Archive for the ‘Diseases’ Category
Posted by James
Speaker: Stephanie A. Gregory, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois
Clinical trials in patients with relapsed follicular lymphoma have shown that rituximab plus CHOP therapy (R-CHOP) is better than CHOP therapy alone. Rituximab maintenance therapy following initial FCM (fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, mitoxantrone) chemotherapy, with or without rituximab, resulted in a 94% overall response rate (P = .011). There was a trend toward improved overall survival following rituximab maintenance therapy after three years.
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Posted by James
Speaker: Thomas C. Shea, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Salvage therapy for relapse of diffuse, large B-cell lymphoma depends on the answers to several questions:
• Which relapse is it?
• Which therapies have been used in the past?
• What was the last interval of response?
• Was the prior response complete or partial?
• What are the patient’s characteristics and profile (age, organ function, medical history, and comorbidities?)
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Posted by James
Multiple Myeloma: Oncogenomics for Targeting Tumor Cells in the Microenvironment
Speaker: Kenneth Anderson, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
Recent progress in the research on multiple myeloma (MM) demonstrates the tumor-promoting influence of the micro-environment. Growth factors promote tumor cell proliferation and survival, and cytokines and chemotactic factors promote tumor cell migration and invasion. Proteases break down the basement membrane, alter the architecture of tissue structures, and promote migration and invasion by tumor cells. The vasculature of tumor cells is composed of endothelial cells that are uniquely altered in different tumors. Tumors produce growth factors, such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF), which recruit endothelial cells, thus affecting the growth of the tumor vasculature.
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Posted by James
Speaker: Bramah N. Singh, MD, Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Division, Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California
Dronedarone (Multaq, Sanofi-Aventis), was found to be a viable treatment option for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) after other antiarrhythmic drugs had exhibited poor efficacy in maintaining sinus rhythm. Dronedarone is a novel multichannel blocking antiarrhythmic agent that is structurally related to amiodarone grug (e.g., Pacerone, Upsher-Smith; Corda-rone, Wyeth-Ayerst).
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Posted by James
Speaker: Keith A. Fox, MD, Professor of Cardiology, and Head of Medical and Radiological Services, Department of Cardiological Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
The impact of risk status, prior history, and proximity to recent cardiovascular events such as a myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke plays a major role in the efficacy of clopidogrel (Plavix medication, Sanofi-Aventis) when added to aspirin therapy in patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease, cardiovascular disease, peripheral artery disease, or a history of cardiovascular (CV) events.
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Posted by James
Speaker: Lars C. Wallentin, MD, PhD, Professor of Cardiology, Uppsala Clinical Research Centre, Uppsala, Sweden
In non-reperfused patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), fondaparinux (Arixtra, GlaxoSmithKline), an anticoagulant that inhibits activated Factor X, reduced mortality and re-infarction without increasing bleeding or stroke when it was administered for eight days, compared with unfractionated heparin (UFH) for 48 hours or placebo.
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Posted by James
Speaker: Theodore Mazzone, MD, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, and Chief of the Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Illinois, Chicago
Pioglitazone (Actos generic, Takeda), a diabetes medication that improves sensitivity to insulin, appears to stop the progression of arterial wall thickening when compared with glimepiride (Amaryl drug, Sanofi-Aventis), a sulfonylurea drug that stimulates insulin secretion.
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