A balance of benefits and burdens: academia in a digital copyright context

Most academics can agree that intellectual property warrants legal protection, especially in an educational context where their own publications are often traded for promotion and tenure. However, academics would also agree that they require a reliable exemption allowing them to use copyright protected work for educational purposes. Copyright law has historically satisfied both these needs by protecting academic publications from unauthorized use, and by providing an educational exemption that allows educators access to copyright protected work in their classes without first gaining permission or paying a royalty.;In attempting to update current copyright law to match technological advances and to harmonize with international copyright law, the United States Congress recently passed a body of legislation that weakens the educational exemption and impedes educational access to copyright protected work. Academic organizations protested the unfairness of this legislation. The reasons they cite relate directly to the erosion of the educational exemption, impeded access to creative works for teaching purposes, and a diminishing cultural commons. They share the view that recent legislation has ignored the educational stakeholder, insofar as this legislation seems to have increased burdens for classroom applications, while the benefits of copyright appear to remain few. If what the aformentioned organizations charge is true, then the balance of burdens and benefits has shifted for educators and students in the classroom environment. This shift in balance undermines Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, which implies that the reason for establishing copyright law is to benefit all stakeholders.;This work focuses on recent changes in copyright protection of digital intellectual property. To understand, more specifically, how digital copyright legislation burdens academic authors and audiences, this dissertation analyzes the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and selected text representing academic positions on recent digital copyright legislation

A Meta-analysis of Multiple Myeloma Risk Regions in African and European Ancestry Populations Identifies Putatively Functional Loci

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in European populations have identified genetic risk variants associated with multiple myeloma (MM)

Unrelated HLA mismatched microtransplantation in a patient with refractory secondary acute myeloid leukemia

Microtransplantation (MST), a type of HLA-mismatched allogeneic cellular therapy, is a promising, cellular therapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). MST transfuses granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)-mobilized, HLA-mismatched donor peripheral blood stem cells into patients undergoing conventional chemotherapy. MST, using haploidentical donors, has been shown to yield clinical benefit without any permanent marrow engraftment in AML. Consequently, graft-versus-host disease concerns are rendered irrelevant with no need for immunosuppression. We describe the first reported patient with refractory AML who underwent salvage MST from an unrelated, complete HLA-mismatched donor. The patient achieved remission without complication, warranting further study of unrelated HLA-mismatched donor MST in AML

Therapy‐related, mixed‐lineage leukaemia translocation‐positive, monoblastic myeloid sarcoma of the uterus

Myeloid sarcomas are tumour masses of myeloid leukaemic cells at extramedullary sites. These tumours can, on occasion, occur without concurrent or antecedent leukaemia. Myeloid sarcomas have been described at unusual locations including the female genital tract. An unusual case of therapy‐related acute myeloid leukaemia (t‐AML) presenting as isolated monoblastic myeloid sarcoma of the uterus in a patient who had received adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer is presented. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation analysis performed on paraffin‐wax‐embedded tumour tissue revealed a mixed‐lineage leukaemia (MLL) gene rearrangement, supporting the association of this malignancy with prior chemotherapy. This case illustrates that t‐AML can rarely present as isolated extramedullary tumours, and the detection of specific chromosomal abnormalities in these myeloid sarcomas can be useful for risk assessment and guiding definitive therapy

Safety and efficacy of tenalisib in combination with romidepsin in patients with relapsed/refractory T-cell lymphoma: results from a phase I/II open-label multicenter study

Tenalisib, a selective phosphoinositide-3-kinase δ/γ, and salt-inducible-kinase-3 inhibitor has shown efficacy and was well-tolerated in patients with T-cell lymphoma (TCL). In vitro studies suggest a synergistic anti-tumor potential for the combination of tenalisib with the histone-deacetylase inhibitor, romidepsin. This multicenter, open-label, phase I/II study was designed to characterize the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of oral tenalisib twice-daily and intravenous romidepsin administered on days 1, 8 and 15 in 28-day cycles in adults with relapsed/refractory TCL. Phase I/dose escalation determined the maximum tolerated dose (MTD)/optimal doses of tenalisib and romidepsin. The phase II/dose expansion assessed the safety and anti-tumor activity of the combination at MTD/optimal dose. Overall, 33 patients were enrolled. In dose escalation, no dose-limiting toxicity was identified. Hence, the recommended doses for dose expansion were tenalisib 800 mg twice daily orally, and romidepsin 14 mg/m2 intravenous. Overall treatment-emergent adverse events of any grade reported in >15% of patients were nausea, thrombocytopenia, increased aspartate aminotransferase, increased alanine aminotransferase, decreased appetite, neutropenia, vomiting, fatigue, anemia, dysgeusia, weight loss, diarrhea, and hypokalemia. Twenty-three patients (69.7%) had related grade ≥3 treatment-emergent adverse events. The overall objective response rate in evaluable patients was 63.0% (peripheral TCL: 75% and cutaneous TCL: 53.3%), with a complete response and partial response of 25.9% and 37.0% respectively. The median duration of response was 5.03 months. Co-administration of tenalisib and romidepsin did not significantly alter the pharmacokinetics of romidepsin. Overall, tenalisib and romidepsin combination demonstrated a favorable safety and efficacy profile supporting its further development for relapsed/refractory TCL (clinicaltrials gov. Identifier: NCT03770000)