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Hardware accelerators are becoming popular in academia and industry. To move one step further from the state-of-the-art multicore plus accelerator approaches, we present in this paper our innovative SAVEHSA architecture. It comprises of a heterogeneous hardware platform with three different high-end accelerators attached over PCIe (GPGPU, FPGA and Intel MIC). Such systems can process parallel workloads very efficiently whilst being more energy efficient than regular CPU systems. To leverage the heterogeneity, the workload has to be distributed among the computing units in a way that each unit is well-suited for the assigned task and executable code must be available. To tackle this problem we present two software components; the first can perform resource allocation at runtime while respecting system and application goals (in terms of throughput, energy, latency, etc.) and the second is able to analyze an application and generate executable code for an accelerator at runtime. We demonstrate the first proof-of-concept implementation of our framework on the heterogeneous platform, discuss different runtime policies and measure the introduced overheads.

De Julis Ettore M. SATIRIO. In: Bibliografia topografica della colonizzazione greca in Italia e nelle Isole Tirreniche, n°18, 2010. Siti : San Cesario sul Panaro - Siccomonte. pp. 376-381.

The immunoglobulin (Ig) E immune response in patients with Helicobacter pylori-associated chronic gastritis has been evaluated. Of 26 patients with H. pylori infection, 22 (84%) tested positive for basophil-bound specific IgE (determined by the histamine release test) and 18 (69%) for serum specific IgE (determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). In contrast, only 1 of 17 persons in whom the bacterium was not detected presented cell-bound and serum specific IgE. In the 4 histamine release test--positive but enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay--negative patients, removal of antibody from the basophil surface by acid elution showed that histamine release occurred through an IgE-dependent mechanism. When normal basophils, passively sensitized with serum from IgE-positive patients, were exposed to the H. pylori antigen, a significant release was observed, confirming the class specificity of the response. Inhibition experiments with bacteria other than H. pylori showed that the IgE antibody was specifically directed against this organism. The percentage of antigen-induced histamine release did not correlate with serum specific IgE level. However, the response of basophils to antigenic challenge was proportional to IgE-dependent cellular releasability. This finding suggests that target cell sensitivity may be the most important factor in determining the entity of biological response to the antigenic challenge. The ability of H. pylori to induce a specific IgE immune response could answer key questions regarding the mechanisms inducing gastric inflammation.

Fifty-six patients with measurable advanced soft-tissue sarcomas were treated with epirubicin, 90 mg/m2 intravenously on day 1, and DTIC, 250 mg/m2 intravenously on days 1-5, with the entire regimen repeated every 3 weeks. The overall response rate in 52 evaluable patients was 48% with 9 complete remissions. Noncardiac toxicity was limited predominantly to vomiting, alopecia and myelosuppression. Laboratory evidence of cardiotoxicity [greater than or equal to 20% decrease in left-ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) from the baseline value] was observed in 4 out of 39 patients who had at least two determinations of LVEF, at a median dose of 1,305 mg/m2. Two patients had clinical congestive heart failure at cumulative dose of 1,440 and 1,620 mg/m2. These findings suggest that the combination of epirubicin and DTIC is an active regimen in soft-tissue sarcomas, and provide further evidence that epirubicin is a doxorubicin analogue with reduced cardiac toxicity, but preserved efficacy in this disease.

This thesis deals with the effective design of planar leaky-wave antennas. The work describes a methodology based on the polar expansion of Green's function representations to address very different geometrical configurations which might appear to have little in common. In fact leaky waves with planar and cylindrical spreadings, as well as in slotted, dipole, pin based and purely dielectric configurations have been addressed. However the unifying goal of this thesis has been the systematic search for low cost structures characterized by high quality beams, with high efficiency and minimal ohmic losses. In our view this goal has been achieved. Part of this thesis was developed and funded by the Defence, Security and Safety Institute of the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), The Hague, The Netherlands.

