Transfer of trace organic compounds in an operational soil-aquifer treatment system assessed through an intrinsic tracer test and transport modelling

Soil Aquifer Treatment (SAT) can provide supplementary treatment of trace organic compounds (TrOCs) such as pharmaceutical and industrial compounds present in Secondary Treated Wastewater (STWW). Concern on presence of unregulated TrOCs in natural systems has raised recently as well as the interest in SAT systems for remediation. The present study quantifies, at the field scale over35 m of lateral groundwater flow, the effectiveness of the Agon-Coutainville SAT system (Manche, Normandy, France) for TrOCs removal by sorption and biodegradation through monitoring of seven TrOCs (oxazepam, carbamazepine, benzotriazole, tolyltriazole, caffein, paracetamol, ibuprofen) and major inorganic compounds as intrinsic tracers in STWW and groundwater during a 34-day STWW infiltration experiment during operational use of the SAT. Cationic exchanges and mixing between groundwater and STWW during the experiment were highlighted by major ions and geochemical simulations. Due to the low thickness of the unsaturated zone, a 1D analytical solution of the advection-dispersion equation (ADE) was applied on chloride data. Chloride was used as conservative intrinsic tracer to calibrate the horizontal flow and transport parameters such as the aquifer dispersion coefficient (D) and the average pore water velocity (ν) allowing estimation of the groundwater residence time. Transport and attenuation of the TrOCs were simulated assuming first-order degradation constant (μ) and linear retardation coefficient (R), calibrated to simulate the observed temporal changes in the breakthrough of TrOCs. Sorption was found to play a role in the transport of TrOCs, notably for oxazepam with a higher linear retardation coefficient value of 2.2, whereas no significant differences of retardation were observed for carbamazepine, tolyltriazole, benzotriazole (1.37, 1.35, 1.36 respectively). Estimated first order degradation rate constants, between 0.03d^-1 for carbamazepine and 0.09d^-1 for tolyltriazole, were generally high compared to the literature, possibly due to favourable redox conditions and important microbial activities within the system. This study provides evidence of the efficiency of the Agon-Coutainville SAT system for the removal of TrOCs.

A Unique Case of der(16)t(1;16) Identified in B-Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Introduction/Objective

A derivative chromosome 16 is rare in hematologic malignancies. There are only two previously reported cases to date, both associated with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In these cases, the t(1;16) presented as a der(16)t(1;16) resulting in trisomy 1q. This was the sole anomaly in each case. Cytogenetic abnormalities in B-ALL are common and important for understanding of the pathogenesis, classification and prognosis of the disease. Herein we describe a case of der(16)t(1;16)(q12;q24) identified for the first time in a patient with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), with correlation with morphologic and immunophenotypic findings.

Methods/Case Report

The patient is a 65 year-old male who initially presented with one week of fatigue. A complete blood count showed leukocytosis (white blood cell count of 24.6 x 103/uL), anemia (hemoglobin of 7.9 g/dL), marked thrombocytopenia (platelets of 5 x 103/uL). A differential showed 64% blasts and peripheral blood flow cytometry confirmed B-lymphoblastic differentiation, with two distinct immunophenotypic populations. The patient’s bone marrow biopsy was hypercellular (>95% cellularity) with panhypoplasia and a marked increase in blasts (88% by aspirate manual differential). Cytogenetic analysis of the bone marrow also demonstrated the presence of two clonal cell lines. The first cell line was chromosomally normal, while the second had a t(9;22) translocation and a derived chromosomes 16 from a t(1;16). FISH analysis confirmed 59% of cells demonstrated a BCR/ABL1 fusion event.

Results (if a Case Study enter NA)

NA

Conclusion

The patient’s der(16)t(1;16)(q12;q24) represents a novel genetic abnormality that has not previously been reported in B-ALL. Although it has been described in other acute leukemias, little is known about this abnormality in B-ALL and its implications in pathogenesis and prognosis. Additional molecular testing, including chromosomal microarray analysis, mate-pair, or long-range DNA sequencing or RNA sequencing, could potentially identify the fusion partners and shed light on pathophysiological mechanisms implicated in the leukemic process.

