A long-term follow-up study on hepatitis B surface antigen-positive patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

The long-term hepatic complications after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in hepatitis B virus (HBV) endemic area are unknown. We examined the serological and liver-related outcome of 803 consecutive patients who received allogeneic HSCTs, with a median follow-up period of 83 months (range, 0.5-155 months).

Efficacy and side effects of 'swinging eyelid' orbital decompression in Graves' orbitopathy: a proposal for standardized evaluation of diplopia.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and side effects of 'swinging eyelid' orbital decompression in patients with Graves' orbitopathy (GO). To calculate the incidence of postoperative new-onset diplopia (NOD) using a newly proposed scoring system for diplopia.

Methods: We reviewed the clinical data on proptosis, visual acuity, and diplopia in 104 consecutive patients (198 orbits) with GO, who underwent orbital decompression.

Ciprofloxacin decreased polyoma BK virus load in patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Background: Polyoma BK virus (BKV) is associated with hemorrhagic cystitis during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The objective of this study was to test whether standard-dose ciprofloxacin might suppress reactivation of BKV infection during HSCT.

Methods: Sixty-eight patients received ciprofloxacin or a cephalosporin as antibiotic prophylaxis after undergoing allogeneic HSCT.

Clinicopathologic features and treatment outcome of mature T-cell and natural killer-cell lymphomas diagnosed according to the World Health Organization classification scheme: a single center experience of 10 years.

Background: Data on mature T-cell and natural killer (NK)-cell lymphomas diagnosed with the World Health Organization (WHO) classification scheme are scarce. They are regarded to be more common in Asian populations.

Methods: Consecutive T-cell and NK-cell lymphomas classified according to the WHO scheme within 10 years in a Chinese population were reviewed.

Autoimmune thyroid dysfunction after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) may occur in patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). In all, 10 cases of AITD (seven allogeneic and three autologous HSCT) were diagnosed among 721 HSCT recipients, including two patients with sequential hyper- and hypothyroidism. The 5-year actuarial rates for AITD after allogeneic and autologous HSCT were 2.

Nonhematologic malignancies after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: incidence and molecular monitoring.

Survivors of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are at a life-long increased risk of secondary nonhematologic malignancies. In 615 adult Chinese allogeneic HSCT patients, nine developed nonhematologic malignancies. The 5-year cumulative incidence was 6.

BRCA1 mutations in ovarian cancer and borderline tumours in Norway: a nested case-control study.

The aims of the present study were to find the frequency of the most common BRCA1 mutations in women with ovarian tumours identified from a population-based cancer registry and in the general population, to estimate the relative risk of ovarian tumours among the mutation carriers, and to explore the value of using CA125 as a prediagnostic test. The study was designed as a nested case-control study within a cohort mainly consisting of participants in population-based health examinations. The data files of The Cancer Registry of Norway and the Janus serum bank were linked to identify cases with ovarian cancer and borderline tumours.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue complicating chronic oral mucosal graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Two patients underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for acute myeloid leukemia. Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) developed, with persistent symptomatic oral lesions. At 2 and 6 years post-HSCT, both patients developed squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue in areas previously involved by chronic GVHD.

E-cadherin and catenins in early squamous cervical carcinoma.

Objectives: To examine the prognostic significance of the protein expression of E-cadherin, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-catenin in early squamous cervical carcinoma (SCC).

Methods: We studied 219 patients who underwent radical hysterectomy and bilateral lymphadenectomy at our institution for stage IB SCC between 1987 and 1993. Immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies against E-cadherin, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-catenin was used to examine protein expression.

Antirecipient helper and cytotoxic T-cell frequencies in bone marrow transplantation.

We assayed helper T-lymphocyte precursor frequencies (HTLPf), interferon (IFN)-gamma-producing cell frequencies (IFN-gammaPf) and CTL precursor frequencies (CTLPf) to see if they could predict the severity of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and disease relapse after transplantation. In all, 48 bone marrow transplantation (BMT) patients and their HLA-identical sibling (n=29) or matched unrelated donors (MUD) (n=19) were recruited. HTLPf, IFN-gammaPf and CTLPf were measured using a limiting dilution assay (LDA).

Liver graft-versus-host disease after donor lymphocyte infusion for relapses of hematologic malignancies post allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is the commonest complication after donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI). In 19 patients undergoing DLI for relapses of hematologic malignancies post hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), 11 developed GVHD, of whom nine had isolated liver involvement, and two had liver and skin involvement. The clinical diagnosis of liver GVHD was hepatitic in six patients (55%) and classical in five patients (45%).

FLT-3 aberrations in acute promyelocytic leukaemia: clinicopathological associations and prognostic impact.

