Intravenous Busulfan for Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation in Adult Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia: a Survey of 952 Patients on Behalf of the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation

Oral busulfan is the historical backbone of the busulfan+cyclophosphamide regimen for autologous stem cell transplantation. However intravenous busulfan has more predictable pharmacokinetics and less toxicity than oral busulfan; we, therefore, retrospectively analyzed data from 952 patients with acute myeloid leukemia who received intravenous busulfan for autologous stem cell transplantation. Most patients were male (n=531, 56%), and the median age at transplantation was 50.5 years. Two-year overall survival, leukemia-free survival, and relapse incidence were 67±2%, 53±2%, and 40±2%, respectively. The non-relapse mortality rate at 2 years was 7±1%. Five patients died from veno-occlusive disease. Overall leukemia-free survival and relapse incidence at 2 years did not differ significantly between the 815 patients transplanted in first complete remission (52±2% and 40±2%, respectively) and the 137 patients transplanted in second complete remission (58±5% and 35±5%, respectively). Cytogenetic risk classification and age were significant prognostic factors: the 2-year leukemia-free survival was 63±4% in patients with good risk cytogenetics, 52±3% in those with intermediate risk cytogenetics, and 37 ± 10% in those with poor risk cytogenetics (P=0.01); patients ≤50 years old had better overall survival (77±2% versus 56±3%; P<0.001), leukemia-free survival (61±3% versus 45±3%; P<0.001), relapse incidence (35±2% versus 45±3%; P<0.005), and non-relapse mortality (4±1% versus 10±2%; P<0.001) than older patients. The combination of intravenous busulfan and high-dose melphalan was associated with the best overall survival (75±4%). Our results suggest that the use of intravenous busulfan simplifies the autograft procedure and confirm the usefulness of autologous stem cell transplantation in acute myeloid leukemia. As in allogeneic transplantation, veno-occlusive disease is an uncommon complication after an autograft using intravenous busulfan.

A green future for European electricity? :Energy sources, policies and further determinants of the household price of electricity

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Strategic analysis on urban mobility

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

THE U.S. and European M&A cycles: A Markov switching and state space approach

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Financial reporting by European foundations

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Comportamento da musculatura das arteríolas intra-hepáticas na forma hepatesplênica da esquistossomose mansônica

A determinação da relação parede-lume das arteríolas intra-hepáticas, na esquistossomose mansônica (forma hepatesplênica), demonstra a existência de uma hipotrofia da camada muscular daqueles vasos. Esse achado sugere redução do fluxo sangüíneo arterial hepático nessa entidade.

The new mobility paradigm: transformation of value chain and business models

We would like to thank Philipp Schwarz and Julia Gückel for their dedicated support in preparing this paper and our colleagues and students of the School of Engineering and the Business School for our fruitful discussions.

A technology diffusion perspective of Enterprise Resource Planning across European Small and Medium Enterprises: from determinants to Use to Value

Tese apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Doutor em Gestão de Informação

Regional growth in Europe: The role of European and national policies

We conduct a systematic study of the impact of European Union (EU) regional policies on regional economic growth that controls for national policies and geographic characteristics. Special care is taken in distinguishing between the impact of EU policies and of national policies on economic growth. Our empirical study tries to answer two different questions. First, is there convergence across EU regions, and if so, do regions converge to a common European steady-state or to a national one? Second, how do European and national policies affect regional growth? We find evidence of regional convergence at the national level but not at the European level. In addition we find that trade openness at the national level is associated with regional convergence while European regional policies contribute, though weakly, to regional convergence. Our results suggest that policies that foster market integration – and convergence to a common steady-state - such as the promotion of labour and capital movements across countries and common regulatory policies are as important for European-wide regional convergence as regional structural funds.

Fossil fuel dependence and interfuel substitution in the electricity sector of Western European countries between 1990-2011

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Digital Divide Across the European Union

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de Informação

Automated Generation of Indoor Accessibility Information for Mobility-Impaired Individuals

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.

Determinants of Portuguese trade: 1986-2010

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Mortalidade por doenças infecciosas e parasitárias em Salvador - Bahia: evolução e diferenciais intra-urbanos segundo condições de vida

Analisa-se a evolução da mortalidade por DIP em Salvador-BA e seus diferenciais intra-urbanos mediante estudo de série temporal e de agregados espaciais, nos anos noventa. O DATASUS e declarações de óbitos foram as fontes de dados. Na análise temporal, empregou-se mortalidade proporcional, taxa de mortalidade e razão de mortalidade padronizada (RMP). No estudo espacial, analisou-se as taxas de mortalidade por DIP segundo um índice de condições de vida (ICV). Entre 1991 e 1995, a mortalidade proporcional por DIP foi de 8,3% e o risco de morrer variou entre 55,9 e 34,0 por 100 mil habitantes. No período seguinte, a variação foi entre 52,8 e 41,1 por 100 mil habitantes. A razão de mortalidade padronizada por doenças infecciosas e parasitárias em 1998 foi de 1,3. As doenças infecciosas intestinais continuam sendo uma das principais causas de morte desse grupo. As áreas da cidade onde as condições de vida eram mais baixas concentravam as maiores taxas de mortalidade por DIP. A despeito do declínio, ainda existe um excesso de mortalidade por DIP em Salvador. O modelo de desenvolvimento do país e a reemergência de algumas doenças podem estar contribuindo para este padrão.

The Impact of Bilingualism on Acquiring Second Language Vocabulary: A Case Study

Trabalho de Projecto apresentado para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtençao do grau de Mestre em Didáctica do Inglês,