Weekly docetaxel as second-line therapy in non-small cell lung cancer: a phase II study.

Introduction: Single-agent docetaxel is active as second-line chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) pretreated patients; seven phase II studies have shown response rates of about 20% and 9 months of median survival. Two phase III studies documented a survival benefit at 1 year compared to BSC and vinorelbine or ifosfamide. Recent trials indicate acceptable activity and a good safety profile of weekly docetaxel with doses of 25-43 mg/m2.

Radiotherapy in the treatment of stage III-IV hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of radiation therapy alone, employing standard fractionation, in stage III-IV hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

Materials And Methods: Fourteen (38.9%) stage III and 22 (61.

Radiotherapy alone and chemoirradiation in recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva.

Aim: To evaluate the role of radiotherapy alone or combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of recurrent vulvar cancer, emphasising the prognostic factors and outcomes.

Materials And Methods: Twenty women with loco-regional recurrence of vulvar carcinoma were retrospectively reviewed. Eleven patients were managed with a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, seven out of these with concomitant radio-chemotherapy and four with neo-adjuvant chemotherapy.

Prophylactic options in patients with 5-fluorouracil-associated cardiotoxicity.

At present, the various mechanisms involved in 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-correlated cardiotoxicity remain to be elucidated and a universally accepted prophylaxis or treatment for this specific toxicity is not available. Although it may improve time to progression, survival and clinical benefit, a 5-FU-based regimen usually has to be discontinued if a patient experiences cardiotoxicity. Here, we describe our experience with three cases of 5-FU-associated cardiotoxicity.

A new cisplatin/gemcitabine schedule in locally advanced (IIIB) and metastatic (IV) non-small cell lung cancer: relationship between dose-intensity and efficacy. A phase II study.

Background: Cisplatin/gemcitabine are one of the "standard" chemotherapy schedules in locally advanced and metastatic NSCLC cancer. A number of trials documented that omission of gemcitabine on day 15 and reduction of cisplatin up to 70 mg/mq are equivalent in term of response rates to "classic" administrations on days 1, 8 and 15 with cisplatin 100 mg/mq. The aim of this study was to confirm this evidence and to demonstrate that a further reduction of gemcitabine dose-intensity may be performed with the same efficacy on response.

Efficacy of anthracyclines and paclitaxel as first line chemotherapy in patients with visceral metastases of breast cancer.

Background: Anthracyclines combined with paclitaxel are one of the most active schedules in patients with advanced breast cancer: response rates range from 40 to 80%, considering all metastatic sites (visceral and soft tissues). We performed a non-randomized phase II trial with anthracyclines/paclitaxel combination to evaluate response and toxicity only in patients with visceral metastases.

Methods: Twenty-seven patients (median age 50 years; range 30-72) with visceral metastases of breast cancer were enrolled in this study.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the hindfoot with surgical correlations.

The hindfoot is an anatomical region with a complex anatomy and it is very important from the biomechanical point of view. From the functional point of view the hindfoot may be divided into two different anatomical components: the talar foot and the calcaneal foot. Many bony and ligamentous structures, complexly linked together, form this anatomical region.

MRI of the cardiomyopathies.

We examined the potentialities of Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of the main cardiomyopathies: hypertrophic, dilated, restrictive and arrhythmogenic right ventricular. The hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is generally adequately investigated by echocardiography, that well defines the myocardial thickening and the obstruction of the left ventricular output. However, by echocardiography we still have difficulties in the evaluation of the apex of the left ventricle and the right ventricle involvement.

Educational level and age influence spatial working memory and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance differently: a controlled study in schizophrenic patients.

The influence of educational level and age on executive function, as evaluated by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and 'working memory,' as evaluated by means of a visual-manual delayed-response task, has been investigated in 25 schizophrenic patients and 35 healthy controls matched for age. Different patterns of correlations between educational level, age and cognitive variables were seen for the 'working memory' task but not for the WCST. No significant correlations between the WCST and the 'working memory' task indexes have been observed.

The cognitive bias task (CBT) in healthy controls: a replication study.

Contextual processing is the selection and bringing "on-line" of internal representations of a task that can be used in planning and mediating goal-appropriate behavioral responses and is a relevant issue that probably is involved in many neurological and psychiatric conditions. The Cognitive Bias Task is a measure of context-dependent responding, is sensitive to quadrant-lesion effects, and interacts with gender. The goal of this study was to replicate and detail more completely the method of context-dependent processing for healthy control patients on the Cognitive Bias Task.

Takayasu's arteritis associated with Crohn's disease. Report of a case.

The authors report a rare case of Takayasu's arteritis with aortic arch and abdominal aorta involvement associated with Crohn's disease of the colon which both occurred in a young female patient. The coexistence of two immune mediated diseases in the same subject is unusual for they are generally considered to be independent of each other, however a hypothesis of their possible interrelationship is put forward.

Processing of context information in schizophrenia: relation to clinical symptoms and WCST performance.

Failure in contextual information processing has been hypothesized as being the single function responsible for several impairments in cognitive tasks and symptoms, through an involvement of the prefrontal cortex, in patients with schizophrenia. A variant of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) designed specifically to elicit deficits in the processing of contextual information has been administered to 20 schizophrenic patients and 20 healthy controls. The relation to Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), relatively specific to prefrontal damage and executive dysfunctioning, and clinical status by using scales for the assessment of positive, negative symptoms and outcome has been investigated.

Spontaneous involution of pilocytic astrocytoma in a patient without neurofibromatosis type 1: case report.

Serial magnetic resonance imaging findings are described in a patient with a sporadically occurring pilocytic astrocytoma that underwent spontaneous regression over 6 years. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report in which spontaneous involution of a pilocytic astrocytoma not associated with neurofibromatosis type 1 has been described. A literature review regarding sporadic and syndrome-associated pilocytic astrocytoma was undertaken, with particular reference to treatment and natural history.

