The results show that tirapazamine can safely be added to cisplatin. Both the median survival and response rate observed strongly suggest that tirapazamine with cisplatin is more active than cisplatin alone.

A phase II study was undertaken to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of docetaxel in patients with malignant melanoma. Between April 1992 and February 1996, 37 patients with metastatic malignant melanoma and no prior chemotherapy were treated with docetaxel 100 mg m-2 administered intravenously over 1 hour every 21 days. Patients were premedicated prior to each course with dexamethasone and diphenhydramine. Toxicity and follow-up were provided. Objective responses were seen in two out of 35 patients evaluable for response, one complete response and one partial response. These two responses were of a duration of greater than two years. The most common toxicity was grade 4 neutropenia, which occurred in 92% of patients; 49% required hospitalization for an episode of neutropenic fever. Additional patients had reversible grade 3-4 toxicities including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomatitis, arthralgias, myalgias, peripheral neuropathy and fatigue. Eighteen patients had hypersensitivity reactions, two were grade 3-4. Fluid retention, grade 1-3 was observed in seven patients. Alopecia occurred in most patients. Docetaxel has definite but low-level activity against malignant melanoma. Further investigation of this drug should be considered in multidrug combination programs.

In plate girders, the use of corrugated webs permits the use of thin web plates without stiffeners, which reduces the cost of beam fabrication and improves fatigue life. Experimental and analytical studies on the behavior of girders with corrugated webs were conducted that have led to design recommendations. For girders with corrugated webs subjected to shear, it was noted from the experimental as well as the analytical results that failure of the web occurs because of local or global shear buckling, which depends on the corrugation configuration. For girders with corrugated webs subjected to uniform bending, the failure was due to yielding and vertical buckling of the compression flange into the web. The test and analytical results indicate that the web offered negligible contribution to the moment-carrying capacity of the beam, and the ultimate moment capacity may be calculated on the basis of the flange yielding, ignoring any contribution from the web. The behavior of girders with corrugated webs under in-plane compressive edge loads applied directly on the top flange was investigated, and design recommendations are made. Tests to examine the behavior of girders with corrugated webs under repeated loads are few. The results from the available tests are reported and compared with the results from test on conventionally stiffened girders with flat webs.

In two deaths of infants investigated by the Medical Examiner, high levels of dicyclomine were detected in blood. In one of the cases, a level of 0.505 micrograms/ml was found, nearly 10 times reported adult therapeutic blood concentrations, and death was ascribed to an overdose of dicyclomine. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was used for the analysis of biological specimens.

No abstract