1,721,064 research outputs found

    Aromatase inhibitors, efficacy and metabolic risk in the treatment of postmenopausal women with early breast cancer.

    No full text
    The third-generation aromatase inhibitors (AIs), letrozole, anastrozole and exemestane, are becoming the first choice endocrine drugs for post-menopausal women with breast cancer, since they present greater efficacy when compared with tamoxifen in both adjuvant and metastatic setting. In particular, several large and well designed trials have suggested an important role for AIs in the adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer either in the upfront, sequential or extended adjuvant mode. Overall, AIs are associated with a small but significant improvement in disease free survival. The expanding use of AIs in the treatment of early breast cancer means that individual patients will be exposed to the agents for longer durations, making it increasingly important to establish their long-term safety. This review focused on the effects of AIs on bone metabolism, serum lipids and cardiovascular risk. AIs have adverse effects on bone turnover with a reduction of bone mineral density and an increase in the rate of fragility fractures. With respect to tamoxifen AIs present lower thrombotic risk and a less favorable impact on lipid profile, whereas the true effects on cardiovascular risk still remain to be clarified. An adequate monitoring of bone mineral density (BMD) and lipid profile could be recommended for post-menopausal women candidate to AIs

    Advanced breast cancer treatment with folinic acid, 5-fluorouracil, and mytomicin C

    No full text
    A total of 44 women with advanced breast cancer who had failed first- and second-line chemotherapy were given combination chemotherapy consisting of folinic acid (FA), 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and mitomycin C (MMC). The treatment schedule was: 200 mg/m2 FA and 400 mg/m2 5-FU given i.v. over 2 h for 5 days plus 5 mg/m2 MMC given i.v. on days 3-5; in 19 patients with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 3-4 and bone marrow depression, the MMC dose was 3 mg/m2 given i.v. on days 3-5. In all, 41 patients were evaluable for response; 15 had a partial remission (PR), 18 had stable disease (SD), and 8 showed progressive disease (PD). The median response duration was 6 months and the median survival was 10 months. Toxicity was mild and consisted mainly of stomatitis, diarrhea, and leukopenia. A rapid improvement in performance status was noted in responding patients. A striking result was the reduction of analgesics in most cases and their complete withdrawal in responding patients. This combination chemotherapy achieved satisfactory effectiveness and improved the quality of life of patients

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

    Full text link
    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    A case of eribulin-induced regression of liposarcoma of the left funiculus in a heavily pretreated patient

    Full text link
    We report the case of a heavily pretreated male subject affected by left funiculus liposarcoma and successfully treated with eribulin mesylate. After three surgical interventions, radiotherapy on the lesion of the penile bulb for satellite nodules and an epirubicin + ifosfamide chemotherapy treatment for six cycles, eribulin was administered at the dose of 1.1 mg/m on days 1 and 8, every 3 weeks for a total of nine cycles. A significant reduction of the lesions was achieved after four cycles of therapy, with a good profile of tolerability. © 2020 Future Medicine Ltd

    Variations on the Author

    Full text link
    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
    corecore