Progressive disease after ABMT for Hodgkin's disease

A major limitation of ABMT for relapsed/refractory Hodgkin's disease is disease recurrence post-transplantation. We retrospectively reviewed 68 patients undergoing ABMT from January 1987 to June 1993. All received a uniform preparatory regimen (CBV). The median patient age was 30; 75% received prior radiation therapy and all patients received prior chemotherapy. Thirty-one percent presented at the time of transplantation with tumor masses larger than 10 cm. Sixty-two percent received autologous marrow alone and 38% PBPC with or without autologous bone marrow. Overall and progression-free survival are 43 and 36% at 5 years. Median follow-up for survivors is 59 months. Multivariate analysis revealed that tumor bulk was the most powerful poor prognostic factor for both survival and progression-free survival. Those transplanted with non-bulky tumors had an overall survival and progression-free survival of 52 and 44%, respectively, compared to those transplanted with bulky tumors who had an overall survival and progression-free survival of 22 and 16% (P = 0.03 and P = 0.04, respectively). Twenty-seven patients have relapsed. Four relapsed more than 2 years after ABMT. Four of the 27 patients who have relapsed remain alive, two without evidence of disease. The time after transplant to relapse was prognostically important, with no patients who relapsed within 6 months of ABMT still being alive, compared with 25% of patients who relapsed 7 or more months after ABMT who are still alive. We conclude that salvage therapy for relapse after ABMT is appropriate, as some patients may achieve prolonged survival. The time from transplant to relapse is an important survival predictor.     

Gradients of n-heptane and acetonitrile in silver-ion high-performance liquid chromatography analyses of cis and trans bonds in lipids

Cis and trans isomers of fatty acid methyl esters, fatty alcohols, and triacylglycerols were analyzed with a silverion high-performance liquid chromatography system. Gradients of n-heptane and acetonitrile were used to elute molecules with up to nine cis double bonds. The analyses were as fast and reliable and had a resolution similar to that of the best published analyses. However, published analyses were performed with chlorinated solvents, and these solvents are carcinogenic and mutagenic. The solvents we used, heptane and acetonitrile, are less dangerous to the analyst.     

Application of tunable excimer lasers to combustion diagnostics: a review

Tunable excimer lasers are being used to produce species-, space-, and time-resolved images of complex gaseous media. These media may be analyzed for composition, density, temperature, or flow velocities. The techniques are, in general, highly selective, sensitive, and nonintrusive and are being made possible by recent technological developments in these UV lasers and in intensified cameras, imaging spectrographs, and fast digital image processing. We describe the needs for laser diagnostics in combustion, the physical mechanisms, the relevant spectroscopy, typical experimental setups, and equipment considerations. Precision and accuracy are discussed on the basis of some simple, but realistic, calculations intended to guide the experimentalist in design considerations and to reveal potential sources of errors in the often difficult conversion of raw data to values for such quantitative parameters as densities or temperatures. Finally we present an overview of previous results, select some examples that show the power of tunable excimer laser diagnostics in combustion, and present some suggestions for future directions.     

Occurrence and Correlations of Monoterpene Hydrocarbon Enantiomers in Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies

The relative amounts and enantiomeric compositions of monoterpene hydrocarbons in branch and trunk xylem, in needles, and in resin from apical buds in 18 Pinus sylvestris trees have been determined and compared with the terpene content in branch xylem and needles of Picea abies. Besides the high amount of (+)-3-carene, an excess of (+)--pinene has been found in P. sylvestris, whereas in P. abies (–)--pinene dominates over (+)--pinene. In P. sylvestris, clear positive correlations were found between (+)--pinene and (+)-camphene in the four tissues analyzed. Good positive correlations were also observed between (–)--pinene and (–)-camphene in the two types of xylem, between (+)--pinene and (+)--pinene in the resin, and between tricyclene and (–)-camphene in resin and needles. In P. abies, positive correlations were found between (+)--pinene and (+)-camphene in the branch xylem and between tricyclene and (–)-camphene as well as between (–)--pinene and (–)-camphene in the needles. Complex relationships between (–)--pinene and (–)--pinene were found both in the P. abies and in the P. sylvestris tissues. The importance of the enantiomeric composition of -pinene for the host selection of Ips typographus, Tomicus piniperda, and Hylobius abietis is discussed.     

