ALBERT

Description: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of dehydration conditions on the chemical, physical, and rehydration properties of instant whole beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L. var. Azufrado) using a 22 factorial design (air temperature: 25°C and 30°C, air velocity: 0.5 m/s and 1.0 m/s). To determine the kinetic parameters, the rehydration data were fitted to three models: Peleg’s, First Order, and Sigmoid. The protein, fat, and ash contents of the beans were not significantly affected () by the dehydration conditions. Of the 11 physical properties of the instant whole beans, only water activity and splitting were significantly affected by dehydration conditions (), with a range from 0.58 to 0.67 and from 2.90% to 5.87%, respectively. Of the three models tested, the First Order model gave the best fit for rehydration, with no significant differences () between the observed and predicted equilibrium moisture contents of the instant whole beans. Regarding the rehydration kinetics for the instant whole beans, the activation energy values ranged from 23.56 kJ/mol to 30.48 kJ/mol, depending on the dehydration conditions. The dehydration conditions had no significant effect () on the rehydration properties of instant whole beans.

Description: The electrical impedance equation is considered an ill-posed problem where the solution to the forward problem is more easy to achieve than the inverse problem. This work tries to improve convergence in the forward problem method, where the Pseudoanalytic Function Theory by means of the Taylor series in formal powers is used, incorporating a regularization method to make a solution more stable and to obtain better convergence. In addition, we include a comparison between the designed algorithms that perform proposed method with and without a regularization process and the autoadjustment parameter for this regularization process.

Description: Based upon the elements of the modern pseudoanalytic function theory, we analyze a new method for numerically solving the forward Dirichlet boundary value problem corresponding to the two-dimensional electrical impedance equation. The analysis is performed by introducing interpolating piecewise separable-variables conductivity functions in the unit circle. To warrant the effectiveness of the posed method, we consider several examples of conductivity functions, whose boundary conditions are exact solutions of the electrical impedance equation, performing a brief comparison with the finite element method. Finally, we discuss the possible contributions of these results to the field of the electrical impedance tomography.

Description: This article covers ten years of GRB follow-ups by the Spanish BOOTES stations: 71 follow-ups providing 23 detections. Follow-ups by BOOTES-1B from 2005 to 2008 were given in a previous article and are here reviewed and updated, and additional detection data points are included as the former article merely stated their existence. The all-sky cameras CASSANDRA have not yet detected any GRB optical afterglows, but limits are reported where available.

