5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) continuous intravenous infusion compared with bolus administration. Final results of a randomised trial in metastatic colorectal cancer

The aim of this Phase III, balanced randomised trial was to compare continuous intravenous infusion (CVI) of 5-FU with bolus (B) administration for metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). One hundred and fifty-five non-pretreated patients were randomised to receive CVI 5-FU at a dose of 750 mg/m2/day (d), 7 d every 21 d (n = 77), or bolus 5-FU 500 mg/m2/d x 5 d every 28 d (n = 78). Incremental dose escalation at 50 mg per step was recommended in the absence of toxicity. All the patients had measurable metastatic disease (M), particularly, liver and a good performance status (WHO grade 0-1). Dose intensity was significantly higher in CVI than in the bolus group: 1369 mg/m2/week versus 558 mg/m2/week (P = 0.0001). Grade II-IV stomatitis was more frequent in the CVI group (31% versus 9%; P < 0.0001) as was hand and foot syndrome (14% versus 3%; P < 0.001). Diarrhoea (22% versus 12%) and grade III granulocytopenia (2% versus 6%) were comparable. Responses were more frequent in the CVI (26%) than in the bolus group (13%) (P < 0.04); progression-free survival was higher for the CVI group (P = 0.04), but there was no statistical difference in overall survival (median: 10 months (m) compared to 9 m), and 1 year survival (SD) 42% (6%) versus 40% (6%). In the multivariate analysis, survival was better for patients with a good PS, well-differentiated adenocarcinomas and a primary tumour without serosal extension. In conclusion, with a higher dose intensity, CVI 5-FU improved tumour control, but not overall survival.     

Subjective well-being among Holocaust survivors: An examination of overlooked differentiations.

This study addressed the issue of adjustment among Holocaust survivors by multidimensional assessment of subjective well-being (SWB). Participants were Israeli Holocaust survivors incidentally included in a life-span study (Group 1; n?=?466) or purposely approached for studying Holocaust survivors (Group 2; n?=?178). Comparison participants had immigrated to Israel before World War II, with their parents either undergoing (Group 3; n?=?270) or not undergoing the Holocaust (Group 4; n?=?388); other comparison participants had immigrated after the war with parents not undergoing the Holocaust (Group 5; n?=?166). Results showed that Group 1 scored lower than Group 2, mainly in positive affect. Group 1 scored lower than Group 4, and to a lesser extent also lower than Groups 3 and 5, mainly in aging-related themes of SWB. The study suggests that long-term effects of the Holocaust on the survivors' SWB are traceable but require a differential approach to the study groups and to the facets of SWB. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cutting stress off at the pass: Reducing vigilance and responsiveness to social threat by manipulating attention.

Personality processes relating to social perception have been shown to play a significant role in the experience of stress. In 5 studies, the authors demonstrate that early stage attentional processes influence the perception of social threat and modify the human stress response. The authors first show that cortisol release in response to a stressful situation correlates with selective attention toward social threat. Second, the authors show in 2 laboratory studies that this attentional pattern, most evident among individuals with low self-esteem, can be modified with a repetitive training task. Next, in a field study, students trained to modify their attentional pattern to reduce vigilance for social threat showed lower self-reported stress related to their final exam. In a final field study with telemarketers, the attentional training task led to increased self-esteem, decreased cortisol and perceived stress responses, higher confidence, and greater work performance. Taken together, these results demonstrate the impact of antecedent-focused strategies on the late-stage consequences of social stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Photonic access concentrator for ATM gigabit switching fabrics

