Detection of RBM15-MKL1 Fusion Was Useful for Diagnosis and Monitoring of Minimal Residual Disease in Infant Acute Megakaryoblastic Leukemia

Acute megakaryocytic leukemia (AMKL) with t(1;22)(p13;q13) is a distinct category of myeloid leukemia by WHO classification and mainly reported in infants and young children. Accurate diagnosis of this type of AMKL can be difficult, because a subset of patients have a bone marrow (BM) blast percentage of less than 20% due to BM fibrosis. Therefore, it is possible that past studies have underestimated this type of AMKL. We present here the case of a 4-month-old female AMKL patient who was diagnosed by presence of the RBM15-MKL1 (OTT-MAL) fusion transcript by RT-PCR. In addition, we monitored RBM15-MKL1 fusion at several time points as a marker of minimal residual disease (MRD), and found that it was continuously negative after the first induction chemotherapy even by nested RT-PCR. Detection of the RBM15-MKL1 fusion transcript thus seems to be useful for accurate diagnosis of AMKL with t(1;22)(p13;q13). We recommend that the RBM15-MKL1 fusion transcript be analyzed for all suspected AMKL in infants and young children. Furthermore, monitoring of MRD using this fusion transcript would be useful in treatment of AMKL with t(1;22)(p13;q13)

Alteration of Sendai Virus Morphogenesis and Nucleocapsid Incorporation due to Mutation of Cysteine Residues of the Matrix Protein

The matrix (M) protein of Sendai virus (SeV) has five cysteine residues, at positions 83, 106, 158, 251, and 295. To determine the roles of the cysteine residues in viral assembly, we generated mutant M cDNA possessing a substitution to serine at one of the cysteine residues or at all of the cysteine residues. Some mutant M proteins were unstable when expressed in cultured cells, suggesting that cysteine residues affect protein stability, probably by disrupting the proper conformation. In an attempt to generate virus from cDNA, SeV M-C(83)S, SeV M-C(106)S, and SeV M-C(295)S were successfully recovered from cDNA, while recombinant SeVs possessing other mutations were not. SeV M-C(83)S and SeV M-C(106)S had smaller virus particles than did the wild-type SeV, whereas SeV M-C(295)S had larger and heterogeneously sized particles. Furthermore, SeV M-C(106)S had a significant amount of empty particles lacking nucleocapsids. These results indicate that a single-point mutation at a cysteine residue of the M protein affects virus morphology and nucleocapsid incorporation, showing direct involvement of the M protein in SeV assembly. Cysteine-dependent conformation of the M protein was not due to disulfide bond formation, since the cysteines were shown to be free throughout the viral life cycle

Clinical Evaluation of Human Granulocyte Colony-stimulating Factor in Chemotherapy for Ovarian Cancer

The clinical evaluation of human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in 38 patients treated with chemotherapy for ovarian cancer stage III was investigated among 3 groups. G-CSF was not given in group A (19 courses), was administered from day 5 of chemotherapy in group B (53 courses), and was given when the WBC count decreased to below 2,000/mm3 in group C (29 courses).　　 The time to nadir was significantly shorter in group B compared with groups A and C and revealed 10 days for the WBC count and 11 days for the neutrophil count (p<0.01), with mean nadir values of 2,896/mm3 and 982/mm3 respectively, and so the count of WBC and neutrophil have been kept during the course. The effect of G-CSF was not modified by age, body weight or the number of chemotherapy courses in groups B and C. These results demonstrate that early treatment with G-CSF may allow increased intensity of chemotherapy by using greater doses or by shortening of the interval between cycles

Utilization of kinematical redundancy of a rehabilitation robot to produce compliant motions under limitation on actuator performance

This paper addresses the mechanical structure and control method of a redundant drive robot (RDR) to produce compliant motions, and show how the design parameters of the RDR can effect the produced motions and the mechanical and performance limitations of the actuators of the RDR. The structure and control method of the RDR can have been proper to produce compliant motions, but the effect of the design parameters of the RDR to the mechanical and performance limitations have not been clear. Therefore, the feasibility of producing compliant motions in the case of the prototype of the RDR is confirmed by conducting simulations and experiments, and then the design parameters of the RDR to the mechanical and performance limitations are verified by conducting simulations