Biclonal light chain gammopathy with aberrant CD33 expression in secondary plasma cell leukemia

Plasma cell leukemia is a rare neoplastic proliferation of circulating plasma cells. Clonal proliferations of plasma cells, such as in plasma cell leukemia or plasma cell myeloma, are typically characterized by production of a monoclonal heavy and/or light chain immunoglobulin. We present a case of a secondary plasma cell leukemia arising from plasma cell myeloma with dual expression of lambda and kappa light chains along with aberrant expression of CD33, CD20, and dim CD56. This case emphasizes the importance of recognizing aberrant immunophenotypes in plasma cell leukemias and represents the first reported case of biclonal light chain expression in a secondary plasma cell leukemia.

Possible role of engraftment syndrome and autologous graft-versus-host disease in myelodysplastic syndrome after autologous stem cell transplantations: retrospective analysis and review of the literature

BACKGROUND

We report a retrospective study of 452 patients with lymphoma from 1991 to 2006, with 274 men and 178 women, median age of 50 years (range, 16-76 years).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

There were 85 patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and 367 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Eleven patients received a second autologous transplantation for progressive lymphoma, and another 4 received a second allogeneic transplantation for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Twenty-seven patients had skin biopsies, and 2 patients had gastrointestinal biopsies consistent with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and 11 patients developed severe engraftment syndrome (ES), as defined by noninfectious fever and skin rash with or without pulmonary infiltrates requiring systemic steroids.

RESULTS

The median follow-up of the patients was 6.2 years, and median overall survival was 5.3 years. Twenty-four patients (5.3%) developed MDS with median time of onset of 4.2 years (range, 8 months to 7.5 years). An additional 5 patients developed clonal karyotypic abnormalities in the bone marrow without clinical MDS. Actuarial probabilities of developing MDS at 5 and 8 years after transplantation were 5% and 15%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The incidences of MDS are similar in HL and NHL. Multivariate analysis revealed older age, occurrence of ES/GVHD, and longer intervals between the initial diagnoses to transplantation as independent factors. It is conceivable that perturbation to the host immunity caused by either previous chemotherapy or conditioning regimens in the elderly might play a role in the development of MDS after autologous transplantation.

Redefining the risks of prenatally ascertained supernumerary marker chromosomes: a collaborative study

BACKGROUND

A marker chromosome is defined as a structurally abnormal chromosome that cannot be identified by routine cytogenetics. The risk for phenotypic abnormalities associated with a marker chromosome depends on several factors, including inheritance, mode of ascertainment, chromosomal origin, and the morphology, content, and structure of the marker.

METHODS

to understand the karyotype-phenotype relationship of prenatally ascertained supernumerary de novo marker chromosomes, we combined data from prenatal cases obtained from 12 laboratories with those from studies in the literature. We were able to obtain cytogenetic and phenotypic data from 108 prenatally ascertained supernumerary de novo marker chromosomes to refine the phenotypic risk associated with these markers. Because of the growing number of cases and because more techniques are available to delineate marker morphology, we have been able to group risk estimates into subcategories, such as by marker type and whether there are ultrasound abnormalities.

RESULTS

If a de novo supernumerary marker chromosome is found prenatally, our data suggest there is a 26% risk for phenotypic abnormality when there is no other information defining the marker (such as chromosomal origin or information about the existing phenotype). However, if high resolution ultrasound studies are normal, this risk reduces to 18%.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings strongly support the value of additional genetic studies for more precisely defining the risk in individual cases involving marker chromosomes.

