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Patients cured from hematological malignancies should be subject to long-life routine medical supervision. Patients who did not complete their therapy during childhood require further therapy when reaching adulthood (18 years).

The introduction of biosimilars can increase the availability of effective and life-saving therapies, while reducing their costs. Biosimilar and reference biological drugs are functionally the same molecules, identical in quality, biological activity, safety profile, immunogenicity and therapeutic efficacy. Recently, two pivotal registration studies for rituximab biosimilars have been summarized. In patients with follicular lymphoma (FL), the efficacy and safety of rituximab GP2013 was assessed in ASSIST-FL phase III clinical trial. At median follow-up of 11.6 months, the primary endpoint was achieved, in the GP2013 group overall response was 87% (271/311 patients) and 88% (274 /313 patients) in the reference arm). The incidence of adverse events and severe toxicities was similar in both groups. In the second study of 140 patients with FL, the overall response was 97.0% (64 of the 66 patients) in the CT-P10 group and 92.6% (63 of the 68 patients) in the group treated with rituximab. Treatment-emergent adverse events were reported for 83% (58 of 70 patients) in the CT-P10 treatment group and 80% (56 of 70) in the reference rituximab treatment group. Results of these studies indicate similar activity and toxicity profile of GP2013 and CT-P10 to the original rituximab.

Ixazomib is a new agent registered in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy. The drug is the first oral proteasome inhibitor. Registration data show improvement in progression-free survival time (20.6 vs 14.7 months, p=0.01) but recent analysis in Asian population also in overall survival (25.8 vs 15.8 months, HR=0.419, p=0.001) what placed with lack of ixazomib incremental toxicity may implicate clinical importance of the treatment in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Oral dosing of the triplet regimen may decrease the number and duration of hospitalizations that allows for better social functioning and occupational performance, and thus impacts daily disease perception.

New drugs introduced in recent years to the therapy of multiple myeloma patients resulted in better responses and prolongation of overall survival. While therapeutic regimens based on bortezomib and thalidomide are recommended to most patients in first line therapy, lenalidomide represents the cornerstone for treatment of relapsed/refractory myeloma patients. Most patients profit from prolonged treatment composed of consolidation and maintenance treatment till progression. Besides the concept of longer treatment, it is recommended to start therapy in some patients earlier, taking into consideration biomarkers of active disease. In this article, we described therapeutic recommendation also for Waldenström macroglobulinemia and other plasmacytic dyscrasias.

AbstractThe paper presents new records for 28 vascular plant species from 14 Eurasian countries. Five taxa (Catabrosa capusii, Poa albertii, Poa intricata, Poa pseudoaltaica, Poa sergievskajae) are reported from Kazakhstan, three (Ranunculus pseudomonophyllus, Ranunculus smirnovii, Ranunculus turczaninovii) from Mongolia, three (Panicum barbipulvinatum, Stipa eriocaulis, Tragopogon pratensissubsp. minor) from Poland, three (Euphorbia subtilis, Corydalis grubovii, Thymus callieri) from Russia, two (Atriplex ornata, Corispermum dutreuilii) from Afghanistan, two (Orobanche grenieri, Ranunculus mongolicus) from Kyrgyzstan, two (Erigeron annuus, Sternbergia lutea) from Tajikistan, two (Orobanche baumanniorum, Orobanche kotschyi) from Turkey, one (Polygonum subaphyllum) from China, one (Orobanche bartlingii) from Georgia, one (Rubus slavonicus) from Germany, one (Cenchrus spinifex) from Montenegro, one (Rubus canadensis) from Slovenia and one (Bolboschoenus yagara) from Switzerland. For each species, synonyms, general distribution, habitat preferences, taxonomy with remarks on recognition and differentiation of the species from the most similar taxa occurring in a given country as well as a list of recorded localities (often far from the previously known areas) are presented.

