Long-term outcome of allogeneic human leukocyte antigen-matched sibling-donor peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in leukaemia patients

Between 1993 and July 2008, a total of 354 leukaemic patients received either allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) [n = 180] or peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) [n = 174] from human leukocyte antigen-matched sibling donors. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis consisted of cyclosporin A and methotrexate. When comparing with BMT group, patients in the PBSCT group received much higher nucleated cells and CD34+ cells, and had much faster recovery of the neutrophil and platelet counts. The probability of developing acute GVHD was slightly higher in PBSCT patients (P = 0.02). The probability of chronic GVHD (cGVHD) in PBSCT was much higher in PBSCT (70 +/- 5.4%, extensive 48 +/- 6.5%) than in BMT (25 +/- 4.7%, extensive 10 +/- 3.4%; P < 0.001). Chronic GVHD was associated with long-term impairment of life quality and decreased quality-adjusted survival. In standard-risk leukaemia, use of PBSCT was associated with higher cGVHD, transplant-related mortality and a trend for decreased overall survival. The results suggest that allogeneic PBSCT is associated with high incidence of cGVHD in Chinese patients and its long-term risk and benefit remains to be defined in early stage of leukaemia.

Bulk shear-mode contribution to thermally generated capillary waves on a room-temperature ionic-liquid surface

In the present work, we show that the autocorrelation function of the capillary-wave displacement is expressed by the sum of the ordinary oscillator and the bulk shear-mode terms. The former is expressed by a simple damped oscillator form or a sum of exponentially damping functions depending on the extent of damping. The latter is also written by superposition of exponentially damping modes, and an analytically exact formulation is obtained. We performed surface dynamic light-scattering experiment for the surface of an ionic liquid, 1-butyl- 3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide, and compared the experimental autocorrelation function with the theoretical one. We observed for the first time the bulk shear-mode contribution, and confirmed that the experimental data is well explained by the theoretical autocorrelation function.

Cold-target recoil-ion momentum spectroscopy for diagnostics of high harmonics of the extreme-ultraviolet free-electron laser light source at SPring-8

We have developed a cold-target recoil-ion momentum spectroscopy apparatus dedicated to the experiments using the extreme-ultraviolet light pulses at the free-electron laser facility, SPring-8 Compact SASE Source test accelerator, in Japan and used it to measure spatial distributions of fundamental, second, and third harmonics at the end station.

Catastrophic gastrointestinal manifestations of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder is a rare complication after bone marrow transplantation and frequently involves gastrointestinal tract, but the endoscopic characteristics and catastrophic clinical manifestations in adults have not been discussed in detail. We report a 35-year-old allogeneic bone marrow transplantation recipient who presented with recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding. Ulcerative nodular lesions were noted in stomach, duodenum and ileum on endoscopy but were not biopsied because of thrombocytopenia. Obstruction and perforation of small intestine occurred 5 months after bone marrow transplantation and was managed with surgery. Histopathology revealed the diagnosis of Epstein-Barr virus related post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. Rituximab was given after operation but repeated intestinal perforation supervened and resulted in mortality. The characteristic endoscopic and radiographic features are presented. Recognition of these characteristic endoscopic and radiographic findings with histological confirmation is crucial in making early diagnosis, and prompt treatment may prevent gastrointestinal complications and mortality.

Acute myeloid leukemia bearing t(7;11)(p15;p15) is a distinct cytogenetic entity with poor outcome and a distinct mutation profile: comparative analysis of 493 adult patients

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with t(7;11)(p15;p15), which results in a NUP98-HOXA9 fusion, is a distinct entity, but this subtype has not been characterized in detail. In a comprehensive study comparing 11 such patients with another 482 adult patients, we found that those with t(7;11) were younger (P=0.0076) and female (P=0.0111), with almost all having the M2-subtype of AML (P<0.0001). Even when those with low-risk karyotypes were excluded, patients with t(7;11) had poorer overall survival than the other AML group (median 13.5 and 20 months, respectively, P=0.045) and poorer relapse-free survival (median 6 and 12 months, respectively, P=0.003). The NUP98-HOXA9 fusion was strongly associated with KRAS and WT1 mutations (P=0.015 and P=0.0018, respectively). We characterized four varieties of this fusion, among which NUP98 exon 12/HOXA9 exon 1b was present in all 11 patients. We developed a highly sensitive and specific assay to quantify the abundance of leukemic cells, and found that the fusion remained detectable in morphological complete remission, even after allogeneic stem cell transplantation, suggesting that this disease was highly refractory to very intensive treatment. AML with NUP98-HOXA9 fusion therefore appears to have a distinct clinical and biological profile, and should be regarded as a poor prognostic group.

Dispersion relation of capillary waves on ionic liquids: observation of the fast overdamped mode

We measured the capillary wave spectra on the surface of ionic liquids using dynamic light scattering techniques. Empirical dispersion relations deduced from the time domain analysis clearly reveal the transition from oscillating to overdamped behavior with changing temperature and the wave vector. In particular, not only slow but also fast modes were observed in the overdamped regime. The empirical dispersion relations coincide with the theoretical dispersion relations deduced from the linearized Navier-Stokes equation when experimentally determined density, viscosity, and surface tension are assigned to the latter.

Inhibition of the growth of human hepatoma cell line bothin vitro andin vivo by transducing CKI genep21 ( WAF-1 ) with GE7 targeting gene delivery system

The EGF receptor-mediated targeting gene delivery system GE7 was used to transduce exogenous genepCEP-p21 ( WAF-1 ) into human hepatocellular carcinoma cell bothin vitro andin vivo. Afterin vitro transduction of the exogenous gene, the growth of the cell lines SMMC-7721 and BEL-7402 was significantly inhibited compared with the control. On day 8 the inhibition rates of the above cell lines reached 56.0% and 66.7%, respectively. Thein vivo experiment showed that the growth of human hepatoma transplanted in nude mice injected with GE7 gene delivery system subcutaneously once a week for 3 weeks was remarkably inhibited compared with that of untransfected control. The average tumor weight of the experiment group was (0.083 +/-0.043) g, while that of the control group was (0.281 +/-0.173) g. The difference is significant (P<0.05). It was indicated that GE7 gene delivery system could efficiently transduce exogenous genepCEP-p21 ( WAF-1 ) into hepatoma cell with high EGF receptor expression, and inhibit the cell growth with high efficacy bothin vivo andin vitro.

Optically guided stereotactic radiotherapy for lacrimal sac tumors: a report on two cases

Adjuvant radiation treatment is often offered for lacrimal sac tumors. However, due to the adjacent critical structures, conventional radiation technique may result in severe side effects. We have treated two patients with lacrimal sac tumors using optically guided stereotactic radiotherapy. One patient with lacrimal sac melanoma was treated with optical-guidance intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). The other with mixed transitional and squamous cell carcinoma was treated with optical-guidance 3-D conformal radiation. Dose volume analysis revealed excellent target coverage and sparing of critical structures. Both patients tolerated the treatment well with no significant acute or late side effects. One patient died of metastatic melanoma 30 months after radiation; another died of coexisting disease 41 months after radiation. Both had no clinical evidence of local recurrence at the time of death. Our report show that optically guided stereotactic radiotherapy is well tolerated. It offers excellent tumor coverage and sparing of critical structures. It can be used for tumors adjacent to radiation sensitive critical structures such as skull base tumors.