Combining gemcitabine and capecitabine in patients with advanced biliary cancer: a phase II trial.

PURPOSE: Biliary cancer has a poor prognosis, and chemotherapy has had little impact. The objectives of this trial were to determine the response rate, time to disease progression, survival, and safety profile of the combination of gemcitabine and capecitabine (GemCap) in patients with advanced biliary cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eligible patients had pathologically proven, locally advanced or metastatic adenocarcinoma arising from the intra- and extrahepatic bile ducts or gallbladder with no prior chemotherapy. Patients were treated on a 3-week cycle consisting of capecitabine at 650 mg/m(2) orally twice a day for 14 days and gemcitabine at a fixed dose of 1,000 mg/m(2) intravenously over 30 minutes on days 1 and 8. RESULTS: Forty-five patients were enrolled between July 2001 and January 2004. Fifty-three percent of patients had cholangiocarcinoma, 47% had gallbladder cancer, and 89% had metastatic disease. The overall objective response rate was 31%, with an additional 42% of patients with stable disease, for a disease control rate of 73%. The median overall survival time was 14 months (95% CI, 7.3 months to not available), and the median progression-free survival time was 7 months (95% CI, 4.6 to 11.8 months). This chemotherapy combination was generally well tolerated. Transient neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, fatigue, and hand-foot syndrome were commonly observed but were easily managed without discontinuing further treatment. CONCLUSION: The significant antitumor activity combined with a mild toxicity profile seen in this study argue that GemCap chemotherapy may benefit patients with advanced biliary cancer. This regimen warrants further evaluation in a randomized study with survival and quality of life end points.     

Electrodegradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid herbicide from aqueous solution using three-dimensional electrode reactor with G/β-PbO2 anode: Taguchi optimization and degradation mechanism determination

This study aimed to investigate the electro-degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) from aqueous solution using two and three-dimensional electrode (2D and 3D) reactors with graphite(G)/β-PbO₂ anode. To increase the degradation efficiency, affecting parameters on the electro-degradation process were investigated and optimized by adopting the Taguchi design of experiments approach. The structure, morphology and electrochemical properties of the electrodes were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), linear sweep voltammetry and cyclic voltammograms. The controllable factors, i.e., electrolysis time, 2,4-D initial concentration, solution pH and current density (j) were optimized. Under optimum conditions, the 2,4-D degradation efficiency was 75.6% using 2D and 93.5% using 3D electrode processes. The percentage contribution of each controllable factor was also determined. The pH of the solution was identified as the most influential factor, and its percentage contribution value was up to 39.9% and 40.4% for 2D and 3D electrode processes, respectively. Considering the parameters of the kinetics, it was found that the degradation of 2,4-D and removal of COD using the G/β-PbO₂ electrode obey the pseudo-first order kinetics. In addition, the mineralization pathway of 2,4-D at G/β-PbO₂ electrode was proposed. The results also demonstrated that the 3D electrode process with G/β-PbO₂ anode can be considered as a useful method for degradation and mineralization of 2,4-D herbicides from aqueous solution.

Optimization of process parameters using the Taguchi method, electrochemical degradation and electrochemical degradation mechanism of 2,4-D herbicide using 2D and 3D reactors with G/β-PbO₂ anode were investigated.     

Effect of Vero Cell Coculture on the Development of Frozen–Thawed Two-Cell Mouse Embryos

Purpose: Our purpose was to evaluate the beneficial effects of long-term coculture of Vero cells on the development of frozen–thawed two-cell mouse embryos. Methods: Two-cell mouse embryos were frozen slowly with 1,2-propandiol and sucrose as cryoprotectants and thawed rapidly, followed by stepwise dilution. Vero cells were cultured in drops of RPMI 1640 to establish monolayers. Frozen–thawed embryos were cultured alone (control) or cocultured with Vero cells. The rate of development in both groups was compared. Results: After 4 days of culture, significantly more embryos in coculture were developed to expanded blastocysts (61 vs 37% for controls; P 0.0001). In addition, on the fifth day of cultivation, more embryos in coculture showed the potential of hatching from the zona pellucida (26 vs 7% in controls; P 0.0001). The rate of degeneration in coculture was also much lower than in controls (6 and 15%, respectively). Conclusions: Coculture of cryopreserved preimplantation-stage embryos with Vero cells seems to be a useful tool to eliminate the postthaw deleterious effect of freezing and also to obtain better-quality embryos appropriate for transfer.     