Single positive staphylococcal blood culture in a hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipient is generally regarded as contamination. Such a blood culture (BC) does not fill the criteria for Laboratory-Confirmed Bloodstream Infection (LCBI) and could be described as Single Positive Commensal Blood Culture. The aim of this retrospective cohort analysis was to determine the clinical significance of SPCBC in HSCT recipients.

The paper presents the method of hierarchical Bayes (HB) estimation under small area models with spatially correlated random effects and a spatial structure implied by the Simultaneous Autoregressive (SAR) process. The idea was to improve the spatial EBLUP by incorporating the HB approach into the estimation algorithm. The computation procedure applied in the paper uses the concept of sampling from a posterior distribution under generalized linear mixed models implemented in WinBUGS software and adapts the idea of parameter estimation for small areas by means of the HB method in the case of known model hyperparameters. The illustration of the approach mentioned above was based on a real-world example concerning household income data. The precision of the direct estimators was determined using own three-stage procedure which employs Balanced Repeated Replication, bootstrap and Generalized Variance Function. Additional simulations were conducted to show the influence of the spatial autoregression coefficient on the estimation error reduction. The computations performed by ‘sae’ package for R project and a special procedure for WinBUGS reveal that the method provides reliable estimates of small area means. For high spatial correlation between domains, noticeable MSE reduction was observed, which seems more evident for HB-SAR method as compared with the traditional spatial EBLUP. In our opinion, the Gibbs sampler, revealing the simultaneous nature of processes, especially for random effects, can be a good starting point for the simulations based on stochastic SAR processes.

The aim of this article is to present the essence of a functional area as a new tool of the EU regional policy and the course of designing an integrated approach to the development of the functional area. The study is a case study and relates to the methodical process of creating a development concept for the Functional Area of Oder Communes (FAOC). This article is based on the analysis of the domestic and foreign literature on regional development and own experiences and reflections of authors resulting from the work in the team for the development of a strategy for this area. The analysis of domestic and foreign literature allowed for presenting a new paradigm of the local development. The current approach is characterized by a focus on the use of endogenous potentials and territorial targeting of the development, which promotes the creation of functional and spatial structures such as functional areas. Their development requires integrated development planning that provides benefits both in the social and economic dimension. The study presents the new paradigm of the local development in the context of the National Spatial Development Concept 2030. The study presents the theoretical and practical basis for creating a concept for integrated development of a functional area.

New drugs introduced in recent years for the therapy of multiple myeloma patients resulted in better responses and prolongation of overall survival. While therapeutic regimens based on bortezomib and thalidomide are recommended to most patients in first-line therapy, lenalidomide represents a cornerstone for treatment of relapsed/refractory myeloma patients. Most patients profit from prolonged treatment composed of consolidation and maintenance or treatment till progression. Beside concept of longer treatment, it is recommended to start therapy in some patients earlier, taking into consideration biomarkers of active disease. In this article, we described also therapeutic recommendation for Waldenström macroglobulinemia and other plasmocytic dyscrasias.

Graphene is a two-dimensional material with honeycomb structure. Its unique mechanical, physical electrical and optical properties makes it an important industrially and economically material in the coming years. One of the application areas for graphene is the photovoltaic industry. Studies have shown that doped graphene can change one absorbed photon of a few electrons, which in practice means an increase in efficiency of solar panels. In addition, graphene has a low coefficient of light absorption 2.3% which indicates that is an almost completely transparent material. In fact, it means that solar cells based on graphene can significantly expand the absorbed spectrum wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. Graphene additionally is a material with a very high tensile strength so it can be successfully used on the silicon, flexible and organic substrates as well. So far, significant effort has been devoted to using graphene for improving the overall performance of photovoltaic devices. It has been reported that graphene can play diverse, but positive roles such as an electrode, an active layer, an interfacial layer and an electron acceptor in photovoltaic cells. Research on solar cells containing in its structure graphene however, are still at laboratory scale. This is due to both lack the ability to produce large-sized graphene and reproducibility of its parameters

