Université catholique de Louvain

About: Université catholique de Louvain is a education organization based out in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 25319 authors who have published 57360 publications receiving 2172080 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Louvain & UCLouvain.

COBRA Combination therapy in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis: Long-term structural benefits of a brief intervention

Abstract: Objective The Combinatietherapie Bij Reumatoide Artritis (COBRA) trial demonstrated that step-down combination therapy with prednisolone, methotrexate, and sulfasalazine (SSZ) was superior to SSZ monotherapy for suppressing disease activity and radiologic progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The current study was conducted to investigate whether the benefits of COBRA therapy were sustained over time, and to determine which baseline factors could predict outcome. Methods All patients had participated in the 56-week COBRA trial. During followup, they were seen by their own rheumatologists and were also assessed regularly by study nurses; no treatment protocol was specified. Disease activity, radiologic damage, and functional ability were the primary outcome domains. Two independent assessors scored radiographs in sequence according to the Sharp/van der Heijde method. Outcomes were analyzed by generalized estimating equations on the basis of intent-to-treat, starting with data obtained at the last visit of the COBRA trial (56 weeks after baseline). Results At the beginning of followup, patients in the COBRA group had a significantly lower mean time-averaged 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28) and a significantly lower median radiologic damage (Sharp) score compared with those in the SSZ monotherapy group. The functional ability score (Health Assessment Questionnaire [HAQ]) was similar in both groups. During the 4–5 year followup period, the time-averaged DAS28 decreased 0.17 points per year in the SSZ group and 0.07 in the COBRA group. The Sharp progression rate was 8.6 points per year in the SSZ group and 5.6 in the COBRA group. After adjustment for differences in treatment and disease activity during followup, the between-group difference in the rate of radiologic progression was 3.7 points per year. The HAQ score did not change significantly over time. Independent baseline predictors of radiologic progression over time (apart from treatment allocation) were rheumatoid factor positivity, Sharp score, and DAS28. Conclusion An initial 6-month cycle of intensive combination treatment that includes high-dose corticosteroids results in sustained suppression of the rate of radiologic progression in patients with early RA, independent of subsequent antirheumatic therapy.

Clinical validity of circulating tumour cells in patients with metastatic breast cancer: a pooled analysis of individual patient data

Abstract: Summary Background We aimed to assess the clinical validity of circulating tumour cell (CTC) quantification for prognostication of patients with metastatic breast cancer by undertaking a pooled analysis of individual patient data. Methods We contacted 51 European centres and asked them to provide reported and unreported anonymised data for individual patients with metastatic breast cancer who participated in studies between January, 2003, and July, 2012. Eligible studies had participants starting a new line of therapy, data for progression-free survival or overall survival, or both, and CTC quantification by the CellSearch method at baseline (before start of new treatment). We used Cox regression models, stratified by study, to establish the association between CTC count and progression-free survival and overall survival. We used the landmark method to assess the prognostic value of CTC and serum marker changes during treatment. We assessed the added value of CTCs or serum markers to prognostic clinicopathological models in a resampling procedure using likelihood ratio (LR) χ 2 statistics. Findings 17 centres provided data for 1944 eligible patients from 20 studies. 911 patients (46·9%) had a CTC count of 5 per 7·5 mL or higher at baseline, which was associated with decreased progression-free survival (hazard ratio [HR] 1·92, 95% CI 1·73–2·14, p Interpretation These data confirm the independent prognostic effect of CTC count on progression-free survival and overall survival. CTC count also improves the prognostication of metastatic breast cancer when added to full clinicopathological predictive models, whereas serum tumour markers do not. Funding Janssen Diagnostics, the Nuovo-Soldati foundation for cancer research.

The Randle cycle revisited: a new head for an old hat

Abstract: In 1963, Lancet published a paper by Randle et al. that proposed a "glucose-fatty acid cycle" to describe fuel flux between and fuel selection by tissues. The original biochemical mechanism explained the inhibition of glucose oxidation by fatty acids. Since then, the principle has been confirmed by many investigators. At the same time, many new mechanisms controlling the utilization of glucose and fatty acids have been discovered. Here, we review the known short- and long-term mechanisms involved in the control of glucose and fatty acid utilization at the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial level in mammalian muscle and liver under normal and pathophysiological conditions. They include allosteric control, reversible phosphorylation, and the expression of key enzymes. However, the complexity is formidable. We suggest that not all chapters of the Randle cycle have been written.

Combined Measurement and QCD Analysis of the Inclusive e± p Scattering Cross Sections at HERA

Abstract: A combination is presented of the inclusive deep inelastic cross sections measured by the H1 and ZEUS Collaborations in neutral and charged current unpolarised e(+/-)p scattering at HERA during the period 1994-2000. The data span six orders of magnitude in negative four-momentum-transfer squared, Q(2), and in Bjorken x. The combination method used takes the correlations of systematic uncertainties into account, resulting in an improved accuracy. The combined data are the sole input in a NLO QCD analysis which determines a new set of parton distributions, HERAPDF1.0, with small experimental uncertainties. This set includes an estimate of the model and parametrisation uncertainties of the fit result.

A Differential Fault Attack Technique against SPN Structures, with Application to the AES and KHAZAD

Abstract: In this paper we describe a differential fault attack technique working against Substitution-Permutation Networks, and requiring very few faulty ciphertexts. The fault model used is realistic, as we consider random faults affecting bytes (faults affecting one only bit are much harder to induce). We implemented our attack on a PC for both the AES and KHAZAD. We are able to break the AES-128 with only 2 faulty ciphertexts, assuming the fault occurs between the antepenultimate and the penultimate MixColumn; this is better than the previous fault attacks against AES(6,10,11). Under similar hypothesis, KHAZAD is breakable with 3 faulty ciphertexts.