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At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources

A Phase I study of docetaxel plus cyclophosphamide in solid tumors followed by a Phase II study as first-line therapy in metastatic breast cancer.

PURPOSE: In Phase I, the purpose was to determine the maximum tolerated dose and pharmacokinetics of docetaxel plus cyclophosphamide (DC) with and without granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in the treatment of patients with solid tumors. For Phase II, the purpose was to determine the safety and efficacy of this combination as first-line treatment in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: In Phase I (45 patients), docetaxel was escalated from 60 mg/m(2) to 85 mg/m(2), and cyclophosphamide from 600 mg/m(2) to 800 mg/m(2). Pharmacokinetic evaluation of docetaxel was performed in 19 patients with MBC. In Phase II (34 patients), patients received cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m(2)) followed by docetaxel (75 mg/m(2)), i.v. RESULTS: In Phase I, the dose-limiting toxicity was neutropenia-related events. The maximum tolerated dose for DC was 75 mg/m(2)/700 mg/m(2) in solid tumor patients treated previously and 75 mg/m(2)/800 mg/m(2) for patients not treated previously for MBC. Dose escalation of docetaxel >75 mg/m(2) was not tolerated, despite prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factor treatment. In Phase II, 71% of patients received prior anthracycline therapy. Neutropenic fever requiring i.v. antibiotics occurred in 6 patients (19%). One patient had grade 3 neuropathy. There was no cardiotoxicity. The overall Phase II intent-to-treat objective response rate was 65% (complete responses, 12%). The median overall survival was 22 months, and the median time to progression was 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: DC combination therapy is an active regimen with acceptable toxicity and is appropriate regardless of prior anthracycline therapy. In view of the high activity and lack of cardiotoxicity, this combination warrants additional investigation in early stage breast cancer and in combination with trastuzumab.

Adult↗

Propentofylline in the treatment of vascular dementia and Alzheimer-type dementia: overview of phase I and phase II clinical trials.

Pathophysiologic processes common to both vascular (multi-infarct) dementia and dementia of the Alzheimer type may include microglial activation with resultant generation of inflammatory cytokines and neurotoxic free radicals, decreased secretion of nerve growth factor by astrocytes, excess release of glutamate with associated neurotoxicity, and loss of cholinergic neurons. The functional benefits and neuroprotective effects of propentofylline (PPF) stem from its interference with these overlapping pathways of neurodegeneration. The clinical pharmacology and safety of PPF were studied in a number of phase I studies in healthy young and elderly adults and in patients with renal or hepatic impairment. These studies have shown that PPF 300 mg t.i.d. is safe and well tolerated when taken on an empty stomach 1 h before meals. In a randomized, double-blind phase II study involving 190 elderly subjects with clinically and psychometrically documented mild to moderate dementia, 12 weeks of PPF therapy produced significantly greater improvements than placebo in Gottfries-Bråne-Steen (GBS) scores, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) ratings. A subsequent phase II study using positron emission tomography (PET) revealed that cortical glucose metabolism improved significantly in patients with vascular dementia after 12 weeks of PPF treatment but deteriorated significantly with placebo. A third phase II study, which enrolled patients with Alzheimer-type dementia, demonstrated that PPF significantly enhanced functional reserve, as reflected by increases in regional cerebral glucose metabolism after stimulation with a verbal memory task. In contrast, patients randomized to placebo exhibited a significant decline in functional activation and significant worsening in their MMSE scores over the course of this 12-week study. Propentofylline proved to be safe, well tolerated, and free of severe side effects in all three of these phase II trials. Phase I trial results suggest that significant food interactions occur with PPF, indicating that the drug should be taken on an empty stomach 1 h before meals. Phase II trial results indicate that PPF yields clinically measurable improvements in the symptoms of dementia and prevents loss of stimulation-related increases in glucose metabolism over a treatment period of 3 months. Whether these results indicate that PPF can slow the progression of dementia can be determined only by long-term trials specifically designed to determine the drug's effect on disease progression.

Aged↗

Haloalkane hydrolysis by Rhodococcus erythropolis cells: comparison of conventional aqueous phase dehalogenation and nonconventional gas phase dehalogenation.

