Sufficient blood, safe blood: can we have both?

The decision in September 2011 in the UK to accept blood donations from non-practicing men who have sex with men (MSM) has received significant public attention. Will this rule change substantially boost the number of blood donations or will it make our blood less safe? Clearly, most European countries have a blood procurement problem. Fewer young people are donating, while the population is aging and more invasive therapies are requiring more blood. Yet if that was the reason for allowing non-practicing MSM to donate, clearly re-admission of some other, much larger populations that are currently deferred from donation should likewise be considered. As far as risks for blood safety are concerned, evidence has been provided that the current quality of infectious disease marker testing significantly mitigates against, although does not completely eradicate, risks associated with admission of donors with a high risk of carrying certain blood-transmissible agents. However, it could be argued that more effective recruitment of the non-donor pool, which is substantially larger than the group of currently ineligible donors, would be a better strategy. Recruitment of this group will benefit the availability of blood without jeopardizing the current excellent safety profile of blood

Abstract concept learning in a simple neural network inspired by the insect brain

The capacity to learn abstract concepts such as 'sameness' and 'difference' is considered a higher-order cognitive function, typically thought to be dependent on top-down neocortical processing. It is therefore surprising that honey bees apparantly have this capacity. Here we report a model of the structures of the honey bee brain that can learn sameness and difference, as well as a range of complex and simple associative learning tasks. Our model is constrained by the known connections and properties of the mushroom body, including the protocerebral tract, and provides a good fit to the learning rates and performances of real bees in all tasks, including learning sameness and difference. The model proposes a novel mechanism for learning the abstract concepts of 'sameness' and 'difference' that is compatible with the insect brain, and is not dependent on top-down or executive control processing

Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) in children with refractory or relapsed acute myeloid leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) is an immunoconjugate consisting of the CD33 antibody and calicheamicin, a potent cytotoxic agent. Developed for targeted treatment of CD33-positive AML, studies in adults showed its efficacy in relapsed and refractory AML. PATIENTS AND METHOD: We report 12 children with multiple relapsed or refractory AML receiving GO as compassionate use. 11 children had initially been treated according to the AML-BFM 93 or 98 protocol, 1 girl received relapse treatment (liposomal daunorubicin/FLAG) due to secondary AML. After relapse, 10 children received an intensive relapse therapy (AML-BFM 97 or international AML-Relapse Study 2001/01). 2 of them had been transplanted in first or second CR before GO therapy. RESULTS: 5 of 12 children responded to treatment with blast reduction to below 5%, but no child achieved CR after GO. Time until reoccurrence of blasts in almost all children with GO response was 3-8 months. In 5 children stem cell transplantation (SCT) was performed after GO therapy. 4 of them suffered from further progression of AML, 1 boy is in second remission with a follow-up of 8 months. 2 children had severe side effects. An anaphylactic reaction with severe hypotension was managed by catecholamine support and intensive care. In 1 girl, who relapsed after SCT in first remission, a veno-occlusive disease of the liver occurred, but could be treated successfully with defibrotide. CONCLUSION: GO therapy can induce blast reduction in children who have no further conventional treatment options. Frequency and severity of adverse events are limited, and therapy seems to be feasible for children with a sufficient general condition. Controlled studies are necessary to learn more about efficacy and side effects, especially implications for further therapy

Bericht und erste Ergebnisse der Meteor-Fahrt M 16/2 Recife-Belem, 28.4. - 21.5. 1991

With 97 Figs., 11 tabs.SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RO7630(19) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman

Report and preliminary results of METEOR-cruise M 29/1: Buenos-Aires -Montevideo, 17.6.-13.7.94

During METEOR cruise M 29/1 the shipboard acoustical systems HYDROSWEEP and PARASOUND were used on a 24 hour schedule to record continuous high resolution bathymetric and sediment echosounding profiles. The digitization and storage of the echosounding seismograms were realized by usage of the software package PARADIGMA (Spiess, 1992). The underway geophysical program along several profiles on the Argentine continental margin serves the long term research program Sonderforschungsbereich 261, the complete coverage of the South Atlantic Ocean with a net of sampling stations and geophysical profiles. Along the profiles the recorded data provided valuable information for finding suitable coring stations from different sedimental environments on the continental margin, which can be well discriminated by their different echotypes. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RO 7630(58) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDeutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman

Report and preliminary results of METEOR Cruise M 41/1, Malaga - Libreville, 13.2. - 15.3.1998 With partial results of METEOR Cruise 41.2, Libreville - Vitoria, 18.03.1998-15.04.1998

Available from TIB Hannover: RO 7630(114) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Report and preliminary results of METEOR-cruise M 34/4, Recife - Bridgetown, 19.3.-15.4.1996

During the RV Meteor cruise 34/4 an extensive sediment sampling program was carried out in order to reconstruct surface and deep-water circulation in the western equatorial Atlantic. Six complete sediment-time series were obtained from traps moored during M 29/3. Box corer, multicorer and gravity corer were used to recover surface and late Quaternary sediments (between 35 and 3300 m) from the continental slope off Northeast Brasil, from the Amazon estuary and fan, and from the Caribbean continental slope off Barbados. Samples from the surface sediments and from the water column were taken to study stable isotope composition in relation to organic matter degradation processes. By the shipboard echosounder system Hydrosweep and Parasound, bathymetry and sediment structures of the ocean floor were continuously recorded. Micropaleontologic studies were directed on the distribution of dinoflagellates and on the composition of coccolithophore communities. (WEN)Available from TIB Hannover: RO 7630(80) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman