Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is a rare aggressive myeloid neoplasm which shows a high rate of central nervous system (CNS) recurrence and overall survival (OS) of <1 year. Despite this, screening for CNS involvement is not routinely performed at diagnosis and intrathecal (IT) prophylaxis is not regularly administered in BPDCN. Here, we prospectively evaluated 13 consecutive BPDCN patients for the presence of CNS involvement by flow cytometry. Despite none of the patients presented with neurological symptoms, occult CNS involvement was detected in 6/10 cases evaluated at diagnosis and 3/3 studied at relapse/progression. BPDCN patients evaluated at diagnosis received IT treatment -either CNS prophylaxis (n = 4) or active therapy (n = 6)- and all but one remain alive (median follow-up of 20 months). In contrast, all three patients assessed at relapse/progression died. The potential benefit of IT treatment administered early at diagnosis on OS and CNS recurrence-free survival of BPDCN was further confirmed in a retrospective cohort of another 23 BPDCN patients. Our results show that BPDCN patients studied at diagnosis frequently display occult CNS involvement; moreover, they also indicate that treatment of occult CNS disease might lead to a dramatically improved outcome of BPDCN.
A comprehensive mathematical model is developed to simulate the interactions of the complex processes that take place in typical catalytic chemical reactors. This mathematical model includes correlations representing various modes of mass transport and chemical reactions. To illustrate the application and value of this approach for reactor optimizations, the model is applied to the case of series reactions with a desirable intermediate compound and the risk of degradation of this compound if the process conditions are not optimized. The modeling results show that in such cases, which are very common in practice, replacing the conventional uniform catalyst distribution with a novel non-uniform distribution will significantly improve the performance of the reactor and the production of the desirable compound. Various catalyst distribution options are compared, and a novel non-uniform loading of catalyst is identified that gives a much better performance compared to the conventional approach. The model is versatile and useful for both the design as well as the optimization of the catalytic fixed-bed reactors in a wide variety of reactor and reaction conditions.
This activity allows students to
visualize how to obtain different
stoichiometries with various techniques in a single experiment. The
involvement of three phases adds to the student’s interest.
Instructional materials are provided to facilitate the experimental
procedures, interpretation of results, and error analysis. The reaction
of Li from a Li battery with water inside a syringe allows measurement
of the gas evolved, the metal consumed, and the hydroxide produced.
Li batteries can be obtained for less than US $1.00. This report describes
the development of a 2 h activity that has been tested in whole or
in part in various teacher workshops in Mexico, Panama, El Salvador,
and Thailand, and it has been implemented and assessed in a general
chemistry laboratory.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.