Description: Patients with high-risk hematological malignancies have a poor prognosis without a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. An HLA- haploidentical donor is available in 95% of the cases, and post-transplant cyclophosphamide permits the use of T-cell replete grafts in settings were ex-vivo manipulation is not available. The experience with HLA-haploidentical HSCT with PBSC and post-tranplant Cy in the pediatric and adolescent population is limited; we report the following experience. We retrospectively collected data on 25 patients (0 to 21 years old) with hematological malignancies, who underwent ambulatory haploidentical HSCT with post-transplant Cy from November 2011 to November 2014. The different conditioning regimens are described in Table 1. All patients received high-dose Cy(50mg/kg) on days +3 and +4. Cyclosporine A (CYA; 6mg/kg/d per os) and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF; 15mg/kg two times daily per os) were started on day +5. MMF was discontinued on day +35 and tapering of cyclosporin started day +90 in the absence of GVHD. All patients received anti-microbial prophylaxis for bacteria, fungal, herpes infection and Pneumocystis jiroveci according to institutional practices. First chimerism was performed at day +30, and second chimerism at day +100. Primary graft failure was defined when neutrophil counts did not exceed 0.5 x 109/L by day +30. Acute and chronic GVHD were graded according to NIH criteria. Patient, donor and stem-cell harvest characteristics are described in Table 1. All patients had high risk hematological malignancies. There were 5 patients who underwent their first transplant on 1st CR, 4 with ALL with high risk cytogenetics and 1 with AML. All other patients were defined as high risk because they were refractory/relapsed. Twenty-three patients (92%) had neutrophil engraftment after a median 17 (7-24) days. Platelet engraftment was observed in 20 (80%) patients after a median of 14.5 (11-23) days, 3 (12%) patients did not have platelet counts below 20,000/mcL. One patient was catalogued as a primary failure for not achieving neutrophil and platelet engraftment by day +30. One patient died before engraftment at day +10 of septic shock. Four patients (16%) died before day +30. The only patient that did not have a complete chimerism, had a diagnosis of AML and 30% of donor cells by day +30, by day +45 relapse of disease was documented. After a median follow-up of 157 days, 13 patients (52%) remain alive, with an estimated 1-year OS of 52% (95%CI: 30.4 - 65.6%).Nine patients (36%) died of complications (mainly infectious) not related to relapse at a median time of 66 days (10-579 days) from stem cell infusion. Nine patients (36%) relapsed in a median time of 105 days (45-288 days); three of those patients died at days +150, +113 and + 370 from transplant. Estimated 1 year event-free survival is 40.2% (95%CI: 41.3 - 75.8%) (Figures 1 and 2). Patients transplanted on 1st CR had a median follow-up of 664 days with an OS and EFS of 80% (4 patients), which was statistically different from the rest of the population (p=0.03) (Figure 3). Among those who engrafted (n=21), 9 cases (42.9%) had grade 2-4 acute GVHD and 4 cases (19%) of grade 3-4 acute GVHD. Three patients (14.3%) developed chronic GVHD, two had mild skin or liver cGVHD. One patient had severe (NIH stage 3) skin cGVHD, she was alive and with a grade 2 cGVHD until last follow up at day +893. Outpatient procedure, HLA-haploidentical HSCT including PBSC as a stem cell source, and post-transplant T-cell in vivo depletion using high-dose cyclophosphamide is feasible in children and adolescents, with acceptable rates of response and GVHD. Table 1. Patient, donor and harvest characteristics Variable N=25 Age, median(range in years) 10 (1-21) Gender, n(%) Male Female 17 (68%) 8 (32%) Diagnosis, n(%) ALL-B ALL-T AML CML 16 (64%) 2 (8%) 5 (20%) 2 (8%) Time from diagnosis to transplant (months) 17.2 (1.9-153.5) Conditioning regimen, n(%) Cy 1500mg/m2 + Flu 75mg/m2 + Bu 9.6mg/kg (IV) Cy 1050mg/m2 + Flu 75mg/m2 + Bu 12 mg/kg (oral) Cy/VP-16/RT Cy/Flu/Mel 16 (64%) 6 (24%) 2 (8%) 1 (4%) Donor, n(%) Mother Father Sister 20 (80%) 3 (12%) 2 (8%) Donor age, median(range in years) 38 (17-49) Infused CD34+ x 106/kg, median(range) 11 (3.2-20) Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Description: BACKGROUND: Despite the excellent prognostic of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients since the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), approximately 50% of patients that are treated with TKIs will discontinue first line treatment due to lack of efficacy or intolerance. Once patients need a second line treatment, a considerable proportion of patients will need third or even fourth line therapy during further evolution. At this moment, there is a lack of data about real benefit of this group of patients. We have recently published our experience of 30 CML patients treated with bosutinib in 4th line. We present an update of the study where we have increased the number of patients, and the follow-up. The aim of this study is to present safety and efficacy data CML chronic phase patients treated with bosutinib in 4th line. METHODS: We have collected data from 59 CML patients treated with bosutinib in 4th line after resistance or intolerance to IM, NI and DA. 51 patients have been treated under the Spanish compassionate use program (36 centers) and 10 patients were treated in a single institution from United Kingdom. Median age of patients at diagnosis was 53 years. The percentage of low, intermediate and high risk Sokal groups were 47%, 37% and 16%. Median time TKIs exposure before bosutinib was 9 years. The most common indication (30/59) was intolerant to DA and NI. Patients' dispositions and main line characteristics are shown in table 1. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 14.3 months. All patients started bosutinib at 500mg/d, median dose of was 450mg/d. Overall probabilities to either achieve or maintain previous response were 96% (57/59), 62% (37/59), 40% (24/59) and 17% (10/59) for complete hematological response (CHR), complete cytogenetic response (CCyR), major molecular response (MMR) and MR4.5 respectively. However, probabilities to obtain responses (in patients without response evaluated at baseline) were 27% (7/26), 26% (12/45) and 12% (7/55) for CCyR, MMR and MR4.5. As expected, probabilities to obtain CCyR were lower for patients resistant to DA and NI patients than for patients intolerant to DA and NI (8% VS 44%). Event free survival (EFS) and progression free survival (PFS) probabilities were 50% and 83% by 27 month. Treatment was discontinued in 20/58 (34%), most frequent reasons being adverse events 9/59(15%), lack of efficacy 5/59 (8.5%), disease progression 2/59 (3.4%) and death 1/59 (1.7%). Two patients discontinued due to stem cell transplantation. The adverse events that led to treatment discontinuation were pleural effusion (3), diarrhea (2), rash, renal impairment, auricular fibrillation and liver enzyme elevation one patient each. Overall, bosutinib was well tolerated. Grade 3-4 hematological toxicities were 3%, 6% and 6% for anemia, thromboctytopenia and neutropenia. Most common non hematological side effects were diarrhea (39%, nauseas 13% and liver alterations 14% and pleural effusion 14%. CONCLUSIONS: Little is known about the therapeutic role of Bosutinib in 4th line. The series presented here is, to our knowledge, the largest being presented. Bosutinib seems to be an appropriate treatment option for patients resistant or intolerant to three prior TKIs. Table 1. IM+NI-I+DA-R (N=4) IM+NI-R+DA-R (N=18) IM+NI-I+DA-I (N=30) IM+NI-R+DA-I (N=7) Total (N=59) Sex, N (%) Male 2 (50) 11 (61.1) 16 (53.3) 2 (28.6) 31 (52.5) Median age of diagnosis, yr (range) 57.32 (50-64) 49.19 (23-73) 54.95 (21-89) 48.87 (26-68) 53.15 (21-89) Median age of Bosutinib initiation, yr (range) 69.13 (61-70) 62.27 (39-79) 64.85 (25-90) 64.79(35-74) 63.7 (25-9) Median follow up, months (range) 18.5(7.8-34.1) 8.4(1.22-36.1) 16.3(0.5-34.7) 23.4(3.3-28.9) 14.3(0.7-36.1) SOKAL Index at diagnosis, N (%) High 2(50.0) 4 (23.5) 1 (4.3) 1 (20) 8 (16.3) Intermediate 1 (25.0) 5 (29.4) 10(43.5) 2 (40) 18 (36.7) Low 1 (25.0) 8 (47.1) 12 (52.2) 2 (40) 23 (46.9) Median Time from first TKI to BOS, (yr, range) 10.3 (4.8-11.9) 9.3 (2.0-11.4) 8.8 (0.7-13.6) 8.2 (5.1-12.3) 8.8 (0.7-13.6) Median duration of prior therapy, months (range) Imatinib 38.8 (11.8-69.8) 32.6 (6.3-96.8) 26.2 (1.6-102.6) 23.1 (8.3-66.8) 28.8 (1.6-102.6) Dasatinib 21.5 (12.6-75) 21.8 (7.7-69) 31.4 (0.4-87.1) 23.7 (10.3-53.6) 23.44 (0.4-87.1) Nilotinib 19.1 (2.1-46.2) 16.7 (5-65.6) 8.9 (0.2-58.5) 30.9 (6.9-49.3) 14.3 (0.2-65.6) BOS: bosutinib, IM, imatinib; DA, dasatinib; NI, nilotinib, I: Intolerance, R: Resistant, Yr: year Disclosures García-Gutiérrez: Ariad: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria. Milojkovic:Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria; Ariad: Consultancy, Honoraria; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria. Boque:Novartis: Honoraria; BMS: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria. Casado:Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding; BMS: Honoraria, Research Funding; Pfizer: Honoraria, Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding. Jiménez:Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria. Giraldo:Pfizer: Consultancy. Steegmann:Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Ariad: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.