Philadelphia chromosome positive myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia—retrospective study and review of literature

We conducted a retrospective study to define the significance of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) in myelodysplastic syndrome and acute leukemia in the adults at this institution and the literature was reviewed. One hundred forty-eight cases of t(9;22)(q34;q11) were identified for the period September 1993 through August 2001. The presentation of 124 cases (84%) was that of typical CML in chronic phase. Nineteen cases (13%) presented as de novo ALL, two cases (1%) presented as de novo AML and three cases (2%) presented as myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The estimated incidences of t(9;22)(q34;q11) in ALL and AML are 21 and 0.6%, respectively. Ph+ AMLs are increasingly being reported with either M-BCR or m-BCR gene rearrangements, similar to those found with Ph+ ALL lending support to the notion that Ph+ AMLs are distinct entities and not merely blastic phases of undiagnosed CML. This is further supported by the existence of Ph+ MDS cases.

Absence of HER2 overexpression in metastatic malignant melanoma

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Currently available systemic therapies for malignant melanoma produce low response rates in patients, and more effective treatment modalities are clearly needed. Trastuzumab (Herceptin), the antibody to the HER2 oncoprotein, has had a significant impact on therapy for patients with HER2-overexpressing metastatic breast cancer. This study examined the incidences of HER2 protein overexpression and HER2 gene amplification in metastatic malignant melanoma, which remain unclear in the literature.

METHODS

The study evaluated patients with stage III and stage IV malignant melanoma who were treated between 1983 and 1999. Tissue blocks were retrieved and reviewed to confirm the diagnosis. From the 101 cases identified, 49 (31 stage III and 18 stage IV) had sufficient residual tumor sample to enable an assay to be performed. The blocks were tested for HER2 overexpression using the DAKO HercepTest immunohistochemical (IHC) assay. Any sample that tested 1+ or greater for HER2 expression on IHC and a randomly selected subset of HER2-negative samples were tested for the presence of HER2 gene amplification using the Vysis PathVysion fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay.

RESULTS

The median age of the 49 selected patients was 52.2 years, and the male-to-female ratio was 1.23:1 (27 men to 22 women). All of the 49 cases of malignant melanoma were negative for HER2 overexpression by IHC. However, two samples (3%) were found to have a weak level of HER2 expression (1+ level of staining). Subsequent FISH results on the samples that were 1+ on IHC were negative for HER2 gene amplification. FISH results on 21 other randomly selected IHC-negative samples were also negative for HER2 amplification. Flow cytometry failed to show HER2 overexpression in two melanoma cell lines, and treatment of these cells with trastuzumab did not affect their proliferation rate.

CONCLUSIONS

We found a low incidence of HER2 expression and no evidence of HER2 protein overexpression or HER2 gene amplification in metastatic malignant melanoma tissues. Therefore, routine testing for HER2 overexpression or HER2 amplification would not be of benefit in this patient population. These results also imply that anti-HER2 therapy with trastuzumab is highly unlikely to provide benefit for patients with metastatic melanoma.

Constitutional pericentric inversion of chromosome 9 and acute leukemia

In view of the recent reports demonstrating delayed engraftment after autologous and allogeneic transplantation from donors with constitutional pericentric inversion of chromosome 9, [inv(9)], we conducted a retrospective study on six patients with acute leukemia and inv(9) to investigate if there is an impaired engraftment potential of the inv(9) hematopoietic stem cells. All but one of our patients had poor outcome. The hematopoietic recovery after induction chemotherapy was not prolonged. It is possible that the hematopoietic defects of inv(9) become more apparent after repeated courses of chemotherapy. Alternatively, the number of patients in our series may have been too small to detect a partial hematopoietic defect in patients with constitutional inv(9). Larger studies are required to confirm our findings.

