[Role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced head and neck tumors. Results of two randomized therapeutical trials conducted at the Institut Curie on 208 patients].

From March 1983 to December 1989, 208 patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were successively included into two trials randomizing induction chemotherapy versus no pre-irradiation treatment. The chemotherapy regimen of the first trial, which included 100 patients, consisted of two cycles of a combination of cisplatin, bleomycin, vindesine, mitomycin C; while that of the second trial, which included 108 patients, consisted of three cycles of a combination cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil (continuous infusion) and vindesine. Local treatment was the same in two trials: 'primary' radiotherapy in all patients.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in operable breast cancer.

Primary chemotherapy in localised breast cancer may prevent tumour spread during surgical treatment and reduce proliferation of micrometastases. A randomised clinical trial, in 196 premenopausal and postmenopausal patients with operable (T2-3, N0-1b) breast cancer, was started in November 1983 at the Institut Curie to compare neoadjuvant and adjuvant regimens of chemotherapy with radiotherapy with or without surgery. The patients have been followed up for 35-70 months (median 54).

[Septal rupture repaired in the acute stage of myocardial infarction. Clinical, hemodynamic and angio-coronarography findings in the evaluation of surgical risk].

Between 1977 and 1987, 27 consecutive patients (16 men, 11 women, mean age 66 years, range 54 to 75 years) with ventricular septal rupture complicating acute myocardial infarction underwent surgical repair. The purpose of this retrospective study was to analyse the post-operative mortality factors from clinical, haemodynamic and operative data in all patients and also from coronary angiographic data in 23/27 patients whose haemodynamic status allowed this type of exploration. Seventeen patients (63 p.

Evaluation of 10 QT prediction formulas in 881 middle-aged men from the seven countries study: emphasis on the cubic root Fridericia's equation.

In 881 middle-aged men from one Italian cohort of the Seven Countries Study, QT and RR intervals were measured in lead 2 from resting ECGs (25 mm/sec) and fitted separately with 10 mathematically different QT prediction formulas. The relative accuracy of fit to data was assessed from the minimum mean-squared residual and the minimum Akaike Information Criterion values. Using the Minnesota code, 588 men had normal (group 1) and 293 had abnormal (group 2) ECGs.

[Prevalence of arterial hypertension and its treatment in 2,595 adults].

The prevalence of arterial hypertension, as defined by the W.H.O.

[Polyarterial pathology. Epidemiological aspects].

Polyarterial arteriosclerosis is a problem facing more and more clinicians because of the technical advances in exploration and revascularization methods. Epidemiologic data are rare in this field except for Framingham's study. We are reporting here the results of a French epidemiologic study regarding a representative sample of a group of 11,000 active men and women, with age ranging between 25 and 65 years.

Prevention of postischemic ventricular fibrillation late after right or left stellate ganglionectomy in dogs.

To gain insight into the differences in antiarrhythmic potential of right vs left stellate ganglionectomy, 72 dogs were randomized to either unilateral stellectomy or second intercostal space thoracotomy and left circumflex coronary arteriovenous pedicle occlusion was performed, without vagotomy, a mean of 8 weeks later under anesthesia. The type and timing of ventricular ectopic beats, including both nonsustained and sustained ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, were investigated. Several covariates, including postischemic electrocardiographic changes, were considered.

[Metastatic breast cancer. Modality of association of chemotherapy and hormonotherapy. Results of a controlled trial].

Two hundred forty-seven patients with metastatic breast cancer entered into the controlled trial. Its aim was to define the optimal modality of association between hormonotherapy and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was given a monthly course of an association including: adriamycin: 45 mg/m2 on day 1; cyclophosphamide: 400 mg/m2 on days 1, 2, 3; 5 fluoro-uracil: 500 mg/m2 on days 1, 2, 3; methyl-prednisolone: 80 mg/m2 on days 1, 2, 3.

Molsidomine prevents post-ischaemic ventricular fibrillation in dogs.

Forty anaesthetized dogs were subjected to left circumflex coronary artery ligation followed by reperfusion. Molsidomine was randomly administered to 20 dogs (50 micrograms kg-1 as an i.v.

