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The United States has imposed sanctions on eleven companies or individuals from China, North Korea or the United Arab Emirates for transferring technology to Iran that it claimed could boost the country's ballistic missile program.
The US State Department said on Friday nineteen more firms or individuals were sanctioned for other violations under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA), which Washington uses to slap sanctions on foreign individuals, private entities, and governments accused of being involved in proliferation activities.
The sanctions will be effective for two years and do not apply to these individuals and entities' respective countries or governments, the department explained.
According to the statement, the eleven entities sanctioned under the INKSNA for transfers to Iran's missile program are:
This comes a day after a bipartisan group of US senators in Congress introduced a bill that would impose tighter sanctions against Iran over its ballistic missile tests and other non-nuclear activities.
The bill was introduced on Thursday by 14 Democratic and Republican senators, including senior members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The legislation would set mandatory sanctions for anyone involved with Iran's missile program and those who trade with them. It would also apply sanctions to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Source: Press TV

subset: commoncrawl


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text: Belarus may take part in the program for the resettlement of Syrian refugees who are now in the European Union. This opinion was expressed in Homiel by representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Belarus Jean-Yves Bouchardy."Your country may get a new program developed for it that will cover not only the Homiel region, but the whole of Belarus. This may be 50 or maybe 100 refugees from Syria," he said.Now Homiel region has three families of refugees from Syria living there. Jacques-Yves Bouchardy will meet with refugees and see how effectively they are being integrated into the Belarusian society.According to the European official, at the end of March 2016, there will be a high level meeting, with one of the objectives being to urge governments to share the burden of responsibility and care for the displaced migrants. Belarus will also be one of the participants of the event.


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PROGRESS IN HEMATOLOGY Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia: towards high-quality cure of all patients Gertjan J.L. Kaspers, Christian M. Zwaan ABSTRACT From the Pediatric Oncology/Hematology VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam The Netherlands (GJLK); Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, Erasmus MC/Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam (CNZ). Acknowledgments: the authors thank all colleagues for their helpful discussion, especially in the setting of ITCC, I-BFM-SG and the so-called International Pediatric AML Group. Information regarding Tables 3 and 4 was provided in alphabetical order by Anne Auvrignon (FRALLE/LAME), Ursula Creutzig (BFM-AML), Alan Gamis (COG), Brenda Gibson (MRC/UK CCLG), Siebold de Graaf (DCOG), Henrik Hasle (NOPHO), Andrea Pession (AIEOP), Jeffrey Rubnitz (St. Jude's Children Research Hospital) and Akio Tawa (JPLSG). Manuscript received December 29 2006. Manuscript accepted September 1, 2007. Correspondence: Gertjan J.L. Kaspers, Pediatric Oncology/Hematology, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1117 NL-1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected] Prognosis of childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has improved significantly over the past decades, from nearly no child surviving to a present probability of cure of approximately 60%. However, this can only be achieved using very intensive chemotherapy which results in relatively high rates of treatment related deaths and significant late effects. This review summarizes current and future classification of pediatric AML, ongoing phase III studies, and subgroup-directed treatment. In addition, the possibilities for more precise risk-group stratification which would allow more tailored and further refined subgroup-directed treatment are discussed. These include minimal residual disease monitoring, pharmacogenomics and the detection of AMLspecific molecular abnormalities. Finally, we discuss the opportunities for innovative therapy in pediatric AML, such as the use of novel analogues, monoclonal antibodymediated drugs, and receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Given the enormous increase in our understanding of the underlying biology of AML, and the development of many new targeted drugs, it should be possible to achieve high-quality cure in nearly all children and adolescents with AML within the next few decades. Key words: acute myeloid leukemia, childhood, quality of life, prognosis, clinical trials, risk-group classification, molecular biology. Haematologica 2007; 92:1519-1532. DOI: 10.3324/haematol.11203 ©2007 Ferrata Storti Foundation he prognosis of children and adolescents with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has improved significantly over the past decades. Nowadays, up to 65% of pediatric AML patients experience long-term survival.1 This has been achieved not only by the more effective use of anti-leukemic agents, but also by improvements in supportive care and by better risk-group stratification. Current risk-group classification is mainly based on cytogenetics and early response to treatment. Such early response is measured either by minimal residual disease (MRD) or, more often, by bone marrow response during or after the 1st course of chemotherapy. Therapy nowadays consists of a limited number of intensive courses of chemotherapy based on cytarabine and an anthracycline. While most European pediatric AML groups are abandoning stem cell transplantation in first complete remission,2,3 the Children's Oncology Group (COG) and other groups still advocate its use in most patients up-front, except in good risk patients with t(8;21) or inv(16) (personal communication, Dr. A. Gamis, June 28, 2006). An important problem in the treatment of pediatric AML remains the high T frequency of treatment related deaths as well as the long term side-effects.4-6 This also hampers further therapy-intensification, and most investigators therefore feel that we have reached a plateau in the number of patients that can be cured with current chemotherapy regimens. Our efforts should, therefore, focus on clarifying the biology of pediatric AML. This knowledge can be used for novel classification and risk-group stratification. In addition, it creates the potential for targeted, i.e. more leukemia-specific, therapy. It is anticipated that such therapies will increase the cure-rate and also decrease the toxicity of treatment of children with AML. A large number of new agents are currently under development, mainly in adults. Only the most promising of these new drugs should be adopted for pediatric studies, since the possibility of testing new agents in pediatric oncology is limited because of the small number of available patients. However, international collaboration between the various collaborative pediatric AML treatment groups does enable both drug development (through the ITCC consortium: Innovative therapies for children with cancer, www.itccconsortium.org), haematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(11) | 1519 | G.J.L. Kaspers and C.N. Zwaan and phase III clinical studies. New intergroup phase III protocols have been developed for rare distinct subtypes of AML, such as myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome and acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). This review summarizes the most important areas in which progress is being made, with an emphasis on classification, current phase III clinical studies, subgroup-directed