1581. Improved survival after introduction of chemotherapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma in Slovenia : population-based survey of 444 patientsViljem Kovač, Matjaž Zwitter, Tina Žagar, 2012, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Background. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a rare tumour with increasing frequency throughout the world. Due to long latency after exposure to asbestos, restrictions in the production and use of asbestos have not yet alleviated the burden of mesothelioma. During the last decade, several trials confirmed the benefit of systemic treatment with drugs such as doublets with cisplatina and gemcitabine or pemetrexed for carefully selected patients in good performance status. The purpose of this survey was to assess the impact of systemic treatment for the whole national population of patients with mesothelioma. Patients and methods. A retrospective study included all patients in Slovenia with histologically confirmed diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma in the period from 1974 till 2008. Data from the Cancer Registry of Slovenia were supplemented by review of clinical records of the Institute of Oncology in Ljubljana where virtually all non-surgical treatment for mesothelioma was performed. We analysed the incidence, treatment, and survival of patients treated in the era of infrequent chemotherapy (1974-2003,the first period) and after it (2004-2008, the second period). Results. The survey included 444 patients, of whom 325 and 119 were diagnosed in the first and second period, respectively. Joinpoint regression analysis showed that after 1995 the trend in crude incidence rates increased more rapidly; the annual change was 0.03 per 100,000 per year before 1995 and 0.06 per 100,000 per year after. There was clear male predominance (70%) throughout the period covered by the survey. The proportion of patients above 65 years of age increased from 41.8% to 54.6% for the first and second period, respectively (p = 0.02). With a total of 52 (11.7%) operated patients, surgical treatment was rare and used only for selected patients with early disease and without comorbidity, leading to their relatively long median survival of 13.6 months. Chemotherapy was applied to 56 (17.2%) and to 96 (80.7%) patients during the first and second period, respectively. While a variety of older drugs were used in the first period, the most common regimen in the second period (applied to 91 patients) was doublet of low-dose gemcitabine in prolonged infusion and cisplatin. For the whole population of patients regardless the mode of treatment, median survival was 7.4 and 12.6 months (p-value = 0.037) for the first and second period, respectively. Conclusions. Increasing incidence, male predominance and increased proportion of older patients confirm that the burden of mesothelioma persists in spite o fa 15-years old ban in the production of asbestos. Modern chemotherapy, and in particular treatment with low-dose gemcitabine in prolonged infusion and cisplatin significantly prolonged median survival of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma in Slovenia. Objavljeno v DiRROS: 21.03.2024; Ogledov: 304; Prenosov: 92
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1582. Effectiveness of L-thyroxine treatment on TSH suppression during pregnancy in patients with a history of thyroid carcinoma after total thyroidectomy and radioiodine ablationBlaž Krhin, Nikola Bešić, 2012, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Introduction. There are scarce data about the optimal increase of L-thyroxine dose during pregnancy in patients with a history of thyroid carcinoma. The first aim of the study was to find out if routine therapeutic measures enable adequate TSH suppression in pregnancy. The other aim was to find out the optimal dose of L-thyroxine for TSH suppression in pregnant women. Patients and methods. In this retrospective observational study, we analysed 36 pregnancies of 32 women with a history of thyroid carcinoma. Before pregnancy, all of them underwent total thyroidectomy and radioiodine ablation of thyroid remnant, and they were on suppressive doses of L-thyroxine. Thyroid function tests were obtained before, during and after pregnancy. Results. Mean L-thyroxine dose before pregnancy, in the first, second and, third trimester and after delivery was 149, 147, 155, 165 and 158 micrograms daily, respectively. TSH concentration remained suppressed in 9 pregnancies, it was within normal range in 22 and elevated in 5 pregnancies. The mean dose of L-thyroxine in patients with suppressed TSH before pregnancy, in the first, second and, third trimester and after delivery was 154, 154, 164, 160 and 161 micrograms daily, respectively. When the dose had to be changed, the mean increase of the dose was 31.5 micrograms daily. Conclusions. The range of changes in TSH concentration during pregnancy in the patients who have been on suppressive L-thyroxine therapy before conception is quite wide. TSH was adequately suppressed in only 25% of pregnancies. The dose of L-thyroxine in patients with suppressed TSH in the first, second and third trimester was 154, 164 and 160 micrograms daily, respectively. Objavljeno v DiRROS: 21.03.2024; Ogledov: 270; Prenosov: 91
