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Predictors of anti-VEGF drug-induced hypertension using different hypertension criteria: a secondary analysis of the COMPARZ study
Get PDFThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).Background: There is inconsistency in the criteria used to define anti-vascular endothelial
growth factor (VEGF) drug-induced hypertension (AVEGF-HT) in published studies. It is
unknown whether specific patient characteristics similarly predict AVEGF-HT using different
criteria.
Methods: We assessed the associations between clinical and demographic factors (n = 22)
and AVEGF-HT, using six criteria based on predefined on-treatment blood pressure (BP)
thresholds or absolute BP elevations versus baseline, in a post hoc analysis of a phase III
trial of 1102 patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) randomized to pazopanib or sunitinib
(COMPARZ study).
Results: The cumulative incidence of AVEGF-HT at any time while on treatment ranged
between 14.8% [criterion: grade ⩾3 toxicity, National Cancer Institute Common Terminology
Criteria for Adverse Events (NCI CTCAE) v3.0] and 58.8% (criterion: absolute systolic BP
increase ⩾20 mmHg versus baseline). After adjusting for anti-VEGF treatment and baseline
BP, the number of significant (p < 0.05) predictors ranged between one (criterion: absolute
systolic BP increase ⩾20 mmHg, on-treatment systolic BP ⩾140 mmHg and diastolic BP
⩾90 mmHg) and nine (criterion: grade ⩾3 toxicity, NCI CTCAE v3.0). Age, use of antidiabetic
drugs and use of antihypertensive drugs each significantly predicted four AVEGF-HT criteria.
By contrast, sex, smoking, heart rate, proteinuria, Karnofsky performance status, and use of
thiazide diuretics did not predict any criterion.
Conclusions: There was a significant variability in the incidence, number and type of
predictors of AVEGF-HT, using six different criteria, in a post hoc analysis of the COMPARZ
study. The use of specific criteria might affect the assessment of the interaction between anti-
VEGF drugs, AVEGF-HT and cancer outcomes
Adherence, Compliance, and Health Risk Factor Changes following Short-Term Physical Activity Interventions
Get PDFCopyright © 2015 Lynda H. Norton et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background. Low physical activity (PA) levels are associated with poor health risk factor profiles. Intervention strategies to increase PA and quantify the rate and magnitude of change in risk factors are important. Methods. Interventions were conducted over 40 days to increase PA in 736 insufficiently active (ud_less_than150 min/wk PA) participants using either a pedometer or instructor-led group protocol. There were a further 135 active participants as controls. Major cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors, including fitness parameters, were measured before and after intervention. Results. Adherence to the interventions was higher for the group versus pedometer participants (87.1% versus 79.8%) and compliance rates for achieving sufficient levels of PA (≥150 min/wk) were also higher for the group participants (95.8% versus 77.6%). Total weekly PA patterns increased by 300 and 435 minutes, for the pedometer and group participants, respectively. Improvements were found for waist girth, total cholesterol, aerobic fitness, and flexibility relative to controls. The change in vigorous PA, but not moderate PA, was a significant predictor of the change in eight of 11 risk factor variables measured. Conclusions. Rapid and dramatic increases in PA among previously insufficiently active adults can result in important health benefits
The StartReact Effect on Self-Initiated Movements
Get PDFCopyright © 2013 J. M. Castellote et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Preparation of the motor system for movement execution involves an increase in excitability of motor pathways. In a reaction time task paradigm, a startling auditory stimulus (SAS) delivered together with the imperative signal (IS) shortens reaction time significantly. In self-generated tasks we considered that an appropriately timed SAS would have similar effects. Eight subjects performed a ballistic wrist extension in two blocks: reaction, in which they responded to a visual IS, and action, in which they moved when they wished within a predetermined time window. In 20–25% of the trials, a SAS was applied. We recorded electromyographic activity of wrist extension and wrist movement kinematic variables. No effects of SAS were observed in action trials when movement was performed before or long after SAS application. However, a cluster of action trials was observed within 200 ms after SAS. These trials showed larger EMG bursts, shorter movement time, shorter time to peak velocity, and higher peak velocity than other action trials ( for all), with no difference from Reaction trials containing SAS. The results show that SAS influences the execution of self-generated human actions as it does with preprogrammed reaction time tasks during the assumed building up of preparatory activity before execution of the willed motor action
Feedback regulation of logistic growth
No full textCopyright © 1993 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. This is an open access article distributed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Sufficient conditions are obtained for the global asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium of a regulated logistic growth with a delay in the state feedback of the control modelled bydn(t)dt=rn(t)[1−(a1n(t)+a2n(t−τ)K)−cu(t)]dn(t)dt=−au(t)+bn(t−τ)where u denotes an indirect control variable, r,a2,τ,a,b,c∈(0,∞) anda1∈[0,∞)
Saloon with View
Get PDFKuwait resident Michael Armstrong no longer has a psychological breakdown when he visits his local barbershop, but it was an uncomfortable learning curve
Translating Trauma in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner
Get PDFKhaled Hosseini’s 2003 novel The Kite Runner, as the first Afghan novel published in English, garnered attention in a post-9/11 political climate fascinated by the potential for insight offered by its setting and subject matter. The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 brought unprecedented attention to a region that had been summarily ignored by conceptions of history formulated by the West, despite the impact that Western politics had had on its development. Hosseini’s novel advocates for Afghanistan in a Western context whose dominant discourse has effectively reduced it to “the caves of Tora Bora and poppy fields and Bin Laden”, as Hosseini put it in a foreword to the tenth anniversary edition of The Kite Runner. Hosseini acknowledges an intended Western audience as he emphasizes the fact that The Kite Runner has helped to make Afghanistan more than “just another unhappy, chronically troubled, afflicted land” for his readers (III). Hosseini achieves this in a narrative that traces his protagonist Amir’s journey through political and personal turmoil, and, crucially, as a witness to trauma. At twelve years old, Amir is a bystander to the rape of his childhood friend Hassan; his own inaction during the assault traumatises Amir and leads him to a lifetime spent seeking redemption. This essay traces the ways in which Hosseini presents this assault as an allegory for the national rupture that occurs in Afghanistan during the mid-1970s as the country experiences the collapse of the monarchy and the invasion of Soviet forces. Through the use of this allegory, Hosseini translates the trauma of ongoing conflict for a Western audience
Review of Plane Tree Drive by Lynette Washington
Get PDFReview of Plane Tree Drive by Lynette Washingto
Listening to the Margins: An Introduction
Get PDFIntroduction to special feature 'Voices from the Margins
Complete book reviews (history, theory and criticism) Transnational Literature May 2018
Get PDFComplete history, theory and criticism book reviews for Transnational Literature, May 2018, in one file for ease of downloading or printin