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Additional Trials (additional + trials)
Selected AbstractsPolymer-Based Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention:JOURNAL OF INTERVENTIONAL CARDIOLOGY, Issue 5 2004A Review of the TAXUS Trials Drug-eluting stents have altered the practice of interventional cardiology by dramatically reducing the risk of angiographic and clinical restenosis following percutaneous coronary intervention. Based on extensive preclinical study and clinical trial data, the polymer-based, slow rate-release paclitaxel-eluting TAXUS stent has recently received Food and Drug Administration approval for sale in the United States. In the current article, we review the available data from the TAXUS trials that have demonstrated that implantation of the slow rate-release TAXUS stent is safe and, in terms of restenosis, markedly superior to bare metal stenting for the treatment of de novo lesions <28 mm in length in arteries 2.5,3.75 mm in diameter. Additional trials in the TAXUS program are currently examining the role of slow and moderate rate-release polymer-based, paclitaxel-eluting stents in a broader range of clinical settings and lesion subsets. [source] Increasing the uptake of hepatitis C virus testing among injecting drug users in specialist drug treatment and prison settings by using dried blood spots for diagnostic testing: a cluster randomized controlled trialJOURNAL OF VIRAL HEPATITIS, Issue 4 2008M. Hickman Summary., The objective of this study was to assess whether introducing dried blood spot testing can increase hepatitis C virus (HCV) diagnostic testing. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted. Sites were matched into pairs, with one site in each pair randomly allocated to receive the intervention (training and use of dried blood spot). Data were collected from all sites for 6 months before and 6 months after the start of the intervention. The participants were 22 specialist drug clinics and six prisons in England and Wales. The main outcome measure of this study was percentage point difference in individuals tested for HCV (the difference between the percentage of patients tested 6 months after and 6 months before the introduction of dried blood spot tests). Before the trial, 8% of patients at control and intervention sites had been tested for HCV, with 16 sites testing less than 5% of their caseload. The average percentage point difference between intervention and control sites was 14.5% (95% CI 1.3,28%, paired t -test, P = 0.03); with 13 of the 14 pairs contributing to the positive effect of the intervention (Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank-test, P = 0.002). The size of the difference between intervention and control sites varied considerably. The study provides preliminary supporting evidence that dried blood spot testing may increase the uptake of HCV diagnostic testing, by increasing the opportunity for patients to be offered testing. Additional trials with a larger number of sites are justified, ideally in the context of drug and treatment policies that gave clearer priority (and targets) to infection control and testing. [source] REVIEW: Curcumin and Alzheimer's DiseaseCNS: NEUROSCIENCE AND THERAPEUTICS, Issue 5 2010Tsuyoshi Hamaguchi Curcumin has a long history of use as a traditional remedy and food in Asia. Many studies have reported that curcumin has various beneficial properties, such as antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and antitumor. Because of the reported effects of curcumin on tumors, many clinical trials have been performed to elucidate curcumin's effects on cancers. Recent reports have suggested therapeutic potential of curcumin in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In in vitro studies, curcumin has been reported to inhibit amyloid-,-protein (A,) aggregation, and A,-induced inflammation, as well as the activities of ,-secretase and acetylcholinesterase. In in vivo studies, oral administration of curcumin has resulted in the inhibition of A, deposition, A, oligomerization, and tau phosphorylation in the brains of AD animal models, and improvements in behavioral impairment in animal models. These findings suggest that curcumin might be one of the most promising compounds for the development of AD therapies. At present, four clinical trials concerning the effects of curcumin on AD has been conducted. Two of them that were performed in China and USA have been reported no significant differences in changes in cognitive function between placebo and curcumin groups, and no results have been reported from two other clinical studies. Additional trials are necessary to determine the clinical usefulness of curcumin in the prevention and treatment of AD. [source] Effectiveness of general practice nurse interventions in cardiac risk factor reduction among adultsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE BASED HEALTHCARE, Issue 3 2007Elizabeth Halcomb RN BN(Hons) Grad Cert. Abstract Background, Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for adults in Australia. In recent years there has been a shift in health service delivery from institutional to community-based care for chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease. The general practice setting is seen to offer greater flexibility, higher levels of efficiency and more client focused healthcare delivery than is possible in the acute care sector. It has been suggested that practice nurses represent a useful adjunct to current models of cardiovascular disease management. To date, significant descriptive research has been conducted exploring the demographics, roles, educational needs and issues facing practice nurses. However, there is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of practice nurse interventions in terms of patient outcomes, clinician satisfaction and cost-effectiveness. Objectives, This review seeks to present the best available evidence regarding the efficacy of general practice nurse interventions for cardiac risk factor reduction in healthy adults, as well as those with established cardiovascular disease or known cardiac risk factors. Search Strategy, A systematic literature search was performed using Medline (1966 , 2005), CINAHL (1982 ,2005), Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Issue 4, 2005) and the Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence Library. In addition, the reference lists of retrieved papers, conference proceedings and the Internet, were scrutinised for additional trials. Selection Criteria, This review considered any English language randomised trials that investigated interventions conducted by the practice nurse for cardiovascular disease management or reduction of cardiac risk factors. Interventions conducted by specialist cardiac nurses in general practice were excluded. Outcomes measured included blood pressure, smoking cessation, total cholesterol, exercise, body weight/body mass index and cost-effectiveness. Results, Eighteen trials, reported in 33 papers, were included in the review. Ten trials investigated multifaceted interventions, while the remaining eight trials reported targeted interventions. Of the trials that reported multifaceted interventions, three trials investigated risk reduction in those with established cardiovascular disease, four trials focused