Prognosticating metastatic osteosarcoma treated with uniform chemotherapy protocol without high dose methotrexate and delayed metastasectomy: a single center experience of 102 patients

Purpose: Data on prognostic factors in patients with metastatic osteosarcoma treated with uniform chemotherapy protocol are lacking. The objective of this study was to analyze demographic data, treatment outcome and prognostic factors for patients with metastatic osteosarcoma at our center treated with a uniform chemotherapy protocol without high dose methotrexate. Methods: This is a single-institutional data review of patients treated between June 2003 and December 2012 with neoadjuvant chemotherapy, local site surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy and metastasectomy at completion of adjuvant chemotherapy. Results: 102 patients of metastatic osteosarcoma were treated with a median age of 18 years (range 8-48 years), male to female ratio of 3.3:1 and median symptom duration of 4 months. EFS and OS at 5 years were 12.7 ± 0.1 and 28.1 ± 0.1 %, respectively. On multivariate analysis, elevated serum alkaline phosphatase (p < 0.001) and number of metastasis >3 (p = 0.04) were predictive of lower EFS, whereas elevated serum alkaline phosphatase (p = 0.01), number of metastasis >3 (p = 0.05), and margin positivity (p < 0.001) were predictive of lower OS. Conclusions: This is the largest data on metastatic osteosarcoma treated with a uniform chemotherapy protocol without high dose methotrexate. The data showed prognostic factors similar to what have been observed previously such as elevated serum alkaline phosphatase and >3 metastatic lesions in lung predicting inferior outcome. Notably our survival was comparable to data from other studies despite our practice of delaying metastasectomy to completion of chemotherapy rather than performing the same along with local site surgery

No disponible

Development of a Single Combined Microencapsulated Formulation of Allopurinol and Nimesulide and Investigation of Their Release Behaviours

The aim of this study was to develop a single combined once-daily sustained releasemicroencapsulated dosage form of Allopurinol and Nimesulide using Ethyl cellulose as releasecontrolling factor and to evaluate drug release parameters as per various release kinetic models. Inorder to achieve required sustained release profile, microparticles were prepared using coacervationthermal change technique. The formulated microparticles were also characterized by physical andchemical parameters and results were found in acceptable limits. Different dissolution models wereapplied to drug release data in order to evaluate release mechanisms and kinetics. The drug releasedata fit well to the Higuchi expression. Drug release mechanism was found as a complex anomalousone(AU)

A giant Condyloma accuminata.

Condyloma accuminata is not a rare disease in our country. But such a giant Condyloma accuminata is very uncommon case that we reported here. It is a type of venereal wart that commonly grows in genital region, caused by the HPV (Human papilloma virus). It is considered one of the most common sexually transmitted disease in western countries. The patient presented with cauliflower like fungating growth over the genitalia for 15 years with pain and burning sensation over the lesion for 1 month. Patient had multiple sexual partners for about 20 years. Clinically the patient was diagnosed as Condyloma accuminata. The wart was excised under spinal anesthesia and confirmed by histopathology.

Shear-Thickening Response of Fumed Silica Suspensions under Steady and Oscillatory Shear

Suspensions of fumed silica in polypropylene glycol exhibit shear-thickening under steady shear and "strain-thickening" under oscillatory shear. Strain-thickening refers to a sharp increase in the complex viscosity eta* observed at critical combinations of strain-amplitude and frequency. Two regimes of strain-thickening behavior have been found: The first occurs at high critical strains and low frequencies, whereas the second occurs at high critical frequencies and a constant lower strain. Strain-thickening in the first regime can be explicitly correlated with steady shear-thickening, using a modified version of the Cox-Merz rule. Accordingly, strain-thickening data for the complex viscosity eta* as a function of the maximum dynamic shear-rate gamma0omega can be superposed against shear-thickening data for the steady viscosity as a function of the steady shear rate. Such a correlation between the two kinds of thickening phenomena has not been reported previously. The combination of shear- and strain-thickening behavior can be qualitatively explained using a clustering mechanism, which attributes the various phenomena to the formation of temporary, flow-induced clusters. The two regimes of strain-thickening are a result of differences in the relative ease of cluster formation.