Feasibility of psychoeducational interventions in managing chemotherapy-associated nausea and vomiting (CANV) in pediatric oncology patients.

Purpose: Childhood cancer patients often suffer from Chemotheraphy-Associated Nausea and Vomiting (CANV). To alleviate CANV, relaxation techniques and patient education were combined to develop a multidimensional psychoeducational intervention package. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of the two major components, namely, (1) relaxation, and (2) patient education, of a psychoeducational intervention, prior to the commencement of the main study.

Humoral immune response after post-chemotherapy booster diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine in pediatric oncology patients.

Background: The role of post-chemotherapy booster vaccination in pediatric oncology children remains to be established. In this randomized controlled study, we studied the effect of immune responses to diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) booster vaccination in children 6 months after completing chemotherapy.

Methods: Children 1-18 years old with chemotherapy completed for 6 months (baseline) were eligible.

A malignant itch.

We report an unusual presentation of a previously healthy three-year-old Chinese girl with a four-week history of apparently unexplained generalized intense itch. She had no past history of atopy or xerosis. Despite the severe itch, she had only minimal scratch marks on her right gluteal region but no flexural involvement.

A randomized controlled study evaluating the safety and efficacy of deferiprone treatment in thalassemia major patients from Hong Kong.

A controlled, open-label and randomized study was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the oral iron chelator deferiprone (L1) in thalassemia major patients from Hong Kong. Forty-nine patients were recruited in total (median age: 20 years; range: 8 to 40 years). The division of the patients was determined based on liver iron content and put into either the poorly-chelated (Group I) or well-chelated (Group II) groups.

Clonal evolution of 8p11 stem cell syndrome in a 14-year-old Chinese boy: a review of literature of t(8;13) associated myeloproliferative diseases.

We describe a case of coexisting BCR-ABL negative myeloproliferative disorder and precursor T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma associated with t(8;13) involving FGFR1 at 8p11 in a 14-year-old boy who presented with generalized lymphadenopathy and an abdominal mass. JAK2 mutation and FIP1L1-PDGFRalpha were not detected. RT-PCR revealed the ZNF198-FGFR1 fusion transcript in both the bone marrow (BM) and lymph node (LN) of the patient at diagnosis.

Autoimmune hypothyroidism after unrelated haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children.

We describe two pediatric patients who developed autoimmune hypothyroidism 2 years after unrelated allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The causes of post-transplantation autoimmune hypothyroidism are probably multiple. In these two patients, the presence of chronic graft-versus-host disease may be the most significant contributing factor.

Critical airway obstruction, superior vena cava syndrome, and spontaneous cardiac arrest in a child with acute leukemia.

We report the unusual presentation of a previously healthy girl with sudden cardiopulmonary arrest caused by acute lymphoblastic leukemia and mediastinal involvement leading to acute tracheal and airway obstruction. Despite active resuscitation and mechanical ventilation, she developed severe cerebral edema as a result of cerebral asphyxia. She also had facial edema caused by superior vena cava obstruction, a high peripheral white cell count with blast differentials, and renal failure.

Partial neuroprotective effect of pretreatment with tanshinone IIA on neonatal hypoxia-ischemia brain damage.

Tanshinone IIA is a compound purified from the Chinese herb Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhiza Bge). The neuroprotective effect of tanshinone IIA was investigated in a neonatal rat model of hypoxia-ischemia brain damage. Hypoxia-ischemia encephalopathy was induced in rats at day 7 of postnatal age by ligation of the right common carotid artery, followed by 2 h of hypoxia.

Arsenic trioxide mediates intrinsic and extrinsic pathways of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in acute megakaryocytic leukemia.

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) induces apoptosis in a range of solid tumors and leukemia cells, and has been clinically applied for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia with confirmed efficacy. Acute megakaryocytic leukemia (AMKL) is an aggressive malignancy with poor prognosis, if bone marrow transplantation is not possible. In this study, we applied flow cytometry, Western blot analysis and microarray techniques to investigate the effects of ATO on apoptosis and the cell division cycle of AMKL cell lines CHRF-288-11 and MEG-01.

Liver volume in thalassaemia major: relationship with body weight, serum ferritin, and liver function.

Background: It is not known whether body weight alone can adjust for the volume of liver in the calculation of the chelating dose in beta-thalassaemia major patients, who frequently have iron overload and hepatitis.

Objective: The hypothesis is that liver volume in children and adolescents suffering from beta-thalassaemia major is affected by ferritin level and liver function.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-five beta-thalassaemia major patients aged 7-18 years and 35 age- and sex-matched controls had liver volume measured by MRI.

Identification of TPO receptors on central nervous system-a preliminary report.