on those with known cardiovascular disease risk factors and three trials included the general community. The eight trials which examined the efficacy of targeted interventions focused upon dietary intake (two trials), smoking cessation (three trials), weight reduction (one trial) and physical activity (two trials). The effect of both the multifaceted and targeted interventions on patient outcomes was variable. However, both the multifaceted and targeted interventions demonstrated similar outcome trends for specific variables. Improvements were demonstrated by most studies in blood pressure, cholesterol level, dietary intake and physical activity. The variation in outcome measures and contradictory findings between some studies makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. Conclusions, While interventions to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors have produced variable results, they offer significant potential to assist patients in modifying their personal risk profile and should be developed. The public health importance of these changes is dependant upon the sustainability of the change and its effect on the health outcomes of these individuals. Further well-designed research is required to establish the effectiveness of practice nurse interventions for cardiovascular disease management and risk factor reduction in terms of patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness. [source] Molecular imaging of regional brain tumor biologyJOURNAL OF CELLULAR BIOCHEMISTRY, Issue S39 2002A.M. Spence Abstract Energy metabolism measurements in gliomas in vivo are now performed widely with positron emission tomography (PET). This capability has developed from a large number of basic and clinical science investigations that have cross fertilized one another. This article presents several areas that exemplify questions that have been explored over the last two decades. While the application of PET with [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG-PET) has proven useful for grading and prognosis assessments, this approach is less clinically suitable for assessing response to therapy, even though results to date raise very intriguing biological questions. Integration of metabolic imaging results into glioma therapy protocols is a recent and only preliminarily tapped method that may prove useful in additional trials that target DNA or membrane biosynthesis, or resistance mechanisms such as hypoxia. There are exciting future directions for molecular imaging that will undoubtedly be fruitful to explore, especially apoptosis, angiogenesis and expression of mutations of genes, e.g., epidermal growth factor receptor, that promote or suppress cellular malignant behavior. J. Cell. Biochem. Suppl. 39: 25,35, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Chromosomal location of Fusarium head blight resistance genes and analysis of the relationship between resistance to head blight and brown foot rotPLANT BREEDING, Issue 1 2000A. Mentewab Abstract In order to identify chromosomes involved in resistance to Fusarium head blight, a set of 21 substitution lines of Triticum macha (resistant) chromosomes into ,Hobbit''sib'(susceptible) were evaluated in trials over 2 years. For the first year's trial, all plants were inoculated on the same day with a conidial suspension of F. culmorum. For the second trial, individual plants were inoculated precisely at mid anthesis of each plant over a period of 2 weeks. The disease level was assessed by visual scoring, relative ear weight and F. culmorumn -specfic quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that T. macha chromosomes 1B, 4A and 7A conferred good overall resistance, suggesting that they carry important genes for resistance. In two additional trials, T. macha and ,Hobbit''sib' were evaluated for resistance to brown foot rot. The results showed that T. macha was more susceptible than ,Hobbit',sib', indicating that stem base disease response is not correlated with head blight resistance in these cultivars. [source] Partial confounding and projective properties of Plackett,Burman designsQUALITY AND RELIABILITY ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL, Issue 7 2007Murat Kulahci Abstract Screening experiments are typically used when attempting to identify a few active factors in a larger pool of potentially significant factors. In general, two-level regular factorial designs are used, but Plackett,Burman (PB) designs provide a useful alternative. Although PB designs are run-efficient, they confound the main effects with fractions of strings of two-factor interactions, making the analysis difficult. However, recent discoveries regarding the projective properties of PB designs suggest that if only a few factors are active, the original design can be reduced to a full factorial, with additional trials frequently forming attractive patterns. In this paper, we show that there is a close relationship between the partial confounding in certain PB designs and their projective properties. With the aid of examples, we demonstrate how this relationship may help experimenters better appreciate the use of PB designs. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Brain metastases in locally advanced nonsmall cell lung carcinoma after multimodality treatmentCANCER, Issue 3 2002Risk factors analysis Abstract BACKGROUND Brain metastases (BM) are frequent sites of initial failure in patients with locally advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (LAD-NSCLC) undergoing multimodality treatments (MMT). New treatment and follow-up strategies are needed to reduce the risk of BM and to diagnose them early enough for effective treatment. METHODS The incidence rate of BM as the first site of recurrence in 112 patients with LAD-NSCLC treated with the same MMT protocol was calculated. The influence of patient, disease, and treatment-related factors on the incidence of BM and on the time-to-brain recurrence (TBR) was analyzed. RESULTS BM as the first site of failure was observed in 25 cases (22% of the study population and 29% of all recurrences). In 18 of those cases, the brain was the exclusive site of recurrence. Median TBR was 9 months. The 2-year actuarial incidence of BM was 29%. Central nervous system (CNS) recurrence was more common in patients younger than 60 years (P = 0.006) and in whom bulky (, 2 cm) mediastinal lymph nodes were present (P = 0.02). TBR was influenced by age (P = 0.004) and by bulky lymph node disease (P = 0.003). Multivariate analysis confirmed the prognostic role of age, whereas the presence of clinical bulky mediastinal lymph nodes was of borderline significance. CONCLUSIONS Our study confirmed a high rate of BM in patients with LAD-NSCLC submitted to MMT. Most of these CNS recurrences were isolated and occurred within 2 years of initial diagnosis. Age younger than 60 years was associated with an increased risk of BM and reduced TBR, whereas the presence of clinical bulky mediastinal lymph nodes was of borderline significance. Although our data require further validation in future studies, our results suggest that additional trials on prophylactic cranial irradiation and on intensive radiologic follow-up should focus on these high-risk populations. Cancer 2002;95:605,12. © 2002 American Cancer Society. DOI 10.1002/cncr.10687 [source] | |||||||||||||