therapy, minimal residual disease monitoring and innovative drug treatment of AML. AML classification: what's new? Traditionally, AML is classified according to morphology, which is described in the so-called FAB (FrenchAmerican-British) classification, as summarized in Table 1.7 In the more recent additions to this classification, describing FAB M0 and M7, immunophenotyping is considered essential to the correct diagnosis of these subtypes.8,9 More recently, karyotyping has become extremely important for the classification of AML, since karyotypes were found to be predictive of prognosis. The recent World Health Organization (WHO) classification, which is also summarized in Table 1, is therefore mainly based on cytogenetics.10 This classification is not yet routinely implemented in pediatric hematology/oncology. This may be explained at least in part by the fact that several factors specific for pediatric AML are not addressed in this classification. First of all, to allow a diagnosis of AML, the threshold for the percentage of blasts was lowered from 30 to 20%. Therefore, pediatric cases formerly classified as myelodysplasia, i.e. refractory anemia in excess of blasts in transformation (RAEBt), are now formally classified as AML. However, it has not been demonstrated in welldesigned clinical trials that such patients benefit from intensive AML chemotherapy preceding stem cell transplantation, and infact, the data from the European Working Group on Myelodysplastic Syndrome (EWOGMDS) even suggest that this may not be the case.11 As many cases of MDS in children are hypoplastic, intensive chemotherapy may result in long-lasting aplasia and infectious complications. A more practical approach to differentiate between AML and MDS, rather than a definition based on strict blast percentages, is to assess disease progression with a wait-and-see policy, and to look for signs indicative of AML such as hepato- and/or splenomegaly and non-random genetic abnormalities.12 Secondly, the WHO-classification does not recognize rare but important subgroups in pediatric AML, such as infants with AML FAB M7 and a translocation (1;22). In addition, children with myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome are not mentioned as a separate entity in the WHO classification for AML or myelodysplastic syndrome.12 Neither the WHOor the FAB-classification uses age criteria to classify AML. However, although the underlying biology of certain welldefined cytogenetic subgroups may not differ between adults and children, there are striking differences between the various age-groups in AML: (i) prognosis declines with | 1520 | haematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(11) increasing age, from 50-70% survival in children,3,13-15 to approximately 40-50% for younger adults, and only 10% for older adults;16,17 (ii) this may be due to a different distribution of risk-factors, since children have higher frequencies of the good-risk cytogenetic subgroups defined as the core binding factor (CBF) leukemias with either t(8;21) or inversion(16), and acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Children also have less frequently myelodysplasia, preceding AML and have a lower frequency of P-glycoprotein overexpression;18,19 (iii) host factors differ extensively. Children usually tolerate chemotherapy better and treatment doses can be higher. Even within the pediatric age group there may be differences in the distribution of AML subtypes, such as for FAB M5, which is the predominant FAB-type in infants. Recent data suggest that, apart from the translocations that interfere with transcription factors (referred to as type 2 abnormalities), other genetic abnormalities are of interest in AML. For instance, mutations in receptor tyrosine kinases, tyrosine phosphatases and in oncogenes such as RAS, may be important as they confer a proliferative advantage to these leukemias (referred to as type 1 abnor- Table 1. FAB (French-American-British) and WHO (World-HealthOrganization) classification of acute myeloid leukemia.7-10 FAB classification M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 AML with minimal differentiation Myeloblastic leukemia without maturation Myeloblastic leukemia with maturation Acute promyelocytic leukemia Acute myelomonocytic leukemia Acute monoblastic leukemia Acute erythroblastic leukemia Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia WHO classification AML with recurrent cytogenetic translocations AML with t(8;21)(q22;q22), AML1(CBF-α)/ETO Acute promyelocytic leukemia AML with t(15;17)(q22;q12) and variants; PML/RARα AML with abnormal bone marrow eosinophils: inv(16)(p13;q22) or t(16;16)(p13;q22); CBF-β/MYH1 AML with 11q23 (MLL gene) abnormalities AML with multilineage dysplasia With prior MDS Without prior MDS AML with myelodysplastic syndrome, therapy related Alkylating agent related Epipodophyllotoxin related Other types AML not otherwise categorized AML minimally differentiated AML without maturation AML with maturation Acute myelomonocytic leukemia Acute monocytic leukemia Acute erythroid leukemia Acute megakaryocytic leukemia Acute basophilic leukemia Acute panmyelosis with myelofibrosis Progress in pediatric AML malities, see Figure 1).20-24 In pediatric AML, the frequencies of these abnormalities again differs from adult AML. For instance, the frequency of FLT3 internal tandem duplications (FLT3/ITD) is 10-15% in children and 20-30% in adults.22,25 The type 2 abnormalities are interrelated with morphology and conventional cytogenetics, and certain interesting new data emerge form these observations: (i) the pediatric CBF leukemias have a high frequency of KITmutations in exon 8 and 17 (40-50%).20 The true frequency may even be higher, as recently ITDs in KIT have been described in exon 11 and 12;26 (ii) FLT3/ITD can be found in 20-25% of pediatric cases with an otherwise normal karyotype, and in 35% of children with APL, but is rare in CBF-leukemias and in AML M5;22,24 (iii) PTPN11 mutations seem to occur in approximately 20% of AML M5 in pediatric patients from Southern Europe, but only 7% in Northern Europe.23,27 Recently, novel mutations of nucleophosmin (NPM1) have been discovered. NPM1 is involved in the arf-p53 tumor suppressor pathway, and NPM1 mutations can be found in 5-10% of pediatric AML cases, but up to 20-30% in the subgroup with a normal karyotype.28-30 This is a lower frequency than that is found in adults, where NPM1 mutations can be found in 50-60% of normal karyotype patients and confer a favorable prognosis.31 Children with AML usually present with NPM1 mutations in their leukemic cells (mainly type B mutations) that differ from those found in adults (mainly type A mutations). This may indicate differences in leukemia pathogenesis between adults and children.32 NPM1 mutations are frequently associated with mutations in the FLT3 gene, and loose their favorable prognostic impact when a FLT3 mutation is present in the same sample.31,33 Pediatric data from the COG show that mutated patients did not have an improved outcome, although there was a trend for better prognosis in the normal karyotype subgroup.30 Combined FLT3 and NPM1 pediatric data are not yet available. Apart from NPM1 mutations and FLT3/ITDs, several new genetic abnormalities have been identified in normal karyotype AML, such as mutations in CEPBα, which occur in up to 20% of adult normal karyotype AML and are associated with favorable prognosis.34 Other abnormalities, all associated with poor outcome, include the MLL-partial tandem duplication,35 and overexpression of the ERG36 and BAALC genes.37 However, for most of these abnormalities only very limited pediatric data are available. Clearly, much progress has been made in understanding the genetic abnormalities underlying the various subtypes of AML, and new classification schemes will have to consider this new information.38,39 Ongoing phase III trias in pediatric AML Recently published results of pediatric phase III trials are summarized in Table 2. In these studies, mainly