Outcome of patients less than 55 years of age with high-risk acute leukemia who did not have an human leukocyte antigen-identical related donor: a long-term study of 97 consecutive patients.

Between January 1993 and December 2000, an unrelated donor search (UDS) was initiated for 97 consecutive patients [46 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 51 acute myeloid leukemia (AML)]. Leukemia was considered to be of poor prognosis in cases of refractory disease (n=70), unfavourable karyotype (n=22) or miscellaneous (n=5). All patients had previously received various chemotherapies and 9 had undergone an autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT). The median age at UDS initiation was 25 (range 2.7-55) years. The median time to identify a suitable living donor or cord blood (CB) was 60 days. Eventually, 33 patients received unrelated allo-SCT (including 9 CB), 12 auto-SCT, 39 chemotherapy and 13 palliative treatment. At a median of 54 months, 18 patients were alive, including 15 in remission. The 4-year overall survival rates were 32%, 37%, 15% and 0% for allo-SCT, auto-SCT, chemotherapy or palliative treatment, respectively. Patients who received either allo- or auto-SCT had better survival than those who did not (P<0.0001). For ALL, only allo-SCT significantly improved survival (P<0.007). Finally, patients who received allo-SCT died less often of relapse than patients who did not (P<0.0001). Unrelated allo-SCT gives a substantial long-term survival and cure in patients with high-risk acute leukemia. For patients who achieve remission and for whom UDS fails, auto-SCT may prove to be a good approach. For patients who fail to enter into remission, intensive salvage chemotherapy has a very limited effect.     

Remote Echography between a Ground Control Center and the International Space Station Using a Tele-operated Echograph with Motorized Probe

Echography is the most appropriate imaging modality for investigating astronauts. Unfortunately, it requires a great deal of training to perform ultrasound examinations, which can be difficult and time consuming, especially if the astronaut does not have a medical background. We designed a new echography system with motorized probes that allows for the majority of exam functions to be controlled by a ground-based sonographer. Using tele-operation, the sonographer controls the orientation of the transducer (tilt, rotation) and echograph settings (gain, depth, freeze) and triggers ultrasound functions (pulsed wave color Doppler, 3-D capture, radiofrequency data collection, elastography). With this system, astronauts are required to hold the motorized probe only at the locations indicated, with the remainder of the exam being conducted by the ground-based sonographer. During spaceflight, ultrasound imaging of the carotid artery, jugular vein, thyroid, liver, gallbladder, biliary tract and portal vein (2-D, 3-D, color, pulsed wave, radiofrequency) were successfully performed.     

Gaze anticipation during human locomotion

During locomotion, a top-down organization has been previously demonstrated with the head as a stabilized platform and gaze anticipating the horizontal direction of the trajectory. However, the quantitative assessment of the anticipatory sequence from gaze to trajectory and body segments has not been documented. The present paper provides a detailed investigation into the spatial and temporal anticipatory relationships among the direction of gaze and body segments during locomotion. Participants had to walk along several mentally simulated complex trajectories, without any visual cues indicating the trajectory to follow. The trajectory shapes were presented to the participants on a sheet of paper. Our study includes an analysis of the relationships between horizontal gaze anticipatory behavior direction and the upcoming changes in the trajectory. Our findings confirm the following: 1) The hierarchical ordered organization of gaze and body segment orientations during complex trajectories and free locomotion. Gaze direction anticipates the head orientation, and head orientation anticipates reorientation of the other body segments. 2) The influence of the curvature of the trajectory and constraints of the tasks on the temporal and spatial relationships between gaze and the body segments: Increased curvature resulted in increased time and spatial anticipation. 3) A different sequence of gaze movements at inflection points where gaze plans a much later segment of the trajectory.     

COMPARISON OF THE CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF MMVF FOLLOWING INHALATION EXPOSURE IN RATS AND ACELLULAR IN VITRO DISSOLUTION

In the process of developing new fibers or evaluating existing fibers, the dissolution coefficient is often determined using an acellular in vitro assay. This coefficient has been found useful in selecting fibers based on solubility and has been shown to be related to the clearance half-time of long fibers (&gt;20 m) following inhalation in rats. The chemical evolution of fibers following in vitro dissolution and inhalation was examined to evaluate the comparability of these two methods. The fibers studied ranged from compositions similar to commercial insulation materials to new glasses and stone wools that have been developed for enhanced solubility. The inhalation studies were performed using Fischer 344 male rats exposed to a well-defined rat respirable aerosol (mean diameter of 1 m) at a concentration of 30 mg/m3, 6 h/day for 5 days, with postexposure sacrifices at 1 h, 1 day, 5 days, 4 wk, 13 wk, and 26 wk. The in vivo results reported have been from fibers recovered from the lung that were primarily less than 20 m in length. The in vitro dissolution measurements were performed using a continuous-flow model with simulated lung fluid based upon a modified Gamble's media using either 1- or 10- m-diameter fibers without discrimination of length. The inhalation studies show that the composition of many of the fibers recovered from the lung changes with time in the lungs, with a depletion in Na O2, CaO, and MgO and a relative enrichment in SiO2 and Al2O3, with this evolution strongly depending upon glass composition. B2O3 has been found (on 10- m-diameter fibers in vitro as analyzed by secondary ion mass spectrometry) to also be depleted. The chemical evolution of these shorter fibers (L &lt; 20 m) is consistent with that obtained from the in vitro experiments at pH 7.4, although the rate of variation observed with the two methods varied. These results clearly demonstrate that those fibers whose composition changes quickly during in vivo studies are the same as those whose composition changes quickly during in vitro assays. These studies demonstrate that the chemical evolution of the shorter fibers recovered following in vivo inhalation studies mirrors closely the changes found from the in vitro assays. These results complement those already reported for fibers longer than 20 m, which have been shown to be removed from the lung primarily by dissolution. &lt;/abs&gt;