Chronic myelogenous leukemia with acquired c-kit activating mutation and transient bone marrow mastocytosis

Mutations of the c-kit gene have been reported in myeloproliferative disorders. We describe here a case of Ph + (b2a2) chronic myelogenous leukemia that, during the course of disease, showed an unusual bone marrow mast-cell infiltration. A mutational screening for the c-kit gene, performed on DNA routinely cryopreserved during the follow-up, evidenced the D816Y-activating mutation as an additional genetic abnormality. Treatment with imatinib mesylate resulted in a substantial decrease of the BCR-ABL/ABL ratio and in the absence of c-kit mutation. It is likely that the superimposed c-kit mutation, in this case, may account for the transient bone marrow mastocytosis

Interest and Confidence in Death Education and Palliative Psychology in Italian and Indian University Students of Psychology: Similarities and Differences

Teaching death education and palliative psychology in universities has proven to be of great importance, especially in the health professions. The present study aims to evaluate the similarities and differences in interest and confidence in death education and palliative psychology between university psychology students from two culturally different countries: Italy and India. For this study, 63 Italian and 35 Indian psychology students were recruited to take part in a course on death education and palliative psychology. The results showed the positive impact of a death education and palliative psychology course on the training of professionals. In particular, this course was useful in helping students become familiar with and learn how to manage future professional situations related to death and dying. Specific differences between the two countries also emerged, particularly with regard to their approach to the end-of-life field, due to different cultural contexts. There is still much to be done by institutions to improve the dissemination and academic teaching of this area, which in turn can promote job opportunities for young people and encourage them to work in this field

Validation of ground infrastructure in the framework of the ASI Q/V-band program

The Q/V Band program of ASI involves two main elements: the Space Segment and the Mission Segment. The Space Segment is represented by the Technology Demonstration Payload TDP#5, the Aldo Paraboni P/L. Financed by Italy through the ARTES-8 Program, it has been developed by the European Space Agency and implemented by italian space industries. It has been embarked as hosted payload on Alphasat satellite, and successfully launched on July 25th 2013. Alphasat is an INMARSAT Commercial Telecommunications Geosynchronous satellite, which uses the ESA developed Alphabus Platform and embarks four Technology Demonstration Payloads (TDPs). Among these TDPs, TDP#5 is devoted to the exploitation and the investigation of Q/V band communications. In conjunction with the Mission Segment (MS) the TDP#5 allows to carry out communications experiments (Propagation Impairment Mitigation Techniques - PIMT) at 40/50 GHz (Q/V-band) and propagation experiments at both 20 GHz (Ka-band) and 40 GHz (Q-band). The MS has been developed by ASI and consists of two transmitting/receiving Ground Stations (GS) and three control centers, for the execution of experiments in accordance with the requirements defined by the two Principal Investigators, appointed by ASI for the communication and propagation experiments. After the integration of all the elements composing the MS, the system test campaign started with the scope to demonstrate the correct operations through functional and performance tests. In particular, in addition to the propagation experiment verification, the campaign allows to test the Q/V band communication functions in the two payload configurations (i.e. in loopback mode and in cross mode)

The expression of the non-receptor tyrosine kinases Arg and c-abl is differently modulated in B lymphoid cells at different stages of differentiation

The products of the human ARG gene and the human ABL gene characterize the Abelson family of non-receptor tyrosine protein kinases. Both genes are ubiquitously expressed. The interactions of these two similar protein kinases are still not well known, although it has been suggested that they could cooperate, with redundant actions, to provide intracellular signals in the cells. Lymphopenia occurs in mice with homozygous disruption of c-abl, indicating that in certain tissues Arg is unable to substitute c-abl functions. In B and T lymphoid cell lines at different stages of differentiation, we studied, by a reverse transcriptase-competitive polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting, Arg and c-abl in order to evaluate whether the expression pattern of the two genes could give insight as to why they do not exhibit overlapping roles in lymphocytes and whether the product levels of the two genes are related to lymphoid differentiation. The data showed that their expression is differently modified in lymphoid B cell lines. The highest Arg transcript and protein levels are in the mature B cells

