The genomic profiling of high-risk smoldering myeloma patients treated with an intensive strategy unveils potential markers of resistance and progression

Smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) precedes multiple myeloma (MM). The risk of progression of SMM patients is not uniform, thus different progression-risk models have been developed, although they are mainly based on clinical parameters. Recently, genomic predictors of progression have been defined for untreated SMM. However, the usefulness of such markers in the context of clinical trials evaluating upfront treatment in high-risk SMM (HR SMM) has not been explored yet, precluding the identification of baseline genomic alterations leading to drug resistance. For this reason, we carried out next-generation sequencing and fluorescent in-situ hybridization studies on 57 HR and ultra-high risk (UHR) SMM patients treated in the phase II GEM-CESAR clinical trial (NCT02415413). DIS3, FAM46C, and FGFR3 mutations, as well as t(4;14) and 1q alterations, were enriched in HR SMM. TRAF3 mutations were specifically associated with UHR SMM but identified cases with improved outcomes. Importantly, novel potential predictors of treatment resistance were identified: NRAS mutations and the co-occurrence of t(4;14) plus FGFR3 mutations were associated with an increased risk of biological progression. In conclusion, we have carried out for the first time a molecular characterization of HR SMM patients treated with an intensive regimen, identifying genomic predictors of poor outcomes in this setting.

Characterization of the public transit air microbiome and resistome reveals geographical specificity

BACKGROUND

The public transit is a built environment with high occupant density across the globe, and identifying factors shaping public transit air microbiomes will help design strategies to minimize the transmission of pathogens. However, the majority of microbiome works dedicated to the public transit air are limited to amplicon sequencing, and our knowledge regarding the functional potentials and the repertoire of resistance genes (i.e. resistome) is limited. Furthermore, current air microbiome investigations on public transit systems are focused on single cities, and a multi-city assessment of the public transit air microbiome will allow a greater understanding of whether and how broad environmental, building, and anthropogenic factors shape the public transit air microbiome in an international scale. Therefore, in this study, the public transit air microbiomes and resistomes of six cities across three continents (Denver, Hong Kong, London, New York City, Oslo, Stockholm) were characterized.

RESULTS

City was the sole factor associated with public transit air microbiome differences, with diverse taxa identified as drivers for geography-associated functional potentials, concomitant with geographical differences in species- and strain-level inferred growth profiles. Related bacterial strains differed among cities in genes encoding resistance, transposase, and other functions. Sourcetracking estimated that human skin, soil, and wastewater were major presumptive resistome sources of public transit air, and adjacent public transit surfaces may also be considered presumptive sources. Large proportions of detected resistance genes were co-located with mobile genetic elements including plasmids. Biosynthetic gene clusters and city-unique coding sequences were found in the metagenome-assembled genomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, geographical specificity transcends multiple aspects of the public transit air microbiome, and future efforts on a global scale are warranted to increase our understanding of factors shaping the microbiome of this unique built environment.

Prognostic value of antigen expression in multiple myeloma: a PETHEMA/GEM study on 1265 patients enrolled in four consecutive clinical trials

Persistence of minimal residual disease (MRD) after treatment for myeloma predicts inferior outcomes, but within MRD-positive patients there is great heterogeneity with both early and very late relapses. Among different MRD techniques, flow cytometry provides additional information about antigen expression on tumor cells, which could potentially contribute to stratify MRD-positive patients. We investigated the prognostic value of those antigens required to monitor MRD in 1265 newly diagnosed patients enrolled in the GEM2000, GEM2005MENOS65, GEM2005MAS65 and GEM2010MAS65 protocols. Overall, CD19^pos, CD27^neg, CD38^lo, CD45^pos, CD81^pos, CD117^neg and CD138^lo expression predicted inferior outcomes. Through principal component analysis, we found that simultaneous CD38^lowCD81^posCD117^neg expression emerged as the most powerful combination with independent prognostic value for progression-free survival (HR:1.69; P=0.002). This unique phenotypic profile retained prognostic value among MRD-positive patients. We then used next-generation flow to determine antigen stability throughout the course of the disease, and found that the expression of antigens required to monitor MRD is mostly stable from diagnosis to MRD stages, except for CD81 whose expression progressively increased from baseline to chemoresistant tumor cells (14 vs 28%). Altogether, we showed that the phenotypic profile of tumor cells provides additional prognostic information, and could be used to further predict risk of relapse among MRD-positive patients.

