Impact of prior treatment on patients with relapsed multiple myeloma treated with carfilzomib and dexamethasone vs bortezomib and dexamethasone in the phase 3 ENDEAVOR study

The randomized phase 3 ENDEAVOR study (N=929) compared carfilzomib and dexamethasone (Kd) with bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd) in relapsed multiple myeloma (RMM). We performed a subgroup analysis from ENDEAVOR in patients categorized by number of prior lines of therapy or by prior treatment. Median progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with one prior line was 22.2 months for Kd vs 10.1 months for Vd, and median PFS for patients with ⩾2 prior lines was 14.9 months for Kd vs 8.4 months for Vd. For patients with prior bortezomib exposure, the median PFS was 15.6 months for Kd vs 8.1 months for Vd, and for patients with prior lenalidomide exposure the median PFS was 12.9 months for Kd vs 7.3 months for Vd. Overall response rates (Kd vs Vd) were 81.9 vs 65.5% (one prior line), 72.0 vs 59.7% (⩾2 prior lines), 71.2 vs 60.3% (prior bortezomib) and 70.1 vs 59.3% (prior lenalidomide). The safety profile in the prior lines subgroups was qualitatively similar to that in the broader ENDEAVOR population. In RMM, outcomes are improved when receiving treatment with carfilzomib compared with bortezomib, regardless of the number of prior therapy lines or prior exposure to bortezomib or lenalidomide.

Reversible Chemical Dimerization by rCD1

An optimal tool to unravel the role of a specific player within a cellular network or process requires its spatiotemporally resolved perturbation. Chemically induced dimerization (CID) by the rapamycin system has proven useful to induce protein dimerization or translocation with high spatiotemporal precision. Recently, we and others have added reversibility of the dimerization event as a novel feature to CID approaches. Among those, our reversible chemical dimerizer (rCD1) shows the fastest release kinetics observed, comparable to optogenetic methods. Induction and termination of enzyme activities, including phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) and 5-phosphatase (5Ptase), therefore allowed us to monitor the relaxation of the downstream effectors within living cells by imaging and traditional biochemical methods. Because switching off the rCD1-induced enzyme activity is sufficiently fast, it is possible to estimate kinetic parameters for enzyme activity and metabolism. Fast reversible CIDs are therefore unique tools for performing semiquantitative biochemistry in intact cells. In this chapter, we discuss advantages and constraints for the design of reversible CID applications. We provide detailed protocols for rCD1 synthesis, CID component expression in and delivery to mammalian cells and the determination of enzyme kinetics inside intact cells by a specially designed image acquisition and data analysis method.

Protective effects of curcumin against mercury-induced hepatic injuries in rats, involvement of oxidative stress antagonism, and Nrf2-ARE pathway activation

Mercury (Hg) represents a ubiquitous environmental heavy metal that could lead to severe toxic effects in a variety of organs usually at a low level. The present study focused on the liver oxidative stress, one of the most important roles playing in Hg hepatotoxicity, by evaluation of different concentrations of mercuric chloride (HgCl₂) administration. Moreover, the protective potential of curcumin against Hg hepatotoxic effects was also investigated. Eighty-four rats were randomly divided into six groups for a three-days experiment: control, dimethyl sulfoxide control, HgCl₂ treatment (0.6, 1.2, and 2.4 mg kg^-1 day^-1), and curcumin pretreatment (100 mg kg^-1 day^-1) groups. Exposure of HgCl₂ resulted in acute dose-dependent hepatotoxic effects. Administration of 2.4 mg kg^-1 HgCl₂ significantly elevated total Hg, nonprotein sulfhydryl, reactive oxygen species formation, malondialdehyde, apoptosis levels, serum lactate dehydrogenase, and alanine transaminase activities, with an impairment of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in the liver. Moreover, HgCl₂ treatment activated nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2-antioxidant response element (Nrf2-ARE) signaling pathway in further investigation, with a significant upregulation of Nrf2, heme oxygenase-1, and γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase heavy subunit expression, relative to control. Pretreatment with curcumin obviously prevented HgCl₂-induced liver oxidative stress, which may be due to its free radical scavenging or Nrf2-ARE pathway-inducing properties. Taking together these data suggest that curcumin counteracts HgCl₂ hepatotoxicity through antagonizing liver oxidative stress.

Th17 cells associated cytokines and cancer

Cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors, which is a serious threat to human life. However, the etiology of cancer is not entirely clear. Under the action of tumorigenic factors, tissue cells lose normal regulation, resulting in abnormal proliferation and differentiation, so as to form a tumor. Cytokines promote the development of chronic inflammation, which may affect the development of cancer, and Th17 cells are a kind of immune cells which are closely related to the tumor. Therefore, this article focused on the role of Th17 cells and its related cytokines in tumor, which is very important for understanding the mechanism of tumor development. This will provide a direction for immunotherapy and gene-targeted therapy of cancer.

