To evaluate the outcome of children with high hyperdiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia (hHDALL) treated at the author's institution. One hundred thirty-five consecutive children with B-precursor ALL were diagnosed between 1991 and 2002: 38 (28.1%) hHDALL and 97 (71.9%) non-hHDALL. In the hHDALL group, 11/38 (28.9%) relapsed at a median interval of 2.8 years (range: 0.8-5.0 years) with 9/11 rel...

Background: In maintenance therapy for opioid addiction, to reduce the risk of buprenorphine (BUP) abuse, the combination of BUP and naloxone (NX) has been developed and is commercially available as suboxone (BUP/NX). This study was designed to compare addiction relapse frequency in patients receiving BUP and BUP/NX as maintenance therapy. Methods: In this double-blind clinical trial with cross...

OBJECTIVE There are limited data on the long-term prognosis of microscopic polyangiitis (MPA). A systematic review was performed to estimate the survival, renal survival and relapse rates in patients with MPA. METHODS Articles included in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were reviewed. Randomized or non-randomized trials, cohort, case-control and cases-series studies of patients with MPA diagnose...

One important step in modern treatment of multiple sclerosis is recent FDA approval for oral imunomodulatory therapy in the last months of 2010. Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, that is chronic and progressive, affects more than 2.1 million worldwide. The most common form of the disease is relapsing-remitting, characterized by exacerbations intersper...

In patients with minimal change disease, development of steroid-dependency or frequent relapses pose difficult therapeutic problems. Prolonged administration of corticosteroids or the use of additional immunosuppressive therapy can result in significant toxicity. Recent data point to the use of rituximab as an important treatment option to induce long-term remission in patients with minimal cha...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of rifapentine (RPT) vs. rifampicin (RMP) for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). DESIGN Systematic review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared combination drug regimens containing RPT with those containing RMP for the treatment of drug-susceptible or previously untreated PTB. RESULTS Nine RCTs were identified. Statist...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate a novel approach to the prophylaxis of schizophrenic relapse characterised by administration of brief courses of neuroleptic for the earliest non-psychotic signs of relapse (prodromal symptoms). DESIGN Two year follow up of subjects randomised, double blind, to receive either active (control group) or placebo (intermittent group) depot neuroleptic medication. Both groups...

BACKGROUND Differential diagnosis between primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and minimal change disease (MCD) is sometimes difficult as nephrotic syndrome is the main clinical symptom in both diseases. OBJECTIVES This study has attempted to evaluate the urinary excretion of Th1 and Th2 cytokines as potential biomarkers in distinguishing the two types of nephrotic syndrome, and ...