86,597 research outputs found
Investigational drugs targeting somatostatin receptors for treatment of acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors.
No full textNTRODUCTION:
Octreotide long-acting release (LAR) and lanreotide Autogel (ATG) are the two somatostatin analogs currently approved for treatment of acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). The strength of these drugs has been their specificity for somatostatin receptor subtype 2. However, this peculiarity may become a weakness in some patients with tumors harboring somatostatin receptors different from the subtype 2. Another clinically relevant aspect related to the use of octreotide LAR and lanreotide ATG is the burden of injectable drug regimen that may adversely impact the quality of life of patients with acromegaly and NETs.
AREAS COVERED:
The authors review the recently published evidence on novel drugs targeting somatostatin receptors developed for treating acromegaly and NETs. Within this article, the authors discuss: i) the pharmacology of somatostatin and traditional somatostatin analogs; ii) the efficacy and safety of multireceptor-targeted somatostatin analogs in acromegaly and NETs; iii) the efficacy of chimeric molecules in acromegaly and NETs; iv) the preliminary data on the use of new injectable, oral and transdermal formulations of octreotide in acromegaly.
EXPERT OPINION:
The development of new somatostatin analogs and new formulations has opened a new scenario for treatment of acromegaly and NETs. That being said, even though there have been big steps taken in the development of new therapies for acromegaly, there are still a number of unresolved issues, while more trials are necessary for the use of somatostatin anaologs in the treatment of NETs
Identification and quantification of methane and ethyl alcohol in an environment at variable humidity by an hybrid array
No full textAn hybrid array, constituted by five chemically modified tin oxide thin films and a humidity sensor are the input of a feed-forward two layers perceptron net to identify and quantify individual concentrations of methane and ethyl alcohol mixtures in a variable humidity environment. The network always identifies which gas is present, no matter to humidity, and predicts the gas concentration with a percentage full scale error equal to 8%
Identification and quantification of methane and ethyl alcohol in an environment at variable humidity by an hybrid array
No full textMinimising production costs in generation and cogeneration plants
No full textTechnological advances, the shift towards deregulation and anti-pollution laws are bringing dramatic changes in the power generation field. Power and heat are increasingly perceived as products to be sold and bought on the basis of cost/profit considerations in a fast changing market. This requires a substantial effort in the field of economic optimisation of plant management, since solutions based on conventional wisdom or past practice are no longer adequate. Due to the complexity of the factors involved, model-based decision support systems are needed for this task. These issues are discussed with reference to two radically different but equally representative examples
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