Synthesis and docking studies of new 1,4-dihydropyridines containing 4-(5)-Chloro-2-ethyl-5-(4)-imidazolyl substituent as novel calcium channel agonist

1,4-Dihydropyridines have been recognized as calcium channel agonist. Three new analogues of Bay K8644 in which the ortho trifluromethyl phenyl group at position 4 is replaced by the 4-(5)-Chloro-2-ethyl-5-(4)-imidazolyl substituent, were designed and synthesized as calcium channel agonist. For this propose, the structures of designed compounds were drawn by HYPERCHEM program. Conformations of the compounds were optimized through semi-empirical method followed by PM3 calculation. Then the crystalin stucture of L-type calcium channel was obtained from the Protein Data Bank (PDB) server. Docking calculations were carried out using Auto-Dock.4 program. The good interaction of our 1,4-DHP derivatives showed that they can be as possible calcium channel agonist agents. Finally compounds were synthesized according to a modified Hantzsch condensation procedure.     

How Parents Cope with the Care of a Child with Epilepsy: Based upon Grounded Theory

BackgroundParents of children with seizure face the complicated health issues of their children. Adaptation strategies of parents as major care providers impact not only their handling of stresses on themselves but also children''s quality of life. This study investigated the adaptation processes of parents of children with seizure at two educational hospitals affiliated with Kerman University of Medical Sciences in Iran.MethodsTwenty parents (15 mothers and 5 fathers), and three nurses were selected using purposive sampling method. Data was collected using qualitative semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the method suggested by Corbin and Strauss version 2008. The interviews were conducted until thematic saturation was achieved.ResultsThe adaptation process had five phases: “Disbelief, Patience on what happened, change to preserve, acceptance of the current situation, and self- empowerment.” In summary, the parents of children with seizure had a 5-phase adaptation strategy. The core category achieved was “continued efforts of parents to restore calm.”ConclusionProperly assessing the stresses'' resources on parents of children with seizure is necessary. Informing their adaptation strategies may help medical staff and social services to provide more targeted support and promote the balance of the family function.     

Age-associated deficits in pattern separation functions of the perirhinal cortex: a cross-species consensus

Normal aging causes a decline in object recognition. Importantly, lesions of the perirhinal cortex produce similar deficits and also lead to object discrimination impairments when the test objects share common features, suggesting that the perirhinal cortex participates in perceptual discrimination. The current experiments investigated the ability of young and aged animals to distinguish between objects that shared features with tasks with limited mnemonic demands. In the first experiment, young and old rats performed a variant of the spontaneous object recognition task in which there was a minimal delay between the sample and the test phase. When the test objects did not share any features ("Easy" perceptual discrimination) both young and aged rats correctly identified the novel object. When the test objects contained overlapping features, however, only the young rats showed an exploratory preference for the novel object. In Experiment 2, young and aged monkeys were tested on an object discrimination task. When the object pairs were dissimilar, both the young and aged monkeys learned to select the rewarded object quickly. In contrast, when LEGOs? were used to create object pairs with overlapping features, the aged monkeys took significantly longer than did the young animals to learn to discriminate between the rewarded and the unrewarded object. Together, these data indicate that behaviors requiring the perirhinal cortex are disrupted in advanced age, and suggest that at least some of these impairments may be explained by changes in high-level perceptual processing in advanced age.     

