The processes influencing on the ohmic losses at the border between the reactively magnetron-sputter deposited thin film oxide FTO electrodes and the polymer electrolyte within the cell of an ...electrochomic device are considered. The function of the registered full ohmic resistance of the device from the total electrical charge collected during the tinting process is established. The influence of the surface area of the device on the contribution to its total ohmic resistance from the resistance of directly the thin-film oxide electrodes is estimated. The assumption about the presence of a random number of ECD charge carriers on the surface of its electrodes at the initial moment of the coloring process, which also contributes to the initial ohmic resistance of the device, was confirmed by independent impedance spectroscopy of the electrolytic layer.
Monoclonal anti-CD20 antibodies in lymphomas therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic: pro and contraThe review presents the results of a combined analysis of literature data and own clinical ...observations regarding the safety and feasibility of using monoclonal anti-CD20 antibodies in the treatment of B-cell lymphoproliferative diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main points of the pathogenesis of the influence of monoclonal anti-CD20 antibodies on the course of COVID-19 are described. The current trends in the modification of the accepted algorithms of lymphoproliferative diseases therapy with the inclusion of monoclonal anti-CD20 antibodies are summarized, and the possibilities of specific prevention by vaccination against COVID-19 are also considered.
Aim. To study the risk factors, symptoms and outcomes of candidemia caused by C. albicans and C. non - albicans in patients with hematological malignancies. Materials and methods. The study included ...patients with hematological malignancies and candidemia. The diagnosis of candidemia was established according to the single isolation of Candida spp. from blood culture and the presence of symptoms of infection. Results and discussion. Over 12 years (2006-2017), candidemia was diagnosed in 75 patients aged 17 to 77 years (median 48 years). The causative agents of candidemia were C. albicans in 34.7% of patients, C. non - albicans - in 65.3%. Candidemia caused by C. albicans prevailed in patients of the older age group (median 56.5 years, p=0.04) and in patients with lymphoma (61.5%, p=0.01) with colonization of the gut by the same species of Candida (88.5%, p=0.002). Isolation of C. non - albicans from blood culture was more common in patients with acute leukemia (51%, p=0.01) and in recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cells (22.5%, p=0.01). The ability to form biofilms was observed more frequently among C. non - albicans (59.2%) than C. albicans (19.2%, p=0.001). The clinical symptoms of candidemia were non - specific (fever was in 97%). Septic shock developed in 25 (33%) patients with comparable frequency in both groups. Concomitant infections was also comparable (73% vs. 73.5%). Overall 30-day survival in patients with candidemia caused by C. albicans and C. non - albicans was 61.2% and 61.5%. Treatment with echinocandin was associated with increase of survival compared to other antifungal agents among patients with C. albicans candidaemia (88.9% versus 40%, p=0.02) and among C. non - albicans (77.3% versus 47.8%). Conclusion. C. non - albicans constituted a high proportion among causative agents of candidemia. High mortality rate was observed in both groups. Initial therapy with echinocandin was associated with increase of survival.
Climate mitigation scenarios limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 °C rely on decarbonizing vehicle transport with bioenergy production plus carbon capture and storage (BECCS), but climate ...impacts for producing different bioenergy feedstocks have not been directly compared experimentally or for ethanol vs electric light-duty vehicles. A field experiment at two Midwest U.S. sites on contrasting soils revealed that feedstock yields of seven potential bioenergy cropping systems varied substantially within sites but little between. Bioenergy produced per hectare reflected yields: miscanthus > poplar > switchgrass > native grasses ≈ maize stover (residue) > restored prairie ≈ early successional. Greenhouse gas emission intensities for ethanol vehicles ranged from 20 to −179 g CO2e MJ–1: maize stover ≫ miscanthus ≈ switchgrass ≈ native grasses ≈ poplar > early successional ≥ restored prairie; direct climate benefits ranged from ∼80% (stover) to 290% (restored prairie) reductions in CO2e compared to petroleum and were similar for electric vehicles. With carbon capture and storage (CCS), reductions in emission intensities ranged from 204% (stover) to 416% (restored prairie) for ethanol vehicles and from 329 to 558% for electric vehicles, declining 27 and 15%, respectively, once soil carbon equilibrates within several decades of establishment. Extrapolation based on expected U.S. transportation energy use suggests that, once CCS potential is maximized with CO2 pipeline infrastructure, negative emissions from bioenergy with CCS for light-duty electric vehicles could capture >900 Tg CO2e year–1 in the U.S. In the future, as other renewable electricity sources become more important, electricity production from biomass would offset less fossil fuel electricity, and the advantage of electric over ethanol vehicles would decrease proportionately.
