Arsenic (As) is widely distributed in the environment, and humans can be exposed to As from various sources such as air, water, soil, and food. This study was performed to evaluate the As exposure ...levels in Korean adults by measuring total As in urine and its relation with the consumption of seafood, a favorite food in Korea. A total of 2077 adults were the study subjects; they ranged in age from 19 to 83, and they were recruited by probability sampling stratified by area, sex, and age. None of the subjects had been exposed to As occupationally. We collected information about the demographic characteristics, lifestyles, and food consumption of study subjects using a questionnaire and followed urine sampling. Diet was assessed in individual interviews using the 24-h recall method. Total As in urine was analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (PerkinElmer NEXION 300S; Concord, Ontario, Canada). The geometric mean concentration of total As in urine was observed to be 97.6 µg/L and was higher in males (103.9 µg/L) than in females (93.0 µg/L). Total As levels in urine were affected by sex, age, seafood intake, and geographic location. In this study, total As in urine was positively correlated with fish and shellfish consumption, and was mainly determined by As intake through fish and shellfish/grains/flavors. These findings suggest that seafood consumption might be a major contributor to urinary As levels in Korean adults.
The prognosis for patients with myelodysplastic syndrome with hypomethylating treatment failure (MDS-HTF) has been known to be poor. However, the clinical outcomes and optimal treatment options for ...secondary AML evolving from MDS-HTF (sAML/MDS-HTF) are not well known. This retrospective analysis was conducted to evaluate the clinical outcomes and influences of treatment options on survival in 46 consecutive patients with sAML/MDS-HTF. The median OS rates were 1.4 months in the best supportive care group (n=15) and 9.4 months in the active treatment group (n=31). One-year OS rates were 13.3% and 36.8%, respectively (P=0.001). Active treatment (P<0.001), lower BM blast (<33%) at sAML (P=0.007), non-poor NCCN (National Cancer Comprehensive Network) cytogenetics (P=0.001) and good performance status (ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) 1) (P=0.024) were significant predictors affecting favorable OS in a multivariate analysis. Of the active treatment options, allo-SCT with prior chemotherapy (CTx) showed better OS compared with CTx only or SCT without CTx (P=0.019). Our analyses suggest that active treatment, particularly SCT following CTx, should be considered in patients with sAML/MDS-HTF if the patient is medically fit.
One-dimensional electronic systems can support exotic collective phases because of the enhanced role of electron correlations. We describe the experimental observation of a series of quantized ...conductance steps within strongly interacting electron waveguides formed at the lanthanum aluminate-strontium titanate (LaAlO
/SrTiO
) interface. The waveguide conductance follows a characteristic sequence within Pascal's triangle: (1, 3, 6, 10, 15, …) ⋅
, where
is the electron charge and
is the Planck constant. This behavior is consistent with the existence of a family of degenerate quantum liquids formed from bound states of
= 2, 3, 4, … electrons. Our experimental setup could provide a setting for solid-state analogs of a wide range of composite fermionic phases.
Few studies are available that compare PBSC and BM from unrelated donors, especially in adult high-risk ALL. To determine which graft source is superior in adult high-risk ALL, we analyzed the ...long-term outcomes of 106 consecutive transplants from 8/8-matched or 7/8-matched unrelated donors (38 PBSC vs 68 BM). All patients received a uniform strategy of pre-transplant therapy, myeloablative conditioning and GVHD prophylaxis. At 5 years, PBSC transplants showed higher incidence of chronic GVHD than did BM transplants (74.3% vs 46.7%, P=0.001). PBSC transplants showed outcomes comparable to those of BM transplants for relapse (23.7% vs 28.1%), non-relapse mortality (18.4% vs 25.0%), disease-free survival (57.9% vs 46.9%) and OS (57.9% vs 50.0%). In a separate comparison of outcomes between the two graft sources according to the presence of a Ph chromosome, no significant advantage of PBSC over BM was found in both subgroups of patients. Our data suggest that the outcomes of unrelated donor transplantation are similar between PBSC and BM in adult high-risk ALL. Whether PBSC should be the preferred graft source for a specific subgroup of adult ALL needs to be further investigated.
We analyzed long-term outcomes of myeloablative stem cell transplantation (SCT) in 292 adults with Philadelphia (Ph)-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Donors were related (RD; n=132), ...unrelated (URD; n=68; 30 well-matched (WM), 19 partially matched (PM), 19 mismatched (MM)) and autologous (AUTO; n=92). After a median follow-up of 85 months, the risk of relapse was higher for AUTO-SCT than for RD-SCT (P<0.001). MM-URD-SCT yielded higher risk of non-relapse mortality than RD-SCT (P=0.010). As a result, disease-free survival (DFS) at 5 years was inferior using AUTO (46.1%; P=0.010) or MM-URD (26.3%; P=0.036), whereas DFS from other donor sources was approximately equivalent (53.5% for RD, 63.3% for WM-URD and 57.0% for PM-URD). Other factors associated with poorer DFS included SCT beyond first complete remission (CR), older age and adverse cytogenetics. In a pairwise comparison of outcomes between RD-SCT and AUTO-SCT for patients in first CR, the inferiority of AUTO-SCT was observed, particularly in high-risk patients. Conversely, in standard-risk patients, AUTO-SCT yielded comparable outcomes to RD-SCT. SCT using RD, WM-URD or PM-URD may be considered the best donor sources for adult high-risk Ph-negative ALL.