To identify the expression of thrombopoietin (TPO) receptors (c-mpl) on central nervous system (CNS) and to evaluate the role of TPO on neural cell proliferation and protection, immunohistochemical staining, RT-PCR, MTT, and annexin-V methods were used in this study. The results showed the expression of TPO receptor on human CNS and murine neural cells. C-mpl mRNA was identified in human cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum, and mouse neural cell line C17.

Growth and endocrine function following bone marrow transplantation for thalassemia major.

Thalassemia major (TM) patients frequently suffer from growth delay and endocrine dysfunction. Thirty-two TM patients who had survived more than 2 years after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) were recruited for growth and endocrine study. Patients were followed up annually for growth, and the height was expressed as height standard deviation score (HtSDS).

Immunogenicity of a two-dose regime of varicella vaccine in children with cancers.

Objective: Live-attenuated varicella vaccine is effective and safe in immunocompetent children. In this study, we assess the immunogenicity and adverse events following varicella vaccination in immunosuppressed cancer children.

Methods: Varicella-zoster virus (VZV)-seronegative cancer children received two doses of live-attenuated VZV vaccine (Varilrix) in a span of 3 months.

Intraocular pressure profile of a child on a systemic corticosteroid.

Purpose: To report the ocular hypertensive response to high-dose systemic corticosteroid in a pediatric patient.

Design: Observational case report.

Methods: A 9-year-old patient with leukemia received oral prednisolone at a dosage of 2.

Elevated serum interleukin-15 level in acute graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Objective: To correlate serum cytokine levels and the development of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), the authors conducted a prospective study on serial measurements of interferon (IFN)-gamma and interleukin (IL)-10, IL-12 and IL-15.

Methods: The cytokines were measured in 27 subjects by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay serially for the first 2 months after hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Results: Nineteen subjects with acute GVHD had significantly higher mean peak serum levels of IFN-gamma and IL-15 than the baseline levels at the start of conditioning.

Thrombospondin-1 induces apoptosis in primary leukemia and cell lines mediated by CD36 and Caspase-3.

Thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) is a naturally occurring anti-angiogenic compound that induces apoptosis of endothelial and cancer cells via its receptor CD36. The objectives of our study were to investigate the in vitro effects of TSP-1 on the apoptosis of primary human leukemia cells as well as leukemia cell lines and the possible mechanism involving CD36. Our results demonstrated that TSP-1 induced apoptosis in CD36 positive cell lines CHRF-288-11, Meg-01 and HL-60, but not CD36 negative K562, at a dose-dependent manner as demonstrated by DNA ladder formation, Annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) stainings.

White matter and cerebral metabolite changes in children undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia: longitudinal study with MR imaging and 1H MR spectroscopy.

Purpose: To assess the development of white matter and cerebral metabolite changes during and after treatment in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-three children (10 boys, mean age of 6.3 years; 13 girls, mean age of 6.

Genetic variation of glycoproteins B and H of human herpesvirus 7 in Hong Kong.

Glycoprotein B (gB) and glycoprotein H (gH) of human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7) are believed to play an important role in virus entry and as targets for host immune response. This study examined the genetic diversity of these glycoproteins among 90 HHV-7 isolates collected from different individuals in Hong Kong. Overall, both the gB and gH genes were found to be highly conserved.

Detection of micrometastasis of neuroblastoma to bone marrow and tumor dissemination to hematopoietic autografts using flow cytometry and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

Background: The identification of neuroblastoma metastases to bone marrow (BM) is requisite in staging disease for risk-adopted therapy. However, micrometastases were not elucidated fully.

Methods: Flow cytometry (FCM) with CD45/CD56/CD81 and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCR) for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) transcripts were used to evaluate neuroblastoma in bilateral BM aspirates at diagnosis, BM autografts, peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collections, and CD34(+) cell products of 27 children.

Neurocutaneous melanomatosis with a rapidly deteriorating course.

Neurocutaneous melanosis is a rare congenital syndrome characterized by large or multiple congenital melanocytic nevi and benign or malignant pigment cell tumors of the leptomeninges. The prognosis is extremely poor for symptomatic patients, even in the absence of malignant melanoma. We present serial MR imaging findings in the brain and spine of a child with congenital giant hairy nevi who developed progressive leptomeningeal melanomatosis and whose neurologic condition rapidly deteriorated.

[The Immunological Study of Megakaryocytes].

The immunological role of megakaryocytes is not well known. This project studies the involvement of megakaryocytes on immuno-inflammatory processes and the possible mechanism via the adhesion molecule CD36 and the synthesis of relevant cytokines. The expression of adhesion protein CD36 on human platelets, megakaryocytes and megakaryocytic cell lines (Meg-01, Dami, CHRF-288-11 and M-07e) was analyzed by using flow cytometry, ELISA and immunocytochemical methods.