Cytogenetics and clinical features of pediatric myelodysplastic syndrome in Japan.

We analyzed the cytogenetics and clinical features of pediatric myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in Japan. Data on patients (<16 years) diagnosed with MDS from 1990 to 2000 were retrospectively collected from pediatric hematologists in 234 institutions. Chromosome analysis was successfully performed in 255 of 277 MDS patients.

Psychosocial difficulties in adolescent and young adult survivors of childhood cancer.

Background: With a large number of children surviving cancer worldwide, numerous investigations have assessed psychological and social adjustment among childhood cancer survivors. According to these studies, it is unclear whether childhood cancer survivors successfully adjust to daily life after being discharged from hospital, especially for adolescent and young adult survivors who have unique needs and concerns. The primary aim of this study was to identify the factors underlying psychosocial difficulties faced by adolescent and young adult survivors in their day-to-day lives after being discharged from hospital.

Effects of KTP Laser Bleaching on Traumatized Tooth Enamel.

Background: Bleaching of traumatized discolored teeth is considered an important issue in esthetic dentistry. Various methods have been introduced for bleaching, some of which may have adverse effects on soft or hard tissues of the tooth.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of KTP laser bleaching on enamel of traumatized teeth.

Treatment outcomes of adolescent acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated on Tokyo Children's Cancer Study Group (TCCSG) clinical trials.

There is no standard treatment for adolescents aged 15 years or older with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), although this age group has been reported as having a poorer prognosis compared to younger patients. We retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of three consecutive Tokyo Children's Cancer Study Group ALL trials (1995-2006) of 373 patients aged 10 years or older, with particular focus on adolescents aged 15-18 years (older-adolescents n = 41), compared to those aged 10-14 years (younger-adolescents n = 332). The probability of event-free survival at 8 years was 67.

Clinical characteristics and treatment outcome in 65 cases with refractory cytopenia of childhood defined according to the WHO 2008 classification.

This study analysed 65 children who were prospectively registered between 1999 and 2008 and fulfilled the World Health Organization 2008 criteria of refractory cytopenia of childhood (RCC). First-line therapy was determined by the treating physicians: 25 patients received immunosuppressive therapy (IST), 12 patients received haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and one patient received intensive chemotherapy. The remaining 27 patients were followed without treatment for more than 2 years (watch and wait; WW).

Parents’ perception of pediatric cancer centers in Japan.

Background: In Japan, more than 160 hospitals provide care for approximately 2500 pediatric patients diagnosed with cancer each year. Not all hospitals, however, are fully capable of providing state-of-the-art care due to a lack of experienced personnel or up-to-date facilities. The aim of this study was to solicit parents’ experiences during their children’s cancer treatment and opinions about the centralization of medical resources to core pediatric cancer centers.

Ultraphosphate, a potent stain control agent that is effective for both stain removal and prevention of stain deposition.

Polyphosphate is a phosphate polymer which is effective for stain removal and prevention of stain deposition. Ultraphosphate belongs to the polyphosphate group and has a highly branched mesh-like structure. To evaluate stain control ability of ultraphosphate, we used HAP powder, glass-ionomer cement and detached human teeth for models of in vitro stain control experiments.

Clinical characteristics of 15 children with juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia who developed blast crisis: MDS Committee of Japanese Society of Paediatric Haematology/Oncology.

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukaemia (JMML) is a rare haematopoietic stem cell disease of early childhood, which can progress to blast crisis in some children. A total of 153 children diagnosed with JMML were reported to the Myelodysplastic Syndrome Committee in Japan between 1989 and 2007; 15 of them (9·8%) had 20% or more blasts in the bone marrow (blast crisis) during the disease course. Blast crisis occurred during observation without therapy (n = 3) or with oral 6-mercaptopurine treatment (n = 9) and in relapse after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT; n = 3).

The differential production cross section of the [Formula: see text](1020) meson in [Formula: see text] = 7 TeV [Formula: see text] collisions measured with the ATLAS detector.

A measurement is presented of the [Formula: see text] production cross section at [Formula: see text] = 7 TeV using [Formula: see text] collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 383 [Formula: see text], collected with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Selection of [Formula: see text](1020) mesons is based on the identification of charged kaons by their energy loss in the pixel detector. The differential cross section is measured as a function of the transverse momentum, [Formula: see text], and rapidity, [Formula: see text], of the [Formula: see text](1020) meson in the fiducial region 500 [Formula: see text] 1200 MeV, [Formula: see text] 0.