Budd-Chiari syndrome is a rare disease due to occlusion of the hepatic veins often presenting with acute liver failure. Common causes of Budd-Chiari syndrome are chronic myeloproliferative disorders, while acute leukemia has been associated with hepatic vein thrombosis in only two cases in the literature to date. We report a case of Budd-Chiari syndrome complicating a non-promyelocytic acute myelogenous leukemia leading to fulminant hepatic failure.

A group of 40 women with objectively measurable metastatic breast cancer was treated with idarubicin, 35 mg/m2 on day 1, and cyclophosphamide, 200 mg/m2 on days 2-5, both drugs being administered orally every 3 weeks. Of 37 evaluable patients, 4 (10.8%) achieved a complete response and 14 (37.8%) a partial response, for an overall response rate of 48.6% (95% confidence interval, 37.45%-59.75%). In previously untreated patients the response rate was 58.3%, whereas it was 44% in patients previously exposed to cytotoxic drugs. The median duration of response was 6.5 months, and the median survival of all patients was 10.5 months. Moderate nausea and vomiting were common. Diarrhoea, which occurred in 37% of the patients, was usually short-lived. Alopecia was generally mild, myelosuppression was the dose-limiting toxicity. Grade 3-4 leukopenia occurred only in pretreated patients. In previously untreated patients it was generally of grade 1-2. Laboratory evidence of cardiotoxicity (greater than or equal to 20% decrease in the left-ventricular ejection fraction from the baseline value) was observed in 3 out of 26 patients, who had at least two determinations of the left-ventricular ejection fraction, and was transient in nature. No cases of congestive heart failure were observed. These results indicate that the combination of idarubicin + cyclophosphamide represents a practical and effective regimen to be used in selected patients with advanced breast cancer.

Forty-eight patients with advanced measurable gastric cancer were treated with the three-drug combination of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and BCNU (FFB). The response rate was 42% in 45 evaluable patients. There were live complete responders (11%). The median duration of response was 1.1 months, and the median survival of all patients was 9.2 months. Toxicity was generally mild to moderate. No instances of congestive heart failure were recorded. These results indicate that patients with metastatic gastric cancer can be effectively palliated with FEB chemotherapy.

61 patients with advanced measurable gastric carcinoma were treated with 5-fluorouracil, adriamycin and BCNU (FAB). Of 50 evaluable patients, 48% achieved a response (3 complete and 21 partial responses), and 24% experienced disease stabilization. The median duration of response was 9 months, and median survival of all patients was 7 months. Responding patients survived significantly longer than nonresponders (p less than 0.001). Toxicity was generally mild to moderate, rarely requiring dose reduction or prolongation of treatment intervals. These results indicate that FAB regimen is an active combination in metastatic or locally advanced gastric cancer, and can be used as first-line treatment in patients with this disease.

94 evaluable patients with metastatic breast cancer were randomly assigned to 5-fluorouracil, adriamycin, and cyclophosphamide (FAC) or 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC), with cycles repeated every 3 weeks. The objective response rate to FAC was 46% versus 44% to FEC. There was no significant difference in the median duration of response and median survival for the two regimens. Toxicity was more frequent and more pronounced in patients receiving FAC. Results indicate therapeutic equivalence of the two regimens and reduced toxicity of the epirubicin arm.

Thirty-five patients receiving chemotherapeutic regimens including cisplatin (CDDP) were entered into a randomized open cross-over trial. Sixteen patients had previously received chemotherapy. Metoclopramide (MCP) was given i.v. in 4 doses of 1 mg/kg over a period of 4 1/2 hr, dexamethazone (DXM) was administered i.m. in 4 doses of 8 mg over 24 hr and another 10 mg i.v. just prior to CDDP administration. Sixteen patients who expressed a positive opinion on both previous antiemetics were given placebo (PLC). No significant differences were found between MCP and DXM, considering the mean score of both emesis intensity and patient's opinion. The mean duration of the symptoms was significantly longer with MCP than with DXM (P less than 0.02). Both antiemetic agents were more effective than PLC. No significant side-effects were observed. The results of this study indicate that both MCP and DXM provide a similar protection against CDDP-induced nausea and vomiting.