Biofiltration of air polluted by volatile organic compounds is now recognized by the industrial and research communities as an effective and viable alternative to standard environmental technologies. Whereas many studies have focused on solid/liquid/gas biofilters, there have been fewer reports on waste air treatment using other biological processes, especially in a solid/gas biofilter. In this study, a comparison was made of the hydrolysis of halogenated compounds (such as 1-chlorobutane) by lyophilized Rhodococcus erythropolis cells in a novel solid/gas biofilter and in the aqueous phase. We first determined the culture conditions for the production of R. erythropolis cells with a strong dehalogenase activity. Four different media were studied and the amount of 1-chlorobutane was optimized. Next, we report the possibility to use R. erythropolis cells in a solid/gas biofilter in order to transform halogenated compounds in corresponding alcohols. The effect of experimental parameters (total flow into the biofilter, thermodynamic activity of the substrates, temperature, carbon chain length of halogenated substrates) on the activity and stability of lyophilized cells in the gas phase was determined. A critical water thermodynamic activity (a(w)) of 0.4 is necessary for the enzyme to become active and optimal dehalogenase activity for the lyophilized cells is obtained for an a(w) of 0.9. A temperature of reaction of 40 degrees C represents the best compromise between stability and activity. Activation energy of the reaction was determined and found equal to 59.5 KJ/mol. The pH effect on the dehalogenase activity of R. erythropolis cells was also studied in the gas phase and in the aqueous phase. It was observed that pH 9.0 provided the best activity in both systems. We observed that in the aqueous phase R. erythropolis cells were less sensitive to the variation in pH than R. erythropolis cells in the gas phase. Finally, the addition of volatile Lewis base (triethylamine) in the gaseous phase and the action of the lysozyme in order to permeabilize the cells was found to be highly beneficial to the effectiveness of the biofilter.

Air Pollutants↗

Normal variation in the length of the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle: identification of the short luteal phase.

Normal probability plots were used to assess the homogeneity of a population of 327 luteal phases from apparently ovulatory menstrual cycles. The length of the luteal phase was defined as the interval (in days) following but not including, the luteinizing hormone peak, up to and including the day before onset of menstruation. A small sub-set of the population consisted of cycles with abnormally short luteal phases but the majority of the data followed a normal frequency distribution which gave a mean (+/- SD) for normal luteal phase length of 14.13 (+/- 1.41) days. It was estimated that all cycles with a luteal phase less than or equal to 9 days were abnormal, and that 74%, 22% and 2% respectively of cycles with luteal phases of 10, 11 and 12 days were also abnormal. The total incidence of short luteal phases defined as above was 5.2%.

Adolescent↗

Application of the principle of optical phase-contrast microscopy to velocity phase-encoded MRI of blood flow in the aorta.

A new method of presenting magnetic resonance phase information is described and an example of its application given in the context of velocity phase-encoded MRI of blood flow in the aorta. The method takes as its starting point Zernike's technique of phase contrast microscopy. It exploits the parallel between the transform plane in Fourier optics and kappa-space in MRI. In the example described two datasets are acquired, one with and the other without velocity encoding, as in conventional phase-encoded velocity imaging. A dataset is formed which is corrected for unwanted phase variations caused by static field inhomogeneity. The method then effectively combines phase and magnitude information into a single image. The technique is complementary to existing methods of displaying phase information.

Aorta↗

Blind phase shift estimation in phase-shifting interferometry.

A blind phase shift estimation algorithm that allows simultaneous calculation of phases and phase shifts from three or more interferograms is presented. In phase-shifting interferometry, the phase shift errors introduce specific correlations between the calculated background intensity distribution and the fringe component. These correlations can be measured with a cross-power spectrum. By minimization of an objective function based on this cross-power spectrum, the actual phase shifts are estimated and used for phase recovery. The validity of this algorithm is verified by both the numerical simulation and the experiment results.

Algorithms↗

Delaying the onset of M phase in NIH 3T3 cells blocked in early S phase occurs via accumulating cyclin B1 and tyrosine-phosphorylated p34cdc2 in the nucleus.

