Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“P>Background: Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is recommended for the

treatment of Sezary syndrome (SS), the leukemic variant of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). Several combination therapies are used to increase response rates to ECP.

Patients and Methods: We report our experience with the combination therapy of ECP, interferon-alpha, PUVA and topical corticosteroids in SS.

Results: The treatment outcome in 12 SS patients was retrospectively analyzed and showed an overall response rate to this combination treatment of 42 % with 4/12 patients achieving a partial remission and 1/12 patients a stable disease. The median overall survival time was 42 months. We investigated several clinical and laboratory parameters as an indicator for a response to treatment in our patient AG-014699 ic50 cohort. A combined analysis of the erythroderma assessment scale, WBC, LDH, CD4/CD8 ratio and the number of Sezary cells revealed that a reduction of several parameters significantly correlated with response to treatment. The parameters which correlated best with response were number of Sezary cells, CD4/CD8 ratio and WBC.

Conclusions: The investigated combination therapy was effective and well-tolerated in a subgroup of SS patients but needs to be evaluated in a larger patient population.”
“The current study assessed the relationship between serum

concentrations of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) measured in the peri-implantation period and various outcome measures following blastocyst transfer in IVF cycles. Selleckchem Ricolinostat The study selleck compound group included 767 autologous IVF cycles, each

with the transfer of two fresh blastocysts in a 6-year study period, ending 31 December 2009. Outcome measures were ectopic pregnancy, biochemical pregnancy loss, ongoing pregnancy, spontaneous abortion and multiple pregnancy. Peri-implantation serum HCG concentration measured 5 days after blastocyst transfer was highly predictive of these outcome measures. These findings suggest embryonic implantation and developmental fate are largely determined by 5 days after blastocyst transfer and that very early serum HCG measurements may be useful markers of IVF outcome. RBM Online (c) 2012, Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“P>Background: Pityriasis rubra pilaris (PRP) is a rare papulosquamous dermatosis. We evaluated evaluate co-morbidities, complications, and outcome of treatment regimens.

Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study at an academic teaching hospital. We analyzed all patients with the definite diagnosis of PRP seen since 2001. Epidemiologic data, co-morbidities, response to and course during treatment were investigated.

Results: We identified 10 PRP-patients (6 men, 4 women), mean age 56.4 years, with type I (n = 9) and type IV (n = 1). Three patients had internal co-morbidities (atrial fibrillation with cardiac insufficiency, dilated cardiomyopathy, diabetes mellitus).