This article discusses changes in the way hematopoietic stem cell allotransplants may be carried out in the future to treat patients with malignant hematological diseases. Specifically, the focus has shifted away from attempts at eradicating underlying diseases through toxic high-dose chemoradiation therapy towards using the stem cell donor's immune cells for that purpose (allogeneic graft-versus-tumor effect).The non-myeloablative transplant approaches hold promise in reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with conventional high-dose chemoradiation therapy, and they allow allogeneic transplants in elderly or medically infirm patients who are at present not candidates for transplantation. In the future, specific graft-versus-tumor responses may become possible by eliciting donor T cell responses to tumor-associated minor histocompatibility antigens.In Section I, Dr. Rainer Storb describes experimental studies in random-bred dogs that rely on non-cytotoxic immunosuppressive agents to establish stable allografts. Powerful postgrafting immunosuppression, traditionally directed at preventing graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), is also used to overcome host-versus-graft (HVG) reactions, thereby dramatically reducing the need for intensive immunosuppressive conditioning programs. Preclinical canine studies have been translated into the clinical setting for treatment of elderly or medically infirm patients with malignant hematological diseases. The pretransplant conditioning has been reduced to a single dose of 2 Gy total body irradiation (TBI) with or without fludarabine. The lack of toxicity makes it possible for transplants to be conducted in the outpatient setting. Multicenter trials have been initiated, and more than 300 patients have been successfully treated with hematopoietic stem cell grafts both from related and unrelated HLA-matched donors.In Section II, Dr. Richard Champlin describes clinical studies with therapeutic strategies that utilize relatively non-toxic, nonmyeloablative disease-specific preparative regimens incorporating fludarabine, together with other chemotherapeutic agents, to achieve disease suppression and engraftment of allogeneic hematopoietic cells and to allow subsequent infusions of donor lymphocytes. Remissions have been seen in patients with acute myelocytic, chronic myelocytic, chronic lymphocytic, leukemias, lymphomas, and myelomas.In I. HEMATOPOIETIC CELL TRANSPLANTATION IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH HEMATOLOGIC CANCER: SUBSTITUTING GRAFT-VERSUS-TUMOR EFFECTS FOR HIGH-DOSE CYTOTOXIC THERAPY Rainer F. Storb, MD*Conventional allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for human patients with marrowbased diseases, such as leukemias and B-cell malignancies, involve conditioning with very high doses of systemic chemotherapeutic agents with or without ionizing total body irradiation (TBI) to both eradicate the patients' underlying diseases and suppress their immune responses
Continuous and accurate smartphone-based localization is a promising technology for supporting independent mobility of people with visual impairments. However, despite extensive research on indoor localization techniques, they are still not ready for deployment in large and complex environments, like shopping malls and hospitals, where navigation assistance is needed. To achieve accurate, continuous, and real-time localization with smartphones in such environments, we present a series of key techniques enhancing a probabilistic localization algorithm. The algorithm is designed for smartphones and employs inertial sensors on a mobile device and Received Signal Strength (RSS) from Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. We evaluate the proposed system in a 21,000 m 2 shopping mall which includes three multi-story buildings and a large open underground passageway. Experiments in this space validate the effect of the proposed technologies to improve localization accuracy. Field experiments with visually impaired participants confirm the practical performance of the proposed system in realistic use cases.
Continuous, accurate, and real-time smartphone-based localization is a promising technology for supporting independent mobility of people with visual impairments. However, despite extensive research on indoor localization techniques, localization technologies are still not ready for deployment in large and complex environments such as shopping malls and hospitals, where navigation assistance is needed most. We identify six key challenges for accurate smartphone localization related to the large-scale nature of the navigation environments and the user's mobility. To address these challenges, we present a series of techniques that enhance a probabilistic localization algorithm. The algorithm utilizes mobile device inertial sensors and Received Signal Strength (RSS) from Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. We evaluate the proposed system in a 21,000 m 2 shopping mall that includes three multi-story buildings and a large open underground passageway. Experiments conducted in this environment demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technologies to improve localization accuracy. Field experiments with visually impaired participants confirm the practical performance of the proposed system in realistic use cases.
Methods that provide accurate navigation assistance to people with visual impairments often rely on instrumenting the environment with specialized hardware infrastructure. In particular, approaches that use sensor networks of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons have been shown to achieve precise localization and accurate guidance while the structural modifications to the environment are kept at minimum. To install navigation infrastructure, however, a number of complex and time-critical activities must be performed. The BLE beacons need to be positioned correctly and samples of Bluetooth signal need to be collected across the whole environment. These tasks are performed by trained personnel and entail costs propor tional to the size of the environment that needs to be instrumented. To reduce the instrumentation costs while maintaining a high ac curacy, we improve over a traditional regression-based localization approach by introducing a novel, graph-based localization method using Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) and particle filter. We then study how the number and density of beacons and Bluetooth samples impact the balance between localization accuracy and setup cost of the navigation environment. Studies with users show the impact that the increased accuracy has on the usability of our navigation application for the visually impaired. CCS Concepts •Social and professional topics → People with disabilities; •Human centered computing → Accessibility technologies; User studies; •Computer systems organization → Sensor networks; •Information systems → Location based services;
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