The aim of this study was to examine the size and composition of soil seed bank in the beech forest of Beskid Śląski (southern Poland). The study was conducted in autumn 2009 on two patches of vegetation. The applied method of research was seedling germination from the soil samples. The soil was sampled to the depth of 10 cm using a 5 cm diameter cylinder. The observation of the seedling's growth was conducted in laboratory conditions for 5 months. The size of the soil seed bank was estimated at 592 seeds/m2 (16 species) for Dentario glandulosae-Fagetum community and 2030 seeds/m2 (9 species) for Luzulo nemorosae-Fagetum comunnity. Dominant species in the seed bank was Juncus sp. and Luzula luzuloides. In addition, the composition of the seed bank and the above-ground vegetation did not show any significant similarities and a greater number of seeds were located in the upper 5cm layer of soil.

So far the studies on the prion protein (PRNP) gene have mainly been focused on the search for an association between detected polymorphisms in this gene and the susceptibility of cattle to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The PRNPgene location on chromosome 13 suggests that the polymorphisms within this gene can be potential quantitative trait locus (QTL) markers for milk production traits. The aim of this study was the analysis of the potential effect of the insertion/deletionpolymorphisms within the promoter region (23 bp) and intron 1 (12 bp) of the PRNPgene on milk production traits in Jersey cattle. The study material consisted of 171 Jersey cows. The following milk production traits were analysed: milk yield, milk fat and protein yield, milk fat and protein content. Statistically significant differences were found in milk fat content in the second lactation between animal groups representing the ins/deland del/delgenotypes for the 23 bppolymorphism (P≤0.05). The ins/del 12 bppolymorphism was found to have significant (P≤0.05) and highly significant (P≤0.01) effects on milk yield.

Jet engine noise may be very harmful to the auditory organ. Transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) seem to be non-invasive, objective and frequency specific audiometric test for evaluating hair cell damage caused by noise and other etiological factors. Sounds of high intensity often cause damage to the organ of Corti. It is well known that the outer hair cells often get damaged first. There are data that OAEs in humans and in animals become weaker after short exposures to noise and OAE measurements appear to be a sensitive method of monitoring the early cochlear changes after noise-induced trauma. The aim was to assess the effects of exposure to jet engine noise on TEOAE and in comparison to PTA in jet engine servicing personnel before and after one year.

Despite significant advances in epileptology, the differential diagnosis of epileptic and pseudoepileptic seizures continues to be a considerable challenge. The problem becomes even more complicated when epileptic and psychogenic pseudoepileptic seizures coexist in the same patient . Appropriate psychological measures may be helpful in the diagnosis and may improve knowledge about aetiological factors which can provoke psychogenic pseudoepileptic seizures. The purpose of this paper is to present the psychological profile of patients with mixed seizures (epileptic and psychogenic pseudoepileptic) developed on the basis of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and to discuss the personality differences between patients with psychogenic epileptic seizures and epileptic patients. In patients with diagnosed epilepsy and/or suspected psychogenic pseudoepileptic seizures long-term video-monitoring was performed. On the basis of the gathered data the patients were divided into three groups: group I (N= 32 : 25 F and 7 M) had coexistent psychogenic pseudoepileptic and epileptic seizures, group II (N= 38 : 30 F and 8 M) had psychogenic pseudoepileptic seizures only and group III (N= 36 : 18 F and 8 M) had epileptic seizures only and was treated as the control group. All three groups were given the MMPI. Comparison of the averaged personality profiles of the three groups revealed significant differences (P< 0.0001) in hypochondriasis (Hs) and hysteria (Hy), similarity of the profiles of groups I and II, and significantly higher Hs and Hy scores than D (Depression) scores (P< 0.001). Unlike groups I and II, group III (the epileptic group) had significantly higher D scores than Hs and Hy scores (P< 0.01). Our findings suggest that conversion, manifested in the typically elevated Hs and Hy scores as compared to D scores, is present in both groups of patients demonstrating pseudoepileptic seizures but absent in the patients with epilepsy where the Hs and Hy to D ratio is reversed. Patients with mixed seizures and patients with psychogenic pseudoepileptic seizures only have similarly shaped profiles.