Description: Background Multiple myeloma (MM) is a frequent hematologic malignancy. The current gold standard frontline strategy includes a proteasome inhibitor (PI)-based induction, followed by autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). Access to novel drugs in Latin America (LA) is limited. ASCT is available in most countries, but real access to it is highly heterogeneous. Data regarding patients´ outcomes in candidates to ASCT in the region is scarce. The aim of this study was to describe clinical characteristics and outcomes of MM transplant eligible patients in LA countries. Material and Methods Retrospective international multicenter cohort study. Consecutive MM transplant- eligible patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2018 from participating centers in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, and Uruguay were included. Data were collected from clinical records in a standardized report form. We analyzed clinical characteristics at diagnosis and frontline therapy outcomes, including ASCT. Transplant-eligible patients were defined as fit patients younger than 66 years old. Active MM and response to treatment were defined according to current IMWG criteria. Inclusion criteria: 1.- Patients with newly diagnosed active MM between 2010 and 2018. 2.- Older than 18 years, and younger than 66 years. 3- Candidates for ASCT according to the evaluation of the attending physician Exclusion criteria: 1- Lack of minimum data in the clinical history 2- Plasma cell leukemia, AL amyloidosis or solitary plasmacytoma. 3- HIV infection 4-No consent and/or Ethics Committee approvals. Statistical analysis A descriptive statistic has been done. Comparisons of characteristics between groups was made usingT-student, Chi2 or ANOVA, as appropriate. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Comparisons of survival between groups were made by the logarithmic recording method and the calculations of the risk relationships by Cox regression. Statistical analysis was performed by using STATA 13. Results We included 1293 patients in the study, 363 from Chile, 395 from Argentina, 209 from Colombia, 45 from Ecuador, 151 from Mexico, and 130 from Uruguay. The main characteristics at diagnosis and therapeutic strategies are shown in Table 1. Optimal response (sCR, CR and VGPR) was achieved in 38% of the patients in the cyclophosphamide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone (CyBorD) group, in 46% in the bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone (VTD) group, and in 36% in the cyclophosphamide, thalidomide, and dexamethasone (CTD) group, the 3 main induction regimens used. Only 53% of patients finally received ASCT. Significant differences were found between both groups, private and public institutions, regarding burden of symptoms, ISS staging, access to PI based induction, ASCT completion and adequate maintenance, with patients from the latter being more symptomatic, and receiving suboptimal therapy. FISH analysis was performed in less than 50% of patients, both in the public and private setting. With a median follow up of 34 months (range 1-113), median overall survival (OS) was 86 months. The 5-year progression free survival (PFS) was 38% and 5- year overall survival (OS) was 64%. When comparing public vs private settings, 5 year OS was 45% vs 80%, with a median OS of 56 months vs not reached, respectively (P

