105 research outputs found
Large randomized study of thymosin α 1, interferon alfa, or both in combination with dacarbazine in patients with metastatic melanoma
No full textPurpose: Thymosin α 1 (Tα1) is an immunomodulatory polypeptide that enhances effector T-cell responses. In this large randomized study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of combining Tα1 with dacarbazine (DTIC) and interferon alfa (IFN-α) in patients with metastatic melanoma. Patients and Methods: Four hundred eighty-eight patients were randomly assigned to five treatment groups: DTIC+IFN-α+Tα1 (1.6 mg); DTIC+IFN-α+Tα1 (3.2 mg); DTIC+IFN-α+Tα1 (6.4 mg); DTIC+Tα1 (3.2 mg); DTIC+IFN-α (control group). The primary end point was best overall response at study end (12 months). Secondary end points included duration of response, overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS). Patients were observed for up to 24 months. Results: Ten and 12 tumor responses were observed in the DTIC+IFN-α+Tα1 (3.2 mg) and DTIC+Tα1 (3.2 mg) groups, respectively, versus four in the control group, which was sufficient to reject the null hypothesis that P0 ≤ .05 (expected response rate of standard therapy) in these two arms. Duration of response ranged from 1.9 to 23.2 months in patients given Tα1 and from 4.4 to 8.4 months in the control group. Median OS was 9.4 months in patients given Tα1 versus 6.6 months in the control group (hazard ratio = 0.80; 95% CI, 0.63 to 1.02; P = .08). An increase in PFS was observed in patients given Tα1 versus the control group (hazard ratio = 0.80; 95% CI, 0.63 to 1.01; P = .06). Addition of Tα1 to DTIC and IFN-α did not lead to any additional toxicity. Conclusion: These results suggest Tα1 has activity in patients with metastatic melanoma and provide rationale for further clinical evaluation of this agent
Bedside personalized methods based on electrical impedance tomography or respiratory mechanics to set PEEP in ARDS and recruitment-to-inflation ratio: a physiologic study
No full textBackground Various Positive End-Expiratory Pressure (PEEP) titration strategies have been proposed to optimize ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We aimed to compare PEEP titration strategies based on electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to methods derived from respiratory system mechanics with or without esophageal pressure measurements, in terms of PEEP levels and association with recruitability.Methods Nineteen patients with ARDS were enrolled. Recruitability was assessed by the estimated Recruitment-to-Inflation ratio (R/I-est) between PEEP 15 and 5 cmH(2)O. Then, a decremental PEEP trial from PEEP 20 to 5 cmH(2)O was performed. PEEP levels determined by the following strategies were studied: (1) plateau pressure 28-30 cmH(2)O (Express), (2) minimal positive expiratory transpulmonary pressure (Positive P(L)e), (3) center of ventilation closest to 0.5 (CoV) and (4) intersection of the EIT-based overdistension and lung collapse curves (Crossing Point). In addition, the PEEP levels determined by the Crossing Point strategy were assessed using different PEEP ranges during the decremental PEEP trial.Results Express and CoV strategies led to higher PEEP levels than the Positive P(L)e and Crossing Point ones (17 [14-17], 20 [17-20], 8 [5-11], 10 [8-11] respectively, p < 0.001). For each strategy, there was no significant association between the optimal PEEP level and R/I-est (Crossing Point: r(2) = 0.073, p = 0.263; CoV: r(2) < 0.001, p = 0.941; Express: r(2) < 0.001, p = 0.920; Positive P(L)e: r(2) = 0.037, p = 0.461). The PEEP level obtained with the Crossing Point strategy was impacted by the PEEP range used during the decremental PEEP trial.Conclusions CoV and Express strategies led to higher PEEP levels than the Crossing Point and Positive P(L)e strategies. Optimal PEEP levels proposed by these four methods were not associated with recruitability. Recruitability should be specifically assessed in ARDS patients to optimize PEEP titration
Large randomized study of thymosin alpha 1, interferon alfa, or both in combination with dacarbazine in patients with metastatic melanoma
No full textEspeces anomeriques anioniques : leur utilisation dans la synthese stereocontrolee de C-glycosides
No full textSIGLECNRS T Bordereau / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc
Propagation des champs de spin demi-entier dans l'espace de De Sitter et deformations d'une theorie de jauge
No full textSIGLEINIST T 76615 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc
Die Anfänge des Menschengeschlechts und sein einheitlicher Ursprung /
No full text1. T. Arier, Aramäer und Kuschiten.Mode of access: Internet
Could posture reflect welfare state? A study using geometric morphometrics in riding school horses
No full textInternational audienceDespite the fact that animal posture is known to reflect emotional state, the presence of chronic postures associated with poor welfare has not been investigated with an objective tool for measuring, quantifying and comparing postures. The use of morphometric geomet-rics (GM) to describe horse posture (profile of the dorsum) has shown to be an effective method of distinguishing populations that are known to differ in terms of welfare states. Here we investigated photographs of 85 riding school horses differing in terms of welfare state, in order to determine if a specific posture (modelled by GM) is associated with altered welfare. The welfare state was estimated with the prevalence of stereotypic or abnormal repetitive behaviours, depressed-like posture and the ear positions. ANOVA results show that horses with stereotypic or abnormal behaviour, and to a lesser degree horses with depressed-like postures, tend to have a flatter, or even hollow, dorsal profile, especially at the neck and croup levels. These altered profiles could represent an additional indicator of poor welfare, easy to use in the field or by owners
Electron ionization mass spectrometry of difurfuryl diamines
No full textElectron impact mass spectrometry (ei-ms) has aided the structural characterization of a novel series of synthetic difuranic diamines and permitted the comparison with a previous study employing electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. As expected, the molecular radical ion was inexistant in this series of compounds and the fragmentation routes of the molecular radical ion were governed either by homolytic cleavage of the radical R2• or by heterolytic loss of NH3 to give their respective base peaks.Memorial University Open Access Author's Fun
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