Agricultural use of leachates obtained from two different vermicomposting processes

The objective of this paper was to investigate the possible agricultural use of the vermicomposting process leachates. Two leachates coming, respectively, from the vermicomposting of cow dung (SCD) and the vermicomposting of green forages (SGF), as well as solution of Hewitt (C) were used at a dose of 1 ml 500 ml(-1) in the foliar fertilization of tomato plants. Treatments were applied 30, 60 and 90 days after planting (DAP). The obtained results showed that foliar fertilization with SCD and SGF increased the morphological and chemical parameters on tomato crop with respect to the plants receiving foliar treatment with SH and C, possibly due to the humic substances content in SCD and SGF. The higher content of humic substances in SGF with respect to the SCD are possibly the responsible of the higher chlorophyll contents observed in the plants receiving the former treatment. This aspect possibly promoted an increase in plant photosynthesis and therefore an increase in fruit quality.

Application of two organic wastes in a soil polluted by lead: effects on the soil enzymatic activities

The effects of adding a crushed cotton gin compost (CCGC) and a poultry manure (PM) on the enzymatic activities of a Typic Xerofluvent soil polluted with Pb were studied in the laboratory. Three hundred grams of sieved soil (<2 mm) were mixed with PM at a rate of 10% or CCGC at a rate of 17.2%, applying to the soil the same amount of organic matter with each organic amendment. Urease, protease-BBA, beta-glucosidase, alkaline phosphatase, and arylsulfatase activities were measured at four different incubation times (1, 7, 15, and 45 d) in soils containing seven concentrations (100, 250, 500, 1000, 2500, 5000, and 8000 mg kg-1) of Pb, and in the same soils amended with CCGC and PM. In all treatments and incubation times, the inhibition percentage of soil enzyme activities by Pb was lower in soils amended with the PM and CCGC than in nonamended soils, and it differed with the organic amendment. In this respect, the in the 8000 mg Pb kg-1 treatment at the end of the incubation period, the protease-BBA activity inhibition percentage was lower (14.7 and 33.9% lower, respectively) in CCGC- than in PM-amended soils. Since the adsorption capacity of Pb was higher in CCGC- than the PM-amended soils, the addition of organic wastes with higher humic acid concentration is more beneficial for remediation of soils polluted with Pb.

Application of two organic amendments on soil restoration: effects on the soil biological properties

One method for recovering degraded soils in semiarid regions is to add organic matter to improve soil characteristics, thereby enhancing biogeochemical nutrient cycling. In this paper, we studied the changes in soil biological properties as a result of adding a crushed cotton gin compost (CCGC) and a poultry manure (PM) for 4 yr to restore a Xerollic Calciorthid located near Seville (Guadalquivir Valley, Andalusia, Spain). Organic wastes were applied at rates of 5, 7.5, and 10 Mg organic matter ha(-1). One year after the assay began, spontaneous vegetation had appeared in the treated plots, particularly in that receiving a high PM and CCGC dose. After 4 yr, the plant cover in these treated plots was around 88 and 79%, respectively, compared with 5% for the control. The effects on soil microbial biomass and six soil enzymatic activities (dehydrogenase, urease, BBA-protease, beta-glucosidase, arylsulfatase, and alkaline phosphatase activities) were ascertained. Both added organic wastes had a positive effect on the biological properties of the soil, although at the end of the experimental period and at high dosage, soil microbial biomass and soil enzyme activities were generally higher in the PM-amended soils compared to the CCGC-amended soils. Enzyme activity from the PM-amended soil was 5, 15, 13, 19, 22, 30, and 6% greater than CCGC-amended soil for soil microbial biomass, urease, BBA-protease, beta-glucosidase, alkaline phosphatase, arylsulfatase, and dehydrogenase activities, respectively. After 4 yr, the percentage of plant cover was > 48% in all treated plots and 5% in the control.

Biopesticide effect of green compost against fusarium wilt on melon plants

AIMS

The biopesticide effect of four green composts against fusarium wilt in melon plants and the effect of soil quality in soils amended with composts were assayed.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The composts consisted of pruning wastes, with or without addition of coffee wastes (3/1 and 4/1, dry wt/dry wt) or urea (1000/1, dry wt/dry wt). In vitro experiments suggested the biopesticide effect of the composts against Fusarium oxysporum, while only the compost of pine bark and urea (1000/1dry wt/dry wt) had an abiotic effect. Melon plant growth with composts and F. oxysporum was one to four times greater than in the non-amended soil, although there was no significant decrease in the level of the F. oxysporum in the soil. The addition of composts to the soil also improved its biological quality, as assessed by microbiological and biochemical parameters: ATP and hydrolases involved in the P (phosphatase), C (beta-glucosidase) and N (urease) cycles.

CONCLUSIONS

Green composts had greater beneficial characteristics, improved plant growth and controlled fusarium wilt in melon plants. These composts improve the soil quality of semi-arid agricultural soils.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

Biotic and abiotic factors from composts have been tested as responsible of their biopesticide activity against fusarium wilt.

