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Background: Sorafenib has shown encouraging results in patients with Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3)-positive acute myeloid leukemia. Its role after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has been reported in a few cases with encouraging results.Methods: The authors describe the use of sorafenib as a maintenance agent after HSCT in 27 patients with FLT3-positive acute myeloid leukemia.Results: The median age of the patients was 46 years (range, 15-57 years). Sorafenib was introduced at a median of 70 days (range, 29-337 days) after HSCT. The median treatment duration was 8.4 months (range, 0.2-46 months). Eleven patients experienced treatment toxicities, mainly of grade 1 to 2 (graded according to the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria [version 4.0]). Dose reduction or withdrawal was required in 4 patients and 4 patients, respectively. The persistence of toxicity prompted treatment withdrawal in 1 patient. Clinical improvement followed dose modifications. Thirteen patients experienced chronic graft-versus-host disease (limited in 9 patients and extensive in 4 patients), resulting in dose reduction in 5 patients followed by withdrawal in 1 of these individuals. At a median follow-up of 18 months (range, 4-48 months), 25 patients were alive (all of whom were in complete molecular remission) and 18 were still receiving treatment, with 1-year overall survival and progression-free survival rates of 92% ± 6% and 92% ± 5%, respectively.Conclusions: Sorafenib treatment after HSCT appears to be feasible and highly effective with dose individualization according to patient tolerability. Further analysis is needed to evaluate the immunomodulating role of sorafenib after HSCT. The data from the current support prospective controlled trials of sorafenib after HSCT. Cancer 2017;123:2867-74. © 2017 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thiotepa is an alkylating compound with an antineoplastic and myeloablative activity and can mimic the effect of radiation. However, it is unknown whether this new regimen could safely replace the longestablished ones. This retrospective matched-pair analysis evaluated the outcome of adults with acute myeloid leukaemia in first complete remission who received myeloablative conditioning either with a thiotepa-based (n = 121) or a cyclophosphamide/total body irradiation-based (TBI; n = 358) regimen for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from an HLA-matched sibling or an unrelated donor. With a median follow-up of 44 months, the outcome was similar in both groups. Acute graft-versus-host disease grade II-IV was observed in 25% after thiotepa-containing regimen versus 35% after TBI (P = 0.06). The 2-yr cumulative incidence of chronic graft-versus-host disease was 40.5% for thiotepa and 41% for TBI (P = 0.98). At 2 yrs, the cumulative incidences of non-relapse mortality and relapse incidence were 23.9% (thiotepa) vs. 22.4% (TBI; P = 0.66) and 17.2% (thiotepa) vs. 23.3% (TBI; P = 0.77), respectively. The probabilities of leukaemia-free and overall survival at 2 yrs were not significantly different between the thiotepa and TBI groups, at 58.9% vs. 54.2% (P = 0.95) and 61.4% vs. 58% (P = 0.72), respectively. Myeloablative regimens using combinations including thiotepa can provide satisfactory outcomes, but the optimal conditioning remains unclear for the individual patient in this setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AP301 is an activator of ENaC-mediated Na+ uptake for the treatment of pulmonary permeability edema in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The purpose of this 'first-in-man' study was to examine local and systemic safety and systemic exposure of ascending single doses of AP301, when inhaled by healthy male subjects. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 48 healthy male subjects were randomized to 6 ascending dose groups (single doses up to 120 mg) of 8 subjects each (3:1 randomization of AP301: placebo). Serial assessments included spirometry, exhaled nitric oxide (eNO), vital signs, ECG, safety laboratory, adverse events (AE), and blood samples for the quantification of AP301 in plasma. Descriptive statistics was applied. All 48 subjects received treatment, and completed the study as per protocol. No serious, local (e.g., hoarseness, cough, bronchospasm), or dose-limiting AEs were noted. None of the assessments indicated notable dose or time-related alterations of safety outcomes. Observed AP301 systemic exposure levels were very low, with mean Cmax values of <2.5 ng/mL in the highest dose groups. Inhaled AP301 single doses up to 120 mg were safe and well tolerated by healthy male subjects. Distribution of inhaled AP301 was largely confined to the lung, as indicated by very low AP301 systemic exposure levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'gender role' was coined at Johns Hopkins's paediatric endocrinology clinic in the 1950s, where Dr Lawson Wilkins and psychologist John Money diagnosed, treated and evaluated intersexual children, most of them suffering from a condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Going beyond existing discourses on the medicalisation of intersexuality, I reframe the emergence of gender as an element in the development of a specific medical treatment for an endocrinological condition and excavate the complex and contingent historical factors that led to the formulation of gender role in the Hopkins context. Using previously unavailable patient records from the clinic, this article follows the patients through their medical encounters and describes the process of normalisation around the diagnosis, treatment and management of CAH. By paying specific attention to the practices at the clinic, I show that diagnosing a child's sex often depended on the physicians' skill, experience and techniques. Correct gender role was folded into the management of CAH as one aspect of successful treatment. Normalisation was a process, in which treating somatic effects and assuring psychological healthiness were deeply enmeshed in the conviction that a normal life would only be possible as a clearly gendered and sexed person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: High density lipoproteins (HDL) represent a protective factor of central importance that counteracts the development of cardiovascular disease, in part by normalizing platelet (hyper)reactivity. As HDL represent an efficient scavenger of the naturally occurring oxidant hypochlorite, this work was intended to investigate the influence of hypochlorite-oxidized HDL on platelet function. Addition of hypochlorite-oxidized HDL to human platelets results in an immediate and transient raise in intracellular calcium, surface expression of P-selectin and platelet aggregation. The observed effects are dose dependent and can be blocked by an antibody directed against the lipoprotein-binding domain of platelet thrombospondin- and scavenger receptor CD36. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]