Introduction. Medicines from the group of interferon inducers (IFNs) “swith on” the synthesis of type 1 interferons (IFN-I) and induce the expression of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) that regulate ...innate immunity reactions and protect the host from infectious agents and the tumour pathology.The purpose of the study was to determine the role of the drug celagrip (CA) in the activation of innate immunity genes and the effect on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). Objectives: to study the intensity of ROS production and the level of expression of the IFN-α2, IFN-λ1, ISG15, BCL2, P53(TP53) and USP18 genes in response to the treatment of blood cells of patients with FL with the preparation of CA.Material and methods. The study involved primary cancer patients diagnosed with follicular lymphoma (FL) and healthy volunteers. A kinetic analysis of the dynamics of production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was performed in whose blood cells, and the expression of the group of genes was determined by real-time PCR in response to CA processing.Results and discussion. ROS production by blood cells of patients with FL and volunteers in the presence of CA significantly decreased (P 0.05). The level of gene expression of ISG15, P53(TR53) and USP 18 in the group of patients with FL was significantly higher than that in the group of volunteers. When treating blood cells with CA, it becomes possible to divide patients with FL into groups with a positive and negative response in accordance with the level of expression of the USP18 gene. We divided FL patients into groups with a positive and negative response in accordance with the level of USP18 gene expression after treatment of blood cells with CA.Conclusions. The CA drug reduces the production of ROS and simultaneously stimulates the activity of the innate immunity genes ISG15, P53(TP53) and USP18 in the blood cells of patients with FL.
We studied changes in the bone tissue in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma at the onset of the disease (
N
=41; before chemotherapy) and 5-16 years after the end of treatment (
N
=47). ...Osteodensitometry, biochemical markers of osteoporosis in the blood and urine, and gene expression in multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells were analyzed. In multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells of all patients, the expression of genes associated with bone and cartilage differentiation (
FGF2
,
FGFR1
,
FGFR2
,
BGLAP
,
SPP1
,
TGFB1
, and
SOX9
) was changed. In primary patients, the ratio of deoxypyridinoline/creatinine in the urine and blood level of β-cross-laps were increased, while plasma concentration of vitamin D was reduced, which indicates activation of bone resorption. No differences between the groups were revealed by osteodensitometry. No direct relationship between changes in gene expression in multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells and osteoporosis markers was found. The presence of a tumor in the body affects the bone marrow stroma, but achievement of remission and compensatory mechanisms provide age-appropriate condition of the bone tissue.
Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are the key regulators of hematopoiesis. We studied changes in MSC characteristics in patients with myeloid leukemia and patients with lymphoproliferative ...diseases. MSC were obtained from the bone marrow of patients at the time of diagnostic puncture using a standard technique. Their proliferative potential and expression of genes associated with differentiation and regulation of hematopoiesis were studied. The total cell production of MSC in patients with leukemia at the onset of the disease did not differ from that in the group of healthy donors. The relative expression of the
IL6
,
TGFb1
and
TGFb2
,
PPARG
genes was similar in all patients. The relative expression of the
JAG1
,
LIF
,
IGF1
,
CSF1
,
IL1b
, and
IL1bR1
genes in MSC of patients with leukemia was enhanced and the relative expression of
SDF1
was unchanged in comparison with MSC from donors. MSC from patients with leukemia were characterized by enhanced relative expression of
PDGFRA
and
PDGFRB
, and reduced expression of
SOX9
. Changes functions of the stromal microenvironment in patients with hemoblastoses attested to the role of stromal cells in the maintenance and spread of tumor cells.
In diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, bone marrow involvement is rarely diagnosed. We compared the properties of bone marrow stromal progenitor cells and the concentration of fibroblast CFU in patients ...with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma without bone marrow involvement and in healthy donors. It was found that the properties of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells in patients in the debut of the disease differed considerably from those in healthy donors. In particular, the total cell production in patients was significantly higher than in donors. In multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells of patients, some cell parameters were changes; the mean fluorescence intensity of the adhesion molecule ICAM1 on the cell surface was increased. The mean fluorescence intensity of mesenchymal stromal cell markers (HLA-ABC, CD73 and CD90) was significantly elevated. The relative expression of
BMP4
,
MMP2
,
FGFR1
, and
ICAM1
genes in mesenchymal stromal cell was reduced, while the expression of
FGFR2
gene was enhanced. Despite the absence of proven involvement of the bone marrow, the properties of mesenchymal stromal cells, the components in the stromal microenvironment niche regulating hemopoiesis are altered in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
This study conducted the possibilities of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of the whole body diffusion WB-MRI (in comparison with positron emission tomography with computed tomography ...PET/CT) in assessing the volume and prevalence of the tumor, as well as determining bone marrow (BM) damage (for various cytological types) in the diagnosis and staging of the disease in patients with FL.
A prospective comparative search study included 15 patients (4 men and 11 women, with a median age of 53 years) with newly diagnosed FL. Patients have not received antitumor chemotherapy previously. After the diagnosis was established, all patients (with the blindness of both the cases themselves and some specialists regarding the results of other specialists) were examined by PET/CT and diffusion WB-MRI, after which a BM examination was performed (histological examination and determination of B-cell clonality in BM puncture by PCR). Using the diffusion WB-MRI method, the prevalence of tumor lesion (nodal and extranodal foci) in each patient was estimated, and the total tumor volume was calculated, BM lesion was detected, and BM lesion volume was calculated. For lesions of different localization, the measured diffusion coefficient (DC) of the diffusion WB-MRI and the standardized rate of accumulation of the radiopharmaceutical in tissues (SUV) of the PET/CT method were determined and compared with each other (for the same areas). Statistical analysis was performed using the estimate of agreement (by Cohens kappa coefficient and asymptotic test) of the results of the compared methods.
Estimates of the prevalence of tumor damage (lymph nodes and extranodal foci) using the diffusion WB-MRI and PET/CT methods were the same. High DC and SUV were observed in the peripheral lymph nodes, extranodal foci and bulky, low DC and SUV in the foci of BM. All 4 methods successfully determined BM damage, however, the diffusion WB-MRI had comparatively less negative results. The highest values of SUV and CD were noted in cases of the 3 grade of FL. Using the diffusion WB-MRI method, the prevalence of tumor lesion was assessed in each patient (nodal and extranodal foci were detected) and the total tumor volume was calculated, BM lesion detection was performed, and the volume of BM lesion was calculated. It is important to note that with the help of diffusion WB-MRI, it was possible to measure separately the total tumor volume (462025 cm3) and separately the volume of bulky (251358 cm3). The diffusion WB-MRI allowed us to differentiate the volume of tumor tissue (reduced as a result of treatment) and residual (fibrous-adipose) tissue in residual formations (which averaged 21% of the initial volume). The predictors of a poor antitumor response were the maximum SUV values (more than 14.0) and the minimum DC values (0.510-3mm2/s) in the BM foci.
The diffusion WB-MRI allows for detailed visualization of BM lesions and surrounding soft tissues both in the debut of the FL and in the process of tracking the effectiveness of chemotherapy, which makes it possible to use it along with PET/CT. Diffusion WB-MRI allows to separately evaluate the volume of true tumor tissue and residual tissue. Cases of the 3 grade of FL (including the transformation of FL into diffuse B-large cell lymphoma) are isolated due to low DC values (and high SUV values) in the tumor tissue. BM foci of FL lesion also have (in comparison with nodal and extranodal foci) lower DC values. The predictors of a poor antitumor response were high (from 14.0 or more) SUV valuesin the tumor (and especially in bulky), and low (about 0.5103mm2/s) DC values of BM foci. The PET/CT and diffusion WB-MRI have proven to be reliable diagnostic tools for establishing the stage of FL and detecting BM damage. Diffusion WB-MRI for FL is an informative first-line diagnostic method that allows regular monitoring of the disease and early detection of foci of relapse and disease progression.
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