Bioremediation of soil degraded by sewage sludge: effects on soil properties and erosion losses

Soils in the Mediterranean area are very prone to erosion due to the loss of organic matter and the consequent lack of protective vegetation. In this experiment a Mediterranean degraded soil with a 15% slope was amended at a rate of 250 t ha(-1) wet weight with sewage sludge and with a mixture of sewage sludge and barley straw (70% carbon from sewage sludge and 30% from the straw) in order to study their influence on soil structure recovery and hence the soils's resistance to erosion processes. Both types of organic amendment led to an improvement in several soil properties (physical, biological, and microbiological) as a result of the spontaneous growth plant covering that became evident three months after amendment. This vegetation remained throughout the two years of the experiment and prevented the water erosion processes that normally precede soil degradation. Amendment by sewage sludge alone reduced soil loss by 80% compared with the control soil, while the mixture that included both sewage sludge and barley straw reduced losses by 84%, both reducing runoff by 57%. The amended soils showed increases in the percentage of stable aggregates, the levels of the total and water-soluble C fractions, microbial biomass C, basal respiration, and the activity of the different enzymes involved in the biogeochemical cycles of C, N, and P. The results confirm the usefulness of sewage sludge as an organic amendment for recovering damaged soils.

Are myeloma patients with renal failure candidates for autologous stem cell transplantation?

INTRODUCTION

Renal function is one of the most important prognostic factors in multiple myeloma (MM). Patients with renal failure are generally excluded from high dose therapy even though they display a poor prognosis with conventional chemotherapy schemes. The aim of this study was to analyze the outcome of MM patients with renal insufficiency undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), including the evaluation of the quality of PB stem cell collections, kinetics of engraftment, transplant-related mortality, response to high dose chemotherapy and survival.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

From a total of 566 valuable patients included in the MM Spanish ASCT registry, three groups of patients were defined: group BA, patients with abnormal renal function at diagnosis but normal at transplant (73 cases); group BB, patients with abnormal function both at diagnosis and at transplant (14 cases); and group AA (control group, 479 cases), patients who constantly had normal renal function.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

Patients from groups BA and BB presented with a significantly higher number of adverse prognostic factors, reflecting that we were dealing with high tumor MM cases, as compared with patients from group AA. The number of mononuclear cells, CD34+ cells and CFU-GM cells collected in patients with non-reversible renal insufficiency was similar to those harvested in MM patients with normal renal function. Moreover, neutrophil and platelet engraftments were identical in patients with and without renal failure (days +11 and +12, respectively). By contrast, transplant-related mortality (TRM) was significantly higher in group BB patients (29%) than in groups BA (4.1%) and AA (3.3%). In multivariate analysis only three variables showed independent influence on TRM: poor performance status (ECOG 3), hemoglobin <9.5 g/dl and serum creatinine > or =5 mg/dl. The response to high dose therapy was independent of renal function. Interestingly, 43% of patients from group BB showed an improvement in renal function (creatinine < 2 mg/dl) after transplant. The three-year overall survival from transplantation was 56, 49 and 61% for the BB, BA and AA groups, respectively, with a statistically significant difference favoring group AA (P<0.01). PFS did not differ significantly between the three groups of patients. In multivariate analysis the only unfavorable independent prognostic factors for overall survival were poor performance status either at diagnosis or at transplant, high beta(2)-microglobulin levels, and no response to transplant. According to these results, ASCT is an attractive alternative for MM patients with renal insufficiency, and it should not constitute a criterion for exclusion from transplant unless patients display poor performance status and very high creatinine levels (>5 mg/dl).

Comparative measurements of microbial activity in drinking water biofilters

Tetrazolium reduction assays, phospholipid analysis, and 16S rRNA (rDNA) sequence analysis were applied to assess the distribution, composition and activity of microbial communities developing in biofilters treating non-ozonated and ozonated drinking water. The response of media-attached biomass to both operating temperature (3 degrees C vs. > 12 degrees C) and ozone application point was assessed. As judged by 2-(p-iodo-phenyl)-3-(p-nitrophenyl)-s-phenyl tetrazolium chloride (INT) reduction, the dehydrogenase activity in biofilter systems that were operated with non-ozonated water was 55% lower than in identical filters operating with ozonated water. There was no significant difference between the microbiological activity measured in a biofilter series treating ozonated water and an identical series where ozonated water was introduced at an intermediate point. The biomass levels in biofilter systems that were operated with ozonated water were 47% higher on average than identical systems operated with non-ozonated water. Operating temperature had no significant impact on total biomass levels; however, specific dehydrogenase activity was 70% higher in systems operated at ambient temperatures (> 12 degrees C) than in systems held at 3 degrees C. Phospholipid and rDNA analysis suggests that there was a community structure response to ozone application and operating temperature, but no response to different ozone application points.

