Tumor location does not affect long-term renal function after partial nephrectomy.

Objectives: To study the effect of central tumor location on the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) after partial nephrectomy for renal cortical tumor.

Methods: We reviewed our institutional database to identify patients who had undergone partial nephrectomy from January 1995 to July 2005. Central tumors were defined as those encroaching on the collecting system or renal sinus or that did not distort the renal contour; all others were categorized as peripheral on preoperative abdominal imaging.

DHA-paclitaxel (Taxoprexin) as first-line treatment in patients with stage IIIB or IV non-small cell lung cancer: report of a phase II open-label multicenter trial.

Introduction: This prospective, open-label, non-randomized, multi-institutional phase II study was undertaken to assess the antitumor activity and safety of docosahexaenoic acid-paclitaxel (Taxoprexin) as first-line treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Patients And Methods: Chemotherapy-naive patients were eligible if they had measurable stage IIIB or IV non-small cell lung cancer. Forty-four patients received docosahexaenoic acid-paclitaxel by intravenous infusion every 21 days.

Computer algorithm for automated work group classification from free text: the DREAM technique.

Objective: This study developed and tested a computer method to automatically assign subjects to aggregate work groups based on their free text work descriptions.

Methods: The Double Root Extended Automated Matcher (DREAM) algorithm classifies individuals based on pairs of subjects' free text word roots in common with those of standard classification systems and several explicitly defined linkages between term roots and aggregates.

Results: DREAM effectively analyzed free text from 5887 participants in a multisite chronic obstructive pulmonary disease prevention study (Lung Health Study).

Reengineering a database for clinical trials management: lessons for system architects.

This paper describes the process of enhancing Trial/DB, a database system for clinical studies management. The system's enhancements have been driven by the need to maximize the effectiveness of developer personnel in supporting numerous and diverse users, of study designers in setting up new studies, and of administrators in managing ongoing studies. Trial/DB was originally designed to work over a local area network within a single institution, and basic architectural changes were necessary to make it work over the Internet efficiently as well as securely.

Managing attribute--value clinical trials data using the ACT/DB client-server database system.

ACT/DB is a client-server database application for storing clinical trials and outcomes data, which is currently undergoing initial pilot use. It stores most of its data in entity-attribute-value form. Such data are segregated according to data type to allow indexing by value when possible, and binary large object data are managed in the same way as other data.