performed in the previous decade, most groups achieved survival rates of between 40 and 60%, with the best outcome reported by the MRC group (5-year overall survival of PTPN11 5% Unknown 49% RAS 17% KIT 11% FLT3/ITD 11% FLT3 PM 7% t(15;17) 8% inv(16) 10% t(9;11) 6% Tri 8 3% -7/7 q4% 11q23 6% t(8;21) 15% others 25% 46,XX/XY 23% t(6;9) 0% Figure 1. Distribution of the various type-1 above and type-2 genetic abnormalities in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia, based on data from the literature.20,21,27,138,139 68%).3 However, the MRC AML 10 and 12 studies applied a relatively high cumulative dosage (roughly 550 mg/m2, when utilizing the most arbitrary conversion factor of 1:5 to convert dosages of idarubicin and mitoxantrone to the cumulative dosage of anthracyclines) of anthracyclines, and cumulative dosages above 300 mg/m2 are well-known for their increased risk of cardiac toxicity.40 Therefore, it would be interesting if late cardiac toxicity data became available from patients treated in the MRC studies, since this may allow us to re-evaluate the excellent antileukemic results that were reported using these protocols.40 In the POG-9421 study, the concept of MDR-reversal by adding cyclopsorin A was tested but did not show better responses. This was possibly due to the low expression of P-glycoprotein in pediatric AML.18,19 The ongoing phase III clinical studies in pediatric AML address several important new issues, as summarized in Table 3. Several conclusions can be drawn from an analysis of these studies. First of all, three different and relatively new drugs are being investigated in phase III collaborative group studies, i.e. gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO, Mylotarg®), 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CDA, Cladribine®) and liposomal daunorubicin (DNX, DaunoXome®). Interestingly, GO is studied in all 3 phases of treatment, i.e. in induction, consolidation and in a minimal residual disease setting. Secondly, some of the aims reflect not just an attempt to increase anti-leukemic efficacy, but also to reduce toxicity, especially late cardiac toxicity. Both the current randomized MRC-consolidation question and the randomized use haematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(11) | 1521 | G.J.L. Kaspers and C.N. Zwaan of liposomal daunorubicin in the AML-BFM study and the international Relapsed AML 2001/01 study are examples of this. Finally, the concept of subgroup-directed therapy is applied by administering 2-CDA in high risk patients in the AML-BFM study, as well as in the St. Jude trials. Although relatively small numbers are involved, it has been reported that FAB M5 AML blasts in particular are significantly more sensitive to 2-CDA, both in vitro and in vivo.41,42 Tailored and subgroup therapy in pediatric AML risk groups Most pediatric collaborative study groups use risk-stratified therapy, based on a combination of cytogenetics and early treatment response. Early treatment response is usually determined using the day 15 bone marrow, or by achieving complete remission after 1 course of chemotherapy. This does not apply to patients with APL, as they are being treated with ATRA which induces differentiation and blasts disappear relatively slowly.43 The MRC studies showed that, in contrast to other subgroups, slow early response in the CBF-leukemias does not compromise overall survival, and therefore does not need to be considered in these studies.3 An overview of current risk group classification used in the various collaborative groups is given in Table 4, demonstrating similarities but also discrepancies in riskgroup classification. In the cytogenetic classification, the CBF leukemias and APL are generally considered a favorable risk.3,44 In addition, some study groups, i.e. the Nordic Society for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (NOPHO) and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, consider the subgroup of AML patients with a t(9;11) as favorable.45,46 Although patients with t(8;21) are generally considered good-risk, their relapse rate is actually at best average1, and a good outcome is more likely to be explained by a high salvage-rate after relapse.47,48 Children with monosomy 7 or del(7q) are generally considered to have a poor prognosis, although a recent retrospective pediatric intergroup analysis confirmed the earlier finding in adults and children reported by Grimwade et al. that patients with del(7q) in fact have an intermediate prognosis.49,50 Myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome is considered a favorable AML subgroup and is discussed separately below. There is clear evidence that FLT3 length mutations are associated with a poor prognosis in children with AML.21,22 Based on these data, several groups have decided to stratify patients with a FLT3/ITD to the high-risk group. However, recent data suggest that the presence of a FLT3/ITD by itself does not indicate an unfavorable prognosis in pediatric AML, but rather the allelic ratio (AR) between mutant and wild-type FLT3.51 Meschinchi et al. reported that patients with an AR below or equal to 0.4 had a similar prognosis to patients without FLT3/ITD, while patients with an AR>0.4 had very poor outcome. Interestingly, the point-mutations which occur in the kinase domain of the FLT3 gene in almost 7% of patients have not been associated with poor clinical outcome.51 So far, no studies have been reported in which flt3 inhibitors have been tested in pediatric AML patients. Recent studies suggest that C-KIT mutations also confer poor outcome, especially within the subgroup of corebinding factor leukemias, although Boissel et al. report that KIT– mutations were not predictive in the inv(16) subgroup.20,52,53 So far this has not been applied to risk-group classification, and larger and prospective studies in pediatric AML are needed to confirm the prognostic significance of KIT– mutations. Table 2. Recently published results of mature phase III clinical trials in pediatric AML. Study group Protocol n Time period Follow-up time pEFS pOS Ref. AEIOP AML-BFM SG CCG AIEOP LAM 92 AML-BFM 93 CCG 2891 Standard timing CCG 2891 Intensive timing AML-92/94 EORTC 58921 LAME 89/91 AML12 AML 93 POG 9421 AML 98 AML 91 160 471 294 1992-2001 1993-1998 1989-1995 1989-1995 78 177 309 529 219 565 104 62 1992-1998 1993-2000 1988-1996 1995-2002 1993-2000 1995-1999 1998-2002 1991-1997 54% 51% 27% − 42% − 42% 49% 48% 58% 49% 36% 47% 44% 60% 60% 39% 34% 51% 49% 42% 62% 60% 68% 64% 54% 50% 57% Pession et al.140 Creutzig et al.141 Woods et al.134 295 5 years 5 years 3 years 8 years 3 years 8 years 5 years 5 years 6 years 5 years 7 years 3-years 5-years 5-years Kardos et al.13 Entz-Werle et al.142 Perel et al.143 Gibson et al.3 Lie et al.144 Becton et al.18 Dluzniewska et al.145 Ribeiro et al.146 216 1991-1998 5-years 56% 62% Tomizawa et al.147 DCOG EORTC LAME MRC NOPHO POG PPLLSG St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Tokyo CCSG AML13/14 AIEOP: Associazone Italiana di Ematologia e Oncologia Pediatrica; AML-BFM SG: AML Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster Study Group; CCG Children's Cancer Group (now with POG the Children's Oncology Group); DCOG: Dutch Childhood Oncology Group; EORTC: European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer; LAME: Leucémie Aiquë Myéloblastique Enfant; MRC: Medical Research Council; NOPHO: Nordic Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology; POG: Pediatric Oncology Group (now with CCG the Children's Oncology Group); PPLSG: Polish Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Study Group. | 1522 | haematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(11) Progress in pediatric AML Myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome Children with Down syndrome have an increased risk of developing leukemias,54 not only myeloid leukemia but also acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The myeloid leukemias differ from regular pediatric AML and are considered a single entity.55 