Small Cell Carcinoma of the Urinary Bladder: A Retrospective, Multicenter Rare Cancer Network Study of 107 Patients

PURPOSE Small cell carcinomas of the bladder (SCCB) account for fewer than 1% of all urinary bladder tumors. There is no consensus regarding the optimal treatment for SCCB. METHODS AND MATERIALS Fifteen academic Rare Cancer Network medical centers contributed SCCB cases. The eligibility criteria were as follows: pure or mixed SCC; local, locoregional, and metastatic stages; and age ≥18 years. The overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were calculated from the date of diagnosis according to the Kaplan-Meier method. The log-rank and Wilcoxon tests were used to analyze survival as functions of clinical and therapeutic factors. RESULTS The study included 107 patients (mean [±standard deviation, SD] age, 69.6 [±10.6] years; mean follow-up time, 4.4 years) with primary bladder SCC, with 66% of these patients having pure SCC. Seventy-two percent and 12% of the patients presented with T2-4N0M0 and T2-4N1-3M0 stages, respectively, and 16% presented with synchronous metastases. The most frequent curative treatments were radical surgery and chemotherapy, sequential chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and radical surgery alone. The median (interquartile range, IQR) OS and DFS times were 12.9 months (IQR, 7-32 months) and 9 months (IQR, 5-23 months), respectively. The metastatic, T2-4N0M0, and T2-4N1-3M0 groups differed significantly (P=.001) in terms of median OS and DFS. In a multivariate analysis, impaired creatinine clearance (OS and DFS), clinical stage (OS and DFS), a Karnofsky performance status <80 (OS), and pure SCC histology (OS) were independent and significant adverse prognostic factors. In the patients with nonmetastatic disease, the type of treatment (ie radical surgery with or without adjuvant chemotherapy vs conservative treatment) did not significantly influence OS or DFS (P=.7). CONCLUSIONS The prognosis for SCCB remains poor. The finding that radical cystectomy did not influence DFS or OS in the patients with nonmetastatic disease suggests that conservative treatment is appropriate in this situation.

Partitioning the Choice Task Makes Starbucks Coffee Taste Better

Consumers are often less satisfied with a product chosen from a large assortment than a limited one. Experienced choice difficulty presumably causes this as consumers have to engage in a great number of individual comparisons. In two studies we tested whether partitioning the choice task so that consumers decided sequentially on each individual attribute may provide a solution. In a Starbucks coffee house, consumers who chose from the menu rated the coffee as less tasty when chosen from a large rather than a small assortment. However, when the consumers chose it by sequentially deciding about one attribute at a time, the effect reversed. In a tailored-suit customization, consumers who chose multiple attributes at a time were less satisfied with their suit, compared to those who chose one attribute at a time. Sequential attribute-based processing proves to be an effective strategy to reap the benefits of a large assortment.

Maestro Calo : ein Gedenkblatt zur 650. Wiederkehr seines Geburtstages

Felix Falk

Eine Insel der Toleranz : Zur Erinnerung an den Regierungsantritt Karls I. von Sizilien vor 650 Jahren 1266

Willy Cohn

Ms. germ. qu. 107 - Juristische Sammelhandschrift

Vorbesitzer: Schloßbibliothek Nordkirchen; Grafen Esterhazy; Herzöge von Arenberg

Na 50 Nachlass Arthur Schopenhauer - 'Schopenhauer-Archiv', 650 - Bestätigung des verabredeten Treffens in Weimar

u.a.: Einladungen zu einem Ballabend in Jena;

Na 50 Nachlass Arthur Schopenhauer - 'Schopenhauer-Archiv', 107 - Bitte um Zusendung einiger Bücher

Hübbe;

Ms.Ff.F.Stoltze 3. 107 - Brief von Conrad Hallenstein an Friedrich Stoltze

Bitte um ein "kleines Festspiel" für eine goldene Hochzeit (Goldschmidt, Wien), "Die beiden Rosen"

Ms.Ff.F.Stoltze 3. 650 - Brief von Herman Prowe von Gesellschaft Deutscher Studierender Teutonia an Friedrich Stoltze

Friedrich Stoltze II, Fotografie, Nachruf

Na 1 Nachlass Max Horkheimer, 650 - "Vorgeschichte des politischen Antisemitismus"; "Sociòlogica II" (p. IX 30-IX 31.1-11)

