Search

Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder, comprising only 2% of all leukemias. The Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation (HCLF) has developed a patient data registry to enable investigators to better study the clinical features, treatment outcomes, and complications of patients with HCL. This system utilizes a centralized registry architecture. Patients are enrolled at HCL Centers of Excellence (COE) or via a web-based portal. All data are de-identified, which reduces regulatory burden and increases opportunities for data access and re-use. To date, 579 patients have been enrolled in the registry. Efforts are underway to engage additional COE's to expand access to patients across the globe. This international PDR will enable researchers to study outcomes in HCL in ways not previously possible due to the rarity of the disease and will serve as a platform for future prospective research.

Standard treatment options in classic HCL (cHCL) result in high response rates and near normal life expectancy. However, the disease itself and the recommended standard treatment are associated with profound and prolonged immunosuppression, increasing susceptibility to infections and the risk for a severe course of COVID-19. The Hairy Cell Leukemia Foundation (HCLF) has recently convened experts and discussed different clinical strategies for the management of these patients. The new recommendations adapt the 2017 consensus for the diagnosis and management with cHCL to the current COVID-19 pandemic. They underline the option of active surveillance in patients with low but stable blood counts, consider the use of targeted and non-immunosuppressive agents as first-line treatment for cHCL, and give recommendations on preventive measures against COVID-19.

A technique based on the use of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was developed to measure heterojunction band discontinuities with an uncertainty of + or - 0.04 eV and changes in band discontinuities for a specific heterojunction interface with an uncertainty of + or - 0.01 eV. This technique was used to investigate Ge-GaAs, GaAs-A1As, ZnSe-GaAs, and ZnSe-Ge heterojunctions. It was discovered that microscopic dipoles present at abrupt heterojunction interfaces can substantially affect observed band discontinuities. Variations in heterojunction band discontinuities as functions of crystallographic orientation, growth sequence, and growth conditions were observed. It was established that heterojunction band discontinuities depend on microscopic properties of the interface and cannot be predicted from individual semiconductor properties alone. Based on electrostatic considerations, it was shown that polar heterojunction interfaces cannot be atomically abrupt but must require at least two interfacial transition planes to be consistent with experimental observations.

Surface chemical and potential measurements carried out by XPS (x-ray photo-emission spectroscopy) are reported for several GaAS materials. The GaAs samples had (100) and (110) orientations, n- and p-type doping, and both bulk and VPE grown materials were studied. Various surface treatments which included chemical etching, annealing, oxidation, gas exposure, and deposition of materials were investigated. The thermal cleaning process was shown to be associated with the surface chemical reaction As2O3 + 2GaAs yields Ga2O3 + (4/x)As(x) gas. A variation in GaAs interface Fermi-level position of up to 0.7 eV was observed. The difference in interface Fermi-level position for n- and p-type samples subjected to identical surface treatments was observed to be nearly constant at approx. = 0.3 eV. A single defect model with multiple charge states is suggested as the simplest explanation for the observed interface-potential variations. Progress toward the development of a contactless C-V apparatus is described. (Author)