They are therefore referred to as Myeloid Leukemia of Down syndrome.12 They are characterized by (i) a predominance of the FAB types M0, M6 and mainly M7, (ii) onset before the age of 5 years, (iii) a low white blood cell count at diagnosis, (iv) the presence of mutations in the GATA1 gene, which encodes a hematopoietic transcription factor β and (5) a frequent prephase with thrombocytopenia or myelodysplasia.56,57 This pre-phase needs to be differentiated from the transient leukemia which may be diagnosed in children with Down syndrome in the neonatal period.58 This transient leukemia disappears spontaneously in most infants, but approximately 20% of them present later with myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome.59 Furthermore, some children with transient leukemia die from disease-related complications.60 An important new question is whether the progression from transient leukemia to later AML can be prevented with chemotherapy prophylaxis. Several studies have been set up in the pediatric community to investigate this further. In the past, children with myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome were often not offered curative treatment. However, studies performed in the eighties showed that these patients were curable with chemotherapy.61,62 In vitro studies by us and others demonstrated an enhanced sensitivity to anticancer drugs of AML blasts from children with Down syndrome.63,64 Because children with Down syndrome also have an increased risk of treatment related mortality, treatment intensity needs to be carefully balanced against toxicity. Currently, excellent results have been obtained with moderate intensity treatment protocols without stem-cell transplantation.57 This also led to the initiative of an International Pediatric AML Group protocol for children with myeloid leukemia and Down syndrome which will start enrolling patients in the near future. Acute promyelocytic leukemia Low-risk and high-risk APL patients can be distinguished by white blood cell count at initial diagnosis.43,65 APL is the point of reference for targeted treatment in hematologic malignancies, as all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) induces differentiation of APL cells by targeting pml-rara.66,67 ATRA is usually added to chemotherapy in induction because, this reduces early mortality, especially by decreasing the bleeding tendency which is typical for APL.68 In the case of high white blood cell counts, early chemotherapy in addition to ATRA decreases the incidence of the ATRA syndrome. This syndrome is characterised by fever, weight gain, respiratory distress and pleural and pericardial effusions, and occurs in approximately 10% of children with APL treated with ATRA.43 It is currently unknown whether prolonged use of ATRA will further improve the prognosis for children with APL.43 High cumulative dosages of anthracyclines are very effective in APL, and in adults it has been debated whether APL can be treated with ATRA and anthracycline monotherapy.69 However, it is unknown whether this can be applied to Table 3. Clinical study questions and/or specific treatment in certain phases in ongoing, actively recruiting phase III clinical trials in pediatric AML (excluding acute promyelocytic leukemia and myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome). Phase of treatment Collaborative group Induction BFM COG MRC/DCOG St. Jude Consolidation BFM COG MRC/DCOG CNS-directed therapy Maintenance Stem cell transplantation NOPHO St. Jude Several groups BFM BFM ELAM Other groups Several groups AIEOP Question Randomized comparison of idarubicin versus liposomal daunorubicin Randomized addition of GO to induction regimen Randomized comparison of FLAG-Ida versus ADE Randomized comparison between low and high dose cytarabine during induction. Poor responders are treated with a 2nd block containing GO Randomized addition of 2-CdA to consolidation, in high-risk patients only Addition of GO to consolidation chemotherapy (extension of initial randomization, meaning patients either get GO (at both induction and consolidation) or no GO at all Randomized comparison of anthracycline based consolidation versus high-dose cytarabine courses, and the addition of a 5th course of chemotherapy (the latter by the MRC only) Randomized post-consolidation addition of GO in minimal residual disease setting, for all non-SCT patients MRD stratified consolidation with GO for MRD-positive patients and 2-CdA for inv(16) and t(9;11) cases. Non-randomized risk-group stratified chemotherapy Randomized comparison of 12 versus 18 Gy cranial irradiation All patients to receive 1 year of maintenance therapy IL-2 in patients without allo-SCT No maintenance Genetic assignment to MSD- or MUD-SCT for intermediate and/or high-risk patients Genetic assignment of autologous versus allogeneic SCT in all HR patients Information was provided by several colleagues representing their study groups, as mentioned in the acknowledgements. GO: gemtuzumab ozogamicin; ADE: cytarabine, daunorubicin and etoposide; FLAG-Ida: fludarabine, cytarabine, granulocyte colony stimulating factor and idarubicin; 2-CdA: 2-chloro-deoxyadenosine; SCT: stem cell transplant; MRD: minimal residual disease; APL: acute promyelocytic leukemia; MSD: matched sibling donor; MUD: matched unrelated donor. For collaborative group names: see Tables 2 and 4. haematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(11) | 1523 | G.J.L. Kaspers and C.N. Zwaan pediatric APL, especially since we want to avoid higher dosages of anthracyclines (>300 mg/m2) which may result in significant cardiotoxicity.40,70 The so-called International Consortium for childhood APL recently developed an intergroup protocol for children with APL. ATRA will be used in all phases of treatment, and the cumulative doses of anthracyclines is limited to 355 mg/m2 in low risk, and 405 mg/m2 in high-risk patients. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin will be used in the salvage regimen.71 Quantitative molecular monitoring of minimal residual disease is recommended in APL, and molecular persisting or residual disease should be treated before full-blown relapse occurs.72,73 There is no clear-cut clinical evidence to support this, as it is unknown whether early treatment in an MRD-setting leads to a better outcome than treatment at frank relapse. However, there is sufficient evidence that molecular persisting disease after consolidation or rising RQ-PCR levels indicating molecular relapse will evolve to frank disease, and it makes sense to treat APL before clinical problems such as coagulation disorders become evident. Initiating treatment when there is still a relatively low tumor burden also reduces the risk of secondary mutations and clonal evolution. Several studies suggest the effectiveness of ATRA combined with arsenic trioxide without conventional chemotherapy.74 However, experts recently reported that it is too early to conclude that this should replace current ATRA and conventional chemotherapy-based protocols, until randomized studies are available.75 As far as children are concerned we need to have more data regarding safety and efficacy in adult AML before routinely introducing arsenic in up-front APL protocols. Table 4. Current risk group stratification in several pediatric AML collaborative group treatment protocols (excluding acute promyelocytic leukemia and myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome), and percentages of the total group of patients per risk-group. Protocol Standard risk (SR) % of patients Medium risk (MR) in SR % of patients High risk (HR) in MR % of patients in HR AIEOP-LAM 2002/01 t(8;21) or inv(16)/t(16;16)# and CR after course 1 18% − − All other patients 82% BFM-AML 2004 FAB M1/M2 with Auer rods or FAB M4Eo+ or t(8;21) or inv(16)* and blasts on day 15 <5% and absence of FLT3/ITD 30% − − All patients with FLT3/ITD, and all patients who are not standard risk 70% COG AAML0531 t(8;21), inv(16) or t(16;16) 25% All others 57% 18% ELAM 2002 t(8;21)* (not eligible for