Ofatumumab and high-dose methylprednisolone for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Ofatumumab is a humanized anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. We conducted a phase II single-arm study at a single center. Patients received ofatumumab (300 mg then 1000 mg weekly for 12 weeks) and methylprednisolone (1000 mg/m(2) for 3 days of each 28-day cycle). Twenty-one patients enrolled, including 29% with unfavorable cytogenetics (del17p or del11q). Ninety percent of patients received the full course without dose reductions or delays. The overall response rate was 81% (17/21) with 5% complete response, 10% nodular partial response, 67% partial response, 14% stable disease and 5% progressive disease. After a median follow-up of 31 months, the median progression-free survival was 9.9 months and the median time to next treatment was 12.1 months. The median overall survival has not yet been reached. The combination of high-dose methylprednisolone and ofatumumab is an effective and tolerable treatment regimen. This regimen may be useful for patients who are unable to tolerate more aggressive therapies, or have not responded to other treatments

Some results for uniformly L -Lipschitzian mappings in Banach spaces

AbstractThe purpose of this work is to prove a strong convergence theorem for a pair of uniformly L-Lipschitzian mappings in Banach spaces. The results presented in the work improve and extend some recent results of Chang [S.S. Chang, Some results for asymptotically pseudo-contractive mappings and asymptotically nonexpansive mappings, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 129 (2001) 845–853], Cho et al [Y.J. Cho, J.I. Kang, H.Y. Zhou, Approximating common fixed points of asymptotically nonexpansive mappings, Bull. Korean Math. Soc. 42 (2005) 661–670], Ofoedu [E.U. Ofoedu, Strong convergence theorem for uniformly L-Lipschitzian asymptotically pseudocontractive mapping in a real Banach space, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 321 (2006) 722–728], Schu [J. Schu, Iterative construction of fixed point of asymptotically nonexpansive mappings, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 158 (1991) 407–413] and Zeng [L.C. Zeng, On the iterative approximation for asymptotically pseudo-contractive mappings in uniformly smooth Banach spaces, Chinese Math. Ann. 26 (2005) 283–290 (in Chinese); L.C. Zeng, On the approximation of fixed points for asymptotically nonexpansive mappings in Banach spaces, Acta Math. Sci. 23 (2003) 31–37 (in Chinese)]

Market excess returns, variance and the third cumulant

In this paper, we develop an equilibrium asset pricing model for the market excess return, variance and the third cumulant by using a jump-diffusion process with stochastic variance and jump intensity in Cox, Ingersoll and Ross' (1985) production economy. Empirical evidence with S&P 500 index and options from January 1996 to December 2005 strongly supports our model prediction that lower the third cumulant, higher the market excess returns. Consistent with existing literature, the theoretical mean-variance relation is supported only by regressions on risk-neutral variance. We further demonstrate empirically that the third cumulant explains significantly the variance risk premium.published_or_final_versio

Is warrant really a derivative? Evidence from the Chinese warrant market

This paper studies the Chinese warrant market that has been developing since August 2005. Empirical evidence shows that the market prices of warrants are much higher systematically than the Black-Scholes prices with historical volatility. The prices of a warrant and its underlying asset do not support the monotonicity, perfect correlation and option redundancy properties. The cumulated delta-hedged gains for almost all expired warrants are negative. The negative gains are mainly driven by the volatility risk, and the trading values of the warrants for puts and the market risk for calls. The investors are trading some other risks in addition to the underlying risks. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.postprin

Deciphering interplay between Salmonella invasion effectors

Bacterial pathogens have evolved a specialized type III secretion system (T3SS) to translocate virulence effector proteins directly into eukaryotic target cells. Salmonellae deploy effectors that trigger localized actin reorganization to force their own entry into non-phagocytic host cells. Six effectors (SipC, SipA, SopE/2, SopB, SptP) can individually manipulate actin dynamics at the plasma membrane, which acts as a ‘signaling hub’ during Salmonella invasion. The extent of crosstalk between these spatially coincident effectors remains unknown. Here we describe trans and cis binary entry effector interplay (BENEFIT) screens that systematically examine functional associations between effectors following their delivery into the host cell. The results reveal extensive ordered synergistic and antagonistic relationships and their relative potency, and illuminate an unexpectedly sophisticated signaling network evolved through longstanding pathogen–host interaction

Cooperative coupling of ultracold atoms and surface plasmons

Cooperative coupling between optical emitters and light fields is one of the outstanding goals in quantum technology. It is both fundamentally interesting for the extraordinary radiation properties of the participating emitters and has many potential applications in photonics. While this goal has been achieved using high-finesse optical cavities, cavity-free approaches that are broadband and easy to build have attracted much attention recently. Here we demonstrate cooperative coupling of ultracold atoms with surface plasmons propagating on a plane gold surface. While the atoms are moving towards the surface they are excited by an external laser pulse. Excited surface plasmons are detected via leakage radiation into the substrate of the gold layer. A maximum Purcell factor of $\eta_\mathrm{P}=4.9$ is reached at an optimum distance of $z=250~\mathrm{nm}$ from the surface. The coupling leads to the observation of a Fano-like resonance in the spectrum.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Overcoming cross-cultural group work tensions: mixed student perspectives on the role of social relationships