Knock-knock: a population-based survey of risk behavior, health care access, and Chlamydia trachomatis infection among low-income women in the San Francisco Bay area

To estimate the prevalence of urogenital chlamydial infection among young, low-income women in northern California and to describe correlates of infection, a population-based door-to-door household cluster survey was conducted from 1996 through 1998. The participants included 1439 women 18-29 years of age, with a mean age of 24 years, most of whom were African American (43%) or Latina (23%) and had a median income of $500-$999 per month. Most (94%) had received health care in the past year, and approximately 50% was covered by state insurance programs. Although more than half (62%) had had a recent pelvic examination, only 42% had recently used a condom with a new partner. The prevalence of urogenital chlamydial infection was 3.2% (95% confidence interval, 2.2%-4.2%). Women with chlamydia were more likely to be younger (18-21 years of age) and nonwhite and to have lower socioeconomic status. These data demonstrated an approximately 2-3-fold greater burden of infection than routine surveillance data have suggested.

Toxicity of benzotriazole and benzotriazole derivatives to three aquatic species

Benzotriazole and its derivatives comprise an important class of corrosion inhibitors, typically used as trace additives in industrial chemical mixtures such as coolants, deicers, surface coatings, cutting fluids, and hydraulic fluids. Recent studies have shown that benzotriazole derivatives are a major component of aircraft deicing fluids (ADFs) responsible for toxicity to bacteria (Microtox). Our current research compared the toxicity of benzotriazole (BT), two methylbenzotriazole (MeBT) isomers, and butylbenzotriazole (BBT). Acute toxicity assays were used to model the response of three common test organisms: Microtox bacteria (Vibrio fischeri), fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) and water flea (Ceriodaphnia dubia). The response of all the three organisms varied over two orders of magnitude among all compounds. Vibrio fischeri was more sensitive than either C. dubia or P. promelas to all the test materials, while C. dubia was less sensitive than P. promelas. The response of test organisms to unmethylated benzotriazole and 4-methylbenzotriazole was similar, whereas 5-methylbenzotriazole was more toxic than either of these two compounds. BBT was the most toxic benzotriazole derivative tested, inducing acute toxicity at a concentration of < or = 3.3 mg/l to all organisms.

Fate and toxicity of aircraft deicing fluid additives through anaerobic digestion

Benzotriazole derivatives are widely used corrosion inhibitors and their fate during wastewater treatment processes is unknown. The purpose of this research was to study the toxic effects and fate of the two commercially significant benzotriazole isomers used in aircraft deicing fluids (4-, and 5-, methylbenzotriazole [MeBT]) during anaerobic digestion. Experiments were executed in microcosms using mesophilic anaerobic biomass co-digesting wastewater sludge and propylene glycol. Sorption of MeBT to digesting solids could be approximated with a Freundlich model, and no anaerobic breakdown of either MeBT isomer was detected. Digesters fed more than 300 mg/L MeBT responded with a significant decrease in methanogenic microbial activity and volatile solids production and a concomitant increase in accumulation of volatile fatty acids. Direct microscopic measurements using fluorescent phylogenetic probes applied to digesting biomass revealed that members of both Archaea and Bacteria domains were sensitive to MeBT. Granular activated carbon (GAC) (volatile solids: GAC = 10%) reduced the apparent toxic effects of MeBT; GAC addition nearly restored the baseline activity of digesters fed MeBT (500 to 1000 mg/L).

Hepatitis B prevalence in young women living in low-income areas: the population-based San Francisco Bay area's Young Women's Survey

BACKGROUND

The risk of sexually transmitted hepatitis B virus infection is proportionally higher for young adults and women. Low socioeconomic groups have high rates of hepatitis B infection with no identified source of transmission. The prevalence and correlates of transmission of hepatitis B virus among young women of low socioeconomic status have not been well documented.

GOAL

To determine the population-based prevalence and correlates of sexually acquired hepatitis B virus infection in young low-income women in the San Francisco Bay Area.

STUDY DESIGN

A three-county, door-to-door serosurvey of hepatitis B virus core antibody among young women living in low-income areas was conducted from April 1996 to January 1998. Multivariate analysis of sexually acquired hepatitis B virus infection excluded participants of Asian or Pacific Islander ethnicity or with a history of intravenous drug use or transfusion.

RESULTS

The prevalence of sexually acquired hepatitis B virus infection was 6.4% (95% CI, 4.7%-8.1%). Correlates of infection were black race (odds ratio, 3.9; 95% CI, 1.2-11.9 compared with white race) and herpes simplex virus type 2 infection (odds ratio, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.0-3.9).

CONCLUSIONS

Young black women have a higher risk of sexually acquired hepatitis B virus infection. Herpes simplex virus type 2 infection may predispose to hepatitis B virus infection and/or be a marker for lifetime sexual risk behavior.