SCT in CR1) 14% All others 81% -7, -5, 5q-; bone marrow M3 (>15% of blasts) after course 1, except for those with good risk cytogenetics -7, 5q-, t(9;22), t(6;9) JPLSG AML-05 t(8;21), inv(16), or t(16;16)" 40% All others 40% -7, 5q-, t(9;22), t(16;21), FLT3-ITD, no CR after course I 20% MRC/DCOG AML15 t(8;21) and inv(16)/t(16;16)*, irrespective of marrow status after 1st course or the presence of other genetic abnormalities 30% All other patiënts 55% >15% blasts after the 1st course, or adverse cytogenetics [-5, -7, del(5q), abn(3q), t(9;22), complex karyotype@] 15% NOPHOAML 2004 < 15% blasts after the 1st and CR after the 2nd course, or t(8;21), inv(16), t(16;16), t(9 ;11)* and CR after the 2nd course 80% − − 11q23 abnormalities other than t(9;11) or >15% blasts day 15 or lack of remission after 2 cours0es of chemotherapy 20% St. Jude AML-2002 t(8;21), inv(16), t(9;11)* 35% All other patients 40% Cytogenetic abnormalities [-7, t(6;9), FLT3/ITD], or FAB M6 or M7, or therapy-related AML, or secondary AML after MDS, or lack of remission after 2 courses 25% 5% *As detected by karyotyping and/or molecular methods, independent of secondary abnormalities; @5 or more structural karyotypic abnormalities; #as isolated structural abnormality, detected by karyotyping and/or molecular methods "As detected by karyotyping, and/or PCR but in case of the latter only it must be confirmed by FISH/FAB-classification: morphological classification of AML; MRC, Medical Research Council study group; BFM, Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster study group; NOPHO, Nordic Society for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology; St. Jude, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, USA; AIEOP, Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica; ELAM, Enfant Leucémie Aiquë Myéloblastique; COG, Childhood Oncology Group; JPLSG, Japanese Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma Study Group; DCOG: Dutch Childhood Oncology Group. | 1524 | haematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(11) Progress in pediatric AML Minimal residual disease monitoring In ALL, measurement of minimal residual disease (MRD) by leukemia-specific PCR-based quantitative techniques has emerged as a very powerful prognostic factor,76 and several groups are currently using MRD-levels to stratify treatment. In AML, progress has been less striking. MRD monitoring of fusion gene transcripts is made difficult by the heterogeneity of AML, and because it has been observed that persisting low levels of fusion genes (especially for the CBF-leukemias) may exist in the absence of relapse.77 However, this drawback may be overcome by the development of quantitative PCR-technology which may be predictive of prognosis.78-80 Several collaborative AML groups currently focus on MRD monitoring by flow cytometry.81 Only a few studies demonstrated the clinical significance of MRD in pediatric AML.82-84 MRD measurements by flow cytometry are based on leukemia-specific aberrant antigen expression and can be applied in the vast majority of AML patients. One problem is that immunophenotypic shifts between diagnosis and relapse occur in most patients.82 Also, the sensitivity of MRD by flow cytometry in AML is still too limited. While it became clear that in ALL it is important to be able to detect at least 1 in 104 cells, flow cytometry in AML currently has a sensitivity in the range of 0.10.01%.82 However, the technical possibilities are improving rapidly, and 8- to 12-color flow cytometry is now possible. This will undoubtedly make the technique more sensitive although more complex. Therefore, standardization of flow-based MRD technology is urgently required. Currently, only St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is using MRD for treatment-stratification, and most other groups still have to perform trials to confirm its prognostic significance and define their cut-off values for further prospective studies. Newly detected genes may be more promising as MRD targets. For instance, overexpression of the Wilms tumor gene 1 was found to be an independent predictor of relapse, although wt1 is also expressed by normal hematopoietic progenitors which may hamper its specificity at low MRD-levels.81,85 Alternatively, FLT3/ITDs may be used as MRD markers, although clonal instability has been described.86 NPM1 may be another candidate, although the frequency is relatively low in pediatric AML.87 However, most of these markers still need to be confirmed in larger and prospective clinical trials in pediatric AML before they can be used. Pharmacogenomics Recent studies have analyzed the influence of host-factors on outcome in pediatric AML. CCG studies have shown that Hispanics and black children have a poorer outcome than white children. This may be because of pharmacogenetic differences.88 Interestingly, black children also had fewer HLA-identical sibling donors available. There have been no larger prospective studies linking drug-metabolizing polymorphisms to outcome in pedi- atric AML.89 So far, mostly single gene polymorphisms have been studied. Davies et al., for example, reported that children who lacked glutathion s-transferase theta 1 (gstt1) had greater toxicity and reduced survival after chemotherapy for AML compared with children with at least one GSTT1 allele.90 However, polymorphisms in the gene encoding for XPD, which is involved in DNA-repair, did not affect the etiology or outcome of pediatric AML.91 Innovative therapies and drug development studies in pediatric AML Drug development studies in pediatric AML are made more difficult by the low number of patients, as well as by the fact that most patients are heavily pretreated. This creates the problem that potentially effective new drugs may be abandoned because of lack of efficacy, when in fact this is caused by the resistance phenotype of the leukemias rather than lack of efficacy of a new drug. Another problem is that the market is too small to interest pharmaceutical companies to carry out pediatric studies. Since 1997, this has been addressed in the USA by creating specific regulations regarding medicinal products for pediatric use and the extension of market exclusivity (the Pediatric Rule). In Europe, a similar law (Better Medicines for Children) is in the last stages of implementation by the Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products (EMEA, www.emea.eu). We discuss here the results of several phase I/II studies in pediatric AML. In addition, we briefly discuss drugs that are being explored in adults, and that may become of interest to the pediatric population in the near future. 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (cladribine) Resistance to cytarabine is a major cause of treatment failure in AML, and new analogues have been designed to overcome this resistance. Like cytarabine, cladribine is phosphorylated into its triphosphate form and incorporated into the DNA of cycling cells, resulting in cell death. However, cladribine may also induce apoptosis in nondividing cells, and is resistant to inactivation by deamination.41 Of interest, in vitro, cladribine was the only analogue that was significantly more cytotoxic towards pediatric AML than ALL cells among an in-vitro panel of more than 10 drugs.41 Clinical studies with continuous infusion of cladribine showed 59% of relapsed pediatric AML patients responded, with a CR rate of 27%.92 In de novo AML, single-agent cladribine induced CR in 42% of pediatric patients after 2 courses.42 However, acute monoblastic leukemia (FAB M5) was seen to be more sensitive than non-FAB type M5 cases (n=20, p=0.002) with a CR rate of 71%.42 Subsequently, cladribine was combined with cytarabine, and the combination appeared to be more effective if cytarabine was given by continuous infusion rates than by a 2-hour infusion, with a CR rate after 1 course of 63% vs. 32% respectively in pediatric AML patients.93 The BFM-group has currently also included cladribine in the BFM-AML 2004 study for high-risk children, which includes