As universities worldwide rapidly internationalise, higher education classrooms have become unique spaces for collaboration between students from different countries. One common way to encourage collaboration between diverse peers is through group work. However, previous research has highlighted that cross-cultural group work can be challenging and has hinted at potential social tensions. To understand this notion better, we have used robust quantitative tools in this study to select 20 participants from a larger classroom of 860 students to take part in an in-depth qualitative interview about cross-cultural group work experiences. Participant views on social tensions in cross-cultural group work were elicited using a unique mediating artefact method to encourage reflection and in-depth discussion. In our analysis of emergent interview themes, we compared student perspectives on the role of social relationships in group work by their academic performance level. Our findings indicated that all students interviewed desired the opportunity to form social relationships with their group work members, but their motivations for doing so varied widely by academic performance level

Visualizing the microscopic coexistence of spin density wave and superconductivity in underdoped NaFe1-xCoxAs

Although the origin of high temperature superconductivity in the iron pnictides is still under debate, it is widely believed that magnetic interactions or fluctuations play an important role in triggering Cooper pairing. Because of the relevance of magnetism to pairing, the question of whether long range spin magnetic order can coexist with superconductivity microscopically has attracted strong interests. The available experimental methods used to answer this question are either bulk probes or local ones without control of probing position, thus the answers range from mutual exclusion to homogeneous coexistence. To definitively answer this question, here we use scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the local electronic structure of an underdoped NaFe1-xCoxAs near the spin density wave (SDW) and superconducting (SC) phase boundary. Spatially resolved spectroscopy directly reveal both the SDW and SC gap features at the same atomic location, providing compelling evidence for the microscopic coexistence of the two phases. The strengths of the SDW and SC features are shown to anti correlate with each other, indicating the competition of the two orders. The microscopic coexistence clearly indicates that Cooper pairing occurs when portions of the Fermi surface (FS) are already gapped by the SDW order. The regime TC < T < TSDW thus show a strong resemblance to the pseudogap phase of the cuprates where growing experimental evidences suggest a FS reconstruction due to certain density wave order. In this phase of the pnictides, the residual FS has a favorable topology for magnetically mediated pairing when the ordering moment of the SDW is small.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Growth in solvable subgroups of GL_r(Z/pZ)

Let $K=Z/pZ$ and let $A$ be a subset of \GL_r(K) such that is solvable. We reduce the study of the growth of $A$ under the group operation to the nilpotent setting. Specifically we prove that either $A$ grows rapidly (meaning $|A\cdot A\cdot A|\gg |A|^{1+\delta}$), or else there are groups $U_R$ and $S$, with $S/U_R$ nilpotent such that $A_k\cap S$ is large and $U_R\subseteq A_k$, where $k$ is a bounded integer and $A_k = \{x_1 x_2...b x_k : x_i \in A \cup A^{-1} \cup {1}}$. The implied constants depend only on the rank $r$ of $\GL_r(K)$. When combined with recent work by Pyber and Szab\'o, the main result of this paper implies that it is possible to draw the same conclusions without supposing that is solvable.Comment: 46 pages. This version includes revisions recommended by an anonymous referee including, in particular, the statement of a new theorem, Theorem

Surgical outcomes of patients with neuroblastoma in a tertiary centre in Hong Kong: A 12-year experience

Introduction: Neuroblastoma has a heterogeneous clinical course. The prognosis varies widely depending on the age of diagnosis, extent of disease and tumour biology. However, the specific clinical outcome of this disease in Hong Kong has not been well characterised thus far. Complete tumour excision has been demonstrated to confer survival benefit on patients with advanced disease even if there is metastasis. Since year 2004, we have adopted a revised, more aggressive surgical approach in managing these patients. Here, we aim to review our experience in the management of this disease. Methods: A retrospective review was performed for the past 12 years to include all patients who presented with neuroblastoma in our institution. Data such as the survival, age at diagnosis, MYCN amplification status, the extent of tumour excision, and stage of the disease were recorded and analysed. Results: 37 patients were included in this study. Overall survival of our patients was 67.6%. Patients with Stage 1, 2 and 4S have 100% survival whereas stage 4 patients only have 41.4% survival. Since our revised surgical approach in 2004, patients who had been operated had a better survival. Survival of stage 4 patients with operation after 2004 was 57.1% whereas the survival of patients at the same stage before 2004 was only 30%. Age at diagnosis, completeness of tumour excision and stage of disease are also correlated with overall prognosis. Further, patients with the presence of MYCN gene amplification have apparently poorer survival but it is not statistically significant due to the small sample size. Conclusion: The management of patients with neuroblastoma remains a challenge. Advanced stage of disease, incomplete tumour excision and increased age at diagnosis were all associated with poor survival. We demonstrated a better survival for those who underwent a more aggressive surgical approach, though this is a technically demanding and time consuming procedure. Thus, the management of advanced neuroblastoma should be centralised in a centre with combined surgical, oncological and paediatric intensive care expertise.published_or_final_versio