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Pneumocystis jirovecipneumonia (PJP) is associated with high morbidity and mortality after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Little is known about PJP infections after HSCT because of the rarity of disease given routine prophylaxis. We report the results of a Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research study evaluating the incidence, timing, prophylaxis agents, risk factors and mortality of PJP after autologous (auto) and allogeneic (allo) HSCT. Between 1995 and 2005, 0.63% allo recipients and 0.28% auto recipients of first HSCT developed PJP. Cases occurred as early as 30 days to beyond a year after allo HSCT. A nested case cohort analysis with supplemental data (n=68 allo cases, n=111 allo controls) revealed that risk factors for PJP infection included lymphopenia and mismatch after HSCT. After allo or auto HSCT, overall survival was significantly poorer among cases vs controls (P=0.0004). After controlling for significant variables, the proportional hazards model revealed that PJP cases were 6.87 times more likely to die vs matched controls (P<0.0001). We conclude PJP infection is rare after HSCT but is associated with high mortality. Factors associated with GVHD and with poor immune reconstitution are among the risk factors for PJP and suggest that protracted prophylaxis for PJP in high-risk HSCT recipients may improve outcomes.

Risk factors for non-Aspergillusmold infection (NAMI) and the impact on transplant outcome are poorly assessed in the current era of antifungal agents. Outcomes of 124 patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) diagnosed with either mucormycosis (n=72) or fusariosis (n=52) between days 0 and 365 after HCT are described and compared with a control cohort (n=11 856). Patients with NAMI had more advanced disease (mucormycois: 25%, fusariosis: 23% and controls: 18%; P=0.004) and were more likely to have a Karnofsky performance status (KPS) <90% at HCT (mucormycosis: 42%, fusariosis: 38% and controls: 28%; P=0.048). The 1-year survival after HCT was 22% (15–29%) for cases and was significantly inferior compared with controls (65% (64–65%); P<0.001). Survival from infection was similarly dismal regardless of mucormycosis: 15% (8–25%) and fusariosis: 21% (11–33%). In multivariable analysis, NAMI was associated with a sixfold higher risk of death (P<0.0001) regardless of the site or timing of infection. Risk factors for mucormycosis include preceding acute GvHD, prior Aspergillusinfection and older age. For fusariosis, increased risks including receipt of cord blood, prior CMV infection and transplant before May 2002. In conclusion, NAMI occurs infrequently, is associated with high mortality and appears with similar frequency in the current antifungal era.

Electrolyte additives, as a small proportion of the electrolyte, greatly affect the performance of lithium-ion cells. This work performs a comparative study to reveal the difference between commercial 99.8% pure 3-phenyl-1,4,2-dioxazol-5-one (PDO) additive and lab-made 95% pure PDO in NMC622/graphite cells. In addition, a set of experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of 99.8% pure PDO and its binary blends with vinylene carbonate (VC), 1,3,2-dioxathiolane-2,2-dioxide (DTD) or lithium difluorophosphate (LFO) in NMC811/graphite cells. 99.8% Pure PDO and 95% pure PDO show little difference in the NMC622 cells, with the latter presenting relatively better performance in the best-performing blends for long-term cycling and high-temperature storage tests. Considering all the tests including ultra high precision coulometry (UHPC) cycling, long-term cycling, and high-temperature storage, the NMC811 cells with 2%PDO+ 1%LFO outperformed the other PDO-containing cells. The PDO-based blends were confirmed to be more promising in cells with higher nickel content; that is, PDO could be a useful additive in high-nickel content cells.

Correction to: Bone Marrow Transplantation (2016) 51, 277–282; doi: 10.1038/bmt.2015.263; published online 2 November 2015. Since the online publication of this paper the authors have noticed the below two errors: 1. The author name Papinicolou was misspelt and should be replaced with Papanicolou. 2. The x axis in Figure 1b should be labeled ‘months’ with the entire graph representing 1 year (3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months).