most FAB M5 patients. haematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(11) | 1525 | G.J.L. Kaspers and C.N. Zwaan Clofarabine Gemtuzumab ozogamicin Clofarabine is a designer nucleoside analog. It is orally bioavailable and combines the most favorable pharmacokinetic properties of fludarabine and cladribine. This results in a drug that potently inhibits DNA polymerases and DNA synthesis as well as ribonucleotide reductase. In relapsed/refractory pediatric AML, however, only limited efficacy was found, with only 1 complete remission (with insufficient platelet recovery) and 8 partial remissions out of 35 children.94 However, in elderly patients who were not considered fit to undergo intensive multi-agent chemotherapy, clofarabine 30 mg/m2 for 5 days per course with a maximum of 5 courses was well tolerated, and 59% of patients achieved complete remission after 1 course.95 Clofarabine has now been registered by the FDA and the EMEA for use in relapsed/refractory pediatric ALL, based on data by Jeha et al.96 Several pediatric studies with clofarabine in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents, such as cytarabine and cyclophosphamide plus etoposide, are ongoing. Ideally, a randomized study should confirm the benefit of novel nucleoside analogs such as clofarabine as compared with cytarabine or the combination of fludarabine, cytarabine and G-CSF (FLAG). Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) is an anti-CD33 directed monoclonal antibody which is linked to a potent cytotoxic agent, calicheamicin.103 After binding to CD33, the drug is internalized and the calicheamicin is released, resulting in apoptosis by inducing DNA double strand breaks. Although GO was thought to be highly leukemia specific, at least 2 major side-effects have occurred that were not anticipated, maybe due to CD33 expression on the cells that are involved in these complications. The first is the occurrence of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS), and the second is slow platelet recovery.104,105 In pediatric AML, a phase I study was performed which showed that the MTD was 2 infusions at 6 mg/m2 with a 14-day interval, with SOS as dose-limiting toxicity at the 9 mg/m2 dose-level.106 All patients had myelosuppression, and other toxicities included grade 3-4 hyperbilirubinemia (7%) and elevated hepatic transaminases (21%). However, the incidence of grade 3-4 mucositis (3%) and sepsis (24%) was low. The remission rate was 28%. Thirteen patients were transplanted within 3.5 months post re-induction with GO, of which 6 (40%) developed SOS during this procedure. In an earlier report, 15 children were reported, treated on compassionate use basis with GO 4-9 mg/m2, up to 3 infusions.107 Eight children had no evidence of leukemia, of which 5 were classified as CRp (complete remission with insufficient platelet recovery). Toxicity consisted of veno-occlusive disease (n=1), grade 3 hyperbilirubinemia (n=1), grade 3 transaminase elevation (n=1) and grade 3 hypotension during GO administration (n=1). No infections or mucositis occurred. Versluys et al. reported on 5 children with AML, and suggested that defibrotide may play a role in the prevention of SOS at subsequent stem-cell transplantation after re-induction with GO.108 In another compassionate use series, 12 children (including 9 AML cases) were treated with GO, 3-9 mg/m2 for 1-5 infusions.109 There was a 25% response rate, and no SOS occurred. In general, GO seems to be an active agent in these very resistant patients. The toxicity profile is acceptable apart from the risk of SOS. In adult AML studies, GO has been combined at induction and consolidation with conventional chemotherapy.110 This study showed that low dose GO (3 mg/m2) was very well tolerated when incorporated in such regimens (although not in consecutive courses), and that combination with thioguanine was not possible due to hepatotoxicity. In pediatrics, GO has been combined with cytarabine in relapsed/refractory AML.111 Currently, several pediatric study groups have also incorporated GO in their upfront treatment protocols (Table 3). Several study groups are investigating which role GO can play and in which patient-groups, including the MRC and COG. The recent MRC AML15 study in de novo and secondary AML has shown improved disease-free survival with GO, although not a significantly improved overall survival.112 Prolonged follow-up will show if survival also improves with GO. GO should become available for larger clinical studies in pediatric AML, but the Liposomal daunorubicin Liposomal daunorubin was mainly known for its use in Kaposi sarcoma. Among a cohort of nearly 1,000 adult patients treated with liposomal daunorubicin at cumulative doses of up to 1,700 mg/m2, only 1 patient developed clinically apparent cardiotoxicity.97 In general, liposomal anthracyclines cause less cardiotoxicity than conventional anthracyclines.98 This may be explained by a preferential release of daunorubicin in tumor cells. In a mouse study, low incorporation of liposomal daunorubicin in heart muscle was found when compared with tumor cells.99 Several other animal studies demonstrated a lack of cardiotoxicity of liposomal anthracyclines, while other in vitro and animal studies showed that at an equivalent daunorubicin dose, liposomal daunorubicin had more anti-tumor effect than conventional daunorubicin.100,101 These findings stimulated the use of liposomal daunorubicin in AML because the use of anthracyclines is limited by acute and long-term cardiotoxicity.40,70 In one study, liposomal daunrobicin was combined with cytarabine in 69 children with pediatric relapsed/refractory AML. This was feasible in terms of toxicity and induced a 2nd remission in 67% of children.102 The BFM group is currently randomizing between liposomal daunorubicin and idarubicin in induction for pediatric de novo AML. The international study Relapsed AML 2001/01 randomizes liposomal daunorubicin on a basis of FLAG (fludarabine, cytarabine and GCSF). This will provide data on both efficacy and longterm cardiotoxicity. So far, acute cardiotoxicity has not been a problem in these studies. | 1526 | haematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(11) Progress in pediatric AML current lack of registration of GO in Europe is a problem still to be resolved. Potential new drugs for pediatric AML that are being tested in adults The impressive results obtained with imatinib mesylate in chronic myeloid leukemia have increased interest in inhibitors of type 1 genetic abnormalities in AML.113 Apart from activity against bcr-abl, imatinib also inhibits wildtype c-kit which is normally expressed on AML cells. Given this, Kindler et al. performed a phase II study in which 21 patients were treated with 600 mg imatinib once daily.114 Two patients had a complete hematologic remission and one other patient showed no evidence of leukemia after treatment. None of the patients were KIT mutated. Whether dasatinib will prove to be a more potent inhibitor of kit still needs to be seen.115 A potential advantage of dasatinib over imatinib is that it also inhibits the D816V mutation which is relatively frequent in pediatric AML.20,115 Another flt3 and c-kit inhibitor is PKC412. This is of clinical interest given the mutually exclusive mutations in either C-KIT or FLT3 in up to 30% of pediatric AML patients.20 PKC412 has not yet been studied in children, but a phase II study in adults showed clinical activity.116 Various other flt3-inhibitors have been tested in phase I/II clinical trials in adults.117,118 In general, these inhibitors result in relatively short-lived reductions in peripheral blood or bone-marrow blast counts.116-118 This is similar to the experience with imatinib in Philadelphiapositive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and probably reflects the fact that AML and Ph+ ALL are genetically multi-hit diseases.119 Current studies focus on the addition of these compounds to regular chemotherapy. A recent invitro study of MLL-gene rearranged MLL suggests that flt3 inhibitors are best given directly after exposure to chemotherapy.120 Schedule dependency has also been observed for imatinib in Philadelphia chromosome positive ALL.121 Whether a newly developed antibody against flt3 will be more effective than the small molecules has to be awaited.122 A trial with SU5416, which is an inhibitor with activity against multiple targets relevant in AML (flt3, kit and vegf), also showed only modest activity with 5% partial responses in 55 patients.123 A phase I study with another multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, sunitinib (SU11248, Sutent®),124 obtained responses in all FLT3mutated AML patients (n=4), as compared with 2 out of 7 non-mutated AML patients, although the responses were short-lived.125 Sunitinib is now registered for use in gastrointestinal stroma cell tumors and metastatic renal cancer.126 Farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTI) is a novel class of anticancer agents that interfere with the farnesylation of several proteins, such as ras and rhoB.127 Tipifarnib, which is one of the FTIs, has shown promising activity in a phase II study of previously untreated elderly AML or MDS patients, with a complete response rate of 14% and an overall response rate of 23%.128 However, in pre-treated patients, activity was very limited.129 Currently, no data on tipifarnib in pediatric AML are available. Clearly, many new compounds are available which may be of interest for pediatric AML. Only the most promising can be adopted, given the low numbers of patients available to test these compounds, and selection must be guided by preliminary results in adults. Furthermore, international collaboration is essential for most if not all early clinical studies with targeted agents. Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) aims at reducing the risk of relapse by administering high-dose anti-leukemic therapy, and by inducing a graft-versusleukemia (GvL) response which matches that of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). To assess the potential benefit of allo-SCT, many studies focus on the reduction of relapse risk only. However, treatment related mortality should be taken into account, and therefore benefit should be expressed as improvement in overall survival rather than the cumulative incidence of relapse only. Autologous SCT has not been shown to be superior to chemotherapybased consolidation.130,131 However, several studies in pediatric AML have shown the superiority of allo-SCT compared to chemotherapy, as summarized by Bleakley et al.132 When interpreting these data, however, it should be recognised that the actual reduction of relapse risk is highly dependent on the efficacy and intensity of the control chemotherapy arm.133 In current studies, from for example, the MRC and BFM groups, the role of SCT in 1st CR seems very limited given the relatively good results obtained with chemotherapy only.2,3,133 Recent studies from the US however, still advocate allo-SCT in most pediatric AML patients in first complete remission.134 Most if not all groups consider allo-SCT to be indicated in relapsed AML, ideally after achieving a subsequent complete remission. However, there are no randomized studies to prove that allo-SCT is better than intensive chemotherapy alone in that setting. More experience is being acquired from the use of matched unrelated donors and mismatched family donors for patients in 2nd remission who lack an HLA-identical sibling donor.102 Given that a GvL effect is demonstrable in pediatric AML, another option would be to use a reduced-intensity rather than a myeloablative conditioning regimen.135,136 However, the anti-leukemic efficacy in such transplants is highly dependent on the induction and extent of GvHD. This has major limitations in children because of its side-effects.137 A similar immunologic approach can be tried in patients who show increasing mixed chimerism in the post-allo-SCT setting. These patients experience a poor outcome, but early immunologic intervention with donor lymphocyte infusions and rapid tapering of immunosuppresion was able to rescue some patients.135 Concluding remarks and future perspectives Remarkable progress has been made in the treatment of pediatric AML over the past decades, and the overall probhaematologica/the hematology journal | 2007; 92(11) | 1527 | G.J.L. Kaspers and C.N. Zwaan ability of survival in newly diagnosed pediatric AML is now above 60%. However, we may have reached a plateau in the cure rate with conventional chemotherapy, given the treatment-related mortality rates and the longterm side-effects associated with intensive chemotherapy and stem-cell transplantation in selected patients. Improvements may come from improved risk-group stratification, based either on novel genetic abnormalities, or on the monitoring of minimal residual disease. For instance, the development of specific subgroup-directed protocols for children with myeloid leukemia of Down syndrome and APL may further improve their outcome and reflects differences in the underlying biology of the disease. Further investigation into the genetic aberrations of pediatric AML cells may provide the knowledge needed to develop compounds directed against leukemia-specific targets. Treatment of APL with ATRA, as well as gemtuzumab ozogamicin, are examples of such a targeted approach. So far, the small molecularly targeted molecules have not shown an impressive efficacy in AML, and it still needs to be seen whether combination studies with chemotherapy will be more successful. However, subgroup-directed and rationally targeted therapy does offer possibilities for improved care of patients with AML, but will also have implications for the design of clinical trials. With more and more subgroups, sample sizes become References 1. Kaspers GJ, Creutzig U. Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia: international progress and future directions. Leukemia 2005;19:2025-9. 2. Reinhardt D, Kremens B, Zimmermann M. No improvement of overall survival in children with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia by stem-cell transplantation in 1st complete remission. Blood 2006; 108:[abstract]. 3. Gibson BE, Wheatley K, Hann IM, Stevens RF, Webb D, Hills RK, et al. Treatment strategy and long-term results in paediatric patients treated in consecutive UK AML trials. Leukemia 2005;19:2130-8. 4. Slats AM, Egeler RM, Van Der DoesVan Den Berg A, Korbijn C, Hählen K, Kamps WA, et al. Causes of death – other than progressive leukemia - in childhood acute lymphoblastic (ALL) and myeloid leukemia (AML): the Dutch Childhood Oncology Group experience. Leukemia 2005; 19:53744. 5. Rubnitz JE, Lensing S, Zhou Y, Sandlund JT, Razzouk BI, Ribeiro RC, et al. Death during induction therapy and first remission of acute leukemia in childhood: the St. Jude experience. 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Acknowledgments Information enabling finalising tables III and IV was provided in alphabetical order by Anne Auvrignon (FRALLE/LAME), Ursula Creutzig (BFM-AML), Alan Gamis (COG), Brenda Gibson (MRC/UK CCLG), Siebold de Graaf (DCOG), Henrik Hasle (NOPHO), Andrea Pession (AIEOP), Jeffrey Rubnitz (St. Jude's Children Research Hospital), Akio Tawa (JPLSG). Authors' contributions GJLK has designed the review and wrote parts of the manuscript, based on literature, intelluctual knowledge and personal communication with colleagues from the fiels (see acknowledgements). He revised the manuscript regarding parts written by CMZ. He approved the final version of the paper to be published; CMZ has helped in designing the review and wrote parts of the manuscript, based on literature and intellectual knowledge; revised the manuscript regarding parts written by GJLK, and approved the final version of the paper to be published. 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This week we're talking all things food!
From Dubai and Melbourne's different takes on what constitutes brunch, to consuming currency and calling it a delicacy!
