Tetrodotoxin for Moderate to Severe Cancer-Related Pain: A Multicentre, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel-Design Trial

Objective. This study evaluated subcutaneous injections of tetrodotoxin (TTX) for the treatment of moderate to severe, inadequately controlled cancer-related pain. Methods. Eligible patients were randomized to receive TTX (30 μg) or placebo subcutaneously twice daily for four consecutive days. Efficacy was assessed using pain and composite endpoints (including pain and quality of life measures), and safety was evaluated using standard measures. Results. 165 patients were enrolled at 19 sites in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with 149 patients in the primary analysis “intent-to-treat” population. The primary analysis supports a clinical benefit of TTX over placebo based on the pain endpoint alone with a clinically significant estimated effect size of 16.2% (p=0.0460). The p value was nominally statistically significant after prespecified (Bonferroni Holm) adjustment for the two primary endpoints but not at the prespecified two-sided 5% level. The mean duration of analgesic response was 56.7 days (TTX) and 9.9 days (placebo). Most common adverse events were nausea, dizziness, and oral numbness or tingling and were generally mild to moderate and transient. Conclusions. Although underpowered, this study demonstrates a clinically important analgesic signal. TTX may provide clinically meaningful analgesia for patients who have persistent moderate to severe cancer pain despite best analgesic care. This clinical study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00725114)

FlyFactorSurvey: a database of Drosophila transcription factor binding specificities determined using the bacterial one-hybrid system

FlyFactorSurvey (http://pgfe.umassmed.edu/TFDBS/) is a database of DNA binding specificities for Drosophila transcription factors (TFs) primarily determined using the bacterial one-hybrid system. The database provides community access to over 400 recognition motifs and position weight matrices for over 200 TFs, including many unpublished motifs. Search tools and flat file downloads are provided to retrieve binding site information (as sequences, matrices and sequence logos) for individual TFs, groups of TFs or for all TFs with characterized binding specificities. Linked analysis tools allow users to identify motifs within our database that share similarity to a query matrix or to view the distribution of occurrences of an individual motif throughout the Drosophila genome. Together, this database and its associated tools provide computational and experimental biologists with resources to predict interactions between Drosophila TFs and target cis-regulatory sequences

The Wilds and the Deep : Martha Fleming and Lyne Lapointe, A Project for the Battery Maritime Building (of the City of New York)

In a brief text, Lapointe and Fleming link the Battery Maritime Building project to a critique of colonization. Includes descriptions of events surrounding the site-specific project

Martha Fleming and Lyne Lapointe : The Wilds and the Deep : A Project for the Battery Maritime Building (of the City of New York)

Documenting the evolution of their installation project and the history of the Battery Maritime Building, Fleming and Lapointe disclose their reflexion on the relationships that exist between museum collections, death, and colonial methodology and attitudes. Biographical notes

Studiolo : The Collaborative Work of Martha Fleming & Lyne Lapointe

A comprehensive overview of Fleming and Lapointe's site works produced for abandoned buildings in Montréal and New York City. A docu-fiction encompassing fragments of the artists' experience is followed by extensive conversations with Johnstone where Fleming and Lapointe discuss their projects, their 15-year collaboration, and the relationship they have established with the audience

Marik Boudreau : (Architectures oubliées), photographies

Fleming and Lapointe consider Boudreau's photographs of abandoned buildings in the Lachine Canal industrial zone as attesting to social and psychic distress. Brief artist's statement. Biographical notes. 4 bibl. ref

Les Femmes du Québec dans les années 80 : Un portrait = Quebec Women in the 80's : A Portrait

Presenting photographs by 24 Quebec women photographers, the authors describe these projects as a documentation of women's lives and history and a will to connect women of diverse cultural backgrounds

Tetrodotoxin for Moderate to Severe Cancer-Related Pain: A Multicentre, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel-Design Trial

Objective. This study evaluated subcutaneous injections of tetrodotoxin (TTX) for the treatment of moderate to severe, inadequately controlled cancer-related pain. Methods. Eligible patients were randomized to receive TTX (30?µg) or placebo subcutaneously twice daily for four consecutive days. Efficacy was assessed using pain and composite endpoints (including pain and quality of life measures), and safety was evaluated using standard measures. Results. 165 patients were enrolled at 19 sites in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with 149 patients in the primary analysis “intent-to-treat” population. The primary analysis supports a clinical benefit of TTX over placebo based on the pain endpoint alone with a clinically significant estimated effect size of 16.2% (). The value was nominally statistically significant after prespecified (Bonferroni Holm) adjustment for the two primary endpoints but not at the prespecified two-sided 5% level. The mean duration of analgesic response was 56.7 days (TTX) and 9.9 days (placebo). Most common adverse events were nausea, dizziness, and oral numbness or tingling and were generally mild to moderate and transient. Conclusions. Although underpowered, this study demonstrates a clinically important analgesic signal. TTX may provide clinically meaningful analgesia for patients who have persistent moderate to severe cancer pain despite best analgesic care. This clinical study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00725114).Peer Reviewe