The surface dynamics of supported ultrathin polystyrene films with thickness comparable to the radius of gyration were investigated by surface sensitive x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy. We show ...for the first time that the conventional model of capillary waves on a viscous liquid has to be modified to include the effects of a shear modulus in order to explain both static and dynamic scattering data from ultrathin molten polymer films.
Aim: To investigate antimethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) activity of E. japónica leaf and toelucidate its anti-MRSA mechanism. Methodology: Methanollc extract of dried E. japonica ...leaf was partitioned in n-hexane, dlchloromethane, ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and n-butyl alcohol. Antibacterial activity of extracts was determined by disk diffusion assay and minimum inhibitory concentration.Total RNA isolation was performed by treating MRSA culture with EtOAc sub-fractions. All MRSA Isolates were tested for the presence of genes by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, followed by Western Blot. Results: The highest MRSA activity was observed from EtOAc sub-fraction 03 of methanolic extract. The minimum inhibitory concentration values of EF03 ranged from 32 to 64 µg ml-1 against methicillin-susceptible and -resistant S. aureus. EF03 fractions Inhibited the expression of resistant genes in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, the results of Western Blot assay indicated that the EF03 fractions inhibited the expression levels of resistant protein, PBP2a in a dose-dependent manner. Interpretation : EtOAc soluble fraction of E. japónica leaf evidenced profound antimicrobial activity, and inhibited expression of resistant genes against MRSA.
Objectives. To evaluate the incidence of infectious complications after receiving alemtuzumab as part of a conditioning regimen for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in Korean ...patients.
Methods. From November 2004 to January 2006, 12 patients who received alemtuzumab‐based conditioning regimens for allogeneic HSCT were evaluated retrospectively until death or until the end of the follow‐up in July 2007; they were compared with 18 patients who received rabbit anti‐thymocyte globulin (ATG)‐containing conditioning regimens from January 2002 to January 2006.
Results. Post‐engraftment infections occurred more frequently in the alemtuzumab recipients than in the ATG recipients; the mean number of infections, excluding cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections, per patient during the follow‐up period was 2.6±1.4 vs. 1.0±0.8 (P=0.003), respectively. Although there was no statistical difference in the cumulative incidence of CMV infection between the 2 groups (91.7% vs. 55.6%, P=0.381), the alemtuzumab recipients had a higher incidence of CMV diseases (41.6% vs. 0%, P=0.0006) and a higher recurrence rate of CMV infection (90.0% vs. 27.3%, P=0.008) than did the ATG recipients, irrespective of the dose of alemtuzumab. Hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) (66.7% vs. 16.7%, P=0.009) and BK virus‐associated HC (41.7% vs. 5.6%, P=0.026) developed more frequently in the alemtuzumab recipients. The all‐cause mortality rate was not significantly different between the alemtuzumab and the ATG recipients (75% vs. 55.6%, P=0.28).
Conclusion. Alemtuzumab recipients had a high incidence of CMV disease as well as BK virus‐associated HC compared with the ATG recipients. The dose of alemtuzumab should be tailored to patients' risk; in addition, the implementation of the appropriate prophylaxis for CMV and early detection strategies for BK virus are recommended.
Abstract Background Eupatilin, a pharmacologically active flavone derived from Artemisia species, is known to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a ...major complication after renal transplantation, with inflammatory responses to IRI exacerbating the resultant renal injury. In the present study, we investigated whether eupatilin exhibits renoprotective activities against ischemia-reperfusion-induced acute kidney injury in mice. Materials and Methods Renal IRI was induced in male C57BL/6 mice by bilateral renal pedicle occlusion for 30 minutes followed by reperfusion for 48 hours. Eupatilin (10 mg/kg body weight p.o.) was administered 4 days before IRI. Results Treatment with eupatilin significantly decreased neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and kidney injury molecule-1 levels in urine, blood urea nitrogen level, and serum creatinine levels, as well as kidney tubular injury. Western blotting indicated that eupatilin significantly increased the levels of heat shock protein 70 and B-cell lymphoma protein, and it attenuated inducible nitric oxide synthase, Bcl-2–associated X protein, and caspase-3 levels 48 hours after IRI. Conclusion Our findings suggest that eupatilin is a promising therapeutic agent against acute ischemia-induced renal damage.
We present an optical lock-in detection scheme, called the integrating-bucket technique, as a signal-to-background ratio enhancement method for wide-field fluorescence imaging of biological cells. ...The proposed method uses sinusoidally modulated illumination light and captures four frames of fluorescence images, one per each quarter of the modulation period, by integrating the fluorescence intensity signal. The capability of this technique is demonstrated by imaging fluorescent bead solutions as well as labeled cells. The results show that the method yields a 4–10dB higher signal contrast than conventional fluorescence microscopy, and a background-free fluorescence image can be extracted within a sub-second time scale. Our findings indicate that the proposed method could be advantageous for the long-term study of live cells.
•We demonstrate a new application of the four-bucket technique for high-contrast fluorescence cell imaging.•We examine capability of four-bucket technique as a contrast enhancement method.•Fluorescence imaging with four-bucket technique shows contrast-enhanced image compared to conventional fluorescence microscopy.•Fluorescence-contrast enhancement by this kind of method will be useful in live cell imaging.
PDF