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1583. A meshless numerical solution of thermo-mechanics of hot-rolled steel bars on a cooling bedGašper Vuga, Boštjan Mavrič, Umut Hanoglu, Božidar Šarler, 2023, objavljeni znanstveni prispevek na konferenci Povzetek: After the continuous hot-rolling process, steel bars are immediately placed on the cooling bed. At the beginning of the cooling, the material is at high temperatures, and the yield strength is low. Due to thermal load, yield strength can be exceeded, and permanent plastic strains start accumulating, resulting in possible unwanted shape changes and residual stresses. The present paper aims to develop a thermo-mechanical model for studying and eliminating undesirable phenomena before the products leave the cooling bed. The governing equations are solved for the two-dimensional slice in a strong form, and a modified version of the radial basis function generated finite difference (RBF-FD) method [1]. The initial bar geometry is obtained from the existing meshless hot-rolling simulation system [2]. The thermal and mechanical models are one-way coupled, i.e. the temperature solution represents a driving force for the stress and strain solution. The temperature field is obtained with explicit propagation in time. The convective and radiative heat fluxes on the boundary are updated at each time step using the ray tracing procedure to determine the radiative heat flux. The mechanical part is solved by considering the small strain elasto-plasticity, where the isotropic von Mises temperature-dependent hardening is employed. The global system of nonlinear equations of the mechanical part is solved by the Newton-Raphson method. The closest point projection method is used to solve the constitutive relations. A sensitivity study is performed on the influence of cooling intensity on a rectangular steel bar’s temperature, stress and strain field. We defined the most influential factors for defect formation. For the first time, a novel meshless RBF-FD method is successfully used for solving such a complex industrial problem. The model will be perspectively upgraded from the slice to the three-dimensional model to enable also bending. Ključne besede: cooling bed, steel bars, thermo-mechanics, strong form, meshless method Objavljeno v DiRROS: 21.03.2024; Ogledov: 307; Prenosov: 163
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1584. Long term outcome after combined modality treatment for anal cancerIrena Oblak, Primož Petrič, Franc Anderluh, Vaneja Velenik, Albert-Peter Fras, 2012, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Background. The aim of the retrospective study was to evaluate the effectiveness and toxicity of radiochemotherapy in patients with squamous cellcarcinoma of the anal canal treated at a single institution. Patients and methods. Between 1/2003 and 9/2010, 84 patients were treated with radical radiochemotherapy at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, Slovenia. The treatment consisted of 3-dimensional conformal external beam radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil and mytomycin C), followed by brachytherapy or external beam boost. The toxicity of therapy and its effectiveness were assessed. Results. The treatment was completed according tothe protocol in 79.8% of patients. The median follow-up time of 55 survivors was 53 months (range: 16-105 months). The 5-year locoregional control(LRC), disease-free survival (DFS), disease-specific survival (DSS), overall survival (OS) and colostomy-free survival (CFS) rates were 71%, 68%, 81%, 67% and 85%, respectively. No treatment-related mortality was observed. The most frequent acute side-effect of the treatment was radiodermatitis (grade 3-4 in 58.2% of patients). LENT-SOMA grade 3-4 late radiation side effects were observed in 15 (18%) patients. In patients with brachytherapy boost a trend of less late side effects was observed compared to patients with external beam boost (P=0.066). On multivariate analysis, complete clinicaldisease response was identified as an independent prognostic factor for LRC, DFS and DSS, the salvage surgery for LRC and DFS, whereas Hb below 120 g/l retained its independent prognostic value for OS. Conclusions. Radiochemotherapy provides an excellent disease control and the survival with preserving anal sphincter function in majority of patients. Surgical salvage with abdominoperineal resection for persistent or recurrent disease has curative potential. Objavljeno v DiRROS: 21.03.2024; Ogledov: 315; Prenosov: 124
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1586. The diffuse large B-cell lymphoma - where do we stand now in everyday clinical practiceBrigita Gregorič, Vesna Zadnik, Barbara Jezeršek Novaković, 2012, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Background. Due to superior results observed with the addition of rituximab into treatment of patients with the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL),the R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone) regimen and its variants became the standard initial treatment of these patients. However, the treatment recommendations are based on resultsof clinical studies while the conditions of routine treatment are far different from the ones in clinical studies. The aim of this retrospective study was therefore to compare the treatment results of routinelz treated patients with the DLBCL to results reported by some larger studies. Patients and methods. Two hundred and ninety five patients with the DLBCL were treated between 2004 and 2008 according to the then protocol with R-CHOP or R-CHOP-like regimens at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana. Treatment response was evaluated according to Chesonʼs criteria and the disease-free andoverall survival by means of Kaplan Meier survival curves. Results. Response to treatment in our evaluation diverged from the reported one predominately in the low risk group (international prognostic index [IPI] categorisation) and in the very good prognosis group (revised international prognostic index (R-IPI) categorisation). The determined complete response (CR) rates in other IPI and R-IPI groups were generally within expectations. Also in the disease-free survival the largest discrepancy occurred in the low-risk patient group (3 year disease-free survival rate of 75%) and in the very good prognosis group (4 year disease-free survival rate of 59%). In all other IPI risk groups, the disease-free survival at 3 zears (low intermediate risk 76%, high intermediate risk group 57%, and high risk group 53%) agreed verz well with the quoted ones. Slightly worse was the compliance of the 4 year disease-free survival rates (72% in the good prognosis and 51% in the poor prognosis group) with the results from the literature. The 3 year overall survival rates (low risk patients 87%, high intermediate risk 61% and high risk patients 51%) were somewhat worse than the reported ones in all IPI subgroups except in the low intermediate risk group (82%). On the other hand, the 4 year overall survival rates of the R-IPI categories (94% in the very good prognosis group, 80% in the good prognosis group, 56% in the poor prognosis group) were much better correlated with the data from the literature. Conclusions. In total, the treatment outcomes of routinely treatedpatient with the DLBCL at our institute are quite encouraging when compared to results of some larger studies. There are probably no dilemmas about how to treat young good prognosis patients and patients aged over 60 years at present. However, the 5 year overall survival rate of 76% for the young poor prognosis group is unsatisfying and needs to be improved. At present, quite a few studies are underway to clarify which of the regimens will perform best in this population. Ključne besede: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, R-CHOP, treatment result, routine treatments Objavljeno v DiRROS: 21.03.2024; Ogledov: 334; Prenosov: 110
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1587. Generalized cut method for computing Szeged-like polynomials with applications to polyphenyls and carbon nanoconesSimon Brezovnik, Niko Tratnik, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: Szeged, Padmakar-Ivan (PI), and Mostar indices are some of the most investigated distance-based Szeged-like topological indices. On the other hand, the polynomials related to these topological indices were also introduced, for example the Szeged polynomial, the edge- Szeged polynomial, the PI polynomial, the Mostar polynomial, etc. In this paper, we introduce a concept of the general Szeged-like polynomial for a connected strength-weighted graph. It turns out that this concept includes all the above mentioned polynomials and also infinitely many other graph polynomials. As the main result of the paper, we prove a cut method which enables us to efficiently calculate a Szeged-like polynomial by using the corresponding polynomials of strength-weighted quotient graphs obtained by a partition of the edge set that is coarser than ▫$\Theta^*$▫-partition. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first implementation of the famous cut method to graph polynomials. Finally, we show how the deduced cut method can be applied to calculate some Szeged-like polynomials and corresponding topological indices of para-polyphenyl chains and carbon nanocones. Ključne besede: graph theory, carbon nanocone, topological indices Objavljeno v DiRROS: 20.03.2024; Ogledov: 301; Prenosov: 108
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1588. Arc length preserving $G^2$ Hermite interpolation of circular arcsEmil Žagar, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: In this paper, the problem of interpolation of two points, two corresponding tangent directions and curvatures, and the arc length sampled from a circular arc (circular arc data) is considered. Planar Pythagorean–hodograph (PH) curves of degree seven are used since they possess enough free parameters and are capable of interpolating the arc length in an easy way. A general approach using the complex representation of PH curves is presented first and the strong dependence of the solution on the general data is demonstrated. For circular arc data, a complicated system of nonlinear equations is reduced to a numerical solution of only one algebraic equation of degree 6 and a detailed analysis of the existence of admissible solutions is provided. In the case of several solutions, some criteria for selecting the most appropriate one are described and an asymptotic analysis is given. Numerical examples are included which confirm theoretical results. Ključne besede: geometric interpolation, circular arc, arc length, Pythagorean-hodograph curve, solution selection Objavljeno v DiRROS: 20.03.2024; Ogledov: 299; Prenosov: 149
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1589. Orientable domination in product-like graphsSarah Anderson, Boštjan Brešar, Sandi Klavžar, Kirsti Kuenzel, Douglas F. Rall, 2023, izvirni znanstveni članek Povzetek: The orientable domination number, ${\rm DOM}(G)$, of a graph $G$ is the largest domination number over all orientations of $G$. In this paper, ${\rm DOM}$ is studied on different product graphs and related graph operations. The orientable domination number of arbitrary corona products is determined, while sharp lower and upper bounds are proved for Cartesian and lexicographic products. A result of Chartrand et al. from 1996 is extended by establishing the values of ${\rm DOM}(K_{n_1,n_2,n_3})$ for arbitrary positive integers $n_1,n_2$ and $n_3$. While considering the orientable domination number of lexicographic product graphs, we answer in the negative a question concerning domination and packing numbers in acyclic digraphs posed in [Domination in digraphs and their direct and Cartesian products, J. Graph Theory 99 (2022) 359-377]. Ključne besede: digraph, domination, orientable domination number, packing, graph product, corona graph Objavljeno v DiRROS: 20.03.2024; Ogledov: 346; Prenosov: 123
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