Temporin-F

Three mechanisms related to household living standards might affect early-age mortality: the absolute level of deprivation, its level relative to the average of the community, and the inequality in the distribution of deprivation within communities. A large body of literature has explored the effect of the absolute level of deprivation, but little research has examined the association between relative deprivation and early-age mortality, and findings related to deprivation inequality are inconsistent. Using 2008 Bolivian Demographic and Health Survey data, this study explores patterns of association between the three factors and mortality occurring in the neonatal and postneonatal periods. Because household-level deprivation might capture some unmeasured characteristics at the community level, such as area-specific investments, this study decomposes household-level deprivation into its between- and within-community components. The results show that after possible confounders are controlled for, community-level absolute deprivation is a significant predictor of neonatal and postneonatal mortality. Relative deprivation and deprivation inequality are not associated with early-age mortality. These findings are specific to a context of widespread deprivation and low inequality within communities; the role of the distribution of deprivation might be more important in countries in which basic needs are met within a bigger proportion of the population. This study helps identify crucial sectors of development related to living standards and deprivation inequality in order to tackle neonatal and postneonatal mortality.

Introduction: In this retrospective real-life study in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma patients, we analyzed clinical and biologic features distinguishing patients with rapidly progressing disease while receiving lenalidomide therapy from those without progression. Patients and methods: According to time of stopping lenalidomide, patients were subdivided into 3 groups: early stop (ES) (n = 23), when therapy was discontinued within 6 months; intermediate (INT) (n = 23), when therapy was stopped between 7 to 24 months; and long survival (LS) (n = 45), when therapy was maintained for more than 2 years. The median age of the whole cohort was 70 years (range, 42-85 years); 40% had an International Staging System score of 2 or 3. Results: High-risk cytogenetic findings, including 1q gain, was reported in 65% ES, 43% INT, and 21% LS. Overall response rate was 63%, with median progression-free survival and overall survival of 33 and 56 months, respectively. Conclusion: Although high-risk cytogenetic findings negatively affect progression-free survival and overall survival, 28% of cytogenetic high-risk patients experienced long survival, provided that lenalidomide therapy was not discontinued, thus pointing to the role of maintenance therapy in this subset of patients.