Publications by authors named "McMullin M"

Background: Myelofibrosis (MF) is a clonal haematopoietic disease, with median overall survival for patients with primary MF only 6.5 years. The most frequent gene mutation found in patients is JAK2, causing constitutive activation of the kinase and activation of downstream signalling.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: We aimed to implement a post-cardiac arrest targeted temperature management (TTM) bundle to reduce the percent of time with a fever from 7% to 3.5%.

Design: A prospective, quality improvement (QI) initiative utilizing the Method for Improvement.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are a group of chronic disorders of the bone marrow characterised by the overproduction of clonal myeloid stem cells. The most common driver mutation found in MPNs is a point mutation on exon 14 of the JAK2 gene, JAK2. Various studies have suggested that measuring the variable allele frequency (VAF) of JAK2 may provide useful insight regarding diagnosis, treatment, risks and outcomes in MPN patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Early cancer recognition is key to improving patient outcomes. Diagnosis is often delayed in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), putting them at risk of thromboembolic events and other complications pre-diagnosis. A clear understanding of the barriers to presentation and diagnosis is required.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) with a STAT5b::RARα gene fusion is an extremely rare subtype of APL characterised by resistance to conventional therapies and extremely poor prognosis. This case highlights that whilst APL with variant RARα translocations are rare, they do pose significant challenges both diagnostically and in their clinical management. This case, in the first instance, demonstrates the importance of using a combination of molecular techniques including next generation sequencing (NGS) for diagnosis particularly in morphological and immunophenotypic typical APL which appears negative by confirmatory testing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Polycythemia vera (PV) was first described by Vaquez in 1892. This is a chronic hematological malignancy which affects both older and young patients. Perhaps due to lack of a curative treatment and the perceived toxicities of prior therapies our focus in the past was to intensify treatment only for patients at higher risk of thrombosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

