633 research outputs found
Amifostine (wr-2721), A Cytoprotective Agent During High-dose Cyclophosphamide Treatment Of Non-hodgkin's Lymphomas: A Phase Ii Study.
Clinical trials indicate that amifostine may confer protection on various normal tissues without attenuating anti-tumor response. When administered prior to chemotherapy or radiotherapy, it may provide a broad spectrum of cytoprotection including against alkylating drugs. The mechanism of protection resides in the metabolism at normal tissue site by membrane-bound alkaline phosphatase. Toxicity of this drug is moderate with hypotension, nausea and vomiting, and hypocalcemia being observed. We report a phase II study using amifostine as a protective drug against high-dose cyclophosphamide (HDCY) (7 g/m2), used to mobilize peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) and to reduce tumor burden. We enrolled 29 patients, 22 (75. 9%) affected by aggressive and 7 (24.1%) by indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), who were submitted to 58 infusions of amifostine and compared them with a historical group (33 patients) affected by aggressive NHL and treated with VACOP-B followed by HDCY. The most important results in favor of amifostine were the reduction of intensity of cardiac, pulmonary and hepatic toxicity, and a significant reduction of frequency and severity of mucositis (P = 0. 04). None of the 29 patients died in the protected group, while in the historical group 2/33 patients died because of cardiac or pulmonary toxicity and 2 patients stopped therapy due to toxicity. Amifostine did not prevent the aplastic phase following HDCY. PBPC collection and hematological recovery were adequate in both groups. The number of CFU-GM (colony-forming units-granulocyte/macrophage) colonies and mononuclear cells in the apheresis products was significantly higher in the amifostine group (P = 0.02 and 0.01, respectively). Side effects were mild and easily controlled. We conclude that amifostine protection should be useful in HDCY to protect normal tissues, with acceptable side effects.33791-
The long duration cryogenic system of the OLIMPO balloon--borne experiment: design and in--flight performance
We describe the design and in--flight performance of the cryostat and the
self-contained He refrigerator for the OLIMPO balloon--borne experiment,
a spectrophotometer to measure the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in clusters of
galaxies.
The He refrigerator provides the 0.3 K operation temperature for the
four arrays of kinetic inductance detectors working in 4 bands centered at 150,
250, 350 and 460 GHz. The cryostat provides the 1.65 K base temperature for the
He refrigerator, and cools down the reimaging optics and the filters
chain at about 2 K.
The integrated system was designed for a hold time of about 15 days, to
achieve the sensitivity required by the planned OLIMPO observations, and
successfully operated during the first long-duration stratospheric flight of
OLIMPO in July 2018.
The cryostat features two tanks, one for liquid nitrogen and the other one
for liquid helium. The long hold time has been achieved by means of custom
stiff G10 fiberglass tubes support, which ensures low thermal conductivity and
remarkable structural stiffness; multi--layer superinsulation, and a vapour
cooled shield, all reducing the heat load on the liquid helium tank.
The system was tested in the lab, with more than 15 days of unmanned
operations, and then in the long duration balloon flight in the stratosphere.
In both cases, the detector temperature was below 300 mK, with thermal
stability better than 0.5 mK.
The system also operated successfully in the long duration stratospheric
balloon flight
Characterizing Atacama B-mode Search Detectors with a Half-Wave Plate
The Atacama B-Mode Search (ABS) instrument is a cryogenic (10 K)
crossed-Dragone telescope located at an elevation of 5190 m in the Atacama
Desert in Chile that observed for three seasons between February 2012 and
October 2014. ABS observed the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at large
angular scales () to limit the B-mode polarization spectrum around
the primordial B-mode peak from inflationary gravity waves at .
The ABS focal plane consists of 480 transition-edge sensor (TES) bolometers.
They are coupled to orthogonal polarizations from a planar ortho-mode
transducer (OMT) and observe at 145 GHz. ABS employs an ambient-temperature,
rapidly rotating half-wave plate (HWP) to mitigate systematic effects and move
the signal band away from atmospheric noise, allowing for the recovery of
large angular scales. We discuss how the signal at the second harmonic of the
HWP rotation frequency can be used for data selection and for monitoring the
detector responsivities.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, conference proceedings submitted to the Journal
of Low Temperature Detector
PREVALENCE OF 'BORDERLINE' VALUES OF CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS IN THE CLINICAL PRACTICE OF GENERAL MEDICINE IN ITALY: RESULTS OF THE BORDERLINE STUDY.
INTRODUCTION:
The prevalence of patients with 'borderline' levels of cardiovascular risk factors has been rarely investigated, being often reported in studies evaluating abnormal values of these parameters. The BORDERLINE study represents a pilot experience to primarily identify the prevalence of 'high-normal' conditions, such as pre-hypertension, lipid and glucose levels in the upper range of normality in the setting of general practice in Italy.
AIM:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of patients with 'borderline' values of cardiovascular risk factors in Italy.
METHODS:
Involved physicians were asked to evaluate the first 20 outpatients, consecutively seen in June 2009. Data were collected in a study-designed case-report form, in which physicians identified thresholds rather than reported absolute values of several clinical parameters. High-normal values were defined as follows: blood pressure (BP) 130-140/85-90 mmHg; total cholesterol 180-200 mg/dL; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) 130-150 mg/dL; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) 30-40 mg/dL in males and 40-50 mg/dL in females; triglycerides 130-150 mg/dL and fasting glucose 100-110 mg/dL.