An affinity-purified antibody (anti-Cdc2C) raised against the carboxy terminal sequence LDNQIKKM of p34cdc2 uncovered in NIH 3T3 cells a protein subpopulation, the location and the level of accumulation of which evolve during progression through the cell cycle: it first emerges inside the nucleus in late G1/early S phase and continues to build up principally in this location throughout S phase; a cytoplasmic expression then becomes apparent near the end of S phase, develops during G2 and sometimes prevails over the nuclear expression; it finally relocates to the nucleus in early prophase. We propose that a major part of this subpopulation would represent p34cdc2 molecules existing inside a complex with cyclin B1. NIH 3T3 cells arrested in early S phase with aphidicolin do not commit prematurely to mitosis which indicates that the regulatory pathway involved in preserving the temporal order of S and M phases is functioning in these conditions. Conjugated Western blot analysis and immunofluorescence microscopy showed that cyclin A, cyclin B1 and tyrosine-phosphorylated p34cdc2 continue to build up predominantly in the nucleus of the arrested cells. After release from the block, the cells rapidly reenter S and G2 phases and, concomitantly, cyclin B1 and tyrosine-phosphorylated p34cdc2 relocate to the cytoplasm before redistributing again in the nucleus in early prophase. These data would suggest that delaying the onset of M phase in NIH 3T3 cells in which the rate of DNA replication is reduced, is first ensured by a mechanism that prevents the cytoplasmic relocation of inactive p34cdc2/cyclin B1 complexes continually forming in the nucleus once the G1 period of mitotic cyclin instability is over.

3T3 Cells↗

Significance of mobile phase composition in enantioseparation of chiral drugs by HPLC on a cellulose-based chiral stationary phase.

Eight randomly selected pharmaceuticals, which included ibuprofen, ketoprofen, albuterol, acebutolol, propafenone, betaxolol, methylphenidate, and homatropine, were directly separated on a cellulose tris(4-methylbenzoate) chiral stationary phase (CSP) without derivatization via normal phase mode HPLC. Enantioresolution was achieved by the optimization of the type and the ratio of mobile phase modifiers and additives. The modifiers included alcohols; the mobile phase additives were trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and triethylamine (TEA). It was found that methanol and ethanol were superior to isopropanol as mobile phase modifiers for enhancing chiral separation of some of the chiral drugs. The results also demonstrated that TFA has a dominant effect on chiral separations for both acidic and basic chiral drugs, although for some basic drug such as homatropine, TEA was more beneficial at improving enantioseparation. The separation of acebutolol enantiomers was achieved for the first time by adding both TFA and TEA to the mobile phase. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the applicability of cellulose based CSPs can be expanded by controlling the mobile phase compositions through the addition of trace amounts of achiral additives and the selection of the appropriate alcoholic modifier.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid↗

Influence of electric field on the phase transitions of the hexagonal cylinder phase of diblock copolymers.

We have used the cell dynamic simulations (CDS) method to study the evolution of asymmetric and symmetric diblock copolymers under electric fields. For symmetric diblock copolymers, long-range-ordered lamellar phases form readily under electric fields. For asymmetric diblock copolymers, sphere-to-cylinder phase transitions occur rapidly when strong electric fields are applied, but it takes longer for the system to form hexagonal cylinder structures. The results of these simulations suggest that the sphere phase is stable under weak electric fields, but a threshold electric intensity exists for the sphere-to-cylinder phase transition. In addition, we also studied the kinetic pathways of the transition of the lamellar phase to the hexagonal cylinder phase of the asymmetric diblock copolymers under electric fields. Hexagonal cylinder structures form when the lamellar phase is subjected to a sudden temperature jump. The scattering functions suggest that the hexagonal cylinder structures are very regular and possess very few flaws.

Journal Article↗

Separation of small peptides by electrochromatography on silica-based reversed phases and hydrophobic anion exchange phases.

Peptide separations are regarded as a promising application of capillary electrochromatography (CEC) and, at the same time, a suitable model to elucidate its mixed separation mechanism when charged analytes are involved. In this paper, studies on the separation of small peptides (2-4 amino acids) on a Spherisorb octadecyl silane (ODS) phase at acidic pH and on a strong anion exchange (SAX)/C18 mixed mode phase at weakly basic pH are reported. For the ODS phase a comparison of CEC, capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) under identical buffer/eluent conditions is presented. The predicted retention factors for CEC under the assumption of simple superposition of HPLC retention and CZE migration matched the measured results for the peptides that had small retention factors in HPLC. For both types of stationary phases, a variation of the acetonitrile content in the mobile phase led to a wide range of retention factors, including negative values when co-electroosmotic migration was dominant. Though both the ODS and the SAX/C18 phase offer unique advantages, the SCX/C18 phase at pH 9 provides more flexibility to alter separation selectivity for the selected peptides.

Acetonitriles↗

Frequency response of multi-phase segmented k-space phase-contrast.

A theoretical analysis of the temporal frequency response of multi-phase segmented k-space phase-contrast was developed. This includes the effects of both segment duration and the number of cardiac phases that are reconstructed. An increase in the number of views per segment and the corresponding increase in segment duration results in an increased smoothing or low-pass filtering of the time-resolved flow waveform. Reconstruction of all intermediate cardiac phases makes the Nyquist sampling frequency independent of the number of views per segment. This analysis was verified experimentally using a multi-phase phase-contrast segmented k-space MR pulse sequence. This sequence reconstructs all intermediate cardiac phases and uses fractional segments at the end of the cardiac cycle if an entire segment does not fit. The use of fractional segments increases the portion of the cardiac cycle over which data are acquired.

Coronary Circulation↗

Minmax designs for planning the second phase in a two-phase case-control study.

Two-phase designs, in which a subsample with validation or complete information data is sampled stratified both on outcome and covariate from a first-phase study with incomplete data, have been proposed over 10 years ago and have been proven to result in efficient estimates with respect to standard designs. The efficiency depends, however, on the sampling fractions within each stratum. Our aim is to present a strategy for obtaining an optimized design, i.e. sampling fractions, that makes use of available phase-one data of an existing case-control study considered as the first-phase sample when the focus is on estimating a parameter vector. No global optimal design exists and local optimal designs depend on scenarios comprising the true disease model and the association between the phase-one and phase-two information. We develop an admissibility test that rejects scenarios inconsistent with the phase-one data and, for the selected scenarios, determine a minmax D- or A-optimal design that protects against worst-case scenarios. This work is applied on two examples.

Asbestos↗

New evidence for gel-liquid crystalline phase coexistence in the ripple phase of phosphatidylcholines.

Experimental evidence supporting the hypothesis of gel-liquid crystalline phase coexistence in the stable ripple phase of diacylphosphatidylcholines has been obtained from time-resolved X-ray small- (SAXS) and wide-angle diffraction (WAXS) in the millisecond to second time domain. The pretransition of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) exhibits a thin lamellar liquid crystalline intermediate phase (designated Lalpha) if driven far away from equilibrium by an infrared temperature jump (T-jump) technique. The findings can be described by a two-step model. (1) Instantaneously with the T-jump, an anomalously thin lamellar liquid crystalline intermediate phase (d = 5.6-5.8 nm) forms, coexisting with the original gel-phase Lbeta'. Within the first seconds, the lamellar repeat distance of the intermediate increases to a value of about 6.7 nm. A closer examination of these kinetics reveals two relaxation components: a fast process, proceeding within tenths of a second, and a slow process, on the time scale of a few seconds. (2) Finally, both the liquid crystalline and the gel-phase relax into the stable ripple phase Pbeta'. The total process time of the transition is nearly independent of the addition of NaCl, but varies strongly with the chain length of the lecithin species.

1,2-Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine↗

How to preserve the antidepressive effect of sleep deprivation: A comparison of sleep phase advance and sleep phase delay.

Total sleep deprivation (TSD) leads to an immediate amelioration of depressed mood in approximately 70 % of patients with the melancholic subtype of depression. The clinical utility of this procedure is limited, as the improvement usually subsides after the next night of sleep. In the present study, 40 depressed inpatients, being free of psychoactive medication for at least 7 days and who had responded to a TSD were then distributed (according to a matched-pair design) to a sleep phase advance (SPA = time in bed scheduled from 1700-2400 hrs) or a sleep phase delay (SPD = time in bed from 0200-0700 hrs) with a succeeding shift back (for one hour in the SPA group per day) respectively shift forward (for 30 minutes in the SPD group per day), until the initial sleep phase (2300-0600 hrs) was reached after seven days again. Based on previous observations it was hypothesized that a phase advance of the sleep period should prevent responders to TSD from relapsing. Whereas 75% of the TSD responders were stabilized by the phase advanced condition and did not relapse over a period of seven days, only 40% of the patients in the phase delayed condition did not relapse. Polysomnography during the course of the study gave no evidence that the unusual sleep schedules caused prolonged sleep deprivation. Abnormalities of REM sleep persisted both in the clinical responders and non-responders after the sleep wake manipulation. It is concluded that the clinical effectiveness of TSD can be significantly improved by combining TSD with a following phase advance of the sleep period.

Adult↗

Mobile-phase and temperature effects in the reversed phase chromatographic separation of proteins.

