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Electrochemotherapy is a therapeutic option for the treatment of cutaneous and subcutaneous metastases from melanoma and other tumors. The procedure consists of the administration of anticancer drugs followed by locally applied electrical impulses to achieve an effect known as electroporation, which facilitates entry into the cytosol of drugs that cannot cross the cell membrane. The aim of this review is to evaluate the evidence that supports the use of electrochemotherapy as a therapeutic strategy in melanoma. We conducted a qualitative systematic review of the literature using advanced searches of bibliographic databases and full text reviews. Seven studies (3 systematic reviews and 4 cases series) were selected. The quality of the evidence was not good, but the coincidence of results for certain variables supports their consistency. Results of the meta-analyses favored electrochemotherapy over chemotherapy. Electrochemotherapy appears to be an effective procedure for the local treatment of malignant tumor nodules (evidence of intermediate or low quality). This inexpensive method is simple to apply, well tolerated, and achieves objective responses under certain circumstances. There is no evidence that electrochemotherapy alters the natural course of the disease and it should therefore be considered a palliative treatment. With an evidence level of 1- (minus), electrochemotherapy can be recommended for the palliative treatment of unresectable, locoregionally advanced melanoma (grade B recommendation).

Resumen La electroquimioterapia (EQT) es una modalidad de tratamiento de lesiones cutaneas y subcutaneas originadas por melanoma u otros tumores. El procedimiento consiste en la administracion de agentes antineoplasicos, seguido de impulsos electricos locales, para conseguir un efecto conocido como electroporacion, que permite la entrada al citosol de medicamentos que no difunden a traves de la membrana celular. El objetivo de esta revision es establecer la evidencia que sustenta la incorporacion de la EQT como estrategia terapeutica en el melanoma. Ademas, se ha llevado a cabo una revision sistematica de la literatura con sintesis cualitativa. Se ha realizado una busqueda cualificada de la literatura en bases de datos referenciales y a texto completo. Fueron seleccionados 7 estudios: 3 revisiones sistematicas y 4 series de casos. La calidad de la evidencia encontrada no es buena, pero la coincidencia de sus resultados en algunas las variables le da consistencia. Los metaanalisis muestran resultados a favor de la EQT frente a la quimioterapia. La EQT parece un procedimiento efectivo en el tratamiento local de nodulos tumorales malignos (nivel medio o bajo de calidad de la evidencia). Es un tratamiento facil de administrar, economico y bien tolerado con el que se consigue respuesta objetiva en circunstancias determinadas. No hay evidencia de que pueda afectar el curso natural de la enfermedad, por lo que debe considerarse un tratamiento paliativo. Con un nivel de la evidencia 1– (1 menos), puede recomendarse la incorporacion de la EQT para el tratamiento paliativo del melanoma locorregionalmente avanzado irresecable (fuerza de la recomendacion: B).

In this paper we present two techniques to select the order of the faults to be dealt by an ATPG system for combinational circuits. The first method is based on the determination of a set of faults on specific lines for which test generation with a classical “search and backtrack”. ATPG algorithm is not necessary. With a procedure equivalent to a line justification over a fanout free region, test vectors for the faults on these lines can be easily generated. This method also determines if those faults are undetectable or hard to detect before test generation is performed. The second one is an application of the well known concept of dominancy. Both methodologies lead to CPU time speed-up on a classical ATPG system. Benchmarks for these two approaches are also included.

Cost and quality are crucial at any project development. These parameters are strongly interrelated and must be taken into account from the startting phases, of the development. However, in general, classical test tools we not flexible with these aspects. It is, they do not allow the designer to reduce test costs at the expense of a minimum loss in fault coverage. In this paper, the experience of Telefonica I+D concerning the mariagexnent of twt cost and quality factors will be praerrted. Emphasis will be applied to show the main problems that have appeared to generate the test of two high complexity telecommunication ASICS.

The structure of the distributed computing ATPG system DPLATON is presented, with special emphasis on the distribution strategy basis and the communication structures implemented. The proposed system is based on a dynamic fault list partition criterion. The standard remote procedure call (RPC) and external data representation (XDR) mechanisms have been adapted to construct an efficient dynamic distributed implementation. Reduced test sets and important CPU time speedup factors are reported. >

This paper presents a new approach to a distributed ATPG system for large combinational circuits. Although several ATPG parallel implementations have been developed, many of them rely on the use of very specialized and expensive hardware. However, the proposed implementation is built over an heterogeneous network of workstations, which is normally available at all design labs. The proposed parallelization scheme is based on an integrated random and deterministic test vector generation/fault simulation environment, combined with an efficient fault list partitioning strategy and a dynamic communication structure. Reduced numbers of test vectors and significant speed-up factors are reported. >