Several amide and ester derivatives of a glutamine analogue, N3-(4-methoxyfumaroyl)-(S)-2,3-diaminopropanoic acid (FMDP) (1–8), were synthesized and evaluated for the inhibitory activity in regard to glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase from Candida albicans. The syntheses were accomplished by the reaction of N2-tert-butoxycarbonyl-N3-(4-methoxyfumaroyl)-(S)-2,3-diaminopropanoic acid (BocFMDP) with the corresponding amines to give the FMDP amides (1–4) or with alkyl halides to give corresponding esters of FMDP (5–8). Among the synthesized compounds, the acetoxymethyl ester of FMDP was the most active inhibitor of the enzyme. Its IC50value compared to that of FMDP (4μM) was equal to 11.5μM. The methyl and allyl esters and the N-hexyl-N-methyl-amide of FMDP exhibited a moderate enzyme inhibitory activity.

Novel inhibitors 1-4 of glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase from Candida albicans have been designed based on acylation of the N3 amino group of L-2,3-diaminopropanoic acid with the corresponding ketoacids. These inhibitors have been shown to alkylate the fungal enzyme in a time-dependent manner. Compound 3 containing trans-β-benzoyl acrylic acid as an acyl residue was found to be the most potent inhibitor in the series. Dipeptides composed of the active inhibitors and norvaline demonstrated potent antifungal activity against selected strains of Candida spp. and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Their activity was reversed upon addition of N-acetylglucosamine to the medium.

The Candida albicans GFA1 gene encoding glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase, an enzyme of cell wall biosynthesis pathway in fungi and bacteria, recently an object of interest as a target for the chemotherapy of systemic mycoses, was PCR amplified and cloned to an Escherichia coliexpression vector pET23b. The activity of the enzyme in the lysates from the overproducing E. colistrain was approximately 50–100 times higher than in the lysates from the control E. colistrain. This abundant overproduction allows to purify milligram amounts of the enzyme to homogeneity.

The paper presents a new locality of Typha shuttleworthii W.D.J. Koch & Sond. in Poland. The species was found in wet roadside ditch in Kryg village near Gorlice (ATPOL grid square EG09). The distribution map of the species in Poland is provided.

Our aim in this study was to find the optimum temperature of thermal drawing and stabilization at values of deformation lower than the maximum values in order to keep fiber structural defects to a minimum. Fibers with the best mechanical properties were obtained when the drawing process was done at 185°C and the stabilization temperature was 210°C.

The article explores on the identification of Sulpicia, the alleged bird-name. It states that the sulpicia is attested in Greek-Latin gloss including the sulpicia bardala. Accordingly, Lindsay believes that bardala is seemingly a marginal note in the lost Satires of Sulpicia, whom he referred to the less known poetess and the author of Latin satires during the reign of Domitian. However, Jacques Andre has rejected the interpretation of Lindsay, and concluded that sulpicia might be a woman.

Kumar: Glycomimetics: Consultancy; Onyx: Consultancy, Research Funding; Kesios: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy, Research Funding; Sanofi: Consultancy, Research Funding; BMS: Consultancy; Millennium: Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; AbbVie: Research Funding; Array BioPharma: Consultancy, Research Funding; Skyline: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Noxxon Pharma: Consultancy, Research Funding. Grzasko:Celgene: Honoraria; Munipharma: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria. Jędrzejczak:Novartis: Consultancy, Research Funding; BMS: Research Funding; Janssen-Cilag: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy; Angelini: Consultancy; Roche: Consultancy, Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding; Sandoz: Consultancy. Kyrtsonis:Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Genesis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Amgen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Gupta:Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited: Employment. Teng:Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited: Employment; AMAG Pharmaceuticals: Equity Ownership; Gilead Science: Equity Ownership; Array: Equity Ownership. Byrne:Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited: Employment. Labotka:Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited: Employment. Dimopoulos:Genesis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.