Gemcitabine and capecitabine with or without telomerase peptide vaccine GV1001 in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer (TeloVac): an open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial.

Background: We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of sequential or simultaneous telomerase vaccination (GV1001) in combination with chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Methods: TeloVac was a three-group, open-label, randomised phase 3 trial. We recruited patients from 51 UK hospitals.

Thromboprophylaxis with dabigatran leads to an increased incidence of wound leakage and an increased length of stay after total joint replacement.

Since the introduction of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on thromboprophylaxis and the use of extended thromboprophylaxis with new oral agents, there have been reports of complications arising as a result of their use. We have looked at the incidence of wound complications after the introduction of dabigatran for thromboprophylaxis in our unit. We investigated the rate of venous thromboembolism and wound leakage in 1728 patients undergoing primary joint replacement, both before and after the introduction of dabigatran, and following its subsequent withdrawal from our unit.

Safety of bronchial thermoplasty in patients with severe refractory asthma.

Background: Patients with severe refractory asthma treated with bronchial thermoplasty (BT), a bronchoscopic procedure that improves asthma control by reducing excess airway smooth muscle, were followed up for 5 years to evaluate long-term safety of this procedure.

Objectives: To assess long-term safety of BT for 5 years.

Methods: Patients with asthma aged 18 to 65 years requiring high-dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) (>750 μg/d of fluticasone propionate or equivalent) and long-acting β2-agonists (LABAs) (at least 100 μg/d of salmeterol or equivalent), with or without oral prednisone (≤30 mg/d), leukotriene modifiers, theophylline, or other asthma controller medications were enrolled in the Research in Severe Asthma (RISA) Trial.

Factors influencing mortality in patients on antiplatelet agents presenting with proximal femoral fractures.

Purpose: To identify factors predicting one-year mortality in patients on clopidogrel presenting with proximal femoral fractures.

Methods: 9 men and 22 women aged 64 to 97 (mean, 81; standard deviation, 8) years who had been taking clopidogrel for ischaemic heart disease (n=15), cerebrovascular disease (n=6), or both (n=10) presented with proximal femoral fractures. The time from injury to operation, type of anaesthesia, treatment method, and postoperative complications were reviewed.

Liraglutide for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Introduction: Prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is increasing. Management of this condition and minimizing the cardiovascular risks associated with it poses a significant burden on healthcare resources across the world. Currently available therapeutic agents are effective in glycemic management; however, the majority of these are associated with undesirable effects such as hypoglycemia and weight gain.

New insulins and new insulin regimens: a review of their role in improving glycaemic control in patients with diabetes.

Effective glycaemic control can reduce and potentially prevent the microvascular and macrovascular complications of diabetes. Insulin is the mainstay of treatment for type 1 diabetes and is indicated in patients with type 2 diabetes who do no achieve optimal glycaemic control despite the use of oral hypoglycaemic agents. The advent of the so-called "designer" insulins, the insulin analogues, has offered new opportunities in the clinical management of diabetes.

Insulin glargine and its role in glycaemic management of Type 2 diabetes.

Background: Insulin glargine (Lantus) was the first recombinant-DNA long-acting insulin analogue to be licensed for use in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Objective: This review considers the use of insulin glargine in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

Methods: Medline, Cochrane and Embase databases were searched for relevant papers from the year 2000 onwards.

Measurement and meaning of oxidatively modified DNA lesions in urine.

Background: Oxidatively generated damage to DNA has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a wide variety of diseases. The noninvasive assessment of such damage, i.e.

Evidence of oligonucleotides containing 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine in human urine.

The product of oxidative damage to DNA, 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), when detected in urine, is considered to be a global, noninvasive biomarker of in vivo oxidative DNA damage. In this paper we describe a novel approach to confirm the presence of oligonucleotides containing 8-OHdG in human urine. Fractions of urine were prepared by gel-filtration chromatography, and the presence of oligonucleotides was confirmed by ELISA using a monoclonal anti-(single-stranded DNA) antibody.

Evidence for attenuated cellular 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine removal in cancer patients.

Measurement of the products of oxidatively damaged DNA in urine is a frequently used means by which oxidative stress may be assessed non-invasively. We believe that urinary DNA lesions, in addition to being biomarkers of oxidative stress, can potentially provide more specific information, for example, a reflection of repair activity. We used high-performance liquid chromatography prepurification, with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-GC-MS) and ELISA to the analysis of a number of oxidative [e.

DNA repair is responsible for the presence of oxidatively damaged DNA lesions in urine.

The repair of oxidatively damaged DNA is integral to the maintenance of genomic stability, and hence prevention of a wide variety of pathological conditions, such as aging, cancer and cardiovascular disease. The ability to non-invasively assess DNA repair may provide information regarding repair pathways, variability in repair capacity, and susceptibility to disease. The development of assays to measure urinary DNA lesions offered this potential, although it rapidly became clear that possible contribution from diet and cell turnover may influence urinary lesion levels.

DNA repair: insights from urinary lesion analysis.

Due to various confounding factors, namely dietary contribution and cell death, measurement of urinary 8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) has long been considered to be no more than a marker of generalised oxidative stress. Indeed, the action of no single enzyme has been reported to excise 8-oxodG from DNA. However, analysis of recent research has suggested that these confounders may be circumvented, which, combined from work from the authors' laboratory, indicates that urinary 8-oxodG has the potential to become a most important marker of oxidative damage to, and repair of, DNA.

Gadobenate dimeglumine in MRI of acute myocardial infarction: results of a phase III study comparing dynamic and delayed contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging with EKG, (201)Tl SPECT, and echocardiography.

Rationale And Objectives: To evaluate the safety and utility of gadobenate dimeglumine as a magnetic resonance (MR) contrast agent in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI).

Methods: One hundred three patients with acute MI received intravenous bolus gadobenate dimeglumine (0.05 mmol/kg) during MR examination.