FLT-3 aberrations that occur as an internal tandem duplication (ITD) or a mutation at the activation-loop position 835, D835, are common in acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL). We investigated the clinicopathological associations and prognostic impact of FLT-3 aberrations in a cohort of APL patients. FLT-3 exons 11 and 12 were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the ITD was recognized as an increase in the size of the PCR product.

Up-regulation of the extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin-R during axonal reorganization and astrogliosis in the adult rat hippocampus.

Interactions between cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules play a crucial role during brain development. The ECM glycoprotein tenascin-R (TN-R) has been implicated in the control of axon targeting, neural cell adhesion, migration and differentiation. Here, we have focused on the putative role of TN-R in chronic brain diseases involving increased neuronal excitability, as found in epilepsy.

Hepatitic graft-versus-host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: clinicopathologic features and prognostic implication.

Background: Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) of the liver after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation classically presents with increased bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels. A hepatitic variant was recently recognized, with more than a 10-fold increase in aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. This study defines the clinicopathologic features and prognostic implications of hepatitic GVHD compared with classic liver GVHD.

Joint effects of different human papillomaviruses and Chlamydia trachomatis infections on risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix uteri.

This case-control study based in Nordic serum banks evaluated the joint effects of infections with genital human papillomavirus (HPV) types, and Chlamydia trachomatis in the aetiology of cervical squamous cell carcinoma. Through a linkage with the cancer registries, 144 cases were identified and 420 controls matched to them. Exposure to past infections was defined by the presence of specific IgG antibodies.

Non-myeloablative allogeneic peripheral stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma.

Objective: To present an institution's 2-year experience of non-myeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation among Chinese patients.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: Bone marrow transplantation unit at a university hospital, Hong Kong.

Mice deficient for the extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin-r show physiological and structural hallmarks of increased hippocampal excitability, but no increased susceptibility to seizures in the pilocarpine model of epilepsy.

Recognition molecules provide important cues for neuronal survival, axonal fasciculation, axonal pathfinding, synaptogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and regeneration. Our previous studies revealed a link between perisomatic inhibition and the extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin-R (TN-R). Therefore, we here studied neuronal excitability and epileptic susceptibility in mice constitutively deficient in TN-R.

Fludarabine, mitoxantrone and dexamethasone in the treatment of indolent B- and T-cell lymphoid malignancies in Chinese patients.

The treatment results of indolent lymphoid malignancies in Chinese are poorly reported. The efficacy of FND (fludarabine 25 mg/m2/d, x3; mitoxantrone 10 mg/m2/d, x1; dexamethasone 20 mg/d, x5; monthly cycles, x6) in 95 Chinese patients with indolent B-cell malignancies (at diagnosis: 55, relapse/refractory disease: 40) and nine Chinese patients with T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukaemia (T-LGL leukaemia) (at diagnosis: two, refractory disease: seven) was evaluated. For B-cell malignancies, the complete response (CR), partial response (PR) and overall response (OR) rates were 50.

Osteoclastogenesis is decreased by cysteine proteinase inhibitors.

The effects of cystatin C and other cysteine proteinase inhibitors on osteoclast formation and differentiation have been investigated. Cystatin C decreased osteoclast formation stimulated by parathyroid hormone (PTH), 1,25(OH)2-vitamin D3 or interleukin-6 (IL-6) (in the presence of its soluble receptor) as assessed by the number of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP+) multinucleated cells in mouse bone marrow cultures. The inhibitory effect was associated with decreased mRNA expression for the calcitonin receptor as well as decreased number of specific binding sites for 125I-calcitonin, and without any effect on the mRNA expression of receptor activator of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) ligand (RANKL).

Mechanisms of early peripheral CD4 T-cell tolerance induction by anti-CD154 monoclonal antibody and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation: evidence for anergy and deletion but not regulatory cells.

Anti-CD154 (CD40L) monoclonal antibody (mAb) plus bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in mice receiving CD8 cell-depleting mAb leads to long-term mixed hematopoietic chimerism and systemic donor-specific tolerance through peripheral and central deletional mechanisms. However, CD4(+) T-cell tolerance is demonstrable in vitro and in vivo rapidly following BMT, before deletion of donor-reactive CD4 cells is complete, suggesting the involvement of other mechanisms. We examined these mechanisms in more detail.

The effectiveness of ESP (Electronic Stability Program) in reducing real life accidents.

ESP (Electronic Stability Program) has recently been introduced onto the market in an effort to reduce the number and severity of loss-of-control automobile accidents. This reduction is expected to be particularly evident for accidents on roads with low friction (e.g.