Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

About: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a education organization based out in Leuven, Belgium. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 61109 authors who have published 176584 publications receiving 6210872 citations.

Olaparib maintenance therapy in platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer.

Abstract: randomization on completion of chemotherapy; hazard ratio for progression or death, 0.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25 to 0.49; P<0.001). Subgroup analyses of progression-free survival showed that, regardless of subgroup, patients in the olaparib group had a lower risk of progression. Adverse events more commonly reported in the olaparib group than in the placebo group (by more than 10% of patients) were nausea (68% vs. 35%), fatigue (49% vs. 38%), vomiting (32% vs. 14%), and anemia (17% vs. 5%); the majority of adverse events were grade 1 or 2. An interim analysis of overall survival (38% maturity, meaning that 38% of the patients had died) showed no significant difference between groups (hazard ratio with olaparib, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.63 to 1.39; P = 0.75). CONCLUSIONS Olaparib as maintenance treatment significantly improved progression-free survival among patients with platinum-sensitive, relapsed, high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Interim analysis showed no overall survival benefit. The toxicity profile of olaparib in this population was consistent with that in previous studies. (Funded by AstraZeneca; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00753545.)

Passage of inhaled particles into the blood circulation in humans.

Abstract: Background — Pollution by particulates has been consistently associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, the mechanisms responsible for these effects are not well-elucidated. Methods and Results — To assess to what extent and how rapidly inhaled pollutant particles pass into the systemic circulation, we measured, in 5 healthy volunteers, the distribution of radioactivity after the inhalation of “Technegas,” an aerosol consisting mainly of ultrafine 99m Technetium-labeled carbon particles ( 99m Tc, ie, pertechnetate, there was also a species corresponding to particle-bound 99m Tc. Gamma camera images showed substantial radioactivity over the liver and other areas of the body. Conclusions — We conclude that inhaled 99m Tc-labeled ultrafine carbon particles pass rapidly into the systemic circulation, and this process could account for the well-established, but poorly understood, extrapulmonary effects of air pollution.

Stages of the pathologic process in Alzheimer disease: age categories from 1 to 100 years.

Abstract: Two thousand three hundred and thirty two nonselected brains from 1- to 100-year-old individuals were examined using immunocytochemistry (AT8) and Gallyas silver staining for abnormal tau; immunocytochemistry (4G8) and Campbell-Switzer staining were used for the detection ofβ-amyloid. A total of 342 cases was negative in the Gallyas stain but when restaged for AT8 only 10 were immunonegative. Fifty-eight cases had subcortical tau predominantly in the locus coeruleus, but there was no abnormal cortical tau (subcortical Stages a-c). Cortical involvement (abnormal tau in neurites) was identified first in the transentorhinal region (Stage 1a, 38 cases). Transentorhinal pyramidal cells displayed pretangle material (Stage 1b, 236 cases). Pretangles gradually became argyrophilic neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) that progressed in parallel with NFT Stages I to VI. Pretangles restricted to subcortical sites were seen chiefly at younger ages. Of the total cases, 1,031 (44.2%) had β-amyloid plaques. The first plaques occurred in the neocortex after the onset of tauopathy in the brainstem. Plaques generally developed in the 40s in 4% of all cases, culminating in their tenth decade (75%). β-amyloid plaques and NFTs were significantly correlated (p < 0.0001). These data suggest that tauopathy associated with sporadic Alzheimer disease may begin earlier than previously thought and possibly in the lower brainstem rather than in the transentorhinal region.