This paper explores the influence of mobile-phase and temperature effects on the gradient elution reversed phase chromatographic behavior of proteins. Using LiChrospher SI 500, bonded with n-butyl groups and a gradient in 1-propanol, 10 mM H3PO4, rapid separation and high mass recovery were obtained for a series of globular proteins. This protein separation and recovery are compared to those obtained when acetonitrile and acetonitrile plus 10 mM H3PO4 are used as eluting gradient solvents. In general, acetonitrile yielded lower recovery than 1-propanol, particularly for the more hydrophobic proteins, e.g., ovalbumin. For all three gradient solvents, little difference was observed in retention or recovery when the n-alkyl chain of the bonded phase varied. On the other hand, relative to the n-alkyl phases, a significantly lower retention of all proteins was found on more hydrophilic phases, e.g., cyano and nonendcapped n-butyl, when acetonitrile was the organic modifier, while in the case of 1-propanol, no retention difference was observed. Thus, column comparisons depend on the protein/mobile-phase combinations examined. The role of column temperature was also studied, and it was found that for certain proteins dramatic changes in peak shape occurred as a function of temperature. The influences of ionic strength and salt type were also studied. Protein mass recovery was shown to decrease with an increase in salt concentration; moreover, perchlorate was shown to have a larger effect in this regard than phosphate. In addition, salt concentration and type were found to influence peak shape greatly in certain cases. The results indicate the strong influences of mobile phase and temperature on chromatographic behavior, and some of the options available when this behavior is not satisfactory. Several protein separations are presented illustrating the power of the reversed phase approach.

Chemical Phenomena↗

Magnetic aqueous two-phase separation: a new technique to increase rate of phase-separation, using dextran-ferrofluid or larger iron oxide particles.

A new technique to speed up the phase separation of aqueous two-phase systems is described. The technique is based on the addition of magnetically susceptible additives (ferrofluids or iron oxide particles). In a magnetic field such additives will induce a faster phase separation. In one approach, dextran-stabilized ferrofluid was added to an aqueous two-phase system containing polyethylene glycol and dextran. The ferrofluid was totally partitioned to the dextran phase. After mixing of the two-phase system, it was possible to reduce the separation time by a factor of 35 by applying a magnetic field to the system. Another approach involved the use of 1-micron iron oxide particles instead of ferrofluid. In this case also, the phase-separation time was reduced, by a factor of about 70, when the system was placed in a magnetic field. The addition of ferrofluid and/or iron oxide particles was shown to have no influence on enzyme partitioning or on enzyme activity. The partitioning of chloroplasts, on the other hand, was influenced unless the ferrofluid used had been treated with epoxysilane. A column system comprising 15 magnetic separation stages was constructed and was used for semicontinuous separation of enzyme mixtures.

Cell Fractionation↗

Comparative gas phase and pulsed liquid phase sequencing on a modified Applied Biosystems 477A sequencer.

A simple and inexpensive modification of the Applied Biosystems 477A sequencer, to run in the pulsed liquid-phase and in the gas-phase mode of the Edman chemistry, is described. This modification is especially useful for sequencing samples on polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membranes. Additional carriers are required if a sample on a PVDF membrane is sequenced with the pulsed liquid-phase degradation program of the 477A. In the gas-phase mode no such carriers are needed. This eliminates time-consuming preconditioning sequencer cycles and reduces the sequencer background. In addition, initial coupling yields in the gas-phase mode exceeded those in the pulsed liquid-phase mode, whereas the average repetitive yields were similar. Samples spotted onto glass fiber filters pretreated with polybrene and samples spotted or electroblotted onto PVDF membranes were examined. A number of advantages of the gas-phase mode are presented.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Laurdan fluorescence spectroscopy reveals a single liquid-crystalline lipid phase and lack of thermotropic phase transitions in the plasma membrane of living human sperm.

Membrane lipid phase(s), phase coexistence, and thermotropic phase transitions have been investigated in viable human spermatozoa using Laurdan fluorescence spectroscopy. Generalized polarization (GP) values derived from Laurdan excitation and emission spectra confirm that the sperm plasma membrane is a low polar, highly rigid (liquid-ordered) structure, and give evidence that, in the range from 10 degrees C to 42 degrees C, membrane lipids are in a single liquid-crystalline phase. The absence of phase transitions in the same thermal range argues against the hypothesis that the lipid domains previously detected on the sperm surface are produced by lipid lateral phase separation. The above findings are likely accounted for by the high cholesterol to phospholipid molar ratio found in the human sperm membrane. This is the first time that membrane lipid phase and polarity have been detected and quantified in living mammalian spermatozoa.

2-Naphthylamine↗