Spatial working memory assessment by a visual-manual delayed response task: a controlled study in schizophrenia.

'Working memory' dysfunction has been proposed as a central cognitive feature in schizophrenia. To further explore this issue we developed a computerized easy and fast to administer test using the standard keyboard as visual-manual subject-computer interface along a delayed-response paradigm. The test has been administered to 25 patients who met the DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia and 25 healthy control subjects matched as possible for sex.

Colposcopy, cytology and histology in the diagnosis of squamous intraepithelial lesions of the cervix.

Objective: To compare colposcopic findings to cytologic and histological diagnoses in women with colposcopic reports of ANTZ and/or HPV infection.

Methods: Among 791 hospitalized women referred for colposcopic examination, colposcopy showed ANTZ grade 0-2 and/or HPV infection in 271 patients (34.26%).

Tower of Hanoi and WCST performance in schizophrenia: problem-solving capacity and clinical correlates.

We administered a computerized version of WCST, a well established test, sensitive to executive function deficits in schizophrenia that involves many features of cognitive processing, and of Tower of Hanoi, a test that may offer cognitive challenges more specifically related to planning and sequencing, to 28 schizophrenic patients and 28 matched controls to examine a worthwhile question regarding the relative ability of these two tasks to differentiate schizophrenia and normal groups as well as exploring the relationship of these two instruments to clinical variables. The schizophrenic patients performed significantly worse than normal subjects both on Tower of Hanoi test and on WCST. The discriminant analysis identified in a multivariate way a pattern of indexes that differentiate the two groups.

Schizophrenic patients use context-independent reasoning more often than context-dependent reasoning as measured by the cognitive bias task (CBT): a controlled study.

The processing of context is a relevant issue that is probably involved in many neurological and psychiatric conditions. Contextual reasoning is conceived as selection and bringing 'on line' internal representations of the tasks that can be used to mediate goal-appropriate behavioral responses. Impairment in contextual reasoning is thought to play a key role in the pathophysiology and symptom formation of schizophrenia.

Intensive weekly chemotherapy for locally advanced gastric cancer using 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin, epidoxorubicin, 6S-leucovorin, glutathione and filgrastim: a report from the Italian Group for the Study of Digestive Tract Cancer (GISCAD).

Local extension prevents curative resection in more than two-thirds of gastric cancer patients. Unfortunately, resectability is one of the main prognostic factors in these patients, and survival is longer when tumours are completely removed. Preoperative chemotherapy is an attractive concept for obtaining curative resection.

Is Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance related to 'working memory' capacity?

The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a multifactorial and complex test, and it involves so many different kinds of functions that it is difficult to understand why patients fail. Capacity of 'working memory' is possibly involved in the WCST performance and is considered a relevant factor responsible for the schizophrenics' poor performance. The present study was specifically designed to assess the relationship between 'working memory' measurements and WCST performances of schizophrenics.

Intensive weekly chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer using fluorouracil, cisplatin, epi-doxorubicin, 6S-leucovorin, glutathione, and filgrastim: a report from the Italian Group for the Study of Digestive Tract Cancer.

Purpose: A multiinstitutional trial was performed to confirm the clinical activity, in terms of response rate and toxicity (primary objectives) and duration of responses and survival (secondary objectives), of an intensive weekly regimen in advanced gastric cancer.

Patients And Methods: Patients with measurable unresectable and/or metastatic gastric carcinoma received 1-day per week administration of cisplatin (CDDP) 40 mg/m2, fluorouracil (5FU) 500 mg/m2, epi-doxorubicin (epi-ADR) 35 mg/m2, 6S-stereoisomer of leucovorin 250 mg/m2, and glutathione 1.5 g/m2.

Association between striatal reduction and poor Wisconsin card sorting test performance in patients with schizophrenia.

Several findings support the hypothesis that the striatum is implicated in executive functions and in the modulation of goal-directed behavior, and could play a key role in the pathophysiology and in the production of symptoms and signs in schizophrenia. We have studied the relationship between the objective measures of the striatal structures, as evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) performance in a schizophrenic sample. Thirty-five schizophrenic patients underwent MRI scans of striatal structure and neuropsychological evaluation of executive functions by WCST.

No deficit in Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance of schizophrenic patients' first-degree relatives.

The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) was administered to 92 schizophrenic patients, 25 first-degree relatives and 60 normal subjects in order to investigate whether this task could be considered a trait marker of vulnerability to schizophrenia. The schizophrenic patients performed significantly worse than either their relatives or normal subjects, but unaffected relatives did not differ from controls. Our results suggest that WCST performance is more likely a feature inherent to the disease process rather than an index of the genetic susceptibility to the illness.

Wisconsin card sorting test and Stroop test performance in schizophrenia: a shared construct.

The Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) and Stroop test were administered to 25 schizophrenic patients in order to better identify and understand more specific processing mechanisms involved in executive dysfunctions and to investigate their hypothetical involvement in symptom formation. Data show that for as much as the two tests employed measured executive functions in terms of mental control and cognitive flexibility, our findings seemed to indicate shared or interconnected mechanisms. No correlations were seen between the psychopathological evaluation and any of the neuropsychological indexes.

Remediation of Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in schizophrenia. A controlled study.

Previous studies have shown encouraging plasticity in some schizophrenic patients' Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) performance while receiving detailed specific instructions on task and reinforcement. The present study examines the efficacy of a modified procedure for WCST administration that bound schizophrenic patients to use a conceptually driven cognitive strategy without instruction or reinforcement. The schizophrenics' results were also compared to those obtained with the same procedure from a matched control sample.