Survey of 1012 moldy dwellings by culture fungal analysis: Threshold proposal for asthmatic patient management.

Different countries have tried to define guidelines to quantify what levels of fungi are considered as inappropriate for housing. This retrospective study analyzes indoor fungi by cultures of airborne samples from 1012 dwellings. Altogether, 908 patients suffering from rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and asthma were compared to 104 controls free of allergies.

Pegfilgrastim administration after 24 or 72 or 96 h to allow dose-dense anthracycline- and taxane-based chemotherapy in breast cancer patients: a single-center experience within the GIM2 randomized phase III trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the safest timing of pegfilgrastim administration in dose-dense anthracycline- and taxane-based chemotherapy, three different cohorts of patients enrolled in the Gruppo Italiano Mammella (GIM) 2 study and treated at the coordinating center received pegfilgrastim 24 h (cohort A) or 72 h (cohort B) or 96 h (cohort C) after chemotherapy.

Methods: A total of 41 patients were included. The safety of pegfilgrastim administration in terms of occurrence of early and late leukocytosis and the behavior of white blood cells (WBC) counts in the three cohorts across all chemotherapy cycles were evaluated.

[Medical indoor environment counsellor (MIEC) in Burgundy: evaluation by physicians and patients].

Unlabelled: Since December 2009, chest physicians and allergologists in Burgundy have been able to call upon a medical indoor environment counsellor (MIEC). The consultations are free for the patient and are undertaken following a medical referal after systematic cutaneous prick tests.

Aims: To describe the indications, the distribution of prescriptions and to measure the impact of the counsellor's visits on the first 100 patients at 6 months and on the physicians at 18 months.

Quantitative methylation analysis of HOXA3, 7, 9, and 10 genes in glioma: association with tumor WHO grade and clinical outcome.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether specific HOXA epigenetic signatures could differentiate glioma with distinct biological, pathological, and clinical characteristics.

Methods: We evaluated HOXA3, 7, 9, and 10 methylation in 63 glioma samples by MassARRAY and pyrosequencing.

Results: We demonstrated the direct statistical correlation between the level of methylation of all HOXA genes examined and WHO grading.

Concurrent vs sequential adjuvant chemotherapy and hormone therapy in breast cancer: a multicenter randomized phase III trial.

Background: The most appropriate timing of chemotherapy and hormone therapy administration is a critical issue in early breast cancer patients. The purpose of our study was to compare the efficacy of concurrent vs sequential administration of adjuvant chemotherapy and tamoxifen.

Methods: Women with node-positive primary breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive tamoxifen (20 mg/d for 5 years) during (concurrent arm) or after (sequential arm) adjuvant chemotherapy.

Secondary breast angiosarcoma: lethal response to anti-angiogenic therapy with paclitaxel chemotherapy. A case report.

Angiosarcoma of the breast is a malignant tumour of vascular endothelial cells. It is a rare and difficult tumour to treat. The authors report a case of cutaneous radiation-associated angiosarcoma treated with paclitaxel chemotherapy.

Long-term results of combined-modality therapy for inflammatory breast carcinoma.

Sixty-eight patients with inflammatory breast carcinoma (IBC) received treatment in 2 prospective randomized trials of multimodality therapy for locally advanced breast cancer. The treatment plan consisted of 3 courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with CAF (cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/5-fluorouracil [5-FU]) or CEF (cyclophosphamide/epirubicin/5-FU) followed by surgery and 6 adjuvant courses of CAF or CEF alternated with CMF (cyclophosphamide/methotrexate/5-FU). Radiation therapy was administered at the end of adjuvant treatment.

Accelerated versus standard cyclophosphamide, epirubicin and 5-fluorouracil or cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil: a randomized phase III trial in locally advanced breast cancer.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a dose-dense primary chemotherapy on pathological response rate (pCR) in patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) treated with combined modality therapy.

Patients And Methods: Stage IIIA/IIIB patients received three courses of induction chemotherapy (ICT) with cyclophosphamide, epirubicin and 5-fluorouracil (CEF) followed by local therapy (total mastectomy or segmental mastectomy with axillary nodes dissection) and adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) with three courses of CEF alternated with three courses of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil (CMF). Patients were randomized to receive ICT and ACT every 3 weeks (arm A, 'standard treatment') or every 2 weeks with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) support (arm B, 'dose-dense treatment').

Thymidine labeling index analysis in early breast cancer patients randomized to receive perioperative chemotherapy.

Objective: To identify through a substudy of a larger, multicenter study of adjuvant treatment in primary operable breast cancer patients any possible correlation between cellular proliferation rate, measured by thymidine labeling index (TLI), and perioperative chemotherapy (periCT).

Methods: TLI was measured in slices of early breast carcinoma patients. The main trial was designed to randomize patients after primary surgery to receive one cycle of periCT consisting of cyclophosphamide, epidoxorubicin and 5-fluorouracil, or no periCT.

Metastatic breast cancer patients failing first-line, anthracycline-containing chemotherapy: is further therapy of benefit?

During the last 50 years median survival for metastatic breast cancer has not varied and remains 2-3.5 years. To assess the clinical benefit of salvage systemic therapy a retrospective analysis of metastatic breast cancer patients all homogeneously treated with a commonly used first-line anthacycline-containing cytotoxic regimen (FEC) was undertaken.