Description: Background Multiple myeloma (MM) is a heterogeneous disease that is most frequently diagnosed in the elderly. Therefore, data on clinical characteristics and outcomes in the young population are scarce and it is recognized that it remains incurable even in this group of patients. We present here the outcomes of patients under 40 years old cohort in Latin-American countries. On behalf of GELAMM (Grupo de Estudio Latino-Americano de Mieloma Múltiple). Methods Retrospective international multicenter cohort study. We analyzed MM patients under 40 years old who received treatment in 6 Latin-American countries, between 2010 and 2018. Demographics and disease features were analyzed using descriptive statics. We examined treatment characteristics and response rates. The overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier curves. Results Eighty-six patients of 6 countries were analyzed (Table1). The mean age was 35.4 years old, and 60% were male. The most frequent monoclonal component type was IgG followed by light chain MM. Risk determined by ISS was distributed in almost equal percentages. The most frequent cytogenetic alteration was the t (4;14) that was found in four patients out of 25 evaluated. The missing data were greater than 70%. Skeleton-related events were the most frequent clinical feature, followed by anemia and renal failure. Plasmacytomas and fractures were present in more than 20 percent of cases. With regard to treatment, VCD / CyBorD was the most used regimen, followed by VTD. The overall response rate (ORR) was 63%. Fifty-three patients received high dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (62%). Only 8% received post-transplant consolidation, and 45% received maintenance therapy. The median OS of the entire cohort was 45 months, and a plateau in the survival curve was not observed, suggesting that patients continue relapsing over the time. Conclusion In this Latin American multicenter study, we found that the young population with MM has similar presentation characteristics to those of elderly patients. A significant amount of information is lost regarding the risk characterization, especially in regard with cytogenetics. With respect to treatment, less than half of the patients achieve very good partial response or better. It is striking that more than a third of this young patients did not access to high doses of chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. Maintenance therapy is offered to less than half patients. The median OS is lower than in other series of patients younger than 40 years, even than in the elderly cohorts. Prospective multicentric studies are required to elucidate the behavior of the disease in this group of patients. Disclosures Peña: Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Other: Congress inscription and flights; Biotoscana: Other: Congress inscription and flights; Novartis: Other: Congress inscription and flights; Tecnofarma: Other: Congress inscription and flights; Roche: Other: Congress inscription and flights. Rojas:Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Pfeizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Abello:Takeda: Other: Participation in advisory board meeting. Gomez-Almaguer:Takeda: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Teva: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau.

Description: An increased number of dengue cases with neurological complications have been reported in recent years. The lack of reliable animal models for dengue has hindered studies on dengue virus (DENV) pathogenesis and cellular tropismin vivo. We further investigate the tropism of DENV for the human central nervous system (CNS), characterizing DENV interactions with cell surface proteins in human CNS cells by virus overlay protein binding assays (VOPBA) and coimmunoprecipitations. In VOPBA, three membrane proteins (60, 70, and 130 kDa) from the gray matter bound the entire virus particle, whereas only a 70 kDa protein bound in white matter. The coimmunoprecipitation assays revealed three proteins from gray matter consistently binding virus particles, one clearly distinguishable protein (~32 kDa) and two less apparent proteins (100 and 130 kDa). Monoclonal anti-NS3 targeted the virus protein in primary cell cultures of human CNS treated with DENV-2, which also stained positive for NeuH, a neuron-specific marker. Thus, our results indicate (1) that DENV-2 exhibited a direct tropism for human neurons and (2) that human neurons sustain an active DENV replication as was demonstrated by the presence of the NS3 viral antigen in primary cultures of these cells treated with DENV-2.

Description: The electrical impedance equation is considered an ill-posed problem where the solution to the forward problem is more easy to achieve than the inverse problem. This work tries to improve convergence in the forward problem method, where the Pseudoanalytic Function Theory by means of the Taylor series in formal powers is used, incorporating a regularization method to make a solution more stable and to obtain better convergence. In addition, we include a comparison between the designed algorithms that perform proposed method with and without a regularization process and the autoadjustment parameter for this regularization process.