530 research outputs found
A new rapid desensitization protocol for chemotherapy agents
Background: Desensitization has been used for some decades to treat patients with the allergenic drug when an alternative drug with
similar effi cacy and safety is not available. We present the results from a series of oncology patients desensitized at our hospital during
the last 2 years.
Objective: To assess the effi cacy of a new desensitization protocol in patients allergic to chemotherapy drugs.
Methods: We performed an observational retrospective study of 11 women (6 breast cancer and 5 ovarian cancer) who underwent our
desensitization protocol. Four patients had immediate reactions to carboplatin, 3 to docetaxel, 3 to paclitaxel, and 1 to both docetaxel
and paclitaxel. Premedication was administered in all cases. A 5-step protocol based on 5 different dilutions of the drugs was used.
Results: We performed 39 desensitization procedures: 14 to carboplatin, 3 to oxaliplatin, 16 to docetaxel, and 6 to paclitaxel. Eight patients
tolerated the full dose in 36 procedures. One patient suffered an anaphylactic reaction to carboplatin that reverted with treatment. One
patient had dyspnea after a paclitaxel cycle. One patient experienced dyspnea due to chronic pulmonary thromboembolism related to
her disease.
Conclusion: Desensitization is a useful procedure in patients who are allergic to their chemotherapy agents
The Relativistic Factor in the Orbital Dynamics of Point Masses
There is a growing population of relativistically relevant minor bodies in
the Solar System and a growing population of massive extrasolar planets with
orbits very close to the central star where relativistic effects should have
some signature. Our purpose is to review how general relativity affects the
orbital dynamics of the planetary systems and to define a suitable relativistic
correction for Solar System orbital studies when only point masses are
considered. Using relativistic formulae for the N body problem suited for a
planetary system given in the literature we present a series of numerical
orbital integrations designed to test the relevance of the effects due to the
general theory of relativity in the case of our Solar System. Comparison
between different algorithms for accounting for the relativistic corrections
are performed. Relativistic effects generated by the Sun or by the central star
are the most relevant ones and produce evident modifications in the secular
dynamics of the inner Solar System. The Kozai mechanism, for example, is
modified due to the relativistic effects on the argument of the perihelion.
Relativistic effects generated by planets instead are of very low relevance but
detectable in numerical simulations
Kaon-Nucleon Scattering Amplitudes and Z-Enhancements from Quark Born Diagrams
We derive closed form kaon-nucleon scattering amplitudes using the ``quark
Born diagram" formalism, which describes the scattering as a single interaction
(here the OGE spin-spin term) followed by quark line rearrangement. The low
energy I=0 and I=1 S-wave KN phase shifts are in reasonably good agreement with
experiment given conventional quark model parameters. For Gev
however the I=1 elastic phase shift is larger than predicted by Gaussian
wavefunctions, and we suggest possible reasons for this discrepancy. Equivalent
low energy KN potentials for S-wave scattering are also derived. Finally we
consider OGE forces in the related channels K, KN and K,
and determine which have attractive interactions and might therefore exhibit
strong threshold enhancements or ``Z-molecule" meson-baryon bound states.
We find that the minimum-spin, minimum-isospin channels and two additional
K channels are most conducive to the formation of bound states.
Related interesting topics for future experimental and theoretical studies of
KN interactions are also discussed.Comment: 34 pages, figures available from the authors, revte
Forward and midrapidity like-particle ratios from p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV
We present a measurement of pi-\pi+, K-/K+ and pbar/p from p+p collisions at
sqrt(s) = 20 0GeV over the rapidity range 0<y<3.4. For pT < 2.0 GeV/c we see no
significant transverse momentum dependence of the ratios. All three ratios are
independent of rapidity for y ~< 1.5 and then steadily decline from y ~ 1.5 to
y ~ 3. The pi-\pi+ ratio is below unity for y > 2.0. The pbar/p ratio is very
similar for p+p and 20% central Au+Au collisions at all rapidities. In the
fragmentation region the three ratios seem to be independent of beam energy
when viewed from the rest frame of one of the protons. Theoretical models based
on quark-diquark breaking mechanisms overestimate the pbar/p ratio up to y ~<
3. Including additional mechanisms for baryon number transport such as baryon
junctions leads to a better description of the data.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, uses elsart.sty. Changes to references and
discussion based on referee comments, resubmitted to Phys. Lett.
