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Robinia pseudoacacia L. nectar and its derivative monofloral honey were systematically compared in this study, to understand how much the starting solution reflected the final product, after re-elaboration by Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola.Subjected to dehydration in the hive, nectar changed in its water and sugar content when transformed into honey, as physicochemical and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analyses revealed. Spectrophotometric measurements and characterization by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection of 18 plant molecules demonstrated honey to be richer than nectar in secondary metabolites. For the first time, the hypothesis of the existence of a nectar redox cycle in R. pseudoacacia was reported, as previously described for Nicotiana sp., based on 1D-protein profiles, western blot analysis and detection of HAll these data support the ecological role of nectar and honey in nature: protection of the gynoecium from pathogens and preservation from degradative processes, respectively. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) who experience early therapy failure (ETF) within 2years of frontline immunochemotherapy have poor overall survival (OS). We analyzed the Grupo Espanol de Linfomas y Trasplantes de Medula sea registry to determine whether autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is effective in this high-risk subgroup. Patients with non-transformed FL treated with rituximab were included in the analysis. ETF was defined as relapse/progression within 2years of starting first-line therapy. We identified two groups: the ETF cohort (n=52; 38 transplanted in second complete response [CR2] and 14 transplanted in second partial response [PR2]), and the non-ETF cohort (patients receiving ASCT in either CR2 [n=14] or PR2 [n=2], but who did not experience ETF following first-line therapy). There were no differences in 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) (49% vs 60%, respectively, P=0.49) nor in 5-year OS (81% vs 83%, respectively, P=0.8) between the ETF and non-ETF cohorts. Moreover, in the subgroup of patients who presented an interval from first relapse after primary treatment to ASCT of

BACKGROUND: Gaucher disease (GD), one of the commonest lysosomal disorders (a global population incidence of 1:50,000), is characterized by beta-glucocerebrosidase deficiency. Some studies have demonstrated bone infiltration in up to 80% of patients, even if asymptomatic. Bone disorder remains the main cause of morbidity in these patients, along with osteoporosis, avascular necrosis, and bone infarcts. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) has been shown to improve these symptoms. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included patients with type 1 Gaucher disease (GD1) selected from the Catalan Study Group on GD. Clinical data were collected and a general laboratory workup was performed. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured at the lumbar spine and hip using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Patients with bone infarcts or any other focal lesion in the area of indentation visible on imaging were excluded. Bone Material Strength index (BMSi) was measured by bone impact microindentation using an Osteoprobe instrument. ANCOVA models were fitted to adjust for age, sex, weight and height. RESULTS: Sixteen patients with GD1 and 29 age- and sex-matched controls were included. GD1 was associated with significantly lower BMSi (adjusted beta -9.30 [95%CI -15.18 to -3.42]; p =0.004) and reduced lumbar (adjusted beta -0.14 [95%CI -0.22 to -0.06]; p = 0.002) and total hip BMD (adjusted beta -0.09 [95%CI -0.15 to -0.03]; p= 0.006), compared to GD1-free controls. Chitotriosidase levels were negatively correlated with BMSi (linear R(2 ) = 51.6%, p= 0.004). CONCLUSION: Bone tissue mechanical characteristics were deteriorated in patients with GD1. BMSi was correlated with chitotriosidase, the marker of GD activity. Bone disorder requires special consideration in this group of patients, and microindentation could be an appropriate tool for assessing and managing their bone health. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The study included 1848 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients treated with chemotherapy/rituximab. The aims were to validate the National Comprehensive Cancer Network International Prognostic Index (NCCN-IPI) and explore the effect of adding high Beta-2 microglobulin (beta 2M), primary extranodal presentation and intense treatment to the NCCN-IPI variables in order to develop an improved index. Comparing survival curves, NCCN-IPI discriminated better than IPI, separating four risk groups with 5-year overall survival rates of 93%, 83%, 67% and 49%, but failing to identify a true high-risk population. For the second aim the series was split into training and validation cohorts: in the former the multivariate model identified age, lactate dehydrogenase, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status, Stage III-IV, and beta M-2 as independently significant, whereas the NCCN-IPI-selected extranodal sites, primary extranodal presentation and intense treatments were not. These results were confirmed in the validation cohort. The Grupo Espanol de Linfomas/Trasplante de Medula osea (GELTAMO)-IPI developed here, with 7 points, significantly separated four risk groups (0, 1-3, 4 or >= 5 points) with 11%, 58%, 17% and 14% of patients, and 5-year overall survival rates of 93%, 79%, 66% and 39%, respectively. In the comparison GELTAMO IPI discriminated better than the NCCN-IPI. In conclusion, GELTAMO-IPI is more accurate than the NCCN-IPI and has statistical and practical advantages in that the better discrimination identifies an authentic high-risk group and is not influenced by primary extranodal presentation or treatments of different intensity.

