Alemtuzumab based reduced intensity transplantation for pediatric severe aplastic anemia.

Background: Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is curative in patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA). HCT is considered at presentation when a HLA-matched related donor (MRD) is available and has a high success rate. Unrelated donor (URD) transplants are typically undertaken if immunosuppressive therapy fails.

Clinical features and management of haemophilic pseudotumours: a single US centre experience over a 30-year period.

Given the rarity of haemophilic pseudotumours, consensus on management is lacking. We describe the clinical features and management of haemophilic pseudotumours by retrospectively reviewing the medical records of haemophilia patients with a diagnosis of pseudotumour seen at our Hemophilia Center from 1981 to 2011. We recorded the following data: type and severity of haemophilia, documented aetiological antecedent, localization of the pseudotumour, presenting symptoms, management and outcome.

Immune plexins and semaphorins: old proteins, new immune functions.

Plexins and semaphorins are a large family of proteins that are involved in cell movement and response. The importance of plexins and semaphorins has been emphasized by their discovery in many organ systems including the nervous (Nkyimbeng-Takwi and Chapoval, 2011; McCormick and Leipzig, 2012; Yaron and Sprinzak, 2012), epithelial (Miao et al., 1999; Fujii et al.

Baking a mass-spectrometry data PIE with McMC and simulated annealing: predicting protein post-translational modifications from integrated top-down and bottom-up data.

Motivation: Post-translational modifications are vital to the function of proteins, but are hard to study, especially since several modified isoforms of a protein may be present simultaneously. Mass spectrometers are a great tool for investigating modified proteins, but the data they provide is often incomplete, ambiguous and difficult to interpret. Combining data from multiple experimental techniques-especially bottom-up and top-down mass spectrometry-provides complementary information.

Smoking patterns in cancer survivors.

Introduction: More than 11 million cancer survivors are at risk for new cancers, yet many are receiving inadequate guidance to reduce their risk. This study describes smoking trends among a group of cancer survivors (CaSurvivors) compared with a no cancer (NoCancer) control group.

Methods: The Health Information National Trends Survey 2003, 2005, and 2007 cross-sectional surveys were used in this secondary data analysis.

Infection of mice with lyme disease spirochetes constitutively producing outer surface proteins a and B.

Outer surface protein A (OspA) of the Lyme disease spirochete is primarily produced in the tick vector. OspA, which is a receptor for attaching spirochetes to the tick gut, is down regulated as the spirochetes leave the tick and enter the mammalian host. Although OspA is not a major antigen produced in the mammal, the protein appears to be produced under some conditions and production has been linked to more severe disease.

Ethanol regulation of gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptors: genomic and nongenomic mechanisms.

gamma-Aminobutyric acid(A) (GABA(A)) receptors are ligand-gated ion channels that, predominantly, mediate inhibitory synaptic transmission in the CNS. These receptors are pentameric complexes that are comprised of subunits from several classes (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, ), with each class consisting of several isoforms. Chronic ethanol consumption alters GABA(A) receptor function producing cellular tolerance to GABA and ethanol, cross-tolerance to benzodiazepines and barbiturates, and sensitization to inverse agonists.

Systemic reactivation of otitis media with effusion in a rat model.

Objective: This study addresses the interaction of bacterial antigens, specifically peptidoglycan-polysaccharide (PG-PS) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), in the induction and reactivation of mucoid middle ear effusions.

Methods: Twenty-seven rats underwent eustachian tube obstruction before inoculation of the middle ear bulla with PG-PS. Three weeks later, after resolution of all middle ear effusions, 6 rats were randomly selected and euthanized as the first control group (control I).

The diuretic effects of alcohol and caffeine and total water intake misclassification.

Data from the 1994 USDA nationwide survey (CSFII) on 190 non-smoking males (aged 20-29) were used to propose a method for adjusting total water intake for the diuretic effects of caffeine and alcohol, and evaluate the potential for related misclassification bias. The data were processed on a per meal basis. Under the assumption that subjects were in water balance at the start of the survey day, water losses due to caffeine (1.