The tumour suppressor p53 transcriptionally regulates a range of target genes that control cell growth and survival. Mutations of p53 have been implicated in the development of ∼50% of human cancers, including those instigated by exposure to mutagens. Although numerically rare, cancers can arise as a consequence of inherited mutations, such as in the Li–Fraumeni syndrome, which is caused by mutation of one p53 allele. Gene-targeted mice deficient for p53 have been generated to study this familial cancer syndrome. On a C57BL/6 background, p53 -deficient mice develop primarily thymic lymphoma and more rarely sarcoma. Evasion of apoptosis is considered to be essential for neoplastic transformation. As proteins of the Bcl-2 family are the critical regulators of apoptosis, we investigated the role of the pro-survival members Bcl-2, Bcl-x L and Bcl-w in cancer development in p53 +/− and p53 −/− mice by testing whether ABT-737, a pharmacological inhibitor of these proteins, could prevent or delay tumourigenesis. Our studies showed that ABT-737 prophylaxis only caused a minor delay and reduction in γ -radiation-induced thymic lymphoma development in p53 −/− mice, but this was accompanied by a concomitant increase in sarcoma. These data show that, collectively, Bcl-2, Bcl-x L and Bcl-w have only minor roles in thymic lymphoma development elicited by defects in p53, and this may indicate that Mcl-1 and/or A1 may feature more prominently in this process.

POEMS syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome associated with clonal plasma cells. ASCT is believed to be an effective treatment in the control of the disease. Patient-, disease-& transplant-related variables were collected from the EBMT database. Systemic involvement & response was detailed utilizing an organ response tool pre- & post-ASCT. 127 patients underwent an ASCT between 1997-2010. The median age was 49.9 years (range 26.3, 69 years). The median time from diagnosis to ASCT was 7.5 months (range 0.8, 346). ASCT was preceded by induction therapy in 87.5% of patients & the performance score (PS) was good (40%), fair (29%) & poor (31%) at transplant. The graft source was PBSC with 57% of graft recipients receiving >4x106/kg (median CD34+ cell dose 4.3x106/kg). One hundred and twenty-three (99.2%) patients were reported as receiving Melphalan 200mg/m2 as conditioning chemotherapy & only 1 patient (0.8%) received TBI as part of the conditioning regimen. The disease status (haematological response; HR) at transplant was reported as CR/PR 47.6%, MR/SD 21.4%, PD 18.4% and untreated 12.6%. Successful engraftment was documented in 96.8% with engraftment failure reported in only 3 patients. The median time to neutrophil engraftment was 13 days. Engraftment syndrome (ESy) was reported in 29 patients (23%), with no difference in the incidence of ESy based on previous treatment (p=0.178). The HR post ASCT was documented as CRHR in 47.5% with a median time to CRHR of 15.9 months, PRHR in 22 patients (21.8%),

because less ingredient is used to meet the birds requirements. This is equivalent to an annual savings of up to $266 million to the Brazilian broiler and broiler-breeder producers. Diets formulated with HOC had a lower crude protein content than with traditional corn, and potentially could reduce annual nitrogen excreted to the environment by 5.3 Mtonnes. HOC provided a better nutrient profile than traditional corn, especially in essential amino acids such as methionine and lysine, which led to meeting amino acid requirements without having to increase the total crude protein content of the diet. The analysis also showed a potential to reduce phosphorus excretion by 842 tonnes/yr if HOC was to replace traditional corn, since the need to supplement rations with inorganic phosphorus sources such as dicalcium phosphate would be much lower. We estimate that 36.6 Mtonnes dicalcium phosphate can be saved annually using HOC in poultry rations in Brazil. The literature suggests replacing traditional corn with HOC does not affect bird metabolism and positive impacts on growth rate have been recorded. Substituting traditional corn with HOC has both economic and environmental benefits for the Brazilian poultry production without compromising efficiency of output.

The research tests the hypothesis that people who strongly dislike dogs exhibit an obsessive or anal character and also investigates differences in personality between people who like and dislike dogs. Participants, 25 people who like dogs and 25 people who dislike dogs, matched fairly well for age, sex, and education, completed Kline's anal character measure to assess anal or obsessive personality and the California Psychological Inventory to assess general social and emotional adjustment. Analysis showed that people who disliked dogs scored higher on the anal character measure and also scored lower on the Empathy scale of the California Psychological Inventory, indicating that people who liked dogs have less difficulty relating to people. Correlations between scores on the two inventories are also presented, to clarify the nature of the construct assessed by the anal character measure.