De novo erythroleukemia chromosome features include multiple rearrangements, with special involvement of chromosomes 11 and 19
Erythroid leukemia (ERL or AML-M6) is an uncommon subtype of acute myeloid leukemia, the clinical, morphological, and genetic behavior of which needs further characterization. We analyzed a homogeneous group of 23 de novo AML-M6 patients whose bone marrow cells showed complex karyotypes. We also analyzed eight leukemia cell lines with erythroid phenotype, performing detailed molecular cytogenetic analyses, including spectral karyotyping (SKY) in all samples. The main features are: (1) A majority of patients (56%) had hypodiploidy. Loss of genetic material was the most common genetic change, especially monosomies of chromosome 7 or 18, and deletions of chromosome arm 5q. Taken together, 87% of the cases displayed aberrations involving chromosome 5 or 8. (2) We describe a novel, cryptic, and recurrent translocation, t(11;19)(p11.2;q13.1). Another translocation, t(12;21)(p11.2;q11.2), was found to be recurrent in a patient with ERL and in the K562 cell line. (3) MLL gene rearrangements were detected in 20% of cases (three translocations and three amplifications) and, overall, we defined 52 rearrangements (excluding deletions) with a mean of 2.3 translocations per patient. (4) Of the structural aberrations, 21% involved chromosomes 11 and 19. Most of the rearrangements were unbalanced; only 13 reciprocal translocations were observed. The general picture of chromosomal aberrations in cell lines did not reflect what occurred in patient samples. However, both primary samples and cell lines shared three common breakpoints at 19q13.1, 20q11.2, and 21q11.2. This is the first molecular cytogenetic description of the karyotype abnormalities present in patients with ERL. It should assist in the identification of genes involved in erythroleukemogenesis
Effective Functional Form of Regge Trajectories
We present theoretical arguments and strong phenomenological evidence that
hadronic Regge trajectories are essentially nonlinear and can be well
approximated, for phenomenological purposes, by a specific square-root form.Comment: 29 pages, LaTeX. Published versio
FGF receptor genes and breast cancer susceptibility: results from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium
Background:Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women. Genome-wide association studies have identified FGFR2 as a breast cancer susceptibility gene. Common variation in other fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptors might also modify risk. We tested this hypothesis by studying genotyped single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and imputed SNPs in FGFR1, FGFR3, FGFR4 and FGFRL1 in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium.
Methods:Data were combined from 49 studies, including 53 835 cases and 50 156 controls, of which 89 050 (46 450 cases and 42 600 controls) were of European ancestry, 12 893 (6269 cases and 6624 controls) of Asian and 2048 (1116 cases and 932 controls) of African ancestry. Associations with risk of breast cancer, overall and by disease sub-type, were assessed using unconditional logistic regression.
Results:Little evidence of association with breast cancer risk was observed for SNPs in the FGF receptor genes. The strongest evidence in European women was for rs743682 in FGFR3; the estimated per-allele odds ratio was 1.05 (95 confidence interval=1.02-1.09, P=0.0020), which is substantially lower than that observed for SNPs in FGFR2.
Conclusion:Our results suggest that common variants in the other FGF receptors are not associated with risk of breast cancer to the degree observed for FGFR2. © 2014 Cancer Research UK
Time-integrated luminosity recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider
This article is the Preprint version of the final published artcile which can be accessed at the link below.We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the ϒ(4S), ϒ(3S), and ϒ(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e+e-→e+e- and (for the ϒ(4S) only) e+e-→μ+μ- candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e+e-→e+e- and e+e-→μ+μ-, the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the ϒ(3S) and ϒ(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to ϒ→e+e-X background. For data collected off the ϒ resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the ϒ(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the ϒ(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the ϒ(2S).This work is supported by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physiquedes Particules (France), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (The Netherlands), the Research Council of Norway, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union) and the A.P. Sloan Foundation (USA)
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