Incidence of extramedullary disease in patients with multiple myeloma in the era of novel therapy, and the activity of pomalidomide on extramedullary myeloma

We studied 174 consecutive patients with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma (MM) enrolled on a phase II clinical trial of pomalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone at Mayo Clinic. Extramedullary disease (EMD) was present at the time of trial entry in 7.5% (13 of 174 patients). The rate of EMD in the first 3 years following diagnosis of MM was 3%. The response of EMD to pomalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone included two complete and two partial responses among the 13 patients (response rate, 31%). Overall survival measured from trial entry was significantly shorter for patients with treatment-emergent EMD compared with those who did not have EMD, (median 16 months versus not reached, P=0.002).

Observation of high soft x-ray drive in large-scale hohlraums at the National Ignition Facility

The first soft x-ray radiation flux measurements from hohlraums using both a 96 and a 192 beam configuration at the National Ignition Facility have shown high x-ray conversion efficiencies of ∼85%-90%. These experiments employed gold vacuum hohlraums, 6.4 mm long and 3.55 mm in diameter, heated with laser energies between 150-635 kJ. The hohlraums reached radiation temperatures of up to 340 eV. These hohlraums for the first time reached coronal plasma conditions sufficient for two-electron processes and coronal heat conduction to be important for determining the radiation drive.

The first measurements of soft x-ray flux from ignition scale Hohlraums at the National Ignition Facility using DANTE (invited)

The first 96 and 192 beam vacuum Hohlraum target experiments have been fielded at the National Ignition Facility demonstrating radiation temperatures up to 340 eV and fluxes of 20 TW/sr as viewed by DANTE representing an ∼20 times flux increase over NOVA/Omega scale Hohlraums. The vacuum Hohlraums were irradiated with 2 ns square laser pulses with energies between 150 and 635 kJ. They produced nearly Planckian spectra with about 30±10% more flux than predicted by the preshot radiation hydrodynamic simulations. To validate these results, careful verification of all component calibrations, cable deconvolution, and software analysis routines has been conducted. In addition, a half Hohlraum experiment was conducted using a single 2 ns long axial quad with an irradiance of ∼2×10(15) W/cm(2) for comparison with NIF Early Light experiments completed in 2004. We have also completed a conversion efficiency test using a 128-beam nearly uniformly illuminated gold sphere with intensities kept low (at 1×10(14) W/cm(2) over 5 ns) to avoid sensitivity to modeling uncertainties for nonlocal heat conduction and nonlinear absorption mechanisms, to compare with similar intensity, 3 ns OMEGA sphere results. The 2004 and 2009 NIF half-Hohlraums agreed to 10% in flux, but more importantly, the 2006 OMEGA Au Sphere, the 2009 NIF Au sphere, and the calculated Au conversion efficiency agree to ±5% in flux, which is estimated to be the absolute calibration accuracy of the DANTEs. Hence we conclude that the 30±10% higher than expected radiation fluxes from the 96 and 192 beam vacuum Hohlraums are attributable to differences in physics of the larger Hohlraums.

A short 5' flanking region containing conserved sequences is required for silkworm alanine tRNA gene activity

Using partially deleted genes, we have identified an upstream control signal required for transcription of a Bombyx mori (silkworm) tRNA(2) (Ala) gene. The 5' boundary of this essential region lies between 34 and 11 nucleotides preceding the transcription initiation site. Sequences in the 5' half of the tRNA(2) (Ala) coding region are also important. Both regions contain oligonucleotides that are conserved among several Bombyx genes transcribed by RNA polymerase III, suggesting that these sequences may have a general control function.

Study of the de Almeida-Thouless line using power-law diluted one-dimensional Ising spin glasses

We test for the existence of a spin-glass phase transition, the de Almeida-Thouless line, in an externally applied (random) magnetic field by performing Monte Carlo simulations on a power-law diluted one-dimensional Ising spin glass for very large system sizes. We find that a de Almeida-Thouless line occurs only in the mean-field regime, which corresponds, for a short-range spin glass, to dimension d larger than 6.

CD200R surface expression as a marker of murine basophil activation

BACKGROUND

Basophils are increasingly recognized as playing important roles in the immune responses of allergic diseases and helminth infections. One of the main obstacles to studying basophils has been the lack of a simple and rapid assay to measure basophil activation in mice.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to develop an assay to measure murine basophil activation.

METHODS

Mouse blood cells were stained with various combinations of positive and negative markers for basophils--sorted and then assessed for basophil purity by May-Grünwald staining of cytospins. Once a flow cytometric strategy for staining basophils was determined, basophil surface expression of CD200R was assessed by multi-colour flow cytometry after stimulation of whole blood with anti-IgE, ionomycin or N-formyl MetLeuPhe (fMLP). Confirmation of basophil activation was assessed by concomitant staining of cells for intracellular IL-4. To test the ability of flow cytometric basophil CD200R measurements to assess for antigen-specific IgE-mediated activation of basophils, surface CD200R expression in response to in vitro stimulation with media alone, helminth antigen or ovalbumin was measured on basophils obtained from control mice, mice infected with helminths and mice sensitized to ovalbumin.

RESULTS

Using anti-IgE-FITC as a positive marker and a combination of anti-CD4-PERCP and anti-B220-PERCP as negative markers resulted in a well-separated basophil population. Additional staining with anti-CD200R-PE demonstrated that (1) basophil CD200R expression increases in response to anti-IgE, ionomycin and fMLP, (2) most CD200R-positive basophils also stain positively for IL-4 and (3) CD200R expression increases after antigen-specific activation of basophils in murine models of helminth disease and allergy.

CONCLUSION

We developed a multi-colour flow cytometry assay that measures murine basophil activation by utilizing CD200R as an activation marker. This assay is straightforward and rapid, taking approximately half a day for obtaining blood, in vitro stimulation and flow cytometric analysis.

Polymorphisms of the FAS and FAS ligand genes associated with risk of cutaneous malignant melanoma

The FAS/FAS ligand (FASLG) system has a key role in regulating cell growth and thus tumorigenesis. Functional promoter polymorphisms of the FAS and FASLG genes alter the transcriptional activities, but no published study has investigated the role of these polymorphisms in the etiology of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM). In a hospital-based, case-control study of 602 non-Hispanic white CMM patients and 603 cancer-free age- and sex-matched control subjects, we genotyped FAS-1377G>A, FAS-670A>G, FASLG-844T>C and FASLG-IVS2nt-124G>A polymorphisms and assessed their respective associations with CMM risk. We found that an increased risk of CMM was associated with the FAS-1377GG [adjusted odds ratio (OR)=1.32; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.00-1.75 for -1377GG] and -670AA (adjusted OR=1.28; 95% CI=1.00-1.65 for -670AA) genotypes compared to the -1377AA/AG and -670AG/GG genotypes, respectively; an increased risk of CMM was associated with the FASLG-IVS2nt-124AG+GG (OR=1.54; 95% CI=1.18-2.01) genotype compared to the AA genotype, but no evident risk was associated with any of the FAS-844T>C genotypes. In the combined analysis of these four variant alleles, we found that, compared to those having 0-3 variants, those having 4-8 variant alleles had a significantly increased risk for CMM (OR=1.38; 95% CI=1.10-1.73), and this risk was more pronounced in subgroups of old (>50 years) males, and those who were at low risk of sunlight-induced CMM, except for having fair skin colour, moles, dysplastic nevi and a family history of cancer. In conclusion, genetic variants in the FAS and FASLG genes may contribute to the etiology of CMM in the general population, particularly in those with a low risk of sunlight-induced CMM.