A comparison among portal lactate, intramucosal sigmoid pH, and Delta CO2 (Paco(2) regional Pco(2)) as indices of complications in patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery

Our aim in this observational, prospective, noncontrolled study was to detect, in 29 patients who underwent abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) surgery, correlations between the incidence of postoperative organ failure and intraoperative changes in arterial and portal blood lactate; changes in intramucosal sigmoid pH (pHi); differences between sigmoid P-CO2 and arterial P-CO2 (DeltaCO(2)); and hemoglobin (Hb). Hb, arterial blood lactate concentrations, pHi, and DeltaCO(2) (air tonometry) were recorded at the start of anesthesia (T0), before aorta clamping (T1), 30 minutes after clamping (T2), and at the end of surgery (T3). Portal venous lactate concentrations were recorded at T1 and T2. Patients were stratified into two groups: group A patients had no postoperative organ failure, and group B patients had one or more organ failures. As compared with group A (n = 16), group B patients (n = 13) had a lower pHi value at T2 and T3 and a higher DeltaCO(2) at T3. A pHi value of 28 mm Hg predicted later organ failure with a sensitivity of 92.3%, a specificity of 62.5%, and positive and negative predictive values of 66.6% and 90.9%, respectively. Portal venous lactate concentrations were larger in group B at T2 (P<0.001), and an increase greater than or equal to5 g/dL predicted later postoperative organ failure with a sensitivity of 92.3%, a specificity of 100%, and positive and negative predictive values of 100% and 94.1%, respectively. The comparison of the receiving operator characteristic curves to test the discrimination of each variable and the logistic regression analysis revealed that the increase in portal lactate was the best predictor for the development of postoperative organ failure. Hb concentration was significantly smaller in group B at T0 (13.8 +/- 1.0 g/dL versus 12.2 +/- 2.2 g/dL) and T2 (10.9 +/- 1.2 g/dL versus 9.1 +/- 1.9 g/dL). In conclusion, both pHi and DeltaCO(2) are reasonably sensitive prognostic indices of organ failures after AAA surgery, but they are less specific and accurate than portal venous lactate

Safety and tolerability of SARS-Cov-2 vaccination in patients with myasthenia gravis: A multicenter experience

Background and purpose: During the COVID-19 pandemic, myasthenia gravis (MG) patients have been identified as subjects at high risk of developing severe COVID-19, and thus were offered vaccination with priority. The lack of direct data on the safety and tolerability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in MG have contributed to vaccine hesitancy. To address this issue, the safety and tolerability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were assessed in a large cohort of MG patients from two referral centers. Methods: Patients with confirmed MG diagnosis, consecutively seen between October and December 2021 at two MG centers, were enrolled. Demographics, clinical characteristics, and information regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection/vaccination were extracted from medical reports and/or collected throughout telephonic or in-person interviews. Results: Ninety-eight (94.2%) of 104 patients included were administered at least two vaccine doses 4&nbsp;weeks before the interview or earlier, and among them, 63 of 98 (64.2%) have already received the “booster” dose. The most frequently used vaccines were BNT162b2-Pfizer-BioNTech and mRNA-1273-Moderna. Overall, only minor side effects were reported, most commonly local pain and fever. MG worsening after vaccination was observed in eight of 104 (7.7%) cases. The frequency of worsening among muscle-specific tyrosine kinase MG cases (3/9, 33.3%) was significantly higher compared to other serological subgroups. Spontaneous symptom regression was observed in six of eight cases. Twelve of 104 (11.5%) patients had SARS-CoV-2 infection, and none of the SARS-CoV-2-infected MG patients worsened after vaccination. Conclusions: Our data support the safety and tolerability of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, which should be strongly recommended in MG patients, who could be at higher risk of complications if exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection