The structure of the fire fighting foam surfactant Forafac®1157 and its biological and photolytic transformation products.

For several decades, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) has widely been used as a fluorinated surfactant in aqueous film forming foams used as hydrocarbon fuel fire extinguishers. Due to concerns regarding its environmental persistence and toxicological effects, PFOS has recently been replaced by novel fluorinated surfactants such as Forafac®1157, developed by the DuPont company. The major component of Forafac®1157 is a 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonamide alkylbetaine (6:2 FTAB), and a link between the trade name and the exact chemical structure is presented here to the scientific community for the first time.

The role of intrathecal chemotherapy prophylaxis in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Background: Relapse in the central nervous system (CNS) following initial treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an uncommon but serious complication. This single centre retrospective study investigated the rate of CNS relapse in patients with DLBCL who received standardised intrathecal (IT) chemoprophylaxis.

Patients And Methods: A total of 259 patients were newly diagnosed and treated for DLBCL from October 1996 to May 2005 and retrospectively analysed for incidence of CNS relapse.

Efficacy and tolerability of chemotherapy in elderly patients with advanced oesophago-gastric cancer: A pooled analysis of three clinical trials.

The aim of this study was to determine the benefits of chemotherapy for oesophago-gastric cancer (OGC) in patients 70 years and above (> or =70) in comparison to younger patients. 1080 patients were enrolled into three randomised controlled trials assessing fluorouracil-based combination chemotherapy. Patients received either a platinum-containing regimen (ECF, MCF), PVI 5-FU (protracted venous infusion of 5-fluorouracil)+/-mitomycin C (MMC), or FAMTX.

Malignant lymphomas involving the central nervous system--a morphological and immunohistochemical study of 32 cases.

The morphological features of 32 cases of malignant lymphomas involving the central nervous system presenting over a 32 year period were reviewed and the lymphomas redefined using current classifications. Twenty-four cases (75%) of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas were reclassified using the Kiel classification. There were 18 low grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (comprising 11 lymphoplasmacytoid, five lymphocytic and two centroblastic-centrocytic) and six high grade tumours (comprising two centroblastic, two immunoblastic, one unclassifiable and one lymphoblastic lymphoma).