IT for Innovative Educational Environments: Exploring, Authoring and Programming

The paper presents a novel approach based on using a single educational environment to achieve various methods for supporting educational activities – exploring prebuilt learning modules, using authoring tools to create educational modules and programming activities. This approach builds a solid foundation for subject-neutral and multidisciplinary applications and utilized modern IT techniques like virtual reality, interactivity and explorativity

Imatinib in combination with hydroxyurea versus hydroxyurea alone as oral therapy in patients with progressive pretreated glioblastoma resistant to standard dose temozolomide

A randomized, multicenter, open-label, phase 3 study of patients with progressive, recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) for whom front-line therapy had failed was conducted. This study was designed to determine whether combination therapy with imatinib and hydroxyurea (HU) has superior antitumor activity compared with HU monotherapy in the treatment of recurrent GBM. The target population consisted of patients with confirmed recurrent GBM and an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0-2 who had completed previous treatment comprising surgical resection, irradiation therapy, and first-line chemotherapy (preferably temozolomide (TMZ) containing regimen) and who have progressed despite treatment. If first-line chemotherapy did not contain TMZ, a second completed chemotherapy was acceptable. The primary efficacy parameter was progression-free survival (PFS). The primary comparison of combination therapy versus monotherapy for PFS was not significant (adjusted P = 0.56). The hazard ratio (HR) (adjusted HR = 0.93) was not clinically relevant. The median PFS for the combination arm was low at 6 weeks and similar to the median PFS in the monotherapy arm (6 weeks). The 6-month PFS for the two treatment groups was very similar (5% in the combination arm vs. 7% in the monotherapy arm). No clinically meaningful differences were found between the two treatment arms, and the primary study end point was not met. Among the patients receiving imatinib, no adverse events were reported that were either previously unknown or unexpected as a consequence of the disease

Sinteza i antihipoksično djelovanje alifatskih i arilalifatskih amida kofein-8-tioglikolne kiseline

The synthesis of some aliphatic and arylaliphatic amides of caffeine-8-thioglycolic acid was studied. The structures of synthesized compounds were proved by microanalyses, IR- and 1H NMR data. Values of acute p.o. and i.p. toxicity in mice show lower toxicity compared to caffeine. Declines in spontaneous locomotor activity support the idea of depressive CNS activity of the compounds. Two compounds exhibited brain antihypoxic activity (5a and 5b against haemic and circulatory hypoxia, respectively).U radu je opisana sinteza alifatskih i arilalifatskih amida kofein-8-tioglikolne kiseline i njihova karakterizacija elementarnom analizom, IR- i 1H NMR spektroskopijom. Testiranja na miševima pokazuju da su sintetizirani spojevi primijenjeni p.o. i i.p. manje toksični od kofeina. Smanjenje lokomotoričke aktivnosti podupire ideju o njihovom depresivnom djelovanju na SŽS. Spojevi 5a i 5b djeluju antihipoksički u uvjetima krvne i cirkulacijske hipoksije u mozgu

Evaluation of machine-learning methods for ligand-based virtual screening

Machine-learning methods can be used for virtual screening by analysing the structural characteristics of molecules of known (in)activity, and we here discuss the use of kernel discrimination and naive Bayesian classifier (NBC) methods for this purpose. We report a kernel method that allows the processing of molecules represented by binary, integer and real-valued descriptors, and show that it is little different in screening performance from a previously described kernel that had been developed specifically for the analysis of binary fingerprint representations of molecular structure. We then evaluate the performance of an NBC when the training-set contains only a very few active molecules. In such cases, a simpler approach based on group fusion would appear to provide superior screening performance, especially when structurally heterogeneous datasets are to be processed