Artist-in-Residence Recital

Program listing performers and works performed

〈Originals〉Usefulness of romiplostim for elderly patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura

[Abstract] Five elderly patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) considered to require thrombopoietin receptor agonist (TRA) administration were treated with romiplostim at our department. The patients\u27 conditions were as follows, respectively : 1) Splenectomy was difficultto perform and the response to steroid treatment was poor, 2) the disease was intractable, for which combination with steroid was effective and the steroid dose could be reduced later, 3) the performance status (PS) was markedly reduced due to concomitant diseases, 4) the disease was intractable, and another TRA caused an adverse reaction, and 5) PS was markedly reduced by active infection. These are characteristics frequently observed in elderly ITP patients, and only first- and/or second-line treatments were considered difficult to obtain the effect for these patients. Romiplostim waseffective in all patients, and the safety was marked. It was suggested that TRA treatment is useful for elderly ITP patients difficult to treat following the current guidelines

Fate of drugs during wastewater treatment

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier B.V.Recent trends in the determination of pharmaceutical drugs in wastewaters focus on the development of rapid multi-residue methods. This review addresses recent analytical trends in drug determination in environmental matrices used to facilitate fate studies. Analytical requirements for further fate evaluation and tertiary process selection and optimization are also discussed.EPSRC, Northumbrian Water, Anglian Water, Severn Trent Water, Yorkshire Water, and United Utilities

〈Cases Reports〉Achievement of complete molecular response by the switch from imatinib to dasatinib in a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase

[Abstract] The prognosis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase (CP) have been greatly improved by a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI),imatinib. However, some patients show resistance or intolerance to imatinib. For such patients, more potent 2^nd generation TKIs, nilotinib and dasatinib, were developed, and have been shown to be effective for imatinib resistant/intolerant cases. We here report a case with CML-CP, who had been treated with interferon (IFN) and hydroxycarbamide (HU) since 1999. Although complete hematologic response was achieved by IFN+HU, any cytogenetic response was not obtained. So, we changed IFN + HU to imatinib from 2002. She achieved complete cytogenetic response and major molecular response at 18 and 44 months from the start of imatinib, respectively. However, minimum residual disease (MRD) was still detected by thenested PCR at 94 months. In addition, she complained of side effects of imatinib, general fatigue and muscle clumps. So, we changed imatinib to dasatinib. Without any side effect of dasatinib, MRD became undetectable twelve months after the switch to dasatinib. This case suggests that the switch from imatinib to 2^nd TKI would be a useful option for CML-CP patients with MRD and/or side effects in terms of both efficacy and quality of life

Analysis of pharmaceuticals in wastewater and removal using a membrane bioreactor

Much attention has recently been devoted to the life and behaviour of pharmaceuticals in the water cycle. In this study the behaviour of several pharmaceutical products in different therapeutic categories (analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs, lipid regulators, antibiotics, etc.) was monitored during treatment of wastewater in a laboratory-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR). The results were compared with removal in a conventional activated-sludge (CAS) process in a wastewater-treatment facility. The performance of an MBR was monitored for approximately two months to investigate the long-term operational stability of the system and possible effects of solids retention time on the efficiency of removal of target compounds. Pharmaceuticals were, in general, removed to a greater extent by the MBR integrated system than during the CAS process. For most of the compounds investigated the performance of MBR treatment was better (removal rates >80%) and effluent concentrations of, e.g., diclofenac, ketoprofen, ranitidine, gemfibrozil, bezafibrate, pravastatin, and ofloxacin were steadier than for the conventional system. Occasionally removal efficiency was very similar, and high, for both treatments (e.g. for ibuprofen, naproxen, acetaminophen, paroxetine, and hydrochlorothiazide). The antiepileptic drug carbamazepine was the most persistent pharmaceutical and it passed through both the MBR and CAS systems untransformed. Because there was no washout of biomass from the reactor, high-quality effluent in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonium content (N-NH(4)), total suspended solids (TSS), and total organic carbon (TOC) was obtained

Cadm1-Expressing Synapses on Purkinje Cell Dendrites Are Involved in Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalization Activity

Foxp2(R552H) knock-in (KI) mouse pups with a mutation related to human speech–language disorders exhibit poor development of cerebellar Purkinje cells and impaired ultrasonic vocalization (USV), a communication tool for mother-offspring interactions. Thus, human speech and mouse USV appear to have a Foxp2-mediated common molecular basis in the cerebellum. Mutations in the gene encoding the synaptic adhesion molecule CADM1 (RA175/Necl2/SynCAM1/Cadm1) have been identified in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who have impaired speech and language. In the present study, we show that both Cadm1-deficient knockout (KO) pups and Foxp2(R552H) KI pups exhibit impaired USV and smaller cerebellums. Cadm1 was preferentially localized to the apical–distal portion of the dendritic arbor of Purkinje cells in the molecular layer of wild-type pups, and VGluT1 level decreased in the cerebellum of Cadm1 KO mice. In addition, we detected reduced immunoreactivity of Cadm1 and VGluT1 on the poorly developed dendritic arbor of Purkinje cells in the Foxp2(R552H) KI pups. However, Cadm1 mRNA expression was not altered in the Foxp2(R552H) KI pups. These results suggest that although the Foxp2 transcription factor does not target Cadm1, Cadm1 at the synapses of Purkinje cells and parallel fibers is necessary for USV function. The loss of Cadm1-expressing synapses on the dendrites of Purkinje cells may be associated with the USV impairment that Cadm1 KO and Foxp2(R552H) KI mice exhibit