Assessing conservation attitudes and behaviors of Congolese children neighboring the world's first bonobo (Pan paniscus) release site.

Poaching and habitat destruction in the Congo Basin threaten African great apes including the bonobo (Pan paniscus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and gorillas (Gorilla spp.) with extinction. One way to combat extinction is to reintroduce rescued and rehabilitated apes and repopulate native habitats. Reintroduction programs are only successful if they are supported by local populations. Ekolo ya Bonobo, located in Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is the world's only reintroduction site for rehabilitated bonobos. Here we assess whether children, of the Ilonga-Pôo, living adjacent to Ekolo ya Bonobo demonstrate more pro-ape conservation attitudes than children living in, Kinshasa, the capital city. We examined children's attitudes toward great apes because children are typically the focus of conservation education programs. We used the Great Ape Attitude Questionnaire to test the Contact Hypothesis, which posits that proximity to great ape habitat influences pro-conservation attitudes toward great apes. Ilonga-Pôo children who live in closer contact with wild bonobos felt greater responsibility to protect great apes compared to those in Kinshasa who live outside the natural habitat of great apes. These results suggest that among participants in the DRC, spatial proximity to a species fosters a greater sense of responsibility to protect and conserve. These results have implications for the successful implementation of great ape reintroduction programs in the Congo Basin. The data analyzed in this study were collected in 2010 and therefore provide a baseline for longitudinal study of this reintroduction site.

Predictive factors and prognostic value for status epilepticus in newborns.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the predictive factors for status epilepticus (SE) in neonates and prognostic factors for patient outcomes in newborns suffering either isolated seizures or SE. METHODS: A retrospective single-center study from January 2010 to December 2014, included 91 newborns who had neonatal seizures. Among them, 50 newborns experienced SE and 41 newborns presented isolated seizures only. SE was defined as a single seizure lasting more than 15 min or repeated seizures without return to preictal neurological baseline for more than 15 min. Isolated seizures were defined as one single seizure lasting less than 15 min or more seizures with complete recovery of consciousness between seizures. Perinatal and electroclinical data were recorded. Outcomes were evaluated at one year follow up. RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, the factors identified as being predictive of SE were a severely abnormal initial neurological examination (OR 15.7, 95% CI (3.8-109) p = 0.00075) and hypoglycaemia (OR 6.8, 95% CI (1.5-49.2) p = 0.024), found mostly in newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. When studying our global cohort, SE was found to be a negative prognostic factor for outcome only in univariate analysis. In newborns with isolated seizures only, the postictal clinical examination results were the only independent prognostic factor found, normal results being associated with a more favorable evolution (OR 48.9, 95% CI (7.16-571) p = 0.0003). CONCLUSION: Two independent risk factors for SE in newborns have been identified: a severely abnormal initial neurological examination and hypoglycaemia. In newborns with isolated seizures, the only positive prognostic factor was found to be a normal postictal clinical examination.

Alarms and parameters generated by hematology analyzer: new tools to predict and quantify circulating Sezary cells.

BACKGROUND: The rigorous cytological review by manual or automatic microscopic analysis is critical in the detection of circulating neoplastic cells, since their morphology as well as their count contributes to the diagnosis and prognosis of many diseases. However, the cytological analysis is not always obvious and requires trained and competent cytologist. In this context, the alarms and/or parameters generated by hematology analyzer could be particularly informative to alert the operators. METHODS: Blood samples from patients with Sezary syndrome (n = 9) were studied with Sysmex XN-1000 analyzer, and compared to patients with benign or tumoral skin lesions (n = 47) and patients with chronic lymphoproliferative B-cell diseases (n = 51) used as control. RESULTS: In present series, the value of structural lymphoid parameters (LyX and LyZ) and the alarm Blast/Abn Lympho were statistically higher in Sezary cases than in control cases. In addition, the value of LyX was associated to the count of circulating Sezary cells and value of LyZ to the presence of large Sezary cells, both parameters described as prognostic factors. CONCLUSION: The combination of alarm Blast/Abn Lympho and structural parameters (Ly-X/Ly-Z/Ly-Y) may allow to define rule of blood slide review to screen circulating Sezary cells, and give promising results in B-cell diseases.

In non-follicular lymphoproliferative disorders, IGH/BCL2-fusion is not restricted to chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

The translocation t(14;18) and its t(2;18) and t(18,22) variants, which involve the BCL2 genetic hallmark for follicular lymphoma (FL), have been reported in several cases of chronic B-cell lymphoproliferative disease (CLPD) and frequently in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). We describe here the clinical, morphological, immunological, cytogenetic and molecular findings from 37 cases of t(14;18)-positive CLPD, identified from our series of non-FL B-cell neoplasms (n=993) that were routinely analysed in peripheral blood by conventional cytogenetics analyses. The FL diagnosis was excluded by morphology and immunology (the samples were CD10 negative in all cases). The BCL2 translocations were observed in 22 CLL cases, including 7 monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBL) cases re-classified according to the new International Workshop on CLL criteria, six small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) cases, 1 splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL) case and eight cases of unclassifiable CLPD with overlapping CLL/MZL features. In the CLL cases, the IGH/BCL2 fusion was remarkably associated with trisomy 12 (13/22) and mutated IGHV status (20/21) and did not affect the outcome. Moreover, most of these CLLs harboured a low mutation load of BCL6 gene and unmutated FAS (CD95) loci, which points to a post-germinal-centre cellular origin.

CD10 and ICOS expression by multiparametric flow cytometry in angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma.

Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma is immunologically defined by the expression of CD10 and the follicular helper T cell (T(FH)) markers such as CXCL13, programmed death-1 (PD-1) and inducible T-cell costimulator (ICOS). This T(FH) profile has been mainly reported by immunohistochemistry. Here, using multiparametric flow cytometry, the relevance of ICOS and PD-1 to angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma diagnosis was evaluated in lymph node (n=15) as well as in peripheral blood (n=13) among a series of 28 angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma cases, in addition to the CD10 expression (available in 26 lymph node and 15 peripheral blood specimens). In this series, CD10 expression was present in 23/26 (88%) lymph node and in 12/15 (80%) peripheral blood cases and ICOS in 13/15 (87%) lymph node and in 6/13 (47%) peripheral blood cases, whereas neither significant CD10 nor ICOS T cells were identified in the control group (lymph nodes with reactive hyperplasia=10, peripheral blood of healthy donors=15). PD-1 expression was less informative as observed in both angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma and control cases. The multiparametric approach allowed us to confirm the frequent blood dissemination in angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma and to show that circulating neoplastic T cells correspond more often to a CD10-positive subset than to an ICOS-positive subset. Consequently, if ICOS constitutes an additional feature for the diagnosis of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, it appears less sensitive than CD10 expression for the detection of circulating neoplastic T cells.

CD5 expression identifies a subset of splenic marginal zone lymphomas with higher lymphocytosis: a clinico-pathological, cytogenetic and molecular study of 24 cases.

BACKGROUND: Classically, splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma is characterized by the absence of CD5 expression. Cases of apparent splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma showing CD5 expression, as diagnosed by blood studies, have been described; however, in the absence of histological evidence, the correct diagnosis of these cases is controversial because of possible confusion with other CD5-positive small B-cell neoplasms. DESIGN AND METHODS: We report a series of 24 CD5-positive, t(11;14)-negative cases of splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma diagnosed by flow cytometry studies of blood and histologically proven on spleen sections. Clinical data as well as morphological, immunological, cytogenetic and molecular characteristics were assessed to evaluate the similarities and differences of these cases with those of classical CD5-negative splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma. RESULTS: The CD5 expression detected in blood by flow cytometry was confirmed in most cases by immunohistochemistry on spleen sections. In general, cases of CD5-positive and CD5-negative splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma did not appear different and, in particular, they showed similar karyotypic changes such as 7q deletion, trisomy 3, trisomy 18 and biased IGHV usage (i.e. VH1-2). The main differences were a higher lymphocyte count at diagnosis (8.15x10(9)/L versus 3.90x10(9)/L; P=0.005) and more frequent diffuse bone marrow infiltration (34% versus 8%; P=0.03) in the CD5-positive group. A tendency to a more mutated IGHV status in the CD5 positive cases was observed (80% versus 54.5%; (P=0.11). No significant differences in outcome were found in relation to CD5 expression. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the existence of cases of CD5-positive splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma and shows that these cases are closely related to classical splenic marginal zone lymphoma. Whether or not CD5-positive splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma constitutes a true subset obviously requires the study of more cases.

Splenic red pulp lymphoma with numerous basophilic villous lymphocytes: a distinct clinicopathologic and molecular entity?

The presence of circulating villous lymphocytes (VLs) in lymphoma patients usually points to splenic marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (SMZL), even if the VLs can be found occasionally in other small B-cell lymphomas. However, those cells are variably described, and detailed cytologic characterization is often lacking. We identified lymphoma cases with numerous basophilic VLs among the large group of splenic lymphoma with VLs, and for further delineation, 37 cases with this particular cytology were analyzed. Patients, predominantly older men, presented with moderate lymphocytosis and splenomegaly without pancytopenia. The monoclonal B cells expressed IgM + D, IgM + G, IgM or IgG, as well as CD76 and CD11c, frequently CD103, and rarely CD123. Spleen sections were peculiar, with atrophic white pulp and a monomorphic diffuse lymphoma infiltration in a congested red pulp. Bone marrow infiltration was interstitial and intrasinusoidal without extensive fibrosis. Cytogenetic analysis showed a frequent absence of clonal aberrations (68%). Most cases (79%) were IgH mutated, with an overrepresentation of V(H)3 and V(H)4 gene families. These results, as well as the clinical evolution, show that those lymphoma cases represent a homogeneous group distinct from SMZL and reminiscent of hairy cell leukemia variant, perhaps corresponding to a separate lymphoma entity.

Cytogenetic and molecular delineation of a region of chromosome 3q commonly gained in marginal zone B-cell lymphoma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Whole or partial trisomy 3 represents the most recurrent chromosomal abnormality occurring in marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (MZBCL), a distinct subtype of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). By conventional cytogenetic analysis, unbalanced translocations involving chromosome 3 and leading to a partial trisomy 3q were identified in a series of 14 MZBCL patients. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) experiments were then performed to characterize the breakpoints further and to delineate the extent of the 3q gained region more accurately. DESIGN AND METHODS: We studied 14 cases of MZBCL combining cytogenetics and FISH techniques using specific probes for the long arm of chromosome 3, including the chromosome 3 a satellite probe, a representative panel of yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) clones mapping the chromosomal 3q region (3q11.2 to 3q23) and the chromosome 3 subtelomeric (3q29) probe. RESULTS: In the 14 cases, additional chromosome 3q material was found to be involved in different unbalanced translocations with chromosomes 1, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19 and 21, leading to a derivative chromosome. None of the chromosomal abnormality juxtaposed the 3q regions with the heavy and/or light k and l immunoglobulin gene loci. Eight different breakpoints distributed between the 3q11.2 and the 3q13.32 regions were identified and a common 3q13.32 3q29 overrepresented region was delineated. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that this critical region may be of importance in the pathogenesis of MZBCL and support the hypothesis that a gene dosage effect rather than a specific gene disruption may be involved in the development of this disease.