Experimental and clinical pharmacology of bretylium tosylate in acute myocardial infarction: a 15-year journey.

Experimental and clinical studies demonstrate the antifibrillatory effectiveness of bretylium tosylate: Experimental ventricular fibrillation induced either by electrical stimulation or by ischemia is prevented by bretylium. In 2,000 acute myocardial infarction patients who received bretylium prophylactically primary ventricular fibrillation occurred in less than 1% of cases. In a randomized hemodynamic study in acute myocardial infarction patients bretylium induced a significant decrease in heart rate, systolic and mean left ventricular pressures, and in systolic and mean aortic pressures.

The adsorption of polyaromatic hydrocarbons on natural and chemically modified asbestos fibers.

Many reports indicate that the carcinogenic (genotoxic) potential of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) may be enhanced several-fold by the promoter (epigenetic) effect of asbestos particles. This promoting effect could be related to the fact that when B[a]P is adsorbed onto the particles, there is a resulting enhanced transport and uptake of the carcinogen into microsomial membranes. These in vitro data bear relevance to the epidemiological studies which indicate an association between exposure to inhaled asbestos dusts and the high incidence of pulmonary cancers in smokers.

Cicletanide improves outcome after left circumflex coronary artery occlusion-reperfusion in the dog.

The possible antifibrillatory effect of cicletanide, a new diuretic antihypertensive drug, was investigated at random in 50 anesthetized dogs subjected to left circumflex coronary artery ligation for 60 min and later reperfused. In this model, standard electrocardiographic leads 2 and 3 were continuously registered to measure delta R wave percent changes, to count the number of ventricular premature beats, and to document the onset of ventricular fibrillation; aortic pressure was recorded; 6-keto PGF1 alpha and TXB2 plasma levels were determined. Cicletanide significantly reduced early (Phase 1a) postischemic ventricular fibrillation (5 of 25 vs.

Epoprostenol (PGI2) prevents postischemic ventricular fibrillation and improves outcome in a canine model of sudden death.

In a left circumflex coronary artery occlusion-reperfusion canine model of sudden death the hemodynamic, antiplatelet, antiischemic and antifibrillatory activities of 100 ng.kg-1.min-1 infusion of epoprostenol (Prostacyclin, Flolan, Wellcome Foundation, London, UK) were investigated at random in 40 animals.

Characterization and spectral properties of Proteus mirabilis PR catalase.

Purified catalase from a peroxide-resistant mutant (PR) of Proteus mirabilis displayed great similarities with the bovine liver catalase on the basis of its amino acid composition, content in prosthetic groups, and spectroscopic data. The bacterial enzyme was found to have 2.6 +/- 0.

Alteration in prostacyclin and prostaglandin E2 production. Correlation with changes in human aortic atherosclerotic disease.

Prostacyclin (PGI2) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production was investigated in human aortas (five controls and 27 with atherosclerotic lesions). The specific activities of PGI2 and PGE2 synthetase were studied using radioimmunoassays of PGE2 and 6-keto-PGE1 alpha of aortic microsomes incubated in the presence of additional substrate and cofactors. The atherosclerotic lesions were examined under the light microscope and were classified as Stage 1 when the disease was restricted to the intima and as Stages 2 and 3 when there were moderate or advanced lesions.

Thromboxane B2, 6-keto-PGF1 alpha, PGE2, PGF2 alpha, and PGA1 plasma levels in arteriosclerosis obliterans: relationship to clinical manifestations, risk factors, and arterial pathoanatomy.

Current concepts of atherogenesis based on animal and human investigations indicate prostaglandins as a key factor in atherosclerotic lesions. The plasma profiles of thromboxane B2 (TXB2), 6-keto-PGF1 alpha, PGE2, PGF2 alpha, and PGA1 were investigated by means of a sensitive radioimmunoassay technique in 40 patients with arteriosclerosis obliterans and in 30 healthy control subjects. Abnormally high levels of TXB2 and PGE2 (222.

[Metastatic breast cancer: controlled trial of chemotherapy with and without hormones].

