Infantile acute megakaryoblastic leukaemia with T(1:22) in a non-down syndrome child.

Megakaryoblastic leukaemia is the commonest form of leukaemia occuring in Down syndrome infants. However, it’s subtype with translocation t(1;22)(p13;q13)is uncommon comprising <1% of all cases and reported to exclusively occur in infant without Down syndrome. It has a female predominance and carries apoor prognosis. We described this rare form of leukaemia in a 9-month-old girl who presented with bruises, massive hepatosplenomegaly and multiple cervical and inguinal lymphadenopathy. The blood film showed severe anaemia with ovalostomatocytosis, thrombocytopenia and mild leucocytosis. The bone marrow aspirate showed numerous blasts showing high nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio and agranular cytoplasm with cytoplasmic blebs. Peroxidase staining was negative. The immunophenotyping of the blasts showed positive expression of CD117, CD13, CD33 and CD61 which confirmed the diagnosis of acute megakaryoblastic leukaemia. Interestingly, the cytogenetic finding of translocation t(1;22) which is most common in acute megaloblastic leukaemia in infants without Down syndrome was found in this case. She received the AML trial 15 ADE protocol chemotherapy regime and developed severe neutropenic sepsis and respiratory distress requiring ventilatory support and granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). She recovered wellmafter the first course of chemotherapy and was discharged. Unfortunately, she was not brought in for follow-up chemotherapy and presented a few months later with relapsed AML. She was re-started on ADE protocol and currently is on oral thioguanine for maintenance therapy

From construction megaproject management to complex project management : a bibliographic analysis

2013-2014 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Characterization of carbohydrate fractions and fermentation quality in ensiled alfalfa treated with different additives

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of adding fast-sile (FS), previous fermented juice (PFJ), sucrose (S) or fast-sile + sucrose (FS + S) on the fermentation characteristics and carbohydrates fractions of alfalfa silages by the Cornell net carbohydrates and proteins systems (CNCPS). Silages quality were well preserved determined by pH, lactic acid (LA), acetic acid (AA), propionic acid (PA), butyric acid (BA) and (NH3-N, % of TN). Except for the silage with no addition of (CK), all other silages were well preserved. FS + S addition showed the lowest pH and contents of AA, PA, BA, and the highest contents of LA. The contents of WSC (Water soluble carbohydrate) in all alfalfa silages decreased with the extension of ensiling time, especially in the former 15 days and decreased sharply in the first 2 days. The content of sucrose in all alfalfa silages in the residual mono and disaccharides was highest, and the content of fructose was the least. The contents of all these sugars decreased sharply in the first 2 days. The content of hemicellulose decreased during ensiling, while no obvious change on content of cellulose. The content of ADL (acid detergent lignin) in alfalfa silages increased during ensiling. The content of starch in silages reduced rapidly in the former days, and then had not obvious change.Key words: Carbohydrate fractions, alfalfa silage, additives, water soluble carbohydrate (WSC)

The Msi2 protein expression positive correlation with favorable cytogenetics findings in AML

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is the most common subtype of acute leukaemias with a poor outcome. Msi2 protein is a newly discovered prognostic marker and it has been considered as a new target for therapy in AML. The study of Msi2 protein expression in AML cases has not been performed in Malaysia, to date. The main aim of the present study was to observe the expression of Msi2 protein in AML patients by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and to correlate its expression with the well-established prognostic and clinical parameters in AML as well as the overall survival (OS). Sixty four bone marrow trephine biopsy sections were immunostained for Msi2 protein. The percentage of blasts with positive reaction and the intensity of the cytoplasmic and nuclear staining were evaluated. The expression of Msi2 protein was found in 95.3% cases with Msi2 pattern varying between the cases. In 71.9% of cases, the blasts showed total cellular positivity and 23.4% cases showed only cytoplasmic positivity. Majority showed high expression of Msi2 for cytoplasmic staining. Interestingly, there was significant correlation between total cellular staining and the intermediate cytogenetic subgroup (P= 0.04). In conclusion, the results showed that the majority of the patients had high expression of Msi2 but this did not correlate to OS. However, the Msi2 expression correlated to the cytogenetic findings. The results suggest future extensive research to be conducted in order to ascertain the exact role of Msi2 positive blast cells in AML in our population and their association with prognosis and outcome

Investigation of a novel composite sorbent for improved sorption characteristic

Novel composite sorbents are developed. Strontium chloride (SrCl2) is selected whereas expanded natural graphite and nanoparticle i.e. carbon coated nickel are integrated as the additive with different densities for the better heat transfer and sorption performance. Thermal properties such as thermal diffusivity and conductivity are investigated by the laser flash method. The sorption performance is tested by the unit which is especially designed. It is indicated that the highest thermal diffusivity could reach 2.242 mm2\ub7s-1 when the density is 1000 kg\ub7m-3 and testing temperature is 20oC. For different testing temperature and density, the thermal diffusivity range from 1.3 mm2\ub7s-1 to 2.242 mm2\ub7s-1. Also worth noting that the highest thermal conductivity could reach 2.5 mm2\ub7s-1 for the environmental temperature. One paramount factor i.e. the global conversion rate of the novel composite SrCl2 is compared and analyzed under different working conditions. It can be found that the higher desorption temperature results in the faster variation of the global conversion rate. In addition, It takes about 15 minutes and 40 minutes to finish the reaction SrCl2 8-1 and 1-0 when the desorption temperature is 180oC and 130oC, respectively. For sorption process, it is indicated that the global conversion rate varies faster with the increase of the sorption temperature. When the global conversion is 0.7, it takes about 14 to 28 minutes when sorption temperature range from -5oC to 15oC

Detection and characterization of local inverted repeats regularities

To explore the inverted repeats regularities along the genome sequences, we propose a sliding window method to extract the concentration scores of inverted repeats periodic regularities and the total mass of possible inverted repeats pairs. We apply the method to the human genome and locate the regions with the potential for the formation of large number of hairpin/cruciform structures. The number of found windows with periodic regularities is small and the patterns of occurrence are chromosome specific.publishe

Evaluation of Dynamic Cell Processes and Behavior Using Video Bioinformatics Tools

Just as body language can reveal a person’s state of well-being, dynamic changes in cell behavior and morphology can be used to monitor processes in cultured cells. This chapter discusses how CL-Quant software, a commercially available video bioinformatics tool, can be used to extract quantitative data on: (1) growth/proliferation, (2) cell and colony migration, (3) reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and (4) neural differentiation. Protocols created using CL-Quant were used to analyze both single cells and colonies. Time-lapse experiments in which different cell types were subjected to various chemical exposures were done using Nikon BioStations. Proliferation rate was measured in human embryonic stem cell colonies by quantifying colony area (pixels) and in single cells by measuring confluency (pixels). Colony and single cell migration were studied by measuring total displacement (distance between the starting and ending points) and total distance traveled by the colonies/cells. To quantify ROS production, cells were pre-loaded with MitoSOX Red™, a mitochondrial ROS (superoxide) indicator, treated with various chemicals, then total intensity of the red fluorescence was measured in each frame. Lastly, neural stem cells were incubated in differentiation medium for 12 days, and time lapse images were collected daily. Differentiation of neural stem cells was quantified using a protocol that detects young neurons. CLQuant software can be used to evaluate biological processes in living cells, and the protocols developed in this project can be applied to basic research and toxicological studies, or to monitor quality control in culture facilities

Role of CD56-expressing immature biliary epithelial cells in biliary atresia

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