Prolonged survival in the absence of disease-recurrence in advanced-stage follicular lymphoma following chemo-immunotherapy: 13-year update of the prospective, multicenter randomized GITMO-IIL trial

Aprospective trial conducted in the period 2000-2005 showed no survival advantage for high-dose chemotherapy with rituximab and autograft (RHDS) versus conventional chemotherapy with rituximab (CHOP-R) as firstline therapy in 134 high-risk follicular lymphoma patients aged <60 years. The study has been updated at the 13-year median follow up. As of February 2017, 88 (66%) patients were alive, with overall survival of 66.4% at 13 years, without a significant difference between R-HDS (64.5%) and CHOP-R (68.5%). To date, 46 patients have died, mainly because of disease progression (47.8% of all deaths), secondary malignancies (3 solid tumor, 9 myelodysplasia/acute leukemia; 26.1% of all deaths), and other toxicities (21.7% of all deaths). Complete remission was documented in 98 (73.1%) patients and associated with overall survival, with 13- year estimates of 77.0% and 36.8% for complete remission versus no-complete remission, respectively. Molecular remission was documented in 39 (65%) out of 60 evaluable patients and associated with improved survival. In multivariate analysis, complete remission achievement had the strongest effect on survival (P<0.001), along with younger age (P=0.002) and female sex (P=0.013). Overall, 50 patients (37.3%) survived with no disease recurrence (18 CHOP-R, 32 R-HDS). This follow up is the longest reported on follicular lymphoma treated upfront with rituximab-chemotherapy and demonstrates an unprecedented improvement in survival compared to the pre-rituximab era, regardless of the use of intensified or conventional treatment. Complete remission was the most important factor for prolonged survival and a high proportion of patients had prolonged survival in their first remission, raising the issue of curability in follicular lymphoma

Nucleoli, rRNA Genes and ITS Region in Posidonia Oceanica (L.) Delile

The maximum number of nucleoli was counted in interphase nuclei of Posidonia oceanica, and a restriction pattern of nuclear rDNA was obtained after digestion with four restriction endonucleases and Southern hybridization. P. oceanica has only one type of ribosomal gene whose size was estimated to be 18.5 kbp long. The nucleotide sequence of the entire ITS region was also determined by direct sequencing of PCR amplified DNA fragments. The sequence of the ITS region was aligned with those of homologous regions of other monocots available in literature, and phylogenetic trees were obtained

Efeito do nitrogênio no crescimento inicial e produção de óleo essencial de Piper aduncum L.

O nitrogênio (N) é o nutriente que mais afeta o crescimento e desenvolvimento das plantas, podendo ser exigido em diferentes formas e quantidades. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o crescimento inicial e o rendimento em óleo essencial de pimenta de macaco (Piper aduncum L.) em resposta a doses e formas de N, num Latossolo Amarelo distrófico típico

Nitrogênio e teores de pigmentos cloroplastídicos em Piper aduncum L.

O presente estudo objetivou verificar a influência do fornecimento de diferentes formas e doses de nitrogênio (N) nos teores de pigmentos cloroplastídicos em Piper aduncum L (Piperaceae)

Syntrophy drives the microbial electrochemical oxidation of toluene in a continuous-flow "bioelectric well"

Microbial electrochemical technologies (MET) are promising for the remediation of groundwater pollutants such as petroleum hydrocarbons (PH). Indeed, MET can provide virtually inexhaustible electron donors or acceptors directly in the subsurface environment. However, the degradation mechanisms linking contaminants removal to electric current flow are still largely unknown, hindering the development of robust design criteria. Here, we analysed the degradation of toluene, a model PH, in a bioelectrochemical reactor known as "bioelectric well"operated in continuous-flow mode at various influent toluene concentrations. With increasing concentration of toluene, the removal rate increased while the current tended to a plateau, hence the columbic efficiency decreased. Operation at open circuit confirmed that the bioelectrochemical degradation of toluene proceeded via a syntrophic pathway involving cooperation between different microbial populations. First of all, hydrocarbon degraders quickly converted toluene into metabolic intermediates probably by breaking the aromatic ring upon fumarate addition. Subsequently, fermentative bacteria converted these intermediates into volatile fatty acids (VFA) and likely also H2, which were then used as substrates by electroactive microorganisms forming the anodic biofilm. As toluene degradation is faster than subsequent conversion steps, the increase in intermediate concentration could not result in a current increase. This work provides valuable insights on the syntrophic degradation of BTEX, which are essential for the application of microbial electrochemical system to groundwater remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons

Baricitinib therapy response in rheumatoid arthritis patients associates to STAT1 phosphorylation in monocytes

Baricitinib is a Janus kinase (JAK) 1 and 2 inhibitor approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The JAK/STAT system is essential in the intracellular signaling of different cytokines and in the activation process of the monocyte lineage. This study verifies the effects of baricitinib on STAT phosphorylation in monocytes of RA patients and evaluates the correlation between STAT phosphorylation and response to therapy. We evaluated the disease activity of patients (DAS28CRP) at baseline (T0) and after 4 and 12 weeks (T1-T3) of treatment with baricitinib, dividing them into responders (n = 7) and non-responders (n = 7) based on the reduction of DAS28CRP between T0 and T1 of at least 1.2 points. Through flow cytometry, STAT1 phosphorylation was analyzed at T0/T1/T3 in monocytes, at basal conditions and after IL2, IFN alpha, and IL6 stimulation. We showed that monocyte frequency decreased from T0 to T1 only in responders. Regarding the phosphorylation of STAT1, we observed a tendency for higher basal pSTAT1 in monocytes of non-responder patients and, after 4 weeks, a significant reduction of cytokine-induced pSTAT1 in monocytes of responders compared with non-responders. The single IFN alpha stimulation only partially recapitulated the differences in STAT1 phosphorylation between the two patient subgroups. Finally, responders showed an increased IFN signature at baseline compared with non-responders. These results may suggest that monocyte frequency and STAT1 phosphorylation in circulating monocytes could represent early markers of response to baricitinib therapy

Prior exercise training does not prevent acute cardiac alterations after myocardial infarction in female rats

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate whether previous exercise training could prevent or attenuate acute cardiac alterations after myocardial infarction. METHODS: Female rats were submitted to swim training (1 h/day; 5 days/week) or allowed to remain sedentary for 8 weeks. Afterwards, they were randomly assigned to left coronary artery occlusion or sham surgery. After this procedure, the rats remained sedentary for one week until euthanasia. Cardiac structural and functional analyses were performed using Doppler echocardiography. The rats that had a moderate or large infarct size were included in the evaluations. The data (mean + SEM) were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA model followed byTukey's post-hoc test. RESULTS: After the surgery, no significant difference between the exercise and sedentary groups was observed in the left ventricular infarct sizes (34.58 + 3.04 vs. 37.59 + 3.07). In another group of rats evaluated with Evans blue 1 h after myocardial infarction, no siginificant difference in the area at risk was observed between the exercised and sedentary rats (49.73 + 1.52 vs. 45.48 + 3.49). The changes in the left ventricular fractional areas for the exercised and sedentary myocardial infarction groups (36 + 2% and 39 + 3%, respectively) were smaller than those for the exercise sham surgery (ES, 67+1%) and sedentary sham surgery (SS, 69 + 2%) groups. The E/A was higher in the sedentary myocardial infarction (4.4 + 0.3) and exercised myocardial infarction (5.5 + 0.3) rats than in the SS (2.4 + 0.1) and ES (2.2 + 0.1) rats. CONCLUSION: Previous swim training of female rats does not attenuate systolic and diastolic function alterations after myocardial infarction induced by left coronary artery occlusion, suggesting that cardioprotection cannot be provided by exercise training in this experimental model

Clinical Management of Long-Term Survivors after Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma and Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Compared to other patients suffering from hematological malignancies, classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients have a long life expectancy when in complete remission at the end of first, or sometimes second, line treatments [...]

Antecipação do período de diagnose foliar em laranjeira 'Pêra' no Amazonas.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a possibilidade de se antecipar o período de realização da diagnose foliar em laranjeira 'Pêra'. Vinte e sete pomares representativos da região produtora de laranja do Estado do Amazonas foram monitorados durante o ano agrícola de 2011/2012. Foram realizadas diagnoses da composição nutricional (CND) em amostras foliares retiradas durante a floração e quando a árvore apresentava frutos com três e seis meses de idade (época tradicional para o monitoramento nutricional). Pomares com produtividade superior a 25 Mg ha‑1 foram selecionados para o estabelecimento dos padrões de referência. O estado nutricional da laranja variou com o estádio fenológico no qual se realizou a amostragem foliar, o que fez com que fosse necessário estabelecer normas CND para cada período. Com a antecipação da diagnose para o período de floração, observouse aumento nas concentrações foliares de N, P, K e Cu diminuição e nas de Ca. A antecipação da diagnose foliar em laranja 'Pêra' depende da geração de padrões nutricionais CND específicos para cada época de amostragem