Long-term outcome of 6-month maintenance chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children.

In the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), excess shortening of maintenance therapy resulted in high relapse rate, as shown by our previous trial, TCCSG L92-13, in which maintenance therapy was terminated at 1 year from initiation of treatment. In this study, we aimed to confirm the long-term outcome of L92-13, and to identify who can or cannot be cured by shorter duration of maintenance therapy. To obtain sentinel cytogenetics information that had been missed before, we performed genetic analysis with genomic microarray and target intron-capture sequencing from diagnostic bone marrow smear. Disease-free survival (DFS) at 10 years from the end of therapy was 66.0±2.8%. Females (n=138) had better DFS (74.6±3.7%) than males (n=142, 57.5±4.2%, P=0.002). Patients with TCF3-PBX1 (n=11) and ETV6-RUNX1 (n=16) had excellent DFS (90.9±8.7% and 93.8±6.1%, respectively), whereas high hyperdiploidy (n=23) was the most unfavorable subgroup, with 56.6±10.3% of DFS. Short duration of therapy can cure more than half of pediatric ALL, especially females, TCF3-PBX1 and ETV6-RUNX1. Our retrospective observations suggest a gender/karyotype inhomogeneity on the impact of brief therapy.

Flexible solar-cell from zinc oxide nanocrystalline sheets self-assembled by an in-situ electrodeposition process.

Zinc oxide nanocrystalline sheets were self-assembled on a flexible polymer substrate to act as the electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells by an in situ-construction electrodeposition process. It was discovered that the nanosheet-based solar cell exhibited better performance than a nanoparticle-based solar cell or a well-oriented nanowire-based solar cell. The nanosheet microstructure has advantages which include the depression of loss during photoelectron transport, the increase of dye compound adsorption, and the enhance of incident light capture. As a result, the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells can be obviously improved. This success provides a feasible bottom-up approach for integrating a solar cell together with nanodevices and microcircuits on a flexible substrate which can work with self-supplied solar energy.

Effect of axotomy on the cyclic GMP increase induced by preganglionic stimulation and high extracellular K+ concentration in superior cervical sympathetic ganglion of the rat.

Cyclic GMP generation, induced by preganglionic nerve stimulation or by high extracellular potassium ion concentration (70 mM) in the medium, was studied during aerobic incubation of the excised superior cervical sympathetic ganglion of the rat with and without axotomy, and the results were compared with that of preganglionic denervation. Both axotomy and denervation of the ganglion for a week caused complete loss of increase of cyclic GMP content in the ganglion in response to the preganglionic nerve stimulation. However, the increase of the ganglionic cyclic GMP content evoked by raising the extracellular potassium ion concentration was maintained at a level about two-thirds of the control after axotomy for 1-4 days, while it was abolished within a day after denervation. Ganglionic choline acetyltransferase activity was maintained for several days after axotomy, but it was decreased rapidly by denervation. Acetylcholinesterase, dopamine-beta-hydroxylase and muscarinic cholinergic receptor sites had been lost almost completely a week after axotomy. These results suggest that the increase of ganglionic cyclic GMP content caused by depolarization with high extracellular K+ is associated with the preganglionic nerve terminals rather than with postganglionic receptor.

Regional distribution of cholinergic neurons in human spinal cord transections in the patients with and without motor neuron disease.

Regional distribution of enzymic activities in acetylcholine (ACh) metabolism was examined on thinly-sectioned transverse slices of human spinal cords obtained during autopsy of 5 motor neuron disease (MND) and 5 control patients without MND. Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity was highly concentrated in the ventral horn regions (gray and white matters) of cervical, thoracic and lumbar spinal cord of non-MND patients. This enzyme activity was found to be remarkably low in the ventral gray and white matter of MND patients compared with that of the controls. Although the distribution of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was found to be high in both ventral and dorsal gray matter of the spinal cord, little difference was observed between each corresponding region of MND and control patients, except relatively low enzyme activity in the cervical ventral horn region of MND patients. Muscarinic cholinergic receptors, examined as specific [3H]quinuclidinylbenzilate ([3H]QNB) binding, was also highly concentrated in the ventral and dorsal gray matter of the control spinal cord, and was strongly reduced in the ventral horn region of MND patients, indicating a quite similar distribution pattern of ChAT activity. These biochemical changes of cholinergic transmission system may be paralleled to the morphological degeneration of the spinal lower motor neurons in MND patients. Activity of 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide-3'-phosphodiesterase (CNPase), a marker enzyme of central myelin structure, was evenly distributed throughout the whole spinal cord section, without regard to the gray and white matter, of both MND and control patients.

Proliferation and synapse formation of neuroblastoma glioma hybrid cells: effects of glia maturation factor.

Glia maturation factor (GMF), extracted from bovine brain, stimulated DNA synthesis and proliferation of glioma cells and hybrid cells derived from glioma and neuroblastoma cells (NG108-15), but had no effect on neuroblastoma cells. The synapse formation of NG108-15 cells with rat striated myotubes was lower in the presence of GMF than the control and also lower after treatment with prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) plus theophylline, indicating that GMF did not induce functional differentiation of NG108-15 cells. The results show that expression of mitogenic action for GMF in the hybrid cells is a property derived from the glioma parent, and that NG108-15 is therefore an excellent model for studying glial-neuronal interactions.