An absolute erythrocytosis is present when the red cell mass is greater than 125% of the predicted. This is suspected when the hemoglobin or hematocrit is above the normal range. An erythrocytosis can be classified as primary or secondary and congenital or acquired.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Theories of auditory and visual scene analysis suggest the perception of scenes relies on the identification and segregation of objects within it, resembling a detail-oriented processing style. However, a more global process may occur while analyzing scenes, which has been evidenced in the visual domain. It is our understanding that a similar line of research has not been explored in the auditory domain; therefore, we evaluated the contributions of high-level global and low-level acoustic information to auditory scene perception.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We report on a study of next-generation sequencing in 257 patients undergoing investigations for cytopenias. We sequenced bone marrow aspirates using a target enrichment panel comprising 82 genes and used T cells from paired blood as a control. One hundred and sixty patients had idiopathic cytopenias, 81 had myeloid malignancies and 16 had lymphoid malignancies or other diagnoses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Bone marrow fibrosis (BMF) is linked to myelofibrosis and can affect prognosis, but this study explores its relationship with treatment outcomes in patients receiving JAK inhibitors momelotinib and ruxolitinib.
  • In a study of patients with BMF, only momelotinib showed increased transfusion independence and hemoglobin levels, while ruxolitinib showed a decrease in hemoglobin.
  • The findings suggest that changes in BMF do not correlate with clinical improvements or survival benefits, indicating that BMF may not be an effective surrogate marker for assessing the efficacy of JAK inhibitors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Patients with myelofibrosis suffer from various symptoms due to bone marrow fibrosis and inflammation, and improving these symptoms can enhance their quality of life.
  • - This study analyzed data from two phase III trials of momelotinib (SIMPLIFY-1 and SIMPLIFY-2) to determine a meaningful change threshold (MCT) for symptoms, finding it to be 8 points for treatment-naive patients and 6 points for those previously treated.
  • - Results showed that momelotinib effectively improved patient symptoms, suggesting that the traditional 50% reduction standard used in clinical trials may be too conservative and that momelotinib offers significant benefits compared to other treatments in myelofibrosis patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are a group of haematological malignancies that affect approximately 8 people in every 100,000 individuals in the UK. Little is known about the aetiology of MPNs, as previous studies have been hampered by small sample sizes, thus it is important to understand the cause of MPNs in a larger study to identify prevention strategies and improve treatment strategies. This study aims to determine environmental, lifestyle, genetic and medical causes of MPNs and to assess the relevance of occupational carcinogen exposures and quality of life impacts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Alleviating symptom burden in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) is imperative to achieving optimal management. Research remains to elucidate the relationship between the () mutation present in many MPN patients, and the symptomatology they experience. This retrospective study analysed data collected from MPN patients included in the Myeloproliferative Neoplasms: An In-depth Case-Control (MOSAICC) pilot study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Current therapies for myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) improve symptoms but have limited effect on tumor size. In preclinical studies, tamoxifen restored normal apoptosis in mutated hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs). TAMARIN Phase-II, multicenter, single-arm clinical trial assessed tamoxifen's safety and activity in patients with stable MPNs, no prior thrombotic events and mutated JAK2, CALR or CALR peripheral blood allele burden ≥20% (EudraCT 2015-005497-38).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Myeloid malignancies are a group of blood disorders characterized by the proliferation of one or more haematopoietic myeloid cell lineages, predominantly in the bone marrow, and are often caused by aberrant protein tyrosine kinase activity. The protein tyrosine phosphatase CD45 is a trans-membrane molecule expressed on all haemopoietic blood cells except that of platelets and red cells. CD45 regulates various cellular physiological processes including proliferation, apoptosis, and lymphocyte activation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Myelofibrosis (MF) is a chronic condition causing severe symptoms, particularly fatigue and anemia, which greatly affect patients' quality of life.
  • The JAK1/JAK2/activin A receptor type 1 inhibitor momelotinib has shown promising results in clinical trials, significantly improving both anemia and overall MF-related symptoms compared to danazol.
  • The phase 3 MOMENTUM trial confirmed these benefits, with patients on momelotinib experiencing faster and lasting symptom relief, particularly in fatigue and physical functioning, as demonstrated by various patient-reported outcome measures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Polycythaemia vera (PV) is a Philadelphia-negative myeloproliferative neoplasm, typically driven by acquired JAK2 mutation and characterised by elevated red cell mass and increased risk of thrombotic events. Patients are managed with phlebotomy to maintain haematocrit (Hct) < 0.45, and patients stratified as 'high risk' for thrombosis are additionally treated with cytoreductive agents to attain this target.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Patients with FLT3-mutated AML have a high relapse rate and suboptimal outcomes. Many have co-mutations suitable for measurable residual disease (MRD) monitoring by RT-qPCR and those destined to relapse can be identified by high or rising levels of MRD, called molecular failure.  This provides a window for pre-emptive intervention, but there is little evidence to guide treatment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are a group of acquired clonal disorders where mutations drive proliferative disease resulting in increased blood counts and in some cases end-stage myelofibrosis. Epigenetic changes are the reversible modifications to DNA- and RNA-associated proteins that impact gene activity without changing the DNA sequence. This review summarizes mechanisms of epigenetic changes and the nucleosome.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Hereditary erythrocytosis is a rare condition with excessive red blood cell production, and a study involved 2,160 patients across Europe focusing on the EGLN1 gene.
  • Researchers identified 39 mutations in the EGLN1 gene, including one deletion, which encodes the PHD2 enzyme that regulates the hypoxia-inducible factor.
  • The study assessed the effects of these mutations through various methods, identifying 16 as pathogenic, and highlighted the importance of collaborative research in addressing rare genetic disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Polycythemia vera (PV) is a blood disorder linked to JAK/STAT activation, and ruxolitinib has been shown to effectively manage high-risk patients by controlling blood counts and alleviating symptoms.
  • The MAJIC-PV trial compared ruxolitinib to best available therapy (BAT) in patients who were resistant or intolerant to hydroxycarbamide, with the main goal of achieving a complete response (CR) within a year.
  • Results showed that ruxolitinib led to a significantly higher CR rate (43% vs. 26% for BAT), better duration of response and symptom improvement, and a stronger correlation between molecular response and patient outcomes like event-free survival (
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Myelofibrosis (MF) causes significant health-related quality of life issues, and traditional clinical trials often use a basic measure of symptom improvement, which may not capture the full range of patient experiences.
  • This study used advanced statistical methods to analyze how symptoms change over a 24-week period in patients with MF treated with momelotinib, comparing these changes to a control group.
  • Results showed that both momelotinib and ruxolitinib improved overall symptoms, but momelotinib consistently led to better outcomes, with more patients reporting improvements or stability compared to the control group.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF