Allowance For Type Research Articles

Intelligent geoinformation technology for agroecological mapping

An intelligent geoinformation technology for agroecological mapping has been developed. The technology is based on earth remote sensing methods and methods for analyzing vector information (topographic contours) and provides an automatic extraction of agrolandscapes and their structural elements with allowance for types of agricultural lands.

Does a drug do better when it is new?

BackgroundWhen assessing a new, promising therapeutic approach, a clinician’s perception of a drug’s effectiveness may be shaped by different kinds of phenomena, and among them, a favorable attitude towards new treatments, and as a result a tendency to overestimate their efficacy (wish bias). Materials and methodsA retrospective study of published randomized clinical trials of doxorubicin-based chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer was carried out. Global (complete plus partial) response rate over time with allowance for type of drug regimen (mono- or polychemotherapy) and prior adjuvant therapies was assessed in the doxorubicin-containing arm using multivariate logistic regression analysis. ResultsTwenty-nine studies published from 1975 to 1999 were retrieved for a total of 2234 women with advanced breast cancer enrolled in the doxorubicin-containing arms. There was a significant decrease in response rate to doxorubicin as first-line treatment over time that resisted adjustment for important differences in therapeutic management [odds ratio for global response = 0.89, 95% con-fidence interval (CI) 0.81 to 0.99]. ConclusionsAlthough only one drug (doxorubicin) in one clinical context (advanced breast cancer) has been analyzed, our findings support the use of double blind methodology whenever possible when assessing subjective endpoints and encourage further studies aimed at defining the clinical relevance of a wish bias in medicine.

Assessment of the strength characteristics of soils of the glacial system from results of their static-penetration testing

Results of investigations of correlation relations between the strength φ and c and static-penetration data on soils of the glacial system are cited. Equations for determination of φ and c with respect to the specific resistance of the soil to the cone of the probe and in the friction coupling are obtained on the basis of the processing of research data with allowance for type of soil.

Cutaneous melanoma and sunburns in childhood in a Southern European population

A population-based case-control study of 260 patients (74 males and 186 females, mean age = 56) with cutaneous malignant melanoma and 416 controls (211 males and 205 females, mean age = 55) was conducted in Turin, north-west Italy, to examine the relation between timing of sunburns and sun exposure and melanoma risk within a southern European population, which is still relatively little investigated. Particularly elevated risk was associated with history of sunburns in childhood [odds ratio 5.9; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.6–9.5], and such risk elevation persisted after allowance for other major melanoma risk covariates. Conversely, risk increase from history of severe sunburns lifelong was lower (odds ratio = 1.7; 95% CI: 1.1–2.4) and was eliminated by allowance fort ype of skin reaction to sun exposure and history of sunburns in childhood. A significant increase in the risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma was also associated with number of weeks spent on holiday at the beach not only as an adult, but also as a child.