Evaluation of DLC1 as a prostate cancer susceptibility gene: mutation screen and association study

A gene or genes on chromosome 8p22-23 have been implicated in prostate carcinogenesis by the observation of frequent deletions of this region in prostate cancer cells. More recently, two genetic linkage studies in hereditary prostate cancer (HPC) families suggest that germline variation in a gene in this region may influence prostate cancer susceptibility as well. DLC1 (deleted in liver cancer), a gene in this interval, has been proposed as a candidate tumor suppressor gene because of its homology (86% similarity) with rat p122 RhoGAP, which catalyzes the conversion of active GTP-bound rho complex to the inactive GDP-bound form, and thus suppresses Ras-mediated oncogenic transformation. A missense mutation and three intronic insertions/deletions in 126 primary colorectal tumors have been previously identified. However, there are no reports of DLC1 mutation screening in prostate tumors or in germ line DNA of prostate cancer patients. In this study, we report the results of the first mutation screen and association study of DLC1 in genomic DNA samples from hereditary and sporadic prostate cancer patients. The PCR products in the 5' UTR, all 14 exons, exon-intron junctions, and 3' UTR were directly sequenced in 159 HPC probands. Eight exonic nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified, only one of which resulted in an amino acid change. Twenty-three other SNPs were identified in intronic regions. Seven informative SNPs that spanned the complete DLC1 gene were genotyped in an additional 249 sporadic cases and 222 unaffected controls. No significant difference in the allele and genotype frequencies were observed among HPC probands, sporadic cases, and unaffected controls. These results suggest that DLC1 is unlikely to play an important role in prostate cancer susceptibility.

Hematologic malignancies and Klinefelter syndrome. a chance association?

Klinefelter syndrome was first described in 1942 as an endocrine disorder characterized by gynecomastia, hypogonadism, small testes, and elevated levels of follicle-stimulating hormone. An extra X chromosome (i.e., 47,XXY) was subsequently demonstrated in these patients and an increased incidence of leukemia and lymphoma has been described. We report a retrospective study of a series of unselected patients with Klinefelter syndrome diagnosed by cytogenetic studies and the occurrence of hematologic malignancies. The literature is also reviewed.

Central diabetes insipidus and inv(3)(q21q26) and monosomy 7 in acute myeloid leukemia

Chromosomal anomalies involving region 3q21q26 have been reported associated with thrombocytosis in various hematological malignancies, such as chronic myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Recent reports described the association of central diabetes insipidus with AML and chromosomal anomalies involving region 3q21q26. We review the database in our institution and report five cases of inv(3)(q21q26) in consecutive cytogenetic studies of AML and myelodysplastic syndromes from 1992 to 2000, two cases presented as sole abnormalities and three cases were associated with monosomy 7. Only one case was associated with central diabetes insipidus. The literature of 3q21q26 syndrome and central diabetes insipidus in myeloid leukemia is reviewed.

Oncogene-dependent engraftment of human myeloid leukemia cells in immunosuppressed mice

We have developed an in vivo model of differentiated human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by retroviral infection of the cytokine-dependent AML cell line TF-1 with the v-Src oncogene. When injected either intravenously or intraperitoneally into 300 cGy irradiated SCID mice, animals formed multiple granulocytic sarcomas involving the adrenals, kidneys, lymph nodes and other organs. The mean survival time was 34+/-10 days (n = 40) after intravenous injection and 24+/-3 days (n = 5) after intraperitoneal injection of 20 million cells. The cells recovered from leukemic animals continued to express interleukin-3 receptors and remained sensitive to the diphtheria fusion protein DT388IL3. Further, these granulocytic sarcoma-derived cells grew again in irradiated SCID mice (n = 10). The cytogenetic abnormalities observed prior to inoculation in mice were stably present after in vivo passage. Similar to the results with v-Src transfected TF-1 cells, in vivo leukemic growth was observed with TF-1 cells transfected with the human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor gene (n = 5) and with TF-1 cells recovered from subcutaneous tumors in nude mice (n = 5). In contrast, TF-1 cells expressing v-Ha-Ras (n = 5), BCR-ABL (n = 5), or activated Raf-1 (n = 44) did not grow in irradiated SCID mice. This is a unique, reproducible model for in vivo growth of a differentiated human acute myeloid leukemia and may be useful in the assessment of anti-leukemic therapeutics which have human-specific molecular targets such as the interleukin-3 receptor.