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas are among the most prevalent hematologic malignancies. Although the addition of rituximab (R) to chemotherapy has made a big impact in the treatment of B cell lymphomas, most of them are not cured yet. The panorama in natural killer/T cell lymphomas is more unsatisfactory, thus representing a group of diseases where effective therapies constitute an urgent medical need. In recent years, several new antineoplastic agents have been tested in clinical trials showing promising results. The aim of this review is to update information of these studies that are already changing the scenario of the treatment of patients with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Il contributo traccia il profilo della tenace tradizione iconografica ispirata al libro dell'Apocalisse giovannea che, dalla pace della Chiesa a tutto il medioevo, informa i programmi degli edifici di culto a Roma.

Lymphoma patients with persistent disease undergoing autologous transplantation have a very poor prognosis in the rituximab era. The addition of radioimmunotherapy to the conditioning regimen may improve the outcome for these patients. In a prospective, phase 2 study, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of the addition of Y-90-ibritumomab tiuxetan to the conditioning chemotherapy in patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Thirty patients with induction failure (primary refractory; n=18) or refractory to salvage immunochemotherapy at relapse (n=12) were included in the study. The median age of the patients was 53 years (range, 25-67). All patients were given Y-90-ibritumomab tiuxetan at a fixed dose of 0.4 mCi/kg (maximum dose 32 mCi) 14 days prior to the preparative chemotherapy regimen. Histological examination showed that 22 patients had de novo diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and eight had transformed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. All patients had persistent disease at the time of transplantation, with 25 patients considered to be chemorefractory. The median time to neutrophil recovery (>500 white blood cells/mu L) was 11 days (range, 9-21), while the median time to platelet recovery (>20,000 platelets/mu L) was 13 days (range, 11-35). The overall response rate at day +100 was 70% (95% CI, 53.6-86.4) with 60% (95% CI, 42.5-77.5) of patients obtaining a complete response. After a median follow-up of 31 months for alive patients (range, 16-54), the estimated 3-year overall and progression-free survival rates are 63% (95% CI, 48-82) and 61% (95% CI, 45-80), respectively. We conclude that autologous transplantation with conditioning including Y-90-ibritumomab tiuxetan is safe and results in a very high response rate with promising survival in this group of patients with refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with a very poor prognosis.

We describe CHASE, a novel algorithm for automated de novo sequencing based on the mass spectrometric (MS) fragmentation analysis of tryptic peptides. This algorithm is used for protein identification from sequence similarity criteria and consists of four steps: (1) derivatization of tryptic peptides at the N-terminus with a negatively charged reagent; (2) post-source decay (PSD) fragmentation analysis of peptides; (3) interpretation of the mass peaks with the CHASE algorithm and reconstruction of the amino acid sequence; (4) transfer of these data to software for protein identifications based on sequence homology (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool, BLAST). This procedure deduced the correct amino acid sequence of tryptic peptide samples and also was able to deduce the correct sequence from difficult mass patterns and identify the amino acid sequence. This allows complete automation of the process starting from MS fragmentation of complex peptide mixtures at low concentration (e.g. from silver-stained gel bands) to identification of the protein. We also show that if PSD data are collected in a single spectrum (instead of the segmented mode offered by conventional matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) instrumentation), the complete workflow from MS-PSD data acquisition to similarity-based identification can be completely automated. This strategy may be applied to proteomic studies for protein identification based on automated de novo sequencing instead of MS or tandem MS patterns. We describe the Charge Assisted Sequencing Engine (CHASE) algorithm, the working protocol, the performance of the algorithm on spectra from MALDI-TOFMS and the data comparison between a TOF and a TOF-TOF instrument. Copyright 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.