Upgrading the Sound on Your Home Computer

Filed under: Universe Of Hardware — admin at 11:20 pm on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Computers these days are becoming more than just an avenue to surf the web and do word processing. They are becoming multimedia stations that allow us to watch movies and listen to the latest music. Especially with new solutions such as renting DVD’s online and pay per download music downloading programs. This is why having good sound on your computer is important for the best possible multimedia experience.

There are two ways you can increase the quality of sound coming from your computer. I will discuss both.

The first would be to upgrade, or get a new, sound card for your computer. The quality of the sound signal being sent from your computer is determined by the sound card. Also the amount of channels that are being sent, and the number of connectivity options you have. This is why having a good quality sound card is important. There are several cards on the market that can deliver a great listening experience.

The second way to enhance your sound quality would be to get a quality set of speakers. There are an infinite number of options you have in this regards. You can get a standard 2 speaker system, a 2.1 speaker system (2 speakers and a subwoofer), a 4.1 system and the ultimated 5.1 system. The most enhancing system would be the 5.1 system.

The 5.1 system consists of 5 speakers and a subwoofer. The subwoofer will deliver the bass and the low frequency sounds. The other speakers would be positioned strategically around the room to give the best array of sounds.

Computers today are not the simple machines they were years ago. They have the capabilities to be a lot more. With this in mind utilizing these capabilities will be very cost effective. Now you do not need to buy a stereo system and a television. A computer can fulfill both these duties.

For more great technology related articles and reviews please visit the links below
http://www.technologyslice.com/Articles.htm
http://www.technologyslice.com/Reviews.htm
http://www.technologyslice.com

Three Secrets To Improving Your Decision Making

Filed under: World Of Management — admin at 10:21 pm on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

There are three ways to improve your life and to succeed through better decision making:

(1) Make decisions fast.

(2) Change decisions slowly.

(3) Let your decisions guide you to victory.

I have made most of my major decisions in life super-quickly, and by and large, I’m very pleased with them.

For example, I saw a house that I thought was just perfect for me. It had Spanish features, occupied a corner lot in the foothills, and was a little bit off the beaten path.

After seeing it the first time I decided when it comes onto the market, I’m buying it; no matter how much it costs!

Sure enough, one afternoon when I was driving, I noticed a for sale sign in front. I knew the realtor, and she worked closely with me, and one way or another I got it.

Yes, I walked through the place, but so quickly, most people would be amazed. I just knew it was for me, and it made me very happy through the years.

When the time came, I applied to only one law school; it was my first and only choice. As far as I was concerned, I was going there, and I did.

The minute I walked into the martial arts dojo, I knew my goal was to reach Black Belt.

It took eight years to earn, and many sacrifices, and I became only the 20th person to reach 1st Degree Black Belt in 32 years that the dojo has been training people.

Once you have decided, you have committed, and when this occurs, you’re already on your way to victory.

So, make decisions quickly, change them slowly, and let them guide you to victory!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone®, You Can Sell Anything By Telephone! and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

What is the Truth about Medical Malpractice Rates?

Filed under: Legal Infos — admin at 6:58 pm on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

No doubt, in this political season, you have heard of the medical malpractice “reform” dispute.
If you are a doctor or related to someone in medicine, your reflexes tell you that it must be necessary.

If you are a patient who never suffered an injury through inadequate care, your reflexes might also lead you to worry about the availability of medical care and its cost. Your inclination may be to fall in line with those pushing for reform with dramatic accusations. The problem is, those accusations are unsupported by fact and are made with the recognition that whether you speak the truth or not, speak it frequently enough and, like mud, it will stick.

If you are a patient who has been injured through substandard care, your instincts and experience lead you to question why the medical profession seeks to insulate from responsibility those few individuals who cause injuries by their medical carelessness, when individuals in other professions are responsible when they do something wrong that causes injury. Responsibility to someone you have harmed through carelessness is a right that preexists the Constitution.