Molecular characterization of a third member of the guanylyl cyclase-activating protein subfamily

The mammalian retina contains at least two guanylyl cyclases (GC1 and GC2) and two guanylyl cyclase-activating proteins (GCAP1 and GCAP2). Here we present evidence of the presence of a new photoreceptor-specific GCAP, termed GCAP3, which is closely related to GCAP1. The sequence similarity of GCAP3 with GCAP1 and GCAP2 is 57 and 49%, respectively. Recombinant GCAP3 and GCAP2 stimulate GC1 and GC2 in low [Ca2+]free and inhibit GCs when [Ca2+]free is elevated, unlike GCAP1, which only stimulates GC1. GCAP3 is encoded by a distinct gene present in other mammalian species but could not be detected by genomic Southern blotting in rodents, amphibians, and lower vertebrates. The intron/exon arrangement of the GCAP3 gene is identical to that of the other GCAP genes. While the GCAP1 and GCAP2 genes are arranged in a tail-to-tail array on chromosome 6p in human, the GCAP3 gene is located on 3q13.1, suggesting an ancestral gene duplication/translocation event. The identification of multiple Ca2+-binding proteins that interact with GC is suggestive of complex regulatory mechanisms for photoreceptor GC.

Evidence for locus heterogeneity in the Bethlem myopathy and linkage to 2q37

The Bethlem myopathy, a childhood onset autosomal dominant myopathy with joint contractures, has recently been localized to 21q in a series of Dutch families and the alpha 1 and alpha 2 subunits of type VI collagen (COL6A1 and COL6A2) have been postulated as candidate genes. We investigate a large family of French Canadian descent (family 1489) in which the Bethlem myopathy is segregating. Family 1489 is unlinked to the region of interest on 21q, thus demonstrating locus heterogeneity within the Bethlem myopathy classification. In view of the localization of the genes coding the alpha 1 and alpha 2 subunits of type VI collagen on chromosome 21q, we carried out linkage analysis on chromosome 2q where the alpha 3 subunit of type VI collagen has been localized. We demonstrate linkage to markers in this region, define the region of disease gene localization, and confirm by FISH analysis that COL6A3 is located within the interval of interest making COL6A3 a feasible candidate gene for the Bethlem myopathy.

Usefulness and limitations of serum and urine lysozyme levels in the classification of acute myeloid leukemia: an analysis of 208 cases

The revised French-American-British (FAB) classification system for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) recommends the determination of serum lysozyme (SL) or urine lysozyme (UL) levels as an aid in distinguishing acute myeloblastic leukemia with maturation (FAB M2) from acute myelomonocytic leukemia (M4). We reviewed retrospectively 208 cases of adult leukemia in which SL and/or UL were obtained. Elevated lysozyme levels were not found in any of the M0, M3, or M7 cases, but were increased (false positive) in three (14%) M1 cases, 18 (19%) M2 cases and one (20%) M6 case. Although a UL value in excess of 3x normal was found in most cases of AML M4 and M5, only five (11%) M4 cases and three (20%) M5 cases had SL elevations of this magnitude. Lysozyme levels need to be interpreted in conjunction with other parameters for FAB classification.

Evaluation of slipperiness of catheter surfaces

A test method is described that allows the characterization of the subjective feeling of lubricity of catheter surfaces in a quantitative way. The test consists in pulling out, by a weight, a catheter tubing from a test tube filled with agar. Results show that the surface of a polyurethane catheter tubing coated with the hydrophilic poly (hydroxyethylmethacrylate) is readily hydrated by the water contained in the agar. The hydrogel coated tubing slides very quickly, due to the lubricating surface layer of water. The untreated polyurethane tubing and the same tubing after plasma treatment were definitely less slippery than the poly (hydroxyethylmethacrylate) coated ones. Atomic force microscopy was used to evaluate the contribution of the surface morphology of the samples to the obtained results.