2016 Comprehensive Update of the Banff Working Group on Liver Allograft Pathology: Introduction of Antibody-Mediated Rejection

The Banff Working Group on Liver Allograft Pathology reviewed and discussed literature evidence regarding antibody-mediated liver allograft rejection at the 11th (Paris, France, June 5-10, 2011), 12th (Comandatuba, Brazil, August 19-23, 2013), and 13th (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, October 5-10, 2015) meetings of the Banff Conference on Allograft Pathology. Discussion continued online. The primary goal was to introduce guidelines and consensus criteria for the diagnosis of liver allograft antibody-mediated rejection and provide a comprehensive update of all Banff Schema recommendations. Included are new recommendations for complement component 4d tissue staining and interpretation, staging liver allograft fibrosis, and findings related to immunosuppression minimization. In an effort to create a single reference document, previous unchanged criteria are also included.

Determination of two mercapturic acids related to crotonaldehyde in human urine: influence of smoking

Crotonaldehyde, an αβ-unsaturated aldehyde, and a potent alkylating agent, is present in many foods and beverages, ambient air and tobacco smoke. A previous study indicated that two metabolites, 3-hydroxy-1- methylpropylmercapturic acid (HMPMA) and 2-carboxy1-1-methylethylmercapturic acid (CMEMA), were excreted in rat urine after subcutaneous injection of crotonaldehyde. Herein, we report the development of a method based on liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and deuterated analytes as internal standards, for the determination of HMPMA and CMEMA in human urine. The limits of quantification of the method were 92 and 104 ng/mL for HMPMA and CMEMA, respectively. The calibration curves for both compounds were linear up to 7500 ng/mL with R2 >0.99. It was found that cigarette smokers excreted about three to five-fold more HMPMA, and only slightly elevated amounts of CMEMA, in their urine compared to non-smokers. In smokers, we also found significant correlations between the urinary excretion levels of HMPMA (but not CMEMA) and several markers of exposure for smoking, including the daily cigarette consumption, carbon monoxide in exhaled breath, salivary cotinine, and nicotine plus five of its major metabolites in urine. Smoking cessation or switching from smoking conventional cigarettes to experimental cigarettes with lower crotonaldehyde delivery led to significant reductions of urinary HMPMA excretion, but not CMEMA excretion. Alcohol consumption did not influence either urinary HMPMA or CMEMA excretion. We conclude that HMPMA is a potentially useful biomarker for smoking-related exposure to crotonaldehyde.

Will big data yield new mathematics? An evolving synergy with neuroscience

New mathematics has often been inspired by new insights into the natural world. Here we describe some ongoing and possible future interactions among the massive data sets being collected in neuroscience, methods for their analysis and mathematical models of the underlying, still largely uncharted neural substrates that generate these data. We start by recalling events that occurred in turbulence modelling when substantial space-time velocity field measurements and numerical simulations allowed a new perspective on the governing equations of fluid mechanics. While no analogous global mathematical model of neural processes exists, we argue that big data may enable validation or at least rejection of models at cellular to brain area scales and may illuminate connections among models. We give examples of such models and survey some relatively new experimental technologies, including optogenetics and functional imaging, that can report neural activity in live animals performing complex tasks. The search for analytical techniques for these data is already yielding new mathematics, and we believe their multi-scale nature may help relate well-established models, such as the Hodgkin-Huxley equations for single neurons, to more abstract models of neural circuits, brain areas and larger networks within the brain. In brief, we envisage a closer liaison, if not a marriage, between neuroscience and mathematics.

Atypical Exciton-Phonon Interactions in WS2 and WSe2 Monolayers Revealed by Resonance Raman Spectroscopy

Resonant Raman spectroscopy is a powerful tool for providing information about excitons and exciton-phonon coupling in two-dimensional materials. We present here resonant Raman experiments of single-layered WS2 and WSe2 using more than 25 laser lines. The Raman excitation profiles of both materials show unexpected differences. All Raman features of WS2 monolayers are enhanced by the first-optical excitations (with an asymmetric response for the spin-orbit related XA and XB excitons), whereas Raman bands of WSe2 are not enhanced at XA/B energies. Such an intriguing phenomenon is addressed by DFT calculations and by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation. These two materials are very similar. They prefer the same crystal arrangement, and their electronic structure is akin, with comparable spin-orbit coupling. However, we reveal that WS2 and WSe2 exhibit quite different exciton-phonon interactions. In this sense, we demonstrate that the interaction between XC and XA excitons with phonons explains the different Raman responses of WS2 and WSe2, and the absence of Raman enhancement for the WSe2 modes at XA/B energies. These results reveal unusual exciton-phonon interactions and open new avenues for understanding the two-dimensional materials physics, where weak interactions play a key role coupling different degrees of freedom (spin, optic, and electronic).