In future broadband communication networks the interest for purely photonic switches is due to the bandwidth mismatch between optical transmission networks and electronic switching nodes. Photonic ATM switching fabrics mainly based on wavelength-switching stages are therefore being studied, to implement high capacity switches with also concentration, multiplexing and demultiplexing functions, using state-of-the-art photonic technology. The architecture of an ATM photonic access concentrator is described in this paper, illustrating the design and implementation of its basic subsystems, the traffic concentrator and the cell multiplexer. The design guidelines are outlined in detail referring to an example, where 128 user lines at 622 Mb/s are given access to 4 outlets at 2.488 Gb/s. The corresponding implementation, based on the systematic use of cell wavelength encoding, makes use either of well-known photonic components, such as Fabry-Perot filters, fiber delay lines, splitters and combiners, either of recently developed devices, like high-speed optical gates and tunable filters and lasers. Finally, the system feasibility is demonstrated presenting the results obtained on a reduced size and speed experimental setup of the cell multiplexer     

Interfacial Dipoles and Radiated Energy

Electric dipoles radiate an electromagnetic field into their surroundings. The electric and magnetic fields from a point source or from linear dipoles have components parallel to a spherical surface but also a radial component. In most investigations on radiated fields, only the part of the electric field that is parallel to a spherical surface is taken into account. The argument is that only that component contributes to the radiated energy. Here we show that the phase front in the lower half space is not a spherical surface and hence, the radial components contribute to radiated energy. We show differences in radiation patterns for point electric dipoles and linear dipoles, either modeled as perfectly conducting wires or as resistively loaded wires. Our primary interest lies with improving image resolution through processing of Ground-Penetrating Radar data. Here the emphasis lies with understanding the radiation characteristics of linear dipoles that can be incorporated with image processing algorithms. The model uses a thin-wire approximation for the transmitter antenna. The solution to the discrete system of equations is solved, incorporating interaction between the interface, using a CGFFT scheme including symmetrization and a newly developed preconditioning operator. We look at the electric and magnetic fields as well as the time-averaged Poynting vector radiation patterns in the E-plane and H-plane of the transmitting antenna. The results show that the radial component of the radiated electric and magnetic field is not negligible, even at distances more than seven wavelengths away from the antennas.     

Influence of inulin modification and flour type on the sensory quality of prebiotic wafer crackers

An inulin syrup made from Jerusalem artichoke tubers, either in its commercial form or after ultrafiltration, was freeze-dried and used as a prebiotic ingredient in the small-scale manufacture of wafer crackers. The flours used for the preparation of wafer batters were from wheat, rye or spelt wheat, or 1:1 combinations of wheat flour and rye flour or wheat flour and spelt wheat flour. Batter viscosity was strongly influenced by the selection of the flour type, but remained within technologically acceptable limits. The ultrafiltration of the inulin syrup, using a 1 kDa membrane, resulted in a significant reduction of the content of free sugars and minerals which, in turn, had a significant impact on the CIE-Lab color values of the wafer crackers. Using spelt wheat flour instead of wheat flour significantly increased wafer cracker firmness measured by penetration, as did the incorporation of ultrafiltered freeze-dried instead of native freeze-dried Jerusalem artichoke syrup. Sensory analysis revealed a significant influence of product formulation on appearance, flavor and texture of the wafer crackers. It can be concluded from quality scores, which were calculated by using weighting factors assigned to the sensory attributes, that wheat flour may be partially replaced by rye flour or spelt wheat flour without negatively affecting the sensory properties of the wafer crackers.     

Debugging programs that use macro-oriented data abstractions

Enhanced C (EC) is a set-oriented, extensible, C-like language. EC uses data abstractions to define new types. These data abstractions, called clusters, are macro-like devices that perform substitution on the typed syntax tree. Debugging programs that use clusters raise problems that are not encountered in ordinary programming languages. At compile time there is a need to determine and report whether the macro expansion will result in a legal program before this expansion actually takes place. At run-time the problems are how to account for replaced statements and how to handle variables whose types have been established by the clusters, variables that disappear, or variables whose names have been changed. This article presents these problems and their solutions as implemented by the EC compiler and the EC symbolic debugger. Similar debugging problems appear in other languages: The need to handle variables at run time is common to all languages that support data abstraction even if the abstractions are procedure oriented; also, a mild form of the problem of the replaced statement appears in inline procedure substitution of Ada. The solutions developed for the EC debugger apply to these cases as well.