Two hundred and twenty-three patients with disseminated breast cancer entered in a randomized trial: Group I: 130 patients were given a monthly 5 day- course of a cytotoxic chemotherapy protocol including Adriamycine, Vincristine, Cyclophosphamide, 5 Fluoro-uracile (A.V.L.

[Metastatic breast cancer: a comparative study of the efficacy of tamoxifen and the sequential administration of tamoxifen and medroxyprogesterone acetate].

Seventy-nine patients with an histologically proven disseminated breast cancer, never treated before with additive hormonal therapy, entered into a randomized trial between june 1981 and december 1982. In the first group 44 patients were given continually a daily dose of tamoxifen (TAM) of 20 mg/m2. In the 2nd group 35 patients were given a daily dose of TAM of 20 mg/m2 for 15 days and then an oral daily dose of medroxyprogesterone acetate of 350 mg/m2 for the next 15 days.

Properties of a catalase from a peroxide-resistant mutant of Proteus mirabilis.

A catalase (EC 1.11.1.

[Plasma thromboxane B2 and capacity of the aorta to produce prostacyclin in arteriopathies of the lower extremities].

Plasma levels of thromboxane B2, and 6-Keto-PGF1 alpha, stable metabolites of thromboxane and of prostacyclin were determined by radioimmunoassay in 17 patients with arterial disease and 10 control subjects. The production of prostacyclin from incubates of aortic microsomal fractions of patients was also studied. There was a significant elevation of thromboxane B2 in the peripheral venous blood of patients with arterial lesions (142 +/- 152 pg/ml vs 22 +/- 2 pg/ml, p less than 0.

Bretylium tosylate--induced stabilization of electrical systole duration in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

The electrical systole duration (QTc), heart rate, and the QTc/QTt ratio were studied during the hospital course of an uncomplicated AMI in 13 patients treated with bretylium tosylate (10 mg/mg/24 hr over 5 days since confirmation of AMI) and in 19 controls. The QTc/QTt ratio showed prolongation of electrical systole duration in control subjects with a maximal value at the second day after AMI. QTc increased in these patients from day 1 to day 2 after AMI (402 +/- 4 msec vs.

[Metastatic breast cancers: comparison of the prognostic significance and the sensitivity to chemotherapy according to the presence of estradiol and progesterone receptors].

102 patients with disseminated breast cancer entered this retrospective study. An estrogen receptor (ER) assay was realized in 91 patients and a progesterone receptor (PgR) assay in 90 cases; 44 per cent of the patients were considered as ER+ and 29 per cent as PgR+; 56 per cent were considered as ER- PgR-. The objective response rate to cytotoxic chemotherapy after 4 months of treatment was 66 per cent for ER-, 73 per cent for ER+, 67 per cent for PgR- and 74 per cent for PgR+.

Holter monitoring in the complex analysis of sinus node dysfunction.

To study the diagnostic possibility and the mechanisms involved in sinus node dysfunction, 23 patients with sick sinus syndrome were evaluated by the basic electrophysiological method (recovery times, secondary postpacing phases, sinoatrial conduction times) before and after pharmacologic autonomic blockade with i.v. propranolol 0.

[Acute phase of ventricular fibrillation in myocardial infarct. Importance of studying electrical systole by determining the QTc].

Recent reports have drawn attention to the association between long QT intervals and sudden death in myocardial infarction and certain congenital syndromes. This study was undertaken to determine the relationship between lengthening of the QT interval and primary ventricular fibrillation in acute myocardial infarction. Thirteen cases were chosen out of a total of 21 cases of primary ventricular fibrillation (5.

[Chemotherapy of advanced head and neck cancer with a combination of bleomycin, vincristine, methotrexate and hydroxyuree or cis-dichloro-diamino-platinium. Analysis of local and general parameters of prognosis (author's transl)].

Sixty-six patients with advanced head and neck cancer 57 of whom had failed to respond to prior irradiation, were treated according to two protocols. Group I consisted of 41 patients in relapse who received a monthly combination of bleomycin, vincristin, methotrexate and hydroxyuera. The 16 patients (in relapse) of group II received a monthly combination of bleomycin, vincristin, methotrexate and cis-DDP.