Palliative treatment of painful bone metastases: Does fractionation matter?

Metastatic bone pain is acommonly encountered clinical condition seen in oncology clinical practice. About 50% of all cancer patients develop metastases in their lifetime and half of them develop skeletal metastases. Despite its importance, no specific therapeutic strategy, to prevent or treat this complication of cancer has been demonstrated. This study comparing two radiotherapy regimens was conducted at a cancer center in New Delhi, India. Patients with confirmed bone metastases were randomized into two treatment arms, Group A (single fraction) and Group B (multiple fractions). Patients were followed up for 12 weeks. Pain relief was the primary endpoint of the treatment. Other parameters were improvement in analgesic score, performance status, and acute side effects like nausea, vomiting, tiredness, and lassitude. Fifty patients were evaluated at the end of the study. Overall response rate was seen in 86% of cases, whereas complete response was seen in 36% of cases. The two treatment regimens were found to be comparable with respect to other endpoints. Hence, a single fraction treatment, which is more convenient and cost effective, is a more logical approach in the Indian scenario in selected cases

Effect of heat treatment on the photoluminescence of CdS nanocrystallites in cadmium-rich organic Langmuir Blodgett matrix

CdS nanocrystallites were grown within an organic layered matrix by partial sulphidation of precursor cadmium arachidate LB multilayers. The cadmium arachidate-arachidic acid composite multilayers containing CdS nanocrystallites were enriched by intercalation with Cd2+ ions in aqueous solution of CdCl2 and subsequently heat treated at different temperatures up to 300 degrees C, in air and in vacuum. CdS nanocrystallites within the composite multilayer have been found to exhibit treatment process dependent characteristic changes in optical absorption and luminescence. The optical data obtained at different stages/conditions of processing have been analyzed by considering changes in excitonic absorption and emission as well as contributions from surface and bulk defects related emission and a suitable energy level diagram has been proposed. The composition, microstructure and surface morphology of the composite multilayers were also studied at all stages of processing to develop a comprehensive understanding of the interaction of the organic matrix with CdS nanocrystallites and the consequent influence on the optical behavior of the nanocrystallites. These studies have shown that the organic moieties encapsulating the CdS nanocrystallites tend to restrict their growth and aggregation, while the presence of cadmium in the organic matrix is responsible for the passivation of surface defects as well as the reduction of bulk defects, and these factors have significant influence on the photoluminescence of CdS nanocrystallites. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Granulation of Nano Alumina Powder for Improved Flowability by Spray Drying

This paper reports on the methodology adopted for obtaining near spherical agglomerated Al2O3 powders which enables them to be coated by plasma spray technique on titanium alloys. An attempt was made on spray drying alumina slurries with polyethylene glycol as binder and sodium hexametaphosphate as a dispersant. The effect of pH on the stability and viscosity of the slurry was established and also the rheological behavior of the slurry was studied in detail. Uniform agglomerated particles were obtained by spray drying the slurry containing 22 vol% alumina, 6 wt% polyethylene glycol and 0.02 wt% sodium hexametaphosphate as a dispersant