Vorrede von Max Horkheimer und Theodor W. Adorno, Entwurf; veröffentlicht in: Massig, Paul W. (1959) Vorgeschichte des Antisemitismus. Frankfurt am Main; Typoskript mit handschriftlichen Korrekturen, datiert Ostern 1958, 8 Blatt; Mann, Thomas (1949) Rehearsal for Destruction; Rezesion der amerikanischen Originalausgabe des Buches von Massig; Typoskript, 3 Blatt; "Sociòlogica II", veröffentlicht von Max Horkheimer und Theodor W. Ardono, Frankfurt am Main, 1962; Vorbemerkung, Entwurf, mehrere Typoskripte zum Teil mit eigenhändigen Korrekturen und Ergänzungen; Adorno, Gretel: 1 Brief mit Unterschrift an Max Horkheimer, Frankfurt, 09.01.1962 und Beiliegend: Verzeichnis der Verlage und Drucknachweise, 6 Blatt; Adorno, Gretel: 1 Brief mit Unterschrift an Max Horkheimer, Frankfurt, 24.07.1961, 1 Blatt; Horkheimer, Max: "Zum Begriff des Menschen heute". Sonderdruck; mit handschriftlichen Korrekturen, 11 Blatt; mit handschriftlichen Korrekturen von Theodor W. Adorno, 11 Blatt; Beiträge zu "Sociòlogica II" von Adorno; Adorno, Theodor W.: "Die revidierte Psychoanalyse". Typsokript 28 Blatt; Adorno, Theodor W.: "Aberglaube aus zweiter Hand". Typoskript, 43 Blatt; Adorno, Theodor W.: "Theorie der Halbbildung". Sonderdurck mit hanschriftlichen Anstreichungen, 13 Blatt; Adorno, Theodor W.: "Soziologie und empirische Forschung". Sonderdruck, 8 Blatt; Adorno, Theodor W.: "Über Statik und Dynamik als soziologische Kategorien". Sonderdruck, 10 Blatt; Adorno, Theodor W.: "Kultur und Verwaltung". Sonderdruck, 11 Blatt; Horkheimer, Max: "Philosophie als Kulturkritik". Teilstücke aus den Druckfahnen mit handschriftlichen Korrekturen und Ergänzungen, 3 Blatt;

The characterization of residential fungal spores and the relationship with housing characteristics in the Houston area

A number of indoor environmental factors, including bioaerosol or aeroallergen concentrations have been identified as exacerbators for asthma and allergenic conditions of the respiratory system. People generally spend 90% to 95% of their time indoors. Therefore, understanding the environmental factors that affect the presence of aeroallergens indoors as well as outdoors is important in determining their health impact, and in identifying potential intervention methods. This study aimed to assess the relationship between indoor airborne fungal spore concentrations and indoor surface mold levels, indoor versus outdoor airborne fungal spore concentrations and the effect of previous as well as current water intrusion. Also, the association between airborne concentration of indoor fungal spores and surface mold levels and the age of the housing structure were examined. Further, the correlation between indoor concentrations of certain species was determined as well. ^ Air and surface fungal measurements and related information were obtained from a Houston-area data set compiled from visits to homes filing insurance claims. During the sampling visit these complaint homes exhibited either visible mold or a combination of visible mold and water intrusion problems. These data were examined to assess the relationships between the independent and dependent variables using simple linear regression analysis, and independent t-tests. To examine the correlation between indoor concentrations of certain species, Spearman correlation coefficients were used. ^ There were 126 houses sampled, with spring, n=43 (34.1%), and winter, n=42 (33.3%), representing the seasons with the most samples. The summer sample illustrated the highest geometric mean concentration of fungal spores, GM=5,816.5 relative to winter, fall and spring (GM=1,743.4, GM=3,683.5 and GM=2,507.4, respectively). In all seasons, greater concentrations of fungal spores were observed during the cloudy weather conditions. ^ The results indicated no statistically significant association between outdoor total airborne fungal spore concentration and total living room airborne fungal spore concentration (β = 0.095, p = 0.491). Second, living room surface mold levels were not associated with living room airborne fungal spore concentration, (β= 0.011, p = 0.669). Third, houses with and without previous water intrusion did not differ significantly with respect to either living room (t(111) = 0.710, p = 0.528) or bedroom (t(111) =1.673, p = 0.162) airborne fungal spore concentrations. Likewise houses with and without current water intrusion did not differ significantly with respect to living room (t(109)=0.716, p = 0.476) or bedroom (t(109) = 1.035, p = 0.304) airborne fungal spore concentration. Fourth, houses with and without current water intrusion did not differ significantly with respect to living room (χ 2 (5) = 5.61, p = 0.346), or bedroom (χ 2 (5) = 1.80, p = 0.875) surface mold levels. Fifth, the age of the house structure did not predict living room (β = 0.023, p = 0.102) and bedroom (β = 0.023, p = 0.065) surface mold levels nor living room (β = 0.002, p = 0.131) and bedroom (β = 0.001, p = 0.650) fungal spore airborne concentration. Sixth, in houses with visually observed mold growth there was statistically significant differences between the mean living room concentrations and mean outdoor concentrations for Cladosporium (t (107) = 11.73, p < 0.0001), Stachybotrys (t (106)=2.288, p = 0.024, and Nigrosporia (t (102) = 2.267, p = 0.025). Finally, there was a significant correlation between several living room fungal species pairs, namely, Cladosporium and Stachybotrys (r = 0.373, p <0.01, n=65), Curvularia and Aspergillus/Penicillium (r = 0.205, p < 0.05, n= 111)), Curvularia and Stachybotrys (r = 0.205, p < 0.05, n=111), Nigrospora and Chaetomium (r = 0.254, p < 0.01, n=105) and Stachybotrys and Nigrospora (r = 0.269, p < 0.01, n=105). ^ This study has demonstrated several positive findings, i.e., significant pairwise correlations of concentrations of several fungal species in living room air, and significant differences between indoor and outdoor concentrations of three fungal species in homes with visible mold. No association was observed between indoor and outdoor fungal spore concentrations. Neither living room nor bedroom airborne spore concentrations and surface mold levels were related to the age of the house or to water intrusion, either previous or current. Therefore, these findings suggest the need for evaluating additional parameters, as well as combinations of factors such as humidity, temperature, age of structure, ventilation, and room size to better understand the determinants of airborne fungal spore concentrations and surface mold levels in homes. ^