Markedly improved outcomes and acceptable toxicity in adolescents and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia following treatment with a pediatric protocol: a phase II study by the Japan Adult Leukemia Study Group

The superiority of the pediatric protocol for adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has already been demonstrated, however, its efficacy in young adults remains unclear. The ALL202-U protocol was conducted to examine the efficacy and feasibility of a pediatric protocol in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with BCR\u27ABL-negative ALL. Patients aged 15\u2724 years (n = 139) were treated with the same protocol used for pediatric B-ALL. The primary objective of this study was to assess the disease-free survival (DFS) rate and its secondary aims were to assess toxicity, the complete remission (CR) rate and the overall survival (OS) rate. The CR rate was 94%. The 5-year DFS and OS rates were 67% (95% confidence interval (CI) 58\u2775%) and 73% (95% CI 64\u2780%), respectively. Severe adverse events were observed at a frequency that was similar to or lower than that in children treated with the same protocol. Only insufficient maintenance therapy significantly worsened the DFS (hazard ratio 5.60, Po0.001).These results indicate that this protocol may be a feasible and highly effective treatment for AYA with BCR\u27ABL-negative ALL

Nanofabrication of a Solid-State, Mesoporous Nanoparticle Composite for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Room-temperature self-assembly was used to fabricate a periodic array of uniformly sized Al3+-doped SiO2 nanoparticles (Al−SiO2NPs, 20–30 nm). The uniform mesoporous structure was suitable for uniformly incorporating and distributing Pt nanoparticles (PtNPs), which were used as hydrogen-evolution catalysts in artificial photosynthetic systems, without agglomeration during the catalytic reaction. When the surfaces of the Al−SiO2NPs were covered with an organic photocatalyst (2-phenyl-4-(1-naphthyl)quinolinium ion, QuPh+-NA), each PtNP was surrounded by multiple QuPh+-NA ions. The structure allowed the PtNP to receive multiple electrons from QuPh.-NA molecules, which were generated by reduction of the photoexcited state of QuPh+-NA ions (QuPh.-NA.+) with β-dihydronicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), thereby resulting in efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution