Outcomes of haploidentical stem cell transplantation for chronic lymphocytic leukemia: a retrospective study on behalf of the chronic malignancies working party of the EBMT.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) may result in long-term disease control in high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Recently, haploidentical HCT is gaining interest because of better outcomes with post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCY). We analyzed patients with CLL who received an allogeneic HCT with a haploidentical donor and whose data were available in the EBMT registry.

Optimization of PMAxx pretreatment to distinguish between human norovirus with intact and altered capsids in shellfish and sewage samples.

Shellfish contamination by human noroviruses (HuNoVs) is a serious health and economic problem. Recently an ISO procedure based on RT-qPCR for the quantitative detection of HuNoVs in shellfish has been issued, but these procedures cannot discriminate between inactivated and potentially infectious viruses. The aim of the present study was to optimize a pretreatment using PMAxx to better discriminate between intact and heat-treated HuNoVs in shellfish and sewage.

Primary prophylaxis of invasive fungal infections with posaconazole or itraconazole in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia or high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes undergoing intensive cytotoxic chemotherapy: A real-world comparison.

This is an observational-retrospective study comparing the real-world outcomes associated with posaconazole vs itraconazole as prophylaxis treatments. Two hundred and ninety-three patient admissions attributable to 174 patients were included in the study. Patients were treated with itraconazole (n = 114 admissions; 39%) or posaconazole (n = 179; 61%).

Improving efficiency of viability-qPCR for selective detection of infectious HAV in food and water samples.

Aim: To improve the efficacy of intercalating dyes to distinguishing between infectious and inactivated hepatitis A virus (HAV) in food.

Methods And Results: Different intercalating dyes were evaluated for the discrimination between infectious and thermally inactivated HAV suspensions combining with the RT-qPCR proposed in the ISO 15216. Among them, PMAxx was the best dye in removing the RT-qPCR signal from inactivated HAV.

Effects of Exercise on the Immune Function of Pediatric Patients With Solid Tumors: Insights From the PAPEC Randomized Trial.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of an in-hospital exercise intervention during neoadjuvant chemotherapy on the inflammatory profile and immune cell subpopulation in 20 children with solid tumors (control [n = 11] and exercise group [n = 9]). Although no significant interaction (group × time) effect was found with an analysis of variance test, we found a trend toward an interaction effect for natural killer cells expressing the immunoglobulin-like receptor KIR2DS4, with their numbers remaining stable in the exercise group but increasing in controls. Our data support that exercise interventions are safe in pediatric cancer patients with solid tumors during chemotherapy treatment despite its aggressive, immunosuppressive nature.

Familial seborrhoeic keratosis associated with multiple 'pure reticulated acanthomas' and infundibulocystic basal cell carcinomas.

Background: A variety of genodermatoses with multiple cutaneous tumours and germline genetic alterations, such as PTCH1 mutations, have been described. Other cutaneous syndromes have been associated with somatic gene mutations, such as FGFR3 in familial seborrhoeic keratosis.

Objectives: To describe the clinical, dermoscopic and histopathological features of multiple cutaneous lesions, mostly infundibulocystic basal cell carcinomas (ICBCCs) and pure reticulated acanthomas, present in a family affected by familial seborrhoeic keratosis.

A New Frailty Score for Experimental Animals Based on the Clinical Phenotype: Inactivity as a Model of Frailty.

The development of animal models to study human frailty is important to test interventions to be translated to the clinical practice. The aim of this work was to develop a score for frailty in experimental animals based in the human frailty phenotype. We also tested the effect of physical inactivity in the development of frailty as determined by our score.

Benefits of skeletal-muscle exercise training in pulmonary arterial hypertension: The WHOLEi+12 trial.

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension is often associated with skeletal-muscle weakness. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to determine the effects of an 8-week intervention combining muscle resistance, aerobic and inspiratory pressure-load exercises on upper/lower-body muscle power and other functional variables in patients with this disease.

Methods: Participants were allocated to a control (standard care) or intervention (exercise) group (n=20 each, 45±12 and 46±11years, 60% women and 10% patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension per group).

Role of Redox Signaling and Inflammation in Skeletal Muscle Adaptations to Training.

The inflammatory response to exercise-induced muscle damage has been extensively described. Exercise has important modulatory effects on immune function. These effects are mediated by diverse factors including pro-inflammatory cytokines, classical stress hormones, and hemodynamic effects leading to cell redistribution.

Endocrinology of Aging From a Muscle Function Point of View: Results From the Toledo Study for Healthy Aging.

Introduction: Aging is a process that involves a reduction in muscle strength and anabolic hormone concentrations, which impacts significantly on health.