Primary chemotherapy in locally advanced breast cancer (LABC): effects on tumour proliferative activity, bcl-2 expression and the relationship between tumour regression and biological markers.

The rate of tumour cell proliferation evaluated by the [3H]-thymidine labelling index ([3H]-dT-LI) is known to be an independent prognostic factor in patients with operable breast cancer and significantly predicts the response to chemotherapy in patients with advanced disease. In locally advanced breast cancer (LABG), we examined whether chemotherapy induced modifications in [3H]-dt-LI, and bcl-2 expression and their relationship with tumour regression and prognosis. 70 LABC patients received three courses of primary chemotherapy (FEC: 5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m2, epidoxorubicin 60 mg/m2, cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2, followed by surgery and subsequent adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of three courses of FEC alternated with three courses of CMF (cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2, methotrexate 40 mg/m2, 5-fluorouracil 600 mg/m2).

Letrozole, a new oral aromatase inhibitor for advanced breast cancer: double-blind randomized trial showing a dose effect and improved efficacy and tolerability compared with megestrol acetate.

Purpose: To compare two doses of letrozole and megestrol acetate (MA) as second-line therapy in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer previously treated with antiestrogens.

Patients And Methods: Five hundred fifty-one patients with locally advanced, locoregionally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer were randomly assigned to receive letrozole 2.5 mg (n = 174), letrozole 0.

A randomized trial of chemotherapy with or without estrogenic recruitment in locally advanced breast cancer. North-West Oncology Group (GONO) Study, Italy.

The present phase III trial was carried out to verify whether a kinetic recruitment induced by low doses of diethylstilbestrol (DES) could increase the killing efficacy of chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced breast cancer. One-hundred and seventeen untreated patients with locally advanced breast cancer (stage IIIA/IIIB) were randomized to receive 3 courses of primary chemotherapy consisting of cyclophosphamide (600 mg/m2 i.v.

Vinorelbine as palliative therapy in advanced breast cancer.

Thirty advanced breast cancer patients received Vinorelbine (VNB) according to two different schedules: a weekly i.v. bolus of 30 mg/m (14 patients) or a continuous infusion (CI) schedule comprising 8 mg i.

Chemotherapy with or without estrogenic recruitment in metastatic breast cancer. A randomized trial of the Gruppo Oncologico Nord Ovest (GONO).

Background: This phase III study was carried out to verify whether a kinetic recruitment induced with low doses of diethylstilbestrol (DES) could increase the antitumor activity of chemotherapy in patients with advanced breast cancer.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred fifty-eight women with metastatic breast cancer were randomized to receive chemotherapy consisting of cyclophosphamide 600 mg/sqm i.v.

Locally advanced non-metastatic breast cancer: analysis of prognostic factors in 125 patients homogeneously treated with a combined modality approach.

125 stage III breast cancer patients, including 51 cases of inflammatory carcinoma, were treated with the following combined modality approach: three courses of primary 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide (FAC) chemotherapy followed by locoregional treatment and subsequent adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of three courses of FAC alternating with three courses of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5-fluorouracil (CMF). Clinical response to primary FAC was 65% (complete 10%). Residual tumour mass in the mastectomy specimen was > 1 and < or = 1 cm in 82 and 18% of cases, respectively.

Breast-cancer in the elderly - detection and treatment modalities in 341 women.

Elderly cancer patients are generally excluded from entry to clinical trials;and often managed inadequately or based on individual experience. We have retrospectively determined tumor detection modality, diagnostic and staging work-up, delay in referral and therapeutic approaches in 341 women with breast cancer aged over 70 years. Fifty-eight per cent of patients were in the 70-75 group of age.

In vivo cytokinetic effects of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) in patients with advanced breast carcinoma.

We have investigated the possibility of inducing a kinetic recruitment of breast cancer cells by the in vivo administration of recombinant human Growth Hormone (rhGH). Twelve patients with advanced breast cancer received rhGH i.m.

Phase II study of weekly mitoxantrone, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin in metastatic breast cancer.

A phase II study to test the toxicity and the efficacy of a weekly combination of Mitoxantrone, 5-Fluorouracil and L-Leucovorin (MFL) was carried out in 43 patients with metastatic breast cancer. Chemotherapy consisted of mitoxantrone 4 mg/m2, 5-fluorouracil 375 mg/m2, and L-leucovorin 100 mg/m2 on day 1, weekly. Patient characteristics were: median age 53 years (range 36-65); estrogen receptor (ER) status was known in 26 patients and of these 15 (57.

Relationship of variations in tumor cell kinetics induced by primary chemotherapy to tumor regression and prognosis in locally advanced breast cancer.

The relationship of changes in 3H-thymidine labelling index (TLI) induced by primary chemotherapy to tumor response and relapse rate in 36 patients with previously untreated locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) was analyzed. All patients received primary chemotherapy (3 cycles FAC), followed by mastectomy and subsequent adjuvant chemotherapy (3 FAC alternated with 3 CMF). Tumor TLI was evaluated immediately prior to primary chemotherapy and at the time of mastectomy.

Analysis of time to response to chemotherapy in 316 metastatic breast cancer patients.

Chemotherapy is a major tool for metastatic breast cancer treatment. In this study, a series of 316 patients have been analyzed to evaluate the time needed to reach tumor response by means of combination chemotherapy. Twenty-five percent of patients responded within 3 months and virtually all responses occurred within 7.