection of antibody against murine TNF. These data indicate that skin irritation induced by TBT is attributable, in addition to the actions of other inflammatory mediators, to the action of keratinocyte-derived TNF. TNF production was preceded by a rapid (5 min) activation of nuclear factor-\u3baB (NF-\u3baB), which was also maximal 30 min after treatment. TBT-induced accumulation of skin water and TNF production were significantly reduced by topical treatment with dexamethasone and pentamidine, two anti-inflammatory agents. Interestingly, dexamethasone, but not pentamidine, decreased TBT-induced NF-\u3baB activation, confirming in vivo that the glucocorticoid receptor interacts functionally within the nucleus with other transcription factors opposing one another's activity

Nadolol prevents the exercise-induced rise in lymphocyte beta-receptor number in borderline hypertension

Thirteen borderline hypertensives were investigated at rest and during dynamic exercise, before and after therapy with nadolol (40-80 mg/day for 7-28 days), in order to evaluate regulation of the number of lymphocyte beta-receptors. Systolic blood pressure and the heart rate were measured before and after 15 min of bicycle exercise, both with and without nadolol therapy; blood samples were withdrawn for adrenaline, noradrenaline and lymphocyte beta-receptor determinations. Nadolol induced a significant decrease in systolic blood pressure and the heart rate at rest, while plasma catecholamines and lymphocyte beta-receptors did not change significantly. Of the physiological responses to dynamic exercise (increases in systolic blood pressure, heart rate, plasma noradrenaline levels and adrenaline and lymphocyte beta-receptors), only the rise in beta-receptors was entirely prevented, and the increase in the heart rate was significantly attenuated by nadolol. It is suggested that the lack of a rise in the number of beta-receptors during exercise may contribute to the blunted exercise-induced tachycardia in patients taking nadolol