A recent editorial by the Editors of the Trenton Times newspaper echoes what many attorneys have known for quite some time: “… information just released by order of a federal judge showing that confidential settlements, jury awards and other payouts made by insurers on behalf of physicians have been declining since 2001, even as insurance premiums soared … It seems clear by now, however, that other factors, possibly including insurance industry practices, are helping cause those high premiums.” (The Times, Thursday, June 10, 2004, page A18)

Those who push for this reform have their own agenda that is blind to the plight of the injured and the majority of doctors.
The problem is that we have all been made victims of the malpractice dispute and the lines that have been drawn. As usual, those who press for malpractice reform vilify attorneys. Arguments are offered about the impact of verdicts on the availability of medical care and its cost. The proven reality is that the problem does not lie with the performance of the great majority of doctors, nor does it lie with any lack of merit in the overwhelming majority of malpractice claims that are properly brought and supported.

As so often happens, the battle has been launched by those who want change based upon the impact on their own profit, rather than on merit. It is the insurance industry and those it supports in politics who push for more change. The weapons they use involve select, distorted statistics.

The insurance industry, both in the managed care and liability sectors, has put the doctors in a vise, squeezed by the difficulty in receiving fair fees for care provided and pressed by rising premiums or the threat of unavailable insurance. This combination forces doctors into an adversarial position with their patients and with the legal system.

This is what the insurance industry has done, pitting patient against doctor and doctor against the lawyer. One can understand the doctors being upset at the predicament in which they have been placed. The quarrel is only with whom they blame for that predicament and with the information they have been supplied by an industry that has far too much control over their medical conduct and their income.

The problem is that the rancor created between the legal and medical communities is fueled by this misinformation flowing from the real “culprit”, the insurance industry, to the physicians.

A missed cancer diagnoses is not always malpractice. But sometimes it is. A bad result from medical treatment is not always malpractice. But sometimes it is.

The studies and facts are clear and available. The problem lies not in the verdicts. It lies not with the vast majority of well-founded cases that properly seek redress through use of one of the world’s finest legal systems. And it lies not with the vast number of good doctors, who consistently practice good medicine. It lies with the insurance industry that refuses to police itself in terms of its business practices and its dealings with those relatively few doctors that repeatedly fail to practice within the standards of their own profession.

That industry arms itself (and the doctors it controls through its ability to dictate both income and insurance costs) with distortion and the easy, historic dislike of lawyers and the legal system that is so easy to cultivate. That is, until access to the courts and attorneys are needed.

Insurance corporations have their attorneys with untrammeled access to the courts and virtually limitless resources to advance their own interests. It is patients’ access to the courts for protection of their rights that is being attacked and minimized. Since it is the patient’s lawyer who must advance that right, it is the patient’s lawyer and the jury system that the insurance industry seeks to whittle away. Then the insurance industry and its political spokespersons can advance their interests virtually unopposed without the threat of meaningful financial responsibility for negligently caused injury.

It is the irony of the situation that the victims of malpractice – the vast majority of doctors and the injured patients – really do have common interest with lawyers in protecting the patient. The villain, the irritant, or whatever other word fits, is the big business of insurance and those in government who either misunderstand the situation or seek to protect their own interests by stepping on those who need protection.

The danger is in the successful creation of a misguided debate on the wrong issues – so that the patients, the patients’ attorneys, and most of the doctors are compelled to avoid, or at least delay, focusing on the conduct of the insurance industry that is a major cause of its own problems and, by extension, the problems of the medical profession and patients they are supposed to protects.

Andrew M. Rockman, Esq. chairs the Medical & Professional Malpractice Department at the Princeton-based law firm of Pellettieri, Rabstein & Altman and has earned an “AV” rating by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. Reach Mr. Rockman at 609-520-0900 or visit http://www.pralaw.com

Options for setting up (building) an intranet or extranet

Filed under: Tech Life — admin at 3:40 pm on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Setting up an intranet or extranet can be as
easy as purchasing access through an application service
provider (ASP), purchasing and installing third-party software,
or building an extranet or intranet internally.

Here is a quick summary of the advantages and disadvantages of
each approach:

1. Building it yourself Advantages: Complete
control of user interface design; ability to customize level of
functionality for each client; integration into internal
systems, and direct access to user activity.

Disadvantages: High up-front development cost; requires
staff expertise in the development of intranets and extranets,
commitment of internal staff for 6 months to a year for
planning, execution, review and implementation; and an ongoing
commitment of internal staff for internal and client support,
hosting, maintenance and upgrades.

2. Purchasing/installing third-party software
Advantages: Proven track-record of packaged solution;
ability to choose functions and to customize user interface,
more rapid implementation compared to building it yourself.