Aim: To study the hormone/total strength (H/TS) ratio as a proxy of anabolic insensitivity status in elders, and its relationship with disability, hospitalization, and mortality risk.

Design: A total of 1462 persons aged ≥65 years from the Toledo Study of Healthy Aging participated in this study.

Inspiratory Muscle Training and Functional Electrical Stimulation for Treatment of Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: Rationale and Study Design of a Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) has become the most prevalent form of heart failure in developed countries. Regrettably, there is no evidence-based effective therapy for HFpEF. We seek to evaluate whether inspiratory muscle training, functional electrical stimulation, or a combination of both can improve exercise capacity as well as left ventricular diastolic function, biomarker profile, quality of life (QoL), and prognosis in patients with HFpEF.

High CCL27 immunoreactivity in 'supratumoral' epidermis correlates with better prognosis in patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma.

Aims: It has been proposed that the expression of chemokines and chemokine receptors by melanoma cells may have a role in tumour immune escape. Chemokine CCL27 is reported to be expressed specifically on the epidermal keratinocytes. The implication of CCL27 in cutaneous melanomas is currently unresolved.

Characterization of a Novel Conformational GII.4 Norovirus Epitope: Implications for Norovirus-Host Interactions.

Unlabelled: Human noroviruses (NoVs) are the main etiological agents of acute gastroenteritis worldwide. While NoVs are highly diverse (more than 30 genotypes have been detected in humans), during the last 40 years most outbreaks and epidemics have been caused by GII.4 genotype strains, raising questions about their persistence in the population.

Biology of frailty: Modulation of ageing genes and its importance to prevent age-associated loss of function.

Frailty is associated with loss of functional reserve as well as with the prediction of adverse events in the old population. The traditional criteria of frailty are based on five physical determinations described in the Cardiovascular Health Study. We propose that biological and genetic markers of frailty should be used to increase the predictive capacity of the established clinical indeces.

Exercise training as a drug to treat age associated frailty.

Exercise causes an increase in the production of free radicals [1]. As a result of a hormetic mechanism antioxidant enzymes are synthesised and the cells are protected against further oxidative stress. Thus, exercise can be considered as an antioxidant [2].

G6PD protects from oxidative damage and improves healthspan in mice.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are constantly generated by cells and ROS-derived damage contributes to ageing. Protection against oxidative damage largely relies on the reductive power of NAPDH, whose levels are mostly determined by the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD). Here, we report a transgenic mouse model with moderate overexpression of human G6PD under its endogenous promoter.

A Multicomponent Exercise Intervention that Reverses Frailty and Improves Cognition, Emotion, and Social Networking in the Community-Dwelling Frail Elderly: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Frailty can be an important clinical target to reduce rates of disability.

Objective: To ascertain if a supervised-facility multicomponent exercise program (MEP) when performed by frail older persons can reverse frailty and improve functionality; cognitive, emotional, and social networking; as well as biological biomarkers of frailty, when compared with a controlled population that received no training.

Design: This is an interventional, controlled, simple randomized study.

Active paraplegics are protected against exercise-induced oxidative damage through the induction of antioxidant enzymes.

Study Design: Experimental study.

Objectives: Exercise improves functional capacity in spinal cord injury (SCI). However, exhaustive exercise, especially when sporadic, is linked to the production of reactive oxygen species that may have a detrimental effect on SCI.

Exercise: the lifelong supplement for healthy ageing and slowing down the onset of frailty.

The beneficial effects of exercise have been well recognized for over half a century. Dr Jeremy Morris's pioneering studies in the fifties showed a striking difference in cardiovascular disease between the drivers and conductors on the double-decker buses in London. These studies sparked off a vast amount of research on the effects of exercise in health, and the general consensus is that exercise contributes to improved outcomes and treatment for several diseases including osteoporosis, diabetes, depression and atherosclerosis.

Prediction of long-term major events soon after a first ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction by cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Background: Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) predicts combined clinical events in post-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. However, its contribution to predicting long-term major events (ME: cardiac death and non-fatal myocardial infarction [MI]) is unknown. We aimed to assess whether CMR predicts long-term MEs when performed soon after STEMI.

Disinfection by-products effect on swimmers oxidative stress and respiratory damage.

Disinfection by-products (DBPs) are generated through the reaction of chlorine with organic and inorganic matter in indoor swimming pools. Different DBPs are present in indoor swimming pools. This study evaluated the effects of different chlorinated formations in oxidative stress and lung damage in 20 swimmers after 40 min of aerobic swimming in 3 indoor pools with different characteristics.