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Resonant inelastic X-ray scattering in the XUV-regime has been implemented at BESSY II, pushing for a few-meV bandwidth in inelastic X-ray scattering at transition metal M-edges, rare earth N-edges and the K-edges of light elements up to carbon with full polarization control. The new dedicated low-energy beamline UE112-PGM1 has been designed to provide 1 µm vertical and 20 µm horizontal beam dimensions that serve together with sub-micrometre solid-state sample positioning as the source point for a high-resolution plane grating spectrometer and a high-transmission Rowland spectrometer for rapid overview spectra. The design and commissioning results of the beamline and high-resolution spectrometer are presented. Helium autoionization spectra demonstrate a resolving power of the beamline better than 10 000 at 64 eV with a 300 lines mm-1 grating while the measured resolving power of the spectrometer in the relevant energy range is 3000 to 6000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish properly efficient necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for multi objective fractional programming involving non smooth generalized (F, b, ϕ, ρ, θ)-univex functions. Utilizing the necessary optimality conditions, we formulate the parametric dual model and establish some duality results in the framework of generalized (F, b, ϕ, ρ, θ)-univex functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We retrospectively examined the impact of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) during the first complete remission (CR1) in 81 patients with cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML). Eligible patients were divided into three subgroups: HSCT recipients with allogeneic sibling or matched unrelated donors (MUD) (allogeneic HSCT, n = 47), recipients of autologous HSCT ( n = 12), and patients receiving chemotherapy alone ( n = 22). We examined factors associated with overall survival (OS) in these patients, focusing particularly on the effect of allogeneic HSCT. Comparing to those receiving chemotherapy alone, patients in the allogeneic HSCT group had significantly better OS, which was independent of the presence of comorbidities. Furthermore, patients who received allogeneic sibling HSCT had the best OS and disease-free survival (DFS). Patients who received MUD HSCT also had significant advantage in DFS but not in OS, when compared with patients in the chemotherapy group. The study results suggest that patients with CN-AML in CR1 who are eligible for HSCT may have a survival benefit from HSCT, especially the allogeneic HSCT. We suggest that future studies employ molecular classification of AML to better define the benefits of HSCT during CR1 in patients with CN-AML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is known that the uridine-diphosphoglucuronosyl transferase 1A1 (UGT1A1)*28 polymorphism reduces UGT1A1 enzyme activity, which may lead to severe toxicities in patients who receive irinotecan. This study was conducted to assess the influence of this polymorphism on the efficacy and toxicity of irinotecan treatment in Chinese patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma (CRC).Methods: In total, 128 patients with metastatic CRC who had received previous treatment with irinotecan plus 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin were analyzed retrospectively. Genomic DNA samples were obtained from patients' leukocytes, and genotypes were determined by analyzing the sequence of TATA boxes in the UGT1A1 gene. The influence of the UGT1A1*28 polymorphism on toxicity and treatment outcome was analyzed.Results: Approximately 20% of patients were identified with the UGT1A1*28 polymorphism, including 15.6% (n = 20 patients) with the thymine-adenine (TA)6/TA7 genotype and 4.7% (n = 6 patients) with the TA7/TA7 genotype. The remaining 79.7% of patients (n = 102) had wild type TA6/TA6. Marked increases in grade 3 or 4 neutropenia (53.8% vs 4.9%; P < .01), neutropenic fever (38.5% vs 3.9%; P < .01), diarrhea (26.9% vs 5.9%; P < .01), and pretreatment bilirubin level (23.1% vs 8.8%; P = .04) were observed in patients who had the TA6/TA7 or TA7/TA7 genotypes. Patients' pretreatment bilirubin levels correlated well with irinotecan-induced neutropenia (P < .01). It was noted that, although the requirement for irinotecan dose reduction was significantly greater in patients who had this genetic variant (42.3% vs 12.7%; P < .01), it did not affect the response rate to irinotecan-based chemotherapy (42.3% vs 45.1%; P = .80), and it did not significantly affect progression-free survival (10 months vs 11 months; P = .94) or overall survival (19 months vs 18 months; P = .84).Conclusions: The current data suggested that the UGT1A1*28 polymorphism may be a key determinant for predicting irinotecan-induced severe toxicities without affecting treatment outcome for patients with metastatic CRC. Further prospective studies are warranted for using this polymorphism to optimize irinotecan-based chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanisms underlying TNF-α-induced cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) expression in human fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) which contributes to inflammatory responses in rheumatoid arthritis were largely unknown. Here, Western blotting and RT-PCR analyses showed that TNF-α induced cPLA2 protein and mRNA expression as well as phosphorylation of p42/p44 MAPK, p38 MAPK, and JNK which was attenuated by the inhibitors of MEK1/2 (U0126), p38 MAPK (SB202190), and JNK (SP600125), and transfection with dominant negative mutants of MEK1/2, p38, and JNK, respectively. Furthermore, TNF-α-induced cPLA2 expression was inhibited by a selective NF-κB inhibitor (helenalin) and transfection with dominant negative mutants of NF-κB inducing kinase (NIK), IκB kinase (IKK)-α, and IKK-β, consistent with that TNF-α stimulated both IκB-α degradation and NF-κB translocation into nucleus in these cells. NF-κB translocation was blocked by helenalin, but not by U0126, SB202190, and SP600125. These results suggest that in FLS, TNF-α-induced cPLA2 expression was independently mediated through phosphorylation of MAPKs and NF-κB pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented entitled "Successful treatment of elderly advanced lymphomatoid granulomatosis with rituximab-CVP combination therapy," published within the issue.