A proposal for the publication of the correspondence between Elizabeth I of England and Ivan IV of Muscovy

Europe in the sixteenth century viewed Muscovy with fear and suspicion. Westerners saw Russia mainly as a semi-barbaric threat and refused her direct, regular contact with Europe. England, seeking unhindered trade routes and new markets, was attempting like Russia to cross a blocked threshold. In this effort, English mariners reached Muscovy where Tsar Ivan IV shrewdly seized the opportunity to inaugurate regular intercourse with the Island nation. The correspondence between Ivan IV and Queen Elizabeth I of England comprises the most important part of the official communications of the first thirty years of Anglo-Russian relations. These letters have never been systematically complied and published. This thesis attempts to demonstrate the need and worth of such a collection by the following means: (1) a description of the historical background of the period as It relates to the founding of Anglo-Russian relations, (2) a discussion of known sources and of possible repositories of the Elizabeth-Ivan letters, (3) a chronological list and general-content description of the letters available to this writer In the context of events surrounding them, (4) a discussion of certain factors of influence on the monarchs and their correspondence to show that study In these terms would lead to valuable information for the researcher and compiler of such a work, and (5) a table listing all the letters to which this writer has found reference in the available sources

Effect of mitoxantrone on outcome of children with first relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL R3): an open-label randomised trial

Background Although survival of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia has improved greatly in the past two decades, the outcome of those who relapse has remained static. We investigated the outcome of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia who relapsed on present therapeutic regimens. Methods This open-label randomised trial was undertaken in 22 centres in the UK and Ireland and nine in Australia and New Zealand. Patients aged 1—18 years with first relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia were stratified into high-risk, intermediate-risk, and standard-risk groups on the basis of duration of first complete remission, site of relapse, and immunophenotype. All patients were allocated to receive either idarubicin or mitoxantrone in induction by stratified concealed randomisation. Neither patients nor those giving interventions were masked. After three blocks of therapy, all high-risk group patients and those from the intermediate group with postinduction high minimal residual disease (≥10−4 cells) received an allogenic stem-cell transplant. Standard-risk and intermediate-risk patients with postinduction low minimal residual disease (<10−4 cells) continued chemotherapy. The primary outcome was progression-free survival and the method of analysis was intention-to-treat. Randomisation was stopped in December, 2007 because of differences in progression-free and overall survival between the two groups. This trial is registered, reference number ISCRTN45724312. Findings Of 239 registered patients, 216 were randomly assigned to either idarubicin (109 analysed) or mitoxantrone (103 analysed). Estimated 3-year progression-free survival was 35·9% (95% CI 25·9—45·9) in the idarubicin group versus 64·6% (54·2—73·2) in the mitoxantrone group (p=0·0004), and 3-year overall survival was 45·2% (34·5—55·3) versus 69·0% (58·5—77·3; p=0·004). Differences in progression-free survival between groups were mainly related to a decrease in disease events (progression, second relapse, disease-related deaths; HR 0·56, 0·34—0·92, p=0·007) rather than an increase in adverse treatment effects (treatment death, second malignancy; HR 0·52, 0·24—1·11, p=0·11). Interpretation As compared with idarubicin, mitoxantrone conferred a significant benefit in progression-free and overall survival in children with relapsed acute lymphobastic leukaemia, a potentially useful clinical finding that warrants further investigation. Funding Cancer Research UK, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, Cancer Council NSW, and Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation.Catriona Parker, Rachel Waters, Carly Leighton, Jeremy Hancock, Rosemary Sutton, Anthony V Moorman, Philip Ancliff, Mary Morgan, Ashish Masurekar, Nicholas Goulden, Nina Green, Tamas Révész, Philip Darbyshire, Sharon Love and Vaskar Sah