Splenic lymphoma with villous lymphocytes: case report

We present the case of malignant Non-Hodgkin splenic lymphoma with villous lymphocytes regarded as atypical chronic lymphoid leukemia. This was a 62 years old male patient admitted in the Haematologic Department of Brazzaville Teaching Hospital for an enlarged spleen, anaemia and lymphocytosis. The initial abdominal CT noticed a homogenous splenomegaly and a large retroperitoneal tumour mass measuring 148 X 101mm. The initial count blood cell revealed a lymphocytosis with a lymphocyte count at 82 Giga/l, severe anaemia with a haemoglobin rate at 4.2g/dl, platelet count at 68 Giga/l. Peripheral smear examination showed irregular lymphoid cells with a homogenous distribution, condensed chromatin corresponding to villous lymphocytes. Immunophenotyping showed B lymphoid monotypic population cells positive for CD19, CD 20, and FMC7, moderately positive for CD23 and negative for CD5, CD43 and CD 79b. Therapeutically, combination chemotherapy RCVAD (Rituximab, Vincristin, Daunorubicin, Dexamethasone) give good clinical and haematological response. This report illustrates the need for excellent interdisciplinary collaboration and the interest of the cytology and immunophenotyping in the lymphoid proliferation management

Diagonal space time Hadamard codes with erasure decoding algorithm

A major challenge in the area of space time (ST) codes is to find codes suitable for efficient decoding, thus overcoming the problem of many existing ST code designs which require maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding. A solution could be to apply single-input single-output (SISO) channel codes and theory over temporal channel fading to the multi-input single-output (MISO) code construction and classical suboptimum decoding methods. For these purposes, an ST code construction which allows the use of efficient decoding algorithms is described. We propose a concatenated code, where the inner code is the diagonal ST Hadamard (D-STH) code with Paley constructions and the outer code is an algebraic block code, such as a Reed-Solomon (RS) code. As a decoding method, we investigate a bounded minimum distance (BMD) with erasure decoding algorithm. A simple method to achieve the optimum threshold for deciding on an erased symbol is derived. Using this, the proposed concatenated scheme is able to exploit almost all of the spatial diversity of the system

Molecular characterisation of airport malaria : four cases in France during summer 1999

Four airport malaria cases have been observed in the vicinity of the Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France. These cases were geographically very close to each other and clustered in a short period of time during the summer of 1999. The phenotype and genotype of the Plasmodium falciparum isolates obtained from these patients were determined in order to know whether a single mosquito could have infected more than one subject. The genomic characterisation of isolates was performed using the polymorphic markers merozoite surface protein 1 (Mspl) and merozoite surface protein2 (Msp2) genes, the κ and ϖ repeats domains of cg2 and the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) genotypes. Results showed identical genotypes for isolates 1, 2 and 4 whereas the genotype of isolate 3 differed at one locus. The molecular analysis was consistent with the hypothesis that all patients could have been bitten by the same mosquito and that patient 3, may have received a different clone and an additional species. In vitro susceptibility data did not confirm or rule out this hypothesis because isolates had the same profile of susceptibility to the tested drugs

Molecular characterisation of airport malaria : four cases in France during summer 1999

Four airport malaria cases have been observed in the vicinity of the Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle International Airport, Paris, France. These cases were geographically very close to each other and clustered in a short period of time during the summer of 1999. The phenotype and genotype of the Plasmodium falciparum isolates obtained from these patients were determined in order to know whether a single mosquito could have infected more than one subject. The genomic characterisation of isolates was performed using the polymorphic markers merozoite surface protein 1 (Mspl) and merozoite surface protein2 (Msp2) genes, the κ and ϖ repeats domains of cg2 and the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) genotypes. Results showed identical genotypes for isolates 1, 2 and 4 whereas the genotype of isolate 3 differed at one locus. The molecular analysis was consistent with the hypothesis that all patients could have been bitten by the same mosquito and that patient 3, may have received a different clone and an additional species. In vitro susceptibility data did not confirm or rule out this hypothesis because isolates had the same profile of susceptibility to the tested drugs

Outcomes and mutational analysis of patients with lower-risk non-del5q myelodysplastic syndrome treated with antithymocyte globulin with or without ciclosporine A

International audienceImmunosuppressive treatment is a disease-modifying therapy for lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). However, IST is relatively rarely used and long-term outcomes of patients are seldom reported. We retrospectively studied outcomes of 20 patients with lower-risk non del 5q MDS with transfusion dependency, with horse or rabbit antithymocyte globulin ± ciclosporine A, and frontline eltrombopag in two of them. IPSS-R was low, intermediate and high in 30%, 55% and 10% of the patients, respectively. Fifty-five percent of the patients had hypocellular bone marrow (BM). Baseline mutations were detected in 31.5% of the patients and were more frequent in patients with normo/hypercellular MDS than in patients with hypocellular MDS. Transfusion independence rate for both red blood cells (RBC) and platelets was achieved in 45% of patients. RBC transfusion duration ≤6 months, B-cell counts >0.2 G/L and, marginally, BM blasts ≤2% were associated with higher transfusion independence rate. Age and cellularity did not influence the response rate. Median transfusion independence duration was 53 months. Cumulative incidence of progression to a more aggressive myeloid disease was 0 in patients without baseline mutations and 33% in patients with baseline mutations (P = .008). Median progression-free and overall survival after treatment onset and median overall survival after loss of transfusion independence were 45.5 months, 68 months and not reached, respectively. In conclusion, antithymocyte globulin ± ciclosporine A results in durable responses in MDS, irrespective of age, in patients with lower-risk disease without B-cell lymphopenia and treated early in the course of the disease