Autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation for T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia: a retrospective study on behalf of the Chronic Malignancies Working Party of the EBMT.

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Listeria pathogenesis and molecular virulence determinants

The gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is the causative agent of listeriosis, a highly fatal opportunistic foodborne infection. Pregnant women, neonates, the elderly, and debilitated or immunocompromised patients in general are predominantly affected, although the disease can also develop in normal individuals. Clinical manifestations of invasive listeriosis are usually severe and include abortion, sepsis, and meningoencephalitis. Listeriosis can also manifest as a febrile gastroenteritis syndrome. In addition to humans, L. monocytogenes affects many vertebrate species, including birds. Listeria ivanovii, a second pathogenic species of the genus, is specific for ruminants. Our current view of the pathophysiology of listeriosis derives largely from studies with the mouse infection model. Pathogenic listeriae enter the host primarily through the intestine. The liver is thought to be their first target organ after intestinal translocation. In the liver, listeriae actively multiply until the infection is controlled by a cell-mediated immune response. This initial, subclinical step of listeriosis is thought to be common due to the frequent presence of pathogenic L. monocytogenes in food. In normal indivuals, the continual exposure to listerial antigens probably contributes to the maintenance of anti-Listeria memory T cells. However, in debilitated and immunocompromised patients, the unrestricted proliferation of listeriae in the liver may result in prolonged low-level bacteremia, leading to invasion of the preferred secondary target organs (the brain and the gravid uterus) and to overt clinical disease. L. monocytogenes and L. ivanovii are facultative intracellular parasites able to survive in macrophages and to invade a variety of normally nonphagocytic cells, such as epithelial cells, hepatocytes, and endothelial cells. In all these cell types, pathogenic listeriae go through an intracellular life cycle involving early escape from the phagocytic vacuole, rapid intracytoplasmic multiplication, bacterially induced actin-based motility, and direct spread to neighboring cells, in which they reinitiate the cycle. In this way, listeriae disseminate in host tissues sheltered from the humoral arm of the immune system. Over the last 15 years, a number of virulence factors involved in key steps of this intracellular life cycle have been identified. This review describes in detail the molecular determinants of Listeria virulence and their mechanism of action and summarizes the current knowledge on the pathophysiology of listeriosis and the cell biology and host cell responses to Listeria infection. This article provides an updated perspective of the development of our understanding of Listeria pathogenesis from the first molecular genetic analyses of virulence mechanisms reported in 1985 until the start of the genomic era of Listeria research

The impact of MgO nanoparticle interface in ultra-insulating polyethylene nanocomposites for high voltage DC cables

Low density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposites with a reduced conductivity of two orders of magnitude are reported as a novel insulation material for high voltage distribution of renewable energy. The key to the high insulation capacity was to provide 70 nm hexagonal MgO nanoparticles with relatively tong, preferably 18 units long, hydrocarbon functional silsesquioxane coatings. This rendered the surface of the particles completely hydrophobic and also served as a protective layer against adsorption of polar low molecular weight atmospheric substances (H2O and CO2). The elimination of trace amounts of water, in combination with the provided carbon functionality, dramatically improved the dispersion of MgO nanoparticles. The lowest volume conductivity was ca. 7 x 10(-16) s m(-1) for 3 wt% surface coated nanoparticles. Extensive electron microscopy characterization was further used to relate the measured volume conductivity, acquired under conditions that resemble 800 kV high voltage direct current (HVDC) cables, to the distribution of the nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. The results show that an appropriate surface-modification approach yielded uniformly dispersed MgO nanoparticles up to contents as high as 9 wt%, with maintained 10-100 times reduced volume conductivity. Simulations of the MgO nanoparticles distribution revealed that the required interaction radius of the MgO-phase was 775 nm, setting a lower limit of particle amount to effectively work as electrical insulation promoters. The reduced volume conductivity values and scalable processing chemistry reported allow for the production of the next generation insulation material for HVDC cables

Mesogene-polymer backbone coupling in side-chain polymer liquid crystals, studied by high magnetic-field-induced alignment

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