Therapy related acute myeloid leukemia with t(10:16): a rare entity

Treatment related myelodysplastic syndrome (t-MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML) are well known complications after chemotherapy for various hematologic and non-hematologic malignancies. Alkylating agents and Topoisomerase inhibitors are most widely studied in this regard. There is growing concern about occurrence of t-MDS, t-MDS/AML and t-AML in patients of CLL treated with nucleoside analogues especially in combination with alkylating agents. Exact incidence and pathogenesis of nucleoside analogue related MDS/AML is not clear at this time. We hereby report a case of t-AML in a patient treated with Fludarabine, Cyclophosphamide and Rituximab (FCR) for CLL. The cytogenetic studies revealed a unique translocation t (10:16), that has been reported in very few cases of therapy related AML and pediatric AML

Growth of brown trout in the wild predicted by embryo stress reaction in the laboratory

Laboratory studies on embryos of salmonids, such as the brown trout (Salmo trutta), have been extensively used to study environmental stress and how responses vary within and between natural populations. These studies are based on the implicit assumption that early life-history traits are relevant for stress tolerance in the wild. Here we test this assumption by combining two datasets from studies on the same 60 full-sib families. These families had been experimentally produced from wild breeders to determine, in separate samples, (i) stress tolerances of singly kept embryos in the laboratory and (ii) growth of juveniles during 6 months in the wild. We found that growth in the wild was well predicted by larval size of their full sibs in the laboratory, especially if these siblings had been experimentally exposed to a pathogen. Exposure to the pathogen had not caused elevated mortality among the embryos but induced early hatching. The strength of this stress-induced change of life history was a significant predictor of juvenile growth in the wild: the stronger the response in the laboratory, the slower the growth in the wild. We conclude that embryo performance in controlled environments can be useful predictors of juvenile performance in the wild

Weak radiative hyperon decays, Hara's theorem and the diquark

Weak radiative hyperon decays are discussed in the diquark-level approach. It is pointed out that in the general diquark formalism one may reproduce the experimentally suggested pattern of asymmetries, while maintaining Hara's theorem in the SU(3) limit. At present, however, no detailed quark-based model of parity-violating diquark-photon coupling exists that would have the necessary properties.Comment: 10 pages, LaTe

CMR2009: 5.04: Post-mortem analysis of gadolinium distribution in NSF subjects

No Abstract.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64915/1/323_ftp.pd

Pattern Analysis of Microtubule-Polymerizing and -Depolymerizing Agent Combinations as Cancer Chemotherapies

Subcellular distribution of mass can be analyzed by a technique that involves culturing cells on interferometers and digitizing their interference contours. Contour sampling resulted in 102 variables per cell, which were predictors of oncogenic transformation. Cell phenotypes can be deconstructed by use of latent factors, which represent the covariance of the real variables. The reversal of the cancertype phenotype by a combination of microtubule- stabilizing and -depolymerizing agents was described previously. The implications of these results have been explored by clinicians who treated patients with the combination of docetaxel and vinorelbine (Navelbine®). The current study was performed to determine the effects of different combinations on phenotype and in phases of the cell cycle other than mitosis. Combinations of paclitaxel with either colchicine, podophyllotoxin, nocodazole, or vinblastine caused phenotype reversal. Paclitaxel analogue, 7-deoxytaxol, by itself caused reversal. Factors #4, (filopodia), #5 (displacement and/or deep invaginations in the periphery), #8, and #12 took on values typical of normal cells, whereas the values of #7 (p21-activated kinase), and #13 (rounding up) shifted toward the cancer-type. All combinations altered microtubule arrangement at the cell edge. Delivery schedules and drug ratios used in clinical studies were subjected to analysis. Clinical response rates were better when the combination was not interspersed with a single agent (P=0.004). The results support the idea that efficacy depends upon simultaneous exposure to both agents, and suggest a novel mechanism for combination therapies. These therapies appear to restore in transformed cells some of the features of a contact-inhibited cell, and to impede progress through the cell cycle even when provided at nanomolar concentrations

Metabolic Characterization of the Common Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

High-resolution metabolomics has created opportunity to integrate nutrition and metabolism into genetic studies to improve understanding of the diverse radiation of primate species. At present, however, there is very little information to help guide experimental design for study of wild populations. In a previous non-targeted metabolomics study of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), Rhesus macaques, humans, and four non-primate mammalian species, we found that essential amino acids (AA) and other central metabolites had interspecies variation similar to intraspecies variation while non-essential AA, environmental chemicals and catabolic waste products had greater interspecies variation. The present study was designed to test whether 55 plasma metabolites, including both nutritionally essential and non-essential metabolites and catabolic products, differ in concentration in common marmosets and humans. Significant differences were present for more than half of the metabolites analyzed and included AA, vitamins and central lipid metabolites, as well as for catabolic products of AA, nucleotides, energy metabolism and heme. Three environmental chemicals were present at low nanomolar concentrations but did not differ between species. Sex and age differences in marmosets were present for AA and nucleotide metabolism and warrant additional study. Overall, the results suggest that quantitative, targeted metabolomics can provide a useful complement to non-targeted metabolomics for studies of diet and environment interactions in primate evolution.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant AG038746

Hyperon Nonleptonic Weak Decays Revisited

We first review the current algebra - PCAC approach to nonleptonic octet baryon 14 weak decay B (\to) (B^{\prime})(\pi) amplitudes. The needed four parameters are independently determined by (\Omega \to \Xi \pi),(\Lambda K) and (\Xi ^{-}\to \Sigma ^{-}\gamma) weak decays in dispersion theory tree order. We also summarize the recent chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) version of the eight independent B (\to) (B^{\prime}\pi) weak (\Delta I) = 1/2 amplitudes containing considerably more than eight low-energy weak constants in one-loop order.Comment: 10 pages, RevTe

Two-body Cabibbo-suppressed Decays of Charmed Baryons into Vector Mesons and into Photons

The heavy quark effective theory and the factorization approximation are used to treat the Cabibbo-suppressed decays of charmed baryons to vector mesons, $\Lambda_C\rightarrow p{\rho^0}, p\omega$, $\Xi_C^{+,0}\rightarrow\Sigma^{+,0}\phi, \Sigma^{+,0}{\rho^0}, \Sigma^{+,0}\omega$ and $\Xi_C^{0}\rightarrow\Lambda\phi, \Lambda\rho, \Lambda\omega$. The input from two recent experimental results on $\Lambda_C$ decays allows the estimation of the branching ratios for these modes, which turn out to be between $10^{-4}$ and $10^{-3}$. The long distance contribution of these transitions via vector meson dominance to the radiative weak processes $\Lambda_C\rightarrow p\gamma$, $\Xi_C\rightarrow\Sigma\gamma$ and $\Xi_C^0\rightarrow\Lambda\gamma$ leads to quite small branching ratios, $10^{-6}-10^{-9}$; the larger value holds if a sum rule between the coupling constants of the vector mesons is broken.Comment: 11 pages, latex, no figure