Annonaceae: bio-resource for tomorrow's drug discovery

One of the rich sources of lead compounds is the Angiosperms. Many of these lead compounds are useful medicines naturally, whereas others have been used as the basis for synthetic agents. These are potent and effective compounds, which have been obtained from plants, including anti-cancer (cytotoxic) agents, anti-malaria (anti-protozoal) agents, and anti-bacterial agents. Today, the number of plant families that have been extensively studied is relatively very few and the vast majorities have not been studied at all. The Annonaceae is the largest family in the order Magnoliales. It includes tropical trees, bushes, and climbers, which are often used as traditional remedies in Southeast Asia. Members of the Annonaceae have the particularity to elaborate a broad spectrum of natural products that have displayed anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-protozoal effects and have been used for the treatment of medical conditions, such as skin diseases, intestinal worms, inflammation of the eyes, HIV, and cancer. These special effects and the vast range of variation in potent compounds make the Annonaceae unique from other similar families in the Magnoliales and the Angiosperms in general. This paper attempts to summarize some important information and discusses a series of hypotheses about the effects of Annonaceae compounds.     

Electrochemical oxidation of catechols in the presence of acetylacetone

Electrochemical oxidation of catechols (1a–1c) has been studied in the presence of acetylacetone (3) as a nucleophile in aqueous solutions, using cyclic voltammetry and controlled-potential coulometry. The results indicate that the quinones derived from catechols (1a–1c) participate in Michael addition reactions with acetylacetone (3) to form the corresponding benzofurans (6a–6c). In this work we have proposed a mechanism for the electrode process. The electrochemical synthesis of benzofurans 6a–6c has been successfully performed at carbon rod electrodes and in an undivided cell.     

Parameter optimization and degradation mechanism for electrocatalytic degradation of 2,4-diclorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) herbicide by lead dioxide electrodes

2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world. In this work, the electro-catalytic degradation of 2,4-D herbicide from aqueous solutions was evaluated using three anode electrodes, i.e., lead dioxide coated on stainless steel 316 (SS316/β-PbO₂), lead dioxide coated on a lead bed (Pb/β-PbO₂), and lead dioxide coated on graphite (G/β-PbO₂). The structure and morphology of the prepared electrodes were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The process of herbicide degradation was monitored during constant current electrolysis using cyclic voltammetry (CV). In this study, the experiments were designed based on the central composite design (CCD) and were analyzed and modeled by response surface methodology (RSM) to demonstrate the operational variables and the interactive effect of three independent variables on 3 responses. The effects of parameters including pH (3–11), current density (j = 1–5 mA cm⁻²) and electrolysis time (20–80 min) were studied. The results showed that, at j = 5 mA cm⁻², by increasing the reaction time from 20 to 80 min and decreasing the pH from 11 to 3, the 2,4-D herbicide degradation efficiency using SS316/β-PbO₂, Pb/β-PbO₂ and G/β-PbO₂ anode electrodes was observed to be 60.4, 75.9 and 89.8%, respectively. Moreover, the results showed that the highest COD and TOC removal efficiencies using the G/β-PbO₂ electrode were 83.7 and 78.5%, under the conditions pH = 3, electrolysis time = 80 min and j = 5 mA cm⁻², respectively. It was also found that G/β-PbO₂ has lower energy consumption (EC) (5.67 kW h m⁻³) compared to the two other studied electrodes (SS316/β-PbO₂ and Pb/β-PbO₂). The results showed a good correlation between the experimental values and the predicted values of the quadratic model (P < 0.05). Results revealed that the electrochemical process using the G/β-PbO₂ anode electrode has an acceptable efficiency in the degradation of 2,4-D herbicide and can be used as a proper pretreatment technique to treat wastewater containing resistant pollutants, e.g., phenoxy group herbicides (2,4-D).

Optimization of process parameters by the CCD method and electrocatalytic degradation and the electrochemical degradation mechanism of 2,4-D using modified electrode anodes were investigated.     

Multi Vesicular Osseous Hydatid Disease of the Mandible- A Case Report

Hydatid disease is a common and major public health issue caused by parasite Echinococcus granulosus. The highest prevalence of the parasite can be found in different parts of world like Africa, Australia, and South America. This infection can occurs in almost any part of the body. Here we present clinical, radiological, histological features and treatment of a multi vesicular osseous hydatid disease of the mandible in an Afghan 5 year old boy with a firm swelling in the right side of mandible.