Disadvantages: High up-front purchase cost; commitment of
internal staff for customization and implementation; on-going
commitment of internal staff for internal and client support,
hosting, maintenance and upgrades; and extensive internal and
client training.

3. Using a Service Provider (ASP) Advantages:
Proven track-record, often with expertise in the application of
intranets and extranets in particular industries; low cost of
entry and predictable cost over time; virtually immediate
implementation; no commitment of internal staff for internal and
client support, hosting, or maintenance; and upgrades at no cost
by extranet experts, and savings on internal server use.

Disadvantages: Less freedom in user interface design, and
fixed functionality.

In the final analysis… The approach you choose depends
on how you work, the technical and financial resources at your
disposal, and how rapidly you need to move forward.

Does Your Service Sell?

Filed under: Hall Of Sales — admin at 1:01 pm on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Smart business owners know that providing great service to their patrons is an essential ingredient to their overall success. They also recognize that without a certain level of revenue they will not stay in business. Unfortunately, many people think that selling and service are two distinct activities and mutually exclusive. So, where does the service part of the job end and where does selling begin in a retail store?

I believe that service and selling work hand-in-hand to create the entire experience for a customer. According to Webster’s dictionary, one definition of service is “to be ready to help or be useful”.

You can actually improve your service by applying a few customer-focused selling techniques because effective selling is an integral component of delivering great service. It’s all in the approach you use.

First of all, recognize that many consumers anticipate sub-standard service from businesses. While this may appear discouraging, it actually gives you an excellent opportunity to distinguish yourself from many of your competitors. Here’s a personal example;

I recently ventured into a medium-priced fashion retail store. I was greeted immediately by the two employees who were working, and as I browsed through the store, one of them approached me to make sure I was finding what I was looking for. At no time did she make me feel that I HAD to buy, she simply commented on some of the items I was considering. I eventually ended up spending several hundred dollars because of the attention I received in the store.

Personalized service is also a form of selling. An employee who shows interest in her customers is more likely to sell more and have a higher average dollar per transaction than her coworker who simply processes a customer’s order. Creating a connection with people creates trust.

My wife and I once traveled to New Orleans for a one-week vacation and decided to dine at a restaurant owned by a well-known chef. During our conversation, the server learned that we were on holidays and made us feel extremely welcome. When the Chef arrived that evening she made arrangements for us to meet him and prompted me to buy one of his cookbooks so he could sign it. The service we received that night sold us on returning again before we left New Orleans. Although we had dozens of restaurants to choose from in the vicinity, we decided to go back to this one because we knew the service would be great. Now, many years later, my wife and I still talk about that restaurant and our experience.

There are a few local retail stores I visit regularly because they work at creating that connection with their customers. They make me feel important which prompts me to return. Show interest in your customers. Strike up a conversation. Talk to them. Although it sounds simple, my experience has taught me that most retailers do not engage their customer and create a personalized experience.

Suggestive selling is not pushy. I remember shopping for cuff links a while back. I had selected a pair in a certain men’s fashion store and was wandering around while I waited for my wife. At one point, I stopped in front of a mannequin that displayed a particularly unique tie. As I gazed at the tie the salesperson said, “I can get one for you if you’d like.” His casual and comfortable approach made it easy for me to say “yes”. He then asked, “Would you like a suit to go with that tie?” I laughed and told him that I had enough suits in my wardrobe. He nodded and said, “We have some new raincoats that will protect your suits. Would you be interested in seeing them?”

Even though it was evident he was trying to increase the size of the sale, the way he positioned it indicated that he was actually trying to help me. Plus, his casual, yet professional and polite approach encouraged me to buy more than I had originally intended.

In another situation in a completely different store, the sales person took the initiative to suggest a few additional items that complemented the ones I was considering purchasing. As a result, I ended up buying a few more items that I had budgeted for.

Professional selling is about helping people make educated buying decisions. Professional service is about creating a memorable experience for your customers. Combine the two and you can quickly entice people to return while increasing the amount they spend each time they frequent your business.

© 2006 Kelley Robertson, all rights reserved.

Kelley Robertson, President of the Robertson Training Group, works with businesses to help them increase their sales & profitability and motivate their employees. Receive a FREE copy of “100 Ways to Increase Your Sales” by subscribing to his free newsletter available at http://www.RobertsonTrainingGroup.com Kelley speaks regularly at conferences, sales meetings, and corporate functions. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or Kelley@RobertsonTrainingGroup.com

Quality Futon Covers

Filed under: Home Improvement Stuff — admin at 8:34 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Quality Futon Covers

Futons are popular with young people setting up their first
homes, since they use the futons as spare beds, in case a family
member or friend from out of town stops by. Unlike the Japanese
futon, which is easily rolled up and put away out of sight, the
US futon forms a part of the furniture in the home or apartment.
If you purchase a futon, you need to purchase a futon cover that
matches the upholstery in your apartment.

Here’s where we, at Futon Covers USA, can help you out. We stock
quality futon covers, in colorful abstracts, animal, Asian, and
floral prints, retro designs, and stripes and plaids. We also
stock futon covers in leather, suede, and solids. Our futon
covers come in a wide variety of sizes–from full-size,
queen-size, and twin-size to chair-size, loveseat-size, and
ottoman-size. Full-size futons are 54 inches wide and 74 inches
long, queen-size futons are 60 inches wide and 80 inches long,
whereas twin-size futons are 39 inches wide and 75 inches long.
Chair-size futons are 28 inches wide and 54 inches long, whereas
ottoman-size futons are 28 inches wide and 21 inches long.
Loveseat-size futons are square in shape, being 54 inches wide
and long. Our loveseat-ottoman-size futon cover fits a futon
that is 54 inches wide and 21 inches long. Our futon covers fit
futons that are 6 inches to 10 inches in thickness.

Because our futon covers are made by US-based manufacturers, we
can give you the best possible price. In fact, we guarantee that
our quality futon covers are the most reasonably priced on the
Web. We give you a one-year guarantee on our products and ship
futon covers for free within the continental US. When you place
an order with us, you will receive the goods within 14 days.

If you receive a defective futon cover from us, we will replace
it free of charge. If you want to return a non-defective futon
cover, you should do so within 14 days of receiving it to
recover the purchase price. In this case, you need to pay the
shipping charges. You cannot return the futon cover when the 14
days are up. If you return a used or damaged futon cover, we
will send it back to you with no refund or exchange. When you
return a futon cover to us, please provide your name, address,
telephone and fax numbers, the purchase invoice number, and the
reason why you are returning the futon cover.

In case you are looking for a lowest priced futon covers, in a
variety of styles and dimensions, check out Futon Cover USA
today.

Swim with Dolphins in Florida, Wild Dolphin Swims/Encounters, and Controlled Dolphin Swims/Wades

Filed under: Recreation Infos — admin at 7:42 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Dolphins hold a very special place in peoples hearts and most people find swimming with a dolphin a very moving experience and cannot wait to do it again, despite the price. Florida offers many opportunities to swim with dolphins no matter where you are staying.

If you are staying in Central Florida near Orlando then you can simply head over to SeaWorld and watch the dolphin shows or visit the next door Discovery Cove where you can spend 30 minutes in the water in a controlled environment with an Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin. Even if you are staying in Orlando and do not have a car, you can take a two day bus trip to the Florida Keys including a dolphin swim.

Alternatively you can head for the coast to one of a number of companies offering dolphin swims and dolphin encounters. Note that some companies offer therapeutic programs for special needs children.

Wild dolphin swim/encounter

It is illegal to harass, feed, chase or touch marine mammals in the wild and so a wild encounter is a different kind of experience to the controlled encounters that take part in marine parks. All reputable companies will take time to teach the participants the correct way to deal with wild dolphins in their environment.

Typically you are taken out by boat into the open ocean to meet wild dolphins in their natural habitat. Once the dolphins are found, you can either just watch them from the boat or go over the side and snorkel with them; you must be a confident swimmer to swim in the sea like this.

Obviously there is no guarantee that the weather will be suitable, that you will meet any dolphins or that they will want to spend time with you but if you want to experience as natural an encounter as possible then this is the sort of trip for you. It is worth checking if the company offers any form of ‘no show’ guarantee if no dolphins are found.

As well as a one day trip, some companies also offer extended programmes/workshops of anything from 2 days to 7 days if you want to spend more time with the dolphins.

Special Tip

Before making your visit check with the operator exactly what gear you need to provide yourself and what is supplied or can be hired; for example, snorkel, fins, towels etc.

Controlled dolphin swim/wade

If you do not want to go out into the ocean, then you can still either swim with a dolphin or even wade with a dolphin in captivity.

There are really two kinds of controlled swim, the natural swim where you typically free swim using a snorkel with captive dolphins and the structured swim where you are one on one with a trainer (much like the swim with dolphins experience at Discovery Cove, Orlando).

Generally you need to be a good swimmer, comfortable in water 10-15 feet (3-5 metres) deep without using any flotation device. If you do not like getting out of your depth then some companies offer a wade with a dolphin programme where you can still cuddle and touch a dolphin whilst standing in shallow water (up to your waist) or at places like Discovery Cove you can wear a flotation device for the actual swim.

Copyright 2005(c) Stephen Downs, the Florida Review and Travel Guide.

This article can be reprinted freely online, as long as the entire article and this resource box (with a live link) are included and the article is not changed in any way (apart from grammatical corrections).

Stephen Downs is the publisher of the Florida Review and Travel Guide (found at http://www.floridareview.co.uk/) which provides independent advice, tips and information for anyone planning a vacation in Florida. Let the Florida Review and Travel Guide help you to make it a holiday to remember.

Subscribe to the free monthly newsletter by signing up at http://www.floridareview.co.uk/news/newsletter.asp and get news and updates every month on new attractions, weather forecasts, events and guide book and hotel reviews.

How Mortgages Work in the Primary and Secondary Market

Filed under: Real Estate + More — admin at 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

There are many institutions that loan money to home buyers. Commercial banks, private lenders, credit unions, mortgage bank companies, insurance companies and pension funds. It can get confusing as things are always changing in the mortgage industry.

Policies, interest rates, mortgage programs, where the funds come from, and investors are all changing and can affect where, from who, and the type of mortgage you will get to purchase the property you have chosen. Certain entities may offer you better rates depending on your credit history, debt, income, and expenses. It is a good idea to shop many different resources so you can get the best deal possible.

The mortgage market is comprised of a primary and secondary market. These two markets work together to give money to a borrower and offer returns on investments to investors.

The primary market occurs on the retail end, meaning a mortgage lender sells directly to the consumer. You may use the services of a broker or loan officer in order to have this transaction run smoothly. This is the place where mortgages are originated and the money is given directly to the borrower. In the primary market, mortgage lenders make there money on processing fees. There are often many fees associated with getting a mortgage that the buyer is responsible for.

Because there can be many fees as charged by the mortgage lender, it is important to know exactly where your money is being spent. You should ask for an itemized report for every fee. Unfortunately there dishonest mortgage lenders and they will make up charges and fees that really don’t have any effort or actual action behind them. This is how some borrowers can get scammed, and often they may not even know it!

The secondary market manages mortgages that have already been originated in the primary market. What occurs here is the mortgage lenders package many mortgages together and sell the notes to investors. Mortgage lenders replenish their cash reserves that can be used towards the origination of more mortgages. The investors make money off of the interest that is charged on the mortgages.

There are both private and public investors that buy these notes. Public investors include Fannie Mae, Ginnie Mae and Fannie Mac that are all government supported. Private investors may include banks, thrift institutions and other individual private investors.

The mortgage lender really has a circular pattern, originating loans, selling them to investors and then using that money from the sales to issue more loans.

Many times, you do not even know that your mortgage is going to be sold into the secondary market. However, the mortgage lender should always notify you of this transaction if the mortgage is sold to someone else. If you have questions about this process, you can ask your mortgage lender as to what his or her process is.

So when you purchase a mortgage, then you are working in the primary market. The secondary market is for mortgages that have already been originated by the mortgage lender and they are being bought and sold as investments for either private or public investors. This mortgage process keeps money flowing through the industry and makes more money available to the public to continue property.

John R Blakefield is a mortgage and real estate specialist. For more information, articles, news, tools and valuable resources on home mortgages or investment loans, refinancing, debt solutions, visit this site: http://www.scourtheweb.com/mortgage/

What You Should Know About Acne

Filed under: Looking Good — admin at 6:57 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

There are many different types of acne and with that come many theories, myths, and treatments. The exact cause of acne remains a mystery. Why some pores are affected by acne and others aren’t, is not known. Each case of acne is as complex as the individual battling it and a treatment that works on one person’s acne may not work on yours.

Acne obviously has physical effects but it can also have psychological effects, especially in teens. Most teenagers already feel awkward and different, add acne to the equation and they are identifiably different. Most teenagers with acne tend to have lower self esteem, than their peers with clear skin, and are not involved in as many activities.

Adult acne is on the rise and can also be very difficult to deal with. Due to the changes that our skin goes through as we mature, scarring is often worse in adults with acne than in teens with acne. Adults with acne are also less likely than teens to seek treatment for their acne, leaving them to suffer alone.

Whether you are an adult with acne or a teenager with acne, your acne probably falls into one of a two main categories, inflammatory acne or non-inflammatory acne. If you have blackheads or whiteheads, or both, then you have non-inflammatory acne. Inflammatory acne can be a little harder to identify. Inflammatory acne is characterized by papules, pustules, and in more serious cases, nodules or cysts.

Once you have determined which category your acne falls into, you can explore the treatment options for your acne. Keep in mind that even if you have tried several different acne treatments to no avail, there is always something else to try for your acne. There are new acne treatments coming up left and right and the next new acne treatment might be the one that goes directly to work attacking your acne and leaving you with the clear skin you’ve longed for.

Amber Lowery is an online publisher and is responsible for maintaining a large network of health and beauty related sites. For more information on Acne, visit: http://www.acnehelp.info - the Acne Resource Portal. Comparisions of Acne treatments can be found here: http://www.acne-cure.us

Study Shows Improvement in Pleural Mesothelioma Patients Treated with Cisplatin Plus Raltitrexed

Filed under: Internet MedicalResources — admin at 6:48 am on Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Pleural mesothelioma patients treated with both cisplatin and raltitrexed may survive longer than patients who receive cisplatin alone, according to a recent study conducted in Europe and Canada (J Clin Oncol. 2005 Oct 1; 23(28): 6881–9). Raltitrexed (Tomudex) works by interfering with the ability of tumor cells to multiply and make deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. Cisplatin is a traditional chemotherapy drug.

Two hundred fifty pleural mesothelioma patients took part in a clinical trial to determine the safety and effectiveness of raltitrexed. One hundred twenty–four patients took cisplatin and the rest took cisplatin plus raltitrexed. Most were men with an average age of 58 who had not received other chemotherapy treatments.

The raltitrexed study was a “phase III” clinical trial, as defined by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer. A phase III trial compares a new cancer treatment with a standard treatment, and requires a large number of participants. It follows a phase II clinical trial, which is concerned with the safety of a new treatment and how to administer it, and a basic phase I clinical trial, which tests the drug’s effectiveness on a small number of patients.

Survival Increased in Patients Treated with Raltitrexed
The researchers looked at survival, progression of pleural mesothelioma, safety, tumor response rates, and the patient’s quality of life. They found the following:

» Forty–six percent of pleural mesothelioma patients in the cisplatin/raltitrexed group survived at least one year, compared to 40% of those in the cisplatin group.

» The average survival was 11.4 months for patients in the cisplatin/raltitrexed group, but only 8.8 months for patients in the cisplatin group.

» Twenty–four percent of patients treated with cisplatin/raltitrexed had a positive response against pleural mesothelioma compared to 14% of patients treated with cisplatin.

» The overall quality of life was about the same in the cisplatin group as compared to the cisplatin/raltitrexed group.

A small number of patients in both the cisplatin and cisplatin/raltitrexed groups developed low white blood cell counts (neutropenia). Other side effects included fatigue, nausea, and vomiting, which were more common in the combined drug group.

Raltitrexed Is Related to the Pleural Mesothelioma Drug Alimta®
Raltitrexed is in the class of chemotherapy drugs called antifolates. It blocks the production of thymidylate synthase, which in turn decreases the mesothelioma cell’s ability to make DNA, the basic genetic material involved in cell reproduction. It is registered in Europe for the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer.

Raltitrexed is closely related to pemetrexed (Alimta®), another antifolate. Currently, pemetrexed/cisplatin is the only chemotherapy drug combination that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved to treat pleural mesothelioma.

The authors of the raltitrexed study concluded that combining cisplatin with an antifolate such as raltitrexed or pemetrexed is more helpful in treating pleural mesothelioma than using cisplatin alone. They also felt that cisplatin plus raltitrexed did not have a harmful effect on the patient’s quality of life.

More information: http://www.mesothelioma-info-asbestos.com/

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