Detection of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) by displacement of antibodies

A molecular layer with low non-specific binding enabling determination of low concentrations of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) by the displacement of antibodies has been developed. Antibody Fab′-fragments at various concentrations have been site-directly immobilised on gold and intercalated with a hydrophilic non-ionic polymer that reduces non-specific binding. Bovine serum albumin conjugated with MDMA and various concentrations of anti-MDMA antibodies were bound to the layer. The amount of conjugates and antibodies bound was dependent on the amount of Fab′-fragments in the layer. Antibodies were also bound to the conjugates physisorbed directly onto the gold surface and in mixtures with the polymer or with a lipoamide. A high displacement of antibodies was observed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) on interaction of MDMA with the different layers in buffer solution. No displacement could, however, be observed in saliva with the pure conjugate layer because of a high non-specific binding of proteins. When the conjugates were coupled to the surface through the antibody Fab-fragment/polymer layer, MDMA concentrations as low as 0.02 ng mL⁻¹ (0.14 nM) could easily be detected in buffer. In diluted saliva the lowest limit of detection was 0.4 ng mL⁻¹ enabling determination of drugs from saliva with a cut-off concentration of 2 ng mL⁻¹. The molecular layer of antibody Fab′-fragments and polymer thus shows great potential for binding conjugates and antibodies that can be displaced on the interaction with very low concentrations of small-sized molecules. A low non-specific binding is guaranteed by the presence of the hydrophilic polymer.     

Development of a compact fast CCD camera and resonant soft x-ray scattering endstation for time-resolved pump-probe experiments

The designs of a compact, fast CCD (cFCCD) camera, together with a resonant soft x-ray scattering endstation, are presented. The cFCCD camera consists of a highly parallel, custom, thick, high-resistivity CCD, readout by a custom 16-channel application specific integrated circuit to reach the maximum readout rate of 200 frames per second. The camera is mounted on a virtual-axis flip stage inside the RSXS chamber. When this flip stage is coupled to a differentially pumped rotary seal, the detector assembly can rotate about 100°/360° in the vertical/horizontal scattering planes. With a six-degrees-of-freedom cryogenic sample goniometer, this endstation has the capability to detect the superlattice reflections from the electronic orderings showing up in the lower hemisphere. The complete system has been tested at the Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and has been used in multiple experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.     

Does Indole Alkaloid Gramine Confer Resistance in Barley to Aphid Rhopalosiphum Padi?

Accessions of cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. vulgare) and its wild progenitor Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum (H. ssp. spont.) were screened for gramine content at the seedling stage. H. ssp. spont. generally had higher gramine concentration compared with cultivated spring barley. Thus gramine concentrations might be raised in modern barley through crossings with selected H. ssp. spont. accessions and repeated back-crossings (BC) of selected offspring to cultivated barley. In the present study, the barley cultivar Lina was used as the recurrent parent. Lina was exceptional among the two-rowed barleys in that it contained moderate levels of gramine, whereas most of the others were very low in gramine. Chromosome-doubled haploid lines (DHs) from the first generation (F₁) had a skewed distribution towards higher gramine concentrations and so had the first back-cross generation (BC₁F₁-DHs). A hairy plant surface, another character proposed to confer resistance to aphids, was also found among some of the plants in the breeding material. BC₁F₁-DHs with a high proportion of the Lina genome, as determined in an analysis of PCR-based molecular markers, in addition to high gramine concentrations and hairy plant bases in two cases were tested for resistance to the barley pest Rhopalosiphum padi. However, based on aphid performance and preference tests, there were no indications that either high gramine concentrations or hairiness conferred resistance to R. padi when compared with Lina and a variety very low in gramine (Golf). The pattern was the same when the F₁ generation was evaluated in aphid performance tests along with Lina, Golf, and the six H. ssp. spont. parents. Aphid weight was consistently low on only one of the six H. ssp. spont. parents. Since previous reports of a positive relationship between gramine concentrations and resistance to R. padi were based on studies in Chile and Japan, a Chilean R. padi population was compared with three Swedish populations, but the responses of all four populations were similar.     

Selective N2O Removal from the Process Gas of Nitric Acid Plants Over Ceramic 12CaO · 7Al2O3 Catalyst

Catalytic high temperature decomposition (secondary abatement) of nitrous oxide over calcium aluminate 12CaO · 7Al₂O₃ (mayenite) was studied in the model laboratory tests (TPSR) and pilot units (steady-state) using the real feed. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N₂-sorption (BET), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Raman spectroscopies were used to characterize the synthesized material. The catalyst exhibited high efficiency and selectivity in N₂O removal, reaching practically 100% conversion at 1150 K without appreciable total losses of NO _x . Owing to its high thermal stability and resistivity to sintering and low cost of production raw materials, mayenite was found to be a promising catalyst for economically appealing secondary abatement of nitrous oxide in nitric acid plants.     

Direct aerobic oxidation of primary alcohols to methyl esters catalyzed by a heterogeneous gold catalyst

Methyl esters can be produced in high yields by oxiding methanolic solutions of primary alcohols with dioxygen over a heterogeneous gold catalyst. The versatility of this new methodology is demonstrated by the fact that alkylic, benzylic and allylic alcohols, as well as alcohols containing an amine functionality are oxidized in good to excellent yields.     

Über Winkelfehler von Hochspannungswiderständen

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