Significance of CD66c expression in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Upon analyzing 696 childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) cases, we identified the characteristics of CD66c expression. In addition to the confirmation of strong correlation with BCR-ABL positivity and hyperdiploid, we further observed that CD66c is frequently expressed in CRLF2-positive (11/15, p<0.01 against chimeric gene-negative) as well as hypodiploid cases (3/4), whereas it is never expressed in ETV6-RUNX1, MLL-AF4, MLL-AF9, MLL-ENL, and E2A-PBX1-positive cases.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children with Down syndrome: a retrospective analysis from the Ponte di Legno study group.

Children with Down syndrome (DS) have an increased risk of B-cell precursor (BCP) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The prognostic factors and outcome of DS-ALL patients treated in contemporary protocols are uncertain. We studied 653 DS-ALL patients enrolled in 16 international trials from 1995 to 2004.

No impact of high-dose cytarabine and asparaginase as early intensification with intermediate-risk paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: results of randomized trial TCCSG study L99-15.

The Tokyo Children's Cancer Study Group conducted a randomized controlled study to evaluate the effect of experimental early intensification using high-dose cytarabine and L-asparaginase in paediatric intermediate-risk (IR) acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). A total of 310 IR ALL patients were randomized to receive either experimental early intensification (n = 156) or standard early intensification including standard-dose cytarabine arm (n = 154) after induction therapy. The experimental arm consisted of high-dose cytarabine and L-asparaginase, while the standard arm consisted of standard-dose cytarabine, oral 6-mercaptopurine and cyclophosphamide.

Imaging of vascular tumors with an emphasis on ISSVA classification.

The International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA) classification is becoming the international standard classification system for vascular tumors and vascular malformations. The ISSVA classification strictly distinguishes vascular tumors (neoplastic lesions) from vascular malformations (non-neoplastic lesions) based on whether there is a proliferation of vascular endothelial cells present, and it is an extremely useful classification system for determining therapeutic measures. For vascular tumors, it is clinically significant in terms of discriminating infantile hemangioma and rapidly involuting congenital hemangioma, which are expected to spontaneously regress, from other vascular tumors requiring treatment.

[Retrospective analysis of treatment strategy and prognosis in childhood myelodysplastic syndromes from China and Japan].

This study was aimed to retrospectively analyse the prognosis of childhood myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS-RCC ) from China and Japan. Two hematologists and one pathologist from China and Japan constituted a diagnosis group. According to the criteria of 2008 WHO, 33 children with MDS-RCC from 50 chinese children diagnosed as acquired bone marrow failure syndrome from 2009 to 2011, and 74 Japanese children with MDS-RCC in a prospective registration group conducted by the Japanese Society of Pediatric Hematology were enrolled in this study.

In aggressive variants of non-Hodgkin lymphomas, Ezh2 is strongly expressed and polycomb repressive complex PRC1.4 dominates over PRC1.2.

Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are important for the regulation of hematopoiesis by regulating chromatin compaction and silencing genes related to differentiation and cell cycle. Overexpression of enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (Ezh2) and Bmi-1/PCGF4 has been implicated in solid organ cancers, while Mel-18/PCGF2 has been reported as a tumor suppressor. Detailed expression profiles of PcG proteins and their diagnostic significance in malignant lymphomas are still unknown.

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene haplotypes affect toxicity during maintenance therapy for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Japanese patients.

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of daily 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and low-dose weekly methotrexate (MTX) combination treatment and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) haplotypes on toxicity during maintenance therapy in Japanese childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We retrospectively analyzed the MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms and influence of haplotypes on toxicity in 73 patients. Patients with the MTHFR 677TT and 677CT + 1298AC were associated with severe liver toxicity (p = 0.

Prophylaxis for acute scleral buckle infection using 0.25 % povidone-iodine ocular surface irrigation during surgery.

To investigate whether repeated washing of the ocular surface with 0.25 % povidone-iodine during scleral buckling surgery minimizes ocular surface bacterial contamination at completion of the procedure. A total of 489 consecutive eyes that underwent scleral buckling at a single institution were categorized into two groups according to the intraoperative ocular surface washing method used during two separate time periods--a group using physiological saline (saline group, 222 consecutive eyes) and a group using 0.

[A case of Burkitt lymphoma with multifocal bone invasion].

A 12-year-old boy admitted to a local hospital with fever, migratory arthralgia, and periosteal reaction on X Ray. He was transferred to our hospital because magnetic resonance imaging scan of his whole body showed multiple abnormal signals in bones. Laboratory findings on admission showed the increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, uric acid, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, C-reactive protein, immunoglobulin G, hemolytic complement activity and soluble interleukin-2 receptor.

Temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Of 71 acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors at our hospital over the past 10 years, 2 children developed mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS). This is the first report to describe the clinical course of MTLE-HS observed longitudinally by EEG and MRI. Patient 1 experienced a seizure during chemotherapy involving intrathecal methotrexate.