We also discuss food as an authentic way to learn about different cultures, being completely over poached eggs, and missing a Ghanaian home cooked meal when you're abroad!
This episode will make you salivate, so don't forget to rate and review us, and use the hashtag #headscarvesandcarryons to tweet about the episode!
Image credit: dinner by Peter Chlebak from the Noun Project


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The Greatest Love
July 23, 2009 Leave a comment
Maria was very concerned with how she looked, especially her teeth. She was just not pleased with her image on the mirror. She had gone dentist hoping, feeling that each had only made her look worse. She went to have her nose fix, but they did a poor job. Each professional only mirrored her belief that she was ugly. Actually there is nothing wrong with how she looked.
Tina had a terrible breath that made people uncomfortable being around her. She was a theology student so her outer demeanor vibrated with piety and spirituality. Beneath this was a raging current of anger and jealousy that exploded from time to time, when thoughts of how a certain person was threatening her position. Her inner thoughts were expressed through her breath, and she was offensive even when she pretended to love. No one threaten her but herself.
We may know of people in similar situation – we may even be in it. We may scold and criticize ourselves endlessly. There could have been a time when praises and compliments surprised us, even made us feel uncomfortable. Again, criticism or reprimand seemed be safer water to tread. And if someone else expressed their love, sometimes we may have felt, "Why me?" – Or "You might be mistaking me for someone you know." The belief that we are unlovable seems to be prevalent.
There is a litany of other negativities that could be included: we procrastinate on things that could benefit us. We are quite afraid to charge a decent price for our services. We create illness or pain in our body. We live in chaos and disorder, as reflected in how our house is arranged or how we work. We may even be attracting lovers and mates who belittle us.
By denying ourselves of our good, we show how we regard ourselves. Try to see these examples:
The husband is grouchy and tired; the wife wonders what she could have done to cause it.
A friend takes you out once or twice and never calls again. You think something must be wrong with you.
The marriage ends and one feels he/she is a failure.
An employee is afraid to ask for a raise.
We don't close the sale or get the position we aim for and we are sure we are not good enough.
We mistreat our body with food, alcohol, or drugs.
A person is afraid of intimacy and allowing anyone to get close, so he/she has superficial friendships.
We can't seem to make decisions and put other people on the spot to make decisions for us because we are quite sure that if we make them they will be wrong.
What about you, how do you show your lack of self-worth?
Problems and situations may be different but at the root of all these is how much we love ourselves. Some of you might even react on this, thinking that loving yourself is vanity or some kind of arrogance, an utter to conceit. These are beliefs that have nothing to do with love, but springs from fear. When we love ourselves, we respect ourselves and express gratitude for the miracle of our body and mind.
Loving ourselves can burst and overflow in all directions. Consequently, we feel love for the very process of life itself. We feel joy in being alive so we see beauty everywhere, in another person. We are curious and strive to learn more about how the universe works in us. Love is the miracle cure. Loving ourselves cures and transforms our lives.
Thanks to Marilitz "thoughts".
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Asked by raymond1196 | Submitted April 02, 2016
What is the lowest loan rate I can get when I refinance? VA loan, single home, fixed 30 yr?
no cost added on the mortgage amount now, and no money extra,
Answers | 1
Hi Raymond, there is a lot of variation in loan rates now and there are pluses and minus to each. I recently refinanced my house with a VA and I got a 3.38% rate fixed for 30 years. However, and there is always a however, the up front costs for a VA can be high, the paperwork intense and the frustrations large. The rate you pay is a good discernment factor but you need to look at the out of pocket costs and do you want to pay them yourself or roll them into the principal of the mortgage. I would suggest that you call or contact a VA loan specialist or even the VA itself to discuss that option before you make a decision.
$commenter.renderDisplayableName() | 09.23.20 @ 06:46
Upvote 0


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LSU Players Got Stomped by the Bulldogs on Saturday, Literally.
The UGA Vault is giving away a VIP Game Day Experience for the Tennessee/Georgia game complete with tickets and tailgating supplies! Entering the contest just takes two minutes. Go here to learn more!
In college football, there's a lot of dirtiness that goes on that we may turn a blind eye to just as long as it helps our team to win games.
On Saturday, the Miss State bulldogs marched into death valley and came out with a 34-29 win against LSU. For MSU's center Dillon Day, he lets his feet do the talking (or should I say stomping?).
The first victim to fall to Day was Davon Godchaux who takes a massive stepping to the stomach AFTER the play was called. I repeat, AFTER the play was called.
So maybe it was just an accident?
Not so fast.
Later in the game, Day spots out Rashard Robinson and decides to jump after the family jewels, which ended up taking Robinson out of the game.
How dirty and classless can you be to stomp on not one BUT two LSU players?
Last year, Day was suspended for half a game after stomping on players in the Auburn game.
How he's still getting away with this baffles me. It's insulting to the game of football and it brings the definition of playing dirty to a new low.
Here's what the young man looks like if you'd like to warn your team to look out for him.
Posted on September 23, 2014, in Blog, Georgia Bulldogs, LSU, Mississippi State, SEC. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.


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Sorry, you missed this event, SIGN UP to get information on our forthcoming shows
Teaching style:
Renaud's class brings together elements of contemporary dance techniques to help you achieve strong, flexible physicality, preparing your body and mind for the range and demands of today's creative process. The emphasis during warm up is on improving alignment, core strength and movement of the back, incorporating elements of floor-based work and release. The class systematically builds towards longer, grounded, flowing phrases, integrating playful musicality and changing dynamics.
About Renaud:
Renaud Wiser is a former dancer with Rambert and Bonachela Dance Company. Now a free-lance choreographer and teacher, he is the Artistic Director of Renaud Wiser Dance Company, a member of New Movement Collective and co-director of Newcastle based company Fertile Ground (Website).
Renaud Wiser Dance Company is also on Facebook.
Times: 9 - 10:30am
Duration: 90 mins
Venue: at The Place
Level: Professional
Style: Contemporary
This event is part of Pro Class Autumn 2019


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LOS ANGELES – February 21, 2012 – Holland & Knight is pleased to announce that seven attorneys from the Los Angeles office have been named "Super Lawyers" for 2012 by Southern California's Super Lawyers magazine. The full list of Southern California Super Lawyers also appeared in Los Angeles magazine.
This year, the following attorneys were selected:
Linda Auerbach Allderdice – Employment Litigation
Susan Booth – Real Estate, Projects, Banking
Katharine Davidson – Tax, Estate Planning & Probate
Vince Farhat – Criminal Defense: White Collar, Health Care
Jerome Levine – Government/Cities/Municipalities
Bruce Ross – Estate & Trust Litigation, Alternative Dispute Resolution
Linda Rottman – Estate & Trust Litigation
Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The magazine names exceptional attorneys annually in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers uses a rigorous selection process that begins with peer nomination. Once an attorney has been nominated they are then evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement through a third-party researcher.
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