Delayed diagnosis of coeliac disease increases cancer risk

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Tamoxifen in treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: a randomised controlled trial

Background Results from small randomised trials on tamoxifen in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are conflicting, We studied whether the addition of tamoxifen to best supportive care prolongs survival of patients with HCC. Methods Patients with any stage of HCC were eligible, irrespective of locoregional treatment. Randomisation was centralised, with a minimisation procedure accounting for centre, evidence of disease, and time from diagnosis. Patients were randomly allocated best supportive care alone or in addition to tamoxifen, Tamoxifen was given orally, 40 mg per day, from randomisation until death. Results 496 patients from 30 institutions were randomly allocated treatment from January, 1995, to January, 1997. Information was available for 477 patients. By Sept 15, 1997, 119 (50%) of 240 and 130 (55%) of 237 patients had died in the control and tamoxifen arms, respectively. Median survival was 16 months and 15 months (p=0.54), respectively, No differences were found within subgroups defined by prognostic variables. Relative hazard of death for patients receiving tamoxifen was 1.07 (95% CI 0.83-1.39). Interpretation Our findings show that tamoxifen is not effective in prolonging survival of patients with HCC

Les fonds de placement: definitions et mesures de la performance des fonds de placement sur le marche suisse.

L'objet de ce travail est double: d'une part nous allons etudier les differentes contributions theoriques et empiriques relatives a la gestion de portefeuille et au phenomene des fonds de placement. D'autre part nous aborderons la question avec la perspective de l'investisseur, en se demandant s'il est interessant, pour ce dernier, d'acheter des parts de fonds de placement. La reponse a cette principale question represente la seconde ambition du travail. Dans ce but, nous nous interrogerons sur quels criteres choisir ses fonds de placement parmi ceux proposes sur le marche suisse.MARCHE FINANCIER ; FONDS DE PLACEMENT

Aspect Weaving Strategies

This work proposes a model to implement aspect-oriented systems, through the definition of generic aspects. This model could be applied to object-oriented languages by the implementation of the abstractions for aspects and one or more strategies defined in the model. This model can be adapted and applied to object-oriented languages in general

Induction of adipose differentiation related protein and neutral lipid droplet accumulation in keratinocytes by skin irritants

Keratinocytes play an important role in skin irritation. In an attempt to investigate mechanistic bases of human skin irritation response, we recently identified the upregulation by skin irritants of adipose differentiation related protein (ADRP) in reconstituted human epidermis. ADRP is a lipid-storage-droplet-associated protein, governing deposition and release of lipids from droplets. The purpose of this study was to characterize, in a human keratinocyte cell line (NCTC 2544), sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-induced ADRP expression, to identify the biochemical events that lead to ADRP expression, and to understand its function in sodium dodecyl sulfate cytotoxicity. Sodium dodecyl sulfate induced a concentration- and time-related production of ADRP that was associated with lipid droplet accumulation. Lipid accumulation following sodium dodecyl sulfate treatment was due to intracellular redistribution rather than lipid neosynthesis, as indicated by equivalent (14) C-oleate and (14) C-acetate incorporations. Other skin irritants, namely benzalkonium chloride, tributyltin, and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate, also induce lipid droplet accumulation. Sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-induced ADRP expression and lipid droplet accumulation were modulated by the calcium chelator BAPTA, indicating a role of calcium in ADRP induction. Decrease of sodium-dodecyl-sulfate-induced ADRP expression by specific ADRP antisense oligonucleotide resulted in increased cytotoxicity, indicating a protective role of ADRP and lipid accumulation in the process of cell damage induced by skin irritants. ADRP expression was also induced in vivo following treatment with sodium dodecyl sulfate in an experimental model of skin irritation, indicating that the in vitro model represents irritation