Synthesis of a soluble n-type cyano substituted polythiophene derivative: A potential electron acceptor in polymeric solar cells

A novel, easy processable n-type polythiophene derivative poly(3-cyano-4-hexylthiophene) (P3CN4HT) was synthesized and characterized with different spectroscopic techniques such as 1H NMR, size exclusion chromatography, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-vis, photoluminescence, and cyclic voltammetry. P3CN4HT is very soluble in common organic solvents (tetrahydrofyran, chloroform) and has high electron affinity. Systematic photoluminescence measurements were used to characterize several electron donating polymers such as poly(2-methoxy-5-[3',7'-dimethyloctyloxy]-p- phenylene vinylene) (MDMO-PPV), regioregular poly(3-octylthiophene) (P3OT), and poly(4,4'-dihexylcyclopentadithiophene) (PCPDT). When P3CN4HT was employed in blends as the electron acceptor, we observed complete photoluminescence quenching for both MDMO-PPV:P3CN4HT and P3OT:P3CN4HT mixtures. Preliminary photovoltaic measurements demonstrated power conversion efficiency as high as 0.014% for the MDMO-PPV:P3CN4HT blend without any solvent screening, thickness optimation, or post-fabrication annealing of the devices. © 2007 American Chemical Society

Iron chelation therapy with deferasirox in patients with aplastic anemia: a subgroup analysis of 116 patients from the EPIC trial

The prospective 1-year Evaluation of Patients' Iron Chelation with Exjade (EPIC) study enrolled a large cohort of 116 patients with aplastic anemia; the present analyses evaluated the efficacy and safety of deferasirox in this patient population. After 1 year, median serum ferritin decreased significantly from 3254 ng/mL at baseline to 1854 ng/mL (P < .001). Decreases occurred in chelation-naive (3229-1520 ng/mL; P < .001, last-observation-carried-forward analysis), and previously chelated (3263-2585 ng/mL; P = .21, last-observation-carried-forward analysis) patients and were reflective of dose adjustments and ongoing iron intake. Baseline labile plasma iron levels were within normal range despite high serum ferritin levels. The most common drug-related adverse events were nausea (22%) and diarrhea (16%). Serum creatinine increases more than 33% above baseline and the upper limit of normal occurred in 29 patients (25%), but there were no progressive increases; concomitant use of cyclosporine had a significant impact on serum creatinine levels. The decrease in mean alanine aminotransferase levels at 1 year correlated significantly with reduction in serum ferritin (r = 0.40, P < .001). Mean absolute neutrophil and platelet counts remained stable during treatment, and there were no drug-related cytopenias. This prospective dataset confirms the efficacy and well characterizes the tolerability profile of deferasirox in a large population of patients with aplastic anemia. This study was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00171821

Lymphoma-like monoclonal B cell lymphocytosis in a patient population: biology, natural evolution, and differences from CLL-like clones

High-count monoclonal B cell lymphocytosis (MBL) with a chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) phenotype is a well-known entity, featuring 1-4% annual risk of progression towards CLL requiring treatment. Lymphoma-like MBL (L-MBL), on the other hand, remains poorly defined and data regarding outcome are lacking. We retrospectively evaluated 33 L-MBL cases within our hospital population and compared them to 95 subjects with CLL-like MBL (C-MBL). Diagnoses of L-MBL were based on asymptomatic B cell clones with Matutes score < 3, B cells < 5.0 x 10(3)/mu l, and negative computerized tomography scans. We found that median B cell counts were considerably lower compared to C-MBL (0.6 vs 2.3 x 10(3)/mu l) and remained stable over time. Based on immunophenotyping and immunogenetic profiling, most L-MBL clones did not correspond to known lymphoma entities. A strikingly high occurrence of paraproteinemia (48%), hypogammaglobulinemia (45%), and biclonality (21%) was seen; these incidences being significantly higher than in C-MBL (17, 21, and 5%, respectively). Unrelated monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance was a frequent feature, as the light chain type of 5/12 paraproteins detected was different from the clonal surface immunoglobulin. After 46-month median follow-up, 2/24 patients (8%) had progressed towards indolent lymphoma requiring no treatment. In contrast, 41% of C-MBL cases evolved to CLL and 17% required treatment. We conclude that clinical L-MBL is characterized by pronounced immune dysregulation and very slow or absent progression, clearly separating it from its CLL-like counterpart