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A 61-year-old woman presented with pancytopenia and underwent a bone marrow biopsy. The patient was diagnosed with nonsecretory myeloma (plasmablastic type) based on both the bone marrow biopsy findings and her laboratory data. Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography ((18)F-FDG-PET) was performed prior to chemotherapy showing diffuse bone marrow uptake, splenic uptake, and focal uptake of the right anterior chest wall. The patient underwent an (18)F-FDG-PET examination to evaluate the curative effects after three cycles of chemotherapy, and no abnormal uptake on (18)F-FDG-PET was found. Bone marrow biopsy to evaluate the curative effect showed no viable tumor cells. We present a rare case of nonsecretory plasmablastic myeloma detected by (18)F-FDG-PET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To explore severe toxicities induced by irinotecan-based chemotherapy and UGT1A1*6/*28 and SLCO1B1*15/*15 genotypes. Case Report: A 66-year-old Japanese male diagnosed with left pharyngeal carcinoma (T2N2bM0, stage IVA) was treated with irinotecan (70 mg/m(2)) on days 1, 8 and 15 in combination with docetaxel (60 mg/m(2)) on day 1 of a 28-day cycle. After the first cycle, he suffered marked toxicities, including grade 4 diarrhea and febrile grade 4 neutropenia. Plasma concentrations of irinotecan, SN-38 and SN-38G were measured, and extensive accumulation of SN-38 was observed. Genotyping of UGT1A1 and OATP1B1 proteins showed UGT1A1*6/*28 and SLCO1B1*15/*15, respectively, which are known to lead to extremely low glucuronidation and transport activities of substrate drugs. Conclusion: The severe toxicities in this patient are attributable to the extensive accumulation of SN-38, which may result from a synergistic or additive effect of low metabolic (UGT1A1*6/*28) and transport (SLCO1B1*15/*15) capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports recent developments of our self-assembled InGaAs quantum-dot (QD) lasers and their unique physical properties. We achieved a low-threshold current of 5.4 mA at room temperature with our originally designed columnar-shaped QD's, and also, room-temperature 1.3-μm continuous-wave (CW) lasing with self-assembled dots grown at a decreased growth rate and covered by a strained InGaAs layer. We discuss influence of homogeneous broadening of single-dot optical gain on lasing spectra, influence of nonradiative carrier recombination on temperature characteristics of threshold currents, a model for the origin of the homogeneous broadening, a finding of random telegraph signals, and suppression of temperature sensitivity of interband emission energy by covering dots with a strained InGaAs layer [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives: Evidence exists to suggest that diclofenac is metabolised by CYP2C9. The present study was undertaken in order to evaluate the effect of the single CYP2C9*3 variant on drug metabolism using diclofenac as a probe drug. Methods: A single dose of diclofenac was administered orally to 12 healthy subjects in whom the genotype of CYP2C9 had been determined previously. The disposition kinetics of diclofenac were compared between homozygotes for the wild type (CYP2C9*1/*1, n=6) and heterozygotes for the Leu359 variant (CYP2C9*1/*3, n=6). Results: For diclofenac, the following kinetic parameters were observed in the CYP2C9*1/*1 and CYP2C9*1/*3 subjects, respectively (mean ± SD): apparent oral clearance (ml/kg/h) 355.8 ± 56.9 and 484.4 ± 155.3; area under plasma concentration–time curve (μg h/ml) 2.7 ± 0.7 and 1.9 ± 0.6. The formation clearance of 4′-hydroxydiclofenac (ml/kg/h) was 63.6 ± 19.1 in the CYP2C9*1/*1 subjects compared with 75.9 ± 27.6 in the CYP2C9*1/*3 subjects. There were no significant differences in any of the kinetic parameters for either diclofenac disposition or formation clearance of 4′-hydroxydiclofenac between the two genotype groups. Conclusion: Since the disposition kinetics of diclofenac does not change in subjects with the single CYP2C9*3 mutant allele, it is suggested that the effects of CYP2C9 polymorphisms on the drug metabolism tend to be substrate specific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uncooled 25 Gbit/s direct modulation of 1.3 µm DFB lasers is demonstrated. The 150 µm-long semi-insulating buried-heterostructure AlGaInAs quantum-well DFB lasers show clear eye-openings with dynamic extinction ratio of 5 dB up to 70°C. 13 km singlemode-fibre transmission experiments using the devices show low power penalty within 1.3 dB between 25 and 70°C. These characteristics are the first achievement by 1.3 µm directly modulated lasers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-driving-current temperature-stable 10 Gbit/s direct modulation was achieved for optimised 200 µm-long short cavity 1.3 µm p-doped quantum dot lasers. Driving conditions were 25.2 mAp-p for the modulation current and 23.4 mA for the bias current through the whole temperature range from 20 to 90°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]