Risk factors for pulmonary hypertension in patients receiving maintenance peritoneal dialysis

We investigated the risk factors for pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients receiving maintenance peritoneal dialysis (MPD). A group of 180 end-stage renal disease patients (124 men and 56 women; mean age: 56.43±8.36) were enrolled in our study, which was conducted between January 2009 and June 2014. All of the patients received MPD treatment in the Dialysis Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University. Clinical data, laboratory indices, and echocardiographic data from these patients were collected, and follow-ups were scheduled bi-monthly. The incidence and relevant risk factors of PH were analyzed. The differences in measurement data were compared by t-test and enumeration data were compared with the χ2 test. Among the 180 patients receiving MPD, 60 were diagnosed with PH. The remaining 120 were regarded as the non-PH group. Significant differences were observed in the clinical data, laboratory indices, and echocardiographic data between the PH and non-PH patients (all P<0.05). Furthermore, hypertensive nephropathy patients on MPD showed a significantly higher incidence of PH compared with non-hypertensive nephropathy patients (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the proportion of internal arteriovenous fistula, C-reactive protein levels, and ejection fraction were the highest risk factors for PH in patients receiving MPD. Our study shows that there is a high incidence of PH in patients receiving MPD and hypertensive nephropathy patients have an increased susceptibility to PH.

Deceased Donor Intervention Research: A Survey of Transplant Surgeons, Organ Procurement Professionals, and Institutional Review Board Members

Innovative deceased donor intervention strategies have the potential to increase the number and quality of transplantable organs. Yet there is confusion over regulatory and legal requirements, as well as ethical considerations. We surveyed transplant surgeons (n = 294), organ procurement organization (OPO) professionals (n = 83), and institutional review board (IRB) members (n = 317) and found wide variations in their perceptions about research classification, risk assessment for donors and organ transplant recipients, regulatory oversight requirements, and informed consent in the context of deceased donor intervention research. For instance, when presented with different research scenarios, IRB members were more likely than transplant surgeons and OPO professionals to feel that study review and oversight were necessary by the IRBs at the investigator, donor, and transplant center hospitals. Survey findings underscore the need to clarify ethical, legal, and regulatory requirements and their application to deceased donor intervention research to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and facilitate more transplants.

Plasma pharmacokinetics of ceftiofur metabolite desfuroylceftiofur cysteine disulfide in holstein steers: application of nonlinear mixed-effects modeling

Eight clinically normal and drug-naïve Holstein steers were dosed with ceftiofur sodium at 2.2 mg/kg body weight intramuscularly. Doses were given at 24-h intervals for 5 days. Prior to the first dose and after all injections, blood samples were collected serially for determination of plasma concentrations of one of ceftiofur's main metabolites, desfuroylceftiofur cysteine disulfide (DCCD). A nonlinear mixed-effect model was used to analyze the plasma concentration data. A stochastic approximation expectation maximization (SAEM) algorithm in MONOLIX version 4.2.2 was used to approximate the likelihood of the nonlinear mixed-effect model and to estimate the population parameters. In addition, simulation studies were conducted to justify the model and demonstrate how to interpret the model parameters given different scenarios.

Reference genome of wild goat (capra aegagrus) and sequencing of goat breeds provide insight into genic basis of goat domestication

BACKGROUND

Domestic goats (Capra hircus) have been selected to play an essential role in agricultural production systems, since being domesticated from their wild progenitor, bezoar (Capra aegagrus). A detailed understanding of the genetic consequences imparted by the domestication process remains a key goal of evolutionary genomics.

RESULTS

We constructed the reference genome of bezoar and sequenced representative breeds of domestic goats to search for genomic changes that likely have accompanied goat domestication and breed formation. Thirteen copy number variation genes associated with coat color were identified in domestic goats, among which ASIP gene duplication contributes to the generation of light coat-color phenotype in domestic goats. Analysis of rapidly evolving genes identified genic changes underlying behavior-related traits, immune response and production-related traits.

CONCLUSION

Based on the comparison studies of copy number variation genes and rapidly evolving genes between wild and domestic goat, our findings and methodology shed light on the genetic mechanism of animal domestication and will facilitate future goat breeding.