RESULTS:
Fifty-three Italian physicians provided valuable clinical data on 826 individual outpatients, among which 692 (83.7%, 377 women, mean age 60.9 ± 13.2 years, body mass index 26.6 ± 5.0 kg/m2) were included in the present analysis. Prevalence of borderline values of systolic BP and total cholesterol levels were at least comparable with those in the normal limits of the corresponding parameters, whereas prevalence of borderline diastolic BP, LDL-C, HDL-C, triglycerides and fasting glucose levels was significantly lower than that of normal values, but higher than that of abnormal values of the corresponding parameters.
CONCLUSIONS:
Using this sample of healthy subjects in the setting of general practice in Italy, our results demonstrated a relatively high prevalence of borderline values of cardiovascular risk factors, which was at least comparable with that of normal, but significantly higher than that of abnormal thresholds. These preliminary findings may prompt more extensive investigations in the area of 'borderline' cardiovascular risk. This information may, in fact, potentially enable the design of more effective prevention strategies in the future to limit the burden of cardiovascular disease in the general population in Italy
Multiwavelength characterisation of an ACT-selected, lensed dusty star-forming galaxy at z=2.64
We present \ci\,(2--1) and multi-transition CO observations of a dusty
star-forming galaxy, ACT\,J2029+0120, which we spectroscopically confirm to lie
at \,=\,2.64. We detect CO(3--2), CO(5--4), CO(7--6), CO(8--7), and
\ci\,(2--1) at high significance, tentatively detect HCO(4--3), and place
strong upper limits on the integrated strength of dense gas tracers (HCN(4--3)
and CS(7--6)). Multi-transition CO observations and dense gas tracers can
provide valuable constraints on the molecular gas content and excitation
conditions in high-redshift galaxies. We therefore use this unique data set to
construct a CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED) of the source, which is
most consistent with that of a ULIRG/Seyfert or QSO host object in the taxonomy
of the \textit{Herschel} Comprehensive ULIRG Emission Survey. We employ RADEX
models to fit the peak of the CO SLED, inferring a temperature of T117 K
and cm, most consistent with a ULIRG/QSO object
and the presence of high density tracers. We also find that the velocity width
of the \ci\ line is potentially larger than seen in all CO transitions for this
object, and that the ratio is also larger
than seen in other lensed and unlensed submillimeter galaxies and QSO hosts; if
confirmed, this anomaly could be an effect of differential lensing of a shocked
molecular outflow.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Chronic non-cancer pain in primary care: an Italian cross-sectional study
Chronic non-cancer pain is a complex health condition that affects more than a quarter
of the Italian population who mainly refers to general practitioners and primary care
for their treatment. There are little information on the epidemiological and clinical
characteristics and types of treatments for these patients who suffer from chronic pain.
The aim of the study was to provide epidemiological and clinical information about
patients with chronic non-cancer pain who refers to GPs for their treatment. An
observational, multicentre, cross-sectional study was carried out using retrospectively
reviewed clinical records from 29 GPs. Some pharmacoeconomic aspects were also
investigated. A total of 1,007 patients who had chronic pain were selected for the study.
Chronic pain was more common in women than in men (ratio 2.7 : 1) (P = 0.002).
With regard to incomes, the women earned less than the men (P = 0.017). The chronic
pain was musculoskeletal (73.4%), mixed (21.4%), neuropathic (4.9%) and visceral
(0.3%). More women than men had pain in two or more sites, and 33.5% of the patients
reported more than one diagnosis that related to chronic pain. The general practitioners
had prescribed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for 71.8% of the cases, opioids for
16.9%, adjuvants for 9.0% and acetaminophen for 2.4%, and about pharmacoeconomic
aspects, the total cost for the sample was €111,331.42. Primary care is the essential
frontline for patients who suffer from non-cancer pain. An interdisciplinary assessment
and approach should start in primary care delivery to maximize the clinical outcomes
SWIPE: a bolometric polarimeter for the Large-Scale Polarization Explorer
The balloon-borne LSPE mission is optimized to measure the linear
polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background at large angular scales. The
Short Wavelength Instrument for the Polarization Explorer (SWIPE) is composed
of 3 arrays of multi-mode bolometers cooled at 0.3K, with optical components
and filters cryogenically cooled below 4K to reduce the background on the
detectors. Polarimetry is achieved by means of large rotating half-wave plates
and wire-grid polarizers in front of the arrays. The polarization modulator is
the first component of the optical chain, reducing significantly the effect of
instrumental polarization. In SWIPE we trade angular resolution for
sensitivity. The diameter of the entrance pupil of the refractive telescope is
45 cm, while the field optics is optimized to collect tens of modes for each
detector, thus boosting the absorbed power. This approach results in a FWHM
resolution of 1.8, 1.5, 1.2 degrees at 95, 145, 245 GHz respectively. The
expected performance of the three channels is limited by photon noise,
resulting in a final sensitivity around 0.1-0.2 uK per beam, for a 13 days
survey covering 25% of the sky.Comment: In press. Copyright 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation
Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only.
Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this
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the paper are prohibite
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